NewsBits for May 16, 2005 ************************************************************ Gotterspammerung Almost a year after they first appeared, hundreds of German-language junk e-mails are once more sprouting up in many people's inboxes. The first messages arrived Saturday with subject lines such as "Armenian Genocide Plagues Ankara 90 Years On," "Multi-Kulturell=Multi-Kriminell" and "Dresden Bombing Is to Be Regretted Enormously," the latter being a classic example of the passive- voice sentence that sounds as mellifluous in German as it sounds ridiculous in English. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/16/AR2005051600490.html http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/11661774.htm http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39198571,00.htm http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7874164/ http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/05/16/neonazi.spam.reut/index.html http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2135264/sober-mutant-spreads-right-wing-hate-mail http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=101000023O9T http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/virus/story/0,10801,101760,00.html Sober infected PCs spew right-wing 'hate spam' http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/16/sober_spews_spam/ Sober.Q spreads hate messages in German, English http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5708588.html - - - - - - - - - - Web Detective Work Nabs Burglary Suspect Police Charge Bowie Man After Stolen Electronics Gear Is Posted for Sale on eBay. Karen Todd never considered herself much of a sleuth. A member of her church's board of deacons and the PTA at her children's schools, Todd is more likely to be quilting or pruning sweet peas in her garden than catching up on the latest crime-solving strategies on "CSI" or "Law and Order." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/14/AR2005051400697.html http://www.sptimes.com/2005/05/14/State/Child_porn_victim_fou.shtml - - - - - - - - - - Girl in sex abuse photos taken at Disney World is found safe A young girl who appeared in a series of sexually explicit pictures taken at a Walt Disney World hotel and other locations has been found and is now safe, authorities said Friday. After the pictures were taken, the girl was adopted by a Pittsburgh-area woman, although federal authorities in that city wouldn't say where the girl lives now. http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1116219284240620.xml - - - - - - - - - - Man pleads guilty in Beaver Dam child porn ring A drifter who rented a house in Beaver Dam pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to involvement in a child pornography ring. According to criminal complaints and federal affidavits, William Martin sexually assaulted at least 13 boys living in the area, invited men he met on the Internet to do the same, then recorded the activity and sold the images. Martin pleaded guilty to multiple counts of inducing a minor into sex to produce pictures and possessing child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsnews/153nd2.htm - - - - - - - - - - Child porn pervert is jailed for two years A MAN who helped children with behaviour problems was found with a huge number of child porn images stored on his computer. John Miller, 61, had a staggering 150,000 images stored on his computer when police raided his Edinburgh flat. Some fell into the worst category for indecency including a pose of a baby, Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard. Sheriff Derrick McIntyre yesterday jailed him for two years and ordered him to remain on licence for a further year. http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=520372005 - - - - - - - - - - Teacher walks free after child-porn conviction A Perth school teacher has received a suspended jail term for possessing almost 1,000 images of child pornography. Martin Peter Ernest Goodall was arrested last year as part of a nationwide crackdown on child pornography on the Internet. The District Court was told the images featured naked girls, some in sexual poses. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200505/s1368438.htm - - - - - - - - - - Man guilty of child porn charges A Devon man whose conviction for flying to the US to have sex with a child was overturned, has been found guilty of possessing child porn. Police found four indecent photographs of children on a computer disk at the flat of John Brewer, 41, after being alerted by the US authorities. Brewer, currently at a Cornish bail hostel, had denied all the charges. On Friday he was convicted of four counts of making indecent pictures of children and one of possessing them. http://www.dailyitem.com/archive/2005/0514/local/stories/05local.htm - - - - - - - - - - Child porn probe names party chief The Davidson County Democratic chairman who resigned his post amid an investigation dealing with child pornography said yesterday that he knew very little about what, if any, charges he faces. Mullins abruptly resigned his post Thursday. As of late Friday, no arrests have been made. Police searched a computer at the party headquarters in Metro Center but have not released any other details. http://www.tennessean.com/government/archives/05/03/69478145.shtml?Element_ID=69478145 - - - - - - - - - - Carriere man arrested for child porn A Carriere man faces child pornography charges after Pearl River County deputies conducted a search warrant at a residence Monday, authorities said. Vincent Gable, 40, 42 East Ridge Drive, Carriere is charged with producing child pornography. He is being held in the Pearl River County jail in lieu of $50,000. Acting on an anonymous complaint, deputies conducted a search warrant at Gable's residence and seized three computers and about 200 floppy disks and 400 compact discs, authorities said. http://www.picayuneitem.com/articles/2005/05/14/news/07porn.txt - - - - - - - - - - Pictures on modeling agency computer lead to child porn charges A Plainfield man was arrested and charged Friday with 10 counts of child pornography after police allegedly found lewd photographs of minors on a personal computer kept at a child-modeling agency. Jeff Wormsley, 23, was being held in Will County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail, said Assistant State's Atty. John Connor. Connor said citizen complaints about a child-modeling Web site led to the seizure of Wormsley's computer hard drive. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/west/chi-0505140124may14,1,2169462.story - - - - - - - - - - TV download sites hit by lawsuits Dr Who appeared on the net even before it was broadcast. The movie industry has turned its legal campaign against net piracy to TV file- sharing sites. Six BitTorrent sites hosting links to others with illegal copies of TV shows have been targeted in lawsuits by the Motion Picture Association of America. It is a shift in focus for the MPAA. Since it started legal action against file-sharers in December, its targets have been film indexing sites. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4545519.stm - - - - - - - - - - New Worm Targets AIM Users Users of AOL's instant messaging software, AIM, should be on the lookout for an innovative new worm, variously named "Oscarbot-B" and "Doyorg" by antivirus companies. The Windows-based malware emerged early this week, and has made itself a nuisance for its ability to hijack the list of contacts or "buddies" in an infected user's IM account. After opening a window to any one of these contacts with the message "Hey check this out," it invites users to follow an embedded link. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,120848,00.asp - - - - - - - - - - Student Raises the Specter of an Attack on Intel Chips A computer science researcher uncovers a new type of attack that could hit servers running Intel processors with Hyperthreading. Companies running servers based on certain Intel Corp. chips could come under attack from the inside, due to a new type of software timing attack. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1815954,00.asp http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5708868.html http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/05/16/intel_ht_vuln_fix_pledge/ http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,101769,00.html - - - - - - - - - - SSH hole putting big business at risk MIT researchers warn about real holes, real dangers to secure networks. Secure business networks are at risk thanks to a vulnerability in a fundamental protocol, according to security researchers at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Researchers have highlighted the increasing danger of attacks exploiting weaknesses in SSH (Secure Shell), and warned that such attacks are likely to be automated in the near future. http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?NewsID=3668 - - - - - - - - - - Extortion via DDoS on the rise Criminals are increasingly targeting corporations with distributed denial-of-service attacks designed not to disrupt business networks but to extort thousands of dollars from the companies. Those targeted are increasingly deciding to pay the extortionists rather than accept the consequences, experts say. While reports of this type of crime have circulated for several years, most victimized companies remain reluctant to acknowledge the attacks or enlist the help of law enforcement, resulting in limited awareness of the problem and few prosecutions. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/051605-ddos-extortion.html http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,101761,00.html Insider Threat Study http://www.cert.org/archive/pdf/insidercross051105.pdf - - - - - - - - - - New phishing attack uses real ID hooks Security researchers are reporting a new brand of phishing attack that attempts to use stolen consumer data to rip off individual account holders at specific banks. Workers at hosted security services company Cyota are sharing the details of this more sophisticated form of phishing threat, which forsakes the mass- targeting approach traditionally used in the fraud schemes in favor of taking aim at individual consumers. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5706305.html - - - - - - - - - - JUSTICE DEPT SUES TO STOP MAN FROM SELLING ALLEGED TAX-FRAUD SCHEMES The Justice Department today asked a federal court to bar John Baptist Kotmair, Jr., of Westminster, Maryland, and his organization, Save-a-Patriot Fellowship, from selling alleged tax-fraud schemes. The civil injunction suit, filed in Baltimore, also seeks an order directing Kotmair and Save-a-Patriot to give the Justice Department their customers names, mailing and e-mail addresses, and telephone and Social Security numbers. http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2005/May/05_tax_262.htm - - - - - - - - - - Feds eye new cybersecurity post For the last few years, it hasn't always been clear who in the U.S. government is responsible for overseeing national "cybersecurity" efforts-- and how long that person will stick around. First there was Richard Clarke, a veteran of the Clinton and first Bush administrations who left the post with a lucrative book deal. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5709312.html http://news.com.com/Feds+eye+new+cybersecurity+post/2100-7348_3-5709312.html - - - - - - - - - - Online Gambling Sites Bank On Attention of Investors As Internet gambling grows, two companies consider IPOs on the London market. But some U.S. institutions are still a bit wary. With its red telephone boxes, British bobbies on the beat and quaint period charm, Gibraltar is the last place you would expect to find a fast-expanding Internet industry. Gibraltar, after all, is where Nelson launched his campaign to defeat the Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar in 1805. (LA Times article, free registration required) http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-ft-poker16may16,1,7967830.story - - - - - - - - - - Why workers sabotage office computers Corporate insiders who sabotage computers so sensitive they risk endangering national security or the economy commonly are motivated by revenge against their bosses, according to a government study released Monday. The study, paid for by the Department of Homeland Security, examined dozens of computer-sabotage cases over six years to determine what motivates trusted insiders to attack and how their actions damage the country's most sensitive networks and data. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7877121/ - - - - - - - - - - Security overload? Vendors market Web application and Web services firewalls to shore up the shortcomings of conventional firewalls. But are the product sets sufficiently distinct that an organization could justify having both? Eventually, a single product will handle Web application and Web services chores, said Bob Walters, president and chief executive officer at Teros. But that hasn't happened yet. "There is so much specialization involved in really doing a good job of protecting Web applications and protecting Web services that there is no vendor that does a good job at both." http://www.fcw.com/article88876-05-16-05-Web - - - - - - - - - - Is Firefox still safer than IE? The popular Firefox browser received a security upgrade, known as version 1.0.4, when the Mozilla Foundation released the new code on May 11. This upgrade closes a security hole that could allow a hacker Web site to install software without a visitors' knowledge or approval. This is the fourth minor update to Firefox since the open- source browser's 1.0 release on Nov. 9, 2004. That doesn't seem like very many patches to me, compared with Firefox's dominant competition, Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE), which is included in every copy of Windows. http://windowssecrets.com/comp/050512/#story1 - - - - - - - - - - Kiss your old SSN goodbye Some good might actually come out of all of these recent data mishaps. Politicians are starting to realize that permitting data brokers like Acxiom and ChoicePoint to buy and sell your Social Security number like a raffle ticket may not be that wise after all. Some members of Congress, like Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, have been warning about the dangers of SSN misuse for years. The surprise now is that some key congressional figures are agreeing. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5708776.html Check Point on the defensive http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5706855.html - - - - - - - - - - Sentinel project to replace FBIs abandoned Virtual Case File effort The FBI is poised to launch what it calls the Sentinel project, a procurement that will build, among other things, a case management system to replace the defunct Virtual Case File project, officials said. Bureau officials have been using the Sentinel moniker for the four-phase service- oriented architecture project since last month. They confirmed the details of the project on the condition that their names not be used. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/35815-1.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. 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.