NewsBits for June 30, 2004 ************************************************************ Creator of computer virus given suspended prison sentence A Hungarian court has convicted the teenage creator of a computer virus that infected tens of thousands of machines, sentencing the boy to two years probation, a newspaper reported Wednesday. The Veszprem City Court on Tuesday convicted the teenager, identified only as Laszlo K., for unauthorized use of computer systems. The virus spread through e-mail messages and was first noticed in May 2003. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/30/hungarian_vxer_escapes_jail/ - - - - - - - - - - UK police nab 11 in Net gun crackdown UK police today launched a crackdown on the sale of illegal weapons over the Internet. Raids began in London, with searches of 18 addresses. More than 20 illegal weapons have been seized in Operation Bembridge already, including 17 guns, a tear gas canister and four air rifles. In addition, officers collected nine guns designed to fire blanks, but capable of being converted to fire live ammunition. So far, 11 men have been arrested. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/30/operation_bembridge/ - - - - - - - - - - Last week's most famous Russian hacker Dmitri Androsov, a student of Chelyabinsk, Russia, became the most famous Russian hacker of the last week due to 16 thousand of indecent phrases that he sent using home computer to "Megafon" mobile network subscribers. A Chelyabinsk regional court brought in a verdict of guilty according to article 273, part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Creation, using and spreading of malicious computer programs" and sentenced him to one year of probation and three thousand roubles fee (about $100). Therefore, a 12-year-old computer man, Androsov has entered a history of Russian justice as the first prosecuted spammer. http://www.crime-research.org/news/30.06.2004/463/ - - - - - - - - - - Net Attack Aimed at Banking Data Computer security experts warned yesterday of another new Internet threat that can steal the passwords and account information of people who bank online -- the second such discovery in a week. Users can pick up the latest bug, which doesn't yet have a name, from pop-up ads that secretly download software capable of capturing their keystrokes. The pop-ups originate at Web sites that receive their ads from certain online ad services, which apparently had themselves been hacked to spread the malicious code. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/9025 - - - - - - - - - - Virus hits offshoring giant's operations Infosys Technologies Ltd., a leading Bangalore- based software and business process outsourcing (BPO) company, had to bring down its network yesterday morning, following detection of a virus attack on some machines on the network. "We don't have the details of the virus yet, though we think it came through as an e-mail attachment," said a spokeswoman for the company, who noted that this is not the first time Infosys has been attacked by a virus and had to shut its network down. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,94219,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Middle School Teacher Arrested on Child Porn Charges A teacher at St. Dominic Salvo Middle School in Niagara falls is charged with possessing child pornography. Thirty-seven-year-old Christian M. Butler of Tonawanda is accused of using his school laptop computer to download pictures of child pornography. Butler is also accused of sending and receiving these images to others, using the internet. http://www.wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=21568 - - - - - - - - - - New Albany man arrested on child porn charges A New Albany man has been arrested on child pornography charges, according to the FBI. The FBI said Tuesday that Dennis Gene Sullivan, 28, was charged with six counts of transmitting child pornograny and one count of possession. The FBI said the case was broken when an undercover agent discovered an advertisement for Sullivan's service on the Internet. Authoprities said Sullivan would allow downloads from his site, but only if the user first sent him nude pictures. http://www.sunherald.com/mld/thesunherald/9049068.htm - - - - - - - - - - Aldan man charged with viewing child porn A 50-year-old Aldan man, who police say had hundreds of images of child pornography stored on his computer, waived a preliminary hearing in Upper Darby District Court on 200 counts of sexual abuse of children and criminal use of communication facility. http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12159315&BRD=1725&PAG=461&dept_id=45529&rfi=6 - - - - - - - - - - Man Arrested After Child Porn Found On Company Computer An Orange County man was arrested Wednesday on charges of possessing child pornography. Thomas Allen Bispo confessed to looking at the porn on his work laptop. Orange County detectives think Bispo was probably away on business when he was looking at child porn on a laptop. But he was using his company-issued computer and he thought he had deleted the porn. http://www.wftv.com/news/3478615/detail.html - - - - - - - - - - Sex abuse case expands into possible child porn investigation The investigation into a Harlan man charged with sexually assaulting the 4-year-old daughter of his live-in girlfriend has expanded. The FBI and postal inspectors have become involved because suspected child pornography, possibly from another jurisdiction, was found on Terry A. Garnette's home computer, Harlan Assistant Police Chief Rod McMurphy said. http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12154848&BRD=2554&PAG=461&dept_id=507134&rfi=6 - - - - - - - - - - CHILD PORN NET CLOSES AN ENGINEER was arrested by Operation Ore detectives after he presented a computer with indecent images of children to a primary school. Charles Mackay was unaware the images he had bought over the internet were on the hard drive of the machine. But the head teacher of the school had heard on the grapevine he was being investigated and tipped off police. They found a number of images on the hard drive. http://icdumfries.icnetwork.co.uk/news/localnews/dumfriesnews/dumfriesnews/tm_objectid=14380829&method=full&siteid=77296&headline=child-porn-net-closes-name_page.html - - - - - - - - - - Web surfer's tip leads cops to sex offender Brian Nugent had just fired up a computer at the main Palm Beach County Library on Summit Boulevard when another Web surfer caught his eye. "I noticed a gentleman in his mid-30s looking at pictures of little boys in their underwear" said Nugent, who was scanning want ads online. "He was looking at little boys, 10- and 12-year-olds, wearing tighty- whities and half-dressed in sports uniforms." http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/auto/epaper/editions/wednesday/local_news_042eb35a75a2c0bf0027.html - - - - - - - - - - Court allows e-mail interception, raising privacy questions In an online eavesdropping case with potentially profound implications, a federal appeals court ruled it was acceptable for a company that offered e-mail service to surreptitiously track its subscribers' messages. A now-defunct online literary clearinghouse, Interloc Inc., made copies of the e-mails in 1998 so it could peruse messages sent to its subscribers by rival Amazon.com Inc. An Interloc executive was subsequently indicted on an illegal wiretapping charge. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/9049692.htm http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,64043,00.html E-Mail Snooping Ruled Permissible http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,64043,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Appeals court upholds Washington state spam law An anti-spam law has been upheld by the Washington Court of Appeals in a closely watched case against a man who claimed he did not know some of his e-mail was going to state residents. The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel on Monday rejected the appeal brought by Jason Heckel of Salem, Ore., doing business as Natural Instincts and promoting a "How to Profit From the Internet" package for $39.95. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2004-06-30-wash-spam-law_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Ruling's Good News for Web-Filtering Firms The court blocked enforcement of a 1998 law meant to shield youngsters from online smut, saying it also would cramp free-speech rights. Meanwhile, a new law that ties federal technology funds to filters is forcing public libraries to decide whether to filter Internet content. Companies that sell software for filtering online porn and other Internet content got a huge boost Tuesday from the Supreme Court, when it said filters could be more effective than laws at keeping kids away from Web sites they shouldn't see. http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Ruling-s-Good-News-for-Web-Filtering-Firms&story_id=25663 High Court upholds block of Web porn law http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2004-06-29-sc-porn_x.htm The porn must go on - US Supreme Court http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/30/sc_internet_porn/ - - - - - - - - - - MPs want hackers behind bars Computer hacking, an offence police once dismissed as a teenage prank, would carry a maximum two-year prison term as part of a revised cybercrime law proposed by MPs. In addition to stiffer hacking penalties, a revamped law would seek to criminalise denial-of-service attacks, a debilitating type of digital barrage capable of knocking out an online business for extended periods. http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040630/80/ewzxc.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39159118,00.htm http://www.vnunet.com/news/1156305 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/30/apig_cybercrime_report/ - - - - - - - - - - FTC mulls bounty system to combat spammers With no indication that a six-month-old federal spam law is lowering the tide of unwanted commercial e-mail, the Federal Trade Commission is considering a new approach that would put spammers in the same category as coyotes, rats and nutria by putting a bounty on their heads. The prize for a spammer's virtual pelt? A hefty percentage of whatever civil penalty the FTC is eventually able to collect based on the information. And with the agency likely to seek multimillion-dollar penalties against egregious violators, such as those who "hijack" other people's computers and use them to distribute spam, that's not chump change. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5326107/ German dialler scammers hijack signatures http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/30/german_dialler_scammers/ - - - - - - - - - - Report: Homeland Security vulnerable to wireless hackers Although charged with making the nation more secure, the Department of Homeland Security has not taken the steps needed to secure its own wireless communications, according to a report from the department's Inspector General. Wireless messaging services played a critical role following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. While cellular telephone service was out, key personnel remained in contact using messaging services. http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/30/security.gap/index.html - - - - - - - - - - Man loses job thanks to IM virus A virus can transmit previous IM conversations to a user's buddy list without his or her consent - and with disastrous consequences. Virus attacks are not yet frequent on instant-messaging applications, but the latest threat is likely to send a shiver down the spine of all IM users. A businessman whose computer had been infected by a virus found that his entire buddy list had been sent a record of all his IM conversations, said Derek O'Carroll, managing director of IM software vendor IMLogic yesterday. http://software.silicon.com/malware/0,3800003100,39121779,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft haunted by old IE security flaw A security flaw that had been fixed in older versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer has reappeared in the latest version of the browser software. Security company Secunia issued a bulletin warning of the flaw in versions 5.01, 5.5 and 6.0 of Internet Explorer (IE). The problem had been fixed six years ago, when it appeared in versions 3.0 and 4.0 of the IE browser. "It's a concern that a company like Microsoft has a problem that's already been fixed in older versions resurface in newer ones," said Thomas Kristensen, chief technology officer of Secunia. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5253112.html Malware attacks IE users via pop-ups http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/30/ie_malware_attack/ - - - - - - - - - - New security manager eases patch delivery through firewalls The latest version of the Security Update Manager from Configuresoft Inc. uses Hypertext Transfer Protocol to distribute security patches across firewalls. Its certainly not rocket science, said Randy Streu, vice president of product management for the Colorado Springs, Colo., company. People have been doing port-to-port communication for years. But the new feature lets managers distribute patches without reconfiguring firewalls or opening new ports. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/26453-1.html - - - - - - - - - - Look closely the picture may tell a story The adage that a picture is worth 1,000 words still holds, but look very carefully that same picture may also contain an illicit love note, a recipe for bomb-making or the secret location of buried treasure. In a world where invasion of privacy is increasingly commonplace, the technique called steganography is a relatively easy-to-use method of hiding messages and files a method that, some say, is most often used for nefarious purposes. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-06-30-steganography_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Seven habits of highly secure companies Companies face tough choices, compromise, in security efforts. Companies, like the humans who make them run, are creatures of habit. Some of those habits can make information systems more secure, rather than less. There's no such thing as absolute security, of course. But the seven best practices of highly secure companies are a standard against which CEOs can measure their organizations. http://www.itbusiness.ca/index.asp?theaction=61&lid=1&sid=56003 - - - - - - - - - - Could search sites spawn worms? Worm attacks are bad enough by themselves, but some experts warn of an even more devastating variation: one that strikes at the application level instead of targeting network infrastructure, and spreads to Web sites through Web-based search engines. Essentially, a smart worm could crawl into the data gathered by a search engine to identify the most vulnerable sites and target them, say some security experts and analysts. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,94220,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Confessions of a War Driver I admit it: I'm a war driver. Cloaked in anonymity, I cruise the alleyways and byways of corporate America, lurking, searching, probing for a weakness. There! The telltale tone in my earphones alerts me to a potential target. I quickly glance at my laptop in the passenger seat. No encryption on this wireless network. It's wide open. http://computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/story/0,10801,94225,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Porn site strips political references The Whitehouse.com pornography Web site, which poked fun at its government namesake with parody sections about first ladies and interns, has been stripped of all political references. Its owner, Dan Parisi of New York, agreed to the changes to comply with a recent ruling by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granting his Web site a potential trademark for ``Whitehouse'' -- but only if he took steps to make sure visitors to his pornography site don't believe it was associated with President Bush's site, www.whitehouse.gov. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/9049135.htm *********************************************************** 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. 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