BUSINESS BRIEFS
UAL posts first profit since '00
Advertiser News Services
CHICAGO — United Airlines parent UAL Corp. yesterday formally announced its first true quarterly profit since 2000, punctuating a turnaround quarter for U.S. carriers despite record fuel prices.
Like its competitors, UAL benefited from higher fares and more crowded planes as paying customers didn't flinch in the face of a series of fare increases in the first half of 2006.
The five largest U.S. airline companies to have reported so far posted a collective profit of $1.25 billion in the quarter, led by Southwest Airlines Co.'s $333 million, US Airways Group Inc. with $305 million and American Airlines parent AMR Corp. with $291 million.
MCAFEE AWARE OF SECURITY FLAW
SAN FRANCISCO — Consumer versions of McAfee Inc.'s leading software for securing PCs is susceptible to a flaw that can expose passwords and other sensitive information stored on personal computers, researchers said yesterday.
The vulnerability affects many of McAfee's most popular consumer products, including its Internet Security Suite, SpamKiller, Privacy Service and Virus Scan Plus titles, said Marc Maiffret, chief hacking officer at eEye Digital Security Inc., a competing maker of security products.
McAfee spokeswoman Siobhan MacDermott confirmed the vulnerability and said software engineers were testing a fix. She said officials expected to release the patch tomorrow using a feature that automatically updates McAfee products over the Internet.
MICROSOFT GIVES EU MORE PAPERS
BRUSSELS, Belgium — Microsoft Corp. has given the European Union more documents in response to a 2004 antitrust order, but regulators said they do not know yet whether the company will avoid additional fines.
The EU had threatened new penalties of $3.82 million a day beginning yesterday, on top of $357 million levied July 12.
Regulators have said the Redmond, Wash.-based software maker has yet to hand over "complete and accurate technical specifications" to help rivals write software that can communicate better with computers running Microsoft's flagship Windows operating system.
