NewsBits for May 8, 2003 sponsored by, Southeast Cybercrime Institute - www.cybercrime.kennesaw.edu ************************************************************ Three Ericsson workers charged in spy case Three employees of wireless equipment maker LM Ericsson face espionage charges for allegedly passing secret information from the company to a Russian intelligence official, Swedish prosecutors said Thursday. Afshin Bavand, 46, was charged with gross espionage and industrial espionage, while Mansour Rokkgireh, 44, and Alireza Rafiei Bejarkenari, 40, were charged with complicity in industrial espionage. If convicted, Bavand could be sentenced to life in prison, while Rokkgireh and Bejarkenari could get four to five years, chief prosecutor Thomas Lindstrand said. All three are Swedish citizens. http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/882068p-6146268c.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-05-08-ericsson_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - German police arrest MP3 'swapper' A German student has been arrested for allegedly distributing over seven million MP3 files a week Police in Germany have made their first bust of an exchange for swapping computer music files, says the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). Police in the southern town of Fuerth said they had confiscated eight computers after investigations initiated by the German branch of the IFPI led them to the house of a 25-year-old computer programming student. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2134454,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Alleged Fluffi Bunni leader worked for Siemens A man reputed to be the leader of an international hacking ring worked in the U.K. offices of Siemens Communications, according to a statement released by the company. Lynn Htun was arrested April 29 by U.K. Metropolitan Police who recognized him at the InfoSec computer security show in London after he failed to appear in Guildford Crown Court in England, on forgery charges, according to a U.K. Metropolitan Police spokesman. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/hacking/story/0,10801,81043,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Ohio father pleads guilty in Internet child-porn ring Even the thickest-skinned investigators were stunned at what lurked in the computers of a group of fathers: Their naked children. An Ohio man pleaded guilty yesterday for his role in an international sex ring that involved parents posting nude photos of their children on the Internet. Authorities said the ring was trading in some of the most graphic child pornography they have discovered, as some fathers included photographs of themselves abusing their young daughters. Edwin Bartholomew, 43, of Galion faces 17 years in prison for the sexual exploitation of children. U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent will sentence him July 16. http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/105238646322290.xml - - - - - - - - - - Lodi Man Gets Probation for Teen Sex Attempt A Lodi man is sentenced to probation after admitting he traveled to Nebraska to have sex with a girl he met over the Internet. Angelo Montesdeoca pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual assault in February That felony in Nebraska carries a maximum penalty of 50 years in prison. The computer programmer was given five years probation and ordered to pay court costs and restitution to the 14-year-old for counseling. Additionally, he was ordered to register as a sex offender in Nebraska and any state in which he lives for the next ten years. http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/news/5703-lodi.html - - - - - - - - - - Men accused of trying to contact children through Internet Two Atlantic County men face charges of attempting to endanger the welfare of a child after allegedly using the Internet to contact the minors. Steven Morris, 23, of the Landisville section of Buena Borough, and John P. Linville, 29, of the Dorothy section of Mays Landing, both face criminal charges by the Cumberland County Prosecutor's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. According to reports, which were released Wednesday, Morris, of the 300 block of Franklin Street, allegedly contacted a 12-year-old girl on America Online "to engage in a sexual conversation with her." This year, reports showed, Linville allegedly contacted someone he believed was a 12-year-old girl. Investigators said he wanted to engage in sexual acts with the girl and videotape them as well. When Linville set up a meeting time and place, detectives were waiting and arrested him, according to reports. http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/cumberland/050803CHILDPORN8.html - - - - - - - - - - Telewest email hit by spam attack - again Telewest has been hit by yet another spam attack leading to delays in its email service. The attack happened at around 8.00am (BST) this morning and means punters could have to wait up to two hours to receive their email. According to Telewest, the attack isn't as bad as one a week or so ago which led to the cableco's customers being without email for a couple of days. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/30610.html - - - - - - - - - - EarthLink wins injunction, $16.4 million in suit against spammer A federal judge awarded the Internet service provider Earthlink damages of $16.4 million Wednesday and a permanent injunction against a Buffalo, N.Y.-based sender of junk e-mail. Howard Carmack, identified as the leader of a ring that used EarthLink services to send some 825 million pieces of unsolicited "spam" e-mail in the past year, is banned from sending spam - or helping others send it. http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/881403p-6142421c.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29596-2003May8.html http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-rup8.3may08,1,6097091.story Companies, E-Mail Users Fed Up with 'Relentless' Junk http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/21472.html - - - - - - - - - - In-Line Skates, Online Fraud on S.Korea List South Korea's police chief said on Wednesday he had started sweeping reform in the country's force, including a pilot scheme to keep trademark riot police tucked away in reserve rather than on the streets during legal protests. Commissioner General Choi Key-moon also told Reuters that cyber-crime -- notably online fraud -- was steadily increasing in the world's most wired country and that police had moved with the times by launching an in-line skating unit to patrol parks. http://www.crime-research.org/eng/news/2003/05/Mess0806.html - - - - - - - - - - Internet: viruses become more dangerous From time, when in 1988 the virus "Morris Worm" paralyzed half of the computers, Internet remains not only way of the information transfer in scientific, industrial and other fields, but also became a global electronic network which interferes in all aspects of our life. Experts of Computer Crime Research Center studied virus attacks for 4 months 2003. Results have shown that distributed on a network the Internet viruses are capable to penetrate into all elements of the corporate information infrastructure. For this purpose it is used both the software, and the equipment of data transmission as attractive target for attack. http://www.crime-research.org/eng/news/2003/05/Mess0801.html - - - - - - - - - - The danger of mobile viruses The devastating damage that viruses can do to a network of PCs is well understood, and companies have long been protecting against the danger by implementing antivirus applications. But the explosive and, in corporate terms, largely unmanaged growth of mobile computing threatens to undermine traditional virus protection. http://www.networknews.co.uk/Features/1140643 - - - - - - - - - - PayPal phasing out transactions for adult merchandise It could soon be easier to buy adult videos at your local sex shop than through the Internet. PayPal, a subsidiary of eBay Inc. that processes payments anywhere in cyberspace, will stop taking payments for most adult-themed merchandise over the next five weeks. Other electronic payment services, including Yahoo! and Visa USA, have also tightened restrictions on sexually explicit items. That means people who want to buy sex toys or digital photos will have to send a check or money order or submit credit card information directly to the merchant - removing a layer of anonymity. http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/881471p-6142749c.html http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/5810401.htm http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-ebay8may08222425,1,4825374.story - - - - - - - - - - Hackers can take control or shut down user PCs A Boston security company claims to have found six security holes in the ICQ ('I-Seek-You') instant messaging client for AOL. The flaws include three problems with the Pop3 client, and can allow intruders to cause a variety of problems, from being able to install malware to hanging the computer by monopolising the CPU. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1140751 http://boston.com/business/tech_innovation/news/2003/05/08/aol.htm - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft admits Passport had security flaw A computer researcher in Pakistan discovered how to breach Microsoft Corp.'s security procedures for its popular Internet Passport service, designed to protect customers visiting some retail Web sites, sending e-mails and in some cases making credit-card purchases. Microsoft acknowledged the flaw affected all its 200 million Passport accounts but said it fixed the problem early Thursday, after details were published on the Internet. http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/882247p-6147460c.html http://www.vnunet.com/News/1140757 http://www.msnbc.com/news/910975.asp http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30330-2003May8.html http://news.com.com/2100-1002_3-1000575.html http://news.com.com/2100-1002_3-1000429.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2134426,00.html http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/5816546.htm http://www.securityfocus.com/news/4575 http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1066270,00.asp http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,81030,00.html To patch or not to patch http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/30605.html - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft turns up the heat on spammers Microsoft on Thursday plans to unveil new antispam tools for its MSN and Hotmail services, noting that it now blocks 2.4 billion e-mail messages targeting subscriber in-boxes every day. Microsoft said MSN 8 and Hotmail subscribers this week can elect to turn off images within e-mails, a feature that the company said would help cut down on spam. Images may conceal so-called "Web beacons" that confirm a particular e-mail address is in use. That's important to spammers, who frequently use dictionary attacks that blanket domains with thousands of random variations in the hopes of hitting a handful of targets. Beacons can be triggered when images appear in a preview window, meaning recipients do not need to open the file to be painted as a target. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-1000417.html http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,81048,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Balancing Data Needs And Privacy It's hard to believe much good will come of the Bush administration's plan for a grandiose surveillance network that would scour trillions of data snippets worldwide hunting for signs of terrorism. I think civil libertarians are right to worry about the dangers lurking in the massive governmental snooping expedition known as Total Information Awareness (TIA), especially since it rests on the unproven notion that machines can automatically detect terrorism patterns in seemingly unrelated transactional data. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25316-2003May7.html - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft Debuts New Security Prototype "The solution to creating platforms that are not vulnerable to attack is all in the software and should be done in the software," Gartner vice president Richard Stiennon told NewsFactor. Is Microsoft concerned more about security or about protecting its software licensing? That is the question on some analysts' minds after Microsoft debuted a prototype of its next-generation security technology earlier this week at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/21475.html http://news.com.com/2100-1012_3-1000584.html - - - - - - - - - - Risk assessment is vital to security Risk assessment is fundamental to convincing directors that sufficient funds should be attributed to security, according to IT security executives at last week's Infosecurity show in London. http://www.vnunet.com/Analysis/1140745 - - - - - - - - - - 'Banned' Xbox Hacking Book Selling Fast Hacker-engineer Andrew "Bunnie" Huang says he's already pre-sold between 400 and 500 copies of his self-published tell-all "Hacking the Xbox: an Introduction to Reverse Engineering," weeks before its scheduled May 27th publication date, despite -- or perhaps because of -- looming suspicions by some that the book skirts the edges of legality. "It's about getting the book out there on principle, because I can't find a publisher willing to publish it," says Huang. "I think it's controversial, but not illegal." http://www.securityfocus.com/news/4580 - - - - - - - - - - Information monitoring should be fixed in Ukraines Criminal Code The analysis of laws provided for the responsibility for crimes committed by using electronic computers, their systems and networks requires establishing their subject and object. Since such offences are of a transnational character, it is advisable to apply to the legislation of neighboring states. Russian Federations Criminal Code, Chapter 28 fixed three corpus delicti unauthorized access to computer information (Article 272), production, use and spread of detrimental electronic computer software (Article 273), violation of electronic computer, system or network operating rules (Article 274). The object of computer crimes is information security that is social relations creating and assuring protectability in the information environment. http://www.crime-research.org/eng/library/Akhtyrskaja_may.html - - - - - - - - - - Homeland information sharing improving, officials say The Homeland Security Department's emerging enterprise architecture is beginning to harmonize information sharing, officials told the House Government Reform Committee this morning. Chairman Tom Davis (R-Va.) convened the hearing to probe barriers to information sharing at HSD. Among the federal officials who testified were Mark Forman, administrator for IT and e-government at the Office of Management and Budget, and Steve Cooper, the Homeland Security CIO. Democrats on the committee criticized Forman and Cooper for the continuing lack of a coordinated terrorist watch list. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/22027-1.html http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/0505/web-dhs-05-08-03.asp Government should make information easier to get, lobbyists say http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/22026-1.html - - - - - - - - - - High School Confidential, Online NOT long ago, teenage gossip was something that spread in the cafeteria, lived in murmurs on the school bus or was scribbled, and soon scratched out, on bathroom walls. Today, the Web is the medium for the prolific and sometimes outright nasty rumors of the middle school and high school years. Students are flocking to Web-based bulletin boards where they can read comments about peers or teachers, then add or respond anonymously to what they see. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/08/technology/circuits/08scho.html - - - - - - - - - - Fraud, waste in school Internet program A $2.25 billion program that helps connect schools and libraries to the Internet needs stricter enforcement and simpler rules to prevent fraud and waste, educators and communications industry officials told regulators Thursday. http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/05/08/schools.internet.ap/index.html *********************************************************** Computer Forensics Training - Online. An intense, 150 hour, instructor lead program that teaches you computer forensics and helps prepare you for the Certified Computer Examiner exam. 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