NewsBits for April 19, 2005 ************************************************************ Ameritrade Loses Personal Data of 200,000 Clients Ameritrade Inc. warned 200,000 of its former and current clients Tuesday that a backup tape containing their personal information, including, names, social security and account numbers, had been lost. Four backup tapes, containing information from 2000-2003, were lost during shipping last February. Three were recovered; the fourth has yet to be found. http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/1113941657 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7561268/ DSW Shoe theft touches 1.4 million credit cards http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5676211.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/infotheft/2005-04-19-credit-card-dsw_x.htm LexisNexis begins notifying possible victims http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/04/19/lexisnexis.breach.ap/index.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/19/lexisnexis_data_response/ - - - - - - - - - - U.S. Citizens Sentenced to Prison for DVD Piracy A court in Shanghai has sentenced two U.S. citizens to prison for selling pirated DVDs online. Randolph Hobson Guthrie, 38, was ordered to serve a two-year, six-month prison sentence and pay a $60,500 fine. Abram Cody Thrush, convicted as an accessory, was sentenced to one year in prison and fined $1,200. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/11433412.htm http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fg-briefs19.1apr19,1,7825260.story http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7564364/ Prison terms on tap for 'prerelease' pirates http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5677232.html - - - - - - - - - - Middletown Man Faces 10 Years For Child Porn A Middletown, Conn., man who pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Federal prosecutors said that Richard Sneed, 35, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography in federal court in Hartford. Prosecutors said that Sneed used his computer in 2003 to post images of child pornography to a Web site and e-mail group. Sentencing is scheduled for June 30 in federal court in Hartford. http://www.nbc30.com/news/4392410/detail.html - - - - - - - - - - FOSTER CARER IS CHILD PORN PERVERT A CUMBRIAN foster carer has been told he could be jailed after he admitted downloading more than 1,000 child pornography pictures on his home computer. David Wright yesterday admitted 24 charges of downloading indecent images of children, some of whom were just 10. In some of the sickening pictures found by police on the 54-year-olds computer, children were photographed being sexually abused by adult males, Carlisle Crown Court heard. http://www.cumbria-online.co.uk/viewarticle.asp?id=201302 - - - - - - - - - - Ex-cop's child porn shame A former cop has been unmasked as a bisexual with a sordid fascination for child porn after a US crackdown exposed his name and led to his home in Dumbarton being raided. Alexander McLellan, 40, formerly of Crosslet Road, Dumbarton, and now of Nitshill, Glasgow, was caught with 8000 images on his home computer and associated CDs when police pounced and seized equipment in June last year. http://www.crime-research.org/news/19.04.2005/1165/ - - - - - - - - - - Ex-AOL exec gets 4 years in prison for defrauding company A former top executive at America Online was sentenced to nearly four years in prison Tuesday for defrauding the company. U.S. District Judge James Cacheris sentenced Gregory S. Horton, 38, of Palm Beach County, Fla., to 46 months in prison for a scheme in which he allowed himself to profit from a sham consulting contract. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/11435658.htm - - - - - - - - - - Child pornography cases prove problematic A computer message that surfaced 17 days before Jessica DeLaTorre disappeared shows the collision between personal freedom and the need to protect children. The message was traced to Murray James Jones, who confessed to raping and killing the 8-year-old Sioux Falls girl. It illustrates how, in some cases, psychological clues carry no legal weight until a crime is committed. http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2005/04/18/news/state/state02.txt Demonising pedophiles 'not helping' http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Demonising-pedophiles-not-helping/2005/04/17/1113676645904.html - - - - - - - - - - UK court orders ISPs to reveal IDs of 33 filesharers A British judge today ordered five ISPs to name another 33 music file sharers. The individuals concerned had uploaded more than 72,000 music files to the internet, according to a statement by the BPI (British Phonographic Industry), which sought the court order as part of its broader legal offensive against illegal downloading on P2P networks. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/19/bpi_p2p_lawsuits/ - - - - - - - - - - Call for IT industry to fund war on child porn Child pornography on the internet threatens to expose millions to sexual abuse if the IT industry and governments do not take urgent measures to stop it, warns an alliance of children's organisations in 67 countries. The groups have collectively launched the "make-IT-safe" campaign, spearheaded by Bangkok-based ECPAT International, which helps monitor child protection issues for the UN and the London-based Children's Charities Coalition for Internet Safety (CHIS). http://www.indexonline.org/en/indexindex/articles/2005/2/international-calls-for-it-firms-to-pay-for-.shtml - - - - - - - - - - Nissan's Appeal Over Website Rejected The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away an appeal by Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. in its fight to block a North Carolina man from using his Nissan.net and Nissan.com websites to sell ads and make disparaging comments. (LA Times article, free registration required) http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-nissan19apr19,1,677272.story - - - - - - - - - - Anti-Piracy Bill Sweet, Sour for Hollywood It would stiffen penalties for bootlegging but also legalize products used to edit content of DVDs. Congress is poised to pass a bill ratcheting up the penalties for movie and music bootlegging, handing Hollywood a long-sought victory in its drive to prosecute pirates. But the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005, which the House is expected to approve today, includes a bitter pill for the studios: It would legalize products that electronically snip offensive scenes or words from DVDs. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,67269,00.html http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-camcorder19apr19,1,5862762.story - - - - - - - - - - Sober worm makes a comeback Virus writers have resurrected the Sober worm with a new variant that is spreading quickly over the Internet. Security experts said Tuesday that the worm, dubbed Sober.M, reports e-mail addresses of victims back to its anonymous author--a technique known as harvesting. Spammers typically buy these fresh addresses to add to their lists of e-mail recipients. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5676631.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/19/sober_worm_panic/ - - - - - - - - - - Virus writers turn from worms Email worms are falling out of favour with the hacking community, according to a report investigating malicious internet activity. Instead malware authors are increasingly subverting vulnerable instant messenger (IM) systems and using network viruses that do not require user interaction to spread. Other threats identified include botnets and increasingly intrusive adware. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1162557 - - - - - - - - - - Flaw found in McAfee suite A flaw in McAfee Internet Security Suite 2005 could let employees sharing the same computer break into one another's files, according to security consultant iDefense. The vulnerability, which exists in the default settings applied during installation, gives anyone the same access rights on a PC as an IT administrator. That, in effect, would let someone remove any restricted access specified on a PC, according to a report released by iDefense on Monday. It could also let an employee install software prohibited by his employer. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5676436.html - - - - - - - - - - PHP falls down security hole Servers running PHP are vulnerable to a number of serious security exploits, including some that could allow an attacker to execute malicious code, as well as denial-of-service exploits, according to the PHP Group. The project has issued updates fixing the bugs, available from the PHP Web site and directly from various operating system vendors. "All Users of PHP are strongly encouraged to upgrade to this release," the PHP Group said in its advisory. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,101172,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Bugs put heat on Firefox As security bugs swarm around the Firefox browser, volunteer marketers want to shore up the open-source project's security message. With Monday's reports of the Mozilla Foundation's patches for significant new security holes that could let attackers install malicious code or steal personal data, Firefox partisans are finally acknowledging that the core sales pitch for their browser may be vulnerable. http://news.com.com/Bugs+put+heat+on+Firefox/2009-1002_3-5676817.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/19/firefox_security_update/ - - - - - - - - - - Opera Software upgrades hacker defences Opera Software ASA on Tuesday released a new version of its browser with upgraded security features to help repel hackers and con-men. The Oslo-based maker of the Web's No. 3 browser said in a news release that the latest version of its software for Windows and Linux operating systems also includes voice interaction capabilities and automatic scaling of Web pages to any sized window. http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050419.gtoperaapr19/BNStory/Technology/ - - - - - - - - - - Banks lash out at security study A security company has come under attack from UK banks after it claimed they are falling behind the rest of the world on cybercrime protection. The UK's online banking industry has hit back at a security company that accused them of failing to protect customers. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39195513,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - IM security: The worst is yet to come A virus analyst at Kaspersky Labs has done little to allay fears of an upcoming epidemic of malware spreading via instant-messaging services. The number of instant-messaging (IM) worms is on the rise but users should expect only a short-lived surge before tech administrators act against IM in their companies, a security expert has claimed. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39195515,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Caesars Palace to offer Net phones, biometric IDs Caesars Palace, one of the largest and most famous hotels on the Las Vegas Strip, will use the opening of its newest tower later this year to introduce technologies including Net phones in guest rooms and biometric keys. The gigantic, newly constructed second tower beside the original Caesars site will be an all-suite affair. It will open in August. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5676821.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.