NewsBits for August 1, 2003 sponsored by, Southeast Cybercrime Institute - www.cybercrime.kennesaw.edu ************************************************************ Teen turns cell phone camera on stranger trying to lure him into car A 15-year-old boy foiled an apparent abduction attempt when he pulled out his cell phone camera and snapped photos of a man trying to lure him into a car, police said. The teen also photographed the vehicle's license plate and gave the evidence to police, who arrested a suspect the next day. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/6438124.htm http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39115422,00.htm http://www.msnbc.com/news/946976.asp http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/08/01/camphone.abduction/index.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-08-01-phonecam-crime_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Judges OK evidence from hacker vigilante A federal appeals panel ruled this week that the government did not violate search and seizure laws when it used evidence that a hacker gathered to establish a child pornography case. The opinion reverses a lower court ruling in which a U.S. District Court judge in Virginia suppressed the evidence, saying the government had violated a defendant's rights. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5058835.html - - - - - - - - - - Trojan horse found responsible for child porn A man has been cleared of child porn charges, after investigators found that an Internet attacker was responsible for the presence of illicit images on his PC. A man accused of storing child pornography on his computer has been cleared after it emerged that his computer had been infected by a Trojan horse, which was responsible for transferring the images onto his PC. Julian Green, 45, was taken into custody last October after police with a search warrant raided his house. He then spent a night in a police cell, nine days in Exeter prison and three months in a bail hostel. During this time, his ex-wife won custody of his seven year old daughter and possession of his house. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39115422,00.htm MY CHILD PORN NIGHTMARE A torquay man cleared of child porn charges spoke for the first time today about his nine months of hell. And he warned of the perils of the internet which he blamed for losing his family, home and freedom. Julian Green, 45, ended up in the cells after police found 172 images of child pornography on his computer's hard drive. But it turned out that a "virus" brought the pictures into his system without his knowledge. http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=102060&command=displayContent&sourceNode=100885&contentPK=6567297 - - - - - - - - - - Ex-police chief jailed after child porn plea Former police chief David Harrison was sentenced yesterday to one year in prison for viewing child pornography on his city-owned computer. Harrison, 50, pleaded guilty in June to pandering obscenity involving a minor, obstructing official business, and three counts of unauthorized use of property. He was elevated to the chief's job in 1988; he retired unexpectedly in May, 2002. Visiting Judge Charles Steele of Van Wert sentenced Harrison to 44 months in prison but made the terms concurrent so he will serve only 12 months. In front of a packed Auglaize County courtroom, Harrison apologized for the pain he had caused his family and said his lapses were due to an abusive childhood and a history of clinical depression. http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030801/NEWS03/308010008 - - - - - - - - - - Man Sentenced in Child Porn Case A man who lost a son in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center has been sentenced to five years and three months in prison for receiving child pornography and mail fraud. John Higley, of Broussard, pleaded guilty in federal court in Lafayette in May to using a home computer to download child pornography from the Internet. Authorities say he had thousands of images and movies in his computer. Higley also pleaded guilty to defrauding State Farm Insurance Company by claiming his car had been stolen. http://www.kplctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1383406&nav=0nqxHDId - - - - - - - - - - Former Penn library director to stand trial on child porn charge The former vice provost and director of libraries at the University of Pennsylvania is to stand trial on charges that he downloaded child pornography to his computer. Paul Mosher, 66, waived his right to a preliminary hearing Thursday at which he could have argued that prosecutors didn't have evidence to back accusations that he viewed illegal pictures over the Internet while he was at home and at work. http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=9933685&BRD=2212&PAG=461&dept_id=465812&rfi=6 - - - - - - - - - - ISP calls the cops on child porn site Galaxy Internet Services, an Internet provider in Newton, recently called police after discovering an e-mail containing a link to a Korean-based child pornography Web site. Commonly known as spam, or UCE, unsolicited commercial e-mails, the unwanted link spurred the company to find out who was responsible for sending the explicit message. "The owner of the company got an e-mail promoting one of these sites," said Steve Ortiz, a spokesman for 'Galaxy. "It definitely originated from overseas, maybe Asia, and it was pretty bad. Very, very disturbing and graphic." Newton Police were notified and an incident report was filed, but officers said there is little local law enforcement can do to prevent unwanted, unsolicited pornographic materials from coming through consumer e-mails. http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/local_regional/newt_childpornb08012003.htm - - - - - - - - - - Couple held in child-porn case A Nicholasville man who had worked as a baby sitter has been arrested along with his wife on a federal child- pornography charge, and he is suspected of sexually assaulting or attempting to assault four young children in four Kentucky counties. Terry Edward Adkins, 25, and his wife, Jane M. Adkins, 32, were arrest ed early yesterday and are in jail in Lexington . Authorities said they found large quantities of child pornography on a computer and in a filing cabinet at the Adkins' Nicholasville home. http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2003/08/01ky/met-4-exploit08010-5737.html - - - - - - - - - - Virus claims e-mail to be shut down Malicious program poses as note from local network boss. Antivirus firms have issued warnings about a tricky new malicious program which arrives as an e-mail that claims recipients e-mail accounts will be expiring. That menacing message has apparently duped many Internet users into opening the attached file, Message.zip. Just hours after its discovery, most antivirus firms rated the worm a medium risk. The virus appears to be an attempt to harvest e-mail addresses, and may have been initially distributed as a spam mail, experts say. http://www.msnbc.com/news/947145.asp - - - - - - - - - - Windows users urged to get software patch ATTACK POSSIBLE, HOMELAND SECURITY DEPT. SAYS The Department of Homeland Security has issued an unprecedented second warning to millions of computer users about a critical flaw in Microsoft Windows that could affect as much as 75 percent of computers connected to the Internet. Microsoft Windows users are being urged to download and install a software patch as soon as possible. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/6434435.htm http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5058760.html http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/23025-1.html http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/07/31/internet.atttack/index.html http://www.vnunet.com/News/1142746 http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/22017.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2003-07-31-ms-hack-alert_x.htm Black Hat: research warning; hacker tools http://zdnet.com.com/2251-1110-5058151.html No Time To Relax http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml%3Bjsessionid=E3MQ4VVBQZ3ZMQSNDBCSKHSCJUMEIJVN?articleID=12803057 - - - - - - - - - - SoBig virus is IT managers' top fear The SoBig family of worms, which infected more victims than any other malicious virus last month, is causing IT managers serious grief, an IT security firm claimed yesterday. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1142736 - - - - - - - - - - MIT, Boston College say subpoenas in music-piracy case violate privacy rules Boston College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have moved to quash subpoenas seeking the names of students suspected of Internet music piracy, saying they're illegal because they weren't filed properly. The schools said the subpoenas, issued by the Recording Industry Association of America, didn't allow for adequate time to notify the students, as mandated by the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/6365849.htm European firms threaten 4,000 P2P suits http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5058666.html Senator puts heat on RIAA http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5058594.html http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,59862,00.html RIAA Rocks Around the Clock http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11905-2003Aug1.html - - - - - - - - - - New Tactic Planned in Antipiracy Campaign Record-industry executives and online music companies are quietly working with colleges and universities to offer legitimate sources of free or deeply discounted music to students if the schools agree to take steps to deter piracy on campus networks. The goal is to give students a carrot to go along with the stick being waved by the Recording Industry Assn. of America, which has been attacking piracy with lawsuits. (LA Times article, free registration required) http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-music1aug01225417,1,3021446.story - - - - - - - - - - Patriot Act Legal Attacks Pile Up Nazih Hassan is deliberately noncommittal when asked whether the Muslim organization he leads in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has been targeted by federal investigators. "Even if I have been asked, I cannot tell you," he says, noting that under provisions of the USA Patriot Act, he isn't allowed to discuss pending investigations. According to the act -- drafted in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to broaden government powers in fighting terrorism -- organizations are prohibited from revealing requests for records by federal agents. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,59863,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Bang goes the phone porn As porn gets handier we need to be sure we make mobile phones child-friendly, says Bill Thompson. More can be done to make phones safe for anyone. There is going to be a lot of pornography on mobile phones in the next few years, at least if the latest research is to be believed. Industry analysts Visiongain are forecasting that by 2006 worldwide profits from adult content transmitted to mobile phones will account for $4bn in an industry making a total of $70bn. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3116099.stm - - - - - - - - - - Intel locks up deal for secure PCs Intel has signed a deal to integrate security software into motherboards that will be used in business computers, part of a larger industry effort to improve security. Under the pact, Portland, Ore.-based Wave Systems will supply software to enable a chip that handles security functions, called the Trusted Platform Module (TPM). The chip will be included on an Intel motherboard coming out in the fourth quarter, an Intel spokeswoman said http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5058630.html - - - - - - - - - - Maintaining System Integrity During Forensics Deciding how to maintain the integrity of a system for use in a forensic examination can be a little like deciding which club to use to get out of the rough on the last hole of a golf tournament, i.e. the stakes are high and you never know if you've made the right choice until it's too late to change your mind (note: this analogy only works if you play golf as badly as I do. If you're a good golfer, or if you don't play golf at all, you'll have to come up with one of your own). While the use of good judgement may be more art than science, if we keep in mind certain basic principles and remember to think before we act we should give ourselves the best possible chance of a successful forensic outcome. These basic principles are the bedrock upon which any notions of a "best practice" must be constructed and will be the basis of this article. http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1717 - - - - - - - - - - Glitch takes down 30,000 sites A problem with Network Solutions' hosted Web addressing system caused disruption on Thursday morning. A software glitch in Network Solutions' hosted Web addressing system knocked what may have been as many as 30,000 Web sites and email addresses offline for several hours Thursday morning. The problem with the company's hosted domain name service, which provides links from sites' domain names to the numbered Internet addresses where data is actually reached, affected only Web sites that had allowed Network Solutions to take over this address-book service for them. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39115418,00.htm *********************************************************** Computer Forensics Training - Online. 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