April 10, 2002 Judge sentences man to 16 months in prison for hacking A former employee of a firm that makes guidance systems for the Defense Department was sentenced Tuesday to 16 months in state prison for hacking into the company's computer system and shutting it down for 24 hours. Armen Oganesyan, 26, also was ordered by San Fernando Superior Court Judge Robert Schuit to pay $50,000 in restitution. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3035838.htm - - - - - - - - Aphex E-mail Worm Has A Way With IRC, Instant Messenger Virus-watchers are warning Internet users about a new e-mail worm that can turn Windows PCs into one-trick Web severs that can use AOL Instant Messenger or Net chat services to lure new victims. The worm most anti-virus companies call Aphex is a combination of binary code and Visual Basic Script (VBS) and can arrive as an e-mail attachment - a file with its executable nature obscured by a lengthy name: "Psecure20x-cgi-install.version.6.01.bin.hx.com." http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175788.html 'Free porn' worm turns nasty http://www.vnunet.com/News/1130815 - - - - - - - - FBI information systems still at 'substantial risk' The FBI runs major risks of having its information systems infiltrated despite the agency's recent overhaul efforts, top FBI officials said Tuesday. After the capture of Robert Hanssen, who worked at the FBI for more than 20 years while spying for the Soviet Union, the FBI has taken steps to bolster its security and revamp its information management practices. But Kenneth Senser, the FBI's assistant director for security, told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that the agency, along with other U.S. intelligence departments, still suffers from the threat of security breaches. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0402/040902td1.htm - - - - - - - - Auction fraud tops FBI's Internet scam list Online auctions account for the majority of complaints about Internet fraud, according to a new report from the FBI. The Internet Fraud Complaint Center, a joint operation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National White Collar Crime Center, said Wednesday that auction fraud accounted for nearly 43 percent of the complaints received from victims and referred to law enforcement groups. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-879660.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175778.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/736783.asp - - - - - - - - Minnesota Poised To Clamp Down On Internet Privacy Minnesota legislators will meet Monday to hammer out differences in a pair of consumer protections bills, which would, if successful, make the state the first to regulate the way Internet service providers must handle consumers' private data. It is a proposal that, despite its localized Midwestern jurisdiction, has provoked sharp criticism from a raft of U.S. high-tech businesses, including, among others, America Online, Yahoo, WorldCom and Ebay. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175790.html - - - - - - - - California Fax Spam Bill Clears State Senate Committee A California State Senate committee Monday approved a bill that would ban the delivery of unsolicited faxes. The bill, S.B. 1358, is sponsored by State Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Redondo Beach, who late last year lost her bid to create an employee e-mail surveillance bill, and won in her efforts to create stronger identity theft protections in California. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175756.html - - - - - - - - Spam: the ultimate anti-terrorist weapon Junk mail technology could help the fight Spam technology could be the key to defeating terrorism, according to former US president Bill Clinton. Talking to the BBC, Clinton said that information management systems used by junk mail companies could provide an early warning about suspicious behaviour. "More than 95 per cent of the people in the US at any given time are in the computers of companies that send junk mail, and you can look for patterns there," he explained. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1130817 - - - - - - - - Fed report: Spam destabilising the Net According to Federal Government findings, spam accounts for 10 to 20 percent of e-mail passing through commercial servers and is starting to invade other Internet messaging services. Australia's minister for information technology Senator Richard Alston acknowledged that spam has become a threat to the stability of Internet services in a progress report on the National Office for the Information Economy's (NOIE) investigation into bulk unsolicited e-mail. http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/security/story/0,2000024985,20264515,00.htm - - - - - - - - Net users out to sink anti-piracy bill A digital-copyright bill introduced last month has inspired howls of protest from consumers and high-tech firms who say it could slow technological advances and dictate how consumers listen to music or watch videos at home. Well-connected lobbyists and everyday users alike have flooded Congress with faxes and e-mails over the last several weeks to lodge complaints against a bill that would prevent new computers, CD players and other consumer-electronics devices from playing unauthorized movies, music and other digital media files. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-879629.html Andreessen: Copy protection efforts are doomed http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/3031836.htm CD copying war heats up http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2108122,00.html US retailer joins in CD copy protection fracas http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2108111,00.html Professor says Disney, other firms typify what's wrong with copyrights http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3034892.htm Recording industry collects $1 million fine http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3030777.htm - - - - - - - - Channel Island opens arms to e-gambling The tax haven island of Alderney has issued its first interactive gaming licenses to three firms, local officials have announced. Alderney Gambling Control Commission said on Wednesday it awarded the licenses to British companies Ritz Interactive and gaming firm Sportech, and to U.S. firm WagerWorks, a developer of Internet gaming technology. http://zdnet.com.com/2110-11-879932.html - - - - - - - - Chat rooms a haven for hackers Computer security expert Chad Harrington regularly surfs Internet Relay Chat (IRC), one of the oldest chat technologies on the Web. The IRC networks have names like Dalnet and EFnet, but he agrees that another name works just as well: eBay for hackers. "Once the hacker or someone in the underworld has personal information, credit card numbers, social security numbers, address, whatever it may be," says Harrington, once the hacker "has that information and wants to sell it, often they'll go to a hacker chat room, a place on the Web using an Internet Relay Chat which provides them some anonymity and allows them to mention that they have this personal information and they want to trade. http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/04/10/hackers.chat.rooms/index.html - - - - - - - - Microsoft releases fix for 10 server security problems Microsoft Corp. released a patch Wednesday to fix 10 newly discovered security flaws in its Web server software, the most serious of which could let a hacker take over someone else's server. The flaws affect the last three versions of Microsoft's Internet Information Server and Internet Information Services software, which are run on millions of computers worldwide. Weaknesses in the same Microsoft software allowed the Code Red and Nimda worms to spread across the Internet last year. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3036277.htm http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-879813.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2108157,00.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175780.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/736876.asp http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/04/10/microsoft-security.htm http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/353962p-2888027c.html - - - - - - - - Kazaa may contain a 'New' surprise Kazaa's file swapping software downloads are again in the spotlight following complaints regarding New.net software, which comes bundled with the popular P2P download. Launched in March last year, New.net offers access to a series of domain names such as .shop and .sport, through partnerships with ISPs in Europe and the United States. However, at the centre of the latest controversy is the distribution of New.net's software through affiliate partners iMesh, BearShare, Kazaa, and Grokster. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-879686.html - - - - - - - - Elvis Impersonator Is The King In Domain Name Dispute An almost-famous Elvis Presley impersonator who sometimes uses the stage name Johnny Blaze will be able to keep the JohnnyBlaze.com Internet address that a marketer of sportswear and hip-hop clothing says it should own. AST Sportswear of New York had complained to domain-name authorities that former TV "Gong Show" contestant Steven Hyken of Calabasas, Calif., was a bit of a hound-dog-in-the-manger for registering the JohnnyBlaze.com address and then not using it for anything remotely related to his stage moniker. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175758.html - - - - - - - - Is Sprint throwing a line to phone spam? A software company that can send prerecorded phone calls to landline telephones has reached a deal with Sprint announced Tuesday to use the carrier's network. Interactive Intelligence makes a new type of interactive voice response (IVR) software that is used to replace a telephone operator with a computer. Consumers encounter IVR, for example, when they dial a number and reach a prerecorded voice prompting them to choose an option from a menu. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-879487.html - - - - - - - - Red Hat to standardize warnings of security Red Hat, the leading seller of the Linux operating system, said Wednesday it will standardize its warnings of security problems using the Mitre Corporation's Common Vulnerability Exposures system (CVE). The move, which makes it easier to catalog and search for security issues, shows Linux's gradual shift from a project run by hobbyists to a regular part of the business-computing landscape. http://zdnet.com.com/2110-11-880201.html - - - - - - - - Fears of a Security Brain Drain Some computer security professionals are already feeling the pinch from a new Defense Department policy discouraging contractors from hiring non- citizens. The Pentagon says it's about loyalty; visa holders call it classic xenophobia. When the Washington Post reported last month that the U.S. Department of Defense was crafting a new person- nel policy, industry went on red alert. The new policy stated that IT companies with defense contracts would no longer be allowed to employ non-U.S. citizens on unclassified projects. http://online.securityfocus.com/news/367 - - - - - - - - Cost, Mistrust Hold Back Security Outsourcing Fears about costs and reluctance to trust a third party are holding back firms from outsourcing security. That's among the main conclusions of a survey of 100 IT managers by the McAfee security division of Network Associates, which revealed widespread confusion about the financial pros and cons of letting third parties handle anti-virus protection. http://online.securityfocus.com/news/366 - - - - - - - - Securing W2K Communications with IP Filters: Part Two This is the second part of a two-part series on implementing Windows 2000 IP Security filters. In the first article, we offered an overview of IP security policies, including defining, testing, and expanding IP security policies. In this installment, we will be discussing encryption of Windows systems and implementing IP security filters. http://online.securityfocus.com/infocus/1566 Securing Windows 2000 Communications with IP Security Filters, Part One http://online.securityfocus.com/infocus/1559 - - - - - - - - Buffer overloads: the big security hole Last month, Microsoft reissued its buffer-overflow vulnerability announcement for Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), which is included within every edition of Windows except Windows Me. This follows Microsoft's announcements earlier this year of buffer-overflow vulnerabilities in ISAPI in Microsoft Commerce Server 2000, Microsoft SQL Server, and Telnet Server in Windows 2000. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-879619.html - - - - - - - - Agencies need to coordinate homeland security research A great deal of money for homeland security and research for new technologies to combat terrorism is tucked in agency budgets across the government. The trick is to coordinate efforts throughout government to ensure that efforts are not duplicated and that the research results will be effective, senators said during a Wednesday hearing. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0402/041002td3.htm - - - - - - - - Pentagon balances anti-terrorism efforts, transformation plans The Defense Department's transformation programs were scrutinized on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, as lawmakers sought ways to balance budgetary constraints with the military's need to win the war on terror while also moving from the industrial age to the information age. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0402/041002td1.htm - - - - - - - - Police Propose DC Area Video Surveillance Rules Washington, D.C., police Tuesday released a draft of proposed internal regulations on video surveillance, but a key lawmaker said that the guidelines are too vague and that legislation is needed to govern law enforcement use of the expanding technology. In a four-page document circulated to D.C. Council members, police officials propose limits for a computerized video monitoring system that is emerging as one of the nation's most extensive. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175784.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.