NewsBits for October 30, 2003 sponsored by, Southeast Cybercrime Institute - www.cybercrime.kennesaw.edu ************************************************************ Unlucky phisher pleads guilty An Ohio woman whose credit card fraud schemes began to unravel when she unwittingly spammed an off-duty FBI computer crime agent pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge Tuesday, and potentially faces years in prison. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/33688.html Gone Phishin' http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/33677.html - - - - - - - - - - Orbitz says customers' e-mail address may have been stolen Online travel company Orbitz LLC said it believes someone has breached its site and stolen its customers' e-mail addresses. In a statement, Orbitz said a small number of customers told the company they received spam or junk e-mail from an unknown party that apparently used unauthorized or illegal means to obtain e-mail addresses used with Orbitz. Orbitz said it has notified law enforcement agencies about the apparent security breach. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,86665,00.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2003-10-29-orbitz-breach_x.htm http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/10/30/orbitz.security.ap/index.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39212-2003Oct30.html - - - - - - - - - - Ex-teacher jailed in child porn case A Pleasanton man who earned praise for teaching in Fremont was sentenced Monday to a year and a day in prison on a federal child pornography charge. Michael Schoop, 53, was ordered by U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland to begin serving his sentence in January. According to federal prosecutors, Schoop downloaded thousands of child- porn images on his computer. In court Monday, Schoop said his computer had inadvertently downloaded some of the images as he searched the Internet for asparagus recipes. Wilken noted that asparagus is apparently a slang term for boys' genitalia. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/10/28/BAG8V2KLN01.DTL - - - - - - - - - - Headmaster accused of sending Internet porn to girls The headmaster at a New York City prep school was arrested Monday at his suburban home and accused of having indecent online conversations with people he thought were young girls. John Dexter, 60, who heads the exclusive Trevor Day School, was being held on $25,000 bail after his arraignment in White Plains City Court on two counts of trying to send indecent material to minors, said Westchester District Attorney Jeanine Pirro. She said that between June and October he entered a chat room for teenage girls and sent explicit messages and photos to investigators posing as 14- and 15-year- old girls. http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/10/28/headmaster.sting.ap/index.html - - - - - - - - - - RIAA files 80 new file-swapping suits The Recording Industry Association of America on Thursday said it filed 80 new lawsuits against alleged file swappers, a move that comes after a wave of letters it sent earlier this month that warned targets of their legal risk. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5099738.html - - - - - - - - - - U.K. Plans to Extradite Spammers British lawmakers plan to use a new tactic to stop the torrent of junk e-mail spam that floods in from overseas: extraditing the mass-mailers and bringing them to trial in the United Kingdom. "Spammers are no longer an irritant, they are a threat," British MP Brian White said Thursday. The U.K. last month was the second European Union country after Italy to criminalize spam in a law that goes into effect in December. http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,61021,00.html http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5099322.html E-mail providers try to stop spam http://www.msnbc.com/news/986879.asp?0cv=TA01 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40409-2003Oct30.html - - - - - - - - - - Inactive virus slips through AV nets If you're sure that your antivirus software is up to date, but are still getting emails with all the characteristics of the Sober-A virus, do not fear. Sophos has discovered a new but harmless variant of the Sober virus, discovered Monday, that is slipping past antivirus software: Sober-enc. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/?http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/news_story.php?id=49513 - - - - - - - - - - Cyber-crime hitting FBI offices hard Computer technology is causing the FBI to be overloaded. In the past few years, computer crimes have skyrocketed. The FBI is asking the public for help in fighting cyber-crime. ABC12's Joel Doepker had more. The FBI office in Bay City is being inundated with local victims of Internet crimes. Agents would prefer the community get in contact with an agency in Washington D.C. first. http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/news/102903_NW_da_cyber.html International cybercrime-fighting project launches guide http://www.silicon.com/software/security/0,39024655,39116668,00.htm http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1105_2-5099302.html Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia brisk up the cybercrime-fighting http://www.crime-research.org/news/2003/10/Mess3003.html - - - - - - - - - - Worms and toasters turn up heat on corporate security Within the next few years, corporate security systems will not only be attacked by worms and viruses, toasters could also get in on the act . Instant worm attacks and household toasters have been highlighted by security experts as some of the biggest threats faced by Internet users over the coming years. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39117490,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - @Stake issues security advisories for OS X Jaguar Consulting firm recommends users upgrade to Panther as a fix. Security consulting firm, @Stake issued three security advisories for Apple's Mac OS X operating system this week. The advisories affect Mac OS X 10.2.8 and lower and do not appear to affect the company's recently released Panther operating system. In fact, @Stake is recommending users upgrade to Panther as a fix for the problems. http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/10/30/HNappleoswarning_1.html http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/main_news.cfm?NewsID=7183 - - - - - - - - - - Pseudonymous blogging under subpoena threat Many webloggers like to post pseudonymously, but a legal threat on one of the most popular raises the question - for how much longer? The impish Atrios, a pseudonymous and widely read Democratic weblogger has been threatened with a subpoena by right-wing columnist Donald Luskin. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/33669.html - - - - - - - - - - Lawyers call for data mining guidelines Data mining can be an important tool as the government collects vast quantities of intelligence for homeland security, but there needs to be guidelines and policies, experts told the House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee Thursday. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/1027/web-datamine-10-30-03.asp - - - - - - - - - - Firms tap encyption over complex security Despite the availability of sophisticated hardware security solutions, it seems many businesses aren't interested in doing much more than encrypting data. According to a survey of customers by IBM, the most common use for its embedded security system-- essentially a 'security chip' built onto its PCs and notebooks which allows certificates and other security-enabling technologies to be stored independently of a PC's memory and hard drives-- is simply to encrypt files, making them less susceptible to attack if a machine falls into unfriendly hands. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5099319.html - - - - - - - - - - Tackling the top 10 security issues Delegates who attend the upcoming Security IT's ultimate challenge conference, to be hosted by the Meta Group and ITWeb in November, will be well positioned to cope with the top 10 security issues as identified by the research house. http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/business/2003/0310301015.asp - - - - - - - - - - Cross-platform viruses: Tools for 'equal opportunity' offenders With Linux and Mac OS garnering an increased share of the operating systems market, it's just a matter of time before they, too, become primary targets of malicious code. With future cross-platform viruses, it won't matter if your organization is running Windows, Linux, Mac OS or all three. Malicious code won't discriminate. Until now, Windows viruses have dominated the Internet, while the number of Linux and Mac viruses have remained relatively low or even nonexistent in the wild. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,86624,00.html?SKC=security-86624 Security considerations when migrating from Unix to Linux http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,86544,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Crack codes and win prizes We here at Vulture Central know how fond our readers are of codebreaking challenges, so we're happy to point would-be cryptographers in the direction of the Thawte Crypto Challenge IV. Thawte explains it thus: "The Crypto Challenge is a fun, on-going competition aimed at Cipher hobbyists able to crack level 3 - 4 of Simon Singh's Cipher Challenge. The mysterious cipher genius Mr X develops the Crypto Challenges to be cracked. The first person to crack the code, wins the main prize: a Nikon Cool Pix SQ digital camera, there are runner's up prizes too." http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/33683.html - - - - - - - - - - New system helps Nebraska law enforcement find lost children Two Nebraska law enforcement agencies now have technology to help find missing children. A pair of units located in the state's panhandle The Alliance Police Department and the Box Butte County Sheriff's Office each have a new computer, scanner and poster printer. They also received software to link to a nationwide Lost Child Alert network. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-10-30-lost-children-neb_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - High school coaches worry that fans eavesdrop with scanners Many high school football coaches are concerned that when they use wireless radios to talk strategy during games, fans might be eavesdropping with scanners. NASCAR encourages its fans to use the scanner devices to listen as such drivers as Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. communicate with their pit crews during races. The scanners come complete with a list of frequencies for each racing team and have been used since the 1970s, when car owners began using two-way radios to talk with drivers. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2003-10-29-friday-night-espionage_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. 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