NewsBits for October 21, 2004 ************************************************************ Brazillian police arrest suspects in PS45m online fraud Fifty-three suspects have been arrested in Brazil, charged with stealing PS45m in a series of phishing scams. Brazilian federal police have arrested 53 suspects on charges of stealing PS45m from online banking customers. Police said that hackers sent identity theft emails, a technique known as phishing, to online banking customers in a bid to capture their bank account details. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39171009,00.htm http://www.vnunet.com/news/1158910 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/21/brazil_net_fraud_arrests/ http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1608465,00.html - - - - - - - - - - UC hacking may have gotten data on 600,000 A hacker who broke into the computer system of the University of California-Berkeley may have gained access to names, Social Security numbers and other personal information of about 600,000 state residents. Amid rising public concern over identity theft, the breach highlighted weaknesses in safeguards against improper handling of sensitive personal information. It also raised questions about why the lapse wasn't disclosed immediately. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/9975199.htm - - - - - - - - - - 'Grand Theft' of intellectual property A stolen copy of the latest sequel in one of the top-selling video game series of all time began circulating on the Web late Wednesday, the second high-profile game theft in a week. Game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software confirmed that a purloined copy of "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," set for commercial release next week, is making the rounds of "warez" sites used to swap pirated software. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-5421159.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3762350.stm http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/21/gt_web_leak/ - - - - - - - - - - Texas Jury Delivers Verdict In Child Porn Case A former juvenile corrections officer in Texas will be sentenced in January in a federal child pornography case. A jury in Pecos Tuesday convicted Armando Orona Jr., 30, of Monahans of receiving, possessing and distributing child pornography over the Internet. Testimony indicated Orona was sending child pornography to a San Jose, Calif., residence via the Internet. http://www.nbc5i.com/news/3836367/detail.html - - - - - - - - - - Former Senate computer tech guilty of child porn charges A former Senate computer technician pleaded guilty Wednesday to having child pornography on his office and government-issued laptop computers. Prosecutors said Daniel Liptak, 43, was at work in the office of the Senate sergeant at arms when he printed out a picture of a naked girl on May 7, 2001. But before he could pick it up, two colleagues retrieved it and watched as Liptak approached the printer, then left when he realized it was empty. The other workers then put the picture back and saw Liptak later collect it. Investigators said Liptak asked one of them to keep quiet about the incident, but both employees told managers. When the FBI took apart Liptak's desktop and laptop computers, agents found he had been surfing X-rated Web sites, and stored child pornography on both machines. Liptak could get up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced on Jan. 26. http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/nat_world/print_102004_APnat_childporn.html - - - - - - - - - - PR Library computers used in sex solicitation Police have arrested a Park Ridge man who allegedly used computers in the Park Ridge Public Library to solicit a 13-year-old Wisconsin girl for sex. Steve Demos, 41, of the 1400 block of North Good Avenue, faces several charges in Wisconsin, including attempted solicitation of a child for prostitution, which carries a maximum penalty of a $50,000 fine and 12 and a half years in prison. http://www.pioneerlocal.com/cgi-bin/ppo-story/localnews/current/pr/10-21-04-416282.html - - - - - - - - - - Pedophile arrested for rape his own 3 years old daughter This story shocked Moscow. 27 years old Yuri Khamatov was arrested for rape his own 3 years old daughter. During investigation, police found out that he used Internet for search partners for the girl. The incident was reported to police by mother of the abused girl. Woman occasionally found child porn pictures on the husband computer; more over she found out that he placed an advertisement in the Internet: I search partner or married couple with a child for sex with 4-years old girl http://www.crime-research.org/news/21.10.2004/730/ - - - - - - - - - - Address-form glitch proves an easy scam Credit-card thieves find sneaky way to beat fraud checks. It's a harmless-looking part of every a Web site retailer's checkout page. The form filled out by customers ordering products almost always has a second line sometimes its used for apartment numbers or other information; it's usually left blank. But that innocuous-looking second line could become a big headache for Internet merchants soon, says one fraud expert. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6297815/ - - - - - - - - - - Security holes exposed in several major browsers Flaws have been exposed this week in Opera, Konqueror, all Mozilla browsers and - most seriously - Microsoft's Internet Explorer. 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. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39170856,00.htm http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/1018/web-alert-10-21-04.asp - - - - - - - - - - Viruses leap through window of opportunity Mass mailing viruses could be consigned to the dustbin of history if only anti-virus vendors were quicker off the mark. Findings presented by security experts at the recent Virus Bulletin Conference in Chicago show that reducing the window of vulnerability between the release of a virus and the availability of fixes could make email virus outbreaks a rarity. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/21/mass_mailing_virus/ - - - - - - - - - - Hackers getting smarter, Microsoft CEO says Microsoft Corp.'s chief executive believes it's naive to suggest the software giant can eliminate all security vulnerabilities in its various products even though engineers are trying hard to do so. http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20041021.gtballmeroct21/BNStory/Technology/ http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Microsoft-s-Ballmer--Hackers-Getting-Smarter&story_id=27802 - - - - - - - - - - Watchdog issues rogue-dialler help Consumers have been issued guidelines on what to do if rogue-dialling software takes control of their PCs and runs up huge premium rate calling charges. Premium-rate phone call watchdog ICSTIS has issued a consumer instruction leaflet on how to deal with Internet rogue diallers. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39171014,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Turn your fingerprints into passwords A new memory stick on sale next week turns fingerprints into passwords. Lexar Media's JumpDrive TouchGuard uses a sensor that reads the miniscule ridges on a finger, and unlocks the encrypted data on the USB (universal serial bus) memory stick if there's a match. "It's going to be in Best Buy stores starting Monday," Christopher Crump, a project manager at Cogent Systems, said Thursday. http://news.com.com/Briefly+Turn+your+fingerprints+into+passwords/2009-1014_3-5219580.html - - - - - - - - - - American Passports to Get Chipped New U.S. passports will soon be read remotely at borders around the world, thanks to embedded chips that will broadcast on command an individual's name, address and digital photo to a computerized reader. The State Department hopes the addition of the chips, which employ radio frequency identification, or RFID, technology, will make passports more secure and harder to forge, according to spokeswoman Kelly Shannon. http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,65412,00.html Cards to tackle ID theft [updated] http://www.vnunet.com/news/1158863 - - - - - - - - - - Toe-to-Toe Over Peer-to-Peer Amid the recent collapse of talks over the Induce Act in Congress, record labels are closing in on deals to enable several new peer-to-peer services to emerge -- with the sanction of major record labels that have so far derided P2P as a haven for piracy. At a panel held Wednesday by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington, at least one record industry representative predicted that such sanctioned P2P services will start to proliferate in the next several months. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,65414,00.html Ballmeromics: the hardware way to end software piracy http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/21/ballmer_100_buck_pc_fix/ - - - - - - - - - - IT chiefs use scare tactics to tighten security Hacking and virus threat often exaggerated to win management support, says survey. Despite increasing awareness of IT security threats, many IT administrators are reduced to using scare tactics to get management support for tighter security procedures, research has revealed. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1158895 - - - - - - - - - - Thumb twiddling on cybersecurity Threats and vulnerabilities to our global computer networks and systems are growing faster than we can address them. Malicious code--viruses and worms--is being created to exploit software flaws within days, when only a year ago it would have taken months for such code to appear. Our water supply, electric grid, nuclear energy system and other critical infrastructures are interconnected and interdependent, increasing the likelihood that a cyberattack could disrupt major services and cripple economic activity. http://news.com.com/Thumb+twiddling+on+cybersecurity/2010-7348_3-5420059.html http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5421322.html - - - - - - - - - - Cyberterrorism a reality 'in two years' Cyberterrorism could become a reality in 2006, a leading UK information security expert has said. Speaking at the SC Magazine Conference in London on Thursday, director of information security for Royal Mail David Lacey said that that the world would witness cyberterrorism within two years. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39170864,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Is your boss Googling you? Almost one in four Net surfers has searched online for information about someone at work or a business contact, according to a new survey released Thursday. The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive for search engine Dogpile, said about 23 percent of adult Internet users in the United States have searched online for their clients or customers, workers or potential employees, and supervisors or prospective managers. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5421210.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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