NewsBits for February 17, 2005 ************************************************************ Data theft affects 145,000 nationwide Database giant ChoicePoint said late Wednesday that 145,000 consumers nationwide were placed at risk by a recent data theft at the company. Previously, the company had suggested the theft only affected California residents. ChoicePoint pledged to notify all of the potential victims. Spokesman James Lee said the company was informing consumers as a precaution, suggesting they keep an eye out for signs of identity theft. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6979897/ - - - - - - - - - - WebTV 911 prankster guilty A Louisiana man pleaded guilty this week to two federal felonies for tricking a handful of MSN TV users into running a malicious e-mail attachment that reprogrammed their set-top boxes to dial 9-1-1 emergency response. In a plea agreement with prosecutors, David Jeansonne, 44, admitted to committing a computer attack that created a threat to public health or safety, and to damaging a protected computer and causing at least $5,000 in harm. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/10523 - - - - - - - - - - THE CHILD PORN DOCS FIVE doctors convicted of downloading child porn are free to work in the NHS. Astonishingly four who were suspended by the General Medical Council have had the bar lifted, though three remain on the sex offenders' register. The three include consultant Charles Bartlett, 51, who downloaded 1,600 images of children and consultant Adrian Catterall, 44, who had pictures of youngsters being tortured. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=15194341&method=full&siteid=50143 - - - - - - - - - - Trucker Pleads Guilty In Child Porn Case A Montana truck driver has pleaded guilty to sexually exploiting a boy to make child pornography and is facing up to 30 years in prison. Thirty-nine-year-old Thomas Evered was featured in a photo on the Internet of a man molesting a young boy. Investigators in Baltimore downloaded the image and got a warrant for the suspect, who, at that time was identified only as "John Doe." http://www.13wmaz.com/news/national_headlines.aspx?storyid=11261 http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/02/16/national/a213356S11.DTL - - - - - - - - - - Man accused of storing child porn A 59-year-old retiree faces 2,301 felony counts of sexually abusing children after police accused him of downloading and storing child pornography at his Warminster home. Bruce Walz of the 1000 block of Dogwood Road was freed on $200,000 unsecured bail after appearing yesterday before District Judge Warren Hogeland. http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/10910894.htm - - - - - - - - - - Writer arrested on federal child-porn charges A bail hearing on charges of possessing child pornography is scheduled in San Francisco federal court this morning for Kenneth Michael Kelley, a freelance writer who once cut a swath through San Francisco and scored interviews with such luminaries as George H.W. Bush, conservative moralist Anita Bryant and poet Maya Angelou. Kelley, 55, was arrested by federal agents Friday in a small apartment over a South of Market muffler shop where he has lived for seven years. Former District Attorney Terence Hallinan, now in private practice as a defense lawyer, said he would represent Kelley. Hallinan said Kelley had told him he was the victim of hackers who had invaded his personal computer and laced it with child-porn pictures. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/02/15/BAGU1BB0RC1.DTL - - - - - - - - - - U.S. files child porn charges against school guard A Highland Park High School security guard has been charged with downloading at least 34 files containing images of child pornography on his home computer, federal authorities said Monday. Fabio Carani, 42, of the 500 block of Onwentsia Avenue, Highland Park, was arrested late Friday after authorities with a search warrant checked his home and found the computer containing the pornographic material, according to a federal criminal complaint. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/lake/chi-0502150305feb15,1,6269438.story - - - - - - - - - - Instructor faces porn charges A volunteer music instructor at Naperville Central High School was being held Tuesday on child-pornography charges for persuading a 15- year-old student at the school to take nude photographs of herself, authorities said. Mark Bernal, 31, of the 5000 block of North Winchester Avenue, Chicago, was arrested Monday after parents of the girl reported to Naperville police that there was "suspicious activity" between their daughter and the volunteer, said Naperville police Sgt. Joel Truemper. Bernal, who had volunteered as a drum instructor since November, contacted the girl by e-mail and pretended to be a teenage girl from another high school, Truemper said. Bernal sent the girl e-mails and pornographic photographs of a teenage girl and asked her to send back photographs of herself, he said. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0502160386feb16,1,1593267.story - - - - - - - - - - DJ fined 1.4m for massive 'illegal' music cache A "well known" Italian DJ has been ordered to cough up Europe's biggest fine ever for music downloading after being found in possession of and using thousands of illegally copied music files. The DJ must pay a record 1.4m ($1.8m), the Italian financial police have ruled. He also faces criminal prosecution, law enforcement officials said. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/17/dj_record_mp3_fine/ - - - - - - - - - - Net downloads prompt retrial in rape case A rape conviction has been overturned by appeal judges and a retrial ordered, after a juror apparently downloaded related documents from the web. According to reports, the judges ruled that the conviction was unsafe, after the documents were found in the jury room. Jury members could have been influenced by the documents, the judges said. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/17/retrial_net_documents/ - - - - - - - - - - File sharing goes before Supreme Court Legal commentary from FindLaw's Writ. On March 29, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., a closely-watched case involving peer- to-peer file sharing - a process in which people send or receive music or movies over the Internet. http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/02/16/hilden.fileswap/index.html - - - - - - - - - - Grand Theft Auto firm faces 'murder training' lawsuit Take Two, the publisher of the Grand Theft Auto game series, is once again facing a lawsuit that alleges its software was complicit in murder. The legal action was filed on behalf of the families of police force staff shot dead in Fayette, Alabama in 2003, allegedly by one Devin Thompson. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/17/taketwo_gta_lawsuit/ - - - - - - - - - - Hashing standard cracked The widely-used encryption standard SHA-1 has had a serious vulnerability revealed by an international team of researchers. An encryption standard widely used in digitally signing documents and programs has a flaw in it that could allow for the creation of forgeries, sources said on Wednesday. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39188214,00.htm http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/17/sha1_hashing_broken/ - - - - - - - - - - New phishing attack outsmarts typical defenses You might think that you know how to protect yourself from phishing: Don't click the links in e-mail that purports to be from banks or other institutions. But that defense is no longer ironclad: Phishers have found a new way to snare data without your clicking a link. http://www.crime-research.org/news/17.02.2005/968/ - - - - - - - - - - Security experts warn of 'scary' new web scam A Lancashire-based PC hardware site has become the victim of a sophisticated and disturbing new online fraud. Laptop Bits Ltd managed to get the bogus web site - laptopexpress-ltd.com - shut down last night just hours after being alerted to the scam by a regular customer. http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1112929253 - - - - - - - - - - MyDoom spreading again Another variant of the MyDoom worm is spreading, using major search engines to harvest email addresses of targets. Another variant of the MyDoom worm, which spreads by sending copies of itself using its own SMTP engine and harvesting potential e-mail targets from search engines such as Google and Yahoo, was spreading quickly on Thursday. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39188211,00.htm http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5580111.html http://www.vnunet.com/news/1161323 - - - - - - - - - - Mobile-virus expert: 'Fasten your seatbelt' Viruses on mobile phones are still rare, but their number has been growing quickly, as handsets increasingly resemble small computers that connect with one another and the Internet, industry officials said. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5580424.html Lexus: Cabir won't infect our cars http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5581162.html - - - - - - - - - - Agencies get bad grades on computer security The overall security of computer systems inside the largest U.S. government agencies improved marginally since last year but still merits only a D-plus on the latest progress report from Congress. http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/02/17/gov.computer.security.ap/index.html http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/02/16/agencies_earn_d_plus_on_computer_security/ - - - - - - - - - - Davis questions security of Treasury Web site Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, wrote today to Van Zeck, the Treasury Departments commissioner of the Public Debt, to express concern over the safety and security of personal information collected on the www.treasurydirect.gov Web site, which enables people to purchase government savings bonds electronically. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/35113-1.html - - - - - - - - - - Clarke: Who leads cybersecurity? Richard Clarke, former special adviser to the president on cybersecurity, has this advice for Michael Chertoff, the new secretary of the Homeland Security Department: Find out who's in charge of cybersecurity. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2005/0214/web-clarke-02-17-05.asp - - - - - - - - - - IM still a security weak spot, analysts warn The recent flaw plugged by Microsoft in its MSN Messenger software highlights a serious security threat to enterprise security, analysts said. Last Friday, Microsoft forced its millions of MSN Messenger users to download a new version of the software to plug a security vulnerability. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5581019.html - - - - - - - - - - Vendors emphasize simplicity in e-mail security Regulatory requirements for both the private sector and government mandate that sensitive information be protected and communications documented, creating a market for new e-mail encryption products and services. For the first time since the inception of spam, we are seeing something besides spam driving this market, said Matt Anthony, director of product marketing for CipherTrust Inc. of Alpharetta, Ga. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/35108-1.html - - - - - - - - - - Wireless firms take action against phone porn Wireless companies are under pressure to police the services they carry amid mounting concern that today's increasingly versatile cell phones can be gateways to a lot more than football highlights and pop videos. As governments and parent groups wake up to the problems posed by an expected global boom in mobile pornography and gambling, a few operators are taking action to such content to over-18s. http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/02/17/wirelesss.porn.ap/index.html - - - - - - - - - - Patch bundles under fire Patch management specialist PatchLink has said that the regularly scheduled patch bundles from Microsoft, Oracle and other vendors are harming firms' security and should be abandoned. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1161338 - - - - - - - - - - Bugs delay AOL Netscape beta America Online Inc. is delaying the release of the first public test version of a new Netscape Web browser until the end of the month to fix some last-minute bugs, the company said yesterday. http://computerworld.com/developmenttopics/websitemgmt/story/0,10801,99847,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Linux fan concedes Microsoft is more secure Vulnerability research claims shocking results A Linux enthusiast at the RSA Conference in San Francisco has reluctantly concluded that Microsoft produces more secure code than its open source rivals. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1161323 - - - - - - - - - - Ferrari-class networks need the right insurance Having the best protection against attack makes the experience more tolerable. Each week vnunet.com asks a different expert to give their views on recent virus and security issues, with advice, warnings and information on the latest threats. This week Paul Lawrence, vice president and general manager, EMEA, at Top Layer, warns of the dangers in ignoring recent advances in security products and technologies. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1161332 - - - - - - - - - - Criminal caught on (Web) camera After Hours: A serial burglar has been caught with the aid of some cunningly employed technology. A burglar is today behind bars after picking the wrong house to burgle. His crime was caught in full by a Web cam, which the hapless thief stole along with the computer, but not before it had sent pictures of him to a Web site. Ben Park, 19, of Cambridgeshire was sentenced to 11 months in prison for burgling the home of Duncan Grisby, a software engineer. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39188229,00.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. Copyright 2000-2005, NewsBits.net, Campbell, CA.