July 12, 2002 Optus hacker charged A Sydney man has been charged over a hack attack on Optus last year, during which it is alleged over 400,000 customer passwords may have been compromised. Officers from the Computer Crimes Unit executed a search warrant at the home of an un-named 22-year- old Bankstown man yesterday, following an investigation that began in December last year. http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/security/story/0,2000024985,20266581,00.htm - - - - - - - - Teens offer sex in internet mugging scam Victim lured through online dating site. A Japanese gang used two teenaged girls to lure a man through an internet dating site so they could mug him. The 11 gang members, aged between 16 and 18, were arrested along with the girls, aged 16 and 17, on suspicion of robbery and assault following the incident. Police also issued an arrest warrant for another man, 25, an associate member and supporter of the gang, who may have acted as a Fagin-type figure behind the robberies. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1133486 - - - - - - - - Hackers deface USA Today's Web site Hackers penetrated USA Today's Web site, replacing legitimate news stories on its home page and six other pages with phony stories riddled with spelling errors. The bogus pages were viewable to readers of USAToday.com for about 15 minutes Thursday night before being discovered by news- paper officials at 11:05 p.m. EDT and taken offline, said company spokesman Steve Anderson. He said USA Today shut down its entire site for three hours for repairs and to upgrade security. Among the bizarre stories posted was an item about the Pope calling Christianity "a sham." Another was about the shape of the Pentagon being declared unconstitutional because it too closely resembles the Jewish star of David. An Israeli flag replaced the site's top news photo, along with a phony story on Israel. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3650976.htm http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-943521.html http://news.com.com/2100-1023-943486.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61049-2002Jul12.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/26157.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/07/12/site-vandalism.htm - - - - - - - - Microsoft sues Florida company over alleged counterfeit software Microsoft Corp. is suing three Florida computer retailers, including Powertech Computers in Tampa, over copyright and trademark infringement. Three lawsuits were filed this week in U.S. District Courts in Tampa, Orlando and Miami. Microsoft attorney Mary Jo Schrade, who estimates as much as 30 percent of the software sold bearing its name is counterfeit, said the company is suing to protect its intellectual property and to deter distributors from selling unlicensed software. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3650617.htm - - - - - - - - NY attorney general subpoenas PayPal for online gambling activity Online payment provider PayPal Inc. said the New York state attorney general's office has issued a subpoena seeking information about the company's involvement in Internet gambling. Mountain View- based PayPal received the July 5 subpoena on Tuesday and plans to ``cooperate fully'' with the request, according to a company filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. PayPal has until July 22 to respond, according to the SEC documents. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3652867.htm http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1106-943608.html http://news.com.com/2100-1017-943533.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/07/12/paypal-gambling.htm - - - - - - - - Myanmar makes unlicensed WAN computer links illegal Myanmar's military government has made it illegal for companies to operate unlicensed private computer networks linked to their overseas offices. A Ministry of Post, Telegraphs and Communications order effective Wednesday said companies must have its permission to set up wide area networks, or WAN. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3650682.htm http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/465245p-3720354c.html - - - - - - - - AT&T warns workers not to be duped by hackers AT&T Corp. has warned employees not to be tricked into surrendering sensitive information about its network to hackers posing as colleagues or customers this weekend, a spokeswoman said Friday. The warning, sent in an e-mail to AT&T staff, came ahead of a major hackers convention in New York where some of the attendees plan to give a demonstration of ``social engineering'' techniques -- ways of getting information that can be used to break into computer networks from the people who run them. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3651977.htm http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1105-943604.html - - - - - - - - Police warn of paedophile webcam threat Schoolgirls are swapping photos of themselves posted on websites in exchange for gifts from older men, according to reports in The Observer. The newspaper said that the practice of girls offering to 'perform' in front of webcams in private rooms has driven viewers to send gifts including cash and lingerie to the girls, some of whom are as young as 14. The phenomenon has sprung up only in recent months, said the article, and the girls' parents are largely oblivious to the practice. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1133304 Every parent's worst nightmare A growing number of British teenagers are posting pictures of themselves on the web in return for gifts from strangers. David Rowan reports on the 'camgirls'. Kerry was sent PS70 worth of underwear last week, bought at Playboy's online store by a man she had never met. The same day, she received a PS45 cheque at her Lancashire home to pose at her webcam 'and do absolutely nothing'. http://www.guardian.co.uk/internetnews/story/0,7369,750909,00.html - - - - - - - - Paedophiles to face jail for 'grooming' victims on internet Paedophiles who pose as teenagers on the internet would face prosecution under proposed legislation making it an offence to go online to pick up minors for sex. The new law, being prepared for this year's Queen's Speech, would cover e-mails, text messages and chatrooms, and would make it an imprisonable crime deliberately to use such new technology in order to stalk victims. http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/story.jsp?story=312410 - - - - - - - - Computers for new US security agency under review The White House budget office said Friday that it was setting up a review board to assess the technology needs of the proposed Department of Homeland Security. ``This new department should have one world-class infrastructure, and on the books right now are plans totaling between $1 billion and $2 billion. And so a review board has been constituted to pick the best of those and to move forward with one plan,'' White House budget director Mitch Daniels said. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3652834.htm Will technology keep us safe? http://zdnet.com.com/2251-1110-942778.html http://news.com.com/2100-1017-943469.html - - - - - - - - Commission slams e-snooping plans Information Commission expresses 'continuing concern' Government snooping of electronic communications has come under fire in the Information Commission's annual report. Information Commissioner Elizabeth France said that the Government's use of the terrorist attacks in the US as justification for increased monitoring of people's email and internet usage is of "continuing concern". http://www.vnunet.com/News/1133526 - - - - - - - - 'Paedospam' warning issued Spamming took a disturbing new turn when filtering firm SurfControl reported three instances of unsolicited junk mail advertising paedophile websites over the last few weeks. Martino Corbelli, marketing manager at SurfControl, warned that such mail - known as 'paedospam' - was not only sickening, but could also land companies in trouble. If a user inadvertently clicked on a pornographic website, content from the depraved site could then be stored on a company's web server cache; this would be a criminal offence. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1133522 - - - - - - - - PGP flaw lets hackers pick Outlook locks A hole in the PGP encryption add-on for Microsoft's Outlook email client could let attackers launch hostile programs on victims' machines. There's a patch - but it's not that simple to fix. A widely used plug-in for Microsoft's Outlook email client that lets users encrypt and digitally sign messages has inadvertently weakened security and left the mail program open to attack. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2118989,00.html - - - - - - - - Sharp Linux handheld in double bug alert Sharp's Linux-based Zaurus handhelds have two security bugs. The first vulnerability could give a remote attacker full control of the Zaurus filesystem, including the ability to overwrite files and/or programs with trojans. The Zaurus SLD-50000D and SL-5500 devices are designed for consumers but if used in business, the vulnerabilty supplies a way in to get into corporate systems. http://online.securityfocus.com/news/528 http://www.vnunet.com/News/1133518 - - - - - - - - Whole Lot of Happy Hacker Campers Just eight hours after the East Coast's largest hacking conference opened its doors Friday, H2K2 had already taken on the feel of summer camp for enthusiastic engineers. While most are here to hack around the clock for a few days and catch up with friends they rarely see face-to-face, a significant number said they came hoping to find employment or clients. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,53836,00.html - - - - - - - - Homer says hack your DVD player Home Simpson: Husband, father and cyber-anarchist Homer Simpson, cartoon character and a role model for millions, has been caught telling consumers to hack their DVD players. On the UK website of Simpsons' distributor Fox, Homer advises visitors to get around the copyright restrictions that limit where DVDs can be played. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2124000/2124345.stm - - - - - - - - More EBook Hacking Tricks From Embattled Elcomsoft Russian software company says Adobe's copy protection system is built from clay and straw. Just weeks before its landmark trial for violating digital copyright law is set to begin, Russia-based Elcomsoft has publicly exposed new security flaws in Adobe Systems' digital book product. Elcomsoft released an advisory Friday describing several ways to defeat security features in the Adobe eBook Library -- an Adobe Systems Web site promoting the company's Adobe Content Server, a system for distributing digital books. http://online.securityfocus.com/news/530 - - - - - - - - The Reverse Challenge The Honeynet Project originally intended to do a full write-up for the Challenge, just as all the contestants did. Unfortunately, that option was simply not possible. All of our available time and resources have been dedicated to preparing for, managing and judging the Challenge. Instead, the DeepSight team at SecurityFocus did a analysis and write-up. We feel this document is an excellent summary of the binary and its capabilities. http://honeynet.planetmirror.com/reverse/results/project/ http://honeynet.planetmirror.com/reverse/results/project/020601-Analysis-IP-Proto11-Backdoor.pdf - - - - - - - - MS to use PEAP for home wireless security? A little bird suggests to The Register that Microsoft's "more secure than others" wireless products will be using Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP). He further suggests that PEAP support will ship with Windows XP SP1, and although we hadn't heard that as a possible SP1 addition, Microsoft is a supporter of PEAP, and a while back said a "future version of the Windows client may also include Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol," here. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/26170.html - - - - - - - - Spam blocklists going too far? Like a growing number of Web surfers, Audrie Krause faces a new uncertainty when she hits the send button on her e-mail these days: Will the message get through? As the head of a political action group, Krause uses members-only e-mail lists to help educate and organize fellow activists. So she was jarred recently when one message bounced back with a note accusing her of spreading unsolicited junk e-mail, or spam. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-943348.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2119021,00.html - - - - - - - - Internet fridges--keeping viruses fresh? As embedded operating systems become more widespread in household appliances, some security experts are warning that computer viruses could rival salmonella bacteria as the biggest health risk in the new generation of fridges. Eugene Kaspersky, head of antivirus research at Kasperksy Labs, believes that such Internet-enabled appliances will be susceptible to viruses because they are likely to use common operating systems -- in particular Microsoft Windows--and because the manufacturers have little knowledge of software security. These two factors mean that these appliances are much more likely than devices such as mobile phones to be hit by viruses, according to Kaspersky. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-943408.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2119036,00.html - - - - - - - - Three domain name scams Barely a day goes by when Vulture Central doesn't receive an email from readers warning about some domain name scam or other. Like haemorrhoids, these cons are a pain in the arse. Trouble is, no matter how painful they are, they're a part of Net life. So, here's El Reg's guide to the top three domain name scams - just so as you know. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/26167.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.