NewsBits for August 20, 2004 ************************************************************ Deputy dies in shooting A man who once threatened to ''hunt down'' police after they raided his home and hauled away his partner and a stash of child porn, shot two Broward sheriff's deputies Thursday as they served a search warrant at his $300,000 Fort Lauderdale home, authorities said. A bullet tore through Detective Todd Fatta's protective vest, striking him in the chest. Fatta, 33, was pronounced dead at North Broward Medical Center. Sgt. Angelo Cedeno, 36, shot in the hand and shoulder, was in stable condition after undergoing surgery at North Broward, sheriff's officials said. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/front/9447281.htm http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/9457316.htm http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-pccopshot20aug20,0,2339006.story - - - - - - - - - - Possible security breach seen at AOL America Online Inc. is acknowledging an "issue" that allowed some of its members to gain access to online financial portfolios of other members. But the Internet service provider downplayed the incident, saying no personal identifying information such as usernames or credit card numbers was ever compromised. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/holes/story/0,10801,95394,00.html - - - - - - - - - - New Download.Ject worm variant appears Users who have not yet installed the three out-of- cycle patches contained in Microsoft Corp.'s July 30 security bulletin MS04-25 now have another reason to do so immediately. A new version of a worm called Download.Ject takes advantage of one of the flaws fixed by the patches and has begun circulating online, according to Thor Larholm, a researcher at PivX Solutions Inc. Like its predecessor, the new version of Dowload.Ject infects vulnerable systems with a Trojan horse and a keystroke logger. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,95387,00.html http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/index.cfm?go=news.view&news=4084 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/20/im_worm/ - - - - - - - - - - Yahoo mail flaws fixed Yahoo fixed two flaws in its free mail system that could have allowed a malicious user to read a victim's browser cookies and change the appearance of some pages, Yahoo said on Thursday. A representative of the company said the flaws were fixed last month by making changes on the company's Yahoo Mail servers. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39164139,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Faked voice mails tout stock in latest investor scam Investors are being told to be wary if they receive a friendly sounding voicemail from a female stranger offering a hot stock tip. It could be a new investor scam that hundreds of people have complained about recently. The Securities and Exchange Commission issued an investor alert on Friday, warning of the so-called ``wrong-number'' stock touts, which have reached home answering machines across the country. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/9454065.htm http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17061-2004Aug19.html - - - - - - - - - - Panel queries officials about intelligence oversight, privacy The House Judiciary Committee on Friday debated civil-liberties questions while pondering the recommendations of investigatory bodies created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Members of the committee on both sides of the aisle appeared torn over the question of how much power the federal government should have in its ongoing efforts to prevent terrorism. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0804/082004tdpm2.htm - - - - - - - - - - Lawsuits over music downloads produce twists, trampling A woman in Milwaukee and her ex-boyfriend are under orders to pay thousands to the recording industry. A man in California refinanced his home to pay an $11,000 settlement. A year after it began, the industry's legal campaign against Internet music piracy is inching through the federal courts, producing some unexpected twists. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/business/2004-08-20-download-suits_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Lower court to hear arguments for voter paper trail A group suing the state Board of Elections acknowledged Friday that its fight to eliminate Maryland's computerized voting machines by November has failed. But members still hope a Circuit Court judge will require elections officials to guarantee a paper trail. The group, called the Campaign for Verifiable Voting, has filed a civil lawsuit in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court that seeks to require paper ballots in the Nov. 2 general election. The court is to begin hearing that case Wednesday. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/evoting/2004-08-20-md-evote-to-court_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - China Declares War On Electronic Porn From the walled compounds where China's Communist leadership runs the country has come the word: no more porn. No more nudity on the Internet. No more late-night erotica on the phone. Goodbye to racy text messages on the mobile. The party and government have launched what they call a people's war against electronic pornography. They have decreed that, after a summer-long campaign, plugged-in Chinese must be back on the sexual straight and narrow by the time the country celebrates National Day on Oct. 1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17019-2004Aug19.html Chinese banks scan transactions for porn Online transactions in China are being scrutinised for links to pornographic Web sites as part of a crackdown on Internet sex. China's banks are scrutinising online transactions for links to pornographic Web sites as the country cracks down on Internet sex, Xinhua's online service says. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39164218,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Data sharing, aggregation pilots uncover Medicaid provider fraud States and the federal government have been successful in curbing Medicaid abuse by taking a new approach toward analyzing payment errors and by sharing data about providers who file phony claims, according to a report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is conducting two pilots to support states programs to reduce fraud and abuse by providers in delivering health care to low-income Americans. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/27010-1.html IT used against Medicaid abuse http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2004/0816/web-caid-08-20-04.asp - - - - - - - - - - Spawar solicits content for data-mining guide Federal officials want to create an unclassified reference guide with information on commercial off-the-shelf data-mining and analysis software for first responders. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Charleston recently issued a request for information about software applications that collect, warehouse, clean, normalize, mine, visualize, manipulate and model stand-alone, networked and Web-based information. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0816/web-mine-08-20-04.asp - - - - - - - - - - E-mail jokers fail to amuse U.K. watchdog The U.K. government is bringing in new regulations to resolve those painful occasions when that "funny" workplace e-mail ends up in the wrong in-box. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will, from Oct. 1, require businesses to have a statutory three-stage complaints process in place to deal with dismissals and disciplinary problems. The workplace rules are designed to encourage good communication. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5318268.html - - - - - - - - - - Researchers spot XP SP2 security weakness Security researchers believe they have discovered a weakness in the new security given to Windows XP by the recently unveiled Service Pack 2 (SP2). Since XP SP2 was released, activists have been searching for weaknesses in the security-focused service pack. Microsoft yesterday dismissed claims by German researchers to already have discovered a flaw. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1157493 http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5318358.html Microsoft sends security update to home PCs Microsoft has started to send out its latest major security patch to home PCs but some people won't get it for a while. The first computer owners to get Windows XP Service Pack 2 began receiving it on Wednesday night, Microsoft said. The update is being sent to people who have the automatic update feature turned on in the operating system. But it will take at least a few weeks to deliver the 80- plus megabyte patch to the installed user base, a company representative said on Thursday. http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040820.gtpatchaug20/BNStory/Technology/ SP2 trickles down to home PCs http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/windows/0,39020396,39164136,00.htm Stumbling over SP2 http://news.com.com/Stumbling+over+SP2/2010-1002_3-5316980.html - - - - - - - - - - Software Doesn't Break Laws... What do file-sharing companies and the National Rifle Association have in common? A common legal argument, that's what. The entertainment industry's multi-year legal war to stamp out illegal online file-sharing was dealt a major blow yesterday when a federal court said that two major peer-to-peer software firms can't be held liable for the copyright-infringing activities of their users. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18302-2004Aug20.html http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/9449500.htm http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/20/technology/20digital.html http://www.securityfocus.com/news/9374 http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5318335.html File-sharing firms get big court win http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/9449460.htm Hackers enable iTunes swapping http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39164137,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Are private firms helping Big Brother too much? In May 2002, the Professional Association of Diving Instructors voluntarily provided the FBI with a disk containing the names, addresses and other personal information of about 2 million people, nearly every U.S. citizen who had learned to scuba dive in the previous three years. Thats just one of the myriad ways federal law enforcement agencies are quietly recruiting private industry and private citizens as de facto agents in the war on terror, according to a report recently issued by the ACLU called The Surveillance-Industrial Complex. The study paints a picture of an unofficial government policy to enlist companies and citizens in the building of massive databases aimed at monitoring people in the United States. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5737239/ - - - - - - - - - - Cell phones and kids: Do they mix? It wasn't so long ago that parents asked their teenagers to double-check that they had a quarter so they could call home, if need be. Then came cell phones. In 2000, just 5 percent of 13- to 17-year olds had cell phones. Today, 56 percent do, according to Linda Barrabee, wireless market analyst for The Yankee Group. Teens aren't just using their phones to talk. From rapid-fire "texting" to full-fledged Web browsing to videos and video games, cell phones have become portable computers. And that's opened up a whole new set of concerns. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5671445/ - - - - - - - - - - Cyberterrorism: concept, terms, counteraction Distribution of weapons of mass destruction, transnational organized crime, drug selling business and international terrorism are the principal threats to security of modern world taking into account present-day conditions. Due to its scales and abruptness nowadays terrorism turned into one of the most dangerous social and moral problems that humanity faced in the 21 century. http://www.crime-research.org/articles/579/ - - - - - - - - - - Should your provider block access to websites containing child porn? Polls held in European countries show that lately, so many paedophilia-related scandals have shaken Europe that most citizens vote for toughening penalties for juvenile molesters, However, in opinion of experts, paedophiles earn on scenes with violence and killings more than 3bn EUR in Europe. According to the Interpol, main suppliers of such materials are Taiwan, Vietnam, Ukraine and Russia. http://www.crime-research.org/news/20.08.2004/573/ - - - - - - - - - - Opinion: Cryptanalysis of MD5 and SHA: Time for a new standard At the Crypto 2004 conference in Santa Barbara, Calif., this week, researchers announced several weaknesses in common hash functions. These results, while mathematically significant, aren't cause for alarm. But even so, it's probably time for the cryptography community to get together and create a new hash standard. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,,95343,00.html - - - - - - - - - - What to expect from Microsoft's NGSCB plan Microsoft Corp. said that it was retinkering with its Next Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB), originally announced in 2002 with the code name Palladium. This step was taken in response to demands from users and software vendors that existing applications could take advantage of the security functions offered by the NGSCB platform without having to rewrite them. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,,95294,00.html - - - - - - - - - - California close to putting sex offender data on Net After years of failed efforts, state leaders on Thursday approved a sweeping and controversial revamp of California's Megan's Law that would make information about convicted sex offenders throughout the state available on the Internet. The state Senate voted 35-1 to approve the measure, which needs a final sign-off in the Assembly, a mere formality, before it goes to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The governor has not yet taken a public position on the measure but is expected to sign AB 488. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/9452959.htm http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-me-bills20aug20,1,2668577.story *********************************************************** 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.