NewsBits for October 4, 2004 ************************************************************ Four suicides in child porn case The crackdown is part of a worldwide investigation The Australian authorities say four men investigated during the country's biggest police operation against child pornography have committed suicide. One of them was a police officer who had been charged with possessing child abuse computer games. Since it began on Thursday, Operation Auxin has seen more than 200 arrests in raids on more than 400 premises. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3709352.stm http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,39020369,39168866,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - WorldPay struggles under DDoS attack (again) WorldPay, the Royal Bank of Scotland's internet payment transaction outfit, is continuing to fight a sustained internet attack which has left its services largely unavailable for a third successive day. Since Saturday (2 October), WorldPay's online payment and administration system has been reduced to a crawl, due to a malicious DDoS attack by unidentified computer criminals. A spokesman for the company stressed that although is fighting a serious "denial-of-service" attack, its systems is uncompromised and customer data remains secure. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/9632 - - - - - - - - - - North Korea ready to launch cyber war: report North Korea has trained more than 500 computer hackers capable of launching cyber warfare against the United States, South Korea's defense ministry says. In a report to the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, the ministry said that hackers from the impoverished Stalinist state were among the best in the world. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/109911/1/.html - - - - - - - - - - Capturing Internet predators S.J., U.S. CYBERSPACE COPS TEAM UP TO PROTECT CHILDREN They met in an Internet chat room, a 12-year-old boy in San Jose and a 40-year-old man in New Jersey. Philip G. Neri was so intent on luring the boy to his home in Pittsgrove Township, N.J.,that he bought a one-way plane ticket for the youth and spent three weeks chatting online about hobbies and sex. Once the ticket was bought, the boy in San Jose acted quickly: He called New Jersey state police, who arrested Neri on his way to the airport Aug. 9. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/9831013.htm - - - - - - - - - - UK gov ads warn kids of net perils The government has announced a new radio and web advertising campaign which warns kids of the perils of the internet. The ads are launched today to coincide with Parents Online Week, and "reflect real life scenarios" to make young users aware of the dangers of net paedophiles. Paul Goggins, the Home Office minister charged with child protection, said: "Awareness of the dangers posed by paedophiles using the internet is extremely high among 11-14 year olds, but we know that despite this some children still put themselves at risk. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/04/net_perils_ads/ - - - - - - - - - - Dereham firms help tackle computer crime The business community in a Norfolk town is helping police tackle computer crimes such as child pornography and online fraud. Detectives from Dereham CID are seeking funds to buy equipment for their burgeoning Hi-tech Crime Unit. Officers have appealed to local firms to dig deep to help buy the PS2000 server needed to cope with the volume of data that they have to sift through. http://www.crime-research.org/news/03.10.2004/682/ - - - - - - - - - - Plan to stop access to child porn sites THE Queensland State Government will consider a plan to block pedophiles accessing child pornography on their home computers. A Queensland academic says the technology already exists to put the "brakes" on people trading horrific child sex images over the Internet it was just a matter of political and society will. The proposal has received the backing of the Abused Child Trust and child-protection campaigners. http://www.thesundaymail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,10950263%255E2765,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Firms to Address Piracy Locks Six of the world's largest entertainment and technology companies are taking on one of the thorniest problems clouding the future of music and movies purchased online: anti-piracy locks that aren't compatible. Consumer electronics giants Sony Corp., Samsung Electronics Co., Royal Philips Electronics and Panasonic parent Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., have agreed to develop a framework for digital rights management that will work with a variety of devices and services. (LA Times article, free registration required) http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-drm4oct04,1,2961775.story - - - - - - - - - - Pirating Just Got Easier Sonys music unit is abandoning its CDs that use built-in technology to limit copying them, after pushing the program for two years. The CDs let users copy their music once for free onto a personal computer, but use the internet to charge a fee for subsequent copying of the same disk. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,65213,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Avecho delays PS10,000 hacking competition The company says that it needs a third-party adjudicator before its PS10,000 security challenge can go ahead. Antivirus company Avecho has delayed its PS10,000 competition, which invited people to try and break its product. The company said it had postponed the contest because it still required a third-party adjudicator, but would be replying to those who tried to enter over the next week. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39168865,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Ballmer calls security a never-ending battle Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says the task of trying to stay one step ahead of virus writers and hackers is a never-ending battle. Speaking at a gathering of U.K. press, Ballmer said Microsoft's "trustworthy computing" effort is far more than just a one-off initiative. "We will be working on 'trustworthy computing' for the rest of my days at Microsoft, which I hope are many. There are bad people out there in cyberspace, and they are not going to go away. We are going to have to be vigilant. That's going to last for the duration," he said. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5394177.html - - - - - - - - - - Lessons Learned from Virus Infections There are so many vulnerability scanners and penetration testing services or utilities available that many organizations use at least one of them gauge their security posture. Each tool has its own strengths and weaknesses and generally does a fair job at assessing an organization's network defense. http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1804 - - - - - - - - - - Security Beyond Antivirus Programs It happens all the time to unlucky or unwise Windows users: A new computer crashes and burns after a crippling virus or worm attack. But things can fall apart inside a new PC without such outside help; everyday use can cause a slower form of rot that eventually hobbles the system as thoroughly as a virus might. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2208-2004Oct2.html - - - - - - - - - - Inspector general finds watch list leadership lacking Because of a lack of internal resources and infrastructure, Homeland Security Department officials have not provided the leadership to oversee consolidation of multiple terrorist watch lists, according to the department's inspector general. According to the report, which was released Friday, the watch list consolidation of 12 separate systems and databases by nine federal agencies faces several challenges. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/1004/web-dhsig-10-04-04.asp - - - - - - - - - - National IDs--politics as usual? Commentary--Rep. David Dreier wants to force all Americans to carry a national ID card around with them. The California Republican is not about to describe his new bill in those terms, but that's the reality. Dreier's legislation would prohibit employers from hiring people unless the job applicants first obtain new federal ID cards with their photograph, Social Security number and an "encrypted electronic strip" with additional information. Any employer who fails to comply faces hefty fines and prison terms of up to five years. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5395638.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. 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