NewsBits for February 2, 2004 sponsored by, Southeast Cybercrime Institute - www.cybercrime.kennesaw.edu ************************************************************ Mydoom Swamps Website The Mydoom computer virus caused 250,000 computers worldwide to bombard SCO Group Inc.'s website in the largest-ever such electronic attack. SCO Group, which is in a legal fight for control of the Unix operating system, shut down its site after the attack began at 11 p.m. Saturday, said Blake Stowell, a spokesman for the Lyndon, Utah- based company. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4369-2004Feb1.html http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-mydoom2feb02,1,6254713.story http://www.securityfocus.com/news/7952 http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,62128,00.html http://www.vnunet.com/News/1152431 http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0201theworm.html http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/02/01/mydoom.reut/index.html http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=MyDoom_Crashes_SCO_Site&story_id=23101 http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/35274.html SCO sidesteps MyDoom attack with new site http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39145264,00.htm http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4137699/ http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=MyDoom_Forces_SCO_To_Change_Address&story_id=23105 http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-02-02-sco-site_x.htm http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/virus/story/0,10801,89666,00.html Mydoom worm wanes after zapping US software maker's website http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1209&e=2&u=/afp/20040202/tc_afp/internet_virus&sid=96001015 MyDoom virus spells double trouble http://news.com.com/2009-7349_3-5148600.html http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,89637,00.html No end in sight to Mydoom virus http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3451059.stm UK companies report slack security awareness http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/0,39020645,39145259,00.htm Net virus fight $10b a year http://www.thesundaymail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,8546607%255E903,00.html - - - - - - - - - - - UK teen escapes jail in nuclear lab hack case A UK teenager who admits breaking into the network of Fermilab, a US high-energy physics research lab has escaped imprisonment. Joseph McElroy, 18, from Woodford Green in East London, was today sentenced to 200 hours community service at a hearing at Southwark Crown Court this afternoon. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/35280.html - - - - - - - - - - UGA students notified of personal info compromise The University of Georgia has notified 27,000 students via e-mail that a hacker may have accessed their personal information through a school computer server and plans to alert more than 4,000 students via U.S. mail. University officials were unable to contact those students electronically because they had invalid e-mail addresses, said UGA spokesman Tom Jackson. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2004-02-01-uga-id-hack_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Appeals court to hear arguments in landmark file-sharing case A case that will likely help shape the future of the entertainment industry's anti-piracy strategy in the ongoing legal debate over file-sharing begins Tuesday in front of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/7857491.htm Turning P2P music file-swapping into a legitimate business http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/7857010.htm Wireless content gets new security spec http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5151719.html http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4137378/ - - - - - - - - - - Officer Fired for Selling Sex Tapes Wins Appeal A San Diego police officer who was fired for selling video tapes on the Internet of himself performing a sex act has won an appeal to have his wrongful termination suit reinstated. In a 2-1 decision Thursday, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the officer had been engaging in protected speech and allowed his case to proceed in federal court in San Diego. (LA Times article, free registration required) http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-me-sbriefs1.1feb01,1,7146927.story - - - - - - - - - - Garden Grove's Cyber Cafe Laws Get Appeals Court OK Garden Grove's attempt to crack down on gangs and violence through strict regulation of cyber cafes is legal, a state appellate court has ruled. Mayor Bruce Broadwater said he was pleased with the ruling because it reaffirms the city's authority to pass restrictions that aim to "prevent serious acts of violence." (LA Times article, free registration required) http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-me-cyber2feb02,1,7913749.story - - - - - - - - - - China vows to curb junk e-mail China has a new message for computer users: Spam isn't only annoying, it might well be subversive. The government has launched a fight against junk e-mail, fearful that the spam bombarding its citizens' in-boxes may contain pornography, anti-communist sentiments or other material objectionable to the Beijing government, state media reported Monday. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/7855530.htm - - - - - - - - - - Home Office rejects snooping enquiry The Home Office has rejected calls for an enquiry into the surveillance powers given to public authorities. Last week the department published responses to its 45-page consultation paper, Access to Communication Data. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1152463 - - - - - - - - - - Nature of Internet makes cybercriminals difficult to catch In 1990, Robert Morris Jr. carved his name in cybercrime history when he became the first person prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. http://www.thehollandsentinel.net/stories/020104/bus_020104068.shtml It's easy to skirt the law - Hard to keep up with technology http://www.crime-research.org/news/2004/02/Mess0202.html - - - - - - - - - - Evidence mounts for use of e-discovery in legal system As more and more business documents are put into electronic form, ''e-discovery'' will play a growing role in court cases. And the process of seeking evidence in electronic data -- known as electronic discovery -- is raising concerns across the legal system, including its effect on the cost of litigation, privacy issues and the implications of fast-changing technology. http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040202.wxedis02/BNStory/Technology/ - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft releases early IE fix Microsoft broke its once-a-month schedule on Monday to fix a critical flaw in Internet Explorer that could allow malicious coders to take control of an unwary user's PC. The most serious problem, known as a cross- domain security vulnerability, affects all versions of Internet Explorer running on Windows NT, 2000 and XP. http://zdnet.com.com/2001-11-0.html?legacy=zdnn http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6331-2004Feb2.html Windows plan underscores Microsoft struggle http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5151137.html - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft releases metadata removal tool A year ago, 10 Downing Street published a dossier on Iraq's security and intelligence organisations. It was cited by none other than Colin Powell in his address to the United Nations. Then a lecturer in politics at Cambridge University discovered that much of the 19-page document was copied from three different articles, one written by a graduate student. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/35277.html - - - - - - - - - - Survey: Spam Hampers Online Shopping The exponential growth of unsolicited junk e-mail -- spam -- is shaking consumer confidence in the Internet and may hamper growth of the e-economy, officials Monday told a global anti-spam meeting. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6139-2004Feb2.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2004-02-01-work-together-on-spam_x.htm Why Bill Gates' antispam plan won't work http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/AnchorDesk/4520-7297_16-5119564.html - - - - - - - - - - U.S. attacked on air data privacy The United States, which is gathering personal data of millions of air travellers in a bid to fight terrorism, does not do enough to protect privacy rights of non-U.S. citizens, EU privacy watchdogs say. The European Commission and the United States last month clinched a provisional accord for the transfer of air passengers' data to U.S. authorities so that Washington can sift the information to fend off September 11-style air attacks. http://www.cnn.com/2004/TRAVEL/02/01/eu.data.privacy.reut/index.html - - - - - - - - - - DARPA-funded Linux security hub withers Two years after its hopeful launch, a U.S.-backed research project aimed at drawing skilled eyeballs to the thankless task of open-source security auditing is prepared to throw in the towel. Initially funded by a research grant from the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Sardonix project aspired to replace the loosely-structured Linux security review process with a public website that meticulously tracks which code has been audited for security holes, and by whom. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/7947 - - - - - - - - - - Faith No More Well here we go again. We are suffering through yet another e-mail-borne virus (this one called Novarg) whose infection has reportedly trumped out all others in the infamous history of malicious computer code. Was the vector some l337 0-day 'sploit? Nope. Was it a complex multi-layer program leveraging several unpatched vulnerabilities? Nope. It was -- wait for it -- an executable attachment in an e-mail. What genius! The author of Novarg (or MyDoom, or whatever you want to call it) really put his noodle to the test when he cooked this one up, huh? http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/217 - - - - - - - - - - Is this the worst scam email of all time? We have in the past made merry at the linguistic deficiencies of 419 advance fee fraudsters, but nothing the boys from Lagos have ever issued even comes close to what some chancer has just sent reader Joskyn Jones. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/35266.html *********************************************************** 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. 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