NewsBits for April 1, 2005 ************************************************************ Man suspected of using Internet to steal millions Estonian police said Friday they detained a 24-year-old man suspected of emptying out hundreds of bank accounts in several European countries using the Internet. Police would not identify the suspect by name, as is customary here, but said he lived in Tallinn. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/10808 - - - - - - - - - - Former Police Officer Faces Child Porn Charges An Abington, Mass., man who was once sworn to uphold the law is now accused of breaking it. NewsCenter 5's David Boeri reported that the former Weymouth Police Officer was in court Thursday to face child porn charges. Limo driver, former policeman, husband of 35-years and frequent chat room visitor Francis Frank McKiernan of Abington went online with a line "old enough to bleed, old enough to need," according to the prosecutor. http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/4336047/detail.html - - - - - - - - - - Detroit Police Officer Accused Of Soliciting Minor For Sex A Detroit police officer is accused of attempting to set up a sex meeting with a minor online, Local 4 reported. Daniel Mathiason, 27, broke into tears at his arraignment Thursday in 41-B District Court in Clinton Township. Mathiason, a six-year veteran of the Detroit Police Department, was charged with attempted child sexual abuse, using the Internet to solicit sex and accosting a child, the station reported. http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/4334791/detail.html - - - - - - - - - - Internet chat snares prison worker A planned sexual tryst with a 13-year-old girl allegedly arranged over the Internet by a 49-year- old state prison officer from Linn resulted in his arrest Friday on suspicion of three felonies, Boone County sheriffs Detective Andy Anderson said. But the girl Robert L. Malone met in an online chat room turned out to be Anderson, who has arrested seven others in similar operations since October. http://www.columbiatribune.com/2005/Mar/20050329News002.asp - - - - - - - - - - Russian Courts Attack On-line Libraries Maxim Moshkov, owner of the biggest and most popular in Russia on-line library lib.ru, has been found guilty of breaching copyright law. On March 30, 2005 the Ostankino court of Moscow found counterfeit his making use of writer Gevorkyan's book, ruled to exact payment of 3,000 rubles (1 dollar equals 27.8 rubles) as a compensation and banned the site's use of the book. http://www.crime-research.org/news/01.04.2005/1105/ - - - - - - - - - - 16 scammers fined PS1.3m Sixteen premium rate services have been fined a total of PS1.3m following a crackdown on rogue operators over the Easter weekend. Last week ICSTIS warned punters to be on their guard against dodgy operators using illegal Automated Calling Equipment (ACE) after receiving credible market intelligence that scamsters were to step up their operations over the long weekend. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/01/icstis_scammers/ - - - - - - - - - - Critical flaws in IE and Outlook discovered A new set of highly critical flaws has been discovered in Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Outlook programs, according to research company eEye Digital Security. The vulnerabilities allow for remote code execution with no actions from the computer user, eEye said. Although the flaws would not allow self-propagating worms to infiltrate a system, there is the potential of attackers installing backdoor Trojans without a person's knowledge, Ben Nagy, an eEye senior security engineer, said Friday. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5650238.html http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=New-Flaws-in-Internet-Explorer--Outlook-Reported&story_id=32208 http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/holes/story/0,10801,100814,00.html - - - - - - - - - - DNS 'pharming' attacks target .com domain A new round of so-called pharming attacks is targeting the .com Internet domain, redirecting some Internet users who are looking for .com Web sites to Web pages controlled by the unknown attackers. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/hacking/story/0,10801,100813,00.html - - - - - - - - - - This week in phishing Microsoft filed 117 lawsuits this week against people who it charges created phishing Web sites designed to look like pages hosted by the software giant. The suits are being brought against operators of Web sites that feature trademarked logos or images used by Microsoft on its official Web pages and products. Every one of the sites named in the lawsuits, which were online sometime between October 2004 and March 2005, has already been taken down, said Aaron Kornblum, Internet safety enforcement attorney at Microsoft. http://news.com.com/This+week+in+phishing/2100-7349_3-5650157.html Microsoft casts phishing net for big haul http://www.vnunet.com/news/1162275 Ebay Foils Phishers by Removing Password Requirement http://www.bbspot.com/News/2005/03/ebay_phishing.html Gone phishing - special report http://www.vnunet.com/specials/1159732 - - - - - - - - - - Official: Cybercrime is growing The National Hi-Tech Crime Unit is set to confirm next week that organised criminals are abusing insecure broadband connections. The UK's online police force, the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU), has confirmed that the level of crime on the Internet is growing. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39193449,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Police: New laws won't tackle cybercrime A strengthened Computer Misuse Act won't have much impact on cybercriminals who are already flouting tougher laws, according to one of Britain's leading cybercops. The UK's online police force has indicated that any changes made to the Computer Misuse Act (CMA) will do little to deter hackers. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39193451,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - New UK agency to target net paedophiles The government is setting up a new agency specifically to target paedophiles who use the internet to share child porn, and to "groom" children. The Centre for Child Protection on the Internet, announced as part of the government's digital strategy for Britain, will work to support existing child protection agencies. It will be staffed by specialist police officers as well as child protection and internet industry experts. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/01/child_protection_online/ - - - - - - - - - - Mobile carriers seek cheaper anti-piracy software A powerful group of mobile telecoms operators on Friday called for lower prices for essential anti-piracy systems, warning that high royalty payments may stifle the markets for digital music and video. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/industry/2005-04-01-mobile-anti-piracy_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Want to prevent ID theft? Get back to basics Privacy protection is sure getting a black eye. First it was a security breach that left ChoicePoint's treasure chest of personal information (145,000 accounts) vulnerable to prying eyes. Less than a fortnight later, Bank of America backup tapes containing data on 1.2 million accounts went missing. More recently, someone hacked into a confidential database containing as many as 32,000 records at Seisint, a company owned by LexisNexis. http://news.com.com/Want+to+prevent+ID+theft+Get+back+to+basics/2010-7355_3-5649397.html Are identities safer on laptops than central databases? http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid14_gci1074072,00.html US regulators take action over ID theft http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/01/us_bank_regulators_take_action_over_id_theft/ Study indicates Canadians fear identity theft over virus attacks http://www.canada.com/businesscentre/story.html?id=fd104ea0-837f-484f-9a6d-8d191ee0d740 - - - - - - - - - - To Catch a Digital Thief Offhand, I can think of no technology that cannot be used to do harm. A simple hammer that can be used to drive nails in the construction of new homes can also be used to pound skulls in the commission of murder. The solution, surely, is not to throw all the hammers away but to prosecute hammer-wielding murderers, and the solution in the illegal use of file- sharing software is to pursue those disobeying the law. http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=To-Catch-a-Digital-Thief&story_id=32199 - - - - - - - - - - Tips on testifying in a computer crimes case As an IT professional and working network administrator, you may find yourself called upon to testify as a victim or a witness (i.e., a representative of a company whose network is victimized) in a computer-related crime. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,100804,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Hardware is secure (false) Hardware devices are far from a panacea for information security problems but users are continuing to place too much faith in marketing claims to the contrary, the Black Hat conference was told this week. Technology has moved on but hardware devices are far from totally secure. "Most, if not all, hardware solutions are open to attack," Joe Grand, a security consultant at Grand Idea Studio told delegates to the Black Hat conference in Amsterdam on Thursday. "Blindly trusting hardware leads to a false sense of security. Hardware is not voodoo." http://www.securityfocus.com/news/10809 - - - - - - - - - - Big Lesson for I.T. Hackers As the Department of Justice's Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property unit continues its investigations, Efurt's actions should serve as a warning to I.T. departments everywhere, said Richard Williams, senior technical support specialist at Symark Software, a maker of security products for Unix and Linux-based systems. http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Big-Lesson-for-I-T--Hackers&story_id=32092 - - - - - - - - - - EU wants biometric passports delayed The European Union has called on the United States to delay the deadline for the introduction of biometric passports for visitors without visas. The United States has set a deadline of October 2005 that will require visitors entering the country without visas to hold a passport with a biometric identifier held on an electronic chip. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5650149.html - - - - - - - - - - Student tracker proposed The Education Department wants congressional approval to create a federal database that would track individual students throughout their college careers and give federal officials better information for policy decisions. A feasibility study released this month by the department's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) states that the center can handle the technological and privacy challenges of such a database, but adds that it would impose additional costs on colleges to update their administrative systems. http://www.fcw.com/article88461-04-01-05-Web *********************************************************** 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.