NewsBits for October 9, 2003 sponsored by, Southeast Cybercrime Institute - www.cybercrime.kennesaw.edu ************************************************************ Web-based music pirate gets jail time A New York man the FBI arrested for using the Internet to sell hundreds of CDs loaded with unauthorized copies of songs was found guilty in a federal district court and sentenced to six months in jail. Alvin A. Davis, 42, of Brooklyn, was incarcerated and ordered to pay $3,329.50 for selling pirated music via his Web site. Judge Reggie B. Walton of the U.S. District Court of Washington, D.C., last week sentenced Davis to one year of supervised parole, to be served upon his release from jail, and barred him from using a computer for one year. http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5089218.html - - - - - - - - - - Alleged hacker charged in scheme to unload options In what authorities called a uniquely sophisticated combination of hacking, identity theft and securities fraud, a teenager was accused Thursday of dumping worthless securities on an unwitting online trader. Federal prosecutors in Boston filed a criminal complaint against Van Dinh, a 19-year-old student from Phoenixville, Pa., alleging he committed securities fraud, mail and wire fraud and other computer and securities-related offenses. The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a civil fraud lawsuit. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/6973195.htm http://www.securityfocus.com/news/7177 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4674-2003Oct9.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2003-10-09-brokerage-hacker_x.htm http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/33320.html http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/cybercrime/story/0,10801,85885,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Spammer-hacker may be fined $117m A California man who is an apparent white supremacist and disgruntled Phillies fan has been charged with spam attacks on the Phillies, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News. He allegedly flooded staff accounts with tens of thousands of e-mails, reports Philly.com. FBI agents arrested Allan Eric Carlson, 39, at his home. He is charged with 79 counts of hacking offences and identity theft. http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/computing/2003/0310090020.asp - - - - - - - - - - Airman indicted on child porn charges An airman from Holloman Air Force Base has been indicted on multiple charges stemming from an incident with an Alamogordo juvenile, which led to the discovery of his alleged possession of child pornography. The case began on July 15, when officers of the Alamogordo Department of Public Safety received a complaint concerning sexual contact with a 16-year-old female. According to court documents, an interview with the girl revealed that she had met Meeks over the Internet through a chat line. http://www.alamogordonews.com/artman/publish/article_1379.shtml - - - - - - - - - - Fortuna man sentenced for child pornography A Fortuna man was sentenced to nearly four years behind bars for the possession and receipt of child pornography, federal prosecutors said. David Kenneth Huffman, 29, accepted a plea bargain Tuesday under which he admitted downloading child pornography off the Internet. He had been indicted by a federal grand jury in January. http://www.napanews.com/templates/index.cfm?template=story_full&id=7E064F07-7175-4378-A561-7EE507F9F3E9 - - - - - - - - - - Expert undermines hacking suspect's defence An expert witness has undermined the hacking suspect's claim that he was framed for an Internet attack on a major US port. An expert witness in the case of a teenager accused of accidentally launching a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on a major US port said on Thursday there was no indication that evidence had been planted on the suspect's hard drive. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39117033,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Student faces suit over key to CD locks SunnComm Technologies, a developer of CD antipiracy technology, said Thursday that it will likely sue a Princeton student who early this week showed how to evade the company's copy protection by pushing a computer's Shift key. http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-5089168.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/33322.html - - - - - - - - - - An Ongoing Battle of Pitches vs. Privacy This week, a federal appeals court allowed the government to begin enforcing its do-not-call list for blocking telemarketers, though the courts still must decide whether the system is constitutional. Those beset with unsolicited e-mail lack even that uncertain relief. There is as yet no federal solution for dealing with spam. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A382-2003Oct8.html Cloaking Device Made for Spammers http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,60747,00.html - - - - - - - - - - U.S. homeland chief urges SEC cybersecurity filings Publicly traded companies could be required to disclose their efforts to secure information on their computer systems, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Thursday. Ridge said he had met with William Donaldson, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to discuss whether companies should be required to disclose cybersecurity efforts in their SEC filings. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2003-10-09-sec-cyberfiling-idea_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Messaging worms could infect at lightning speed A computer worm transmitted via instant messaging programs could, in theory, infect half a million computers within 30 seconds, simulations have shown. Instant messaging (IM) applications let users to type messages directly onto each others' computer screens via the internet. This has become a popular alternative to email among home users and office workers. http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994233 - - - - - - - - - - Online banking cuts fraud and ID theft Paper bills and statements far easier to intercept than electonic transactions, says report. Banking and paying bills over the internet could help to prevent one million cases of identity theft annually and reduce fraud by $4.8bn, new research has claimed. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1144202 - - - - - - - - - - FBI opens cybercrime forensics lab in Portland The FBI is opening a regional computer forensics lab in Portland. Rep. David Wu, D-Ore., said the lab will look for evidence of crimes on computer hard drives that are seized during investigations, including terrorism cases. The lab will also serve as a police training center. http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=61395 - - - - - - - - - - Infohacking.com welcomes hackers Two Spanish security experts are inviting computer buffs to participate in a competition to deface a Web site on a production server. This isn't the first time a group of security professionals has challenged people to hack computer systems, nor will it be the last. What's unusual about this contest is the target: a production server running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 2000 operating system and chock full of other software, including Microsoft's Outlook Web Access, Firewall-1 NG from Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., Apache 2.0 from The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) and WebTrends Log Analyzer from NetIQ Corp. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,85882,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft plans security updates for Windows Stung by criticism over lax software security, Microsoft Corp. disclosed plans Thursday to update its flagship Windows operating systems early in 2004 to make consumers less vulnerable to hackers. Microsoft said the changes, announced by chief executive Steve Ballmer during a trade conference in New Orleans, will be offered free in the next ``service pack'' update to users of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 software, the company's latest versions for consumers and businesses. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/6965833.htm http://www.securityfocus.com/news/7180 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5223-2003Oct9.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/33319.html Can Microsoft Finally Kill All The Bugs? http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/75/microsoft.html Microsoft's new security plan (series of stories) http://news.com.com/2009-7355_3-5088923.html No 'big bang' for Microsoft security push http://www.silicon.com/news/500013/1/6338.html Software Industry Unveils Security Framework http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1329377,00.asp?kc=EWRSS02129TX1K0000531 Outlook and P-to-P join top 20 security vulnerablities http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=125509 - - - - - - - - - - IBM Goes Wi-Fi Security Sniffing With wireless intrusion threats adding to the nightmares facing enterprise IT administrators, IBM Corp. (Quote, Chart) announced its entry into the Wi-Fi security space, rolling out a subscription- based intrusion detection service (IDS). The new IDS offering, which is part of IBM's managed Security and Privacy Services portfolio, offers security from man- in-the-middle attacks, denial-of-service scenarios, address-spoofing and encryption breaches. http://www.atnewyork.com/news/article.php/3089451 - - - - - - - - - - Anti-piracy feature pulled from Turbo Tax A controversial anti-piracy technology that was installed in last year's version of the Turbo Tax tax-preparation software has been removed for the 2003 version, company officials plan to announce today. In an open letter to customers, Turbo Tax General Manager Tom Allanson will apologize for the inconvenience and frustration that last year's users experienced because of the technology, which restricted installation of the software to a single computer. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/6970046.htm http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-10-09-intuit-apology_x.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. For more information see; www.cybercrime.kennesaw.edu *********************************************************** Search the NewsBits.net Archive at: http://www.newsbits.net/search.html *********************************************************** The source material may be copyrighted and all rights are retained by the original author/publisher. The information is provided to you for non-profit research and educational purposes. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however copies may not be sold, and NewsBits (www.newsbits.net) should be cited as the source of the information. Copyright 2000-2003, NewsBits.net, Campbell, CA.