January 20, 2003 Armed raiders steal PS840,000 in computer kit Armed robbers made off with approximately PS840,000 of computer equipment after a raid on a warehouse on the outskirts of London last Friday morning. Police believe five men (some wearing balaclavas) were involved in the raid on Dimensions Cargo, Isleworth during which one member of staff was threatened with a gun. http://212.100.234.54/content/7/28928.html - - - - - - - - Gang ram-raids distributor Thieves use forklift truck to smash warehouse vault. Police are on the lookout for a gang that ram-raided the warehouse of a distributor in Basingstoke, stealing more than PS200,000 worth of IT equipment. The warehouse of wireless distributor Portable, formerly Portable Add-ons, was broken into between 2.30pm on Saturday 11 January and 12.50am Sunday 12 January. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1138124 - - - - - - - - Regent law student charged with Internet sex crime A third-year law student at Regent University, who helped run several successful campaigns for local Republicans, was arrested Jan. 10 and charged with two counts of soliciting sex with a minor over the Internet. Robin Vanderwall is being held without bond in the Virginia Beach City Jail. Vanderwall, 34, is charged with two felonies -- use of a communication device for crimes against children and attempted indecent liberties with a child 14 or younger. http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw0114van.html - - - - - - - - Priest pleads guilty to solicitation At first the Rev. Elias Francisco Guimaraes told the judge he wanted to meet with a 14-year-old boy just to talk about sex. But after he was reminded by his lawyer about "a few things," Guimaraes acknowledged he wanted to do more than talk. And with that admission, U.S. District Judge William Zloch accepted the Brazilian priest's plea of attempting to entice a minor for sex. Under federal sentencing guidelines, the Catholic priest -- who celebrated daily Mass at Our Lady Queen of Peace Mission in suburban Delray Beach -- will face 24 to 30 months in prison when sentenced April 4, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Lothrop Morris. http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/thursday/local_news_e3629320131442b400a5.html - - - - - - - - NTL suspends employee over ntlhell.co.uk hack An NTL employee could lose his job concerning allegations that he was behind a New Year's eve hack of ntlhell.co.uk. The employee, who hasn't been named, has been suspended from work following a three-week internal investigation by NTL into allegations that ntlhell.co.uk was hacked by someone from within the cableco. The employee faces a hearing later this week. http://212.100.234.54/content/6/28935.html - - - - - - - - 'DVD Jon' Acquittal Under Appeal Norwegian prosecutors will appeal the acquittal of a Norwegian teenager charged with digital burglary for creating and circulating a program online that cracks the security codes on DVDs. Rune Floisbonn, a prosecutor with Norway's economic crimes police, told the NTB news agency Monday that an appeal would be filed. http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,57301,00.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-01-20-dvd-appeal_x.htm http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/726866p-5315605c.html - - - - - - - - Antivirus virus on the loose A new virus is spreading - and its purpose is to delete another virus. However, it may end up crashing your computer. The appearance and spread of viruses throughout the tech-enabled world is rapidly becoming par for the course for home and corporate users. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2128957,00.html http://news.com.com/2100-1040-981255.html - - - - - - - - Agents Wade in Filth to Find Predators Going After Online Pedophiles Not for the Squeamish, FBI Finds. As an FBI agent overseeing undercover work in online chat rooms, Stacey Bradley must venture into what she calls "the beast of the Internet" and view images on the computer that turn her stomach, even make her cry: screen after screen of sexually explicit photographs and video clips of children, some even depicting torture. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15440-2003Jan19.html - - - - - - - - Child porn cases net different verdicts Jury acquits one man; another pleads no contest in separate PC content incident. A Superior Court jury has acquitted a Ketchikan man of child pornography charges. In a separate case, another Ketchikan man was sentenced to six months in prison and fined $1,000 for possession of child pornography. A jury of seven men and five women acquitted Patrick J. Durkin, 43, earlier this month after deliberating for about three hours. Durkin was charged in February with possessing child pornography. http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/2479252p-2526094c.html - - - - - - - - Sex.com could cost VeriSign $100m, says suit Sex.Com, the disputed adult web portal currently owned by Grant Media LLC, said it is a step closer to a ruling on whether it can claim damages from VeriSign Inc for alleged negligence in the transfer of the domain name sex.com to another party. The company said in a statement Thursday that an appeals court in San Francisco has asked the California Supreme Court to rule on whether a domain name can be classed as property and for guidance on other matters. http://212.100.234.54/content/6/28933.html - - - - - - - - Sen. Edwards introduces information security bill Sen. John Edwards has introduced a bill that would require agencies to identify vulnerabilities in their systems and set up timetables for eliminating them. The North Carolina Democrats National Cyber Security Leadership Act of 2003 would also mandate the use of IT security standards and guidelines established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/20899-1.html - - - - - - - - 2004 IT budget request focuses on homeland defense, cybersecurity The Bush administrations 2004 IT budget request will put the majority of funding increases into homeland defense and cybersecurity, a senior administration official said. Mark Forman today said homeland security, the war on terrorism and other modernization increases, and cybersecurity would account for more than $9.6 billion in the 2004 request. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/20903-1.html Forman explains IT budget increase http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/0120/web-budget-01-20-03.asp - - - - - - - - Failure to retain e-mail equals huge fines The failure to retain e-mail communications as required in certain industry sectors can lead to serious consequences. Indeed, the SEC, the NYSE and the NASD recently announced that five major broker-dealers have consented to fines totaling $8.25 million $1.65 million per firm for alleged violations of e-mail record-keeping requirements. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/ericjsinrod/2003-01-16-cyberlaw_x.htm - - - - - - - - Profiling the hackers Software aims to nab computer intruders in real time. A suspected crooked insider at a New York software company sells consumer-credit reports to identity thieves, at roughly $30 a pop, in a high-tech scam that prosecutors say victimizes thousands. An unemployed British computer administrator fights extradition to face federal charges in Virginia and New Jersey that he hacked into 92 separate U.S. military and government networks, often getting past easy-to-guess passwords to download sensitive data. These and other recent data intrusions, whose authors are typically intent on theft, sabotage or cyberterrorism, have given rise to a promising profiling strategy aimed at preventing online break-ins as they happen. http://www.msnbc.com/news/861865.asp http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2003-01-20-profile-hacker_x.htm http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/726994p-5316010c.html How to Foil Data Thieves, Hackers http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57302,00.html - - - - - - - - Online piracy costs Europe jobs A music industry official says more than half a million music professionals in Europe risk losing their jobs because of Internet piracy. In its harshest indictment yet of Internet piracy, a top official of the music industry says Europe's 600,000 music professionals risk losing their jobs unless the industry fights back. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2128951,00.html International music business closes ranks to fight Internet threat http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/725426p-5307323c.html Piracy: ISPs must pay up http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/0,6119,2-13_1309247,00.html - - - - - - - - Game server flaw poses attack threat Many multiplayer game servers - think Quake 3 and Battlefield 1942 - are at risk of being used to launch a denial-of-service attack. Multiplayer game servers that let players attack each other in virtual worlds could be the latest tool for online scofflaws to digitally attack other computers on the Internet, according to a security firm. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2128947,00.html - - - - - - - - Microsoft: Security fix due for phone OS Microsoft plans to update its Smartphone 2002 operating system to fix security flaws that make it possible to send rogue software programs to phones that use the OS, a representative said Friday. The Microsoft representative did not provide a specific release date for the update, but Stuart Jackson, a representative for U.K. carrier Orange, which sells the affected phone, said the updated software is expected in about two weeks. http://news.com.com/2100-1033-981244.html - - - - - - - - Microsoft unveils CD copy protection The Windows Media Data Session Toolkit will stop certain CDs being copied on PCs, according to Microsoft. Microsoft announced on Saturday new digital rights software aimed at helping music labels control unauthorised copying of CDs, one of the biggest thorns in the ailing industry's side. Stung by the common practice of consumers copying, or "burning", new versions of a store- bought CD onto recordable CDs, music companies have invested heavily in copy-protection technologies that have mainly backfired or annoyed customers. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2128949,00.html http://news.com.com/2100-1023-981279.html http://www.vnunet.com/News/1138121 - - - - - - - - ABIT puts security on the motherboard ABIT today launched server motherboards featuring integrated security processors, with a promise to slash the cost of building security appliances. The Taiwanese manufacturer's SI-1N Pentium 4 processor-based server motherboard comes with Cavium Network's NITROX Security Macro Processor, designed to gear their deployment towards security applications, such as VPN gateways, Integrated Firewall/ VPNs, SSL Webservers, and SSL VPNs. It hopes to sell these security-enhanced motherboards to security appliance OEMs. http://212.100.234.54/content/3/28940.html - - - - - - - - NMCI set to get network intrusion system The Navy will deploy the ManHunt network intrusion detection system from Symantec Corp. for the Navy- Marine Corps Intranet. NMCI subcontractor Raytheon Co. will use the Cupertino, Calif., company for intrusion detection, antivirus services, firewall protection and enterprise security management. Raytheon is handling information assurance requirements for NMCI contractor EDS Corp. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/20898-1.html - - - - - - - - FTS will add security services to some GWACs The Federal Technology Service next month will begin incorporating six new IT security services in its governmentwide acquisition contracts. The goal is to bolster security tools available in the FTS product line, said John C. Johnson, the General Services Administrations assistant commissioner for service development. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/20900-1.html - - - - - - - - Former Hacker to Defend Security One of the world's most famous computer hackers gets off probation this week and plans to dive back into the Internet, his former playground where breaking-and-entering landed him in jail for five years. On Tuesday, 39-year-old Kevin Mitnick will log on to the Internet for the first time in eight years, during the live TechTV show "Screen Savers." http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-preview20.3jan20,0,6942218.story http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/4987416.htm http://www.msnbc.com/news/861739.asp http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/01/19/tech.mitnick.reut/index.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-01-20-mitnick_x.htm - - - - - - - - Open Source Honeypots: Learning with Honeyd Honeypots are an exciting new technology. They allow us to turn the tables on the bad guys, we can take the initiative. In the past several years there has been growing interest in exactly what this technology is and how it works. The purpose of this paper is to introduce you to honeypots and demonstrate their capabilities. We will begin by discussing what a honeypot is and how it works, then go into detail using the OpenSource solution Honeyd. http://online.securityfocus.com/infocus/1659 - - - - - - - - Techies and the RIAA: A Telling Truce? Last week's detente between the recording industry and tech lobbying groups shows that tech is ahead in the fight over digital music. Now it's the music industry's battle to lose. http://www.business2.com/articles/web/0,1653,46561,00.html - - - - - - - - The Canary in the Data Mine The government's "Total Information Awareness" project aims at protecting us from harm by burrowing deep into our lives. One lawmaker is rightfully suspicious. At the turn of the century just past, mining companies would use a brightly colored bird in the mine shaft to protect the lives of citizens. These canaries were more sensitive to the foul, noxious and deadly but invisible vapors that would otherwise threaten the lives of the mine shaft workers. When the canaries died, the miners would know an invisible threat existed. On January 16, 2002 Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) introduced the Data Mining Moratorium Act of 2003, legislation that would block implementation of a government program to collect and analyze massive quantities of information about ordinary citizens and non-citizens alike. http://online.securityfocus.com/columnists/136 Critics Say Security Laws Sacrifice Civil Liberties http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,108856,00.asp - - - - - - - - Computer system gives officers more details on criminals A federally funded computer system is giving law officers new access to driver's license and prison records, court-protection orders and other criminal background on suspects at the touch of a keyboard. Jim Pritchett, executive director of the Southwest Alabama Integrated Criminal-Justice System, demonstrated the multiple computer databases at a news conference Thursday in Foley. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-01-17-high-tech-police_x.htm - - - - - - - - Only Online: Murder Trial Details Concerns that news reports might taint the jury in the trial of an alleged serial killer have led a Canadian judge to admonish Internet and foreign journalists, calling on them to comply with a ban on publishing certain details revealed in court. As a result, online coverage late last week of the high-profile trial of Robert Pickton, a Vancouver- area pig farmer accused of murdering numerous prostitutes, was mostly limited to reporting British Columbia Provincial Court Judge David Stone's stern warning to three foreign reporters: Honor the publication ban or risk being barred from the courtroom. But that doesn't mean the non-Canadian journalists will comply. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,57272,00.html - - - - - - - - Cops Fired From Nuke Lab Rehired Two investigators fired after sounding alarms about missing computers and alleged credit card fraud at Los Alamos National Laboratory were hired Friday to assist in an inquiry of lab practices. Glenn Walp and Steven Doran were originally hired by the lab to investigate the handling of government property, but were dismissed in November after reporting on alleged misuse of lab credit cards and $2.7 million in missing computers and other equipment. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,57295,00.html *********************************************************** 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. 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