May 14, 2002 Users lured into downloading malware Family site had pop-up from hell. Thousands of unsuspecting visitors to a popular family website have been tricked into downloading malware. Visitors to Flowgo who clicked on a pop-up ad running on its humour site were automatically directed to a booby-trapped site called KoolKatalog. Once at KoolKatalog they were invited to input their email address into a digital slot machine, solve a puzzle and win a prize. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1131727 - - - - - - - - Scorpion takes sting out of Xbox hoax Following vnunet.com's expose of the fake Xbox emulator being circulated on the web last week, someone claiming to be the creator of the program has contacted us to apologise to the internet community. The author of the email, known only as Scorpion, said: "I nearly shit a brick when I went online today to my favourite news source and saw an article regarding this. "I am the creator of this program. It is not, as you reported, a Trojan. A Trojan is by definition harmful to the end user." http://www.vnunet.com/News/1131736 - - - - - - - - Yahoo: We're being invaded by cops Web giant Yahoo and several Internet trade associations filed papers Monday seeking to overturn a court ruling which they said could fill the offices of Internet companies with police officers overseeing the execution of search warrants. In an amici curiae brief filed with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, the Internet group said a Minnesota court ruling requiring police officers to be physically present for search warrants would threaten client privacy, slow the searches and disrupt business. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-912734.html http://news.com.com/2100-1023-913104.html http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3256778.htm http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/05/14/internet.searches.reut/index.html - - - - - - - - Supreme Court's Web Porn Decision Hailed The Supreme Court seemed to feel that the law as written was too broad, especially regarding how the concept of 'community standards' applies to the Internet. Free speech and Internet privacy groups said they are pleased with Monday's Supreme Court ruling that upheld a ban on the Child Online Protection Act , also known as COPA, which is intended to protect children from Internet pornography. The high court returned a lower court's ruling for further review. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/17745.html http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,52504,00.html - - - - - - - - Lieberman Bill Would Create Tech Office For Homeland Security Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) wants $200 million to develop homeland security technologies under a new Science and Technology Office within a cabinet-level Homeland Security Department. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176573.html - - - - - - - - Rights Group Joins Fight Against DVR Snooping Order A civil liberties coalition has joined SonicBlue in its bid to fend off a court's order that it begin logging what customers do with its ReplayTV 4000 digital video recorder (DVR). In a "friend- of-the-court" brief filed in a Los Angeles federal court Monday, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) argued that court-order surveillance of ReplayTV users to satisfy litigious movie studious and television broadcasters would trample on the consumers' rights to privacy. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176569.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2110120,00.html http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-912883.html http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3256897.htm - - - - - - - - Nextel stops cell phone stakeout Drug investigators in Baltimore want Nextel Communications punished because the carrier is shutting off the stolen cell phones used by drug dealers being tracked by police, despite court orders to keep the phones turned on. Nextel usually realizes its error and turns the phones back on, but the disruptions and resurrections tipped at least one alleged drug kingpin to a wiretap on the phone and destroyed months of work, attorneys for the city of Baltimore will tell a judge today. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-908647.html - - - - - - - - Cingular phones steered away from porn Customers of Cingular Wireless are being prevented from viewing Web pages containing "objectionable material," such as pornography, on their cell phones, according to two sources inside the company. Not that wireless Internet customers are missing much; porn images viewed on a cell phone are so pixelated it's tough to tell a nude from a smudge. http://news.com.com/2100-1033-913248.html http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-913310.html - - - - - - - - Latest privacy threat: Monitor glow Law enforcement and intelligence agents may have a new tool to read the data displayed on a suspect's computer monitor, even when they can't see the screen. Marcus Kuhn, an associate professor at Cambridge University in England, presented research Monday showing how anybody with a brawny PC, a special light detector and some lab hardware could reconstruct what a person sees on the screen by catching the reflected glow from the monitor. http://news.com.com/2100-1001-912785.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2110172,00.html http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-912828.html - - - - - - - - Most Home Computers Virus Targets - Survey About six in 10 home Internet surfers detected at least one virus in their computers over the past two years and 17 percent of them said the attack damaged programs or data, a report said today. Consumer Reports said a survey of 8,000 of its online subscribers found that about 20 percent of them were hit by viruses at least four times and nearly a third - 32 percent - who suffered damage or lost important files forever. the same number needed two weeks to fix the damage. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176572.html - - - - - - - - Two Virginia Universities To Join Forces Against Cybercrime Two Virginia schools on Tuesday will launch a $6.5 million project to help sort out the myriad legal, technical and policy challenges involved in steeling the nation's most vital computer systems against cyberattacks. The Critical Infrastructure Protection Project - to be housed at the George Mason School of Law in Arlington - is a collaborative effort between GMU's National Center for Technology and Law and researchers and academicians at James Madison University. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176552.html http://online.securityfocus.com/news/410 - - - - - - - - War on cybercrime--we're losing The nightmare for Ecount, an online gift certificate service, began last year when a hacker broke in to the company's system and stole personal information belonging to its customers. Nine months later, the criminal is still at large. The thief has brazenly taunted executives with repeated e-mails while staying ahead of investigators, deftly wiping away his electronic fingerprints and covering his tracks at every turn. "We're sick to death of hearing from him," Ecount Chief Executive Matt Gillin said of the intruder, who has offered to return the information for a fee. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-912780.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2110168,00.html http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-912780.html Why Hackers Escape http://news.com.com/2009-1017-912708.html - - - - - - - - Cyber crime 'costing companies millions' Firms are being urged to step up defences against hi-tech crime amid fears more businesses face closure because of heavy losses. The British Chambers of Commerce warns credit card fraud, viruses and various forms of hacking are costing companies millions of pounds a year. The business group is meeting police leaders to try to raise awareness across industry about the threat of online fraud. It hopes to draw up an action plan to help firms tackle "cybercrime". http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_586803.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2110190,00.html - - - - - - - - Tech companies weigh in on cybersecurity plan The information technology and communications sectors Monday formally submitted their input on the latest version of the plan for securing the nation's critical infrastructure. Richard Clarke, President Bush's cyberspace security adviser, is leading development of the national plan. A new version, which the administration expects to release this summer, will fully include the private sector for the first time. The first national plan, released in January 2000, focused primarily on the federal government's critical infrastructure protection (CIP) priorities. http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/fcw2.htm - - - - - - - - Cyber crime unit stalls on reporting plans Progress may be held back by lack of funding. The National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) appears to be stalling the implementation of reporting plans, amid growing concerns that a lack of funding is holding back progress in the fight against cyber crime. Speaking at its launch in April last year, NCTCU head, detective chief superintendent Len Hynds, explained that first year plans included the setting up of a confidential reporting system, offering secure intranet links to all the local computer crime units across England and Wales. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1131724 - - - - - - - - Companies House 'open to fraud' BBC reporter exposes shocking security slip-up Companies House has hit back at claims that a BBC reporter has exposed a potentially devastating security breach on its website. Using information freely available on the electoral role, BBC reporter Christian Fraser was able to install himself as director of a south Wales company and change the head office location to London. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1131757 - - - - - - - - Microsoft Denies Changing Passport Users' Privacy Settings Microsoft officials today denied reports that they have changed their privacy practices at the company's .NET Passport sign-on service to make it easier for marketers to contact users. But the company conceded that some services require that it share users' e-mail addresses with other sites that participate in its Passport service. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176571.html - - - - - - - - EDS postpones instant message ban EDS has postponed its proposed ban on instant messaging after staff told its techies that it was an important tool for communicating with clients. Last week, EDS told staff that IM products (such as AOL, ICQ and Yahoo!) would be blocked at its firewall from May 8. It cited security concerns, especially the fears that viruses which would otherwise be blocked by gateway AV protection would slip through to user workstations via instant messages. http://online.securityfocus.com/news/409 - - - - - - - - A New Weapon To Fight Spam Somewhere within the daily barrage of unwanted commercial e-mail messages--aka spam--that anyone with an e-mail account must endure, lies the material for an eloquent and witty rhyme of a Seussian nature. Perhaps it would go a little something like this: "Would you like to get a loan? Would you like to make me moan? You've won free travel here and there! You can make money anywhere!" http://www.forbes.com/home/2002/05/13/0513tentech.html - - - - - - - - File sharing is a hit, despite legal setbacks Last summer, the record labels breathed a collective sigh of relief when song-swapping service Napster was forced to shut down after a string of legal setbacks. Further legal successes by the industry seemed to cripple Napster successors such as Aimster (now called Madster). The labels also sued Kazaa, Morpheus and Grokster and fought back with their own paid subscription services, Pressplay and MusicNet. http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/05/14/music-sharing.htm Kazaa, Verizon propose to pay artists directly http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/05/14/music-kazaa.htm Copy-protected CDs--not for Macs http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-912706.html - - - - - - - - Forum: The fate of wireless security Businesspeople and academics are meeting with government agencies to discuss their worries about the security of wireless technology Academics, business executives and members of government agencies will join forces to discuss their concerns about wireless security. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2110127,00.html - - - - - - - - Securing Privacy Part Three: E-mail Issues This is the third article in a four-part series that will examine privacy concerns as they relate to security. The first installment in the series examined hardware-based privacy issues and solutions. The second installment discussed software-based issues and solutions. This installment will discuss privacy issues that are particularly relevant to e-mail. According to research conducted by Neilson NetRatings, e-mail is by far the most widely used application on the Internet. Unfortunately, e-mail should also be of great concern to people concerned about privacy. This article will help you assess the dangers that e-mail provide and give you ideas about how to safeguard your privacy while using it. http://online.securityfocus.com/infocus/1579 Securing Privacy Part One: http://online.securityfocus.com/infocus/1568 Securing Privacy Part Two: http://online.securityfocus.com/infocus/1573 - - - - - - - - Piracy: The Star Wars Solution Star Wars and other larger-than-life movies have given Hollywood the ultimate weapon against digital piracy: They make people want to go to the movie theater. The music industry continues its mighty struggle against online file-sharing networks, but the movie industry has seemingly overcome that battle. Ticket sales are at an all- time high. Spider-Man took in more money in its opening weekend than any film in history. Advance ticket sales for Star Wars have caused traffic to online ticket sellers to jump 150 percent. http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,52468,00.html - - - - - - - - State's 'Tracker' system follows weapons trail Tom Clancy, hang up your hat. Members of the newest generation of spy hunters don't wear trench coats or smoke fancy cigarettes. They don't search for nuclear secrets in hollow tree stumps. And they don't whisper secret codes when they meet undercover operatives. Instead, the people seeking to prevent nuclear proliferation around the world are using computer systems to track nuclear components and other deadly materials in real time. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0513/tec-track-05-13-02.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. 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.