NewsBits for June 20, 2003 sponsored by,
Southeast Cybercrime Institute - www.cybercrime.kennesaw.edu
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Man pleads guilty in 'Nigerian Scam' case
A career con man has been convicted for tricking investors
out of millions of dollars in an Internet fraud scheme.
Henry Statz, 61, pleaded guilty Wednesday to fraud charges
in a plot that bilked at least $6-million from about
20 investors who were solicited through e-mail to help
"free" a fictitious Nigerian fortune.
http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030620.gtscamjune20/BNStory/Technology/
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Evesham hijack gang jailed for 99 years
Nine men convicted of the gunpoint hijack of a lorry
containing thousands of pounds worhth of PC equipment
from Evesham Technology were sentenced to prison for
a combined total of 99 years at Worcestershire County
Court today. Last Summer the gang kidnapped at gunpoint
the driver of a lorry with PS171,000 worth of Evesham
Technology computer equipment on board. They set up
an ambush by disguising themselves as policemen and
waved the van off the road. The driver was then bundled
into the back of a car and subjected to an eight hour
ordeal before being released, badly shaken, by the
kidnappers.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/51/31354.html
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Prosecutor: Man points gun at wife over Net porn
A city firefighter has been accused of pointing a gun
at his wife when she tried to stop him from watching
Internet pornography. Lavoisier D. Washington, 38,
of Pontiac, was arraigned Thursday on charges of
felonious assault and carrying a concealed weapon.
He was released on $5,000 bond.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/06/20/porn.threat.ap/index.html
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-06-20-porn-husband_x.htm
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Rapist had 16,000 child porn pictures
A Walsall man has been jailed for 11 years for raping
a young girl, taking indecent photographs of her and
downloading child pornography from the internet. Police
who seized 38-year-old Paul Houghton's six home computers
found 16,000 indecent images of children. Some featured
sadistic acts against youngsters, including bondage,
and many of the victims were just months old, Wolverhampton
Crown Court was told yesterday. Judge David McCarthy said
of the rape: "This was a crime so unspeakable that there
are really no words that can adequately describe it."
http://www.expressandstar.com/artman/publish/article_34932.shtml
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Man sexually targets girl; local group comforts her
A Virginia man pleaded guilty to sexually targeting
a San Antonio teenager who he met on the internet.
Gregory Tucker, 48, met the 13-year-old girl in a
teenage internet chat room in the summer of 2001.
Tucker lived in Virginia and reportedly portrayed
himself as a 15-year-old boy. Tucker admitted to
traveling to San Antonio in June of 2002 to have
sexual relations with the girl. The FBI arrested
Tucker in August. Eight months later, he pleaded
guilty to the federal charges of interstate travel
to have sex with a minor.
http://news9sanantonio.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=2337
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Pedophile used internet to dupe a mother
A PREDATORY pedophile sexually abused a young girl
after winning the confidence of her mother on the
internet, a court heard yesterday. The mother had
used the internet to seek help for her son who was
suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder and Asperger's syndrome. The High Court
in Glasgow heard how Neil Robertson, 37, who had
a previous conviction for abducting a child, replied
to the mother by e-mail posing as a psychologist.
Within months, he was having sex with the mother
and sexually abusing her seven-year-old daughter.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/archive/20-6-19103-0-9-6.html
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Former principal Ring indicted on porn charges
The former Newfields Elementary School principal has
been indicted by a Rockingham County grand jury on 12
counts of possessing child pornography, stemming from
the discovery of images of children engaged in sexual
acts on his school laptop computer. Barry Ring, 61,
of Main Street, Newmarket, could face a $4,000 fine
and from 3 1/2 to 7 years in prison on each of the charges,
which are Class B felonies. An indictment is not an
indication of guilt, but means that the members of
the grand jury found enough evidence to warrant
a trial on the allegations.
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/hampton/06202003/news/35195.htm
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Connecticut man charged with child exploitation
A Connecticut bowling coach has been indicted by a Cheshire
County grand jury on charges of sexually exploiting young
boys. Joseph Aurora, 42, of Clinton, Conn., was formally
charged Wednesday with possession of child pornography and
other crimes. He is also charged in his hometown with five
counts of risk of injury to a minor child and five counts
of voyeurism. Authorities said the alleged abuse began more
than a decade ago and ended with Aurora's arrest on May 2
at a Keene motel, where he expected to meet a 14-year-old
boy for sex. Police had posed as the teen on the Internet,
and said Aurora e-mailed them pornography.
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/state/hc-20012956.apds.m0251.bc-ct--chiljun20,0,2597202.story
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Man Charged With Luring Child Over Internet
A Massachusetts man is free on bail after being charged
with luring a child over the Internet for sex. Matthew
Gendron, 21, of Fitchburg, Mass., was released on $5,000
bail after his arraignment in Keene District Court Thursday.
He was arrested after police said he traveled to Keene
to meet what he thought was a 14-year-old boy. Gendron
works as a fitness room supervisor at the Fitchburg YMCA.
Police said Gendron pretended to be 13 years old in online
conversations with Keene Detective James McLaughlin.
He later admitted he was 21, and police said the online
conversation quickly escalated to plans for a sexual
encounter. "On the Internet he found a 14-year-old boy
from New Hampshire that he wanted to meet specifically
to have sex with," McLaughlin said. "Through e-mail and
real-time chat, it culminated in his arrest on Ivy Drive."
http://www.thechamplainchannel.com/wnne/2280466/detail.html
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Man arrested after soliciting sex from a sheriff's detective
A 39-year-old Port St. Lucie man was arrested after
soliciting sex from a sheriff's detective posing on the
Internet as an underage child, according to a St. Lucie
County Sheriff's report. Dennis Reffner of 2755 S.E. Howell
Ave. was arrested Wednesday on charges of solicitation
for sexual activity with a minor and attempted lewd and
lascivious battery. Reffner began sending e-mail to the
detective posing as a boy this month, the report said.
Deputies arrested Reffner after he arrived Wednesday
at a store on Midway Road to visit with the boy,
according to the report.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/auto/epaper/editions/friday/martin_stlucie_e32fc737219a329f00ab.html
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Another chat room user charged
A Billings man accused of using an Internet chat room
to entice a minor to have sex appeared Tuesday in federal
court. Michael Adrian Lee, 19, was arrested Monday by
investigators with the Montana Internet Crimes Against
Children Task Force when he arrived at a meeting place
arranged through an undercover agent. Lee thought he
was meeting an underage female for oral sex, according
to a criminal complaint.
http://www.montanaforum.com/rednews/2003/06/19/build/safety/safety-internet-sex.php
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Child porn images linked to Russian orphanage, court told
Child abuse images found on a Christchurch man's computer
have been traced back to an orphanage in St Petersburg,
Russia, Christchurch District Court was told yesterday.
Clinton John Gooch, 23, one of three child-porn traders
bagged by the Department of Internal Affairs, was found
with pictures known as "the kindergarten series", which
includes photographs of children aged between two and
six being sexually abused. Crown prosecutor Pip Currie
told Judge Colin Doherty the series originated at the
unnamed orphanage in St Petersburg. An inspector of
publications for the Internal Affairs Department in
Christchurch, Paul Duke, said later the department
received information about the source of the pictures
from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited
Children in the United States.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2544970a10,00.html
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Fortnight F worm has porn payload
Worm variant uses three-year-old security hole
to add 'Nude Nurses' to browser. Reports are coming
in of a new variant on the Fortnight worm spreading
via Outlook email. An alert for Fortnight F has been
released by Sophos and firms are starting to come
across infections, even though Microsoft released
a security patch three years ago to fix the hole
that the worm uses.
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1141755
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Mysterious Net traffic spurs code hunt
Worm? Trojan? Attack tool? Network administrators
and security experts continue to search for the cause
of an increasing amount of odd data that has been
detected on the Internet. Security software firm
Internet Security Systems (ISS) on Thursday declared
victory, saying that a new hacker tool that scans for
paths into public networks was responsible. But many
other security professionals--including those at
Intrusec, the company that originally tracked down
the hard-to-find code--believe that ISS jumped the
gun.
http://news.com.com/2100-1002_3-1019759.html
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Free car spam a growing problem
Protection agency: Consumers pay $10-$50 and get
nothing in return. The spam offers sound so absurd
its hard to imagine who might actually fall for
them. They come with brash promises like Get Your
New Car for Just $17.95. But, like many inviting
sales pitches, it holds a grain of truth. Some
lucky people really are getting paid to drive,
and in rare cases, receive a free new car as
an advertising promotion. So the New York State
Consumer Protection Board is warning consumers
that Web sites selling information on how to get
a free new car are really just taking Web users
for a ride.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/928722.asp
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New bill injects FBI into P2P battle
A bill introduced in Congress on Thursday would put
federal agents in the business of investigating and
prosecuting copyright violations, including online
swapping of copyrighted works. HR-2517, the Piracy
Deterrence and Education Act of 2003, instructs the
FBI to develop a program to deter online traffic
of copyrighted material. The bureau would also develop
a warning, with the FBI seal, that copyright holders
could issue to suspected violators. And the bureau
would encourage sharing of information on suspected
copyright violations among law enforcement, copyright
owners and ISPs (Internet service providers).
http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-1019811.html
http://www.msnbc.com/news/929428.asp
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Govt eyes law enforcement treaty with U.S.
The government is planning to conclude a treaty with
the United States this summer on cooperation in criminal
investigations aimed at enabling Japanese and U.S. law
enforcement agencies to promptly respond to international
terrorism and cybercrime, among other crimes, government
sources said Thursday. According to the sources, a main
point of the planned treaty is that investigators of one
country can directly request assistance from investigators
of the other country, bypassing diplomatic channels.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20030620wo02.htm
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Falwell gets rights to Web addresses
Jerry Falwell says he has won the rights to two Internet
domains that use his name after he threatened to again
sue the man who set up the parody Web sites. Falwell
said Wednesday that an Illinois entrepreneur decided
to turn over jerryfalwell.com and jerryfallwell.com
rather than face further legal action. The sites
spoofed Falwell's views on the Bible and his fund-
raising methods.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-06-20-falwell-strongarm_x.htm
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Government purse key to breaking spam curse
The government has been urged to make sure that
the Information Commissioner has the financial
muscle to prosecute the worst spammers. The UK
government can only hope to win its war on spam
if it provides the Information Commissioner with
the necessary financial muscle, according to the
organisation that handles some 96 percent of the
Internet traffic flowing in and out of the UK.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2136337,00.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14366-2003Jun19.html
Spammers face lawsuits and jail
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2136323,00.html
US plans blitz on spam
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1141756
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Microsoft attacks spam at the source
As part of its current global campaign against
unsolicited commercial e-mail or spam, the software
giant says it will use better filtering, legal action
and IT security education. It says it will also offer
help to Asian authorities drawing up antispam laws.
According to reports, a large portion of the world's
spam--some say as much as 90 percent--comes from Asia,
from countries with relatively less developed antispam
laws such as China, Korea and Taiwan. Weak security,
such as mail servers with relays left open for
exploitation by spammers, has also been blamed
for the flood of junk mail from the region.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-1019528.html
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Microsoft Demos Next-Generation Security Software
Users of Microsoft's forthcoming security software
will have the ability to turn its protection on and
off at will, the company says. But applications making
use of the security features won't be able to support
video or other sophisticated interfaces.
http://www.internetweek.com/breakingNews/showArticle.jhtml%3Bjsessionid=BSIBZE5ZME5EKQSNDBCSKH0CJUMEIJVN?articleID=10700659
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Friend or foe: Which are your employees?
Security practitioners and management alike are
increasingly inundated with surveys and claims
that insiders are the greatest threat to security
in the enterprise. There is no doubt that many widely
reported incidents have been perpetrated by corrupt
or disgruntled employees, ex-employees or contractors
who have both motive and opportunity to do harm.
http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,82134,00.html
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Some aspects of investigating computer crimes
One of the top-priority goals of the modern society
saturated with information computer technologies
is to fight computer crimes. According to interrogations,
materials, hearings and scientific researches, the world
society faces serious problems in this sphere. Thousands
cybercrimes are committed in the developed countries and
economic losses inflicted by them make up billions US
dollars. According to US expert statistics, in the USA
an average damage is $3.2 thousand (a physical bank
robbery), $23 thousand (a swindle) and $500 thousand
(a computer crime). The imperfectness of laws and state
system on fighting cybercrimes aggravates all this.
http://www.crime-research.org/eng/library/Belousov0603.html
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Meet Stumbler: Next Gen port scanning malware
Security experts are tracking the spread of a mysterious
piece of malware which has been linked to an upsurge in
distributed port scanning on the Internet. Little is
known about the malware - dubbed 55808 because of its
Windows size, or Stumbler - other than that it appears
to be a client capable of scanning and receiving network
mapping data from other similar clients distributed
across the Internet. The code is filed with errors which
make it incapable of propagating automatically, according
to ISS. However the security tools firm warns that further
development of Stumbler to lead to the creation of potent
denial of service attacks tools.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/31341.html
http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,82362,00.html
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Japanese police tune biometrics for foreign suspects
Faced with the difficulty of identifying non-Japanese
criminal suspects, Japanese police researchers
trialled their facial-recognition technology
on Australians. Japanese police have turned
to Australian scientists to help develop facial-
recognition technology capable of distinguishing
between people of non-Japanese extraction.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2136313,00.html
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Database is a crimestopping hit with law officers
In Alabama, investigators are flocking to a database
on a site created by University of Alabama scientists.
The site offers quick assists on suspects when police
have no photo or other background on the person they're
hunting. Walker County's sheriff credited the Law
Enforcement Tactical System, or LETS, in the search
for a suspect in the triple slayings at Bell Funeral
Home in Sumiton. Investigators had a name, 30-year-old
Christopher Shane Hyde, but no photo of the suspect.
The computer provided a likeness of Hyde.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-06-20-crime-database_x.htm
Counties asked for emergency info for Web database
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2003-06-20-terror-db_x.htm
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