April 12, 2002 Trade-Secret Case Is Expanded A new federal indictment handed up here today says three Chinese citizens accused of stealing trade secrets from Lucent Technologies also victimized four other companies. Two of the three men are scientists who worked at Lucent's headquarters in Murray Hill, N.J. The three now face 24 counts, including the original conspiracy charge, 14 counts of possessing trade secrets and 9 counts of wire fraud. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/12/technology/12LUCE.html http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-881597.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175855.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/04/12/lucent-trade-secrets.htm http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/5/24825.html - - - - - - - - Murdoch company 'leaked rival's TV codes' A News Corporation whistleblower has claimed that NDS, a software subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's pay television empire, directed an employee to leak secret codes belonging to its closest rival to internet pirates. Oliver Kommerling, a software security consultant, on Thursday said in a written deposition to a California court that Chris Tarnovsky, an NDS employee on the West Coast, arranged for Canal Plus Technologies' codes - enabling smart cards in pay-TV boxes - to be published on the internet. http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3DEBE1XZC - - - - - - - - Technology Publisher IDG Plugs Site Security Hole Technology publishing and research giant International Data Group (IDG) has closed a security hole at its Web sites that enabled visitors to view internal company documents, officials from the firm said today. The security flaws at Idg.com and Buyidgmedia.com exposed "proprietary but not confidential" data, according to IDG spokeswoman Sarah Hansen, who thanked Kitetoa, a group of French security enthusiasts, for reporting the problem. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175857.html - - - - - - - - MyLife virus back in the wild More lives than a cat? Antivirus fighters have today warned users to beware of a virus variant on its eighth outing in the wild. The mass mailing virus is the eighth incarnation of the 'MyLife' virus to be detected. Fortunately for users, MyLife.H does not carry a destructive payload, unlike its original predecessor which caused mass destruction by deleting hard drives D: to I:. Steven Sundermeier, of antivirus firm Central Command, said: "It is hard to believe these variations are still making it out. Some people never learn and will always keep on trying - we discovered new variations of MyLife yesterday." http://www.vnunet.com/News/1130880 http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_565404.html - - - - - - - - Another Computing Platform Gets Its First Virus SAPvir, the first virus to infect programs and reports used by the high-end SAP R/3 business information system, was posted to an online virus library this week. Experts said the proof-of-concept code is the latest effort by virus writers to target "exotic" computing platforms. The 24-line program, written in SAP's Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP) language, is designed to spread to other programs on the local SAP system but does not appear to be destructive or network-aware, according to a preliminary analysis of the code by Jochen Hein, an independent SAP consultant based in Germany. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175855.html - - - - - - - - Anti-spam law upheld in Calif. court The California Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of its state anti-spam law after a long-running legal dispute, saying that the law does not violate U.S. interstate commerce laws. In 1999, California resident Mark Ferguson sued interactive services companies FriendFinder and Conru Interactive, alleging that they had sent him and others unsolicited e-mail advertisements that were deceptive, misleading and in violation of state law. http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1105-881550.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175859.html - - - - - - - - UK Govt backs data sharing The privacy of UK citizens could be under threat following the publication of a report which outlines plans for Government departments to share personal information without people's consent. Details were published yesterday by the Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU) in its report Privacy and Data-Sharing: The Way Forward for Public and backed by Prime Minister Tony Blair. The report claims people would benefit from more "customer-focused public services" through the "better use of personal information". http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/24824.html - - - - - - - - Companies watch employees' instant messages An instant message exchange might seem as fleeting as a phone call or face-to-face chat. But, like everything else on the Net, it can have much more staying power than users think. Unlike e-mail, the brief IM remarks that pop up on computer screens are not kept on central servers. But that hasn't stopped companies from developing software that snags every message - including those unflattering to the boss. Interest in IM monitoring is soaring as companies not only look to record important communications but also control information leaks and discourage cyberslacking. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3051987.htm - - - - - - - - Feds want to thrash out Webcasting The U.S. Copyright Office has called for a "public roundtable discussion" on Webcasting issues as regulators near a decision on new rules and royalty rates for Webcasters. The royalty rates, proposed by an arbitration panel last month, have sparked considerable controversy in the online music arena. Independent online radio stations say the new fees, which would be a fraction of a cent for every song streamed, would put them out of business. http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1105-881876.html - - - - - - - - Anti-copying firm eases CD controls SunnComm is adding a spoonful of sugar to its anti-copying medicine. The Phoenix, Ariz.-based copy-protection company has been the target of consumer outrage over its technology, which is designed to stop people from shifting music tracks from CDs to their computers. On Thursday, it offered a compromise, adding a feature that lets people e-mail songs from protected albums to family and friends. SunnComm said a file expires after the recipient listens to the song a certain number times. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-882221.html - - - - - - - - ICANN warns of domain-dispute swindle The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is warning of a swindle by an organization claiming to be an approved domain-name dispute solver. ICANN, the organization that oversees the Internet's addressing system, said this week that it has received many reports of domain name registrants receiving mailings from an entity calling itself XChange Dispute Resolution and claiming to be an ICANN authorized arbitrator in domain name dispute cases, which it is not. http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/04/12/domain.fraud.idg/index.html - - - - - - - - NMCI forces Corps contingencies A delay in rolling out the Navy Marine Corps Intranet to the Marine Corps is causing the service to institute contingency plans to enhance some parts of its aging network, the service's chief information officer said. The Marines had been scheduled to begin rolling out NMCI seats during this fiscal year, but because of unexpected issues, such as the number of Navy legacy applications and questions over NMCI testing, the Marine Corps will not begin its NMCI implementation until fiscal 2003. The Marines represent about 68,000 seats on the network. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0408/web-nmci-04-12-02.asp - - - - - - - - HP's CFO asks for workers' loyalty, support In a companywide e-mail sent Thursday, Hewlett-Packard Chief Financial Officer Bob Wayman chastised employees for recent breaches of security, denied allegations that HP coerced shareholder votes, then appealed for employee support of Chief Executive Carly Fiorina. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/3047154.htm http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2108272,00.html - - - - - - - - State Internet Laws: Help Or Hindrance To Privacy Efforts? Minnesota legislators are hammering out differences in an Internet privacy bill that's expected to become law as some question whether such efforts only muddle the privacy issue. Minnesota isn't necessarily known as an Internet hotbed, but it's trying to become the first state to control how Internet service providers share customers' personal data. But some question whether individual state laws will help or hinder privacy efforts overall. http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020411S0010 - - - - - - - - Hack attack, how you might be a target Imagine waking up one morning to discover all your personal information has been stolen. Your bank account has been cleaned out. The project you have been working on for the past six months has vanished. Your e-mails have been infected with a virus that has copied itself to all the people you have ever exchanged e-mails with. You try to make a call but your mobile phone's address book has been deleted remotely. Then things start to get really bad. http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/ptech/04/12/hack.dangers/index.html - - - - - - - - Lifting Laptops With literally thousands of laptops being stolen every day, more laptops are getting ripped off than ever before. One group targeted by thieves, not surprisingly, is business travelers at airports and hotels. On"CyberCrime" this week we investigate this growing problem and find out what you can do about it. Below you'll find links to products, services, and tips you can use to keep tabs on your laptop when you're away from home. http://www.techtv.com/cybercrime/features/story/0,23008,3379564,00.html - - - - - - - - BASIC IP ROUTER SECURITY This article considers security aspects of internetwork routing, and gives an overview of basic IP router security practices. I don't intend for this to be a complete list, nor specific to a particular vendor's routers. Rather, I present some general areas of concern -- a roadmap for tightening the security of your routers. While this discussion applies to all routers, it is most critical for Internet-facing or other "border" routers. http://www.tisc2002.com/insight.html#v46 - - - - - - - - Databases to flag suspected terrorists Federal authorities plan to share with state and local police information on tens of thousands of suspected terrorists to try to improve homeland defense, Justice Department officials say. Justice officials, who after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were criticized by some local authorities for not sharing enough information about potential threats, say more than 100,000 suspects' names will be entered into three computer databases. Because of the varying quality of the information, it is unlikely that all of the suspects will wind up in each database. http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/04/12/terrorist-databases.htm *********************************************************** 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.