NewsBits for March 31, 2005 ************************************************************ Microsoft launches 117 anti-phishing suits Microsoft has filed 117 lawsuits against people who it charges created phishing Web sites designed to look like pages hosted by the software giant. The suits, filed Thursday in Seattle in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, are being brought against operators of Web sites that feature trademarked logos or images used by Microsoft on its official Web pages and products. The "John Doe" suits do not identify the individuals involved. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5648784.html http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,100777,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft gives Blaster author a break on damages The teen convicted of creating a variant of the Blaster worm won't have to pay Microsoft Corp. $497,546 in restitution. He can instead work it off by doing community service. Microsoft has agreed to forgo the cash and convert the punishment into 225 hours of community service, according to a court document filed late Tuesday. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/cybercrime/story/0,10801,100760,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Appeals court upholds Sex.com ruling A federal appeals court last week may have written the final chapter to a sordid legal saga that helped establish Internet domain names as property. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Stephen Cohen's appeal of a 2001 federal court ruling that he pay businessman Gary Kremen $65 million for stealing the domain name Sex.com in 1995 and building it into a multimillion-dollar business. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/industry/2005-03-31-sexcom_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - ChoicePoint to allow people access to personal records An executive of embattled data broker ChoicePoint Inc. said the company is developing a system that would allow people to review their personal information that is sold to law enforcement agencies, employers, landlords and businesses. ``You will receive the reports that we have on you,'' Don McGuffey, the firm's vice president for data acquisition, told the state's Senate's Banking, Finance and Insurance Committee on Wednesday. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/11276462.htm - - - - - - - - - - Brad Pitt virus targets Microsoft Virus writers' obsession with using celebrities as a hook to fool computer users into running malware continues. Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Britney Spears are subjects of a virus scam that is attempting to recruit computers for a denial-of-service attack on Microsoft. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39193317,00.htm Porn worm launches DoS attack on Microsoft http://www.vnunet.com/news/1162261 - - - - - - - - - - Virus Top 10: Can nothing stop Zafi's rampage? This month's virus top ten shows that Zafi is still topping the malware chart for the most prolific virus. Zafi.D, which first appeared in 2004, has now topped the chart for most reported virus for four months in a row, according to antivirus firm Sophos. The Zafi variant made up 45 per cent of all reported viruses during March, with fellow old timer Netsky.P taking second place with 21 per cent of all reports. http://software.silicon.com/malware/0,3800003100,39129156,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Bug hunter gets bounty from Mozilla The Mozilla Foundation has given $2,500 to a security researcher for discovering vulnerabilities in its free Web browser. The group paid $500 to German researcher Michael Krax for each of the five bugs he found in Firefox. "We developed the bug bounty program to encourage and award community members who identify unknown bugs in the software," said Chris Hofmann, director of engineering for the Mozilla Foundation. http://news.com.com/Bug+hunter+gets+bounty+from+Mozilla/2100-1002_3-5648971.html http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5648971.html http://www.vnunet.com/news/1162263 - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft extends anti-piracy programme People wanting to download Language Interface Packs for Windows will be forced to verify their copy of the OS first. As part of its growing anti-piracy programme, Microsoft plans to require customers that want to download a local language add-on to Windows to first verify that their copy of the operating system is legitimate. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/windows/0,39020396,39193412,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft to help police on cybercrime The software giant is to supply international law-enforcement agencies with artificial- intelligence and data-mining tools. Microsoft is developing analytical tools to help international law enforcement agencies track and fight cybercrime. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39193296,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Failed fixes haunt credibility of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Initiative Home IT Management Personal Technology Software Infrastructure Security. TruSecure Corp. senior scientist Russ Cooper, who is also the founder and editor of the NTBugtraq mailing list, has published a report that details how a nearly eight-year-old denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerability has resurfaced in Windows XP (including SP2) and Windows Server 2003 long after Microsoft originally fixed the problem. http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/index.php?p=1222 - - - - - - - - - - Top world ISPs unite in fight against hackers Top world's Internet providers have announced the establishment of a global anti-hacker alliance (Fingerprint Sharing Alliance). BT Group, Deutsche Telekom, MCI, NTT Communications, Cisco Systems, EarthLink and others participate in the alliance which allows companies to share attack profiles and quickly stop internet attacks "as far from the target area as possible," said Tom Schuster, president of Arbor Networks, vendor of network integrity systems that protect organizations from destructive network attacks like Internet worms and denial of service, and operational vulnerabilities like peering issues and routing instability. http://www.crime-research.org/news/31.03.2005/1098/ - - - - - - - - - - Windows Server gets security boost with service pack Microsoft Corp. late yesterday delivered several security enhancements for its server operating system with the release of Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2003. At the same time, the software maker said it has finished work on the code for the 64-bit Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and the Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,100757,00.html http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Microsoft-Releases-Server-Security-Upgrade&story_id=32100 - - - - - - - - - - Is identity theft inevitable? A giant data brokerage company exposes the records of more than 145,000 people. A cell phone conglomerate admits that its system was compromised. Anyone with Senate clearance can learn the Social Security number of Brad Pitt. Exactly what is going on here? To hear the politicians tell it, identity theft is the inevitable result of a fast-paced information society. Congress now wants to pass new laws that will centralize the investigation and enforcement of identity theft cases--and it certainly should. http://news.com.com/Is+identity+theft+inevitable/2010-1029_3-5648740.html - - - - - - - - - - Passport Chip Criticism Grows Business travel groups, security experts and privacy advocates are looking to derail a government plan to insert remotely readable chips in American passports, calling the chips homing devices for high-tech muggers, identity thieves and even terrorists. But the U.S. State Department, which plans to start issuing the new passports to citizens later this year, says its critics are overstating the risks. http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,67066,00.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.