NewsBits for June 20, 2005 ************************************************************ Security leak reveals weaknesses in credit card processing system The criminal exploit that exposed 40 million credit card accounts to possible fraud is shedding light on an arcane but sensitive piece of the financial industry: the hundreds of companies that process transactions between merchants and card issuers. While enormous in scope, the breach disclosed Friday at CardSystems Solutions Inc. was by no means the first such attack on a card processor. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/11942125.htm http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39204631,00.htm Firm erred in retaining credit card data http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/11937169.htm Update 3: CardSystems: Shouldn't Have Kept Records http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2005/06/20/ap2100336.html MasterCard hack spawns phishing attack http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/20/mastercard_phishing/ Phishers look to net small fry http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/20/phishers_target_us_credit_unions/ Hackers Engineer Biggest Credit Card Theft in History http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=11100002F08L http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2138274/credit-card-hack-sets-record The credit card system's weak link? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8294175/ Details emerge on credit card breach http://news.com.com/Details+emerge+on+credit+card+breach/2100-7349_3-5754661.html - - - - - - - - - - Hackers deface Beijings security website Chinese hackers have defaced the website of a police-run security company that is leading a new effort to strengthen the Communist government's control over the internet. The action by unknown hackers against the website of the Beijing General Security Service Co comes amid its drive to recruit a corps of 4,000 "internet security guards" to monitor the online activities of people in the Chinese capital. http://news.ft.com/cms/s/8c70623e-e132-11d9-a3fb-00000e2511c8.html - - - - - - - - - - Child porn ballooning in Montana Montana is experiencing a surge in child pornography and sex crimes, according to law enforcement officials. "We have an explosion of these cases," said U.S. Attorney Bill Mercer in Billings. Driving this increase is the easy availability of pornography on the Internet, he said, but Internet providers also are obligated to report child porn sites and customers. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050620/NEWS01/506200301/1002 - - - - - - - - - - Gov't. Collected Airline Passenger Data The federal agency in charge of aviation security collected extensive personal information about airline passengers even though Congress forbade it and officials said they wouldn't do it, according to documents obtained Monday by The Associated Press. http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=1051751 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8293096/ - - - - - - - - - - Oz court case exposes lack of fairness In Australia the Federal Government is looking at introducing a fair use style exemption to our copyright law. Yes I know its hard to believe, but in Australia you cant legally back up your music CDs, or even rip a CD you have paid for, so you can convert it into an iPod compatible format. You cant even legally use your VCR or DVD recorder to record Lust or Horny Housewives so you can watch these TV programs later. Talk about a nation built on piracy oops I mean time shifting. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/20/australian_teenager_charged_over_website_linking/ - - - - - - - - - - Spokane mayor urges privacy online after 'brutal outing' After what Mayor James West called his "brutal outing" by a newspaper that published transcripts of his conversations from a gay chat room, he complained in an e-mail to the city's commission on race relations. West asked: "Should we all fear that our private conversations will be splashed publicly and out of context for all in our sphere to see?" The answer, Internet privacy advocates say, is "yes." http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-06-20-chatroom_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - PayPal coughs to 'internal comments' edit slip PayPal is to remove internal comments regarding its protection for sellers that it accidentally published on its website. Under a section outlining the protection Paypal provides sellers, the online payment outfit wrote: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/20/paypal_slip/ - - - - - - - - - - Black market in credit cards thrives on Web "Want drive fast cars?" asks an advertisement, in broken English, atop the Web site Iaaca.com. "Want live in premium hotels? Want own beautiful girls? It's possible with dumps from Zo0mer." A "dump," in the blunt vernacular of a relentlessly flourishing online black market, is a credit card number. And what Zo0mer is peddling is stolen account information--name, billing address, phone-- for Gold Visa cards and MasterCards at $100 apiece. http://news.com.com/Black+market+in+credit+cards+thrives+on+Web/2100-7348_3-5754899.html - - - - - - - - - - Australia health IT faces privacy fears Australia's electronic health records projects are underfunded and face a backlash from the public over privacy and security issues, vendors and privacy advocates say. Anna Johnston, chairwoman of the Australian Privacy Foundation, said she has serious concerns about the overall state of privacy laws at the national level when it comes to the protection of confidential information contained in electronic health records. http://govhealthit.com/article89294-06-17-05-Web - - - - - - - - - - Security products 'riddled' with bugs The number of flaws in computer security products is rising sharply and threatens to become more of a problem than vulnerabilities in the products they are designed to protect, a study by Yankee Group out Monday warns. In the 15-month period between January 2004 and March 2005, security vendors reported 77 separate vulnerabilities and the rate is going up. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/20/yankee_security_product_risks/ - - - - - - - - - - Bug fixes and OS X boost bring Opera up to speed Five security patches form part of the first patch to Opera Software's latest browser for Windows. Norwegian software developer Opera Software has fixed several vulnerabilities in the latest version of its browser. Opera released version 8.01 of its Web browser last week with five security patches. The most serious issues are rated "moderately critical" by security monitoring company Secunia, which also discovered some of the problems. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/applications/0,39020384,39204639,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Anti-spyware apps launched by Trend Micro Brief: The Japanese security firm has launched three new applications aimed at stamping out spyware. Antivirus maker Trend Micro plans to launch on Monday a trio of anti-spyware products that use technology picked up in its May acquisition of InterMute. The version 3.0 update of Trend Micro Anti-Spyware comes in three editions, aimed at home users, smaller companies and enterprises respectively. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39204635,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Don't bet on Web gambling crackdown U.S. enforcement unlikely, analysts say. Online-poker company PartyGaming has warned investors that the U.S. government could interfere with its operations, but observers say that's about as likely as drawing four aces in a game of five-card stud. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8291627/ - - - - - - - - - - U.S. senator gunning for 'cop killer' video game A new video game that lets players join criminal gangs and kill police officers has become the target of a proposed boycott by a U.S. senator. Sen. Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said the "cop killer" video game, called "25 to Life," had hit an "all-time low" and discouraged the sale and distribution of the title, due out this summer. http://news.com.com/U.S.+senator+gunning+for+cop+killer+video+game/2100-1043_3-5754888.html - - - - - - - - - - Porn Stores Turn Into Clip Joints A trip to the adult section at the video store is about to get spicier. Vivid Entertainment, one of the leading suppliers of adult entertainment, has licensed a system that will let shoppers preview racy trailers on their camera phones just by scanning the bar code on the box. Now that's handheld entertainment. http://www.wired.com/news/20050620_phoneclips.html - - - - - - - - - - Sony unhappy over PSP porn Electronics giant unable to stop 'undesirable' content Sony has objected to the development of "undesirable" pornographic films targeting its Playstation Portable (PSP) handheld entertainment console, due for launch in Europe on 1 September. The eight films, with titles such as High Grade Class First Soap Lady and Erotic Terrorist Beautiful Body, will be released in July on Sony's Universal Media Disc (UMD) format. http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2138305/porn-sony-psp *********************************************************** 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.