NewsBits for October 20, 2004 ************************************************************ Hacker breaks into UC Berkeley computer with records of residents Federal and state officials are investigating the hacking of a University of California, Berkeley, computer containing Social Security numbers and other personal data for more than 1 million state residents. Officials say they haven't determined whether any personal data was taken and haven't seen signs of identity theft. The FBI, the California Highway Patrol and the California Department of Social Services are investigating. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/9968806.htm http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/10/20/crime.hacking.reut/index.html http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Hacker-Breaks-Into-UC-Berkeley-Computer-System&story_id=27758 http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/hacking/2004-10-20-comp-crook_x.htm http://www.securityfocus.com/news/9758 http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,96793,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Software piracy case hits the Old Bailey Two alleged members of the DrinkorDie warez network are standing trial in London, accused of involvement in a multi-million-pound fraud. Two UK citizens are appearing in court in London this week charged with illegally copying software worth several millions of pounds. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/legal/0,39020651,39170749,00.htm http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/20/drinkordie_case/ - - - - - - - - - - Internet porn 'bait' nets Tazewell man 10 years A Tazewell County man will spend up to 10 years in prison for using a 14-year-old juvenile as "bait" on an Internet porn site, officials said Tuesday. Kenneth Wayne Justice, 31, of the Middle Creek section of Cedar Bluff, who pleaded no contest in August to three counts of statutory rape and one count of manufacturing child porn pornography, was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Henry Vanover to 10 years in prison on each of the four counts, Commonwealth Attorney Dennis Lee said. http://bdtonline.com/articles/2004/10/20/news/03porn.prt - - - - - - - - - - Real-life jail time for Calif. actor Robert Courts may not want to use this on his resume, but he now has the distinction of playing a detective on the silver screen and also being busted by one in real life. Courts, 70, an actor, was in court Tuesday after traveling from his California home. He was sentenced to two to five years in jail. County Criminal Investigations Division Lt. David Peifer and other members of the Internet Crimes Against Children task force nabbed him last year after Courts set up a sexual tryst on the Internet to meet a "12-year-old girl." In reality, she was an undercover cop. http://www.delcotimes.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13176528&BRD=1675&PAG=461&dept_id=18171&rfi=6 - - - - - - - - - - PCTV exec gets jail time for child porn A Pottstown cable television employee who admitted to possessing child pornography in his home and disseminating it over the Internet last year is headed to jail. Ronald J. Peters, 47, of Cherry Street was sentenced to three to 23 months in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility on Tuesday. While saying he believed Peters is "genuinely remorseful," Judge Bernard A. Moore said a jail sentence is appropriate. He ordered Peters to report to the Lower Providence jail Oct. 25 to begin serving his sentence. http://www.jrcwebexchange.com/class/class1.asp?brd=1674 - - - - - - - - - - Former NY Judge Gets Probation Over Child Porn A former Family Court judge has been sentenced to six years' probation for possessing child pornography. Paul Miles, 80, served as Family Court judge for 12 years, retiring in 1980. He continued to serve as a hearing judge for the Eighth Judicial District of Western New York. Following his arrest in July after several images were found in a trash bin, Miles said depression over his wife's death had led him to experiment on the Internet. http://www.nylawyer.com/news/04/10/102004f.html - - - - - - - - - - Former area teacher caught in Internet sex sting A former teacher at several schools in Lake and McHenry counties has been arrested for seeking sex with young boys over the Internet. Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Rick White said David Costello, 33, was charged with two counts of indecent solicitation of a child late Monday. The charge is a Class 2 felony. White said Costello, of 9 Cedar Court, Unit 13, Vernon Hills, was under investigation for about a week before his arrest. http://www.dailyherald.com/news_story.asp?intid=38280166 - - - - - - - - - - Google fixes security hole Google on Thursday fixed a security flaw in its Web search service that could have allowed malicious hackers to modify its pages. According to a report posted to the Bugtraq Security Focus list on Wednesday, Google's new Desktop Search tool did not prevent a hacker from inserting JavaScript, a programming language, into the Web address of its page image, or logo. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5420211.html - - - - - - - - - - Sophos corrects 'theoretical' flaw Security software maker Sophos updated its antivirus engine on Wednesday to plug a hole that would let virus writers manipulate compressed files and avoid detection. The vulnerability was discovered by U.S.-based security company iDefense and also affects McAfee, Computer Associates, Kaspersky Lab, Eset and GeCAD Software's RAV. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5419170.html - - - - - - - - - - Phishing attacks powered by 'just five' zombie networks Reseach carried out by Ciphertrust has found that phishing emails come from groups of 1,000 hijacked computers belonging to one of five botnets. All phishing attacks launched across the Internet come from one of just five networks of zombie PCs, according to research published by security firm CipherTrust this week. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39170848,00.htm Botnets trawl for phishing victims http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/20/phishing_botnet/ - - - - - - - - - - EU agency to promote information security The European Union IT security agency wants all EU member states to adopt standardised security practices to improve cross-border working and establish Europe as a technology leader. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1158870 Call for overhaul of network security http://www.vnunet.com/news/1158880 - - - - - - - - - - Computer fraud unit to be created The U.S. Attorney's office in Pittsburgh is one of five jurisdictions in the nation that will get new computer fraud units. The Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property unit, also known as CHIP, will require prosecutors to focus on copyright and trademark violations, theft of trade secrets, computer intrusions, theft of computers and high-tech components and Internet fraud. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/news/s_263735.html - - - - - - - - - - Online intrusion risks large identity cache An August intrusion into a social researcher's computer may mean that more than a million Californians need to call the credit bureaus. On Tuesday, the California Department of Social Services warned the providers and recipients of the state's In Home Support Services (IHSS) that their names, addresses, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers and dates of birth may be circulating the Internet. IHSS allows individuals to get paid for providing in-home care to senior citizens. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5420149.html Identity-Theft Caper http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6292862/site/newsweek/ - - - - - - - - - - Major browsers bitten by security bugs For every browser, a security bug. That seemed to be Wednesday's lesson from security information provider Secunia for the developers of the major Internet browsers. The company released information on two common security issues with the tabbed browsing feature found in several flavors of the Mozilla Foundation's browsers, the Opera browser, the Konqueror browser for Linux and two third-party plug-ins that add the feature to Microsoft's Internet Explorer. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5419714.html Check Point's optimistic pessimist http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5419382.html - - - - - - - - - - ATMs in peril from computer worms? Some anti-virus firm are trying to carve out a new market for their technology by trying to persuade that banks Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) running Windows need protecting from computer worms. Trend Micro and Computer Associates have both identified this niche, but some rivals question the immediate need for content filtering on cash points. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/20/atm_viral_peril/ - - - - - - - - - - Encrypted DVDs Unlikely to Be Used for 'Screeners' With Oscar campaigns getting underway, some of Hollywood's biggest movie studios say they will not send out specially encrypted DVDs intended to thwart piracy because the technology is still unproven. (LA Times article, free registration required) http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-screeners20oct20,1,3030924.story - - - - - - - - - - CA: 'Higher standards for pizza than for software' SC Conference: Computer Associates has called on the software industry, the government, and universities to take the issue of software quality more seriously. Computer Associates has called on the IT industry to improve the quality of security products, calling for the industry, government and academia to take the issue more seriously. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39170745,00.htm What your CEO thinks about security (and how to change it) http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,96803,00.html - - - - - - - - - - FBI supplier readies secure LinuxB Trusted Computer Solutions is branching out from its Solaris roots with a secure version of Linux, due out in spring 2005. The software company, also known as TCS, is currently testing the secure version of Linux, which will provide its customers with an alternative to Sun Microsystems' Trusted Solaris operating system for running the TCS product line. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5419212.html - - - - - - - - - - GPO to test e-passport chips Four teams will provide computer chips for testing electronic passports, Government Printing Office officials said. GPO officials announced contracts last week for Axalto Inc., which received two awards worth $107,770; Infineon Technologies AG, which will get $108,317; a team of BearingPoint Inc. and SuperCom Inc., which will receive $82,823; and SuperCom., which received a separate deal for $73,787. Although State Department officials are leading the electronic passport effort, GPO officials design and make the physical passports. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/1018/web-pass-10-19-04.asp - - - - - - - - - - Homeland security: An assault on privacy? To show why the government's terrorist-finding database doesn't work, Elizabeth LaForest points to her own case file: While her arrest records are authentic, these days the 89-year-old Roman Catholic nun doesn't often run afoul of the law when taking part in peace demonstrations. So Sister LaForest joined the American Civil Liberties Union this year to sue the state of Michigan, charging that a controversial law enforcement data-sharing program there was breaking the state's privacy laws. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5419084.html - - - - - - - - - - Homeland Security The U.S. government's multibillion-dollar drive for homeland security has produced a boom in antiterror technologies. At the same time, it has created problems ranging from industry confusion to lack of basic accountability, and privacy concerns are higher than ever. http://news.com.com/Digital+Agenda+Homeland+Security/2009-1009_3-5395678.html - - - - - - - - - - Ex-staff pose threat to data One in five businesses run the risk of sensitive information falling into the hands of competitors by failing to remove access rights of former employees, research shows. Some 23 per cent of companies are leaving corporate networks exposed to the threat of data theft and attacks by former staff by failing to revoke former staff IT access rights for weeks, months and in some cases years after the have left, according to research from Citrix. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1158871 - - - - - - - - - - Six easy ways to secure your wireless network Securing wireless networks is an important as it is simple - here are six simple tips for you to make sure you're safe. Implementing a wireless networking system can result in serious security problems if the system is not properly secured. This is true of a wireless network deployed at home or one deployed in the office. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5419212.html - - - - - - - - - - Viruses, adware and spyware, oh my! The growing prevalence of virues, adware and spyware can create exposure to legal liabilities not previously envisioned. Fortunately, there are some steps that can be taken to help minimize the risk of such liabilities. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/ericjsinrod/2004-10-20-sinrod_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Cyber Survey Analysis Tales of cyber crimes flourish like viruses themselves - quickly. Facts about cyber crimes are harder to come by. Two recent industry surveys of financial institutions and other large organizations offer insights into what's really happening in the area of cyber crime and what types of insurance options exist to protect against them. http://www.crime-research.org/news/20.10.2004/728/ Intelligence expectations "unrealistic" http://www.crime-research.org/news/20.10.2004/729/ - - - - - - - - - - Security, 1994-2004: Then And Now Comparing the state of security in 1994 versus 2004, has anything really changed over the course of ten long years? A co-worker and I were discussing trends the other day, and he was loudly proclaiming (after cursing a hardware failure) that nothing has significantly changed for most people who interact with computers in the last 10 years. The only exception we could agree upon was with the exception of a major improvement in the quality of graphics. On the surface, I think I would have to agree with him. http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/272 - - - - - - - - - - Army wary about loose lips During World War II, a letter that took months to arrive was the only form of communication from the front lines. Today, American men and women fighting in Iraq often have instant communications with friends and families in the USA. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/surveillance/2004-10-19-cell-phones-technology_x.htm *********************************************************** 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. 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