NewsBits for March 7, 2005 ************************************************************ Collins pleads guilty in child porn case A former De Soto High School administrator pleaded guilty this week to one count of possession of child pornography. Charles Anthony Collins, 34, admitted to a federal judge Monday that he downloaded more than 600 images of child pornography on his personal computer, including many sexually explicit pictures of prepubescent minors, numerous photos of infants and about 100 movies depicting children engaged in sexual activities with adults. http://www.desotoexplorer.com/section/news/story/4074 - - - - - - - - - - Forged Maxtor HDDs turn up in Japan Fake 320GB Maxtor hard drives have surfaced in Japanese retail channels, the storage company confirmed this weekend. The dodgy drives were spotted on sale in Tokyo's Akihabara district, offered as Maxtor MaXLine II product. The units purport to be model number SA320J0, a 5400rpm, 3.5in product aimed at OEMs rather than retail channels, but a close examination of the drives' markings made by Japanese-language site PC Watch revealed some major differences between the purchased drive and the real thing. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/07/fake_maxtor_hdds/ - - - - - - - - - - eBay Redirect Becomes Phishing Tool Online auctioneer eBay, a prime target for phishing schemes, has been used as an unwitting accomplice. A flaw in eBay's server configuration paves the way for spoofing attacks when a specially crafted URL, which is a valid eBay link, is used to redirect users to a malicious Web site. eBay was made aware of the issue several days ago, but has not yet corrected the problem, which can be used to exploit the trust relationship between eBay and its users. http://www.betanews.com/article/eBay_Redirect_Becomes_Phishing_Tool/1109886753 - - - - - - - - - - University application sites hacked Harvard has labelled a method, detailed online last week, to allow applicants find out their application status early as 'electronic breaking and entering'. A person who applied to Harvard Business School posted instructions on how to check the application status at several business schools on Business Week's online technology forum this week, to see if they had been accepted weeks before official offers were sent out, officials have said. Other school affected included Stanford, Duke and Dartmouth. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39190536,00.htm http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/03/07/hacker.biz.schools.reut/index.html - - - - - - - - - - Celebrity hacker strikes again Fred Durst, frontman for nu-metal band Limp Bizkit, seems to have become the second victim of the Paris Hilton hacker. The singer's personal computer was hacked into and video footage of he and a former girlfriend having sex was stolen, it has been alleged. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1161752 http://news.com.com/Rocker+Durst+battles+sites+over+sex+clips/2100-7350_3-5602475.html An Oscar surprise: Vulnerable phones http://news.com.com/An%20Oscar%20surprise%20Vulnerable%20phones/2100-1029_3-5595237.html - - - - - - - - - - Bagle strikes again Kaspersky Labs, a leading Russian developer of anti-virus, hacker and spam protection systems announces that they found a series of modifications of a famous network worm "Email-Worm.Win32.Bagle". These are different variants of the same malware with the only peculiarity that it has no function of reproduction (self-distribution of a malicious code from the exploited PC). Kaspersky Labs claim that the epidemic was caused by spam distribution of infected e-mail http://www.crime-research.org/news/05.03.2005/1007/ - - - - - - - - - - Legal reprieve for Russian MP3 site? Moscow prosecutors have declined to press criminal charges against a popular Internet site that sells MP3s for just pennies, according to Russian news reports. Record industry groups in the United States and Europe are trying to close the Russian AllofMP3.com, which offers downloads of MP3s-- including songs from The Beatles and other groups that have not authorized digital distribution-- for just a few cents per song. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5602743.html - - - - - - - - - - New Senate Bill Looks to Hook Phishers While the U.S. House of Representatives has initially focused on anti-spyware measures in the early days of the 109th Congress, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) this week targeted phishing in one of the first technology bills introduced in the upper chamber. http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3487271 - - - - - - - - - - Ohio law would regulate eBay sellers Law may require costly, time-consuming auction license for Ohio online sellers; changes vowed. Ohio residents selling goods on eBay would have to get a license and be bonded under a law set to go into effect May 2, although authors of the legislation vow to make changes before that date to exempt individuals. http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/07/technology/ohio_ebay/index.htm - - - - - - - - - - London in child porn avalanche Arrests and convictions for internet child porn offences have more than quadrupled in just two years. New figures showed 2,234 perverts were cautioned or charged with crimes in England and Wales in 2003, compared with 549 in 2001 - a rise of 307%. http://www.crime-research.org/news/07.03.2005/1024/ - - - - - - - - - - Wyoming crime unit busts Internet child predators A framed photo over Flint Waters' work station shows two of his children embraced in the lap of a bespectacled Santa Claus. Big smiles grace the 2- and 3-year-old children's faces while Santa's expression is hidden behind a fake beard. The photo, taken in December 2001, is a constant reminder to Waters on why he does his job conversing with and trying to snare child sex predators who seek out victims over the Internet. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-03-07-catching-child-predators_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Dampig Trojan menaces Symbian mobiles Virus writers have created a new Trojan capable of infecting Symbian Series 60 smartphones. Dampig-A, discovered March 4, attempts to trick users into downloading it by posing as the cracked version of the FSCaller application, developed by SymbianWare of Germany. The Trojan (a malicious SIS file dropper) disables some built-in applications and third party file managers and attempts to install variants of the Cabir worm onto infected handsets. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/07/dampig_symbian_trojan/ Mobile phone virus could go global in minutes http://www.vnunet.com/news/1161760 Trojan gets the cell phone message http://news.com.com/Trojan+gets+the+cell+phone+message/2100-7349_3-5602919.html - - - - - - - - - - Pharming -- a new technique for Internet fraud Hackers appear to have an increasing interest in reaping financial reward from their actions and creations. If, until now, phishing -- using e-mails to lure users into entering data into spoofed online banking Web sites -- was one of the most widespread fraud techniques, 'pharming' now poses an even greater threat. http://www.integratedmar.com/ECL.cfm?item=DLY030605-4 - - - - - - - - - - Hidden fraud risk in Sarbanes-Oxley? The complex and copious amounts of data stored on corporate networks after the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may be creating greater opportunities for fraud, analysts said. That's even though the law was a reaction to the corporate misdeeds that rocked Enron and WorldCom. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5602776.html - - - - - - - - - - ID scheme to bite dust in pre-election terror rush? The Government's difficulties in pushing control orders through Parliament are making it look increasingly unlikely that the ID Cards Bill will make it onto the statute book before the election. If it fails to do so, then any new Labour administration would be forced to start the process again from scratch after the election. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/07/election_to_kill_id_bill/ - - - - - - - - - - RFID Invades the Capital A new smartcard, the type privacy advocates fear because it combines biometric data with radio tags, will soon be one of the most common ID cards in Washington. Department of Homeland Security workers in May will begin using the new ID card, called the DAC, to gain access to secure areas, log on to government computers and even pay their Metro subway fares. http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,66801,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Internet Explorer Targeted Since 1998, malicious hackers have had a long time to work on attacking vulnerabilities of Internet Explorer starting with version 4.0 and above, so there have been repeated security and privacy scares. Surely, Microsoft hasnt always responded to those problems in a timely manner and, simply from a product-marketing standpoint, Explorer has become a bit stale: same look, same features, a drab and unexciting interface. http://www.crime-research.org/news/07.03.2005/1010/ - - - - - - - - - - Technology Is a Double-Edged Sword: Illegal Human Trafficking in the Information Age Trafficking in human beings is a major concern for the global community. The introduction, growth, and utilisation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been accompanied by an increase in illegal exploitation and abuse of technology for criminal activities. http://www.crime-research.org/articles/Mohamed2/ - - - - - - - - - - Cold case With its Virtual Case File possibly DOA, the FBI must figure out how to modernize case management without repeating its earlier mistakes. The collapse of the FBIs Virtual Case File project leaves the bureau facing complex choices about how to modernize case management for its workers and how to quell skeptics who question whether the bureau can avoid making the same management missteps. http://www.gcn.com/24_5/news/35216-1.html - - - - - - - - - - Satellite technology to track juvenile offenders With an eye toward more efficient law enforcement, the state Division of Youth Rehabilitative Services is expanding its use of global positioning systems that track the movements of juvenile delinquents on probation or under house arrest. The division, which has about 30 GPS units available statewide, recently awarded a bid for a contract worth more than $50,000 to lease several more units, which are gradually replacing older, radio-frequency ankle bracelet systems. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/surveillance/2005-03-07-juvey-gps_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - England's EBay for Sex Just as myriad swingers sites allow soccer moms to commit adultery and married men to cheat with impunity, a new British website is helping people to become part-time prostitutes. Across Britain and Ireland plenty of people are willing to pay for sex -- and plenty more are willing to provide it, but until now it has largely been the domain of professional sex workers. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,66800,00.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 2000-2005, NewsBits.net, Campbell, CA.