NewsBits for July 30, 2004 ************************************************************ US cyberstalker pleads guilty A US man has pleaded guilty to cyberstalking a former girlfried. Believed to be the first person to be fingered under US laws prohibiting Internet stalking, Robert James Murphy, 38, of Columbia, South Carolina, originally denied a hearing in April 26 counts of using his computer "to annoy, abuse, threaten and harass" Joelle Ligon, a 35 year -old Seattle woman. Yesterday, Murphy pleaded guilty to two counts of cyberstalking in an agreement with federal prosecutors, AP reports. He is to be sentenced at the end of October. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/30/man_cyber_stalking/ http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/184213_cyberstalk30.html - - - - - - - - - - An Indiana teenager runs away with adult from Nevada she met on the Internet The following story illustrates how an adult sexual predator used the Internet to entice a teenage girl to run away and have sex with him. Thirty year old, Sidney C. Moreno, of Reno, Nev, used the Internet to convinced a 14 year old girl from Indiana to run away with him and have sex. When the 14 year old Indiana girl was finally located in Utah, she had $5,000 in cash taken from her father's safe, and, the hard drive from her computer. http://www.crime-research.org/news/30.07.2004/531/ - - - - - - - - - - Colorado man convicted of child porn A federal judge in White Plains yesterday convicted a Colorado day-care worker of trading child pornography on the Internet and possessing tens of thousands of photos showing children being sexually and sadistically abused, prosecutors said. http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/073004/b0130childporn.html - - - - - - - - - - Former firefighter pleads guilty in child-porn case A former Perrysburg Township volunteer firefighter pleaded guilty yesterday in Wood County Common Pleas Court to pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor. Gregory Beach, 37, of Dola, Ohio, was found to be in possession of child pornography on his home computer when police searched his Perrysburg Township home last year. The search warrant was served after Beach was arrested in Sterling Heights, Mich., for arranging through an Internet chat room to meet what he believed was a 14-year-old boy for sex. http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040730/NEWS02/40730004/-1/NEWS - - - - - - - - - - Paedophile befriended victim over airwaves A PREDATORY paedophile attacked his victims after gaining access to them through families involved in amateur radio and CB networks. Phillip Stephens, 46, of Paget Street, Grangetown, Cardiff, indecently assaulted a six-year-old girl earlier this year after grooming her through a friendship with her father which he developed over the airwaves. He was sentenced to four-and-a-half years' imprisonment at Cardiff Crown Court,with an extended licence recall period until 2013. http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_objectid=14447425&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=paedophile-befriended-victim-over-airwaves-name_page.html - - - - - - - - - - Former Substitute Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Charges He pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges and now a former Knox County substitute teacher could face up to thirty years in prison. Robert Greis was arrested in April for the distribution and production of child pornography. 26 year old Robert Greis was a part-time substitute teacher and only 21 hours away from having a college degree. But now he faces prison time for his role in taking pictures of young boys engaged in sexual acts and distributing them over the internet. http://www.wkyt.com/Global/story.asp?S=2103675 - - - - - - - - - - Child porn charges added to custom agents case A customs inspector behind bars for alleged drug trafficking could be looking at more time. Yesterday, customs agent Jay Gillilland had child pornography charges added to the case against him. Originally investigators were searching Gillilland's computer for drug trafficking information when they claim they came across numerous images of child pornography. http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=2109277 - - - - - - - - - - Man Allegedly Downloads Child Porn From New Zealand Wayne County Sheriff's deputies arrested John Puchalski, 54, at his home in the Rosedale Park area of Detroit on Wednesday. U.S. Customs was tracking a child pornography Web site operating out of New Zealand when authorities discovered Puchalski was a subscriber to the site, according to authorities. Sheriff's deputies allegedly found child pornography on Puchalski's home computer. http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/3593235/detail.html - - - - - - - - - - Computer tech jailed on child porn charge A Hollywood man was arrested after police found child pornography on his computer, including images of his girlfriend's 15-year-old daughter undressing inside her bedroom. Anthony Ces Swanson, 40, was charged last week with voyeurism and four counts of possession of photos of sexual conduct by a child, said police Detective Carlos Negron. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/9267471.htm?1c - - - - - - - - - - Ex-WHS coach arrested at camp on child-porn charges A former Wellesley wrestling coach rousted by cops from his bunk at a Maine boys camp was in court Monday as Bay State authorities sought his return to face child porn charges. Matthew Elanksy, a 22- year-old student at the Boston School of Architecture, was arrested Friday at the all-boys Camp Takajo and charged with one count of possession of child pornography. Police, acting on a tip, allegedly found hundreds of graphic images on his computer showing pre-pubescent boys engaging in sex. http://www2.townonline.com/wellesley/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=55538 - - - - - - - - - - 'Montage Artist' Paedophile Facing Jail A paedophile who claimed he used computer images of children to make "artistic montages" was today warned by a judge that he was going to prison. Paul Ashton, a 44-year-old jobless carer, was convicted by a Truro Crown Court jury of 50 charges of making indecent images of children. He was remanded in custody by Judge Jeremy Griggs for the preparation of a pre-sentence report. Prosecutor Malcolm Galloway had told the court that when police raided Ashton's home in Colinsey Road, Penzance, in May last year, 88,000 images of children were found on computers. http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3271414 - - - - - - - - - - iPod helps police nab alleged car thief Organized car theft and iPods don't mix, if the case of Oludayo Adeagbo is anything to go by. Adeagbo was allegedly the head of a car crime gang known as the "iPod Crew," which had been using identity theft tactics to get finance agreements that allowed them to drive off with posh cars--Jaguars, BMWs and the like. Police estimate that other members of the gang, who have yet to be caught, made off with 70 cars worth more than $1.8 million (1 million pounds) during their 10-month spree. http://news.com.com/iPod+helps+police+nab+alleged+car+thief/2100-1041_3-5290181.html - - - - - - - - - - Sasser kid blamed for viral plague A staggering 70 per cent of viral activity in the first half of this year can be linked to just one German teenager, according to anti-virus firm Sophos. Sven Jaschan, 18, the self-confessed author of the NetSky and Sasser worms is blamed by Sophos for the vast majority of viral reports it recorded during the first six months of 2004. Just two of Jaschan's viruses - the infamous Sasser worm and NetSky-P - account for almost 50 per cent of all virus activity seen by Sophos up until the end of June. Counting Jaschan's other released variants of the NetSky worm, the total figure comes to over 70 per cent. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/30/jaschan_viral_menace/ - - - - - - - - - - RIAA given green light to identify some file-sharers ISPs will now have to match IP addresses to people The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has successfully challenged the court ruling that gave anonymity to individuals it has filed suit against over peer-to-peer file sharing. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1156997 - - - - - - - - - - Project Pedophile Project Pedophile is a new program aimed at tracking down sexual predators online. The National Police Defense Foundation is offering a $1,000 savings bond to any child who provides information to authorities that leads to an arrest and conviction of a sexual predator. http://www.wokr13.tv/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=351A849C-33CD-4C81-9A5F-BDA7CA3F7A1C - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft releases patch to fix month-old security problem Microsoft Corp. released a patch Friday to halt the spread of a computer virus that can steal personal information, more than a month after the virus began winding its way through the Internet. Microsoft had previously released tools to detect the virus and thwart it from infecting computers. But until now, the company did not have a fix available to prevent the pesky virus from spreading. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/9284368.htm http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5560840/ http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Microsoft-Rushes-New-IE-Patch&story_id=26117 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/30/ie_scob_fix_imminent/ http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,94937,00.html http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5290995.html - - - - - - - - - - Russian computer crime statistics Russia -- Department "K" (a department on fighting high tech crimes) revealed 4,295 crimes in the sphere of high technologies for the first 6 months of 2004, Chief of the Department "K" press center, colonel of police Eugene Yakimovich said. According to his information, the analysis shows that 16% of malefactors who acted in the sphere of "computers" were young men aged between 18 and 25 years, 70% of them had high or incomplete high education. http://www.crime-research.org/news/30.07.2004/530/ - - - - - - - - - - Is Real's iPod "hacking" legal? Code-crackers risk fines and prison time when they defeat copy-protection technology, but such draconian rules likely don't apply in the case of RealNetworks and its iPod "hack," legal experts said. Efforts by both code-crackers and Real could undermine Apple Computer's plans for its popular digital music player and its iTunes Music Store, which together have put Apple so far ahead of the competition that companies such as Real appear ready to do virtually anything to catch up. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5290814.html Ripping Off iPod http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Ripping-Off-iPod&story_id=26120 - - - - - - - - - - MPs warn of gaps in ID card plans MPs have criticised government plans for identity cards, warning that while the scheme has the potential to reduce crime, the details are too thin and there are potential risks to personal freedom. While The Home Affairs Select Committee, which today unveiled its report into ID cards, supported the introduction as a method of improving law enforcement, it warned that the scheme needed tight controls to prevent it forming the foundations of a Big Brother government. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1156990 ID cards face practical problems http://www.vnunet.com/news/1156984 ID cards: a bad idea, but we'll do it anyway http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/30/id_card_report/ - - - - - - - - - - A Hacker's Guide To RFID Of all the things that radio frequency identification technology was supposed to do for retailers-- simplifying inventory management and supply chain issues, for instance--creating a new type of theft wasn't one of them. But that is exactly what could happen, and a German information security consultant can prove it. Consider the following scenario. A would-be scofflaw heads into a grocery store where all the products have RFID tags on them. Rather than paying $7 for a bottle of shampoo, he'd rather pay $3. http://www.forbes.com/home/commerce/2004/07/29/cx_ah_0729rfid.html - - - - - - - - - - Hackers plan global game of 'capture the flag' If everything goes as planned, for 72 hours next February hackers from all over the United States will hit targets across the Internet in the largest mass attack to date. But the affected systems won't be corporate Web servers or networks, they'll be computers set up and maintained by other hackers as part of a capture-the-flag game. When the digital dust clears, the team from either the East Coast or the West Coast will be named winner. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5291107.html - - - - - - - - - - High-tech bunker monitors convention security 24/7 For the first time in 26 years, the Massachusetts State Emergency Operations Center -- an underground bunker built during the height of the Cold War -- this week began round-the-clock operations. The purpose was to ensure the security of the Democratic National Convention by means of newly deployed IT systems. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,94940,00.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.