NewsBits for August 7, 2003 sponsored by, Southeast Cybercrime Institute - www.cybercrime.kennesaw.edu ************************************************************ Spy camera found in teen girl's room A suburban Chicago man has confessed to planting a spy camera to videotape a 13-year-old neighbor girl in her bedroom. The Arlington Heights Daily Herald said Robert Faber, 33, is charged with child pornography, unauthorized taping and eavesdropping. He could face up to seven years in prison if convicted, police said. http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20030806-021011-4080r.htm - - - - - - - - - - The Kinko's Caper: Burglary by Modem ON a steamy summer day, the 16-story apartment building on Kissena Boulevard in Flushing, Queens, hardly looks like a place where Secret Service agents would show up with a search warrant, and later for an arrest. Women trudge from the bustling markets just two blocks away, children and bags in tow; elderly couples sun themselves on park benches. Nothing about the quiet, neatly kept grounds suggests a crime scene. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/07/technology/circuits/07kink.html?th http://www.iht.com/articles/105567.html - - - - - - - - - - Former trooper gets jail in child porn case A state police trooper found guilty in March of downloading child pornography onto a state police computer at the Waynesburg barracks was sentenced Tuesday to 9 to 18 months in Greene County Jail. Cpl. John R. Mason, 40, of Aliquippa, arrested in February 2002, was convicted March 27 during a one- day, non-jury trial before Greene County Judge H. Terry Grimes on 20 counts of sexual abuse of children and 18 counts of criminal use of a communications facility. During a sentencing hearing Tuesday, Mason was sentenced by Grimes to the jail term and ordered to pay fines totaling $2,000. He was ordered to report to the jail to begin serving the sentence Sept. 5. http://www.observer-reporter.com/352395912151635.bsp - - - - - - - - - - Man Arrested In Child Porn Case A laid-off trash collector, arrested Tuesday on 201 charges of possessing child pornography, amassed thousands of images of adults sexually abusing children as young as 3, according to court records unsealed after his arrest. Rogelio Medina, 32, a father of two young boys, told police that in 2002 he began hopping in and out of child pornography chat rooms. It soon became an addiction, court records state. Police claim Medina started a child pornography server on a computer in his Gold Street apartment and began trading photographs depicting young girls - sometimes infants and toddlers - engaged in sex acts with adults. He used the screen name "Wizard of Oz," downloading traded files when his wife was not home. It ended in June, when a tip from an Illinois cop tipped New Britain police about the "Wizard." http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-nebporn0806.artaug06,0,4015036.story - - - - - - - - - - Three indicted on porn charges A Kilgore man was one of three East Texans indicted Wednesday on federal child pornography charges, the Office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas announced. The charges are the result of an investigation by the Longview Police Department's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the FBI. Michael Charles Kelly is accused of receiving illegal pictures of children over the Internet from early 2001 until last month, a news release said. The five-count indictment alleges one charge of downloading pornography and four charges for having the images on his computer hard drive. He faces a maximum 60 years in prison and a $1.25 million fine. http://www.news-journal.com/news/newsfd/auto/feed/news/2003/08/06/1060228497.15255.5432.4741.html - - - - - - - - - - Computer virus cramps Pan-Am Games The 2003 Pan American Games this week have been disrupted by a computer virus. The unnamed virus interfered with the results service at the international sporting event being held in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Press from around the world were unable to access the latest scores and results from competitions because IT systems had been brought down by the mystery malware, Reuters reports. The virus-related disruption this Monday was the second day running that the results service went on the blink. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/32225.html - - - - - - - - - - Appeal in bug disclosure case Bret McDanel already served his 16 months in federal prison for violating the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Now he wants to clear his record. McDanel was wrongly convicted under the federal computer fraud statute, criminal code 18 U.S.C. 1030, claims a 62-page appeal filed on McDanel's behalf by his new attorney, Jennifer Granick, clinical director for the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School. The criminal code was misinterpreted to bring about his conviction, and McDanel's public defender denied him a fair trial, asserts the brief, filed Wednesday in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/6643 - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft fends off web worms Two separate alerts have been issued this week about a new computer worm that exploits a flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser. In a security bulletin on its website, Microsoft warns of a mass mailer worm dubbed W32/Mimail@MM or W32/Mimail.A@MM that spreads through e-mail if recipients open an attached zip file and then open the html file inside it. Internet security specialist Symantec Security Response is analysing the new worm and has listed it on its site with a rating of three, indicating that it is a moderate risk. http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2604463a28,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Piracy warning over digitised fine art A scheme to digitise famous paintings that was unveiled last week by the National Gallery in London, UK, may be placing the collection at risk of digital piracy. Now music and movie makers are warning the world of fine arts to act quickly if it wants to prevent the same kind of high-tech piracy that is crippling their industries. http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994030 - - - - - - - - - - New Security Woes for E-Vote Firm Following an embarrassing leak of its proprietary software over a file transfer protocol site last January, the inner workings of Diebold Election Systems have again been laid bare. A hacker has come forward with evidence that he broke the security of a private Web server operated by the embattled e-vote vendor, and made off last spring with Diebold's internal discussion- list archives, a software bug database and more software. http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,59925,00.html Security researchers decry electronic voting systems http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/23079-1.html - - - - - - - - - - OMB guides agencies to meet IT security law The Office of Management and Budget yesterday set guidelines for agencies to report their progress in securing IT systems. In a letter to agency executives, OMB director Joshua Bolten outlined how agencies should implement the Federal Information Security Management Act, which became law as a provision in the E-Government Act of 2002 last December. OMB detailed steps in four sections of the memo that agency CIOs and inspectors general must follow in evaluating IT security. These sections include changes introduced by FISMA, reporting instructions, quarterly plans and performance updates, and definitions in law and policy in the guidance. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/23078-1.html - - - - - - - - - - Government IT Review E-Gov Czar Heading for Exit; Linux Might Get More Expensive; Florida's Super Spy Program; and More Gov't IT Headlines... The Bush Administration's e-government czar, Mark Forman, is leaving his post at the Office of Management and Budget for an undisclosed job in the private sector. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28641-2003Aug7.html - - - - - - - - - - Aussie Internet ID plan draws scorn A plan to require identity checks for Australian email users has been branded 'ludicrous'. "Proposals to ban free email accounts and require Internet users to be identified before obtaining Internet accounts is not going to assist law enforcement from tracking down criminals," she said. "There're just so many ways that you could get around it anyway What's the ISP supposed to do? Check every two weeks that you're still at the same address?" http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39115552,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Typical schemes of outflow of capital and money laundering in Ukraine Timofey Saytarly Ukraine's economic processes concerned with forming the market economy increase the probability of legalizing illegal incomes. In its turn, it resulted from the imperfectness of laws regulating the activity of economic structures, inexperience of law enforcement bodies in resolving this problem, penetration of shady moneymakers and other representatives of the criminal environment into a legal economy. http://www.crime-research.org/eng/library/Saytarly_ML.html - - - - - - - - - - In the trenches of the spam wars Spam is an ever-increasing annoyance for consumers, but it is far more than that for those serving on the front lines of the bruising battle over junk e-mail and some would say the future of the Internet. For them, it also is the root of the hardball legal tactics, hacking, harassment and death threats that are the hazards of their chosen vocation. http://www.msnbc.com/news/945559.asp - - - - - - - - - - The perils of sharing files online In the midst of proposals that would impose criminal penalties for distribution of copyrighted files through peer-to-peer networks without authorization and proposed legislation that would require consent from computer users before spyware could monitor their movements on the Internet, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a recent consumer alert cautioning consumers about the risks of file sharing and spyware. At the same time, the FTC provides prudent suggestions as to how to minimize these risks. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/ericjsinrod/2003-08-06-sinrod_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Know your security onions Each week vnunet.com asks a different expert to give their views on recent virus and security issues, with advice, warnings and information on the latest threats. This week Steve Brown, managing director of Novell UK, recommends the multiple, overlapping layers of the 'onion' approach to cyber-security. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1142875 Time running out to manage security http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/2003/0308070700.asp?O=FPT Security flaws under the microscope http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,83811,00.html - - - - - - - - - - CIOs explain justice data sharing State chief information officers this month released a report to illustrate how law enforcement agencies should share information. The National Association of State Chief Information Officers released a Concept of Operations for justice information sharing on August 1. The 60-page document includes a scenario illustrating the importance of a clear business process when integrating law enforcement systems. The report is designed to tell state CIOs how to integrate justice information systems, including guidelines for what investments need to be made to build an information technology architecture for all groups involved. http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2003/0804/web-nasc-08-07-03.asp - - - - - - - - - - Ex-Intel worker makes plea deal Maher ``Mike'' Hawash, a former Intel software engineer accused of aiding Al-Qaida and the Taliban, pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to enter Afghanistan and help the Taliban fight U.S. forces. Hawash, 38, faces seven to 10 years in prison for attempting to provide services to the Taliban. In the plea agreement, Hawash admitted that after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he joined a group of Portland, Ore., men who tried to travel to Afghanistan ``prepared to take up arms and die as martyrs'' defending the Taliban government. Hawash has agreed to testify against the others, known as the ``Portland Six,'' as part of his plea deal. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/6477946.htm http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/legal/0,39020651,39115551,00.htm http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/3/32221.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-08-07-hawash_x.htm http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,59938,00.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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