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.