NewsBits for June 28, 2005 ************************************************************ Cybercriminals get a 10-year jail sentence Two men have been sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison for their roles in a wide range of online fraud activities, U.K. authorities said this week. Douglas Harvard, a 24-year-old U.S. citizen, was arrested by the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) in Leeds earlier this month during an investigation into a conspiracy by Eastern European crime syndicates. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,102839,00.html http://www.vnunet.com/computing/news/2138916/phishing-gang-jailed-years http://news.com.com/Phishing+fraud+lands+two+men+behind+bars/2100-7348_3-5766860.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/28/phishing_duo_jailed/ - - - - - - - - - - NASA hacker jailed A US man was jailed for four months last week after he was convicted of hacking into US government computers and defacing web sites. Robert Lyttle, 21, of Pleasant Hill, near San Francisco, was also ordered to pay damages of approximately $72,000 and to serve three year probation after his release from federal prison. The first four months of this probation period will be under home confinement with electronic monitoring, US District Judge D. Lowell Jensen ordered. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/28/deceptive_duo_hacker_jailed/ - - - - - - - - - - Indian call centre security breach: man admits guilt The man who sold a CD containing the confidential details of 1,000 British bank accounts to an undercover reporter says he did not know what it contained. The Sun reported last week that the details were obtained by corrupt workers at call centres in India. According to Reuters, Karan Bahree, 24, from New Dehli, admitted his guilt in a letter to his employers, web development company, Infinity eSearch. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/28/indian_call_centre_man_admits_guilt/ - - - - - - - - - - City Worker Charged With Child Porn A San Antonio city employee was arrested Monday after police said they found child pornography on his work computer. Dennis Prado, 45, was being held in the Bexar County Jail on $15,000 bond. Prado works in the city attorneys office. http://www.ksat.com/news/4659536/detail.html - - - - - - - - - - First of 15,000 German warez buyers brought to court The state prosecutor's office of Muhlhausen in Germany has started criminal proceedings against the first of up to 15,000 users who, according to the German society for the pursuit of copyright infringements, have knowingly paid for illegal content on the internet. It is one of the biggest cases of Internet piracy and illegal copying ever discovered. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/28/german_warez_case/ - - - - - - - - - - 13 teens face felonies Thirteen Kutztown Area High School students are facing felony charges for tampering with district-issued laptop computers. According to parent testimony and confirmed by an otherwise vaguely-worded letter from the Kutztown Police Department, students got hold of the system's secret administrative password and reconfigured their computers to achieve greater Internet and network access. http://www.berksmontnews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14742096 - - - - - - - - - - Firms Can Be Held Liable for Net Piracy High court sides with the entertainment industry in the fight against illegal file sharing. The Supreme Court gave the entertainment industry a new legal weapon against Internet piracy Monday, ruling that companies that actively encourage people to download free copies of music or movies can be held liable for their users' illegal acts. http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/27/scotus.file.sharing.ap/index.html http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-grokster28jun28,1,7508067.story Major advertisers caught in spyware net http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8349690/ - - - - - - - - - - California lawmakers soften RFID stance A California bill that would have prohibited state, county and municipal governments from issuing identification documents embedded with radio frequency identification tags has been amended to allow such technology, but only under specific requirements. http://www.fcw.com/article89416-06-28-05-Web DHS tests RFID technology for foot, vehicle traffic at entry points http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/36237-1.html - - - - - - - - - - New worm lures users with 'breaking news' The Kedebe-F e-mail worm spreads via e-mail or file-sharing networks. Internet users alarmed over news of Michael Jackson's death or dark conspiracies behind the demise of Pope John Paul II should perhaps be more concerned that they received another new e-mail worm. Researchers at security firm Sophos PLC warned today of the spread of the Kedebe-F e-mail worm, which carries a variety of subject headers and messages touting breaking news. However, users who click on the attached file could have their security software and firewall disabled, according to Sophos. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,102836,00.html http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2138977/pope-john-paul-ii-worm-turns http://news.com.com/Worm+baits+hook+with+hints+of+Pope+plot/2100-7349_3-5767058.html http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5767058.html - - - - - - - - - - Bagle commandeers PCs for zombie army A new version of the Bagle virus is attempting to turn PCs into zombies for use in cyberattack networks. The variant surfaced over the weekend and was spammed to tens of thousands of Internet users, Ero Carrera, a researcher at F-Secure, said Tuesday. The antivirus software maker is calling the offshoot Mitglieder.CN, but it is known by other names, such as Bagle.BQ or Tooso.J, at other security companies. http://news.com.com/Bagle+commandeers+PCs+for+zombie+army/2100-7349_3-5766772.html - - - - - - - - - - From servicemember to sex offender: Military battling child porn scourge Viewing child pornography on the Internet can begin as a curiosity, but quickly become an addiction, said a therapist who has counseled many people who have compulsively viewed the illegal images. Plus, the need for a fix rivals that of a drug addicts need for cocaine or heroin, according to Dr. Mary Anne Layden, co-director of the sexual and psychotherapy program at the University of Pennsylvanias Center for Cognitive Therapy. http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=30011 - - - - - - - - - - Windows shut How Yahoo closed down all user created chat rooms to tackle child sex abuse. IN what is described as the most radical step so far to tackle child sex abuse, Yahoo, the worlds most visited portal closed down all user created chat rooms. This followed two developments, the withdrawal of advertisement by corporate majors, and the filing of a court case concerning abuse. http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=136644 - - - - - - - - - - MasterCard: 40M Credit Card Accounts Exposed In what is considered one of the largest security breaches, MasterCard International said information on more than 40 million credit cards lay exposed at credit card processor CardSystems Solutions. Exposed data included holder names, banks and account numbers. No Social Security numbers, birth dates or other personal information were stored on the accounts. http://www.crime-research.org/news/28.06.2005/1321/news.earthweb.com/security/article.php/3513866 Credit companies wary of spreading ID panic http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8393016/ Credit-card firm urged to detail possible fraud http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8394406/ - - - - - - - - - - Suspected Computer Hacker Gets Diploma The Laguna Creek High School senior who was suspended for allegedly hacking into the school's computer system received his diploma on Monday. There was no cap and gown, no pomp and circumstance. Still, it was graduation day for 18-year-old Alex Ochoa at Laguna Creek High School. The day his family had been waiting for came after the senior football player and honor student was suspended May 12th. http://fox40.trb.com/news/ktxl-062705hacker,0,2946372.story - - - - - - - - - - CommWarrior mobile virus hits UK F-Secure has reported the first sighting of CommWarrior in the UK, after a holidaymaker managed to get their phone infected while sailing in the Mediterranean. The United Kingdom has become the fifteenth country to be witness an infection by the CommWarrior mobile phone virus, security experts claimed on Tuesday. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39205921,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Smart handhelds are dumb security risk Nearly half of UK businesses do not secure smart handheld devices to the same high level they secure laptop computers. Researchers from Quocirca found increasing use of connected devices but few businesses taking action to secure data or access to the machines. Network managers understand the risk of such devices - they are very aware of the danger of theft or loss but are less concerned about the security risk such devices could pose. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/28/quocirca_survey_says/ - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft to help NPA fight cyber attacks. U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp. will increase cooperation with the National Police Agency to give authorities an upper hand in the battle against cybercrimes and the spread of viruses, company founder Bill Gates said Tuesday. Under the agreement reached in April, Microsoft will inform the NPA about flaws and vulnerabilities in the Windows operating system before such information is made public. http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200506280201.html - - - - - - - - - - ictQatar holds cyber security workshop Specialised workshop on cyber security awareness was held here yesterday by Qatar's Supreme Council for Information and Communications Technology (ictQatar) in collaboration with the Qatar Computer Emergency Response Team (Q-Cert). The importance of establishing an emergency response team to deal with cyber threats came up for discussion at the event. http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=97747 - - - - - - - - - - Return of the Anti-Zombies Please don't spread "white hat" vigilante malware. For one thing, you're not as good a programmer as you think you are. It's a recurring theme on security discussion lists: Someone ought to build a worm that infects insecure systems and remedies the problems on them. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1832560,00.asp - - - - - - - - - - The Lure of an E-Mail Hoax A couple of weekends ago, while scarfing down a hot dog at a friend's cookout, I overheard a woman saying to her girlfriend that she'd received a rather disturbing e-mail notifying her that telemarketers would soon begin bombarding her cell phone with sales pitches unless she registered her cell phone number on a national do-not-call list. I politely butted in and said there was no such thing as a national cell phone do-not-call list maintained by the federal government, and suggested that what she'd received is what's known as an "e-mail hoax." http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2005/06/at_a_friends_co.html - - - - - - - - - - U.S. officials: Information sharing key to security Secrecy among federal agencies is a legacy of the Cold War, they say. The U.S. government is getting better at sharing information among the various agencies that are responsible for protecting the nation against terrorism, but IT can help drive more improvements, two top-ranking antiterrorism officials said yesterday. http://computerworld.com/databasetopics/businessintelligence/datamining/story/0,10801,102842,00.html - - - - - - - - - - FBI launches regional data sharing system The FBI is rolling out a program that allows federal law enforcement agencies and state and local police forces to share information throughout local regions of the country. The Regional Data Exchange works through local law enforcement offices and allows state, local and tribal law enforcement investigators access to federal information and intelligence data relevant to investigations within their jurisdictions. http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=31606 *********************************************************** 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.