NewsBits for April 22, 2004 sponsored by, Southeast Cybercrime Institute - www.cybercrime.kennesaw.edu ************************************************************ Justice Dept. Cracks Down on Net Piracy An international effort to dismantle major Internet piracy groups has identified more than 100 people in the United States and abroad involved in the theft of more than $50 million in music, movies, games and computer software, U.S. authorities said Thursday. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/8494132.htm http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106_2-5198047.html http://computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/legalissues/story/0,10801,92599,00.html http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,63178,00.html Three Brits arrested in global warez raids http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/22/uk_warez_raids/ - - - - - - - - - - Child pornographer sentenced to prison A child pornographer who was on probation when he was caught with more child porn on his computer will spend three years in federal prison and three years on supervised release. Senior U.S. District Judge Jack Shanstrom also ordered Jason Dean Pitsch, 34, to pay full restitution for his legal defense in both cases. Pitsch pleaded guilty in January to possessing child porn on two computers from March to April 2001 in Crow Agency. At the time, Pitsch was on probation for a 1998 child porn conviction. Pitsch was nearing the end of his probationary sentence when his probation officer learned that he had been using computers in violation of his sentence, according to the prosecution. http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/04/21/build/local/70-childporn-conviction.inc - - - - - - - - - - Ypsilanti pastor arrested in sex crime case The pastor of an Ypsilanti church was arrested Wednesday on charges related to sexually explicit e-mail correspondence with a person he thought was a 14-year-old former parishioner, Attorney General Mike Cox said. James Coleman Southward, a pastor at Graceway Baptist Church, faces one count of sexually abusive activity with a child and one count of using the Internet to communicate with another to commit sexually abusive activity with a child. Each is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/news-14/108258594035150.xml - - - - - - - - - - Man Charged With Raping Teen Tuesday night, police arrested Damien Moss, 23, and charged him with raping a 14-year old girl. They said the Webster resident met the girl from Greece on the Internet about a month ago and the two began a consensual sexual relationship. Convicted sex offender Moss had already served time for the rape of a young girl. He pleaded guilty to raping and sodomizing a 12-year-old in 1999. http://www.wokr13.tv/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=2F0DD6AD-C9B2-475D-BEBC-B899D5CA6E28 - - - - - - - - - - Knox man charged in child porn case A substitute teacher in Knox County met a young boy through a group that supports disadvantaged children, and later photographed himself having sex with the boy, according to a complaint filed in federal court. Robert B. Greis, 26, of Barbourville was charged in federal court Monday with producing and distributing child pornography, according to an announcement yesterday from U.S. Attorney Gregory F. Van Tatenhove. http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/news/state/8480505.htm - - - - - - - - - - Former School Board Member Faces Child Porn Charges A former board member of a charter school is accused of sending child pornography over the Internet and faces felony charges. Police said Christopher Kavanaugh, 37, of Fort Collins was arrested last week after officers found more than 2,500 images of child porn and photos of young girls. He faces five felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child and five misdemeanor counts of the same charge. http://news4colorado.com/crimeaccidentreport/local_story_112122443.html - - - - - - - - - - Moscow: hacker's soft is sold in the street Officers of the Department on Fighting Economic Crimes of the Moscow Regional Police Department managed to expose a 22-year-old Moscow resident for allegedly distributing malicious software. She was detained while attempting to sell a CDROM with hacker software in the street of Mytishi, a town situated near Moscow. http://www.crime-research.org/news/04.22.2004/234 - - - - - - - - - - Extortion scams 'heading your way' Extortion scams threatening distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against sites that don't pay a ransom fee are becoming far more common than was feared when it was believed that larger bookmakers were the major target. Blamed largely on the Russian mafia by security experts, the blackmail scams threaten to cripple businesses with overwhelming amounts of site traffic unless the company pays up. http://www.silicon.com/software/security/0,39024655,39120157,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Cisco squashes one bug Cisco has released a fix to a flaw in a popular communications protocol that some experts said could take down the Net and has announced a new, unrelated security bug. After the United Kingdom's National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre sent out an advisory Tuesday describing the problem, Cisco and several other vendors acknowledged that their products could be affected by the flaw. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39152677,00.htm DHS alert closes router holes http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0419/web-cyber-04-22-04.asp 'New' Internet vuln long ignored http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/22/tcpip_vuln_ignored/ - - - - - - - - - - More holes found in Symantec security software FOUR MORE critical bugs have been found in three of Symantecs security products. The four vulnerabilities affect Norton Internet Security 2004, Norton Internet Security 2004 Professional, and Norton Personal Firewall 2004. http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=15470 - - - - - - - - - - Cadets learn art of cyberwarfare The mission: to secure an entire computer network for the United States and its allies against a vague enemy force. Hostile agents aim to wreak havoc on military plans, sabotaging databases, computer terminals and communications. But the cyberwarriors planning a best defense aren't analysts hunkered down at the Pentagon. They are cadets at West Point competing against military academies and other schools in a four-day cyberdefense exercise this week. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5197492.html - - - - - - - - - - Shanghai Net Cafes to Be Monitored Authorities are installing video cameras and high- tech software in Shanghai's Internet cafes and bars to make sure customers don't look at forbidden Web sites, a state-run newspaper reported Thursday. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/8492345.htm http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=15477 http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/internetprivacy/2004-04-22-internet-monitoring_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Panel recommends ban on computer voting system An advisory panel unanimously recommended this morning that Secretary of State Kevin Shelley ban use of a computerized voting system in four California counties. The panel also called on state Attorney General Bill Lockyer to open a criminal investigation into the conduct of Diebold Election Systems, the Ohio-based firm that manufactured the touch-screen system. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/8494917.htm http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2004-04-22-panel-dings-diebold_x.htm http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,63179,00.html - - - - - - - - - - UK public wants ID cards, and thinks we'll screw up the IT The great British public is overwhelmingly in favour of the introduction of ID cards, cares not a whit for civil liberties arguments, and is even more gung ho than David Blunkett about biometrics and having to carry ID with you all the time, according to a Mori survey carried out on behalf of IT consultancy Detica. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/22/id_cards/ - - - - - - - - - - Managing your users Each week vnunet.com asks a different expert to give their views on recent virus and security issues, with advice, warnings and information on the latest threats. This week Ray Stanton, director of UK security practices at Unisys, argues the case for the management of users and greater security over user data as the best way to control business threats. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1154583 Security from the inside out http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/Security_from_the_inside_out.html The need for security will not go away http://www.itweek.co.uk/Comment/1154575 - - - - - - - - - - Who Should Keep Out The Hackers? The calm of a few months without a major attack of a computer worm, virus or other form of cyber- harassment was rattled hard this week. So dangerous are the latest vulnerabilities that the Department of Homeland Security took the rare step of briefing the media yesterday, warning that quick action by users and network operators was crucial to avoiding serious Internet disruption. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32480-2004Apr21.html - - - - - - - - - - No Privacy for the Poor, Homeless Activists and computer industry folks at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference are paying $140 a night to stay at a swanky hotel in Berkeley. But they started the conference hearing about a group not usually talked about in these circles -- the homeless. A panel examined how massive databases and computer algorithms are being used to track the homeless or discriminate against the poor who need insurance. http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,63173,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Integrating security: A look at secure content management Firewalls are insufficient for securing today's Internet-connected networks against viruses and spam. Plus, new health care and financial industry regulations are creating additional requirements for managing and securing electronic messages and documents. Solutions for these issues are grouped together in a category called secure content management, or SCM. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,92572,00.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. 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