This blog is designed to give readers a glimpse of our editorial-page operation and how we make our decisions. We’ll let you know who we’re meeting with, what they’re telling us, what events and issues we’re looking at. We’ll also pass on information and observations that may not make our print editions. In addition to the editorial board members who post on this blog, the board includes Publisher David Zeeck, Executive Editor Karen Peterson and Managing Editor Dale Phelps.
Editorial board bloggers
Editorial page editor Patrick O’Callahan oversees the online and printed opinion sections of The News Tribune. He came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com
Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker, in addition to writing commentary, manages the daily production of the editorial and op-ed pages and edits letters to the editor. She began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.
Editorial writer Kim Bradford manages the online opinion section of The News Tribune and writes commentary. She joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.
Guest bloggers
Editor emeritus David Seago retired from The News Tribune in 2008 after 41 years at The News Tribune. E-mail him at sds99@harbornet.com.
Richard Davis’ column on state politics frequently runs in the print edition of The News Tribune. He was president of the Washington Research Council, a statewide think tank, from 1986 through 2006. Currently, as a principal with The Simeon Partnership, Inc. he coordinates the activities of the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy, a business coalition founded by the Research Council, the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Roundtable.
Karen Irwin of University Place, a mother of four, has been a frequent contributor to The News Tribune's print editions. She has also written for Seattle's Child, Puget Sound Parent, the Tacoma Weekly, the Fayetteville Observer Times and the political blog Right Meets Left. She graduated from California Lutheran University with a degree in English literature and is currently working toward a history degree.
Michael Allen, professor of history at the University of Washington Tacoma, was born and raised in Ellensburg. He served with the U.S. Marines in Vietnam from 1969-70. He has written five books, including the prize-winning "Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus' Great Discovery to the War on Terror," "Rodeo Cowboys in the North American Imagination" and "Western Rivermen, 1763-1861: Ohio and Mississippi Boatmen and the Myth of the Alligator Horse." Allen lives in Tacoma and Ellensburg and has three children.
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This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.
You want spooky? Here’s spooky.
Every computer geek in the world knows this already, but non-geeks ought to be aware of the worm called Conficker. This rogue software has infected computers throughout the world by exploiting a chink in Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Computer security experts don’t know who devised it or what it does – other than replicate itself relentlessly on unprotected machines.
Each infected machine has become what is called a “zombie” – a computer that can be secretly controlled through the worm. All of these machines are networked, potentially empowering Conficker’s controllers to make them all work in tandem to wreak some kind of international havoc.
What kind of havoc is anyone’s guess. Many believed Conficker would spring its tricks on April Fool’s day, but it didn’t. Some fear it might suddenly erupt with a tsunami of spam – but that’s just speculation.
What Conficker has mainly done is lurk, like a sleeper agent, on untold millions of computers.
There’s some good news. Microsoft, cybersecurity agencies and industry groups have joined forces against the worm in what The New York Times calls a “highly unusual collaboration.” The Conficker Working Group’s Web site (confickerworkinggroup.org) offers an easy detection method and directions to downloads that will disinfect a computer.
The group’s expertise is required, because Conficker is an ultra-sophisticated code that combines multiple means of techniques of attack and defense. Its authors may well be high-end computer scientists; they are so good that some speculate the involvement of a rogue government.
After the worm was initially discovered last November, its controllers waged guerrilla war against those who were trying to eradicate it, adapting Conficker to counter the anti-malware counteroffensive. Kind of like a real virus mutates to bypass the body’s immune system.
Conficker has penetrated key computer systems and forced emergency measures. An infection of the French naval network led to the grounding of some aircraft last winter. But if it is a time bomb, it hasn’t exploded so far. Its creators may be lying low to avoid detection by the various investigative agencies hunting for them.
Conficker is an excellent argument for keeping cybersecurity efforts well-funded. This particular worm may not wind up causing massive damage, but it shows that – despite all the efforts to stop them – malicious and brilliant hackers can still mount a major threat to the world’s digital infrastructure.
On the Web
