January 10, 2002 DeCSS troubles persist for Norwegian teen Two years after police stormed into his home and seized his computer, a Norwegian teenager has been indicted on security cracking charges. Jon Johansen, who helped create software that makes it possible to crack DVD security, faces up to two years in jail on charges originally designed to protect phone and bank records. On Wednesday, Norway's economic crime unit accused Johansen of trying to break through a security system to gain access to material he's not entitled to, in this case a movie on DVD. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-8434181.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/685363.asp http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,49638,00.html http://www.securityfocus.com/news/306 http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/23633.html http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/215976p-2084181c.html - - - - - - - - Sex charge brings 51-month term A Richmond [Va.] man was sentenced yesterday in federal court to 51 months in prison for receiving child pornography on his computer. Robert Allen Dalton, 40, also faces six felony sex charges in Richmond Circuit Court involving juveniles. Trial of those counts is set for Feb. 6. FBI agents arrested Dalton July 3 after searching his home as part of an investigation of trafficking in child pornography. Dalton told authorities he had 40 such images on his computer, according to court papers. http://www.timesdispatch.com/vametro/MGBPPYDJ8WC.html - - - - - - - - FTC Sues Firm For Moving Illegal TV Ads Online A dietary supplement company that paid $10 million to settle charges that its television infomercials misled consumers is facing new federal scrutiny for moving its allegedly fraudulent sales pitch onto the Internet. The Federal Trade Commission today announced that it had asked a federal judge to find the operators of Enforma Natural Products in contempt of a court order that required them to end a sales pitch surrounding its "Fat Trapper" and "Exercise In A Bottle" products. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173559.html - - - - - - - - FTC Taking 'Seriously' Request To Probe Firearms Sites The Federal Trade Commission today acknowledged it has received a written request from a new gun safety organization asking the agency to expand its post-Sept. 11 probe of false and misleading Web advertising claims to include firearms Web sites. The agency said today it is giving the matter "serious consideration." http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173556.html - - - - - - - - Hacking activity plummets Security breaches and hacking attacks have diminished in numbers since the September 11 terrorist attacks, according to data from a US government monitoring agency. Monthly reports by the Federal Computer Incident Response Center (FedCIRC), a central security coordination and analysis facility run by the US government, show just 15 incidents of intruder activity reported to it last month - less than a third of that recorded in December 2000. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/23628.html - - - - - - - - Impostor Web Pages Conceal Identity Thieves Christine Muehlenberg of New Berlin, Wis., was tricked into giving some sleazy Internet scam artists every piece of personal information you can imagine. They stole credit card numbers and bank account information. They got her Social Security number and birth date. They know where she lives, and ever since they got her phone number, Muehlenberg has received crank calls at odd hours. She's also afraid that whoever has her information could try to tap into her bank accounts or worse, steal her identity. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/15723.html - - - - - - - - IRS' Case of the Missing Laptops Losing your laptop may be a major headache for most people, but for America's tax collectors it happens all the time. The IRS has lost or misplaced 2,332 laptop computers, desktop computers and servers over three years, according to a recent report by Treasury Department auditors. They concluded it's a persistent problem: The IRS has "reported a material weakness in inventory controls" every year since 1983. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,49615,00.html - - - - - - - - E-Commerce Sites Fail Security 101 When it comes to dealing with Internet security, it seems the bigger the company, the more hackers focus on it. If there are four words e-commerce can always live by they are these: Never Get Too Comfortable. http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/15709.html - - - - - - - - 'Moron Spammer' shot down in flames Bernard Shifman is a computer consultant, 'moron spammer' and quick to threaten litigation when reported to his ISP for sending junk mail. One victim, Neil Schwartzman, has turned the tables with SpamFlames, a site dedicated to exposing Mr. Shifman's antics. It's very funny. And unlike the formerly famous revenge site PsychoExGirlfriend, no-one is questioning whether it's a hoax. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/23629.html - - - - - - - - Virus writers take aim at .Net Virus writers have apparently made the early developer list for Microsoft's .Net initiative. On Wednesday, antivirus companies received a copy of the first virus capable of infecting files based on Microsoft's .Net Intermediate Language, or MSIL. Known as W32.Donut, the virus does little but infect other .Net files, but it shows that the programmers who create such code are looking ahead, said Motoaki Yamamura, a virus researcher with security software company Symantec. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5101515,00.html http://www.techtv.com/news/virus/story/0,24195,3367548,00.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173540.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/23622.html http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/15725.html - - - - - - - - U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force We Need You To Join Us! - And we really mean it! There are eight new United States Secret Service (USSS) Electronic Crimes Task Force branches being formed throughout the country, and, if you live in the USA, one of them is probably close enough for you to get involved. Now more than ever, we need to work together to help prevent and prosecute the ever-growing threat of electronic crimes. http://www.infosecnews.com/opinion/2002/01/09_03.htm - - - - - - - - Government to launch online emergency service An intranet has been piloted by the Cabinet Office for coordinating responses to terrorism and national emergencies. The Cabinet Office is planning to launch an Internet-based emergency planning service in March. The intranet will be available to emergency services and government departments for coordinating local and national responses to terrorist attacks and other major disasters. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2102338,00.html - - - - - - - - U.K. schools get Web safety program U.K. efforts to improve child safety on the Internet were continued on Thursday with the launch of a nationwide education program, devised by Childnet International and PC manufacturer Tiny. The KidSmart initiative is supported by the Home Office's Internet taskforce on Child Protection. It was unveiled at the BETT education show on Thursday, and will be run throughout primary schools in England from January 2002. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/newsbursts/0,7407,2838022,00.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2102361,00.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/23627.html - - - - - - - - Napster returns as subscription music service Users will find drastically reduced selection of tunes for now. Napster, the embattled music service that single-handedly sparked the Internet music-sharing revolution only to be shut down in July under legal pressure, returns today as a subscription music service. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svtop/napstr011002.htm http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-8424479.html http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5101517,00.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2102345,00.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173536.html http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/01/10/napster.security.reut/index.html http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,49624,00.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/01/09/napster-usat.htm - - - - - - - - EPIC To Qwest: Ask Before Sharing Customers' Data A privacy watchdog group this week asked telecom company Qwest to suspend its plan to use telephone records to target advertising at its customers, unless those customers opt out of the program. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), meanwhile, is continuing to solicit comments on Qwest's proposed program, though the original comment period expired in November. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173555.html - - - - - - - - It's 'Bye-Bye, Deutschland' For Kim Schmitz Kim Schmitz, a self-proclaimed millionaire hacker, has fled his native Germany, according to a message at his Web site. In what he termed a "parting greeting" at Kimble.org, Schmitz said, "A German high-tech fairy tale is to end." http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173554.html *********************************************************** Search the NewsBits.net Archive at: http://www.newsbits.net/search.html *********************************************************** The source material may be copyrighted and all rights are retained by the original author/publisher. The information is provided to you for non-profit research and educational purposes. 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