NewsBits for May 20, 2003 sponsored by, Southeast Cybercrime Institute - www.cybercrime.kennesaw.edu ************************************************************ 3 out of 4 child-porn charges dismissed A judge ruled the Knox County Sheriff's Office used a flawed search warrant to extract alleged child pornography from the computer of the assistant band director for Clinton High School. As a result, Knox County General Sessions Court Judge Chuck Cerny dismissed three of the four child porn-related charges against Re'Licka Dajuan Allen. One count of sexual exploitation of a minor was sent to a grand jury. Allen, 26, was arrested March 26 after a tip from an employee of Comp USA, 9341 Kingston Pike, prompted an investigation by the Sheriff's Office. http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_1968148,00.html http://www.oakridger.com/stories/051903/stt_20030519032.html - - - - - - - - - - Mother of runaway Hopkinton teen angry with airline The mother of a Hopkinton teen who ran away to Italy with a man she met online praised international efforts to find the girl and angrily slammed airlines for allowing the teen to fly unsupervised. A 15-year-old Worcester Academy sophomore, Heather Cole-Mullen emptied a bank account of about $800 and Saturday jetted to Rome with Marshal Lentini, a 21-year-old Norfolk, Va., man she met through months of online contact. http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/local_regional/hopk_runaway05172003.htm - - - - - - - - - - Priest arrested in sex sting sentenced Three years ago, John Furdek -- then a Catholic priest -- drove from his Chicago home to a restaurant parking lot on Highway 20, to meet a 14-year-old boy he communicated with over the Internet for sex. He brought with him marijuana and anabolic steroids. Monday, Judge Richard Kreul sentenced, Furdek, 48, to three years in prison for attempted second-degree sexual assault of a child. He will have to spend 12 years after that on extended supervision. Furdek was the pastor at St. Alexander's Parish in Villa Park, Ill., when he struck up an Internet chat with someone he believed to be a 14-year-old Racine boy. In reality, the "boy" was a state special agent working for an Internet sex sting operation in a chat room for gay men. http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2003/05/20/news/daily_news/395priest.txt - - - - - - - - - - Man accused of porn faces more charges A Scranton man accused of using a computer at the Scranton Public Library to access child pornography was arraigned Monday on more than 80 additional counts involving what he did during the two weeks before his arrest. Michael Baranow, 60, 505 Linden St., was returned to Lackawanna County Prison, where he has been held since he was taken into custody March 27. The bail he needs to secure his freedom is now $350,000. The arrest affidavit, supporting the additional charges, details Mr. Baranow's alleged accessing of four computer sites containing pictures, mainly of boys under the age of 13. http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=8065368&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=416046&rfi=6 - - - - - - - - - - Youth Minister Accused Of Possessing Child Porn A youth minister has been charged with having child pornography on his office computer at New Life Ministries in Midland Park. The Rev. James Braunius faces a fourth- degree possession charge, the lowest level of felony, the Bergen County prosecutor's office said Monday. Braunius, 37, of Pine Bush, N.Y., was arrested Friday night at the ministry. http://www.wnbc.com/news/2213112/detail.html - - - - - - - - - - Lawsuit alleges consumer scam by Microsoft, Best Buy A Los Angeles man is suing Microsoft Corp. and Best Buy Co. Inc., saying the companies fraudulently charged Best Buy customers for MSN Internet access accounts they never signed up for. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeks to be certified as a class-action complaint. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/5898647.htm http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-bestbuy20may20,1,5701662.story - - - - - - - - - - Pentagon Defends Surveillance Program The Pentagon assured Congress that its planned anti-terror surveillance system will only analyze legally acquired information and changed the name of the project to help allay privacy concerns that prompted congressional restrictions. The Total Information Awareness program now under development by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, will henceforth be named the Terrorism Information Awareness program. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15395-2003May20.html A Spy Machine of DARPA's Dreams It's a memory aid! A robotic assistant! An epidemic detector! An all-seeing, ultra-intrusive spying program! The Pentagon is about to embark on a stunningly ambitious research project designed to gather every conceivable bit of information about a person's life, index all the information and make it searchable. What national security experts and civil libertarians want to know is, why would the Defense Department want to do such a thing? http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,58909,00.html Pentagon agency defends anti-terror data mining initiative http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0503/052003h2.htm Congress urged to watch privacy http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/0519/web-capps-05-20-03.asp Sharing terror threat information still lags http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/22141-1.html - - - - - - - - - - Congress aims caucus at pirates Now it's official: Congress really doesn't like Internet piracy. Three members of the U.S. House of Representatives are creating a new congressional caucus devoted to combating piracy and promoting stronger intellectual property laws. A letter sent to some members of Congress last Friday by Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., warned of the threat of "ever-changing technologies" and asked colleagues if they would like to join the caucus. "The concerns of the thousands of Americans whose livelihoods depend on intellectual property protection are not being fully debated or addressed," said the letter, which was obtained by CNET News.com. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-1007908.html - - - - - - - - - - Dispute Over Child Porn Sentencing Law Arizona's child pornography possession law, which has been hailed as the nation's harshest, is coming under fire. At issue is whether the state's sentencing ranges are unfair. Selling, downloading, trading or buying child porn is considered as serious a crime in Arizona as molesting a child. Some defense attorneys argue that's too harsh and some Arizona judges agree. http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/story.asp?id=943501D5-61D4-4AAE-830F-2166BBC6D181 - - - - - - - - - - Kentucky Fights Kiddie Porn Kentucky State Police will soon have a new system to fight internet child pornography. Sergeant Howard Logue of KSP's electronic crime section helped lock away a child predator for a record sentence--405 years. He found 107 images on a computer that helped convict the man. It's a job that never gets easier. As law enforcement looks for new ways to battle kiddie porn, predators find new ways to hide their tracks. Now state police will have a new weapon to help fight internet crimes against children. The U.S. Justice Department awarded a $300,000 grant to establish a regional Internet Crimes Against Children task force program, or ICAC. http://www.wkyt.com/Global/story.asp?S=1284911&nav=4CALFuF1 - - - - - - - - - - Government IT security gets an advisory board Thirteen senior government information security professionals have agreed to serve on an advisory board to help define certification needs for IT security professionals. The board was created by the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC2), which provides training and testing for the Certified Information Systems Security Professional certification. The board will advise ISC2 on certification and training needs specific to government. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/22140-1.html - - - - - - - - - - Hackers hijack computers remotely in new surge of spam The Flint Hills School, a prep academy in Oakton, Va., might seem an unlikely place to find an Internet spammer. But late last year, technicians at America Online were able to trace the origin of a new torrent of spam, or unsolicited e-mail advertisements, to the school's computer network. On further investigation, though, AOL determined that the spammers were not enterprising students or moonlighting teachers. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/5902697.htm - - - - - - - - - - Fizzer worm more interesting than harmful Looking at the fizzer worm, one has some difficulty defining it clearly. It uses various means of propagation such as e-mail and P2P shares and attempts several destructive activities, but it doesn't get all of its core business quite right. Perhaps it tries to do too much. It propagates via e-mail; it finds the KaZaA directory and infects files to be shared; it floods IRC with bots that so far have done little but flood IRC, though they do have destructive potential; it logs the host's keystrokes, saves them to an encrypted file and opens a backdoor; it attempts to disable anti-virus software; and it tries to update itself automatically. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/30774.html Fizzer virus secrets revealed http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2134936,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Despite U.S. Efforts, Web Crimes Thrive Here in his hometown, Michael is a respected computer programmer. In the United States, he's a wanted man. Two and a half years ago, his former boss Vasiliy Gorshkov and co-worker Alexey Ivanov were arrested for hacking and extorting a string of American businesses. Michael, who spoke on the condition that he be identified only by an English translation of his first name, said he helped them. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12984-2003May19.html - - - - - - - - - - Viruses 101: U of C to teach secrets of cybercrime Developing malicious software -- viruses, worms and Trojan horses -- will soon be part of the program for 16 students at the University of Calgary. The aim is to delve into the cybercrime mind to understand a problem that causes billions of dollars in damage annually worldwide, says Dan Seneker, with the university's department of computer science. "It's the first of its kind in Canada," said Seneker, co-ordinator of community relations. http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/story.asp?id=943501D5-61D4-4AAE-830F-2166BBC6D181 - - - - - - - - - - Justice Network gets managed PKI Pennsylvania officials have opted for a managed public-key infrastructure service provided by VeriSign Inc. to give the Integrated Justice Network (JNET) the security and authentication strength it needs to share sensitive information about criminals with 11,000 federal, state and local government members. http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2003/0519/web-pki-05-20-03.asp - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft forms antivirus alliance By teaming up with Network Associates and Trend Micro, Microsoft hopes to clamp down on viruses that target its software. Microsoft has formed a virus information alliance with antivirus software makers Network Associates and Trend Micro. The alliance, announced on Monday, is designed to create a central resource for information on viruses that target Microsoft software, a move that coincides with the appearance of a worm with a bogus Microsoft.com identifier that is working its way through the Internet. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2134932,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Cisco Launches New Security Offensive The plethora of security products and services announced by Cisco is evidence that the company recognizes its future growth lies in moving beyond network operations to protection and other services, Aberdeen Group analyst Eric Hemmendinger told NewsFactor. Latest News about Cisco Systems has unveiled a host of security products and services, marking a concerted push into the protection market by the networking giant. The company's latest efforts are focused primarily on integrating security management, virtual private network and advanced threat-protection technologies targeted toward customers both large and small. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/21558.html http://news.com.com/2100-1009_3-1007952.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2134926,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Symantec offers enterprise firewall Symantec Corp. has released Symantec Enterprise Firewall for IBM eServerTM iSeries 270 running Linux. The firewall includes a hardened Linux operating system, with the application, designed to provide users with a virtual firewall appliance to run directly on one of the logical partitions, specific to the iSeries, integrating application inspection, application-layer proxies, stateful inspection and packet filtering. In the case of any attempt to employ an application in an anomalous manner, Symantec Enterprise Firewall is designed to detect the attempt and block it by default. http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030520.gtsyman0520/BNStory/Technology/ - - - - - - - - - - Netilla preps v4 security appliance Netilla Networks yesterday announced enhancements to its SSL VPN appliances, to make them more flexible and versatile. Release 4 of the Netilla Security Platform has two important new capabilities: secure access to enterprise intranet and Web applications via an HTTP reverse proxy, and desktop client/server application access via Netilla's Virtual Adapter. The Virtual Adapter allows users to exchange data with central servers from any PC-based applications through a SSL tunnel. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/30783.html - - - - - - - - - - Netegrity debuts ID-management tools Software company Netegrity on Monday announced its latest product, IdentityMinder, which manages access and identification in organizations. The software will interoperate with those based on the Liberty Alliance specification, the Sun Microsystems-backed standard that lets people who verify their identity on one Web site carry over that authenticated status when moving to other Web sites. http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1105_2-1007837.html - - - - - - - - - - NetBotz monitor senses datacentre security Security company NetBotz has launched a Linux- based datacentre monitoring device with a video camera and environmental sensors. Network-connected physical security maker NetBotz has launched a Linux- based appliance with built-in video camera, motion detector and environmental sensors that allow IT managers to monitor activity, humidity and temperature within their datacentres. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2134908,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Cracking the great firewall of China That's the rallying cry of Bennett Haselton's advocacy group, Peacefire, founded to preserve the rights of young people to surf an unfiltered Web. The group's preferred method? Sabotaging the software ostensibly designed to protect kids. Haselton and his group may wind up in search of a broader motto as they take on a censor even more fearsome than the typical American parent: The People's Republic of China. http://news.com.com/2008-1082_3-1007974.html *********************************************************** Computer Forensics Training - Online. 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