NewsBits for March 28, 2005 ************************************************************ Stolen UC Berkeley laptop exposes data of nearly 100,000 A thief has stolen a computer laptop containing personal information about nearly 100,000 University of California, Berkeley alumni, graduate students and past applicants, continuing a recent outbreak of security breakdowns that has illustrated society's growing vulnerability to identity theft. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/11252045.htm http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7320552/ Unions raise concerns about online personnel records system http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0305/032805p2.htm - - - - - - - - - - Former IT Manager Indicted on Computer Crime Charges The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that the former Information Technology Manager of Creative Explosions, Inc., a Silicon Valley software firm, was indicted today by a federal grand jury on charges that he gained unauthorized access to the computer system of his former employer, reading email of the company's president and damaging the company's computer network. Creative Explosions, Inc., is based in Scotts Valley, California. http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/meydbrayIndict.htm - - - - - - - - - - Russian hacker arrested Officers of Department K of the Russian criminal police arrested a 20-year-old Tver resident during investigation. He worked as a network administrator with one of Tver companies. Gennadiy Pereverzev, Chief Information and Public Officer of the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Tver region, Russia, colonel of police, told REGNUM information agency that a person unknown committed illegal access to computer information. http://www.crime-research.org/news/28.03.2005/1076/ - - - - - - - - - - Child porn: Scientists interested too A Christchurch scientist has been fined in connection with last month's nationwide Internet child pornography bust. Michael Harris submitted his credit card and email details to various pornography sites and was traced by US authorities in 2003. http://www.crime-research.org/news/28.03.2005/1082/ - - - - - - - - - - Internet pedophile targets Victoria teen A Victoria teenager's foray into Internet chatrooms has become part of a police investigation focusing on an international child pornography ring. Victoria police involved held a Wednesday news conference to outline details in the hope parents will see the potential hazards of unsupervised computer use. Their investigation has led to the arrest of two men, including one who was in contact with the Victoria youth. http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/news/story.html?id=d22a1134-56fa-4a67-ba29-51de92e79edc - - - - - - - - - - Prosecutors to Crack Down on Internet Porn Prosecutors have declared war on Koreas Internet porn market. They have judged that the distribution of lewd materials on the Internet has reached a serious stage. The crackdown will target the entirety of the Internet porn market, including famous portal sites, mobile service companies providing videos to mobile phone users, adult product sites and obscene comics and video service sites. http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200503/200503270018.html - - - - - - - - - - Billionaire backs P2P firm's battle with Hollywood Technology entrepreneur, Dallas Mavericks owner, billionaire, blogger and sometime blowhard Mark Cuban has pledged to finance P2P software maker Grokster's legal war with the major record labels and movie studios. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/28/cuban_grokster_eff/ http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5641530.html High Court Prepares for Case Against File Sharing http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-grokster28mar28,1,5395882.story Supreme Court case pits tech innovation vs. Hollywood's rights http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/11249627.htm Top court to hear landmark P2P case Tuesday http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5638040.html http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,67010,00.html http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/28/technology/grokster/index.htm - - - - - - - - - - Apple virus contest canned A COMPANY which offered $25,000 for anyone who could infect two PowerMac G5s connected to the net with a virus has cancelled the competition. DVForge started the competition after anti-virus outfit Symantec claimed that attacks on the Mac are on the rise. The company was miffed that Symantec was out there spreading FUD against Apple when there had been very few attacks on the pretty boxes. http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=22143 http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,100701,00.html - - - - - - - - - - ISPs, telecoms join to 'fingerprint' Internet attacks Leading global telecommunications companies, Internet service providers and network operators will begin sharing information on Internet attacks as members of a new group called the Fingerprint Sharing Alliance, according to a published statement from the new group. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,100695,00.html Telecom giants join forces against hackers High-profile telecom and networking companies are banding together to crack down on hackers. The new Fingerprint Sharing Alliance hopes to help its members, which include British Telecommunications, Cisco Systems, EarthLink, MCI and NTT Communications, more effectively share information on individuals responsible for launching online attacks. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5642840.html - - - - - - - - - - - Industry group to map VoIP security The Voice over IP Security Alliance, a recently formed industry group, has created a new committee to define security requirements for Internet telephony networks. The committee will define security requirements across a variety of voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) deployments and address issues such as security technology components, architecture and network design, network management, and end-point access and authentication, the group said Monday. Another panel will research infrastructure weaknesses, vulnerabilities and emerging application attacks, the group said. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5643061.html - - - - - - - - - - Spam spreads by bad e-mail habits!:- A British-based security firm and a market research company has claimed that some users of the e-mail tend to use it in a careless and irresponsible manner, and this in turn, helps to sustain the spam industry. According to the security firm Mirapoint and the market research company the Radicati Group, one in ten e-mail users have bought products advertised in junk mail, thus making it a fairly attractive business given its inexpensive costs. http://www.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=74693 - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft to use Longhorn to secure Web MICROSOFT will tackle the growing fear of identity theft in its upcoming version of Windows, codenamed Longhorn, with a technology it calls info-cards, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The scheme bears a resemblance to the Passport scheme Microsoft tried reasonably unsuccessfully to introduce to its online services like MSN and Hotmail, as it relies on users being willing to hand over their personal data to 'trusted' companies. http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=22164 - - - - - - - - - - Porn sites could be hard to give up His parents are out to dinner, his brother is out on the town and his sister is at a sleepover. Finally alone, he walks over to the computer and begins to search for pornography. The biggest appeal of Internet porn is that it's so easy for teens to access, said Andy Sweet, a clinical psychologist with a practice in San Mateo. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/11199191.htm - - - - - - - - - - Insurer offers ID theft aid for policyholders MetLife Inc., one of the nations largest insurers, is rolling out a new program this week to provide free help in resolving cases of identity theft for all of its homeowner insurance policyholders. Noel Edsall, director of MetLife Auto & Home product development, told The Associated Press that the ID theft resolution service would be launched first in New York and Florida, then expand nationwide. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7310206/ - - - - - - - - - - Privacy advocate decries ID tags in passports Privacy activist Bill Scannell has launched a Web site designed to discourage the State Department from deploying remote tagging technology in passports. In February, the department proposed significant changes to U.S. passports that, among other things, would mandate the usage of radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags. The tags would contain all the information about people on their passports, as well as facial biometric information. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0305/032805tdpm2.htm Passenger screening system may not be ready by August http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0305/032805tdpm1.htm - - - - - - - - - - Practically Certified Recent changes to the GIAC makes one question the value of certification for the security industry. It was with great dismay that I read of the recent changes to the GIAC certifications. There is now no longer a requirement to write a practical portion to the GIAC, which has recently become purely exam- based. This practical portion requirement was, until now, the one distinguishing feature that separated the GIAC certifications from all the others. http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/311 - - - - - - - - - - Hi-Yo, Silver! Away With Lone Rangers Staffers making unilateral decisions are one of the problems our security manager is confronting. For the third time in a month, I suddenly lost my network connection while working. This time, I jumped from my chair and fairly flew out of my office toward the area where the IT staff works. I wasn't the only one headed in that direction; I was third in line to speak to my direct reports. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,100630,00.html - - - - - - - - - - This phone is stolen A Dutch company has introduced a small downloadable program for mobile phones, called SimWatcher, which sends out an SMS message when someone steals a mobile phone and replaces the SIM card. The software reveals the number of the person who stole the phone and will also display a message on the stolen phone, saying that it belongs to someone else. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/28/simwatcher_mobile_phone_theft/ - - - - - - - - - - Teen-tracking technology raises issue of trust When I was in high school, my bedroom's security system was a fluffy gold wall-to-wall carpet. Every morning I backed out of my sanctum with a vacuum cleaner, fluffing the nap in one direction. When I got home, I'd check for footprints in the rug, the surefire sign that my parents or siblings had been snooping. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/11250557.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.