NewsBits for February 27, 2004 sponsored by, Southeast Cybercrime Institute - www.cybercrime.kennesaw.edu ************************************************************ Alleged WebTV 911 hacker charged with cyberterrorism FBI agents arrested a Louisiana man last week under the cyberterrorism provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act for allegedly tricking a handful of MSN TV users into running a malicious e-mail attachment that reprogrammed their set-top boxes to dial 9-1-1 emergency response. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/35884.html - - - - - - - - - - Man sentenced for registering misleading Web site names A Florida man has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for registering misleading domain names on the Internet so that children looking for popular sites such as Disneyland would find pornography instead. John Zuccarini, 56, sobbed and apologized before he was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Michael Mukasey http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-02-27-zuccarini-gets-jailtime_x.htm http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/35901.html - - - - - - - - - - Teen faces sentencing for downloading child pornography The fate of a troubled Granville teenager who downloaded more than 100 images of child pornography from the Internet will be decided early this afternoon. The 18-year-old was arrested in mid-December after investigators seized several computers, computer hard drives, three floppy diskettes and one laptop computer from his Granville residence, a storage facility and an abandoned school bus near a Pataskala business, according to Licking County Sheriff's Office records and court testimony. http://www.newarkadvocate.com/news/stories/20040227/localnews/32520.html - - - - - - - - - - Pediatrician Accused Of Possessing Child Porn A pediatrician has been charged with possessing child pornography, NewsChannel 4's Jonathan Dienst reports. Investigators are very concerned, because the Adam Perahia has worked with many children. They said the man had more than 90 photos of men raping little girls on his home computer. Now they want to know what he might have been up to as a pediatrician responsible for treating children. http://www.wnbc.com/news/2879314/detail.html http://www.nydailynews.com/02-27-2004/news/crime_file/story/168401p-147120c.html - - - - - - - - - - Woman claims she was victim of sex offender When Amanda Sykes picked up the newspaper Thursday morning, it brought back horrible memories. "I couldn't believe it was him," she said. Amanda Sykes is not her real name. Her true identity is being withheld by The Mercury. Sykes said the picture of Stuart Ackerman that ran in Thursday's edition of The Mercury shocked her because of her experience with him, but comforted her because the story said Ackerman was behind bars. The 33-year-old Northampton County man was arrested this week after an Internet sting targeting child sex abuse was conducted in West Chester. Sykes said Ackerman contacted her over the Internet last summer after reading her profile, which she had posted on a Web site. http://www.pottstownmercury.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=11034532&BRD=1674&PAG=461&dept_id=18041&rfi=6 - - - - - - - - - - Raids Target Internet Child Porn Networks Coordinated police raids across 10 countries smashed a number of Internet child pornography networks, European Union police agency Europol said. Police seized computers, videos and other material and arrested several people. Europol, based in The Hague, said more than 40 locations were raided, with the main focus in Wiesbaden, Germany. http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fg-briefs27.3feb27,1,3762006.story - - - - - - - - - - German police drop iBook power rustling charge A 23-year-old German arrested last year for plugging his laptop into a railway station power socket will not be prosecuted, the authorities this week confirmed. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/35892.html - - - - - - - - - - Softbank execs forgo pay in penance for customer data leak Japanese Internet company Softbank Corp. said Friday its president and six other senior executives would forgo part of their pay to take responsibility for the leakage of personal data for over 4 million of its broadband customers. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/8057849.htm http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/35909.html - - - - - - - - - - Hackers gain free access to MSN Premium Programmers in China have exploited a security hole in Microsoft's MSN Explorer software to win free access to paid services. A flaw in Microsoft's MSN Explorer software has allowed some Web surfers to gain free access to features and services that normally cost $9.95 (PS5.35) a month, the software giant confirmed on Thursday. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39147418,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Virus damage tops $80bn in February According to security experts mi2g, virus activity caused as much as $83bn in economic damage in February. With numerous variants of MyDoom, Doomjuice and NetSky causing havoc over the wires, the shortest month of the year looks set to be one of the largest in terms of virus impact. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/?http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/news_story.php?id=54319 MyDoom and Netsky cause chaos http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/35882.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2004-02-27-gory-doom_x.htm F-inSecure mailing list spreads Netsky-B virus http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/35911.html ISPs' virus protection under scrutiny http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/software/2004/0402271205.asp Counting the cost of cybergeddon http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/35/35910.html Microsoft emphasises security for XP Service Pack 2 http://www.pcpro.co.uk/?http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/news_story.php?id=54295 - - - - - - - - - - International push to fight high-tech scams With cybercriminals based all over the world, governments must cooperate to clamp down on one of technology's ugly sides - the mass-marketing scam. Representatives of more than 60 law enforcement agencies and regulators from around the world gathered in London on Friday to try and formulate international cooperation against the rising tide of marketing fraud schemes, many of which rely on computers and mobile phones. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39147440,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Spam villains: named and shamed The US sends out more spam than the rest of the world put together according to inbox defenders at Sophos. Researchers at the anti-virus firm checked the origins of two days worth of spam, and compiled a list of the worst offenders. Although the vast majority of spam comes from computers in the US, the picture is not as simple as it appears. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/35890.html US tops international spammers' list http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39147438,00.htm Winning Ways to Stop Spam http://computerworld.com/softwaretopics/software/groupware/story/0,10801,90549,00.html South Korea mulls spam curfew regulations http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/35912.html - - - - - - - - - - CIA slipped bugs to Soviets In January 1982, President Ronald Reagan approved a CIA plan to sabotage the economy of the Soviet Union through covert transfers of technology that contained hidden malfunctions, including software that later triggered a huge explosion in a Siberian natural gas pipeline, according to a new memoir by a Reagan White House official. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4394002/ - - - - - - - - - - Wisconsin prisoners tracked by .Net Corrections officials in Wisconsin counties are saving money and aggravation with software developed using Microsoft .Net to monitor prisoner transfers between courts, jails and other correctional facilities. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/25098-1.html http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2004/0223/web-wisc-02-27-04.asp - - - - - - - - - - Tiny radar could make driving safer The entire functions of a radar system have been squeezed on to a single silicon chip about one fifteenth the size of a penny for the first time. The miniature system has been created by researchers at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, US, who managed to fabricate all the sensing and communications components out of silicon. Their chip is capable of transmitting, receiving and directing high frequency microwaves. http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994725 *********************************************************** 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. 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