December 23, 2002 Seven arrested over Malaysian e-mail terrorism hoax Malaysian police began investigations after the Australian High Commission reported it had received several e-mails containing rumors of terrorist attacks, the government said through its official news agency Berita Nasional Malaysia (Bernama). The seven people -- six women and one man -- were detained under Malaysia's Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows for indefinite detention without trial. But the seven people, who work in private companies in the capital Kuala Lumpur and on the high-tech manufacturing island of Penang, have been released on police bail, according to Bernama. http://www.itworld.com/Man/2681/021220emailhoax/ - - - - - - - - Cyber-stalker banged up for two years A UK man has been jailed for carrying out a cyber-stalking campaign against a Canadian woman. According to The Scotsman newspaper, Christopher Kell, 37, from Cumbria, pleaded guilty last week to stalking a Winnipeg woman by sending thousands of harassing emails, letters and faxes. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1137728 - - - - - - - - Sendo sues Microsoft over 'stolen' secrets The handset maker, formerly one of Microsoft's staunchest allies in the smartphone business, is accusing the software maker of attempting to remove proprietary technology. Mobile phone maker Sendo has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft alleging the attempted theft of technical expertise and proprietary technology, adding to the intrigue surrounding its recently-terminated relationship with the software giant. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2127954,00.html http://www.vnunet.com/News/1137744 http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/59/28677.html - - - - - - - - SGI Settles Charges in Russian Lab Sale Silicon Graphics Inc. said late Friday that it would pay a $1-million fine to settle charges that it sold computer equipment to a Russian nuclear lab without obtaining a license from the Department of Commerce. According to the criminal complaint, the company failed to get a license when it twice in 1996 shipped equipment and upgrades to Chelyabinsk-70, described as a "nuclear laboratory operated by Russia's Ministry of Atomic Energy." Silicon Graphics gets about 35% of its revenue from U.S. military-related spending. (LA Times article, free registration required) http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-silicon21dec21,0,2298352.story - - - - - - - - Cyberterrorism a real and growing risk for businesses Cyber attacks have long posed trouble to large companies, which increasingly depend on electronic data and the Internet to conduct business. But small and mid-sized businesses are beginning to ask for more help in protecting themselves. "A lot of people are asking about this," said Brendon Carew, an account manager for InterActive Network Systems, an electronic-business consulting firm in Blackwood, N.J. "There are a lot of hackers out there that people don't consider terrorists, but they are ... because their whole goal is to disrupt lives." http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2002-12-23-cyberterrorism_x.htm - - - - - - - - White House defends Web security plan Efforts to bolster Internet security will not lead to increased government scrutiny of individuals' online habits, the White House and industry sources said Friday. As it finalizes sweeping guidelines that aim to increase cybersecurity, the Bush administration said individual privacy would not be affected by efforts to prevent cyberattacks. "The administration is not considering a proposal to monitor what individuals do on the Internet," a spokesman for the transition to the newly created Department of Homeland Security said. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-978675.html - - - - - - - - Government Spying (on You) Keeps Growing The Bush administration's ardent desire to spy on us is no longer news. But a New York Times report Friday, describing a budding plan to tap just about all Internet communications, is chilling even by Bush standards. The White House claimed that privacy would be honored in its effort to beef up cybersecurity. Oh, sure. This government believes it has a right, and a need, to know everything about us. This same government has a mania for secrecy that goes far beyond anything in recent history. http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/archives/000677.shtml#000677 http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/4800255.htm http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-978675.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2127931,00.html http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/12/23/cyber.security.ap/index.html Cities Urge Restraint in Fight Against Terror (NY Times article, free registration required) http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/23/national/23PATR.html Move to Open Government Electronically (NY Times article, free registration required) http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/23/technology/23NECO.html Judiciary Panel Adds Surveillance Oversight http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28402-2002Dec23.html 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, 2002 http://online.securityfocus.com/columnists/131 - - - - - - - - Deadline passes for digital copyright law Just two member states have signed up to the EU's new law on copyright protection. A deadline for adopting a new EU law on copyright protection has passed with just two member countries signing up, dealing a blow to media and software companies beset by unauthorised duplication of their works across the Internet. "It's a bit disappointing," Francisco Mingorance, European policy director for the Business Software Alliance (BSA) trade group told Reuters on Monday. "Obviously, this will delay the process." http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2127950,00.html http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/687622p-5107041c.html - - - - - - - - Hollywood targets DVD-copying upstart The movie industry is training its legal guns on a new target: a small start-up that lets people make copies of their DVDs. On Thursday, seven major movie studios filed a countersuit in federal court in San Francisco, claiming that 321 Studios is violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by selling its DVD Copy Plus and DVD-Xcopy programs. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2127934,00.html - - - - - - - - Viacom wants FCC to require HDTV anti-piracy technologies Viacom Inc., parent of the CBS television network and Paramount Pictures, has threatened to stop all high-definition TV broadcasts on CBS unless federal regulators mandate certain anti-piracy technologies by this summer. CBS is the leading source of free, over-the-air HDTV, transmitting most of its prime- time programs and many sports broadcasts in the format for the last four seasons. (Nando Times article, free registration required) http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/687625p-5107052c.html - - - - - - - - Commerce Power Shift Could Shake Up Piracy, Broadband Debates As the newly Republican Senate prepares to take office in January, high-tech lobbyists are anxiously waiting to see how the power shift affects the measures they care about most. In the Commerce Committee, which holds sway over a clutch of high-tech issues, Arizona Republican John McCain's return to the chairmanship could shift the balance in key debates over broadband and electronic copyright protection. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28399-2002Dec23.html - - - - - - - - Internet villain nominees revealed Nominations for the year's most infamous award - Internet Villain - have been announced. Privacy issues feature highly, but telecoms troubles have also produced a few surprises. The BBC, music publishers and a disparate group of analysts have been included in this year's shortlist for Internet Villain Award, joining regular nominees that include telecoms regulator Oftel and last year's winner the Home Office. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2127903,00.html - - - - - - - - Users warned over IE clipboard exploit If you thought the contents of your Windows clipboard were secure, then think again. Windows users were warned over the weekend of an exploit in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser that lets any Web site copy the contents of the Windows clipboard without the user knowing. Popular Windows site NTFS highlighted the exploit, which has been known about for some time, but which is still not widely known amongst users. "I often copy and paste passwords," said one ZDNet UK reader on finding out about it. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2127947,00.html - - - - - - - - British queen loses out on cyber name Queen Elizabeth, acting as trustee for former British colony New Zealand, lost a legal battle to claim the Internet domain name newzealand.com from a U.S. firm, international arbitrators have ruled. The decision, issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization on Friday, is the first alleged cybersquatting case concerning a country domain name brought to the United Nations agency, according to WIPO assistant-director Francis Gurry. http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/12/23/new.zealand.reut/index.html - - - - - - - - Researchers battle Web bots with identity checks They swarm the Internet harvesting e-mail addresses and free accounts to spawn hoards of junk messages. They lurk in chat rooms waiting to sting unsuspecting surfers with gambling sites, get-rich-quick schemes and pornography. But these automated computer programs -- known as Web robots -- have what may be a fatal flaw: For all their ability to seem otherwise, they're not human. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/4797581.htm - - - - - - - - The Code That Cuts Both Ways "Obviously, it's human nature to hide certain things as long as you can get away with it. But I see a cultural shift as far as people wanting to take responsibility," AMR analyst Cate Quirk said. The focus on computer security Relevant Products/Services from IBM has never been more intense, and the debate over disclosure has never been hotter. On one hand, mailing lists like BugTraq can give vendors an incentive to fix security holes by making them public. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/20319.html - - - - - - - - Tech Bucks, Hack Threats Up In a series of predictions for the new year, IDC analysts said the economy could expect a boost from an increase in corporate IT spending. But the market research firm also expects a coordinated terrorist attack that will bring the Internet "down to its knees for a day or two" as retaliation against the United States if it goes to war with Iraq. http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,56902,00.html - - - - - - - - Perspective: Will this land me in jail? It's not every day that I fret about committing a string of federal felonies that could land me in prison until sometime in 2008. But right now I'm wondering about whether the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) means that I might get an all-expenses-paid vacation to Club Fed. It turns out that software company executives like the ones at ElcomSoft, whom a federal jury acquitted on Dec. 17 on charges of violating the DMCA, aren't the only people who might want to have a defense lawyer on retainer. Journalists might be affected too. http://news.com.com/2010-1028-978636.html - - - - - - - - Securing Outlook, Part Two: Many Choices to Make This is the second of two articles focusing on ways to secure one of the world's most popular e-mail clients, Microsoft's Outlook. The first article offered a brief overview of Outlook, as well as some of the threats that undermine its security. It also discussed configuring Outlook for optimal security. This article will look at some more things that Outlook users can do to improve their e-mail security. http://online.securityfocus.com/infocus/1652 Securing Outlook, Part One: Initial Configuration http://online.securityfocus.com/infocus/1648 - - - - - - - - Rebels embrace new technology in war against government Tucked inside a small room in a downtown apartment building, an illiterate but mechanically brilliant rebel operates a remote control device. A couple of miles (kilometers) away, a car without a driver slowly creeps along a shadowy street, a camera guiding it to the site where it will blow up with the mere click of a button. "Just like Play Station," explained an anti-terrorist police officer in the capital. Bogota police prevented such a scenario earlier this month when they unraveled a rebel plan to guide five driver-less cars to police, army and public targets and set off thousands of pounds of explosives inside the cars _ all from the comfort of their own homes. http://online.securityfocus.com/news/1912 *********************************************************** 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.