April 3, 2002 EBay's fraudulent bat-man strikes out A man who impersonated major league shortstops Derek Jeter and Nomar Garciaparra to obtain baseball bats, and then sold them on eBay claiming they had been used by the stars, pleaded guilty to six counts of mail and wire fraud. Herbert John Derungs, 31, of San Francisco faces up to five years in prison, a fine of $250,000 and restitution for each of the counts when he is sentenced July 1, prosecutors said Tuesday. Derungs admitted claiming to be Jeter and Garciaparra in e-mails sent to the Original Maple Bat Co. Jeter plays for the New York Yankees and Garciaparra plays for the Boston Red Sox. http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/340985p-2821802c.html - - - - - - - - 'DrinkorDie' Figure 'Fesses Up Nathan Hunt, a leading software supplier to an international Internet piracy group called "DrinkorDie," pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one count of conspiring to commit copyright infringement, U.S. prosecutors said. DrinkorDie allegedly reproduced and distributed hundreds of thousands of copies of copyright works illegally, causing billions of dollars in losses each year. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51523,00.html - - - - - - - - LOSER LOVER JAILED FOR HACKING PAY FILES A lovelorn computer hacker was hit with an 18-month jail sentence for breaking into his ex-firm's top- secret salary files and giving the woman who rejected him a $140,000 upgrade in pay. Washington Leung has pleaded guilty to breaking into the computer system at the Manhattan insurance company Marsh, Inc. Leung was fired in October 2000 after a co-worker complained of harassment. The woman told her bosses the abuse began after she rejected his romantic overtures. After he was fired, Leung swiped salary files and altered the unidentified woman's records to boost her annual pay by $40,000 and give her a bonus of $100,000. http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/44649.htm - - - - - - - - Judge drops conviction of worker who intentionally spread virus One of the first convictions obtained under a federal law intended to crack down on computer hacking has been erased by a federal judge based on a financial assessment of the damage. Computer technician Herbert Pierre-Louis was convicted of knowingly transmitting a computer virus to his employer. But his jury decided the loss, not including lost profits, was less than $5,000, the minimum required for a conviction. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/2985941.htm http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175635.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/24688.html - - - - - - - - Boy says thefts taught victims a lesson, police say Delinquency petition says youth defrauded 200 AOL members. Using an "underground" computer program to steal Internet account information from about 200 people, a 16-year-old Cudahy boy bought everything from a marijuana bong to computer equipment and Air Jordan shoes, court records allege. And now, a juvenile delinquency petition states, the boy says his victims should thank him because he was "teaching them a lesson." "People are really dumb," the boy, who claims he scored 135 on an IQ test when he was 10 years old, told investigators who seized his computer at his home in the 4500 block of S. Nicholson Ave. http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/mar02/31664.asp - - - - - - - - FTC aims to quash Net scams Agency files civil suits as part of regional crackdown. The Federal Trade Commission, working with officials from six western states and Canada, said it has filed civil lawsuits against operators of four Web-based scams aimed at consumers, ranging from a chain-letter pyramid scheme to a bogus treatment for cancer. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/local/2986275.htm http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2107647,00.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/733143.asp http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/04/03/spam.reut/index.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/cw1.htm - - - - - - - - AOL victorious in porn-spam case Internet giant America Online has won a civil lawsuit against a company it accused of sending unsolicited pornographic e-mail to AOL members. THE SETTLEMENT REQUIRES Fort Lauderdale, Fla.- based Netvision Audiotext to pay AOL an undisclosed amount in monetary damages. The accompanying injunction requires the company to stop sending unsolicited e-mail, or spam, to AOL members through Netvisions Webmaster affiliates, and to provide detailed information to AOL during future spam investigations. http://www.msnbc.com/news/733532.asp http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,51507,00.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/04/03/aol-spam.htm - - - - - - - - Full Assault on Filter Software To librarian Anne Lipow, filtering software isn't merely a bad idea. Lipow told a panel of federal judges on Tuesday that Congress' attempt to force the use of anti-smutware in public libraries is positively Stalinist. "It smacks of authoritarianism," said Lipow, a library consultant in Berkeley, California, recalling that the former Soviet Union required patrons to acquire signatures from a local official before they could obtain certain materials. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51501,00.html - - - - - - - - Aussie worm hits Europe A new worm emerging from Australia has put antivirus companies and IT managers on red alert. 'Mylife' is a mass-mailing virus with a destructive payload that sends itself to everyone in the recipient's Windows address book. It was first seen last month but began to spread in earnest on 1 April. "This worm usually arrives as an email attachment named 'My Life.scr'," warned antivirus experts F-Secure. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1130579 - - - - - - - - eBay plugs 'very serious' security hole eBay temporarily disabled a password function on its Web site Tuesday to close a "very serious" security hole that could have given hackers access to eBay users' accounts, the company said. eBay disabled the "Change Your Password" function in an effort to close the vulnerability, eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove said Tuesday, adding that it would remain disabled until eBay put a fix in place. The company re-enabled the feature early Wednesday morning. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-874389.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175614.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/733483.asp http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2107658,00.html - - - - - - - - Terrorist Web Site Hosted by U.S. Firm The political ideology of the Hamas site, which refers to recent suicide attacks in Israel as the 'martyr brigade,' is not illegal, according to most analysts. A Web site glorifying recent suicide attacks in the Middle East that is hosted by a U.S. company is sparking legal and ethical questions about whether Internet service providers and hosting companies should be held accountable for content on their networks and Web pages. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/17079.html - - - - - - - - FBI will use 'electronic tripwires' to protect secrets Tighter security against possible spies inside the FBI will require sophisticated ``electronic tripwires'' activated when employees try to review off-limits secrets, says a former FBI and CIA director. The tripwires ``will make it more difficult (for spies) in a deterrent sense -- knowing they'll be more apt to be observed,'' said William H. Webster, who led a commission of experts investigating security inside the FBI after the February 2001 arrest of agent Robert Hanssen. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/2990611.htm - - - - - - - - Securing the cyber front Last years spate of hacker attacks, viruses and worms shed light on the nations poor state of information security--and the governments inability to shore it up. After Sept. 11, the state of the countrys cyber security seemed even more vulnerable to an even wider range of threats, and the White House stepped forward with what seemed like a bright idea to secure the cyber front. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0402/040202ti.htm - - - - - - - - Clarke: IT security is 3 to 5 years away The presidents proposed fiscal 2003 budget puts much-needed money behind efforts to improve IT security, presidential cybersecurity adviser Richard Clarke told industry representatives at FOSE 2002. The history of government trying to achieve IT ecurity is a sad one, Clarke said. We have to tart putting our money where our policy is. http://gcn.com/21_7/news/18305-1.html - - - - - - - - Army security expert emphasizes vigilance and training A computer scientist from the National Infrastructure Protection Center yesterday urged agency officials to return to the basics of security and guard against cyberattacks by IT insiders. Robert M. Wright, on loan to NIPCs Special Technology Application Unit from the Army, said todays insiders are the people who are allowed onto an agencys network. Such insiders bring in tools ranging from hard drives the size of key chains to anonymous remailers, steganographyhiding messages within digital imagespeer-to-peer applications, and infrared and radio wireless devices. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/18327-1.html - - - - - - - - Better management key to fighting cyber attacks The greatest technologies in the world will not shield federal agencies from cyber attacks unless they require more involvement from their senior managers and improve on educating their employees about computer security, several high-ranking federal information technology officials said Wednesday. "IT security is really a question of accountability," said Daryl White, the Interior Department's chief information officer, during a conference sponsored by the National High Performance Computing and Communications Council. "You can't hold firewalls and intrusion detection systems accountable. You can only hold people accountable." http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0402/040302njns.htm - - - - - - - - Consumer databases could be used to catch bad guys Top financial companies are working to figure out how to use public and private consumer databases to catch possible terrorists and whether the information banks are up to the task. The group holding its first organizational meeting Wednesday, will explore how to use credit reports, marketing databases and other information for domestic security. http://www.msnbc.com/news/733457.asp - - - - - - - - Kazaa plans raise privacy alarm The file-swapping program and its parent company, Sharman Networks, say file-traders' machines could be used to host and distribute other companies' content. But some Kazaa users are concerned that the added software will violate their privacy. http://news.com.com/2009-1023-875036.html - - - - - - - - Support For Government Surveillance Slips Support for expanded high-tech government surveillance gradually has diminished during the six months following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, new Harris Poll figures show. While a majority of Americans continue to favor expanded surveillance by law agents in the war against terror, the poll shows that support has declined modestly. In one category expanded government surveillance of cell phone and e-mail traffic supporters now are in the minority, the poll indicates. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175641.html - - - - - - - - CyberWolf prowls for cyber alerts A wolf is a feared and stealthy hunter in nature and now cyber intruders should also fear the "wolf" prowling around numerous Defense Department and other federal agencies. CyberWolf 1.8 from CyberWolf Technologies Inc. helps federal information technology security analysts prioritize the alerts produced by intrusion-detection systems, firewalls and other security measures, said Tom McDonough, chief executive officer of the company, a provider of enterprise security management software and services. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0401/web-cyber-04-03-02.asp - - - - - - - - BA ditches MS servers after virus threat Airline removes 100 'unauthorised' web servers British Airways has removed 100 "unauthorised" web servers running Microsoft IIS from its network over fears that the software could be a target for virus attacks. The move came after the company found that the web servers had been installed by its own staff "without the correct authorisation procedures". http://www.vnunet.com/News/1130615 - - - - - - - - Death to Old Software We all know that outdated network software is security hazard. The solution: hard-wired expiration codes that self-destruct an ld program when it's past its prime. Software lives forever. This is its blessing and its curse. It's a blessing, of course, because it's what separates software from automobiles, houses, electron microscopes, and other marvels of engineering: no wind and rain to make code rust, and software has no moving parts to wear out. http://online.securityfocus.com/columnists/72 - - - - - - - - FCC OKs VoiceStream Waiver For Emergency Wireless System The Federal Communications Commission today gave VoiceStream Wireless the go-ahead to provide government officials and public safety workers with priority access to its mobile phone network. VoiceStream is one of several carriers working to set aside portions of their networks to be used by a select group of emergency personnel in the event of a national crisis. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175639.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.