NewsBits for June 15, 2004 ************************************************************ Blackout hits major Web sites A domain name outage Tuesday morning that left many popular Web sites, including those of Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and Apple, temporarily inaccessible was the result of an Internet attack, according to Web infrastructure company Akamai. The attack caused problems for more than two hours--from 5:30 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. PDT. Many of the world's most popular sites suffered from widespread outages, according to Keynote Systems, which compiles statistics related to Web surfing. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5234500.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-06-15-2004-06-15-internet-attack_x.htm http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5217330/ http://news.com.com/Blackout+hits+major+Web+sites/2100-1038_3-5234500.html - - - - - - - - - - Teenager gets three years for eBay scam A Californian teenager was sentenced to three years for defrauding users of eBay's auction services. The 19-year old, Cole Bartiromo, was ordered to pay $20,000 back to his victims and spend 33 months in prison. The teenager pleaded guilty in February to putting items up for sale on eBay, collecting payment and not sending out the goods. He was also found guilty of bank fraud for trying to convince a Wells Fargo employee to wire $400,000 to an offshore account he had set up. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/15/ebay_teen_scammer/ http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Teenage-eBay-Fraudster-Jailed&story_id=25413 http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-me-cole15jun15,1,2811117.story - - - - - - - - - - 102 UK kids saved from paedos UK police reckon they have saved more than 100 children from abuse during a two-year investigation into users of paedophile websites. As part of Operation Ore, police have investigated 6,500 British people suspected of using a paedophile portal in the US. The operation has so far led to 3,537 arrests, 1,679 prosecutions and 1,230 convictions. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/14/operation_ore_update/ - - - - - - - - - - Zafi.B: Virus of Babble Zafi.B, the latest virus to torment Internet users, speaks in many tongues. It customizes its language to the user's default setting, thus improving its appearance of legitimacy and conning recipients more successfully than less cosmopolitan bugs. A new virus sweeping the Internet has climbed its way to the top of the antivirus watchers' charts within a matter of days. Along with the usual gambits to get people to open unfamiliar e-mail, the virus, called "Zafi.B," customizes its language to the recipient's default language setting, Panda Software CTO Patrick Hinojosa told NewsFactor. http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Zafi-B--Virus-of-Babble&story_id=25400 - - - - - - - - - - Virus attacks mobiles via Bluetooth Some useful citizen has written a virus which targets mobile phones running the Symbian operating system. Anti-virus groups received the worm from its authors but it is not yet "in the wild". The Cabir worm is the first network worm for mobile phones, according to Kaspersky Labs. It was written by 29a, a group of virus writers which specialises in proof-of-concept viruses - they made the first viruses for .NET and for Win64. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/15/symbian_virus/ http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Cabir-Virus-First-To-Attack-Cell-Phones&story_id=25403 Smart-phone worm has a hang-up http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5234953.html http://news.com.com/Smart-phone+worm+has+a+hang-up/2100-7349_3-5234953.html - - - - - - - - - - Kernel flaw makes Linux crash easily A flaw in the Linux kernel allows a 20-line C program to crash most distributions using the 2.4 and 2.6 kernels running on x86 and x86-64 architectures, according to security researchers. The problem means that anyone with an ordinary user account on a Linux machine can crash the entire server, according to Oyvind Saether, who discovered the bug along with Stian Skjelstad. Administrator access isn't required. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,93833,00.html http://news.com.com/Flaw+pops+up+in+Linux+kernel/2100-7344_3-5235028.html - - - - - - - - - - U.S. won't create do-not-spam list The U.S. Federal Trade Commission will not immediately start a national do-not-e-mail list, despite a law passed last year that calls for the agency to develop a plan for such a list. A do-not-e-mail list would likely be used by spammers to send consumers more unwanted commercial e-mail, FTC Chairman Timothy Muris said today. The FTC, in a report to Congress, instead advocated that Internet service providers continue to work on domain-level e-mail sender authentication technologies that would require e-mail to come from the domain it says it's from. http://computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/policy/story/0,10801,93844,00.html http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/8928647.htm http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-06-15-do-not-spam_x.htm http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,63862,00.html http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/06/15/internet.spam.ap/index.html http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5216554/ http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0614/web-ftc-06-15-04.asp Spam a workplace threat? Be serious http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5234949.html Online pirates use submarine tactics http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-06-14-piracy_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Lawmakers move to rescind junk fax rules Key House members on telecommunications issues are moving to overturn regulations aimed at preventing offices and homes from becoming inundated with junk faxes even before the already delayed rules take effect. The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce telecommunications subcommittee, Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., said he planned to introduce a bill Wednesday to rescind Federal Communications Commission regulations requiring senders of commercial faxes to get prior written approval from recipients. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/8930509.htm - - - - - - - - - - Three makers of video games sue company, alleging piracy Three makers of video games sued a Missouri company marketing software that enables consumers to make backup copies of computer games. The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday in New York, alleges that Games X Copy software by 321 Studios Inc. of suburban St. Louis violates copyright laws by illegally cracking copy- protection systems used by game makers. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/8929386.htm - - - - - - - - - - Report: Alleged spam king to quit A Canadian man accused of being one of the world's biggest spammers has agreed to stop sending the junk messages and plans to educate children about the dangers of the Internet, a newspaper reported Tuesday. In March, Yahoo! Inc. sued Eric Head, his father and brother as part of a worldwide industry crackdown on hundreds of people sending unsolicited e-mail, or spam. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/8928172.htm - - - - - - - - - - 17 companies form group to fight phishing, spoofing More than a dozen corporate giants in the retail, telecommunications, financial services, banking and technology industries are joining forces to combat phishing, spoofing and other methods of online identify fraud. Tomorrow, the companies -- among them AT&T Wireless Services Inc., IBM, Best Buy Co., and Fidelity Investments -- will announce the formation of the Trusted Electronic Communications Forum (TECF), a group that will focus on eliminating phishing's threat to e-mail and e-commerce. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/cybercrime/story/0,10801,93843,00.html http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5217329/ - - - - - - - - - - Gartner: Phishing on the rise in U.S. update New research published Tuesday by Gartner indicates that illegal access to checking accounts, often gained via technology-borne schemes such as "phishing," has grown into the fastest growing form of consumer theft in the United States. According to Gartner's numbers, roughly 1.98 million people reported that their checking accounts were breached in some way during the last year. http://news.com.com/Gartner%3A+Phishing+on+the+rise+in+U.S./2100-7349_3-5234155.html - - - - - - - - - - Movie industry to air new anti-piracy ads The film industry is expanding its awareness campaign against online movie piracy with a nationwide rollout of newspapers and magazine ads, the industry's trade group said Tuesday. The campaign is designed to dissuade people from downloading digitized copies of movies over the Internet. The ads, which also will run in more than 100 college newspapers, target parents who may not already know the risks of downloading movies from file-sharing networks. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/8929935.htm http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5234272.html - - - - - - - - - - Viruses and spam hit small firms harder Over a third of small businesses are suffering significant financial losses due to unsolicited emails, faxes and computer viruses. A survey by Bank of Scotland (BoS) found that 37 per cent of UK small firms were being badly hit in the pocket by spam and viruses, such as the SoBig outbreak which hit many businesses earlier this year. The study found that the while the cost of minor data losses and firewalls is less than PS1,000 a year for two-thirds of small firms, a full-scale virus attack can be terminal for entrepreneurs on tight budgets. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/15/viruses_hit_small_biz/ - - - - - - - - - - Who's seeding the Net with spyware? It's tough enough sometimes to figure out where you picked up that spyware, but have you ever wondered who planted that digital parasite? It was likely a young man, maybe a college student, just making a few bucks spreading pop-up ads that contain unwelcome packages. And it's a growing cottage industry. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/privacy/story/0,10801,93838,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Face recognition passports expected by December The first U.S. passport to feature facial-recognition technology should be produced by December, but the technology won't be widely distributed until late 2005, a State Department official told Congress on Tuesday. Maura Harty, assistant secretary for consular affairs, said the State Department plans to test the high-tech passports by issuing them first to U.S. officials and diplomats. http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/06/15/face.passport/index.html House votes to delay biometric visa requirement http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0604/061504cdam2.htm - - - - - - - - - - US expert says no such thing as cyber terrorism yet According to INQ7, CYBER TERRORISM is more hype than reality, at least for now, an American expert said Thursday during a videoconference with Philippine government officials at the US embassy in Manila. There have been no cases of cyber attacks that can be strictly labeled cyber terrorism, said Dorothy Denning, a professor of the department of defense analysis at the US Naval Postgraduate School. http://www.crime-research.org/news/15.06.2004/428/ *********************************************************** 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.