January 28, 2002 Russian hacks into US bank A Russian hacker was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of extortion and breaking into a US bank's network. Identified only as Nikolai, the suspect was arrested in Surgut, Siberia on 15 January after breaking into the web server of Online Resources, a company that provides online banking services. According to police, the hacker used this information to access a bank in New York. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1128674 - - - - - - - - Woman Admits To E-Mail Anthrax Hoax, Presidential Threats A Columbus, Ohio, woman has pleaded guilty to sending e-mail threatening to kill President George W. Bush and to send anthrax-laden letters to thousands of colleges and middle schools. Alemash T. Alemayehu, 23, admitted guilt to the charges Friday. Her menacing screeds may have gone unnoticed had she not sent them directly to an FBI Web site that collects tips on terrorist activity. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174001.html - - - - - - - - New E-Mail worm 'my Party' surfaces, begins to grow A new computer bug that tries to trick computer users into clicking on a virus-infected Web link masquerading as party photos emerged in Asia on Monday and began spreading to Europe and North America, computer experts said. The ``My Party'' worm, which is not considered destructive, spreads by infiltrating popular e-mail software Microsoft Windows Address Book and Outlook Express Database. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/reuters_wire/1745297l.htm http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-823933.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2103250,00.html http://news.com.com/2100-1001-823959.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173987.html http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/01/28/myparty.worm.reut/index.html http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,50071,00.html http://www.vnunet.com/News/1128670 http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/01/28/my-party-worm.htm http://www.techtv.com/news/security/story/0,24195,3369782,00.html How to remove the "My Party" worm http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,2843181,00.html - - - - - - - - Israel, U.S. among top sources of cyber attacks More cyber attacks originate in the United States than in any other country, but the number of attacks that appear to come from Israel is nearly double that of any other nation based on number of Internet users, according to a study released Monday. High-tech, financial services, media/entertainment and power and energy companies showed the highest intensity of attacks per company, each averaging more than 700 attacks per company over the six-month period. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/040898.htm http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-824448.html http://news.com.com/2100-1001-824419.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/01/28/security-study.htm - - - - - - - - Computer Attacks On Companies Up Sharply Cyber attacks are becoming more common and targeted, according to study to be released today, and security experts warned that the trend is only going to increase. Tracking the security breaches of more than 300 clients across the world, Internet security firm Riptech said it verified at least 128,678 cyber attacks from July to December 2001. While few of the attacks detected posed a "severe threat," the Alexandria, Va. company said it was surprised by the volume. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173978.html http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/01/28/security.study.reut/index.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46836-2002Jan27.html - - - - - - - - Senior CIA official says war on terror will go on indefinitely Paul Pillar is one of the government's senior anti-terrorism experts. He joined the CIA in 1977 and rose to become deputy chief of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center, an office created in 1986 to assess and combat threats to Americans from Middle Eastern terrorists. The center, staffed by representatives from several government agencies, gives the White House a daily threat assessment of possible terrorist actions. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0102/012802nj2.htm - - - - - - - - Aussie Agencies Get Access To U.S. Net Fraud Database The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today said that it would give Australian law enforcers broader access to Consumer Sentinel - the FTC's database of Internet and telemarketing fraud complaints. "One of (our) key goals is to improve information sharing," FTC Associate Director for Planning and Information Hugh Stevenson told Newsbytes today. "One of the challenges with consumer complaints is that if you just have one or two it's hard to know how valid the complaints are." http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174000.html - - - - - - - - More Online Security Woes For FBI's Data Firm A week after plugging a severe security hole at its main Web site, database firm ChoicePoint has been stung with the discovery of major vulnerabilities at another of its Internet properties. According to security experts, the latest flaw potentially enabled remote attackers to take complete control of The LienGuard System, a ChoicePoint service for banks and other customers in the financial services industry. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174003.html - - - - - - - - NIST prepping security guides The National Institute of Standards and Technology's security team will be releasing more than 30 guides over the coming year to help agencies with many crucial technical and policy security concerns, officials said last week. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0128/web-nist-01-28-02.asp - - - - - - - - Qwest opts to put record sharing on hold Bowing to concerns from customers, lawmakers and consumer groups, Qwest Communications has revoked plans to share private phone records with its business partners. The company said Monday that it would wait until the Federal Communications Commission issues specific rules regarding whether customers must opt in to such plans before deciding if it would release customer phone data. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-824479.html - - - - - - - - Illinois auditor calls for Web privacy law Illinois auditor general has asked the Legislature for a law requiring state agencies to develop and post privacy policies on their Web sites. In the report released this month, auditor general William Holland said Illinois lacks a statewide Web privacy policy, although 52 of the states 114 sites use cookies or user logs to gather information about visitors. Thirty of the agencies used cookies to collect data, the report said, 12 used both logs and cookies, and 10 used only logs. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/17840-1.html - - - - - - - - Technology raises concerns about shoppers' privacy. You swipe your savings card against a screen mounted on a supermarket shopping cart. As you move around the store, the screen flashes ads for products you usually buy, notes that you haven't bought toothpaste in six months, and provides recipes and health information. All the while, your every move - including which aisles you go down and how long you spend in each department - is tracked for marketing purposes via the savings cards, also known as loyalty cards. Such technology is in the works and privacy advocates already concerned about the proliferation of cards that monitor customers' purchases - are outraged. http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/231052p-2220627c.html - - - - - - - - Morpheus application is 'safe' Morpheus, the music and file-sharing application, is free of malicious code - although individual downloaded files carried by the service may be contaminated. According to recent Usenet reports some people were infected with Nimda worm variants after using MusicCity Morpheus. According to Morpheus, individual downloaded files, rather than the software application itself (which would present a far greater risk), are responsible for any problems. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/23842.html - - - - - - - - NSA sets deal for more crypto cards The National Security Agency has awarded a three year contract for up to $33.6 million worth of Fortezza Plus Crypto Cards from Rainbow Mykotronx. NSA distributed enough of the cards in two years to exhaust an earlier $15.3 million contract with the company. Rainbow Mykotronx, a division of Rainbow Technologies Inc. of Irvine, Calif., is the developer of the Fortezza Plus PC Card, used for securing classified voice traffic. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/17841-1.html - - - - - - - - Future trends in security - 3i survey When investment house 3i casts its eye over the future development of Internet security the market takes note. After all 3i is a significant stakeholder in the industry and is in an interesting position to gauge trends in the market. So it was with interest that we went along last Wednesday night to hear about 3i's white paper on e-business security, which was based on a survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) involving the CEOs of 25 e-security suppliers. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/23848.html - - - - - - - - When screensavers are a crime Distributed computing uses idle PCs. The next time you install software on your computer at work, you could be facing criminal charges. This is what happened to computer technician David McOwen, when he installed a program on the PCs at DeKalb Technical College in Atlanta, Georgia, US, without first asking permission. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1782000/1782050.stm - - - - - - - - Losing the Code War The great age of code breaking is overand with it much of our ability to track the communications of our enemies. Within days of the September 11 attacks U.S. intelligence agencies were being blamed in many quarters for their failure to detect the terrorists' plans in advance. Mistakes in the formulation and execution of intelligence policy were no doubt made. http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2002/02/budiansky.htm - - - - - - - - Waging a battle against PC bugs Companies find them difficult to squash. Computer bugs are the digital gremlins of the software world -- bits of errant computer code that wreak havoc in some of the world's best-known computer programs. And despite the best efforts of software companies to eradicate them, bugs seem to multiply. Following a series of embarrassing incidents, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates recently launched an all-out battle to eradicate security holes in Microsoft software and improve the programs' overall reliability. For 7,000 developers, the effort includes an unprecedented one-month timeout to get special training on how to fight bugs. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svfront/secur012702.htm - - - - - - - - A Terrorism Q&A The Council on Foreign Relations has put up a Web site to help Americans troubled by the threats of terrorism in the wake of Sept. 11. The site from the New York-based non-partisan council contains a straightforward question-and-answer format designed to be understandable by the average person. "When we know something, we'll tell you; when we're not sure, we'll tell you; and when the experts disagree, we'll tell you that, too," the site says. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173990.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.