NewsBits for October 12, 2004 ************************************************************ Seven dead in net suicide pact Seven young Japanese found suffocated to death in a car are believed to have died as a result of an internet suicide pact, Reuters reports. The seven - four men and three women - were discovered in the vehicle in Minano, near Tokyo. The deceased sealed the car windows from the inside and lit charcoal burners. They succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/12/net_suicide_pact/ - - - - - - - - - - Teen eBay fraudster pleads guilty to PS45k scam A teenager from south Wales used eBay to steal PS45,000 by selling non-existent goods, a court in Newport heard yesterday. The lad, 17, who cannot be named for legal reasons, conned more than 100 people by offering cheap phones, computers, games consoles and other electrical stuff. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/12/ebay_wales_fraudster/ - - - - - - - - - - Mass raid upon hackers in Russia Volgograd, Russian Federation. -- Officers of Russian Ministry on Internal Affairs Department K realized operation that resulted to search 40 suspected persons. The accused persons are charged with two articles of Penal Code of Russian Federation: 272 - "Illegal Access to Computer Information" and 273 - "Creating, distribution and using malicious programs for computers". According to law enforcements, suspected persons are young people of 14-20 years old. http://www.crime-research.org/news/12.10.2004/705/ - - - - - - - - - - Federal authorities call for crackdown on copyright infringement A federal task force has recommended expanded investigative and prosecutorial powers to combat intellectual property theft ranging from counterfeit drugs to swapping songs over the Internet. Wiretaps should be allowed to investigate intellectual property theft that threatens health and safety and more investigators should be added in key U.S. cities and in piracy hot spots in Asia and Eastern Europe, the report released Tuesday said. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/9901433.htm Justice Dept. wants new antipiracy powers http://news.com.com/Justice+Dept.+wants+new+antipiracy+powers/2100-1028_3-5406654.html MPAA asks Supreme Court to crush P2Pers http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/12/mpaa_supreme_court/ http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2004-10-12-scotus-music-download_x.htm http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Supreme-Court-Says--No--to-RIAA-Appeal&story_id=27555 http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,65321,00.html - - - - - - - - - - India, U.S. experts discuss cyber security cooperation A top U.S. official urged India to tighten its laws to protect intellectual property rights and ensure that sensitive information stays out of the hands of tech-savvy criminals. U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce Kenneth Juster said India must protect the privacy of personal and financial data as an increasing number of American companies rely on Indians to handle their technical operations and other software work. He cited Europe's efforts as a good example. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/9900266.htm - - - - - - - - - - Piracy crackdown yields $2.2 million The Business Software Alliance--a trade group supported by Apple Computer, Intuit, Microsoft and about 20 others--has collected $2.2 million in out-of-court settlements in its annual software piracy sweep. The group targets U.S. companies that violate software licensing and copyright rules. The BSA claims that 22 percent of all commercial software licenses used in the United States have not been paid for, costing the industry more than $6.5 billion annually. http://news.com.com/Briefly+Piracy+crackdown+yields+2.2+million/2009-1014_3-5219580.html - - - - - - - - - - Police issue warning over auction payments Police have warned the public to use approved payment methods when settling up for goods bought on auction websites. Gwent police said that users should be particularly wary of any seller who asks them to pay by money transfer. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1158701 - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft releases 10 security updates, seven critical Microsoft Corp. released 10 security fixes for various products Tuesday, including seven that fix flaws the company said pose the highest threat to users. The new patches apply to a variety of products, including some versions of Microsoft's Windows operating system and server software, its Internet Explorer Web browser and Excel spreadsheet program. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/9901413.htm http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,96610,00.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/services/2004-10-12-ms-oct-patches_x.htm Microsoft warns of 22 new security flaws http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5406550.html?tag=default http://www.computing.co.uk/news/1158648 - - - - - - - - - - Botched maintenance - not worm - blamed for MS IM glitch MSN Messenger, Microsoft's instant message service, is back up and running this morning after a routine maintenance operation went wrong, rendering the service sporadically unavailable for three days. A glitch, which created problems logging onto the service from Saturday afternoon until Monday evening, appeared following routine maintenance. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/12/funner_worm/ http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,39020369,39169941,00.htm Hackers learn to attack networks with IM http://software.silicon.com/security/0,39024655,39124902,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Trojan alert: 'David Beckham' recruits zombies In the latest example of hackers using social engineering techniques, a malicious message that claims to contain pictures of David Beckham in a compromising position has hit the Internet. A new attempt to entice users to fall victim to a Trojan horse has been discovered by antivirus firm Sophos, after it was posted on a swathe of Internet news groups over the weekend. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,39020369,39170077,00.htm http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/12/beckham_trojan_ruse/ - - - - - - - - - - Australia rocked by child porn scandal A worldwide crackdown on child pornography has led Australian police to investigate 700 people in this country, whose arrest is imminent. The police reportedly raided 400 premises across Australia last week and made 200 arrests in connection with the scandal, which has shocked people all over the country. http://ww1.mid-day.com/news/world/2004/october/94469.htm - - - - - - - - - - Webroot: Spyware is Windows-only Spyware, those annoying programs that snoop on a user's actions, remain a Windows-only phenomenon. Prominent anti-spyware developer Webroot says it has yet to detect a single Apple or Linux spyware app. In comparison, Webroot's Spy Sweeper software protects against 15,000 Windows threats. Although Apple and Linux server worms (such as Lion) have been detected, their population is dwarfed by the proliferation of Windows-specific worms, viruses and Trojans. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/12/spyware/ - - - - - - - - - - Smart passport field narrows to four The State Department has chosen four vendor teams to provide smart chips, antennas, software and any gear necessary to embed biometric information within the covers of U.S. passports. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/27620-1.html - - - - - - - - - - Homeland Security signals effort to promote cybersecurity chief Reversing its decision under pressure from lawmakers and the technology industry, the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday it supports appointing a new senior cybersecurity chief higher in its organization with broader authority and more control over spending. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said he supports the new position during a meeting with the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, private experts from the banking, transportation, energy and manufacturing industries. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/9700 - - - - - - - - - - Wi-Fi group: Jumping the gun on gear is risky The Wi-Fi Alliance appears to have lost patience with vendors that have been jumping the gun by launching wireless products using standards that haven't yet been approved by the group. Several manufacturers launched equipment that they claimed supported 802.11g several months before the standard was formally certified. http://news.com.com/Wi-Fi+group+Jumping+the+gun+on+gear+is+risky/2100-7351_3-5406664.html - - - - - - - - - - Attensity finds scattered data A company partly funded by the CIA has introduced a new version of an application suite aimed at extracting useful information from unstructured data, a rich source of information that's so far been left mostly untouched by data-mining tools. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/1011/web-attens-10-12-04.asp *********************************************************** 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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