NewsBits for November 1, 2004 ************************************************************ Students suspended for hacking Oxford network Two Oxford students have been suspended after admitting to gaining unauthorized access to the university's IT network. Patrick Foster, 20, and Roger Waite, 21, claimed they had carried out the hack to expose security flaws. But at a disciplinary hearing Friday, it was decided that both students should be "rusticated," or suspended--Foster until May 2005 and Waite until January 2005. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5433947.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/01/oxford_uni_hacks_suspended/ - - - - - - - - - - $9000 lost in internet scam A woman lost $9000 in an internet banking scam at Port Macquarie last week. Police told the News the victim received an email last Monday claiming to be her bank and asking for confirmation of her details. The woman replied to the email and in the space of three hours three instalments of money were allegedly taken from her account. http://portmacquarie.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=local&category=general%20news&story_id=347131&y=2004&m=11 Beware of Yahoo! spam scam http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/01/yahoo_spam_signup_scam/ - - - - - - - - - - Attorney General lands 10-year sentence against child predator Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott this week obtained a maximum 10-year sentence following a guilty plea entered by child predator Nicholas Andrew Fallat, 33, of Irving. Fallat pleaded guilty to criminal solicitation of a minor, a third-degree felony, following his June 26 arrest by the Attorney General's Cyber Crimes Unit in San Marcos. Fallat traveled from his home to the San Marcos area, believing he would meet a 13-year-old girl for sex. The girl, whom he approached in an Internet chat room and chatted with for several weeks, was in reality a Cyber Crimes investigator posing as a young girl. http://www.ntxe-news.com/artman/publish/article_20665.shtml - - - - - - - - - - Web paedophile jailed for four years A 35 year-old computer consultant was today sentenced to four years imprisonment after he admitted downloading more than 96,000 paedophilic images and movies from the net. Ian Baldock, 35, from St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, pleaded guilty to 13 counts of distribution of indecent images of children and 32 counts of making indecent images of children. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/01/wonderland_man_jailed_again/ - - - - - - - - - - Ex-guard guilty in porn case A former Sierra Conservation Center guard pleaded guilty yesterday to showing child pornography to and fondling young girls at his Sonora apartment. Robert Patrick Icenogle, who worked as a correctional officer for three and a half years, was fired Dec. 31 shortly after he was booked on seven felony and two misdemeanor counts of possessing and distributing child pornography and lewd acts on a child. At a preliminary hearing in July, Tuolumne County Sheriff's Sgt. Rolland DeMartini testified as a computer expert and member of the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force that he recovered several thousand images of adult and child pornography from two computers confiscated from Icenogle's apartment. http://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=15559 - - - - - - - - - - CAP leaders computer seized MacDonald Stacks, the longtime executive director of Community Action Program of Lancaster County, resigned Friday, a day after a state police officer and a detective from the county District Attorneys Office seized computer equipment from Stacks office as part of a continuing investigation. http://www.lancasteronline.com/pages/news/local/4/9425 - - - - - - - - - - Thousands of Internet cafes shut in China China shut 1,600 Internet cafes between February and August and imposed $12.1m worth of fines for allowing children to play violent or adult-only games and other violations, state media said. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,39020369,39172281,00.htm http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6370422/ http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,65548,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Nintendo cracks down on pirated game toys Japanese video game maker Nintendo Co. Ltd. Monday won a court order against the sale of small game machines that run pirated versions of its classic games such as "Donkey Kong" and "Mario Brothers." http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6384534/ - - - - - - - - - - Millions of Bagles knock out Windows firewall Three new variants of the Bagle worm, which can disable the latest firewall protection in Windows, were discovered on Friday and antivirus companies are bracing for a surge of infections during the day. Earlier this year Microsoft released a major security update for Windows XP, which was designed to strengthen the operating systems defences against attack from viruses and hackers. One major part of the update was an improved version of its firewall software. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39172165,00.htm Bagle.BC sparks red alert IT security experts have increased the threat rating of the newly discovered Bagle.BC infection to 'Red Alert' as the worm continues to spread rapidly worldwide, causing more and more incidents. Panda Software reported that, just a few hours after Bagle.BC first appeared, it has entered the top half of the ranking of the most frequently detected viruses by the firm's online antivirus scanner. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1159074 New worm variant spreads, clogging e-mail http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/wormsviruses/2004-10-29-big-bagles_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Undead worms dominate Halloween viral chart NetSky-P and Zafi-B continue to be the most frequent causes of computer virus infestation months after their releases in March and June this year. NetSky-P accounted for more than a third (35.8 per cent) of all viral incidents monitored by anti-virus firm Sophos in October. More than a quarter (28 per cent) of other reports compiled by Sophos were about Zafi-B. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/01/october_virus_chart/ Virus top 10: Can Netsky's march be stopped? Netsky teams up with Zafi to dominate the October top 10 listings - how long will it stay up there? Zafi.B and Netsky.P have managed to notch up another month on top of the chart for the worst malware mischief-making. According to infections reported to antivirus firm Sophos during October, Netksy.P -- first sighted in March of this year -- has taken the top spot with over 35 percent of infections and Zafi-B -- first spotted in June -- follows up in second place with 28 per cent. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39172169,00.htm Worm attacks surge, IBM says http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/27777-1.html - - - - - - - - - - There's no worm in your Apple - honest After a week of contemplation, Apple has announced that the 'Opener' malware program blighting OS X is not a virus - although the security community disagrees. Apple has denied that the malicious code dubbed 'Opener' is a worm, a Trojan or a virus of any kind. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39172277,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Online extortion: Internet crime on the rise When Mickey Richardson got an e-mail from gangsters threatening to bring his online sports betting operation to its knees, he paid up. Before long, though, the thugs wanted $40,000. And that ticked him off. Richardson couldnt figure the odds, but he was determined to fight whats fast becoming the scourge of internet-based businesses. http://www.crime-research.org/news/31.10.2004/756/ - - - - - - - - - - Internet predator cases on the rise in East Texas Many parents may not be aware their homes hold an open door to child predators -- the home computer. Several East Texas children, including many in Angelina County, have fallen victim to cyber stalkers. A 13-year-old Lufkin girl narrowly escaped being the victim of a 21-year-old man from another state whom she'd met in 2003 in an online chat room, police said. The two had formed an ongoing Internet relationship. http://www.lufkindailynews.com/news/newsfd/auto/feed/news/2004/10/30/1099193208.18121.7595.7149.html - - - - - - - - - - Law faces child sex computer challenge LAWS relating to child pornography will need to be crafted to keep pace with the changing nature of the crime, Police Commissioner Mal Hyde has warned. Mr Hyde said it was doubtful existing laws covered such emerging trends in Internet pornography as the creation of pictures of children using a computer, known as "morphing" and "virtual" images. http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11229324%255E2682,00.html - - - - - - - - - - As spyware frustrates, technology companies feel heat The people who call Dell Inc.'s customer service line often have no idea why their computers are running so slow. The ones who call America Online Inc. can't necessarily explain why Internet connections keep dropping. And those who file error reports with Microsoft Corp. don't always know why their computers inexplicably crash. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/9837 http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/11/01/tangled.in.spyware.one.ap/index.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2004-10-31-spyware_x.htm http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6380633/ - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft Revises Antispam Plan After running into loud opposition to its first Sender ID antispam plan, Microsoft Corp. revised it and resubmitted it to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) last week. The new plan resolves disputes with Internet service providers and the open-source software community about the use of patent-pending technology, said Meng Weng Wong, chief technology officer at Pobox.com and a co-author of the revised proposal. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,97030,00.html - - - - - - - - - - AT&T upgrades Net security tools AT&T on Monday announced it will add new features to its Internet Protect service. The enhancements, which will be incorporated early next year, are designed to provide enterprises with protection from worms and viruses, without forcing customers to install firewalls at each location in a network, the company said. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5434957.html - - - - - - - - - - Smart card tamper-proofing tools for license Cryptography Research has kicked off a program to license its technology for blocking differential power analysis attacks. In DPA attacks, a hacker examines the power consumption of a smart card or other device while performing an encryption function. http://news.com.com/Smart+card+tamper-proofing+tools+for+license/2110-1029_3-5434869.html - - - - - - - - - - Greatest security risk: Social engineering Old-fashioned techniques for conning people are being applied to new technology in order to break into networks and computers, warns the analyst firm. The greatest security risk facing large companies and individual Internet users over the next 10 years will be the increasingly sophisticated use of social engineering to bypass IT security defences, according to analyst firm Gartner. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,39020369,39172157,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Study: Lax laptop policies create security concerns Company laptops are routinely used to download music and video, access porn, and do online shopping, a new Europe-wide survey has revealed. So big has the problem become that laptops returning to company networks after their travels are now one of the biggest security hazards faced by many companies. Despite this, 70% of companies questioned offered no written guidance to employees on the use of their machines, and only a quarter imposed technological restrictions. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,97094,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Watch Your Weblog More and more people are jumping on the corporate weblogging bandwagon. At Microsoft Corp., for example, there are currently more than 1,000 blogs. Like many companies, especially the IT vendor companies where weblogs tend to proliferate, Microsoft encourages the informal sites as a way for its employees to stay close to customers. But as weblogs have multiplied, a number of legal issues have arisen, and regardless of whether your company sponsors its bloggers, it may be opening itself up to hidden liabilities. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,97009,00.html - - - - - - - - - - The TV set that cried wolf--by satellite It may be that many people, staring blankly from their sofas into the empty, late-night flicker of their televisions, are in need of rescuing. Few, though, would expect a TV--or a garage door opener, or a photocopier--to issue a cry for help. Early last month, Chris van Rossman's television silently began to malfunction, emitting a signal that bounced off two satellites, alerted personnel at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, and ultimately led a team of local sheriff's deputies and Civil Air Patrol volunteers to the door of his apartment in Corvallis, Ore. http://news.com.com/The+TV+set+that+cried+wolf--by+satellite/2100-1041_3-5434886.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.