December 5, 2002
New Lagal worm deletes files
Antivirus companies are warning of a damaging
new e-mail worm, which, when activated, deletes
all files on drives labelled D, E, F and G.
The new worm is not widespread yet, with e-mail
screening firm MessageLabs, who call the worm
W32/SfxDeth.A-MM. The worm, dubbed W32/Lagel.A
by antivirus company Panda Software, arrives
in an e-mail titled "Fwd: Crazy Illegal Sex"
with an attachment called IlleGal.exe. If the
file is executed, the worm creates four new
files on the computer and runs a series of
graphics implying the e-mail was simply a joke.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-976187.html
- - - - - - - -
Pair indicted in trade-secret theft
A federal grand jury in the US has indicted
two men on criminal charges of stealing trade
secrets from major computer technology companies.
A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted two
men on criminal charges of stealing trade secrets
from Sun, Transmeta and other companies in order
to make and sell processors based on the
technology in China.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2127103,00.html
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-rup5.1dec05,0,2955928.story
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/4673540.htm
- - - - - - - -
Swedish court releases two Ericsson spy suspects
A Swedish court released two suspects Thursday
in an espionage investigation involving wireless
equipment maker LM Ericsson, but ordered the
main suspect kept in jail. The Stockholm
district court said all three remained suspects
in the investigation, which has focused on
secret company information being passed to
a foreign intelligence agent.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/4672303.htm
- - - - - - - -
Tower Records site exposes data
A security hole on Tower Records' Web site
exposed data on millions of U.S. and U.K.
customers until it was closed late Wednesday.
The glitch allowed anyone to peruse Tower
Records' Web site to view its database of
customer orders dating from 1996 through
this week, including home and e-mail
addresses, phone numbers and what music
or video products were purchased. More
than 3 million such records were exposed.
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-976271.html
- - - - - - - -
Start-up founder sentenced for fraud
A con artist who cheated hundreds of area
investors out of $3.7 million has been
sentenced to 11 years in state prison and
ordered to pay more than $6.7 million in
fines and restitution. Steven A. Ristau,
44, founder of San Jose start-up
PacketSwitch.com, was found guilty of
securities fraud, selling unqualified
securities and three felony counts of tax
evasion, filing false state tax returns
and failing to file a tax return. Ristau's
four-week jury trial was in October.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/4667842.htm
- - - - - - - -
Government rests case against Russian software company
Federal prosecutors rested their case Thursday
against a Russian company accused of selling a
computer program that allowed users to circumvent
the security of Adobe Systems' electronic book
software.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/4667083.htm
Russian firm's software dubbed 'major problem' in copyright trial
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2002-12-05-russian-trial_x.htm
Government shows Sklyarov video in court
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-976291.html
Adobe: Few eBook copies found
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2127073,00.html
- - - - - - - -
FatWallet.com fights back in WalMart DMCA action
FatWallet, the bargain hunters' site that was
forced to take down sale prices after several
retailers claimed their publication was an
infringement of the Digital Millenium Copyright
Act (DMCA), has struck back, contesting the
retailers' "frivolous copyright assertion"
and demanding damages.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/28429.html
- - - - - - - -
Japan disconnects mobile phone scam
The Japanese government has moved to outlaw
a mobile phone scam which was fooling consumers
into dialling extortionately priced premium
rate numbers. The scam involves the use of
computers to dial as many as 3,000 mobile
handsets per minute--only to hang up after
just one ring. The conmen are then just
relying on a small percentage of curious
phone users, who see they have a missed
call, to ring the number on their phone.
http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1105-976224.html
- - - - - - - -
Congress Votes to Ban Violent Video Games
Honduras' Congress voted unanimously to ban
the sale of violent video games, the country's
latest effort to halt crime and lawlessness.
The president is expected to sign it into law.
Banned will be Mortal Kombat, Doom, Resident
Evil, Turck, the House of the Dead, Duke Nukem,
Shadowman, Quake, Instinct Killer, the Legacy
of Kain, Street Fighter and Perfect Dark.
(LA Times article, free registration required)
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fg-briefs5.1dec05,0,3112321.story
- - - - - - - -
Messages to al-Qaida Called Fake
Hundreds of messages posted to Internet
discussion groups last week, apparently
with encrypted instructions for al-Qaida
terrorists, are an obvious hoax, experts
said. The newsgroup postings, which
included the words "next al-Qaida attack"
in their subject lines, alarmed some
Internet users when the messages began
showing up in discussion groups around
Nov. 25. "Could this be the forerunner
of an Internet attack? Maybe the authorities
(Homeland Security, etc.) should be called
in on this?" asked one Earthlink user on
Nov. 26 in a Jewish culture newsgroup.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,56715,00.html
- - - - - - - -
SJ Police awarded grant to fight Internet crimes against children
Rep. Zoe Lofgren on Wednesday announced a
$300,000 grant that will be awarded to the
San Jose Police Department's Child Exploitation
Detail. The funding will be used to help in the
investigation of Internet crimes against children.
It will go toward the purchase of equipment for
the unit and will fund a new forensic computer
technician to assist in child exploitation
investigations.
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/4670825.htm
- - - - - - - -
UK still vulnerable to hackers
Dramatic fall in recorded attacks played down
by experts. Security experts have rejected claims
of a dramatic reduction in hack attacks on the
UK last month, maintaining that UK websites are
no more secure than others. Security analyst
Mi2G claimed that recorded digital attacks on
the UK fell by 70 per cent during November,
compared with an eight per cent decline
worldwide.
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1137366
- - - - - - - -
Klez worst virus of 2002
The Klez worm has been named the most prolific
virus of the year, accounting for almost a
quarter of all reports to anti-virus vendor
Sophos. The all-conquering Klez did the
majority of its leg work over the summer,
when it enjoyed a seven month-long unbroken
spell at the top of the virus charts between
March and October.
http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1105-976221.html
- - - - - - - -
Users still the weakest link
It's staff that let the viruses in, say experts.
End-users are still the main cause of virus
infections in the workplace, as they continue
to open suspicious email attachments and use
online file-sharing and instant messenging
services, according to experts.
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1137373
- - - - - - - -
Ofcom won't ban spam
An MP has called for action against the rise
of pornographic email, but Ofcom looks set to
keep well away from Internet regulation. An
attempt to force Ofcom, the new regulator for
Britain's telecommunications and broadcasting
sectors, to take action on pornographic spam
is likely to be unsuccessful.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2127093,00.html
- - - - - - - -
Microsoft warns of IE, Outlook flaws
Microsoft late Wednesday warned of new security
glitches in some of its Internet software that
could expose sensitive data. The Redmond, Wash.,
company said a glitch could allow hackers to
pilfer information from computers running
versions of its Internet Explorer Web browser.
The Internet Explorer security hole affects
versions 5.5 and 6 for Windows. IE 5.01 is
not affected by the glitch.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-976206.html
- - - - - - - -
ICANN urged to scrutinize domain claims
The standards body for Internet domain
names should ratchet up efforts to ensure
the accuracy of domain-name owner data and
eliminate bulk marketing that uses domain-
name information, according to recommendations
of an Internet task force. The recommendations
of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers (ICANN) task force stemmed from
discussions over Whois, a database for the
.com, .net and .org domains that contains
contact information of people who register
Web sites.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-976278.html
- - - - - - - -
Biometrics to imprint job site
Forget about traditional reference checking.
New technology has a growing number of companies
checking out their employees' fingerprints
instead and raising privacy concerns in
the process. The technology is showing up
at job fairs as companies turn to fingerprint
technology to verify that applicants have
no criminal records. Other employers use
the technology as a newfangled time clock:
Workers punch in and out using fingerprint
scans instead of timecards.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2002-12-04-fingerprint_x.htm
- - - - - - - -
DoD to influence tech industry to develop systems
Retired Vice Adm. Arthur Cebrowski, head of the
Defense Department's office for modernizing the
military, said on Thursday that he will seek to
influence commercial technology development at
the earliest stages to encourage more appropriate
military technologies.
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1202/120502td1.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.