May 22, 2002 Nigerian email fraud gang nabbed South African police have arrested six West Africans, allegedly members of a 419 email fraud gang which is thought to have tried to con thousands of pounds out of their victims, according to this report. Sometime in 1992/ 1993, I received my first airmail letter with a Nigerian stamp offering me a few million dollars, if only I would let the writer use my bank account to spirit money stolen from the government out of that huge, heroically corrupt country. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/25394.html - - - - - - - - Israeli troops warned against accepting Internet pizza The army has barred soldiers serving in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from accepting pizza deliveries they did not order themselves, for fear the packages might be booby-trapped, the army said Wednesday. Last month, Israeli pizzerias began delivering to soldiers via an Internet site where people place the orders as gifts for soldiers. More than 4,000 pizzas have been sent, said Shimon Aharon, a British- born Israeli reservist who created the Web site. http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/409648p-3266551c.html - - - - - - - - Aussie police growl at 'sniffer dog' site NSW Police Minister Michael Costa is seeking to shut down the Web site www.snifferdogalert.com, operated by the state's Council for Civil Liberties and Redfern Legal Centre, which warns the public via SMS to where drug detection dogs are being patrolled. http://zdnet.com.com/2110-11-920172.html - - - - - - - - Parents Need To Protect Kids From Net's Dangers Parents who keep tabs on their kids' Internet behavior can keep children away from dangerous characters that surf the Net, such as the man suspected of raping and killing a Connecticut sixth-grader he met in a chat room, a computer crimes investigator said today. Saul Dos Reis, 25, was charged of using the Internet to entice a minor into sexual activity, a federal charge, and will soon face state murder charges stemming from the strangulation of Christina Long, 13, of Danbury, Conn. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176719.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/195260.asp Virtual Lives -- Real Tragedies http://www.msnbc.com/news/755493.asp http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/410093p-3268952c.html House approves measures to protect children on the Internet http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/409459p-3264857c.html - - - - - - - - Kazaa, Morpheus legal case collapsing A legal fight that has pitted file-swapping software companies Kazaa BV and StreamCast Networks against big record labels and movie studios is collapsing as the small companies run out of funds. Netherlands-based Kazaa BV, which created the file-swapping technology underlying Kazaa, Grokster and earlier versions of Morpheus, is conceding defeat--although its founders already appear to have started another near-identical company. Meanwhile, StreamCast is losing a high- powered attorney with a winning track record against the music companies in court. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-920557.html http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-920737.html Kazaa crunched by copyright suits http://news.com.com/2009-1023-920572.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176726.html - - - - - - - - Subpoenaed Enron E-Mail Causes E-Headaches Bush White House staffers may be about to learn a crucial lesson from President Clinton's playbook - if there's something you want to hide, don't spill the details in e-mail. Recent civil and criminal investigations show that e-mail is a different kind of smoking gun, one that Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) will use to his advantage in his investigation of bankrupt energy company Enron Corp. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176724.html - - - - - - - - Waging war on computer viruses New net technologies present opportunities for more than just entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. Virus writers like them, too. Almost every novel internet technology, from e-mail to peer-to-peer networks, has been exploited by virus writers and vandals keen to cause havoc. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1999000/1999854.stm - - - - - - - - International group eyeing IT security principles, standards An international body representing more than 30 nations, including the U.S., is developing a set of information security principles intended to help in the development of IT security standards, best practices and potential security-related laws. The merits of that effort by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) was examined today at a U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) workshop on information security. http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/globalization/story/0,10801,71355,00.html - - - - - - - - DOD double-times smart-card use The Air Force has begun using smart cards to control entry at more than 100 Air Force bases worldwide and access to 50,000 computers. Under a task order announced today, Electronic Data Systems Corp. will supply middleware and smart- card readers for the cards through the Defense Departments Common Access Card program. The Air Force could opt to extend the order to support additional users, EDS officials said. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/18719-1.html http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0520/web-eds-05-22-02.asp - - - - - - - - SQL worm: Servers may be off the hook A worm that attacks computers running Microsoft's SQL Server software has co-opted more than 6,600 servers, but its insistent attempts to spread have made it easy to identify and exterminate, experts said Wednesday. Known as DoubleTap, SQLSnake and Spida.A.Worm, depending on the security organization one talks with, the infectious program is not expected to claim many more servers, said Johannes Ullrich, chief technology officer for the System Administration Networking and Security (SANS) Institute's Internet Storm Center. http://news.com.com/2100-1001-920595.html http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-920614.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/25392.html SQL server hacks send out more attacks http://www.vnunet.com/News/1131999 SQL Server Worm: Just the Beginning http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/17893.html - - - - - - - - The Beauty and Grace of a Worm Computer viruses are both the medium and the message in a museum exhibit documenting the history and future of unwelcome and uninvited virtual visitors. Code and culture are the focus of "I Love You Computer_Viren_Hacker_Kultur," a three-week special exhibition opening at the Museum for Applied Art in Germany on Thursday. The exhibit's name refers to the Love Bug virus that circulated widely in May 2000 and was one of the "computer virus family's first media stars," according to exhibit curator Franziska Nori. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,52687,00.html - - - - - - - - Will IE patch open new holes? Last Wednesday, Microsoft issued a critical patch, MS02-023, which includes five different fixes for six known vulnerabilities in recent three recent releases of Internet Explorer. Got that? However, several security experts have criticized Microsoft for not resolving the Web browser's underlying security issues, nor fully testing the patch before its release. In the end, those of you who apply the 2MB patch may find malicious users can still run scripts and perform arbitrary commands on your Internet Explorer browser. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-920114.html - - - - - - - - Psst... I know your password When a regional health care company called in network protection firm Neohapsis to find the vulnerabilities in its systems, the Chicago-based security company knew a sure place to look. Retrieving the password file from one of the health care company's servers, the consulting firm put "John the Ripper," a well-known cracking program, on the case. While well-chosen passwords could take years--if not decades--of computer time to crack, it took the program only an hour to decipher 30 percent of the passwords for the nearly 10,000 accounts listed in the file. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-920092.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2110687,00.html http://news.com.com/2009-1001-916719.html - - - - - - - - Securing Microsoft Services Shut off unnecessary services. It is sound advice that is preached in just about every security book, checklist, or training class. But all too often the advice ends there, leaving systems administrators to wonder what exactly is an unnecessary service and how best to shut it off. Sure, its easy enough to click on "Administrative tools" then "Services" to view the available services. And it's easy to double-click a service you do not use and set the "Startup Type" to disabled. But is there more to securing services than just that? http://online.securityfocus.com/infocus/1581 - - - - - - - - US army puts war games online Now you can shoot 'em up for the US of A. An unlikely consumer software developer, the US Army, is helping Joe Public get in on the gung ho action with the release of a game based on the Unreal engine. America's Army is due for release in July and will be free for download from Americasarmy.com. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1132013 *********************************************************** 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.