NewsBits for December 23, 2003 sponsored by, Southeast Cybercrime Institute - www.cybercrime.kennesaw.edu ************************************************************ NewsBits will not be produced on Wed, 12/24 and Thurs, 12/25 because of the Christmas holiday. Depending on the amount of news, an edition may be published on Fri, 12/26. NewsBits wishes a happy holiday season to all of it's readers. RJL ************************************************************ Federal appeals court sets aside child-porn sentence A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday overturned a defrocked Roman Catholic priest's federal conviction of possessing child pornography and the ensuing prison sentence of nearly five years, ruling that investigators illegally seized key evidence against him. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel's ruling does not affect the 12-year state prison sentence imposed in September on James Beine, also known as Mar James, for exposing himself to three boys while working as an elementary school counselor. Siding with Beine, the 8th Circuit ruled that investigators lacked a warrant needed to seize 10 compact discs, later found to contain child pornography, from Beine's friend Michael Laschober. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/St.+Louis+City+%2F+County/81BF759CBB5D624686256E05001C6713?OpenDocument&Headline=Law+and+order%3A+Federal+appeals+court+sets+aside+child-porn+s - - - - - - - - - - Pornographer gets 15 years for exploiting teen Former Brush Prairie resident and child pornographer Michael Aaron Wilson was sentenced Friday to 15 years in a federal prison for sexually exploiting a 17-year- old boy. Wilson, 47, was sentenced in Tacoma by U.S. District Judge Franklin Burgess. Wilson pleaded guilty July 11 to exploiting a teenager by posting photographs on the Internet of the boy undergoing sexual sadomasochistic abuse. http://www.columbian.com/12202003/clark_co/101367.html - - - - - - - - - - Former Cobb Teacher Sentenced in Child Porno Case A former Cobb County middle school teacher was sentenced Monday to three years and five months in prison on child pornography charges. Kirk George Burns, 38, formerly of Marietta, was convicted in September. In December 2002, Burns was a teacher at Mabry Middle School when his then-wife found computer discs containing thousands of pornographic images. Some of them depicted nude, pre-pubescent children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. An FBI task force later searched a storage locker rented by Burns, finding hundreds of e-mails and letters between Burns and some of his female students. http://www.wsbtv.com/news/2722293/detail.html - - - - - - - - - - Civil Air Member Sentenced For Child Porn A Sioux Falls man caught with images of child pornography on his computer is going to prison on a two-year sentence. Richard Buechler was charged as part of an investigation into credit card numbers used to buy porn over the Internet. The Civil Air Patrol earlier ended his membership in the organization after he pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography. http://www.ksfy.com/Global/story.asp?S=1575368&nav=0w0jJpWQ - - - - - - - - - - Man gets 4 months for having child porn A 61-year-old Pennsburg man was sentenced to jail Thursday for collecting computer-generated child pornography. George A. Wright, was sentenced to four to 23 months in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, to be followed by three years' probation, after he pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual abuse of children by possession of child pornography. Court documents indicate Upper Perk police began investigating Wright in January, after an acquaintance of Wright's notified police that she had seen a photograph of a naked child in an erotic pose on Wright's computer when she visited his apartment. The woman told police that her 13-year-old son had also seen child pornography on Wright's computer, according to the criminal complaint. http://www.pottstownmercury.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10697477&BRD=1674&PAG=461&dept_id=18041&rfi=6 - - - - - - - - - - Local man charged with possessing child pornography A Wakefield man appeared in federal court last week in connection with a criminal complaint charging him with transporting and possessing child pornography via the Internet. Untied States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and FBI Agent Kenneth W. Kaiser announced that Christopher Lograsso, 24, of 28 Richardson St., was summonsed and appeared in federal court to face charges of transporting and possessing child pornography via the Internet. In an affidavit filed in support of the complaint, it is alleged that Lograsso maintained a file sharing program on his computer that allowed others to access his computer and download from his computer images of child pornography. Special Agents of the FBI executed a search warrant earlier this year at Lograsso's residence and seized his computer system. The results of an examination of the computer system resulted in the charges in the complaint. http://www.townonline.com/wakefield/news/local_regional/wak_covwkroundup12232003.htm - - - - - - - - - - Oslo Court OKs Personal Copying of DVDs An Oslo appeals court cleared a 20-year-old Norwegian of DVD piracy charges Monday, dismaying Hollywood studios, which said the ruling would encourage copying blamed for leaching billions of dollars from the movie industry worldwide. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-12-22-norway-acquittal_x.htm http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-piracy23dec23,1,5798245.story - - - - - - - - - - Symantec cans another counterfeiter A US court has awarded Symantec, best known for its antivirus and security software, a $3 million judgment against Baltimore-based Maryland Internet Marketing for selling counterfeit Symantec software. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/34653.html - - - - - - - - - - Downloading Lawsuits' Cost Getting Higher The recording industry can still bring civil lawsuits against people who download music illegally, but Friday's court ruling will make that more expensive and time-consuming. A federal appeals court said Internet providers, such as Verizon, EarthLink and America Online, do not have to turn over the names of their customers when music companies serve them with a subpoena. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/7556691.htm http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,61714,00.html Jane Doe ruling limits effect of RIAA legal defeat http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/34645.html - - - - - - - - - - Nigerian 419ers surface in Baghdad There appear to be no depths to which Nigerian 419ers will not go in order to feed their lust for riches beyond the wildest dreams of avarice. Indeed, they are now masquerading as coalition troops stationed in Baghdad who claim to have unearthed one of Saddam's treasure hordes. It's sort of like "Kelly's Heroes" but relocated to Lagos and the sun-kissed banks of the Tigris. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/34650.html - - - - - - - - - - Police taking steps to fight cyber crime In a cramped, second-floor room at the Medford Police Academy, police are taking early steps toward getting a grip on the Internet. The Main Street facility has become the state's computer law-enforcement hub. This month, Burlington Police Officer Robert Aloisi Jr. is participating in the 12-week Computer Crime Unit program. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2003/12/21/police_taking_steps_to_fight_cyber_crime/ - - - - - - - - - - Computer sleuths ply Internet A 13-year-old girl sat at a computer in Orangeburg, making arrangements to have sex with an older man from Charleston. At least that's what the man thought. When he arrived at the appointed place in Orangeburg, it was not a young girl who met him. It was the law. The "girl" was actually an agent at the South Carolina Computer Crime Center. The center, which brings together state and federal cyber crime experts, is one-year-old this month. And business is booming. http://greenvilleonline.com/news/2003/12/22/2003122221417.htm - - - - - - - - - - NIST releases new FISMA guidance The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released further draft guidance to help agencies meet the requirements of the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002. NIST Special Publication 800-60, Guide for Mapping Types of Information and Information Systems to Security Categories, shows agencies how to assign the security ratings to their information and systems. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/24495-1.html Report urges network redundancy http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/1222/web-comm-12-23-03.asp - - - - - - - - - - Windows ATMs Raise Security Concerns Banks everywhere are replacing OS/2 with Windows, but are hackers happy? A recent disclosure by Diebold that its automated teller machines operated by two financial services customers were struck by the W32/Nachi worm has heightened concern of even wider disruptions from virus and worm outbreaks, and highlights a growing security concern about vulnerability of cash machines running Windows XP and interacting with other Windows systems. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,113997,00.asp - - - - - - - - - - He stays a step ahead of hackers William Orvis was drawn to debunking Internet hoaxes by a fake computer virus scare in the 1990s dubbed "Good Times." Growing up on a ranch near Farmington, William Orvis protected cattle from predators. Now he defends the Energy Department's computers, keeping intruders and Internet attacks at bay. http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/7548120.htm - - - - - - - - - - New IE flaw allows easier phishing Millions of Internet Explorer users have been warned of a security vulnerability within the browser that poses a "significant risk". According to analysts from the X-Force division of security firm ISS, the flaw can allow website addresses or URLs to display incorrectly in the browser's navigation bar, thereby allowing scams that trick users into trusting a bogus website. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1151714 - - - - - - - - - - Orange takes steps to block mobile spam For those who haven't registered with the Telephone Preference Service - offered by the Direct Marketing Association in the UK - "cold calling" by sales offices can be a real nuisance - but text-spam can be downright expensive. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/68/34644.html - - - - - - - - - - Faster than speeding spam - 2004's Internet Hero While the Home Office guns for its third consecutive Internet Villain title, the DTI looks set to run away with the Hero award. This year's nominees for the ISPA Internet Hero award illustrate the importance that spam, laws and a bit of enthusiasm play in the Internet industry. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39118752,00.htm http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/34641.html - - - - - - - - - - The Internet Is a Very Sick Place The year 2003 has been deemed the worst in computer- virus history by security experts, despite the fact that worm and virus writers displayed no significant technological progress in the code of their newest nasty little creations. But why bother to develop new tricks when the old ones work so well? http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,61710,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Software crimes, easy getaways Discuss: Piracy exists merely because most software is overpriced. Admit it. When was the last time you actually "bought" original software? Chances are the software you are working on at home or in office is pirated. But that's something we have learnt to ignore. http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=13342879 *********************************************************** 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.