July 29, 2002 RIAA Web site disabled by attack The Recording Industry Association of America's Web site was unreachable over the weekend due to a denial-of-service attack. The apparently deliberate overload rendered the RIAA.org site unavailable for portions of four days and came after the group endorsed legislation to allow copyright holders to disrupt peer-to-peer networks. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-947072.html - - - - - - - - French demand shutdown of Web site linked to assassination attempt Two civil rights associations said Thursday they have asked a French court to ban a Web site run by a racist group linked to the man who tried to assassinate President Jacques Chirac two weeks ago. Lodged by the Union of Jewish Students in France and the J'Accuse association, a group that monitors neo-Nazi propoganda on the Internet, the request calls for the site owned by the extreme-right Radical Unity to be shut down immediately. It is to be heard by a tribunal in Paris on July 31. http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/480521p-3836501c.html - - - - - - - - Sony loses lawsuit against Australian man who modified PlayStation consoles Australia's consumer watchdog on Monday hailed a Federal Court decision giving Sony PlayStation owners the right to modify their consoles to play imported and copied games. The Australian subsidiary of Sony was suing Sydney man Eddy Johnson for selling and installing modifications to its PlayStation machines, claiming his actions breached copyright laws. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3758163.htm http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3756614.htm http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/481769p-3847923c.html - - - - - - - - Klez: The computer worm that keeps on giving If the Klez worm was a movie, it might squash Spider-Man. If it was a musical act, it would likely best Britney. But it's neither. Klez is an insidious snippet of computer code that's rocketed to the top of the virus charts by spreading its payload via e-mail and vulnerabilities in Microsoft products. Its purpose: Like a real, living virus, it exists to replicate itself and, with some strains, to create a little havoc along the way. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2002-07-29-klez-worm_x.htm - - - - - - - - Malaysian government considers allowing use of pirated software The Malaysian government may allow schools and other institutions to use pirated computer software, despite efforts to reduce widespread software piracy, a news report said Sunday. "We are concerned over the rampant sale and use of pirated software in the country and will continue to conduct raids to curb it,'' said Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3751765.htm http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/26423.html http://www.vnunet.com/News/1133961 - - - - - - - - Auction fraud on the rise, some say Con artists getting more clever, vigilantes more frustrated. Has auction fraud gotten worse recently? That depends on whom you ask. Dennis Barringer went hunting for con artists recently after he ordered a laptop computer from an auction seller and received a phone book instead. His vigorous vigilante efforts since then have landed him two death threats. Another vigilante, Michael Carr, says in some categories on eBay, 75 percent of the items offered are scams. And even eBay concedes that auction criminals are getting more crafty all the time. http://www.msnbc.com/news/784132.asp - - - - - - - - States to share cyberterror data States will become better informed about terrorist threats under an agreement reached last week between the National Council of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) and the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC). The information will relate to physical threats, as well as cyber attacks. http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1105-946936.html STATE CIOs WORKING TOGETHER TO REACH SECURITY, DATA-SHARING GOALS Homeland security concerns have added to states' efforts to improve their information-sharing capabilities. Find out how CIOs work with their peers to implement technology to accomplish this goal. (TechRepublic article, free registration required) http://www.techrepublic.com/article.jhtml?id=r00520020715thr01.htm TAKE A MEASURED APPROACH TO HOMELAND SECURITY http://www.techrepublic.com/article.jhtml?id=r00520020509ggp01.htm BALANCING PRIVACY, PUBLIC SAFETY, AND NETWORK SECURITY CONCERNS AFTER 9/11 http://www.techrepublic.com/article.jhtml?id=r00520020528jdt01.htm - - - - - - - - Chinese dissidents publish 'declaration of Internet users' rights' A group of 18 Chinese dissidents and intellectuals published on Monday a "declaration of Internet users' rights" in protest at new website self- censorship rules. The declaration demands the freedom to put together Internet pages, with the only restrictions placed on "evident and real" slander, pornography or certain "violent attacks or behaviour". The document also calls for complete freedom for Chinese people to surf the Internet. http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/482185p-3850370c.html - - - - - - - - Spam filter: A boon or a bomb? A meeting reminder from the boss, a lascivious letter from a lover, or the daily tally from a fantasy football league: Which e-mail would you read first? Programmers at a small software company say they have the answer and that it can help millions of workers cope with the growing spam menace. The software categorizes e-mail on a scale from one to 100, then sorts messages according to the recipient's behavior and preferences. Important notes with high scores float to the top of the in-box, while unwanted spam, newsletters and other banalities sink to the bottom. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-946986.htm Spam filter a career killer? http://news.com.com/2100-1023-946952.html The meaning of spam http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/26424.html - - - - - - - - Tinker with your MP3 player, get 5 years in jail We were suspicious a few months back when US Senator Joseph Biden (Democrat, Delaware) introduced proposed legislation with Senator Fritz "Hollywood" Hollings (Democrat, South Carolina) to protect emblems of authenticity for digital media, such as holograms, with the same tough laws that criminalize bogus labels on designer-wear. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/26430.html - - - - - - - - Fluffy Bunny No Longer Energized At the height of its game last year, a loose-knit hacking group calling itself Fluffy Bunny appeared able to break into websites at will. For a six- month period starting in mid-2001, Fluffy Bunny penetrated the networks of several top Internet firms, including Exodus, VA Software and Akamai. In effort to expose what it saw as frauds and poseurs, the cracking group also vandalized websites operated by leading computer security outfits, including the SANS Institute. http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,54040,00.html - - - - - - - - Wi-Fi Honeypots a New Hacker Trap War drivers beware, the next wireless network you tap might be part of an elaborate sting. Hackers searching for wireless access points in the nation's capital may soon war drive right into a trap. Last month researchers at the government contractor Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) launched what might be the first organized wireless honeypot, designed to tempt unwary Wi-Fi hackers and bandwidth borrowers and gather data on their techniques and tools of choice. http://online.securityfocus.com/news/552 - - - - - - - - IT Nightmare: The Enemy Within The discovery that employees are attacking internal systems is a challenge because the majority of security monitoring is focused on the outside perimeter of the organization, not on the inside. All it took for Tim Lloyd to destroy more than 1,000 of his employer's programs was about a half-dozen lines of code. Lloyd, employed for 11 years by Stamford, Connecticut-based Omega Engineer Corp. as a network administrator, was convicted in May 2000 of doing US$10 million in damages to the company by deleting proprietary programs. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/18778.html - - - - - - - - The Right to Defend Is it criminal to reach out and hack an infected machine that's attacking your network? When it comes to matters of security, most policies are hastily enacted as a reaction to some pressing force or foe. This is evident when you look at the rash of laws, procedures and policies put in place since September 11. I guess it is only natural-- our fragile human psyche requires immediate comfort in the face of danger; our fears only resting when we know something is being done, even if that "something" equates to nothing at all. http://online.securityfocus.com/columnists/98 - - - - - - - - Future of spying: Tiny flying bots Espionage, exploration part of mandate for mini machines. Understanding the aerodynamics that allow insects and hummingbirds to fly is the key to an invention that researchers hope will create a little buzz and a lot of flap. Biologists and technologists at the University of California, Berkeley have spent the past four years developing a tiny robot, called the Micromechanical Flying Insect, that they say will one day fly like a fly. http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/07/28/flying.micro.bots.ap/index.html - - - - - - - - Blanket Security, With a Family's Tradition of Customer Service When Alan and Glen Kruglak worked in their father's record store as children, they would show customers where to find an album, not just tell them where to look. Several decades later, the Kruglak brothers believe those early lessons in customer service will help differentiate their new security company from its competitors. "Growing up in the retail side, that's when we really found out about customer service," said Glen Kruglak, co-founder of Genesis Security Systems, a start- up firm that integrates electronic security systems. http://online.securityfocus.com/news/553 *********************************************************** 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.