February 1, 2002 Two plead guilty in warez piracy case Two men pleaded guilty yesterday to criminal copyright infringement for their involvement in an Internet piracy, or warez, group known as DrinkOrDie. Kentaga Kartadinata and Mike Nguyen, both of Los Angeles, face statutory minimum sentences of five years in federal prison, fines of up to $250,000 each and possible payment of restitution to their victims, according to the Justice Department. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/17875-1.html http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/071140.htm - - - - - - - - Masterminds Of $16 Million Investment Scheme Sentenced A federal judge in New York this week sentenced two men to lengthy prison terms for their role in an investment scheme that swindled 172 investors of more than $16 million. U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin sentenced Anthony Guastella and Robert Martins to nearly 17 years and 11 years in prison, respectively, for orchestrating an Internet investment scheme that has already landed four of their co-conspirators in jail. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174171.html - - - - - - - - Accused Ebay hacker on electronic leash Until he goes to trial in March, the only sophisticated electronics in accused eBay hacker Jerome Heckenkamp's life will be the monitoring bracelet bolted to his ankle, under a court order issued Tuesday clearing the way for his release. In a hearing in federal court in San Jose, Calif., U.S. magistrate Patricia Trumble reestablished bail for the imprisoned computer whiz at $50,000, but imposed a new set of restrictions on his release. Heckenkamp will remain prohibited from using cell phones and the Internet, and is now also banned from accessing or owning a computer, even without an Internet connection. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/23910.html - - - - - - - - World Economic Forum Web site crashes amid cyberthreats The World Economic Forum's Web site crashed Friday, and online activists claimed they forced it down in a "virtual sit-in." Forum officials said they were trying to determine what brought the site down. They originally attributed the failure to "overuse," but messages posted at the online Independent Media Center took credit for the crash. http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/236320p-2260761c.html - - - - - - - - KaZaA.com 'evaluates' Dutch court ban KaZaA.com continues to operate its Napster-style software downloads despite a ruling against its former owners in a Dutch court. An Amsterdam district court yesterday ruled KaZaA, the Dutch software and products firm that founded KaZaA.com, provided software that encouraged copyright infringement. It ordered KaZaA to stop the worldwide distribution of its popular P2P software. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/23920.html - - - - - - - - Top News Sites Close Script Hacking Hole A security flaw at leading online news providers MSNBC.com, NYTimes.com, and WashingtonPost.com could have allowed attackers to generate bogus articles using the sites. In a demonstration of the bug, David De Vitry, an independent security specialist, exploited the news sites to create a phony story in which a NASA official claimed the space agency's moon landings were faked. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174173.html - - - - - - - - E-business edgy after hackers shut British firm Fears are growing once more that companies operating on the Internet may not be equipped to ward off electronic sabotage after anonymous ``hackers'' forced a small British firm out of business. CloudNine Communications, one of Britain's oldest Internet Service Providers ISPs), shut down last week with the loss of eight jobs in what computer experts believe is the first instance of a company being hacked out of existence. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/074337.htm http://www.techtv.com/news/security/story/0,24195,3370593,00.html http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/02/01/hack.attack.reut/index.html - - - - - - - - Feds streamline process for battling identity theft Privacy Rights Clearinghouse ID Theft Affidavit Get headlines in your inbox with Nando newsletters A new tool for victims of identity theft may help them limit the damage when criminals try to run amok with their financial and personal information. The Federal Trade Commission, working with financial companies and consumer groups, has developed an ID Theft Affidavit, a single form that simplifies the process of disputing fraudulent debts and new accounts opened by an identity thief. http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/237001p-2265508c.html - - - - - - - - Online Mugging a Threat, But No Showstopper Some credit card companies offer surrogate account numbers for online use that mask a user's true credit card number from hackers, Gartner senior analyst Kerr said. It is no wonder that security initiatives have risen to the top of technology companies' priority lists. In addition to terrorist and virus threats, personal identity theft is a burgeoning menace for online consumers and merchants alike. "[Identity theft online] is more likely than you might think," Gartner senior analyst Kenneth Kerr told the E-Commerce Times. "In fact, the numbers are shockingly high." http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/16113.html - - - - - - - - Bush budgets $52 billion for IT President Bush will seek $52 billion for federal information technology programs in fiscal 2003, a dramatic 15.6 percent increase stemming from the administration's focus on using IT to improve government performance and the response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The request to increase the IT budget from $45billion in fiscal 2002 to $52 billion in fiscal 2003 is necessary to focus on the three goals outlined in the president's State of the Union address terrorism, homeland security and the economy said Mark Forman, associate director for information technology and e-government at the Office of Management and Budget. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0128/web-budget-02-01-02.asp http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0202/020102h1.htm Forman asks for 15 percent more for IT in 2003 http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/17876-1.html - - - - - - - - Oz Censor Law Still Confuses Two years after online censorship laws took effect here, no one - apart from the censors themselves has much of an idea what's being taken offline. Opponents say the regime is becoming unaccountable. The censors say secrecy is vital to fighting child pornography. On Jan. 1, 2000, the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) gained powers to order Australian Internet content hosts to remove material deemed overly sexually explicit or violent. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,50177,00.html - - - - - - - - Peacefire Accuses CyberPatrol Of 'Overblocking' Anti-Internet-filtering Web site Peacefire.org today released a scathing review of the CyberPatrol Internet-blocking software. The software is released by SurfControl. According to Peacefire's Bennett Haselton, CyberPatrol has had complaints about "overblocking" Web sites since 1995. On the group's site, Haselton said, "it is reasonable to assume that if problems with the accuracy rate have not been fixed by now, they are probably inherent in the program." http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174172.html - - - - - - - - Microsoft's New Security Chief Was Hacker Hunter Microsoft's new security czar may not be an expert in patching holes in software, but he has experience in hunting down and prosecuting hackers who like to exploit such vulnerabilities. Scott Charney, who Microsoft named Thursday as its chief security strategist, spent most of the 1990s at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), where he headed the division responsible for computer crimes. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174153.html - - - - - - - - US plans crackdown on deceptive junk email Federal Trade Commission urges users to report spam, and promises stiff fines for scam artists. Is it too little, too late? The US government is planning -- for the first time -- to go after "spammers" who swamp Internet users with deceptive email offers, Federal Trade Commission officials say. The FTC will announce enforcement actions as early as next week against online marketers who use deceptive claims in their email pitches, said J. Howard Beales, director of the FTC's enforcement bureau on Friday. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2103555,00.html Group Asks Court To Overturn Unwanted E-Mail Ruling http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174168.html - - - - - - - - SMS Spamming Outlawed In Hong Kong When Hong Kong mobile phone users were given the ability last December to send text messages to one another across rival networks there was a fear that without action by the carriers the amount of short message spam would skyrocket. But a government official confirmed this week that the sending of un-solicited promotional messages on the short message service (SMS) within mobile phones is frowned upon and could get the sender's SMS facility canceled. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174140.html - - - - - - - - Trust me, I'm a spam message! Fear of fraud has a big effect on response levels to commercial mail, known to most of us as spam. So what the world needs is a "trusted sender" program to assure customers that they won't get ripped off when they respond to email offers. Step forward TRUSTe, best known for its Web site privacy scheme, which has launched an "email certification and seal program". http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/23/23915.html - - - - - - - - FBI wants to share, but how? The FBI knows the agencies involved in homeland security need to do a better job of sharing information, but the bureau is having trouble deciding what to share with whom, its information resources chief said. The FBI is willing to share information "with those who have a need to know. The problem is we don't know who has a need to know," Mark Tanner, FBI information resources manager, told technology business representatives Jan. 31. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0128/web-fbi-02-01-02.asp - - - - - - - - Mobile immobilising chip to fight crime An immobiliser chip promises to block stolen mobile phones, according to its developer, Xilinx. On being reported stolen, the company's CoolRunner-II chip can be sent data to block the phone's keypad, Xilinx said, much like a car immobiliser. "Basically [it] makes the handset unusable," explained Dave Nicklin, European market development manager for Xilinx. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1128891 - - - - - - - - DoS risks against Cisco storage routers routed Cisco is advising users to upgrade software on its line of storage routers after the discovery of multiple security vulnerabilities involving the technology. Three vulnerabilities have been discovered in Cisco SN 5420 Storage Router software releases up to and including 1.1(5). http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/23916.html - - - - - - - - Microsoft stops new work to fix bugs Microsoft Corp. today announced a month-long moratorium on new coding as part of its Trustworthy Computing Initiative, said Richard Purcell, director of the companys corporate computing office. We are not coding new code as of today for the next month, Purcell said at a privacy and data security summit in Washington that was sponsored by the Corporation of Privacy Officers. Instead, the company is going to go over its old code as a first step in cleaning out bugs. Purcell likened it to a 20-year spring cleaning. Its time to get the garage cleaned out, he said. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/17874-1.html Microsoft rolls security bandage for Win 2000 http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/17860-1.html - - - - - - - - HP fine-tunes recovery, security for PCs Consumers using Hewlett-Packard PCs now have new options for disaster recovery, hard-disk upgrades and online security HP has eased a policy that could limit how consumers recover their PCs in the event of hardware failure or when they upgrade hard drives. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2103619,00.html - - - - - - - - Giving Hackers Their Due Like the proverbial Dutch boy with his finger in the dyke to prevent the flood, the guardians of Internet security are vastly unprepared to meet the challenges of defaced Web sites, network intrusions and email viruses, according to one of the country's most notorious hackers. The best the security industry has been able to do, says Robert Lyttle, aka Pimpshiz, is play catch up after the fact. Instead, he said, experts should take the time to develop a rapport and understanding of the very community that spawns these attacks: hackers. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/16115.html - - - - - - - - Where Did All the Hackers Go? In many ways, LinuxWorld 2002 was the ultimate bad blind date. Big business was briefly paired with hackers at the expo. The business folks got all excited and talked about long-term committed relationships, but the hackers were bored out of their minds. Many long-term LinuxWorld attendees said they thought the corporate presence at this year's show was both overwhelming and uninspiring, and they felt that the expo had lost its hacker heart. http://www.wired.com/news/linux/0,1411,50173,00.html - - - - - - - - Interview with an ex-hacker According to the defacement archive at Alldas.de, the hacker group known as the 'sm0ked crew' only terrorised websites throughout February of last year. But that was maybe enough for one member of the crew, Splurge, who decided to call it quits and go straight in the security industry. Eighteen-year-old Splurge, who withheld his real name, contacted vnunet.com to tell us his story. What prompted him to switch from a life of box breaking and defacing, to the somewhat more acceptable career of a security consultant selling denial of service (DoS) filter systems? http://www.vnunet.com/News/1128889 - - - - - - - - Vast computer-based air security system planned The U.S. government and technology companies will soon begin testing a vast air security screening system that would generate passenger profiles as well as a wealth of personal information, the Washington Post reported Friday. The newspaper said federal aviation authorities plan to build a computer network linking every reservation system in the United States to private and government databases to help authorities identify potential threats more effectively while easing lines at airport security checkpoints. http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/02/01/airline-security-system.htm - - - - - - - - Parks Cop Burned In Scam Wants Job Back A national parks cop who once guarded the Statue of Liberty plans to sue the federal government over his arrest on charges he raped a Chinese prostitute he met on the Internet. Richard Koester, 37, says all he wants is his job back plus the pay he has lost while on suspension the past 11 months. Koester's globe-spanning tale of romance, lust and betrayal began last year when he began flirting with 26-year-old Mau Zheng of Shenzhen, China, in an America Online chat room. http://www.nydailynews.com/2002-02-01/News_and_Views/Beyond_the_City/a-140000.asp *********************************************************** 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.