July 17, 2002 Virginia man gets 12-year prison term in Web fraud case A man who defrauded Internet auction shoppers out of more than $100,000 was sentenced to 12 years in prison Tuesday in what prosecutors said could be the stiffest penalty ever for such an offense. Prosecutors said Thomas Houser bilked 268 eBay and Yahoo! shoppers. Houser, of Fairfax, offered electronics, watches, paintball guns and other goods on both Web sites through the "Houser Family Store." The items did not exist, prosecutors said. http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/468898p-3749232c.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/07/17/2002-07-17-auction-fraud_x.htm - - - - - - - - FL man pleads guilty to trafficking counterfeit labels The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that Joseph Edwin Mitchell has pled guilty to 10 felony counts of trafficking in counterfeit labels for copies of computer programs. Mr. Mitchell, 45 of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, was indicted by a federal grand jury in San Jose, California on January 9, 2002. He was charged with 10 counts of trafficking in counterfeit labels for copies of computer programs. http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/press/html/2002_07_10-mitchell.html - - - - - - - - Florida Politician Guilty of Internet Auction Scam While some Internet users avoid auction sites -- to prevent being a possible victim -- fraudulent offers can still creep into people's e-mail accounts. A former Charlotte County Commission (Florida) candidate is now serving two years in the Marion Correctional Institute for committing the most common form of online fraud -- Internet auction scams. A jury found Richard L. Lewis, 47, guilty of five counts of communications fraud, five counts of grand theft and one count of organized fraud. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/18632.html - - - - - - - - Delaware student charged with hacking A University of Delaware student broke into the school's computer system and gave herself passing grades in three courses, police said. Darielle Insler, 22, allegedly changed her grades in a math and a science class from Fs to As. She also is accused of changing an incomplete grade to a passing one in an education class. http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/07/17/student-hacking.htm http://fyi.cnn.com/2002/fyi/teachers.ednews/07/17/university.hacker.ap/index.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/781682.asp - - - - - - - - HP fires two, suspends others, for email abuse Computer and printer maker Hewlett-Packard has suspended a number of staff in Britain and Ireland and dismissed two for inappropriate use of company email, the company said on Wednesday. It would not say in detail what they did wrong but the move comes as firms are widely cracking down on exployees' use of email to distribute pornography and tasteless jokes. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3680633.htm http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/26246.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/07/17/hp-email.htm http://www.vnunet.com/News/1133657 http://news.com.com/2100-1001-944412.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2119313,00.html - - - - - - - - France to scrutinize Web sites following assassination attempt French Justice Minister Dominique Perben said Wednesday he would ensure racist Web sites such as those run by groups close to President Jacques Chirac's would-be assassin feel the full weight of the law. "I am especially aware of hate speech and racist speech. We must not tolerate a certain number of violations (that have occurred). There may be a generalization of racist comments that is extremely dangerous," he told a news conference. http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/469254p-3751436c.html - - - - - - - - National strategy for protecting cyberspace due Sept. 11 The Presidents Critical Infrastructure Board plans to release its National Strategy for Defending Cyberspace Sept. 11 in the Silicon Valley, board chairman Richard Clarke said. The document, which will outline a broad agenda for protecting national and global information resources, will be a companion piece to the presidents National Strategy for Homeland Security, released yesterday. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/19337-1.html - - - - - - - - TIPS to keep digital tabs on terrorists On the heels of plans for new powers to patrol people's Web use, the U.S. government is again turning to technology to monitor suspicious activity in the name of fighting terrorism. The government has unveiled more details of its Terrorist Information and Prevention System (TIPS), a plan to recruit volunteers across the country who will keep tabs on dubious or suspicious behavior. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-944582.html http://news.com.com/2100-1023-944555.html - - - - - - - - Bush spooks ogle Britney Secret Service agent surfs fan sites on duty. A US webmaster was stunned when he discovered that his Britney Spears website was being monitored by spooks in the White House. Daniel Rhodes said he created his Britney site to draw users to his main website, but after looking over the visitor logs he found that he had netted more than the odd Britney fan. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1133633 - - - - - - - - China scolded for Net censorship Tough new Internet regulations in China and a self-censorship pledge taken by major Web portals represented a major setback for freedom of expression in China, a New York- based press watchdog said. The Committee to Protect Journalists blasted China for new rules announced Monday that threaten to fine or close down online publishers if they disobey an existing broad ban on content deemed politically unacceptable. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-944439.html http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/469073p-3750404c.html - - - - - - - - Meet the Nigerian E-Mail Grifters She's a widow, he's a high-ranking government official. They have fallen on hard times and urgently request your assistance to get a large sum of money out of Nigeria. They will reward you handsomely for your help. Chances are you've seen something like that in your e-mail box. Perhaps in a bored moment you've wondered who sends them and why they bother; after all, no one could be gullible enough to buy into such an obvious con game. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,53818,00.html - - - - - - - - Porn barons cash in on charity domains Nasty shock awaits philanthropic surfers Internet users looking for UK charity websites may be shocked to find themselves confronted with images of hardcore porn. A number of domains with names deceptively similar to those of UK charities have been registered by porn barons, who are presumably cashing in on misdirected clicks from surfers seeking quite different content. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1133652 - - - - - - - - Government devises computer security standards The Pentagon, the National Security Agency and private organizations have developed security standards for Microsoft's most popular business computer operating system in order to stop the most common assaults against federal networks. The government will announce the standards on Wednesday to show federal computer engineers how to alter Microsoft's Windows 2000 operating system to make it more secure. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3680749.htm http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3681957.htm http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-944335.html http://online.securityfocus.com/news/538 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15910-2002Jul16.html http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/19338-1.html - - - - - - - - Technology leaders tell Hollywood to shoulder piracy burden High-technology and Hollywood executives came to an impasse this week over who shoulders the responsibility of keeping pirates from stealing digital movies, music and other artistic works. The debate possibly holds the future of the Internet as a key distributor of such works, which many believe is the next frontier for the online world. http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/469113p-3750667c.html - - - - - - - - Security filter: Yahoo edits e-mail What does Yahoo Mail have against mocha? That's what users of the company's free e-mail service may be wondering if they try to send a message using the word "mocha" and discover that while in transit, "mocha" mysteriously changes to "espresso." To protect users from malicious code, Yahoo uses an automated filter to swap out a handful of words such as "mocha" that pertain to Web code known as JavaScript. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-944320.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/781684.asp http://news.com.com/2100-1023-944315.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2119301,00.html - - - - - - - - Team demos 'first quantum crypto prototype machine' Boffins have moved one step closer to a practical implementation of the Holy Grail of encryption - quantum cryptography - by exchanging keys across a 67km fibre optic network. Until recently, the idea of quantum key distribution has been tested only in the physics laboratory. Now, a team from the University of Geneva and Swiss electronics company id Quantique have demonstrated what is described as the "first fully integrated quantum cryptography prototype machine" across a telecommunications network. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/26243.html - - - - - - - - Study shows spammed e-mail messages seldom get response If you hope to get a good response from an emailed question, send it to one individual at a time rather than en masse, a study reported in New Scientist says. The research, by Technion technology institute in Haifa, Israel, gives scientific backing to what everyone has suspected for years - the more people you copy an email to, the likelier it will be ignored. http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/469100p-3750583c.html - - - - - - - - Intellectual property Protecting a company's intellectual property from departing with staff could be unenforceable, claims a civil rights spokesman. Placing restrictions on staff after they leave a company is undue restraint, claims one civil rights proponent. But do IT companies need this protection from ex-employees? http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2119282,00.html - - - - - - - - Will we soon see another large-scale worm attack? One year ago this week, the Code Red worm caused a national panic that compelled Microsoft and the FBI to conduct a joint press conference. What's changed in the past year? According to Ryan Russell, senior threat analyst at SecurityFocus, Internet worms have become much more robust since Code Red. And that doesn't bode well for you, since antivirus software hasn't kept up with all the changes. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-944326.html - - - - - - - - 'Hacker' security biz built on FBI snitches On Monday I reported a speech by Gweeds at H2K2, in which the grand hypocrisy of hackers weaseling their way from the scene to the main- stream by forming security outfits was denounced very nicely. A torrent of e-mail denouncing him soon followed, some of which I've posted here. http://online.securityfocus.com/news/540 - - - - - - - - FBI's Trilogy progress slow During the past year, the FBI bought new desktop computers for its 56 field offices, but it will take until 2004 to install the systems, software and networks that enable agents to share information and easily search databases during investigations, a senior FBI official told senators July 16. The technology upgrades are part of a $400 million project called Trilogy that is designed to bring up-to-date computer capabilities to the FBI. But Trilogy's progress is slow. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0715/web-fbi-07-17-02.asp http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0702/071602td2.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.