NewsBits for May 3, 2004 ************************************************************ New worm races around the world A pesky computer worm snarled hundreds of thousands of machines worldwide Monday in the latest virus-like outbreak to take advantage of a known flaw with the Windows operating system. Because the new worm, dubbed ``Sasser,'' does not require users to click on an e-mail attachment to activate, it spreads more rapidly than most viruses. It was discovered late Friday and spread as employees returned to work and booted their machines. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/8579000.htm http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4890780/ http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/05/03/sasser.worm/index.html http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,63308,00.html http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Sasser_Worm_Spreads&story_id=23916 http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2004-05-03-sasser-europe_x.htm Sasser spawns children, headaches http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,92858,00.html Corporate users wary of Sasser worm as new variants appear http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/virus/story/0,10801,92863,00.html Sasser worm delivers triple trouble (series of stories) http://zdnet.com.com/2251-1110-5204680.html Experts weigh Sasser-Netsky worm connection http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/virus/story/0,10801,92871,00.html Microsoft, law enforcement officials pursuing Sasser author Microsoft Corp. is working with law enforcement to find the author of the Sasser worm, which first appeared on Friday and targets machines running the company's Windows operating system. Microsoft said it's working closely with authorities, including the Northwest CyberCrime Taskforce, to analyze Sasser's code and "identify those responsible for this malicious activity." http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,92870,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Woman charged with breaking into former beau's e-mail She claims her ex-boyfriend gave his e-mail password to her. He alleges she looked over his shoulder. Either way, Lori Osman used the password to look at David Pope's e-mail, authorities say, and was charged with a felony for doing so in a unique case that experts say could be Wyoming's first. Osman and Pope, both Casper residents, broke up in 1999. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2004-05-03-email-ex_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Charges filed in 'Deceptive Duo' hacks A Florida man has been charged in federal court in Washington DC for his alleged role as one-half of the high-profile hacking team "The Deceptive Duo," responsible for defacing dozens of governmental and private Web sites with patriotically-themed messages exhorting the U.S. to shore up cyber defenses. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/8559 - - - - - - - - - - 'Net crooks run IRS scam Identity thieves have been using e-mail and a fake Internal Revenue Service Web site to trick unsuspecting citizens into revealing their Social Security numbers and other personal information on the Internet, IRS and Treasury Department officials said last week. The fake IRS Web site was shut down at the request of IRS and Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration officials who contacted the Internet service provider that was hosting the site. The IG is investigating the scam. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0503/web-irs-05-03-04.asp http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4873580/ - - - - - - - - - - Czech porn ring busted Elementary school teachers and scientists were allegedly among an estimated 100 customers of a child porn ring busted after an 18-month probe, police in the eastern Czech Republic said on Thursday. At least 20 boys were victimised. Police confiscated thousands of videos and computer discs as well as tens of thousands of photos. Police were tipped off by a man who described the operation while being treated for paedophilia and later hung himself. http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1519547,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Child porn images found on principal's computer Fulton County school officials have begun proceedings to dismiss a principal accused of child molestation, after they found pornographic images of children on his work computer. Michael Wayne Fox, 54, principal of Spalding Drive Elementary School, was arrested for allegedly molesting a 12-year-old boy last Saturday in a Northlake Mall restroom. http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/8564323.htm - - - - - - - - - - Former principal faces porn charges A former principal of Pontiac Christian School is facing seven counts of possession of child pornography in Livingston County. Court records said John D. Wienshienk, 48, of Chenoa had seven pornographic images involving underage girls stored on a laptop computer from August to November 2003. He was arrested Thursday and is scheduled to appear in court Monday for a preliminary hearing on the Class 3 felonies. http://www.pantagraph.com/stories/050104/new_20040501018.shtml - - - - - - - - - - Ex-USA professor charged in child porn case Federal prosecutors Friday charged a former University of South Alabama professor with possessing 10 computer discs containing dozens of pornographic images of children. Stephen Hood, 62, faces a single count of possession of child pornography. By statute, he could receive up to 10 years in prison if convicted, although the tenor of the case suggests that any sentence would be more lenient. http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1083403000120270.xml - - - - - - - - - - Do-it-yourself counterfeit production exposed Employees of State Tax Police in Zaporozhye region revealed illegal production of accessories or marking audio and video production. A 22-year-old young entrepreneur launched a do-it-yourself business in Melitopol, Zaporozhye region, Ukraine. Young man rented a house and installed high-capacity computer facilities there. He used it to replicate large lots of counterfeit marks and holographic elements for CDs and used it to produce counterfeit products. http://www.crime-research.org/news/01.05.2004/238 - - - - - - - - - - Mitnick busts bomb hoaxer Ex-hacker Kevin Mitnick is a hero to the small town of River Rouge, Michigan, after using his tech skills to help officials nab the culprit behind a harrowing series of bomb threats. The trouble began a few months ago, when staff members at River Rouge High School began receiving threatening phone calls at home from an anonymous caller, police Detective Lt. John Keck says. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/8558 - - - - - - - - - - Fox hunt ends in prison terms Four men at the centre of a PS16m missing trader fraud scam have been jailed for a combined total of 21 years. After a six-month trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court, which ended in March, the four were found guilty of importing computer components from the Republic of Ireland without paying VAT. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1154866 - - - - - - - - - - Challenge to Internet Gambling Ban Upheld Antigua and Barbuda have successfully challenged a U.S. ban on Internet gambling, diplomatic sources said, dealing the U.S. another setback at the World Trade Organization. A U.S. trade official, speaking on condition that she not be identified, confirmed that a WTO panel had issued a final report that was "largely unchanged" from its preliminary ruling against the United State's ban one month ago. (LA Times article, free registration required) http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-rup1.3may01,1,985265.story - - - - - - - - - - Whether it's adware or spyware, beware It was good to read of junk e-mailers in handcuffs last week. But the federal government's just getting started in its campaign to clean up the Internet. The Federal Trade Commission has already chosen its next target: adware. Or spyware. What you call it often depends on who you ask and how badly they hate it. But at least one state has moved to outlaw the stuff, and the FTC is holding hearings on how to regulate it. So maybe we'd better figure out exactly what we're talking about. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2004/05/03/whether_its_adware_or_spyware_beware/ Spyware sneaks into the desktop http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,92784,00.html Sidebar: Counterespionage Measures http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,92786,00.html Sidebar: 10 Tips to Stop Spyware http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,92781,00.html Spyware Wake-up Call http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,92775,00.html - - - - - - - - - - FraudWatch warns of the escalation of Internet fraud As PR Web informs, FraudWatch International warns Internet consumers of the escalation of Lottery scams circulating via email. These scams involve advance fee fraud, typically seen in Nigerian 419 scams, and acts as a method to gather personal information used for identity theft. Lottery scam emails are increasing at an alarming rate. In April FraudWatch International received over 1000 variations, double the number of phishing email scams received. http://www.crime-research.org/news/03.05.2004/256 - - - - - - - - - - Voice preferred medium for wiretapping Only 4 percent of wiretaps not related to terrorism were targeted at computers and electronic devices last year, according to a government report made public last week. The rest of the 1,442 non-terrorism wiretaps--which intercepted a total of 4.3 million communications or conversations in 2003--were primarily aimed at voice communications, according to statistics from the U.S. courts. "The most active federal wiretap occurred in the district of Minnesota, where a racketeering investigation involving the interception of computer messages on a digital subscriber line resulted in the interception of a total of 141,420 messages over 21 days," the report said. http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1105_2-5204674.html - - - - - - - - - - Who Hacked the Voting System? The Teacher The fix was in, and it was devilishly hard to detect. Software within electronic voting machines had been corrupted with malicious code squirreled away in images on the touch screen. When activated with a specific series of voting choices, the rogue program would tip the results of a precinct toward a certain candidate. Then the program would disappear without a trace. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/03/technology/03vote.html California bans e-voting for two million in four counties http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2004-05-01-e-voting_x.htm http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/03/cal_decertifies_diebold/ California toughens e-voting standards http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5203769.html http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0503/web-evote-05-03-04.asp - - - - - - - - - - WiFi High Crimes Before WiFi can entirely fulfill its promise, we'll have to confront an oppressive latticework of outdated criminal laws. A local Washington DC television news station wanted to do a WiFi "hack." Their plan was to sit in a local coffee shop (named after the Pequod's first mate) and try to read their neighbors' e-mail or Web browsing. They had a simple question for me: "Is it legal?" http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/237 Broadcom simplifies Wi-Fi security set-up http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/03/easy_wifi_security/ - - - - - - - - - - Subject of criminal activity in the sphere of computer technologies Subject of a crime is a minimum set of marks describing a person that committed a crime, necessary to make this person responsible. Studies conducted, in particular, in Australia, Canada, the US, Germany helped to divide computer criminals into three main categories by age: - 11-15 years old involved in crimes using telephone networks, credit cards and ATMs; - 17-25 years old involved in hacking; - 30-45 years old use computers for mercenary purposes and espionage. http://www.crime-research.org/articles/Sabadash0404 - - - - - - - - - - U.S. blunders with keyword blacklist The U.S. government concocted a brilliant plan a few years ago: Why not give Internet surfers in China and Iran the ability to bypass their nations' notoriously restrictive blocks on Web sites? Soon afterward, the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) invented a way to let people in China and Iran easily route around censorship by using a U.S.-based service to view banned sites such as BBC News, MIT and Amnesty International. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107_2-5204637.html - - - - - - - - - - Give It Up: Info for Protection Derek V. Smith sees bad people lurking everywhere: terrorists, sexual predators, quack doctors, identity thieves. And yet Smith colors himself an optimist, insisting that society can protect itself from such dicey characters, using information as a shield. In Smith's view, if we did more to examine each other's digital footprints -- addresses, employment records, credit data, lawsuits, criminal files, professional licenses, vehicle registrations -- the world would be safer. http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,63304,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Sex Offenders Hounded by the Law The California cow town where Ethel Sykes has lived with her family for 25 years is one of those Mayberry-type places where neighbors swap gossip over the back fence and leave their doors unlocked. But Sykes, who asked that her real name not be used for this article, fears her family members may become social pariahs in their close-knit community because of a law enforcement trend that's gaining momentum in California counties. Sykes' husband is one of those sex offenders. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,63219,00.html *********************************************************** 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 2000-2004, NewsBits.net, Campbell, CA.