March 13, 2002 Teen Hacker's Offer To Help Leads To Felony Charges A Kansas teenager who the FBI says hacked a California city's Web site and then offered to secure it was charged Thursday with 11 felony counts of computer crime. Matthew T. Kroeker, 18, allegedly used the nickname "Artech" while defacing more than 50 Web sites in 2000. Among Artech's suspected victims are sites operated by the U.S. Department of Transportation and Department of Labor, and the Internet home page of the City of Stockton, Calif. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175190.html - - - - - - - - Calif. Murder Suspect Had 64,000 Images of Girls The man charged with abducting and murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Dam had 64,000 sexually provocative images of what appeared to be teenage girls in his computer files, investigators said on Tuesday. Testifying at a preliminary court hearing in the case against David Westerfield, police said a search of his computer equipment also included about 100 pictures of girls engaged in sexual activity, girls provocatively posing with animals, or performing sexual acts with animals. http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml;jsessionid=CK3HM4M1ZHXEGCRBAELCFEY KEEARKIWD?type=topnews&StoryID=692523 - - - - - - - - Backdoor Worm Disguised As Microsoft Security Bulletin Windows users should be wary of a new Trojan Horse program making its rounds online disguised as a Microsoft security bulletin, a government funded computer security group warned Tuesday. The "W32/Gibe" worm masquerades as an "Internet Security Update" from Microsoft, according to the Computer Emergency Response Team at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175177.html - - - - - - - - High-Tech Senate GOP Agenda Tackles Taxes, Privacy The Senate Republican High Tech Task Force (HTTF) today unveiled its policy agenda for the rest of the current session of Congress, promising to fight for broadband tax credits, consumer privacy online without comprehensive legislation, cyber-security, liberalized trade ability and a permanent research and development tax credit. It also said that, contrary to some congressional efforts in the past decade, that it would not support federal control of Internet content or define what is "decent" online content, but would encourage parents to use Internet filtering programs and to take a role in deciding what their children see or hear. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175188.html - - - - - - - - Piracy suit may reflect failed merger talks A case of alleged industrial sabotage involving one of media baron Rupert Murdoch's companies took a fresh twist Wednesday as insiders said the warring parties broke off talks over a technology merger only last week. The TV arm of media giant Vivendi Universal filed a multibillion-dollar lawsuit on Monday accusing Murdoch-controlled technology company NDS Group of trying to destroy rivals by encouraging piracy. In what seems to be escalating into a corporate slugging match between Murdoch and Vivendi Chairman Jean-Marie Messier, the two companies have sharply differing versions of events. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-859145.html http://www.vnunet.com/News/1130067 http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/24413.html - - - - - - - - Radio Ads To Spread Online Privacy Messages The Privacy Leadership Initiative (PLI) and the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) have co-produced a series of public service announcements designed to help people protect their privacy online, the two organizations said today. PLI, which describes itself as a privacy watchdog group comprised of CEOs from major corporations and business associations, said participants in recent focus groups it conducted named identity theft and online privacy as two areas of greatest concern. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175161.html - - - - - - - - Privacy program returns, less anonymous than before A Montreal company that specializes in privacy software said Tuesday it is again offering a service for browsing Web pages anonymously - but users will be less anonymous this time around. The Freedom Network, discontinued by Zero-Knowledge Systems Inc. last fall, was too expensive to run and too complicated to use, so it remained a niche service, spokesman Dov Smith said. He said the new service, called Freedom WebSecure, is designed for the mass market. The main difference is in the level of anonymity users can expect. http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/300063p-2626720c.html - - - - - - - - Net gambling squeeze gains momentum A U.S. House panel voted Tuesday to update a 40-year-old law banning interstate betting so that it would apply to fast-growing Internet gambling sites as well. The House Judiciary subcommittee on crime voted unanimously to approve a measure that would update the Wire Act of 1961, which bans interstate wagers, so it would clearly apply to the Internet and other modern communications, as well as telephone lines. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-858683.html - - - - - - - - Lawmaker: Is copy protection wrong? An influential U.S. lawmaker stepped up his criticism Wednesday of record labels' moves to protect CDs against copying. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., approached the record industry's trade association in January with concerns that blocking consumers from copying their own CDs might violate U.S. copyright law. The response from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) didn't satisfy him, he said. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-859089.html http://news.com.com/2100-1023-858991.html - - - - - - - - Cybersecurity Alliance Gains Momentum "The National Cyber Security Alliance, a partnership between the federal government and private-sector companies, announced March 12 that its membership has more than doubled in its first month, with 40 new companies joining..." The alliance is a cooperative effort between industry and government organizations to foster awareness of cybersecurity through educational outreach and public awareness..." http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/16757.html - - - - - - - - Internet Explorer Exploit Gives Windows XP Users The Boot An unpatched flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6 browser could enable attackers to shut down the computers of some users who visit a specially designed Web page, security experts warned today. The flaw, commonly referred to as the Codebase Localpath vulnerability, was reported to Microsoft in January and February by separate security researchers, and may have been identified as early as June, 2000, experts said. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175185.html - - - - - - - - Jac virus targets Linux First to hit the platform in three months. Virus watchers have reported the rare sighting of a new strain affecting the Linux platform. The Jac virus follows the recent trend of infrequent Linux infecting malware, as the first to hit the platform in three months. Jac infects the Linux binary files in the Linux Executable and Linking Format that exist in the same directory as the virus. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1130066 - - - - - - - - Game Boy hacking kit to hit the streets A Game Boy Advance customer dissatisfied with the portable game machine's dimly lit screen is moving ahead with plans to sell a do-it-yourself modification kit. Adam Curtis announced he will start taking advance orders Friday for The Afterburner, a $35 kit that will allow GBA owners who don't mind voiding their warranty to install an internal light source in the Nintendo game machine. Shortly after the GBA arrived in the United States, Curtis launched the Portable Monopoly site to protest the screen's poor illumination and to search for remedies. http://zdnet.com.com/2110-11-859131.html - - - - - - - - IPCop: An Overview IPCop is a cut-down Linux distribution that is intended to operate as a firewall, and only as a firewall. It has some advanced firewalling features, including VPNs using IPSec. This article describes the set-up and use of IPCop, and contains a few comments about its features. This article is based on IPCop version 0.1.1, which was in turn derived from SmoothWall version 0.9.9. IPCop's main feature is as a firewall system for small offices or home networks. Being licensed under the GPL, it is free to use and therefore the only costs in getting it running are the hardware. http://online.securityfocus.com/infocus/1556 - - - - - - - - Make a date to get smart card Air Force personnel nationwide soon will be able to go online to schedule an appointment to receive a Common Access Card (CAC) using a system developed by TimeTrade Systems Inc. TimeTrade is providing its scheduling and resource management software as part of the Air Force's enterprisewide public-key infrastructure implementation. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0311/web-smart-03-13-02.asp - - - - - - - - UK study: Passwords often easy to crack Computer passwords are supposed to be secret. But psychologists say it is possible to predict a password based on the personalities of users or even what is on their desks. Objects around the office may not seem important. But they may help someone to crack your computer password and masquerade as you, sending e-mails, accessing files and even plundering your online bank account. http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/ptech/03/13/dangerous.passwords/index.html - - - - - - - - Factoring gains won't break strong crypto Concerns that improvements in factoring technology might make it easier to break large key length encryption codes are misplaced, according to noted cryptographer Bruce Schneier. Last year mathematician Dan Bernstein circulated a paper discussing improvements in integer factorization, using specialised parallel hardware, implying that encryption keys as long as 2048 bits can now be broken. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/24414.html - - - - - - - - What if we could create a PC vaccine? In order to create natural defenses, the Salk/Sabin polio vaccine exposes a healthy body to weak strains of the common poliomyelitis virus. No matter which variation of polio a vaccinated individual comes into contact with, he or she should successfully resist infection. Using this biological analogy, Cenzic, a Campbell, Calif.-based company, wants to inject computer networks with randomly generated malicious code in order to build the necessary defenses before the next Nimda-like worm strikes. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-858622.html - - - - - - - - Grid computing boosts hacker network Just before I start writing, I look at the colorful blocks and jagged lines of the SETI at Home screen saver that runs on my workstation. SETI at Home is a distributed computing application that divides a massive signal processing problem into tiny segments and sends them to millions of computers worldwide. Since SETI's inception, many other distributed--or grid--computing projects have begun work, and vendors such as Sun, IBM, and Compaq have jumped into the fray. http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2854156,00.html - - - - - - - - Will technology hinder the security alert system? State and local officials called the federal government's release of a Homeland Security Advisory System March 12 a good first step to enhance communication, but expressed concern that local agencies may not have the technology to make the system useful. During the past week, the Office of Homeland Security has discussed the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS) with many state and local officials, who said the system's five threat levels and recommended actions will be particularly important for facilitating coordination between the levels of government. http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/fcw1.htm - - - - - - - - EFF BOFH arrested Marc Perkel, sysadmin at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, has been arrested by LA police department. A political activist, civil libertarian and member of both Rep and Dem parties, Perkel runs the overthrowthegovernment.org and hosts the Bartcop web sites. He was arrested on returning to the country from Australia on a "Fugitive from Justice" charge, according to a statement on the Bartcop site. The LAPD ticket can be found here. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/5/24404.html - - - - - - - - Digital MP adds facial recognition The Army announced this week that its military police officers have successfully tested facial recognition technology to aid them in their duties, and the same system ultimately could include language translation capabilities for use in Defense Department peacekeeping initiatives. MicroOptical Engineering Corp. awarded Visionics Corp. a $100,000 subcontract for the use of Visionics' FaceIt product in a mobile security system that is part of the Army's Digital Military Police program. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0311/web-army-03-13-02.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. 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