NewsBits for January 20, 2004 sponsored by, Southeast Cybercrime Institute - www.cybercrime.kennesaw.edu ************************************************************ Sentencing date set in nuclear lab hack case A sentencing date has been set for a UK teenager who admits breaking into the network of a US high-energy physics research lab. Joseph McElroy, 19, from Woodford Green in East London, is due to be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on February 2 for hacking into the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in June 2002. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/34972.html - - - - - - - - - - Romanian Blaster trial kicks off Friday A Romanian man accused of creating a variant of the infamous Blaster worm faces up to 15 years in jail if convicted in a trial due to begin this Friday. Dan Dumitru Ciobanu, 26, is accused creating a virus variant (Blaster-F) that spread over the intranet of the Hydrotechnical University in the north Romanian City of Iasi in September 2003. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/34976.html - - - - - - - - - - Husband and wife VIA chiefs deny software theft charge VIA president Wenchi Chen and his wife, company chairwoman Cher Wang, denied industrial espionage charges in the Taipei District Court, yesterday. The pair are accused of sending VIA employee Jeremy Chang to work at D-Link in order to acquire test simulation software, Associated Press reported last night. Chang also denies stealing the D-Link code. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/3/34990.html - - - - - - - - - - No More Games of Cops & Robbers Police say 36-year-old Eugene Golden of Parkersburg is tied into computer crime in Texas and possibly New York. Now, federal agents could be taking on the case. Wood County detectives are investigating a slew of internet fraud complaints involved Eugene Golden. Wednesday night Golden was arrested by Parkersburg Police for allegedly robbing the Community Bank on Emerson Avenue. http://www.wtap.com/news/headlines/583522.html - - - - - - - - - - U.S. Bank warning about hoax e-mails U.S. Bank warned consumers on Monday to ignore e-mails that appeared to have been sent by the Minneapolis-based bank asking for bank account numbers and other confidential information. The e-mail notifies receivers that their U.S. Bank accounts have been blocked because "we have been notified that your account may have been compromised by outside parties." http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2004-01-19-usbank-phishing_x.htm E-mail scams are proliferating, targeting personal data http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,89153,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Man sentenced on federal porn charges A Lafayette man was sentenced Wednesday to two years and three months in prison on federal child pornography charges. Brandon Joseph Hebert, 23, was accused of downloading images from the Internet of juveniles having sex with adults. The judge ordered that Hebert, who was charged with one count of possession of child pornography, also pay a $2,400 fine and enroll in a sex offender treatment program while in prison. Federal agents found the pornography during a May 2002 search of Hebert's home, according to court documents. http://www.theadvertiser.com/todaysbriefing/html/92D60336-B338-43C4-9D2F-881D5A172B2A.shtml - - - - - - - - - - PORN PROBE Officers investigating child porn have identified nearly 250 residents across the region who have accessed indecent websites. The figures are being discussed by Hampshire Police Authority at a meeting today. Panel members will be told that Operation Danforth is still a major commitment to the force, with 238 residents of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight identified as accessing websites containing indecent images of children. There's also a warning that on-line storage, encryption and file sharing are making the police's investigations more difficult. http://www.solent.tv/localnews.aspx#L925 - - - - - - - - - - CONVICTED CHILD MOLESTER ACCUSED OF SECOND CRIME A former Fort Hood soldier has been convicted in Montague for stalking a 14 year old Bowie girl after meeting her on the Internet. While out on bond on that charge, he was arrested for allegedly trying to solicit sex with a 15 year old girl in Bastrop county. That girl turned out to be an attorney general cyber crime unit investigator. http://www.kfdx.com/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=4226 - - - - - - - - - - FL pedophile avoids penalty despite having porn on computer A judge on Friday gave no penalty to a pedophile who violated his probation and was found with dozens of pieces of pornography on his computer. Ronald James Gukenberger, 48, of Montverde, insisted that he did not look at the sexually explicit material. It was e-mail "spam," according to his attorney, Chandler Muller. But prosecutor Stacey Salmons said someone opened the files. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fporno19jan19,0,4600472.story - - - - - - - - - - Doctor admits to Internet sex bid Stephen C. Adler pleaded guilty to charges of indecent solicitation of a child. Police arrested the downstate radiologist Nov. 17, 2000, after he arrived at a fast- food restaurant in Lisle. http://www.dailyherald.com/dupage/main_story.asp?intID=3800322 - - - - - - - - - - Internet Worm Lurks In E-Mail In-Boxes A new Internet worm that spread by e-mail through Asia, Australia and Europe began appearing in U.S. in-boxes yesterday, and experts warned it could spread as people go back to work after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30791-2004Jan20.html http://www.securityfocus.com/news/7854 http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040119.gtsobigjan16/BNStory/Technology/ http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_857408.html http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/24659-1.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29926-2004Jan19.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2004-01-20-bagle-virus_x.htm Bagle catches firms off guard http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39119202,00.htm http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,89222,00.html Latest Trojan 'Phishes' For Personal Data http://www.crn.com/sections/BreakingNews/dailyarchives.asp?ArticleID=47337 New worm draws Sobig comparisons http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5143115.html Bagle virus spread starts to cool off http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5143726.html http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0119/web-bagle-01-20-04.asp http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/01/20/bagle.worm/index.html - - - - - - - - - - Nigerian 419ers run dry There are clear signs that easy life has turned tough on Nigeria's con men and that 419 scammers ? after the Nigerian Penal code fraud section - are struggling to make money. Some reports out of Africa seem to confirm that the bogus appeals are falling on stony ground. There's too much publicity about 419 these days. People are catching on. Sure, we still get dozens of email appeals, typically written in capital letters, but we also notice a couple of differences. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/34994.html - - - - - - - - - - Feds seek input on spammer sentencing A formula that would sentence deceptive spammers to more time in prison for each e-mail address spammed is among the proposals under consideration by the presidentially-appointed commission responsible for setting federal sentencing rules, which this week sought the public's input on how to punish violators of the newly-enacted CAN-SPAM Act. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/7846 http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,61971,00.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2004-01-20-spam_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Teen fights to keep MikeRoweSoft.com Mike Rowe, 17, holds documents he says Microsoft Corp. sent asking him to give up MikeRoweSoft.com. But the 17-year-old student and Web designer from Victoria, British Columbia, has attracted worldwide attention after refusing to comply with Microsoft Corp.'s demands that he give up his domain name, which phonetically sounds the same as the software giant's name. http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/01/20/rowe.fight/index.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2004-01-19-mike-rowe_x.htm http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/34955.html - - - - - - - - - - Police surf Net to nab sex predators Waterford Detective Sgt. Frank Mostek works on a forensic computer as he prepares a report. They are already becoming familiar stories - too common. A man is arrested by waiting police officers after he arrives for what the suspect believes is a planned rendezvous with a teenage girl, who actually is an undercover cyberdetective. http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10829073&BRD=982&PAG=461&dept_id=467992&rfi=6 - - - - - - - - - - Police introduce anti-cyber crime system The Inspector General Police Sindh, Syed Kamal Shah has said the Anti-Cyber Crimes Cell (ACCC) will be introduced at the provincial level soon to combat cyber crimes. Addressing a two-day EDICOM conference -2004, held at a local hotel here, Kamal Shah said the DIG Investigation Sindh will be the incharge of ACCC, while an SP ACCC Sindh, a DSP ACCC Sindh and an incharge ACCC police station will also be nominated. http://www.pakistanlink.com/headlines/Jan04/18/10.html - - - - - - - - - - Telcos bar children from adult content Mobile-phone companies have developed guidelines that block children from accessing unsuitable sites via their mobile phones. Children will be blocked from accessing chatrooms, online gambling, mobile gaming and adult Web sites via their mobile phones under new guidelines officially unveiled today. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/wireless/0,39020348,39119180,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - IG cuffs IRS security staff for performance woes IRS system administrators and security specialists continue to fumble and allow system vulnerabilities because accountability for carrying out security tasks and training is insufficient, a new inspector generals report contends. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/24661-1.html - - - - - - - - - - Software Piracy Is in Resurgence Inside a nondescript office building here, investigators for the Business Software Alliance are working to track down software pirates around the world. To help maintain secrecy, they often rely on several computers running on different operating systems, with special programs allowing them to switch Internet service providers every 60 seconds. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/19/technology/19soft.html - - - - - - - - - - Internet Security: The Two-Minute Virus When the next killer computer virus strikes, who are you going to call? Most probably ponytailed Mikko Hypponen, a Finnish virus hunter with the Helsinki-based firm F-Secure. He and his team, who track and crack several new hacker codes each day, were instrumental in diffusing last summer's omnipresent So Big virus. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3989590/ - - - - - - - - - - Worm detector looks out for bad behaviour Firewall maker Check Point launched a security appliance on Tuesday that it claims will protect corporate networks from cyberattacks that exploit known vulnerabilities in LAN protocols and applications. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39119177,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Cybercafe monitoring plan Relatively few Indians can afford home PCs, so millions go online in the nation's jammed Internet cafes, enjoying their low cost and anonymity. That freewheeling access could now be ending. Police in Bombay are planning to monitor cybercafes, a move some are decrying as excessive regulation that could create a dangerous precedent. Increasingly fearful that terrorists and other criminals are taking advantage of cybercafes, Bombay police want to require customers to show photo identification and give their home addresses. http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/1/20/business/20040120113430 - - - - - - - - - - Souped-up Security Sure, there are other enterprise networking issues, including Gigabit Ethernet and voice over IP. But talk to network managers these days and they'll say the No. 1 thing keeping them awake at night is the prospect of security breaches, from hackers grabbing credit card numbers to viruses infecting thousands of desktop PCs. After suffering the worst year of malicious code outbreaks in the 20-year history of computer viruses, it's not surprising that network managers are spooked. http://computerworld.com/networkingtopics/networking/story/0,10801,89108,00.html - - - - - - - - - - The Giant Wooden Horse Did It! According to Greek mythology, the seer Laocoon, a priest of Apollo, warned the residents of Troy against accepting into their city the giant wooden horse designed by Odysseus and created by the architect Epeius. His famous warning, "Trojans, trust not the horse. Whatever it be, I fear the Greeks, even when bringing gifts," applies equally today to importing unknown files as it did to the Trojans 4,000 years ago. http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/208 - - - - - - - - - - Data sharing is the core of protection Air Force Maj. Gen. Dale W. Meyerrose is a two-hatter. Hes both the director of command control systems for the North American Aerospace Defense Command and director of architectures and integration for the Northern Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. He is CIO for the two commands as well. http://gcn.com/23_1/interview/24547-1.html - - - - - - - - - - Puget crime agencies to share data Northrop Grumman Corp. officials today announced the company won a contract to design and implement the Law Enforcement Information Exchange (LInX) system for state, local and federal agencies in the Puget Sound region. http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2004/0119/web-linx-01-20-04.asp *********************************************************** 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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