NewsBits for December 14, 2004 ************************************************************ Finnish police raid BitTorrent site, arrest 34 Police in Finland have raided the operations of a popular BitTorrent file-swapping site, seizing equipment and arresting four people who ran the site. Around 30 volunteers who helped moderate the site were also arrested. Police say the site had 10,000 users, all Finnish, who downloaded illegaly-copied content worth millions of euros. The site featured 6,000 torrents, including film, videos, music and games. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/14/finnish_police_raid_bittorrent_site/ MPAA targets core BitTorrent, eDonkey users update The Motion Picture Association of America launched a new legal campaign Tuesday targeting the BitTorrent and eDonkey file-swapping networks, two technologies widely used to trade movies online. Ratcheting up its previous online antipiracy efforts, the Hollywood group is working with law enforcement agencies in the United States and Europe to target and arrest individuals who play a critical role in the functioning of each type of network. http://news.com.com/MPAA+targets+core+BitTorrent%2C+eDonkey+users/2100-1025_3-5490804.html http://www.securityfocus.com/news/10123 http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/10416597.htm http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,66034,00.html http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-rup14.7dec14,1,533391.story Hollywood to sue server operators over online piracy Hollywood movie studios on Tuesday sued scores of operators of U.S.- and European-based computer servers that help relay digitized movie files across online file-sharing networks. The copyright infringement suits expand on a new U.S. film industry initiative whose initial targets were individual file-swappers. The defendants this time run servers that use BitTorrent, which has become the program of choice for online sharers of large files because of its immunity to industry attempts to confound file-swappers with bogus decoy files. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/10415156.htm - - - - - - - - - - Maryland judge overturns anti-spam law The judge tossed out a suit against a New York e-mail marketer, saying the state law seeks to regulate commerce outside Maryland's borders. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6712615/ http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/12/14/spam.lawsuit.ap/index.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/internetprivacy/2004-12-14-md-spam-suit_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Makers of video games settle piracy claims that killed company A company driven out of business by Hollywood and the video game industry over its DVD- and computer game-copying software has settled with three makers of video games, apparently closing out the legal mess that led to its collapse. Although having folded in August under the crush of copyright- related lawsuits and unfriendly court orders, 321 Studios Inc. on Monday agreed to never again make or sell software letting users create backup copies of computer games. The Entertainment Software Association announced the settlement Tuesday. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/10416571.htm - - - - - - - - - - High Court To Hear P2P Music-Sharing Case The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the record industry's case against Grokster and StreamCast Networks, which provide P2P file- sharing software. A lower court ruled that the companies are not responsible if their software is used for illegal file sharing; RIAA disagrees. http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=High-Court-To-Hear-P-P-Music-Sharing-Case&story_id=29047 - - - - - - - - - - Zafi worm purports to be Christmas greeting A new variant of the so-called Zafi worm surfaced Tuesday, disguised to appear as a Christmas greeting. Multiple antivirus researchers reported the emergence of the latest iteration of Zafi, classified as W32/Zafi.D. Security software companies including McAfee and MessageLabs issued warnings detailing that the worm is being hidden in e-mails that advertise themselves as holiday greetings. http://news.com.com/Zafi+worm+purports+to+be+Christmas+greeting/2100-7349_3-5490832.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39181170,00.htm http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/virus/story/0,10801,98271,00.html Beware of Christmas PCs bearing viruses http://www.vnunet.com/news/1160061 - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft patches spell happy holidays Microsoft managed to give a small holiday gift to network administrators this month: No critical patches. The software giant released five patches to fix nine issues in its Windows operating systems on Tuesday, with none of the security holes rated as a serious threat. Microsoft warned last week that the fix would be coming. http://news.com.com/Microsoft+patches+spell+happy+holidays/2100-1002_3-5491114.html http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5491114.html http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/holes/story/0,10801,98276,00.html Microsoft, partners to take NAP for security http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5489752.html - - - - - - - - - - Lawsuit: Software should not be copyrighted Computer software should not be protected by copyright laws designed for music, literature and other creative works, according to a lawsuit filed in a U.S. court in San Francisco. Intellectual- property consultant Greg Aharonian hopes to convince the court that software makers can protect their products adequately through patents, which provide more comprehensive protection but are difficult to obtain and expire in a shorter period of time. http://news.com.com/Lawsuit+Software+should+not+be+copyrighted/2100-7350_3-5490228.html http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/14/news/fortune500/piracy/index.htm http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/biztech/12/14/tech.copyright.reut/index.html - - - - - - - - - - E-mail hoax sparks 'Do Not Call' stampede A hoax e-mail circulating the Internet has millions of Americans scurrying to add their cell phones to a national Do Not Call list to avoid telemarketers. The e-mail warns recipients that telemarketers will have new rights to call cell phones beginning Jan. 1, if people don't request anonymity by Wednesday. In the last week, 9.5 million people registered with the Do Not Call list, many as a result of the warning, according to its governing agency the Federal Trade Commission. http://news.com.com/E-mail+hoax+sparks+Do+Not+Call+stampede/2100-1024_3-5491349.html - - - - - - - - - - Government calls for tighter home PC security The government has called for home computer users to tighten security as part of a fight against internet related crime. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1160056 - - - - - - - - - - Online bank fraud concerns consumers It's the most unnerving story imaginable for a bank customer -- money disappearing from their account. A mysterious transaction, and no recourse. All the money, simply gone. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6713033/ - - - - - - - - - - Desktop search new target for viruses? Security experts are warning that virus writers could use new desktop search tools to make their malicious software more efficient. Foad Fadaghi, senior industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan Australia, said that most viruses are designed to harvest e-mail addresses and other personal information from an infected system. He warned that because desktop search tools such as those recently announced by Google, Microsoft and Yahoo can index and categorize that information, virus writers are likely to start exploiting the technology. http://news.com.com/Desktop+search+new+target+for+viruses/2100-7349_3-5491070.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39181044,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Security research suggests Linux has fewer flaws The Linux operating system has many times fewer bugs than typical commercial software, according to an upcoming report. The conclusion is the result of a four-year research project conducted by code-analysis company Coverity, which plans to release its report on Tuesday. The project found 985 bugs in the 5.7 million lines of code that make up the latest version of the Linux core operating system, or kernel. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5489804.html http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/12/14/spam.lawsuit.ap/index.html - - - - - - - - - - Apple fights RealNetworks' 'hacker tactics' Apple Computer has quietly updated its iPod software so that songs purchased from RealNetworks' online music store will no longer play on some of the Mac maker's popular MP3 players. The move could render tunes purchased by many iPod owners unplayable on their music players. For the last four months, RealNetworks has marketed its music store as the only Apple rival compatible with the iPod, following the company's discovery of a way to let its customers play their downloaded tunes on Apple's MP3 player. http://news.com.com/Apple+fights+RealNetworks+hacker+tactics/2100-1027_3-5490604.html - - - - - - - - - - Air Force seeks cyberwar edge Air Force officials plan to award contracts worth up to $25 million for computer warfare technologies, according to a solicitation issued today.Officials in the Air Force's Research Laboratory in Rome, N.Y., want industry officials to submit papers explaining their ideas and capabilities through 2008. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/1213/web-cyberwar-12-14-04.asp - - - - - - - - - - Online extortion works Online extortion is quietly affecting thousands of businesses, for a very simple reason: it works. The big question then becomes, how will you and your company decide to respond? http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/14/online_extortion_works/ - - - - - - - - - - ID card bill gets Tory boost Michael Howard has pledged Conservative support to the government's ID card bill, but only if it meets his party's criteria. After months of opposition wrangling, the Conservatives have pledged their support to the government's ID card bill, which the party had previously described as "deeply flawed". http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/legal/0,39020651,39181050,00.htm Experts eye biometric issues http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39181048,00.htm UK hires Northrop for fingerprint system http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/1213/web-ident-12-14-04.asp - - - - - - - - - - WEP: Dead Again, Part 1 This article is the first of a two-part series that looks at the new generation of WEP cracking tools for WiFi networks, which offer dramatically faster speeds for penetration testers over the previous generation of tools. In many cases, a WEP key can be determined in seconds or minutes. http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1814 *********************************************************** 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.