NewsBits for October 31, 2003 sponsored by, Southeast Cybercrime Institute - www.cybercrime.kennesaw.edu ************************************************************ Briton pleads guilty to US nuclear lab hacking attack A teenage computer student has pleaded guilty to hacking into IT systems at an American nuclear weapons laboratory. Joseph James McElroy, 18, a first-year undergraduate at Exeter University, admitted hacking into 17 computer systems at the Fermi National Accelerator laboratory at a hearing at Bow Street Magistrates court in London on Friday. http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=126141 - - - - - - - - - - Pensioner accused of AUS $5m Nigerian scam An Australian man has been charged with defrauding a Saudi prince and others of AUS $5 million in an Internet lottery scam. The Aussie papers are referring to this as a Nigerian or 419 scam and report that the accused, Nick Marinellis, 39, of Sydney told police: "I have 220 African brothers worldwide. I am the Australian headquarters for those scams." http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/33706.html http://www.news.com.au/common/printpage/0,6093,7721909,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Cliff Stanford denies hacking Redbus Cliff Stanford, the multi-millionaire co-founder of Redbus Interhouse, is under police investigation following accusations that he hacked into the London- based hosting firm's email systems. Following a second police interview, Stanford yesterday issued a statement through his solicitor denying hacking into Redbus Interhouse's network or illegally intercepting company emails, The Times reports. Police questioned Stanford over alleged offences covered by the Computer Mis-use Act and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/33705.html - - - - - - - - - - Teacher Sentenced In Internet Sex Sting A special education teacher who tried to arrange sex with a minor over the Internet was sentenced to jail time on Wednesday. David Lewicki, 28, a special education teacher from Ferndale, was arrested in June in a Livingston County Sheriff's Department Internet sting operation, according to Local 4 reports. Lewicki tried to solicit sex over the Internet from an undercover officer who posed online as a 15-year-old girl. http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/2592490/detail.html - - - - - - - - - - Dallas Man Arrested For Soliciting Sex On Net After a recent investigation the Caddo Parrish District Attorney`s office is warning parents to monitor what their kids are doing on the internet. Some investigators for the District Attorney were posing as a 14 year old girl on the internet. Investigators say they were able to catch a 30 year old Dallas man this week for trying to solicit sex from who he thought was a 14 year old Shreveport girl. After more than 2 weeks of emailing back and forth the District Attorney`s office and Shreveport Police arrested Jackey Johnson. http://216.87.159.53/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=4870 - - - - - - - - - - Granbury Fireman Charged In Child Porn Investigation A Granbury volunteer firefighter is accused of trafficking in child pornography just weeks after another Granbury fireman was convicted of the same crime. The latest charges could involve other firefighters as well. Clif Mullican, 33, is charged with sending pictures over the Internet of children as young as 3 engaged in sex acts. The investigation started in New York City, when police there busted -- and then took over -- an Internet site known for trading child pornography. Police said they traced some of the pornography to Granbury and a house Mullican shared with two other volunteer firemen. http://www.nbc5i.com/news/2589719/detail.html - - - - - - - - - - Retiree charged in child porn case Forty-five counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor have been levied against a retired chaplain's assistant at Fort Campbell. James William Slonaker, 59, who gave a 2160 Sevenmile Ferry Road address, was arrested Monday and booked into the Montgomery County Jail. He has since been released on $45,000 bond, court records show. The investigation of Slonaker began Nov. 19, 2002, when computer repairman Troy Denney gave a compact disk to Clarksville Police Detective Jon Cummings, an affidavit filed in Circuit Court reveals. Shortly thereafter, Cummings passed the disk on to Sheriff's Office Investigator Jesse Reynolds. The disk, the affidavit reads, contained images Denney copied from a computer's hard drive, which Slonaker was having repaired. The repairmen found the images while fixing the computer. http://www.theleafchronicle.com/news/stories/20031029/localnews/539974.html - - - - - - - - - - Anti-spam law goes into force in Europe European Union digital privacy rules came into force Friday requiring companies to get consent before sending e-mail, tracking personal data on Web sites or pinpointing callers' locations via satellite- linked mobile phones. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/7151271.htm http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5100441.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-10-30-senate-spam-bill_x.htm US spammers face extradition to UK http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/thespamreport/0,39025001,39116687,00.htm House may vote soon on spam bill http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1105_2-5100411.html - - - - - - - - - - Hack attacks--a public embarrassment? A 17-year-old Queensland youth was arrested last week on charges relating to a security breach at a "prominent" internet service provider (ISP). ZDNet Australia spoke to the director of the recently established Australian High Tech Crime Centre(AHTCC), federal agent Alastair MacGibbon, about the arrest, and found out why letting the world know you've been hacked isn't necessarily a public relations disaster. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5100364.html Virus-writing hackers are biggest threat http://www.silicon.com/software/security/0,39024655,39116705,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - New E-Mail Virus Could Be Spammers' Tool A new e-mail virus capable of turning infected personal computers into "spamming" machines emerged Friday targeting corporate and home users in Europe and the United States, a computer security expert said. Anti-virus software makers Trend Micro reported that tens of thousands of its corporate computer users in France and Germany were hit Friday afternoon by the virus, dubbed "Mimail.C." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47074-2003Oct31.html Virus turns PCs into spam machines http://money.cnn.com/2003/10/31/technology/internet_virus.reut/index.htm New Virus Dresses Up as E-mail http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,61042,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Constitution Saves Accused Ex-Judge On the surface, the People vs. Ronald Kline seemed like a sure thing for prosecutors. Federal authorities had child pornography and a sexually explicit diary obtained from the former Orange County judge's computers. State officials had the testimony of a man who said Kline had molested him as a boy. Now, barring a successful appeal, Kline, who is still under house arrest, will soon be free - not because the allegations were proved false but because of unrelated civil rights concerns that undercut both cases against him. (LA Times article, free registration required) http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-kline29oct29,1,7573408.story - - - - - - - - - - Police advise on avoiding online fraud The National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) has warned the public to be on guard against the latest wave of electronic fraud attempts. Fraudsters have targeted customers of online banking services from Barclays, Nationwide, NatWest and Halifax in recent weeks. The scam involves an email that appears to be from the bank, which usually asks recipients to click on a link to a website. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1146802 - - - - - - - - - - Business Groups Oppose Putnam's Cyber Security Plan Facing a new layer of regulation, business interests have halted legislation intended to protect computer systems from sabotage. Rep. Adam Putnam, chairman of a House technology subcommittee, planned to introduce a bill this week that was meant to reduce the risk of cyber attacks that could result in blackouts or the release of private financial information. The Bartow Republican, however, got a colder response than expected when he circulated the proposal to business groups last week. http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031030/NEWS/310300507/1039 - - - - - - - - - - Copyright law could hurt crypto research The new European Union Copyright Directive (EUCD), which comes into force today, could adversely hit research into areas such as stronger cryptography, threatening progress in more advanced security methods. http://www.computing.co.uk/News/1146662 Tough new copyright measures become UK law http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/legal/0,39020651,39117542,00.htm Copyright law catches up with UK surfers http://www.vnunet.com/News/1146800 - - - - - - - - - - Kaspersky Labs offers new Linux/Unix anti-virus software The software, Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Linux/ Unix Mail Servers Version 5.0, offers several new features, including the ability to check all e-mail data streams centrally in real time, the company said in a statement earlier this week. http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/10/31/HNkaspersky_1.html - - - - - - - - - - NEC to step up battle against PC viruses, worms From this week it has started setting preinstalled support software to monitor the security level of Internet Explorer and warn users when the settings have been changed from the recommended medium security level. This is to guard against the lowering of settings without the user's knowledge by viruses or worms, said Aki Ota, a spokeswoman for the Tokyo company. http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/10/31/HNnecbattle_1.html - - - - - - - - - - Apple upgrades AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi security Apple has updated its AirPort WLAN client and base-station software to add support for the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) security protocol. The new release, dubbed AirPort 3.2, only targets the company's 802.11g-based AirPort Extreme product range, not the earlier 802.11b implementation. The software includes a firmware upgrade for the AirPort Extreme access point and AirPort Extreme client code. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/7340 OS X delivers treats and tricks (series of stories) http://news.com.com/2009-1045_3-5100324.html Apple plans to remedy Jaguar security issues http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5098688.html Panther glitch erases some hard drives http://news.com.com/2100-1045-5099878.html http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,61031,00.html http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/22594.html Mac drive makers help stamp out FireWire flaw http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5100508.html - - - - - - - - - - Firm aims to simplify internal security SSH Tectia is designed to help companies lock down traffic inside the firewall by making security invisible. SSH Communications launched a security middleware platform on Friday that will bolster internal security by providing secure pathways between enterprise applications, servers and users. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/applications/0,39020384,39117544,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Host-based intrusion detection key to security Cisco security solutions specialist Eric van Gend says the increasing speed and sophistication of virus and hacker attacks demands that networks become more adaptive, self managing, self protecting, and self healing. An ongoing strategy from Cisco is to create self-defending intelligent networks. http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/computing/2003/0310311051.asp - - - - - - - - - - Growing use of private police network raises concerns Some see it as the sort of tool that just might give a cop a break the next time someone abducts a child. Some see it as an assault on personal privacy, a Big Brother of a network operating outside the bounds of state regulation. Most, though, have no way of knowing about it at all. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-10-30-mn-cop-database_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. 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