December 3, 2002 Teen accused of using computer to threaten president A teenager is accused of using a computer to send messages to the FBI that read, "I am going to kill George Bush." Johnnie Edward Harris, 17, sent the messages from a public library computer on Nov. 12 and Nov. 19, Warren police Det. Dan Beck told the Detroit Free Press for a story Tuesday. Agents were able to verify the origin of the computer message, and reviewed sign-in sheets to pinpoint who was logged on the computer at the time the threats were made, The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens reported. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2002-12-03-computer-threat_x.htm - - - - - - - - Burglar breaks in for porn Housebreaker steals nothing but uses PC for surfing sex sites. Police in a small town in Wyoming, US, are trying to trace a man who breaks into houses to log on to porn websites. According to Associated Press reports, the porn-addict burglar breaks into houses in the town of Gillette and uses the homeowner's PC to buy memberships to porn sites, using stolen cheques from other crimes. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1137298 - - - - - - - - Five Wall Street firms fined for e-mail shredding Five Wall Street brokerages, including Goldman, Sachs, and Citigroup's Salomon Smith Barney, were fined a total of $8.25 million for not properly preserving e-mail communications, securities regulators said on Tuesday. While not admitting or denying wrongdoing, the five firms -- Goldman, Salomon, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank Securities, and U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray--agreed to pay $1.65 million each and will review and report on procedures for keeping e-mails. Rules require the firms to keep such records for at least two years. http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1106-975851.html http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,56692,00.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2002-12-03-email-fines_x.htm - - - - - - - - Copyright law stands first day of trial The trial of a Russian software firm accused of selling an illegal encryption-disabling program got off to a brisk start in federal court Tuesday, as attorneys delved into the question of whether electronic files should be afforded protections not extended to paper documents. Opening statements and testimony from two witnesses rounded out day one of court proceedings in the case of U.S. vs. ElcomSoft. Federal prosecutors are charging Moscow-based ElcomSoft with illegally creating and selling software that breaks through security features on Adobe Systems' eBook platform. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,56703,00.html http://news.com.com/2100-1023-975916.html http://www.vnunet.com/News/1137291 http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/657858p-4938427c.html - - - - - - - - Judge Delays Ruling in File-Swapping Case A federal judge on Monday weighed arguments, but postponed ruling in a contentious hearing over the fate of the popular Morpheus and Grokster file-swapping networks. Both sides in the copyright infringement lawsuit -- filed against the networks by Hollywood studios, major record labels and music publishers -- asked U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson to rule in the case that has emerged as a key legal fight in the post-Napster world. (LA Times article, free registration required) http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-kazaa3dec03001427,0,4092981.story http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2126937,00.html http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/12/03/sharing.lawsuit.ap/index.html http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/656584p-4930705c.html Both sides argue their points in file-sharing case http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2002-12-03-file-sharing-case_x.htm Madster told to pull the plug http://news.com.com/2100-1023-975927.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/842883.asp Pirated Files Clog College Networks http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-me-piracy2dec02001431,0,6212027.story - - - - - - - - FTC settles fake Web case for $300,000 Four companies agreed to repay customers a total of $300,000 to settle federal charges that they sold fake Internet addresses ending in ".usa" with an advertising campaign pegged to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday that the companies - TLD Network Ltd., Quantum Management Ltd., TBS Industries Ltd., and Quantum Management U.S. Inc. - last year jointly sold Internet domain names ending with ".brit" and ".scot." After Sept. 11, the companies began an e-mail campaign advertising ".usa" domain names, with statements such as, "Be Patriotic! Register .USA Domains." http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/4656947.htm http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/657614p-4937289c.html - - - - - - - - Something Old, Something New Old Chernoybl Virus And New E-Mail Threat Surfaces. Sometimes old computer viruses never die. They just come back with a more destructive purpose. According to security experts, a new variant of the Chernobyl virus is back from the dead. Also known as CIH, this virus first appeared in 1998. The new version affects personal computers that use Microsoft's Windows 95, 98, and Me operating systems only. Apple machines and those running other operating systems such as Unix, Linux, Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows XP, should not be affected. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/TechTV/techtv_virusalert021203.html - - - - - - - - Virus activity shows steep drop in November MessageLabs said in a statement it had intercepted 1,672,912 viruses in October, a figure which fell to 857,453 last month. The November result is the lowest since April this year. Virus reports leapt from 1,016,421 in September to the year to date's peak in October, due most likely to the prevalence of two highly contagious viruses, Bugbear and Opaserv, released at the end of September. http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1105-975886.html - - - - - - - - Asia struggles to tackle video piracy Video piracy in Asia has exploded into a billion- dollar business as organized gangs elbow out back- alley operators and fast-evolving technology makes copying easier than ever, officials said Tuesday. Speaking at a trade show in the Thai capital, a panel of industry experts warned that high- profile crackdowns by countries in the region have failed to stem the trade in part because offenders typically face token penalties. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/4656331.htm - - - - - - - - Despite Precautions, Net Fraud Up On the whole, Thomas Ho's near-loss of about $500 in a Web scam last year has made him a bit more cautious about future online purchases. Like thousands of bargain hunters, Ho was caught off guard by the demise of CyberRebate.com, a site that offered rebates of up to 100 percent for customers who bought products at marked-up prices. When the site abruptly closed in May 2001, customers were left awaiting refunds for millions of dollars' worth of purchases. http://www.wired.com/news/holidays/0,1882,56611,00.html - - - - - - - - Identity Theft More Often an Inside Job Old Precautions Less Likely to Avert Costly Crime, Experts Say. You can take all the steps you want to protect yourself against identity theft: Guard your wallet, shred your personal financial papers before throwing them in the trash, monitor your credit reports. But no matter how careful you are, you may not be able to avoid having your identity assumed by someone who wants to go on a buying spree, using your credit card, bank account, Social Security number or other personal data. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1026-2002Dec2.html - - - - - - - - Bug alert firm moves to soothe critics In a move aimed at quieting critics, network protection company Internet Security Systems posted guidelines Monday on how it will warn the public of flaws in companies' software. The company faced loud complaints last April after it released news of a security hole in the popular open-source Web server software Apache, having given the application's developers only a few hours to respond. Two times since then, the company's policy on the timing of advisories has been questioned by its peers. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-975785.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2126897,00.html - - - - - - - - Sites on democracy, Tibet and Taiwan frequently blocked in China Internet sites on democracy, Tibet and Taiwan were among Web destinations most frequently blocked by the Chinese government, a study of Chinese online access shows. Researchers at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society said Tuesday that other sites blocked included those on health, education, news, entertainment, religion and pornography. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/4656838.htm http://www.msnbc.com/news/842701.asp http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/657622p-4937333c.html - - - - - - - - Top-10 spam list: Still gullible The top 10 spam e-mails from the past month have been revealed--as has the fact that the online population is still gullible enough to be targeted with scams and phony promotions, which range from the downright implausible to the outright illegal. The list, compiled by anti-virus firm Sophos, also reveals that the gullible are still perpetuating one of the more ridiculous e-mail hoaxes ever seen. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-975896.html - - - - - - - - Web apps become new weakest security link The defensive perimeter of firewalls and intrusion-detection systems that most companies rely on for network security is being bypassed by hackers who have made Web applications their newest targets, security experts warned last week. "Perimeter defense is becoming an irrelevant term," said Kevin Soo Hoo, senior security architect at Cambridge, Mass.-based security consultancy @Stake Inc. "The emphasis [in hacking] is now shifting to the application layer. The Web application is becoming the primary vehicle for attack." http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10 - - - - - - - - Making wireless LAN security air tight All-in-one security gateways are helping to boost confidence in wireless networks. Early Adopters Losing sleep lately? With rogue wireless LAN access points popping up every time you turn around it's easy to understand why. Securing the ether is becoming job No. 1. One approach that's gaining favor is to use security gateways to lasso groups of access points. http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2002 - - - - - - - - Setting a Security Standard for Tech Workers Industry association releases new guidelines for training IT pros in areas such as cryptography and attack prevention. A group made up of representatives of the U.S. government and leading technology companies has released new certification standards for security professionals, according to a statement released Monday by the Computing Technology Industry Association. The new certification, known as Security+, is intended to provide a standard method for training and evaluating the abilities of information technology professionals. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,107534,00.asp - - - - - - - - FBI continues push to improve records management To get a grip on its files, the FBI is busy converting 750,000 documents a day to a common electronic format. The bureau is scanning its records at a facility dubbed the DocLab. The DocLab uses a dirty optical character reader process, as opposed to a corrected OCR process, to speed up operations, said William L. Hooton, assistant director of the FBIs new Records Management Division. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/20581-1.html - - - - - - - - Homeland defense commander stresses 'need to share' information Officials at the newly established U.S. Northern Command may have to consider abandoning the military's traditional system for classifying information as they build crucial lines of communication with federal, state and local homeland security agencies, the Northern Command's chief information officer said recently. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1202/120302td1.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. 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