January 11, 2002
Herndon man faces multiple sex-crime charges
Both county and feds will pursue abduction case Scott
W. Tyree, the 38-year-old Herndon man arrested Friday
after a13-year-old Pittsburgh girl was found tied up
in his Hemlock Court town house, is likely to face an
array of federal and state charges. Tyree was arrested
by FBI agents Friday afternoon at Computer Associates
International on Sunrise Valley Drive, where a
colleague said Tyree was a "model employee."
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=2933082&BRD=1898&PAG=461&dept_id=126522&rfi=6
- - - - - - - -
Gigger Windows Worm Is Nasty, But Rare
A new worm that targets users of Microsoft's Outlook
e-mail client would like to reformat your PC's hard
drive, but anti-virus companies say that the malicious
code they've dubbed Gigger is still rare in the wild.
The worm, which can arrive as an e-mail attachment
with the file name mmsn_ofline.htm, was written using
both JavaScript and Visual Basic Script code, according
to F-Secure Corp.'s Security Information Center, and
contains an easy to find - but not easy to verify -
comment that reads: "This worm is donation from all
Bulgarians!"
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173597.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/23652.html
- - - - - - - -
Tools Take On New Linux Trojan
Utilities for detecting and removing a new Trojan
horse that targets Linux systems have been posted
on the Internet for free download. The tools,
created by managed security provider Qualys, battle
a new variant of the Remote Shell Trojan, dubbed
"RST.b," which creates a backdoor on infected Linux
computers, giving a remote attacker full control.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173589.html
- - - - - - - -
Crooks snatch data from ATMs to rob bank accounts.
At the corner market, the skim is in the refrigerated
milk and perhaps in the store's cash-dispensing ATM.
But this particular "skim" isn't good for customers
since it involves the poaching of an unsuspecting
consumer's bankcard data. Thieves have found a way to
steal not only someone's account number from an ATM
or debit card, but also the person's seemingly secret
personal identification number. With this double dose
of information, thieves can electronically rob
unsuspecting victims of their cash. The scam has been
reported in New York, Florida, California, and points
in Canada.
http://www.techtv.com/news/culture/story/0,24195,3367761,00.html
- - - - - - - -
Agencies need to focus on cybersecurity now--or else
Do something about cybersecurity now. Thats the message
for federal agencies in a new National Research Council
report, Cybersecurity Today and Tomorrow: Pay Now or
Pay Later, which might well be considered a primer on
all aspects of cybersecurity. The report was written by
the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the
National Research Council, the research arm of the
National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy
of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine.
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0102/011102j1.htm
- - - - - - - -
Officials want tougher Internet sex law
People convicted and sentenced of sexually exploiting
children over the Internet should be required to join
a statewide registry for sex offenders, a state law
enforcement official says. "They certainly involve
a sex-related element where these people are trying
to victimize children," said Stephen Miller, deputy
director of the state's Division of Criminal
Investigation. Current state law does not require
registration of such offenders, Miller said.
http://www.trib.com/HOMENEWS/WYO/InternetSex.html
- - - - - - - -
Fed up with unsolicited e-mail, computer users go to court
Ellen Spertus was outraged when Kozmo.com still sent
her e-mail after she declined such pitches. So she
sued the online retailer under California's 1998
anti-spam law. Spertus is among a handful of
individuals who have chosen to fight unsolicited
e-mail in court. They've had mixed success so far
in what many consider only the early skirmishes
of a war on spam.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/031444.htm
- - - - - - - -
FTC to settle Eli Lilly privacy probe
Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly is close to a settlement
with the U.S. government for releasing an e-mail list
last summer of patients who used its anti-depressant
drug Prozac, according to sources familiar with the
matter. The Federal Trade Commission is investigating
whether Lilly engaged in unfair or deceptive trade
practices when it mistakenly revealed the e-mail
addresses of more than 700 Prozac users, the sources
said. The FTC could announce a settlement as soon as
next week, sources said.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-8445473.html
- - - - - - - -
Interior officials take the stand
Both the Interior Department's chief information
officer and one of his top deputies have testified
that they played little more than an advisory role
in the development of a seriously troubled,
multimillion-dollar computer system set up by the
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to handle trust
payments to about 500,000 American Indians.
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0114/web-indian-01-14-02.asp
- - - - - - - -
DOD comes up short in credit check
The General Accounting Office has concluded that
the Defense Department needs to limit the number
of purchase cards it issues and recommended imposing
credit checks on DOD employees who carry the cards.
In a report last week, GAO listed examples of misuse
of government-issued purchase cards at two Navy
facilities, including unauthorized purchases of home
computers, notebook PCs, personal digital assistants
and DVD players.
http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/17747-1.html
- - - - - - - -
Microsoft failing security test?
Microsoft's security initiatives and the release
of the company's "most secure operating system yet"
haven't quashed myriad holes that security experts
say put customers in harm's way. Although the
software titan has been touting the need for
security through its Secure Windows Initiative,
the recent revelation of a severe flaw in the
company's flagship Windows XP operating system--
combined with the discoveries of several recent
Internet Explorer browser holes--has left security
experts questioning whether Microsoft can fully
lock down its products.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5101593,00.html
Commentary: Microsoft's security woes
The "donut" virus has been called the first .Net virus.
Written by a 19-year-old Czech hacker, it has revealed
that Microsoft faces continued security problems, even
with its relatively new .Net technology. This latest
security problem is actually the repackaging of an
already known Windows vulnerability. An enterprising
hacker was able to augment a native Windows assembler
code virus with the Microsoft Intermediate Language
(MSIL)--the intermediate code used by the .Net
Framework.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-201-8447073-0.html
Microsoft's security push lacks oomph
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-8437230.html
'Donut' virus set to poke holes in .Net
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/01/13/donut.virus.idg/index.html
Microsoft, antivirus firms at odds over 'Donut' virus
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/01/11/microsoft-virus-dispute.htm
Microsoft still suffers insecurity complex
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/comment/0,5859,5101601,00.html
Microsoft Store Offline After Insecurity Exposed
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173601.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/news/307
- - - - - - - -
Bush hires first CTO
Former U.S. Postal Service official Norman Lorentz
began work this month as the Office of Management
and Budget's first chief technology officer.
Lorentz, who was hired last month, will work under
Mark Forman, OMB's associate director for information
technology and e-government. In November, Forman
told Federal Computer Week that he wanted a CTO
to help oversee the integration and implementation
of new commercial technologies into the overall
e-government agenda.
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0107/web-cto-01-11-02.asp
- - - - - - - -
Divining the Future of Law and Technology
When I was commissioned to write Cyber Law Journal
in 1997, I thought that the best way to cover my beat
would be to plop myself down at the intersection of
law and cyberspace and watch the litigants, lawyers,
cases, professors and judges pass by. That turned out
to be as good a method as any, with the added benefit
that parades are fun to watch. But now after four and
a half years and well over 200 columns I'm leaving my
seat.
(NY Times article, free registration required)
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/11/technology/11CYBERLAW.html
- - - - - - - -
Film explores link between people, porn and Net
Jed Weintrob recalls the situation that inspired him
to make his film On_Line, about relationships, online
porn and Webcams: He knew a married couple. The wife
went away on a business trip and had an affair. The
husband found out after friends told him he better
read her online diary, where she documented her life
all of it.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/01/10/ebrief.htm
- - - - - - - -
Is your son a computer hacker?
OK, we give in: if we tell you how you can find out
whether your son is a computer hacker, promise us
in turn that you'll stop submitting us the original
article. Let's begin. In December, a site called
Adequacy.org posted the piece by author T.Reginald
Gibbons "How to tell if your son is a computer hacker."
Mr. Gibbons, model parent and patriarch of "the finest
family in the USA" had his cosy world torn apart, as
before his eyes his son Peter turned into a shifty
computer geek.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/23650.html
- - - - - - - -
W.Va. checks drivers photos with FaceIt
West Virginias Motor Vehicles Department is piloting
the use of facial recognition software to verify license
applicants and holders. Digimarc ID Systems of Tualatin,
Ore., is installing FaceIt recognition software from
Visionics Corp. of Jersey City, N.J., to compare each new
license photo against 2 million JPEG photos stored in the
DMV database, said David Bolyard, director of driver
services. Within a few seconds, the system returns any
similar photos so that DMV officials can revoke fraudulent
or duplicate licenses.
http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/17745-1.html
- - - - - - - -
CIA prospects for Silicon Valley gold
Technology entrepreneur Neil Senturia got an unexpected
phone call one day from a man working for the CIA. When
a friend asked how it happened, Senturia joked: ``They're
the CIA. They find anything they want.'' Actually, the
CIA has not always had the easiest time finding what
it needs from the fast-moving world of technology.
Which is why it launched three years ago a nonprofit
venture capital arm, In-Q-Tel.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/075197.htm
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/industry/01/12/silicon.snoops.ap/index.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. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however
copies may not be sold, and NewsBits (www.newsbits.net)
should be cited as the source of the information.
Copyright 2000-2002, NewsBits.net, Campbell, CA.