NewsBits for March 24, 2005 ************************************************************ Computer hacker sentenced to nearly four years A man who pleaded guilty to hacking into an Arkansas data company's computer system and stealing personal identification files was sentenced Wednesday to nearly four years in federal prison. Daniel J. Baas, 26, of suburban Milford, entered his plea in December 2003, after being indicted that August. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/11220069.htm - - - - - - - - - - Hacker Intrusions into Government Computers The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that Robert Lyttle, 21, of Pleasant Hill, California, pleaded guilty in federal court in Oakland to hacking into government computers and then defacing government websites with material illegally obtained from those intrusions. http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/press/html/2005_03_11_lyttle.html - - - - - - - - - - Signs of Danger Were Missed in a Troubled Teenager's Life Looking back at all the pieces, some who knew Jeff Weise say they wonder why someone did not see his eruption coming months, or even years, ago. There was the threat Mr. Weise, 16, once made on his own life, sending him away from his home on the Red Lake Indian Reservation for psychiatric treatment. There were the pictures of bloodied bodies and guns he drew and shared freely with classmates. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/24/national/24shoot.html Behind the Why of a Rampage, Loner With a Taste for Nazism http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/23/national/23shoot.html?th&emc=th Shooter in Minn. school case chatted, blogged frequently http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-03-24-minn-shooter-blog_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Jackson judge bars erotic computer evidence The judge in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial Wednesday refused to allow prosecutors to introduce as evidence electronic erotic material found on computer hard drives seized at the singer's home. The ruling, which covers hundreds of erotic images, including images of teenagers, was a victory for the Jackson defense. http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/23/jackson.trial/index.html - - - - - - - - - - Internet sex stings at issue in Nevada case A Reno judge will review a court decision that could end Internet sting operations designed to protect children from cyberspace predators. Washoe District Judge James Hardesty ruled in December that the way the law is written, the person being lured must be underage -- and not an undercover officer. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/11221105.htm - - - - - - - - - - Block Porn or Pay the Price Internet service providers operating in Utah must offer customers a way to block porn sites under a law signed this week. ISPs complained that the law adds nothing to the fight against pornography, and said a legal challenge is likely. The law requires ISPs to offer customers free software for blocking porn sites on a list maintained by the attorney general. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,67005,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Court orders blogger to stop posting Kaiser patient data The woman had already promised not to do so. An Alameda County Superior Court judge yesterday ordered Elisa Cooper, a former Web coordinator at Kaiser Permanente, to stop posting and distributing the confidential information of 140 of its patients over the Internet. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/privacy/story/0,10801,100615,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Firms facing file sharing probes The FBI is investigating illegal file-sharing activity in companies, according to Energis. Employers whose staff run peer-to-peer applications over their corporate networks could soon face investigation by legal authorities looking for illegal file sharers in UK companies, according to IT services and telecommunications firm Energis. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39192583,00.htm Some indie artists at odds with industry's attack on file sharing Recording industry executive Andy Gershon sees opportunity in the online file-sharing networks that most of his rivals decry as havens for music pirates. As president of V2 Records, home to such established acts as The White Stripes and Moby, Gershon mines such Internet distribution channels for new fans and revenues. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/11221540.htm Legal music download sites flourishing http://www.vnunet.com/news/1162169 - - - - - - - - - - Apple Settles With Engineer Who Leaked Mac Software Apple Computer Inc. reached a settlement Wednesday with a North Carolina man who leaked a copy of the next-generation Mac operating system onto the Internet. The computer maker sued Doug Steigerwald, 22, and two others for copyright infringement and trade secret misappropriation. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-03-24-apple-tiger_x.htm http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-apple24mar24,1,1685541.story - - - - - - - - - - Banking Rules Address Theft Of Customers' Private Data Banks and some other financial institutions will be required to tell customers if their private information has been obtained by hackers or identity thieves and is likely to be misused, under rules approved this week and announced yesterday. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61849-2005Mar23.html Banks ordered to tell customers about breaches http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5635399.html http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7287209/ http://computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/policy/story/0,10801,100614,00.html Linux touted as the solution to online-banking problems http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/linuxunix/0,39020390,39192580,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Aussies chew over enforced Net filters Lawmakers down under are considering making it compulsory for ISPs to filter out unwanted XXX content. The measure is just one proposal currently being tossed around following the publication of a report by the Australia Institute research group, which claimed that Australia's anti-porn legislation simply wasn't working. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/03/06/aussies_chew_over_enforced_net/ - - - - - - - - - - Phishers target Yahoo Messenger Yahoo's free instant-messaging service is being targeted by phishers attempting to steal usernames, passwords and other personal information. Yahoo confirmed Thursday that its service, Yahoo Messenger, was being targeted by a scam. According to the company, attackers are sending members a message containing a link to a fake Web site. The fake site looks like an official Yahoo site and asks the user to log in by entering a Yahoo ID and password. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5634007.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39192578,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Mozilla patches Firefox flaw A patch has been issued for a serious flaw in the open source browser's legacy Netscape code relating to animating GIF files, and all users are advised to upgrade. The Mozilla Foundation issued a patch for a major security flaw in its Firefox browser on Wednesday and advised people to update their software. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/applications/0,39020384,39192573,00.htm http://www.vnunet.com/news/1162156 - - - - - - - - - - Politicans form transatlantic spam alliance Derek Wyatt's All Party Parliamentary Internet Group is teaming up with members of the US Congress in its fight against spam. The All Party Parliamentary Internet Group (APIG) has partnered with the Internet Caucus, its counterpart at the US Congress, in a bid to tackle spammers. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,39020369,39192665,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Feds tells companies: Report those intrusions 'If someone has penetrated your network ... you should call us,' says an agent. Corporate executives are often reluctant to report network intrusions for fear of having those security breaches made public and drag down stock prices. But state and federal law enforcement officials who spoke on an information security panel here yesterday said such reports can sometimes provide an important missing link in larger cybersecurity investigations. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,100598,00.html - - - - - - - - - - UK wide open to identity theft A survey of Londoners has found that 92 per cent of them will give a stranger all the information required to steal their identity. Researchers offering the chance to win theatre tickets questioned over 200 people. Over the course of a three-minute interview the researchers asked a series of questions about theatre habits but also extracted names, addresses, school history and the names of parents and siblings. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1162160 - - - - - - - - - - Feds get set for Net rules The Federal Election Commission has begun the perilous process of including political blogs and Web sites in campaign finance rules that were created long before the Internet became such a powerful political tool. FEC commissioners voted 5-1 on Thursday to approve a procedure that is expected to end with a final set of Internet rules--governing everything from whether bloggers are journalists to bulk political e-mail--in place by the end of the year. http://news.com.com/Feds+get+set+for+Net+rules/2100-1028_3-5634670.html Bloggers narrowly dodge federal crackdown http://news.com.com/Bloggers+narrowly+dodge+federal+crackdown/2100-1028_3-5635724.html Bloggers have rights too http://news.com.com/Bloggers+have+rights+too/2010-1034_3-5632544.html - - - - - - - - - - Music pirates choose iPods over P2P As legal music downloading takes off as never before, music pirates are shunning peer-to-peer services in favor of using iPods to swap music. According to a report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, the number of music downloaders using peer-to-peer networks has dropped in recent months. Currently, 21 percent of downloaders use networks such as Kazaa or Grokster for music or video, compared with the 58 percent who downloaded music from file-sharing networks in February 2004. http://news.com.com/Music+pirates+choose+iPods+over+P2P/2100-1027_3-5634177.html Fewer Admit to P2P File Sharing http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Fewer-Admit-to-P-P-File-Sharing&story_id=31758 - - - - - - - - - - Device simplifies data encryption Security specialist Data Encryption Systems (DES) has introduced a new version of its DES- lock+ tool that secures files and other data stored on PC hard drives through an encryption process that is transparent to users. The tool is primarily aimed at laptop users, but also runs on desktops. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1162161 - - - - - - - - - - Owning A New Phone Recent mobile phone and Bluetooth hacks, and the public's response to them, show us how the average person really looks at security. It pains me to give this woman any more publicity, but Paris Hilton and her cracked cell phone, the Sidekick II, really woke a lot of people up. For those of you who recently returned from a stay in a monastary somewhere high up in the Himalayas, last month Paris Hilton had her Sidekick II hacked and the contents spread all over the Internet. http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/310 - - - - - - - - - - Can computers survive cross-examination? Evidence is a slippery commodity, especially when it comes in digital form. Evidence literally means "that which can be seen" and the criminal courts recognize a wide variety of different forms. First of all, it can be direct or it can be circumstantial, meaning it either establishes a particular point or it establishes a circumstance from which the point might be inferred. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5634315.html - - - - - - - - - - RFID companies broaden legal dispute A skirmish over patents between suppliers of gear that uses radio signals instead of bar codes to identify commercial goods expanded Thursday into a much broader legal battle. Intermec Technologies, a subsidiary of Unova, said it had filed claims that Symbol Technologies was infringing on six major Intermec patents covering technologies used in wireless communications products that Symbol sells. http://news.com.com/RFID+companies+broaden+legal+dispute/2100-1039_3-5635744.html - - - - - - - - - - 'Doomsday nerds' defend cyberspace From the outside it looks like a home for a Hobbit or two, but inside are analysts monitoring banks of screens feeding security alerts from monitored components of its clients' networks. Welcome to Symantec's European centre of operations, housed in a former nuclear shelter in rural Hampshire. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/24/symantec_bunker_feature/ - - - - - - - - - - Report: U.S. Visit needs database integration to succeed The Homeland Security Department is hampered in its efforts to verify the identities of visitors at U.S. borders by the need to check multiple databases, inspector general Richard Skinner says in a new report. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/35353-1.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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