NewsBits for October 5, 2004 ************************************************************ Florida deputy shoots, kills child pornography suspect A Hillsborough County Sheriff's detective Thursday shot and killed a man wanted on a child pornography warrant after he pointed a gun at deputies. John Stanley Lewis, 54, died at his home where detectives had gone shortly after 6 a.m. to arrest him on a warrant of 30 counts of child pornography. (Naples News story, free registration required) http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/florida/article/0,2071,NPDN_14910_3221660,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Hackers Attack Dutch Government Web Sites Several Dutch government Web sites remained offline Tuesday after an attack by hackers protesting unpopular policies of the right-wing Cabinet, the government said. In what is known as a denial-of-service attack, the hackers continually made fake requests for information from the Web sites, effectively shutting out legitimate users, a government statement said. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/9842193.htms http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39169017,00.htm http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6185657/ - - - - - - - - - - Man Arrested After Tornado Reveals Cache Of Child Porn A man whose house was damaged by a tornado was in jail Monday after repair workers found a large amount of child pornography and called police. Robert L. Medvee, 52, of Frederick, was charged Friday with 48 counts of creating computer images of child pornography and 48 counts of possession of child pornography, Deputy Jennifer Bailey said. The seized material -- computer discs, videotapes and photographs -- filled 20 to 24 boxes, Frederick County State's Attorney Scott Rolle said. http://www.wnbc.com/news/3783275/detail.html - - - - - - - - - - eBay 'second chance' fraud reaches UK Scammers are impersonating eBay sellers in an attempt to hoodwink users of the online auction site into handing over payment for non-existent goods. If the person who wins an auction on the site doesn't pay up, the second highest bidder of an auction may be offered the option to purchase goods at his offer price. These "second chance offers" are the focus of the fraudulent scams. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/05/ebay_scam_ruse/ - - - - - - - - - - U.S. court hits "spam" envelope-stuffing scam A U.S. court has temporarily shut down an operation that used "spam" e-mail to drum up customers for a fraudulent work-at-home scheme, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday. Gregory Bryant and Nadira Bryant of Florida promised recipients of their unsolicited e-mail that they would earn $4 for each envelope they stuffed and mailed as long as they paid $24.77 for a start-up kit, the FTC said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6185656/ - - - - - - - - - - S. Korea Claims N. Korea Has Trained 600 Crackers from the hey-that's-not-cool-man dept. maggeth writes "The Financial Times is reporting that North Korea's military and intel services have trained as many as 600 computer hackers specifically for attacks against South Korea, Japan, and the US. South Korea claims that the north has a five- year university program for hacker training and cites recent attacks on government computer systems. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/05/0314258 - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft: Firewalls are failing to keep out hackers Firewalls aren't doing a good enough job of protecting corporate networks, according to a Microsoft security expert. Speaking in London on Monday at a technical briefing on the need for next generation firewalls, Microsoft security technology architect Fred Baumhardt outlined some of the gaps that traditional firewalls are leaving open. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39168969,00.htm Microsoft: Firewalls are leaking http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5397525.html Upgrade for security, Microsoft boss tells customers http://www.vnunet.com/news/1158578 Microsoft takes aim at malware http://www.vnunet.com/news/1158571 - - - - - - - - - - Click here to become infected (Part 2) New spam emails can turn vulnerable PCs into spam-spreading 'zombies'. The spam has a link which purports to allow users to opt out of future emails. However, MessageLabs, an e-mail filtering company, warns that these links are part of a scam and, if clicked on, will turn a victim's PC into a conduit for the distribution of further spam. The bug uses a drag-and-drop JavaScript exploit in Internet Explorer to download a nasty .EXE file. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/05/messagelabs_spam_warning/ - - - - - - - - - - EarthLink finds spyware running amok The average Internet-enabled PC hosts 26 spyware programs, according to an audit by EarthLink. The Internet service provider worked with security company Webroot's software to scan consumer PCs, surveying more than 3 million systems between January and September. The study found 83 million instances of spyware, a sign of increasing bombardment by malicious software. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5397333.html - - - - - - - - - - Windows XP Service Pack 2 heads to retail After winding its way across the Internet, Windows XP Service Pack 2 is headed to retail shelves. Microsoft last week started the process of swapping out all of the boxed copies of Windows XP with the updated version, with a triangle in the upper corner touting SP2 and its security enhancements. Retailer OfficeMax is among those promoting the change, advertising that it will have XP SP2 on sale starting Wednesday. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5397729.html - - - - - - - - - - Security upgrade at WiFi locations Starting today, users of wireless broadband should find it safer to surf the Web from a T-Mobile HotSpot. Thousands of T-Mobile WiFi zones throughout the United States and Europe, including those at Starbucks coffee houses, Borders bookstores and airport terminals, have been upgraded with a security system called 802.1x. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1620&ncid=1293&e=6&u=/sv/20041005/tc_sv/securityupgradeatwifilocations - - - - - - - - - - Finally, Gates gets serious about spyware Acknowledging last week that a Microsoft-provided spyware remedy is on the way, Bill Gates said, "This malware thing is so bad ....now that's the one that has us really needing to jump in." Gates admitted that even his own home systems have been afflicted by "that crap" spyware. Perhaps now we know what it takes for something to get promoted to the top of Microsoft's to-do list. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5396801.html - - - - - - - - - - Judge defangs Patriot Act A New York judge did the right thing last week when he threw out a USA-PATRIOT Act provision that forced ISPs to secretly co-operate with the FBI, and gave them no obvious avenue for appeal. It is "under the pressing exigencies of crisis that there is the greatest temptation to dispense with fundamental constitutional guarantees which, it is feared, will inhibit government action." http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/05/us_patriot_defanged/ - - - - - - - - - - Software disasters are often people problems New software at Hewlett-Packard Co. was supposed to get orders in and out the door faster at the computer giant. Instead, a botched deployment cut into earnings in a big way in August and executives got fired. Last month, a system that controls communications between commercial jets and air traffic controllers in southern California shut off because some maintenance had not been performed. A backup also failed, triggering potential peril. http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/biztech/10/05/software.disasters.ap/index.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.