NewsBits for March 11, 2005 ************************************************************ Phony buyers bilk online sellers; rash of S.J. victims It's an Internet scam with international intrigue, allegedly involving Nigerians, network servers in Israel and that 1984 Toyota you're trying to sell on Craigslist. Its victims -- including at least 50 in San Jose and countless others around the globe -- advertised vehicles and other items for sale online and were contacted by eager ``buyers'' who later bilked them out of thousands of dollars. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/the_valley/11108421.htm - - - - - - - - - - Police called after hackers crack UK PC dealer Hackers have broken into the systems of UK PC dealer Jal Computers and sent malicious emails to the firm's customers. The Stoke-on-Trent company was alerted to the security breach after customers complained of "rude and nasty" emails, which had apparently originated from the company's servers. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1161875 - - - - - - - - - - More Than 100,000 DSW Customers' Data Hacked More than 100,000 customers of a shoe store chain probably have been affected by a cyber break-in of the company's database, the Secret Service said Thursday. Columbus, Ohio-based DSW Shoe Warehouse discovered the theft of credit card and personal shopping information March 4 and reported it to federal authorities, the firm said. DSW was alerted by a credit card company that noticed suspicious activity. (LA Times article, free registration required) http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-dsw11mar11,1,2555822.story - - - - - - - - - - Jail for child porn scout leader A former scout leader has been jailed for eight months for downloading child porn images on to his computer. More than 1,000 child porn images were found at Alan Cattell's house in Radstock, Somerset. Cattell had pleaded guilty to 17 charges of making indecent photographs of a child at an earlier hearing. The court heard that Cattell, who had worked in the past with a scout group in Somerset, was caught after his credit card details were traced to child porn websites. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4337065.stm - - - - - - - - - - Priest, cop and teacher caught in child-porn scandals A former sheriff's sergeant could get up to three years in prison for disseminating child pornography over the Internet in what he insisted was a ploy aimed at entrapping sexual predators. In unrelated cases, a Roman Catholic priest was under house arrest on charges of possessing pornographic images of children on his computer. And a teacher drew seven years and three months in prison Friday after pleading guilty to similar charges. http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--childporn0311mar11,0,92214.story http://www.10nbc.com/news.asp?template=item&story_id=14271 - - - - - - - - - - Russian hackers attack via MMS The worlds first MMS-spread mobile phone virus called Commwarrior, which also attempts to replicate through Bluetooth wireless technology, has been detected in the wild, F-Secure company warns. The threat of mobile phone viruses increased yesterday with the revelation of a mobile phone virus called Commwarrior, which has the potential to spread globally through MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service). In addition, the virus can replicate locally through Bluetooth wireless technology the means by which mobile viruses like Cabir and its variants have thus far been spreading. In this manner, it speeds up the draining of the phones battery. http://www.crime-research.org/news/11.03.2005/1031/ - - - - - - - - - - Hackers Target U.S. Power Grid Hundreds of times a day, hackers try to slip past cyber-security into the computer network of Constellation Energy Group Inc., a Baltimore power company with customers around the country. "We have no discernable way of knowing who is trying to hit our system," said John R. Collins, chief risk officer for Constellation, which operates Baltimore Gas and Electric. "We just know it's being hit." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25738-2005Mar10.html - - - - - - - - - - U.S. Senate Panel Tackles Identity Theft Alarmed by a flurry of data thefts at companies that keep electronic dossiers on millions of Americans, members of the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday said they would press for new rules to protect the public. "What bank robbery was to the Depression era, identity theft is to the Information Age," declared Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). (LA Times article, free registration required) http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-choicepoint11mar11,1,5920315.story - - - - - - - - - - Sheriff teams up with FBI on cybercrime Macomb County authorities are joining forces with the FBI in a move they say will allow them to prosecute more cases in the ever-growing field of computer crime. The Sheriff's Department's cybercrime unit, known as the Macomb Area Computer Enforcement Team, moved two weeks ago from its location at the Chesterfield Township Police Department to the FBI's local offices in Clinton Township. http://www.detnews.com/2005/macomb/0503/11/B05-113917.htm - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft use of patch beta testers raises concerns Microsoft Corp. is giving early versions of its software security patches to the U.S. Air Force and other organizations, a practice some experts fear could give rogue hackers important details about how to break into unprotected computers on a massive scale. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/11114948.htm Security experts worry over early patches http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7162261/ - - - - - - - - - - Experts look to digital IDs to boost Net security Rampant identity theft is eroding users' trust in the Internet and could threaten to erase some of the progress companies have made in doing business online, security experts warned today. One possible solution is to create digital identities to curtail ID theft, but the move also comes with liabilities, the experts said while speaking on a panel at the CeBIT trade show in Hanover, Germany. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,100341,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft launches biometric access peripherals The software giant has admitted the products are for convenience and not security. Microsoft has reacted to concerns over passwords with the launch of a keyboard which uses biometrics to log on users to Web sites. The keyboard includes a fingerprint reader which will enable users to store their biometric ID and use that as authentication when logging onto password protected sites having stored the passwords locally on the device. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,39020351,39190975,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - DHS buys more name analysis tools The Homeland Security Departments Customs and Border Protection agency, an arm of the Border and Transportation Security Directorate, has signed a sole-source contract with Language Analysis Systems Inc. of Herndon, Va., for additional software to help analyze names of people. The software is particularly useful in winnowing the names of terrorists out of lists of passengers or other data sources. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/35263-1.html - - - - - - - - - - Bad Data Fouls Background Checks When Kenneth Schustereit was 18 years old, he tried to swipe a pile of what he thought was scrap metal from a machine shop's parking lot and ended up spending part of his summer vacation in jail for misdemeanor theft. That was in 1974. Thirty years later, Schustereit is still paying for his crime. http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,66856,00.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. 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