ComputerSight

Just weeks after Microsoft pulled back the curtains on its Origami project, chip design company Transmeta has slipped out a few more details about another of the software giant's secretive development projects.

Transmeta signed a series of agreements with Microsoft last May under which about 30 Transmeta engineers would provide development services to help with "a proprietary Microsoft project," Transmeta said in its annual report filed with U.S. regulators last week.

The work from those agreements has been "substantially completed" and Transmeta was, at the time of its filing, in the process of negotiating additional services for 2006, although probably not on the same scale as the previous work, it said.

Why You Need Protection
New computer virus watches mouse clicks

Computer hackers have developed a way of recording mouse clicks, as well as keystrokes, using a new form of virus.

Hackers have created thousands of viruses that collect keyed-in login information, such as bank account passwords, after infecting a computer.

The viruses, known as keylogging trojans, monitor internet usage, collect login information entered by users via keystrokes and send the information back to the author of the trojan.

But until recently mouse clicks have been undetectable using such viruses.

The new trojan, a variant of PWSteal.Bancos.Q, detects mouse movements and takes snapshots of certain banking web pages in a bid to collect passwords and other sensitive information.

The virus is targeted at banks, such as Westpac, that use virtual keyboards to improve the security of logging in to accounts.

Internet security expert Allan Bell said banks were introducing virtual keyboards to improve the security of their sites, but hackers had caught up.

"It's a good example of where, as you improve your defensive techniques, the hacker will look for a technique to get around it," Mr Bell said.

He said a number of anti-virus programs had already been updated to deal with the problem, but users needed to check with their program provider.