April 19, 2002 27 arrested in software piracy sting More than 125 law enforcement officers led by the FBI arrested 27 people Thursday that officials say made up an international software piracy ring that has cost Microsoft $75 million in lost sales. FBI officials would say little Thursday about Operation Cyberstorm, which involved local, state and federal law enforcement officers as well as assistance from Microsoft and other software companies. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/3093841.htm http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/04/19/software-piracy.htm - - - - - - - - Man charged with laptop auction fraud A man has been charged with five counts of theft related to the allegedly fraudulent sale of HP laptops through online auction sites QXL and eBay. Robert James Knight, 31, of the Erdington area of Birmingham, was charged with theft by Avon and Somerset police on Wednesday, and released on conditional bail. Knight is due to answer the charges in a hearing before magistrates in Weston Super Mare on April 25. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/51/24942.html - - - - - - - - NTL hacked? There appears to be trouble at NTL.. The corporate musings on the cableco's ntl.co.uk Web site appear to have been replaced by a simple message: "Whoops!" NTL are looking into it, we're told. (r) Latest: Just had a peep at the site and it appears that NTL has sorted it out. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/24939.html - - - - - - - - It's baaaack--Klez worm variant infests UK A variant of the Klez worm which resurfaced earlier this week has begun to spread extremely quickly, with the UK as its top target, according to an antivirus firm. UK-based MessageLabs said the Klez.H worm, which spreads via e-mail, proliferated "dramatically" during the day on Friday. E-mail security firm MessageLabs first detected the new variant on Monday, coming from an Internet address in China. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-887108.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2108813,00.html http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/04/19/new.klez.idg/index.html Annoying Worm Writer Wants Job http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,51949,00.html - - - - - - - - IBM: We won't seek patent plan royalties IBM on Thursday said it will not seek royalties on patented technology that is part of an e-commerce Web standard. At issue is a Web standard called Electronic Business XML, or ebXML, which allows companies in many industries to communicate over the Web. It was a standard created by a United Nations organization and by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, or OASIS, a consortium of tech companies that includes IBM, Sun Microsystems, BEA Systems and Hewlett-Packard. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-886829.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2108788,00.html http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2861528,00.html - - - - - - - - White House cyber czar describes next phase of Internet plan Speaking before a conference of hundreds of federal technology personnel and industry officials Wednesday morning, Richard Clarke, President Bushs point man on national cybersecurity, outlined the next phase in the controversial plan to build an impenetrable information network for the federal government, known as Govnet. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0402/041702h1.htm Plans For Secure Federal Intranet Moving Forward http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176029.html Colleges Make Cyber Security Pledge http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0415/web-cyber-04-19-02.asp - - - - - - - - EU clamping down on cybercrime Internet hackers and spreaders of computer viruses could face four years in jail under a draft cybercrime law adopted by the European Commission on Friday. The European Union has pledged to clamp down on so-called cybercrime, aimed at destroying computer networks, which has caused billions of dollars in damage worldwide. http://www.msnbc.com/news/740997.asp - - - - - - - - A $1 billion, corporate-funded hack? Lawsuit claims News Corp. division cheated Vivendi pay-TV. It sounds like a script once rejected by Hollywood. The plot revolves around two of the worlds biggest multinational corporations, locked in an all-out war over the future of pay-TV, and its promised billions. The competition is so ruthless that eventually, someone cheats. One company hires hackers to break the others secret codes, then publishes the secret on the Internet, inviting piracy. Suddenly, the victim companys pay-TV is free, and its only asset is worthless. Too ruthless to be true? Not according to a lawsuit filed in California last month. http://www.msnbc.com/news/740634.asp - - - - - - - - Technology being used to root out al-Qaeda In the tiny towns that dot the Pakistani mountains east of the Afghan border, small shops that seemingly offer residents little more than dusty packs of cigarettes and canned goods are stocked with one more essential computers with Internet access. It is from this area, in northwest Pakistan, that U.S. intelligence in recent weeks has picked up on increased communications among al-Qaeda members, according to U.S. officials. http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/04/19/al-qaida-online.htm http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/368741p-2974207c.html - - - - - - - - Carnivore snooping system muzzled Digital rights management system to the rescue. A way to muzzle the controversial Carnivore snooping system has been developed by graduate researchers at Dartmouth College in the US. Although it doesn't take all the bite out of Carnivore, the students' system goes some way to eliminating the abuse potential of the data snooper. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1131090 - - - - - - - - New tool camouflages hacker programs A new tool for manipulating packets of data that travel over the Internet could allow attackers to camouflage malicious programs just enough to bypass many intrusion-detection systems and firewalls. The tool, called Fragroute, performs several techniques to fool the signature-based recognition systems used by many intrusion- detection systems and firewalls. Many of these duping techniques were outlined in a research paper published four years ago. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-887133.html http://news.com.com/2100-1001-887065.html - - - - - - - - Japan may outlaw Net porn Japan, long accused of having a lax attitude toward child pornography, plans to tighten its laws to make transmission of such material over the Internet a criminal offense, according to government officials. A landmark 1999 law made it illegal to sell or distribute child pornography in Japan, but it left loopholes regarding online transmission of pornographic material. Despite the law, Japan is believed to be the world's largest distributor of child pornography. http://zdnet.com.com/2110-11-887175.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1939000/1939237.stm http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_570588.html - - - - - - - - Internet is 'paedophile playground' Police hope technology can help them protect children. The internet is a "fantastic playground for paedophiles" according to an expert at an international conference on the sexual exploitation of children. Nigel Williams of the British organisation Childnet International told delegates in the Japanese city of Yokohama that the internet offered paedophiles "an excellent opportunity to exchange pornographic material." http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_1718000/1718861.stm - - - - - - - - Brit music indies want copy-protected CDs A trade body for UK independent record labels has begun an investigation into putting copy protection technology onto music CDs. The Association of Independent Music, whose members account for a quarter of the record market in Britain, is concerned about losses caused by fans illegally making copies of music CDs. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/24947.html - - - - - - - - Privacy: They've got your numbers At the Computers Freedom & Privacy conference, privacy advocates warn that existing technology can track your every movement and will be used with bad intentions. But businesses maintain they're doing consumers a favor by getting to know their shopping and personal habits. http://zdnet.com.com/2251-1110-886865.html Privacy concerns continue to grow http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2108779,00.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/04/19/online-privacy.htm - - - - - - - - Ashcroft, Ellison win Big Brother awards for privacy assaults U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and database billionaire Larry Ellison were named this year's most notorious American violators of personal privacy by leading advocacy groups Thursday. The annual ``Big Brother Awards'' are presented to government, corporations and private individuals who allegedly have done the most to threaten personal privacy. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3097803.htm http://online.securityfocus.com/news/373 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2108752,00.html http://news.com.com/2100-1023-886878.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/04/19/big-brother.htm http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/24949.html - - - - - - - - Spam Makes Mincemeat Of Name Confusion If time had stopped cold in 1947, I wouldn't have minded a bit. Errol Flynn could have stolen hearts forever. Joe DiMaggio could have loped elegantly in his pinstripes, ad infinitum. And the world would never have gotten confused by spam. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176015.html - - - - - - - - Army hires Stat Scanner The Army this week awarded Harris Corp. a multi- million-dollar contract to protect its global networks from cyberthreats. The Melbourne, Fla., company will install its Stat Scanner vulnerability assessment software on more than 1.5 million Army systems and will provide maintenance for three years. Stat Scanner will search for vulnerabilities in strategic and tactical networks and the Army Tactical Internet at both active and reserve units. The software shows systems administrators a comprehensive analysis of vulnerabilities and risk levels. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/18430-1.html - - - - - - - - Symantec touts security in a box Symantec Corp is to ship a hardware appliance intended to provide security defenses on five fronts from a single box. The Symantec Gateway Security 5000 series will provide combined firewall, gateway-level anti-virus software, intrusion detection, content filtering and VPN (virtual private networking) capabilities. The product is being pitched to appeal to small and medium sized businesses and for use in branch offices of large corporations without the IT staffs that are needed to manage the complexities of running multiple, network security products. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/24930.html - - - - - - - - Waging peace on the Internet Hacking is a contact sport. The more people who have contact with one another, the better. There's an international book burning in progress; the surveillance cameras are rolling; and the water canons are drowning freedom of assembly. But it's not occurring anywhere that television can broadcast to the world. It's happening in cyberspace. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/24946.html - - - - - - - - Hacking Through the Wireless Jungle With a WLAN card and a sniffer, it is not difficult for a hacker to find a company's wireless network from a position outside the building. 'From there, it's possible to flood the network with traffic and create a denial of service,' AMR Research analyst Dennis Gaughan told Wireless NewsFactor. Each time technology advances, a new underworld of cyber criminals appears, looking to exploit the latest systems. As companies strive to give employees more mobility -- without sacrificing productivity -- hackers have begun to slither around the wireless landscape, readying new assaults. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/17342.html - - - - - - - - Digital data becomes crime-fighting tool Shared mug shots, even tattoos, can help crack a case. You're mugged at your neighborhood ATM by a masked gunman who knocks you unconscious. The only thing the bank camera captures is a picture of his forearm. Should you kiss goodbye any chance of an arrest -- as well as your cash? Not necessarily. As part of the computer records and identification system in California's Los Angeles County, detectives have access to a database of scars, marks and tattoos. So if your mugger is a repeat offender, that skull and crossbones captured by the surveillance camera could match up with rap sheet -- and your attacker could see the inside of a jail cell. http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/ptech/04/19/datashare/index.html - - - - - - - - Crime Seen Forensic science meets computer animation - in the courtroom. Crime-scene reconstruction will never be the same. It's 2:30 pm on the fourth day of Michael Serge's murder trial. In a wood-paneled room of the county court house in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Judge Terrance Nealon gives the jury a brief speech on the difference between art and fact, then motions for the prosecution to begin. At the back of the courtroom, a crowd of onlookers from the local legal community crane their necks as a technician cues up a 72-second video. It's an animated re-creation of Serge, a retired police detective, shooting and killing his wife of 35 years, Jennifer. The picture appears on a 5-foot screen positioned near the jury box. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.05/forensics.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.