NewsBits for August 11, 2005 ************************************************************ Jury Deliberates in Computer Theft Trial A federal jury began deliberations Wednesday in the trial of an accused computer data thief in one of the largest federal computer theft cases. Scott Levine, former chief executive of the bulk e-mail firm Snipermail.com Inc., based in Boca Raton, Fla., faces 144 counts from a July 2004 indictment in what prosecutors described as one of the largest computer crime cases ever. Levine is accused of stealing 8.2 gigabytes of information from Little Rock-based Acxiom Corp., one of the world's largest database companies. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/10/AR2005081001661.html Verdict awaited in hacking trial http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking/verdict-awaited-in-hacking-trial/2005/08/11/1123353411040.html - - - - - - - - - - AOL Wins Judgment Against Spammers America Online Inc. won a $13 million judgment yesterday against a prominent spam gang in its first case filed under a law allowing seizure of spammers' assets. Following the ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, AOL said it does not know how much of the $13 million award it will be able to recover. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/10/AR2005081002017.html http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/12358570.htm http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5826897.html - - - - - - - - - - Ukraine: Internet scam ring exposed According to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Tuesday, August 9 security service of Privatbank, one of the biggest banks in Ukraine, arrested a criminal group of internet scammers from Luhansk, Donetsk and Rovno. Scammers have been trying to apply phishing techniques at the Privatbank official website defrauding clients for months. http://www.crime-research.org/news/11.08.2005/1420/ - - - - - - - - - - Mercer faces 20 child porn counts A City of Fond du Lac official told investigators his Internet searches for erotica, including child erotica, were a release from everyday stress at work, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday against former Human Resources Director Ben Mercer. http://www.wisinfo.com/thereporter/news/archive/local_22153971.shtml - - - - - - - - - - E-mail wiretap case can proceed, court says In a closely watched case governing Internet privacy, a federal appeals court has reinstated a criminal case against an e-mail provider accused of violating wiretap laws. The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 5-2 vote, ruled on Thursday that an e-mail provider who allegedly read correspondence meant for his customers could be tried on federal criminal charges. http://news.com.com/E-mail+wiretap+case+can+proceed%2C+court+says/2100-1028_3-5829228.html - - - - - - - - - - Hackers Breach University Server University officials began notifying about 38,600 people Monday that some of their personal information may have been made available. A Web site and hot line were established for people who think they may be affected by the breach. http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=02300000ILLX - - - - - - - - - - 'Grand Theft Auto' cop killer found guilty Computer game Grand Theft Auto (GTA) has been let off the hook by an Alabama jury which this week found cop killer Devin Moore guilty on three counts of murder. The jury rejected Moore's plea that he was not guilty by reason of mental defect arising from hours spent playing GTA and years of abuse as a child. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/11/gta_not_guilty/ http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/08/10/video.game.killings.ap/index.html Grand Theft Auto gets porn patch Take2 Interactive, distributor of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, has released a patch making it impossible to view sex scenes hidden in the game. The scenes were uncovered by Patrick Wildenborg, a games modifier, and accessed through a patch called 'Hot Coffee'. http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2141076/patch-released-grand-theft-auto - - - - - - - - - - Court revives indictment in e-mail interception case A federal appeals court Thursday revived the government's online eavesdropping prosecution against an executive of a company that offered e-mail service and surreptitiously tracked its subscribers' messages. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/12360782.htm - - - - - - - - - - New York law requires notification after data breaches New York Governor George Pataki on Wednesday signed a bill that requires businesses and state government agencies to notify consumers if sensitive data is nabbed in a security breach. This places New York on the list of states such as California that have adopted similar rules-- while many other states and the federal government are considering them. http://news.com.com/New+York+law+requires+notification+after+data+breaches/2110-7348_3-5827712.html - - - - - - - - - - MP calls for updated laws to fight cyberjihadis A Labour MP is calling for updated legislation and greater international co-operation to make it easier for police to track and trace terrorist recruiters, animal rights extremists and other criminals on the net. Margaret Moran MP, chair of all-party Parliament Industry group EURIM, said that the police "urgently" need resources to find extremists who "use the internet to ensnare those who are alienated from society and turn them from sympathisers into enthusiasts and then fanatics". http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/11/eurim_cyberjihad_interdiction/ - - - - - - - - - - Critics Slam Net Wiretapping Rule An FCC ruling that internet telephony services must provide the same built-in wiretapping capabilities as conventional phone companies has civil libertarians feeling burned. "I think a legal challenge is highly likely at this point," said John Morris, an attorney with the Center for Democracy and Technology. http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,68483,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Gaim hit by another critical hole Gaim, the popular cross-platform instant messaging client, has been hit by a serious security flaw for the second time in three months. The flaw is found in the way Gaim reads the away messages of AIM or ICQ instant messaging users, according to researchers. The bug crashes the Gaim client, and could be exploited to run malicious code and take over a user's system, according to an advisory from Red Hat. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,103836,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Protection offered against ID theft keylogger Sunbelt Software says it has developed a way of combating the spyware program behind a huge ID theft operation. Companies and individual Internet users can now protect themselves against a dangerous piece of malware which steals personal information such as credit card and banking detail. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39212814,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Child porn found at online auctions:- Hard disk drives containing child pornography are being auctioned online in Japan, escaping checks by Internet service providers, a survey found. Online auction sites prohibit the sale of illegal images, and check titles and descriptions of items for sale, but traders in child pornography get around the rules by using code words, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Thursday. http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=105876&n_date=20050811 - - - - - - - - - - Latest phishing scam goes low tech This one asks users to fax their credit card details to a toll-free number. Security companies are warning of a new type of phishing scam that uses decidely low-tech methods to harvest information. The scam has been started with spam emails purporting to come from PayPal, the online payment service owned and operated by eBay. http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2141046/phishing-fax-goes-low-tech http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/08/11/fax-back_phishing_scam/ http://news.com.com/New+scam+asks+people+to+fax+away+data/2100-7349_3-5828551.html - - - - - - - - - - Mobile phone virus infects Helsinki championships The Cabir virus uses Bluetooth to jump between cell phones. Visitors to the World Athletics Championships in Finland have had to brave wind and rain, and now officials say they face the possibility of catching the world's first mobile phone virus. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,103835,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Feds recruiting hackers at Defcon Attention hackers: Uncle Sam wants you. As scam artists, organized-crime rings and other miscreants find a home on the Internet, top federal officials are trolling hacker conferences to scout talent and talk up the glories of a career on the front lines of the information wars. http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/08/11/fed.scout.hackers.reut/index.html - - - - - - - - - - Security expert: More developer education needed Software vendors need to create security education programs for their programmers in order to deliver software products that are more secure to their customers, an Oracle Corp. security expert said today. http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/holes/story/0,10801,103837,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Buckle up for the storage security ride It might seem unbelievable, but there was a time when cars didn't come with locks on their doors, much less any of the complicated security systems we've grown accustomed to seeing today. I'm not old enough to have direct memories of those days, but owning and operating a car in that bygone era must have been a carefree experience. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,103831,00.html - - - - - - - - - - The FBI on Cyber Crime It's not every day that one gets a chance to talk with Robert Mueller, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. So when he began taking questions following a speech he made about cooperating with industry to fight crime at the Infraguard 2005 conference yesterday in Washington, I immediately raised my hand. (I was later told that the few invited press members weren't supposed to ask the director questions. D'oh!) http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2005/08/the_fbi_on_cybe.html - - - - - - - - - - DHS plans Web site to help identify transportation vulnerabilities The Homeland Security Department plans to set up a free Web site that will allow owners and operators of transportation systems to voluntarily assess their security protections against terrorist attacks and receive recommendations on how to make improvements, the department announced this week. http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=31980 - - - - - - - - - - FBI moves ahead with successor to ill-fated IT upgrade Five months after scrapping a failed, long-awaited replacement for its case-file management system, the FBI this week began soliciting bids for a new system that it hopes will finally deliver on past promises. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,103833,00.html FBI abandons old computer system, tries again http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5827601.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. 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