NewsBits for August 5, 2003 sponsored by, Southeast Cybercrime Institute - www.cybercrime.kennesaw.edu ************************************************************ Man Gets 1 Year for How-To on Explosives The Sherman Oaks resident, now 20, posted instructions for making Molotov cocktails and other devices on an anarchist Web site. A 20-year-old Sherman Oaks man was sentenced to one year in federal prison Monday for offering recipes on how to make Molotov cocktails and other explosive devices on an anarchist Web site he operated. http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-me-bomber5aug05,1,7227323.story http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/6459469.htm http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/08/05/anarchist.prison.ap/index.html - - - - - - - - - - Man lured teen girl via Internet An 18-year-old Dracut man who allegedly thought he was meeting with a 13-year-old girl at a movie theater for a sexual tryst was arraigned in Lawrence District Court yesterday and is scheduled to appear again Oct. 1. Anthony Vieira, of 25 Garrison Road, is wearing a monitoring bracelet, said Romero's aide, Mike Garrihy. He was nabbed by police in Lawrence on Friday afternoon. http://www.lowellsun.com/Stories/0,1413,105~4761~1553082,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Man Arrested In Internet Sex Case A 37-year-old Michigan man is in jail in Colorado following his arrest in an attempted sex assault investigation involving a 13-year-old girl he met on the Internet. David Kenneth Lane, of Battle Creek, Mich., was held Tuesday for investigation of sexual exploitation and attempted sexual assault on a child. The case stems from alleged contacts that Lane had over the Internet with a Lakewood girl. According to detectives, the mother of the girl alerted detectives last month to the relationship in which the suspect allegedly sent the girl a Web cam so she could expose herself to him through her computer. http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/2382941/detail.html - - - - - - - - - - Cops arrest suspect in teen sex case Police apprehended an alleged sexual offender who initiated contact with a 14-year-old township resident over the Internet in March. Deepak Dhembla, 32, 10728 114th St., Queens, N.Y., was arrested on July 20 while allegedly on his way to a third encounter with the 14-year-old female victim, who lives in the Port Monmouth area of the township. http://independent.gmnews.com/news/2003/0806/Front_Page/060.html - - - - - - - - - - New Britain Dad Arrested On Porn Charges A 32-year-old father of two, running an Internet server with thousands of photographs depicting mostly prepubescent girls engaged in sexual acts, was arrested on child pornography possession charges this morning. The arrest constituted the largest seizure of child pornography in the New Britain Police Department's history. Rogelio Medina, of 93 Gold Street, Apt. 2S, was charged with 201 counts of possessing child pornography and importing child pornography. He was ordered held on a $75,000 cash only bond after his arraignment this afternoon. Medina turned himself into police early this morning, ending a two-month long investigation into his involvement in a Internet chat room on sexual contact with pre-teen girls. http://www.ctnow.com/news/custom/newsat3/hc-nb-porn-0805,0,2544499.story - - - - - - - - - - Library busts man downloading porn A MAN who has pleaded guilty to possessing child-abuse products was caught by a librarian printing child pornography from the Internet, a court was told yesterday. Prosecutor Todd Kovacic told the Hobart Magistrates Court a librarian at the Glenorchy State Library became suspicious of Stephen Dennis when he tried to cover up what he was printing. When Dennis left the library, he left behind a picture of a youth in a naked position, Constable Kovacic said. When Police visited Dennis at his home, he told them he had used computers at the Kingston, Hobart and Glenorchy libraries to access the Internet and download porn. http://www.thesundaymail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,6872242%255E421,00.html - - - - - - - - - - New hybrid virus lurking? Anti-virus companies have identified a new computer virus that could be characterised as a remote-controlled time bomb. Information security company, Kaspersky Labs says the Autorooter Internet worm has been sent as spam to many e-mail recipients, but is not widely spread yet because the self-replication component of the worm has not been activated. The company believes Autorooter's author may still activate the self-replication function of the worm. http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/2003/0308051137.asp - - - - - - - - - - Hacker hit parade goes live Programs looking vulnerabilities are reported to be scanning the net. The net now has its own hacker hit parade of top security problems. Security firm Qualys has begun producing a real-time index of the vulnerabilities that are the current favourites of the net's community of malicious hackers. The index is created by scanning some of the thousands of networks that make up the internet and logging which vulnerabilities are getting attention. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3123537.stm - - - - - - - - - - Just 18 but hacker whiz-kid can counter Net criminals FOR Indian whiz-kid Ankit Fadia, being a hacker puts him squarely on the side of the good guys. To the digital intelligence consultant, who is just 18, there is nothing wrong with being a hacker as his role is to protect systems by finding and fixing vulnerabilities. The dangerous folk are 'crackers' or 'black hats', who have malicious purposes. He admits, however, that a fine line exists between hackers and crackers. http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/techscience/story/0,4386,203184,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft Attack, Mimail Worm Leave Industry Waiting for Other Shoe The Internet security community has been waiting since last summer for a widespread attack. Some industry watchers thought that the Microsoft outage on Friday was it; others think it is the Mimail e-mail worm that is reproducing virulently today. But neither seems to be the Internet disaster scenario many have been fearfully predicting. The Web sites of the technology giant were brought down for nearly two hours after being hit by a malicious denial-of-service (DoS) Internet attack. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/22025.html - - - - - - - - - - File swappers ignore RIAA threats Internet users appear to be snubbing the RIAA as they continue to download music files with no regard for copyright, according to a US-based study by Pew. Despite aggressive challenges by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to on-line music suppliers like the defunct Napster, two-thirds of Internet users in the US who copy digital music on-line say they don't care if the music is copyrighted, according to the report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/32167.html - - - - - - - - - - Both Sides Add Porn to Debate Over File Sharing As the battle in the courts and Congress over online music and movie piracy intensifies, both sides are fleshing out their cases by turning to pornography. The music and movie companies warn that file-sharing sites are rife with graphic pornography that insinuates itself into users' computers. Civil libertarians and Internet service providers argue that music companies' anti-piracy tactics open the door for pornographers and others in the seamy online underbelly to invade Internet users' privacy. http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-piracy5aug05223421,1,3778019.story - - - - - - - - - - Study: Software piracy on the wane The latest report from the Business Software Alliance concludes that software piracy declined in the United States during 2002. The special interest group, an antipiracy organization that's comprised of members such as Apple Computer, Cisco Systems and Microsoft, released results of its state-by-state analysis of software piracy across the United States on Tuesday. According to BSA's report, the nation's piracy rate dropped 2 percentage points in 2002 compared with 2001, to 23 percent. The International Planning and Research (IPR) conducted the study for BSA. http://news.com.com/2100-1012_3-5060288.html - - - - - - - - - - Cybercrime poses a major threat Some of today's most pernicious and dangerous criminals are armed with that most up-to-date of weapons _ the computer. Last week in Bangkok, members of the Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation e-Security Task Group pinpointed the fastest growing crime in the Pacific region. Their solution is for nations to write laws that mesh with those of other countries, and to cooperate publicly against cybercrime. It is a sensible recommendation. The question is whether Apec members will adopt it. http://www.bangkokpost.com/050803_News/05Aug2003_opin41.html - - - - - - - - - - Credit Cards security problem in Ukraine The increase in volumes credit cards emission makes their security more and more crucial problem. Cards are emitted in the mass and are rather cheap, that's why the risk of plastic cards swindle grows also. In spite of the fact that ways of fighting fraud are constantly improved, losses of banks make millions dollars. Plastic Cards fraud is the 2 billion dollars of losses a year. http://www.crime-research.org/eng/news/2003/08/Mess0502.html - - - - - - - - - - Airline security warns of shoulder surfing With commercial rollouts of Wi-Fi technology in planes fast approaching, users of laptops in cabins --as well as other public places--have been warned about an easy- to-overlook security threat: shoulder surfing. Aircraft giant Boeing is going to great lengths to make sure its onboard Wi-Fi system, known as Connexion, is technically secure. However, the company recognizes shoulder surfing is a distinct possibility in such cramped quarters. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5059907.html - - - - - - - - - - IBM, SuSE gain security certification In an achievement that they believe represents a giant step toward legitimizing Linux for mission-critical applications aimed at corporate and government users, IBM and SuSE Linux AG today announced that they have gained the first Common Criteria Security Certification for eServer xSeries and SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8. The Common Criteria is an International Standards Organization (ISO) standard that the U.S. government uses to assess security of technology products. The standard is also intended to help define more clearly the criteria by which products will be evaluated. http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,83731,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Vendor coalition touts file validation plan as security measure A coalition of vendors led by Portland, Ore.- based Tripwire Inc. today announced an initiative to build a File Signature Database (FSDB) that would allow users to validate the authenticity of files that make up their software systems and applications. The effort, which is meant to allow companies to better monitor and correct any accidental or malicious file changes that could compromise security, includes several well-known charter members: Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM, InstallShield Software Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc. and RSA Security Inc. http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,83742,00.html - - - - - - - - - - 'Ethical hackers' test for weakness In a 17th-floor corner office in north Toronto, a group of computer nerds is feverishly attacking Corporate Canada -- and getting paid for its efforts. ''If you have a system on-line, you will be a target. You are either a target of choice or a target of opportunity,'' said Simon Tang, manager of Deloitte and Touche LLP's Internet security team. The executive oversees a buzzing computer lab of 10 so-called ''ethical hackers,'' a team of experts that probes the computer systems of corporate clients, searching for vulnerabilities and weaknesses. http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030805.wxrhack0804/BNStory/Technology/ - - - - - - - - - - Teams compete to hack and defend DefCon: An annual contest pits eight groups of hackers against each other, with points scored for keeping servers running while under attack. The US government continues to talk tough on computer crime, but here in the desert, hackers -- including some from federal agencies -- are learning about defending networks by breaking into computers. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39115496,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Britain: a nation of cyber snoopers Britain is fast becoming a nation of cyber snoopers, according to a study out today. The NOP survey, commissioned by Internet security firm Symantec, reveals that many of us would, given the opportunity, read messages or files on other people's computers and mobile phones. Men are the worst culprits, with just over a quarter admitting they would look at colleagues' salaries on their boss's computer if they had the opportunity. Only 13 per cent of women would spy on colleagues' pay. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/6619 - - - - - - - - - - 'Spam cannons' will blast do-not-spam laws Spammers promote some unhappy stereotypes about Americans. From a spam-viewing perspective, the average citizen, it would seem, is aging, balding, out of shape, impotent, undereducated and has incurred significant credit card debt through online encounters with other lusty members of the human race. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5059897.html What you can do about the growing problem of spam http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/2003-08-05-spam-made-simple_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Mobile Phone Can Trace People's Locations It's geared toward worried parents and suspicious bosses and might seem Orwellian to some: the first major commercial service that traces people's locations using their mobile phones. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/6463498.htm *********************************************************** 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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