NewsBits for July 12, 2004 ************************************************************ MSN search guru 'stole AltaVista code' A Microsoft employee arrested by the FBI for stealing AltaVista search source code works for MSN's Search team, the Seattle Post Intelligencer has revealed. Laurent Chavet was arrested for accessing AltaVista computers after he left the company, between March and June 2002. However, the story is more Borlandgate than Watergate. The alleged break-in took place before Chavet joined Microsoft. Chavet had been at AltaVista from June 1999 to February 2002. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/12/altavista_source_code_theft/ http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/legal/0,39020651,39160184,00.htm http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/07/12/hacking.arrest.ap/index.html - - - - - - - - - - Nebraska man arrested and charged with the manufacture of child pornography Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning announced the arrest of Jeffery D. Meyers, a 36 year old foster parent. Meyers has been charged on ten counts including the possession of child pornography and the manufacture of child pornography. http://blog.watchright.com/?itemid=167 - - - - - - - - - - Online job seeker says she was duped into scam A Texas woman reponded to an online advertisement similar to this one and now faces a felony charge. Bobbie Jean thought she had finally found work when she answered an online classified ad last fall or an overseas firm. Instead, within weeks of her hiring, she was arrested at her local bank, charged with a felony, and is currently facing an August trial date in a Harris County, Texas court. Bobbie Jean now says she was tricked into helping an international fraud ring to move stolen money out of the country. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5424542 - - - - - - - - - - Sacked clerk hits bosses with 5m emails An unnamed 17-year-old clerk who was given his marching orders from UK insurance company Domestic & General responded by bombarding his former employers with 5m emails, the Sun reports. The youth was sacked for failing to fill in a time sheet and promptly downloaded an email "bomber" which he used to unleash the tsunami over a three- day period. Domestic & General had to shut down its website and reportedly lost PS18,000 as the a result of the teen's alleged attack. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/12/clerk_bombards_bosses/ - - - - - - - - - - 419 'bankers' back in business The 419 scammers who have just lost their online presence in the form of United Mercantile Credit & Investment Bank (UMCIB) certainly don't mess about when it comes to getting back to business. We're obliged to the reader who has just alerted us to the Trans-Atlantic Private Bank - another bogus mercantile entity courtesy of the same gang which fleeced a US citizen for $1,000 as we reported last week. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/12/419_bankers_back_in_business/ 419 scam 'bank' bites the dust http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/12/419_bank_dead/ - - - - - - - - - - Australian parliament fights spyware outbreak After discovering more than 50 pieces of spyware on their system, Australian parliamentarians are calling for better protection on government networks Australian Democrat Senator Brian Greig is drafting legislation which aims to better define, and in some cases outlaw spyware and adware, after his office found the computers on the parliamentary system had been compromised by more than 50 different Internet-borne pests. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39160180,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Senate Bill Targets Phishers Internet scam artists who use fake Web sites to dupe people into revealing sensitive financial information could face up to five years in jail and forced to pay $250,000 in fines under a bill introduced late last week in the Senate. The legislation, introduced last Friday, is designed to fight "phishing," one of the newest and most dangerous forms of online fraud. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/9091 http://computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/legislation/story/0,10801,94490,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Russia is going to outlaw spam More than 99% of all websites linked in spam messages are based in China, South Korea, the US, Russia and Brazil, a new survey of Commtouch, a company engaged in selling anti spam solutions. Commtouch have analysed hundreds of millions of advertisement messages and they note that about 55% of them come from the USA. 73% of ad messages direct their recipients to websites located in China. http://www.crime-research.org/news/12.07.2004/478/ - - - - - - - - - - Electronic voting critics sue company under whistle blower law Critics of electronic voting are suing Diebold Inc. under a whistleblower law, alleging that the company's shoddy balloting equipment exposed California elections to hackers and software bugs. California's attorney general unsealed the lawsuit Friday. It was filed in November but sealed under a provision that keeps such actions secret until the government decides whether to join the plaintiffs. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/9131675.htm - - - - - - - - - - South Korea to create unit fighting cybercrime South Korean National Police Department will create a new unit of computer anti-terror by the end of this year. Police management came to the necessity of such step after they had encountered attempts to hack governmental information networks and distribution of information like beheading of a Korean hostage in Iraq on the Net. http://www.crime-research.org/news/10.07.2004/477/ - - - - - - - - - - New Hampshire state proposal would tax chat rooms New Hampshire's tax collecting agency wants to apply a 7% tax on a variety of telephone and Internet services from chat rooms to voice mail. The Department of Revenue Administration is holding a hearing Monday on the proposed rule which still must be reviewed by a legislative committee. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2004-07-12-nh-talk-tax_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Advice to hackers: Do no harm Stephen Wozniak, a founder of Apple Computer, was preaching to the choir at a conference in Manhattan, recalling an era when the word "hackers" referred to technological wizards, not rogue computer users. His "choir" was a group of self-described hackers, about 2,000 of them, listening to Wozniak's speech on Saturday at the HOPE conference - Hackers on Planet Earth - sponsored by the hacker magazine 2600 News. http://www.iht.com/articles/528981.html http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,64172,00.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2004-07-12-hope-three_x.htm Sidebar: Hacking for profit http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,94407,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Anti-fraud pilot wins credit from channel Resellers will no longer be liable for money lost as a result of card-not-present (CNP) theft if Barclaycard's latest fraud-busting scheme takes off.The credit-card giant, in partnership with security vendor nCipher and MasterCard, has issued card readers to 5,000 consumer customers for online transactions, and plans to extend the scheme beyond the six-month pilot period if it is successful. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1156551 - - - - - - - - - - Malicious attacks now a fact of life Viruses and malicious code attacks have become a fact of life for the modern business. According tothe Global Information Security Survey, the vast majority of businesses across the world consider security breaches and attacks as more of a threat to their businesses in 2004 than they were in 2003. http://www.vnunet.com/features/1156600 Corporate weak points persist http://www.vnunet.com/features/1156591 - - - - - - - - - - Have a flutter on a worm When will the next big worm strike be? Who will be the next high-profile victim of a DDoS attack? If you know, you could make money at Tradesports.com. Controversial Irish Web site Tradesports.com will soon accept wagers on IT security disasters, such as the timing of the next big Windows virus or the most likely victim of a future DDoS attack. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,39020369,39160188,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Pssst, wanna spam mobile phones? Mobile phones are becoming the latest target of junk mailers whose cynical attempts to enrich themselves at the cost of wasting everybody elses time apparently know no bounds. One chancer spammed world+dog last weekend with an offer to teach his elite cell phone spamming skills to a few chosen individuals in exchange for the princely sum of $1,000. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/12/sms_spamvertisment/ - - - - - - - - - - Windows update will be late, Microsoft says Microsoft said Monday that the long-awaited update of Windows XP will be sent to manufacturing in August, a month later than expected. The product should be in customers' hands later that month. Windows XP Service Pack 2, or SP2, will contain a number of new features. Most of the improvements deal with security. One new feature, for example, is a Security Center that provides a view of a PC's key protection settings. An improved firewall and other tweaks are also planned. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-5265378.html http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5424753/ http://news.com.com/Microsoft+delays+SP2%2C+woos+partners/2009-1016_3-5266105.html http://www.vnunet.com/news/1156595 - - - - - - - - - - NetForensics wins deal for DOE security Security information management company NetForensics Inc. today announced that the U.S. Department of Energy will use its nFX security information management software to monitor about 400 network security products in its National Nuclear Security Administration. http://computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/itgovernment/story/0,10801,94488,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Tulsa Leading in Cyberterrorism Training The newest fighters against cyberterrorism may come from a class comprised of a student, a former amateur golfer and a Vietnam War veteran. They are in training at the nation's largest "Cyber Corps" institution, located at the University of Tulsa. The concept of "Cyber Corps," a group of computer security specialists who would detect cyberterrorism, grew out of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/9136325.htm - - - - - - - - - - Worm Wars Companies are throwing up layers of protection as new worms and viruses appear at an ever-quickening pace. Christofer Hoff is taking no chances when it comes to protecting his organization against worms and viruses. As the director of enterprise security services at Western Corporate Federal Credit Union (WesCorp), Hoff has put in place a multilayered architecture designed to set as many barriers as possible between the bad guys and his data. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,94415,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Metasploit Framework (Part One) sploit (n.) Exploit. A defect in the game code (see bug) or design that can be used to gain unfair advantages. (Source: Dictionary of MMORPG Terms) At present the exploit development community (hackers and security professionals alike) is more sentient than ever before. The timeline between the release of an advisory and the development of an exploit has shrunk to a great extent. Exploit development, which was considered more of Wiccan art, has reached large masses. http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1789 - - - - - - - - - - Fury at anarchist convention threat Fringe elements are hoping to spark major disruptions at the Republican National Convention with a series of sneaky tricks - including fooling bomb-sniffing dogs on trains bound for Penn Station, the Daily News has learned. Internet-using anarchists are telling would-be troublemakers to decoy specially trained Labrador retrievers with gunpowder or ammonium nitrate-laced tablets in a bid to halt trains or even spur the evacuation of Madison Square Garden. http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/211413p-182089c.html - - - - - - - - - - Bill calls for agencies to demonstrate emergency telecommuting Rep. Danny Davis late last week introduced legislation requiring the Chief Human Capital Officers Council to establish a telework demonstration program with at least two agencies to ensure the government can function in case of emergency. The Illinois Democrat said at a Government Reform Committee hearing on telework last week that the pilots will provide agencies and lawmakers with approaches to gaining flexibility and identifying work processes that should be addressed during an extended emergency situation. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/26557-1.html Law enforcers may see gains under House spending bill http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0704/071204tdpm1.htm More criminal justice IT pilots to launch http://www.vnunet.com/news/1156597 *********************************************************** 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. 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