NewsBits for August 18, 2005 ************************************************************ No complaints filed over data theft in India Although it has offered to help investigate recent allegations of data theft, India's National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) said today that its hands are tied as complaints have not been filed against anyone alleged to have been involved in thefts from India's call center companies. http://computerworld.com/managementtopics/outsourcing/story/0,10801,104003,00.html Australia's privacy chief to investigate data thefts http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,103999,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Feds: Abduction suspect had child porn on home computer A man accused of trying to abduct a girl in Syracuse last week had child pornography on the computer at his Binghamton-area home. That's according to federal investigators who searched James Gilkeson's Broome County home after he was arrested in Syracuse last weekend for allegedly luring a ten-year-old girl into his vehicle. http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=3737122 - - - - - - - - - - Man faces 5 years, child porn case A 26-year-old sex offender was sentenced to five years in federal prison Monday for possessing at least 600 images of child pornography on his computer. Timothy Aaron Rinehart, of Mineola, was sentenced to the maximum sentence allowed by U.S. District Judge William Steger, who assessed a higher punishment than recommended by the probation office. The probation office set the federal sentencing guideline for Rinehart at three to four years and recommended a four- year prison sentence. http://www.crime-research.org/news/18.08.2005/1437/ - - - - - - - - - - E-mail Zombies Detonated By Chat And IM Reports are coming in from threat centers around the country that the Zotob virus continues to spread rapidly, and impact Windows XP computers on consumer and enterprise desktops. Reports have included serious service interruptions at CNN, ABC, the New York Times, and other places. http://www.personaltechpipeline.com/news/169300245 - - - - - - - - - - Latest Worms Duke It Out It appears that the numerous variants of the Zotob worm that have emerged over the past couple of days may have been salvos in a new worm war between rival online crime groups, according to analysis by Finnish antivirus company F-Secure Corp. http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2005/08/latest_worms_du.html Hackers fight to create world's largest Botnet Speed of creation of new worms is alarming Experts are warning that the sharp rise in malware activity this week is being caused by hacking groups competing with each other to create large botnets of remote controlled PCs. http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2141275/worm-war-horizon Worm wave highlights need for speedier defenses http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/virus/story/0,10801,103997,00.html Worm War II http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/18/pnp_worm_wars/ Windows Worm Variants Emerge, Attack http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=10200002AONI Explorer's Office links cause security alert http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/windows/0,39020396,39213719,00.htm Vista feature exposes beta machines http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5838647.html Survey: Microsoft bears some blame for worms http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5838512.html Sysadmins taking brunt of blame for Windows worm attack http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=4244 - - - - - - - - - - Man logs into dabs.com customer account shocker Blind chance has helped to expose a password security issue at dabs.com over the way it and many other online retailers deal with forgotten passwords. Reg reader Dave (not his real name) recently received emails from dabs.com about an order he'd supposedly placed for a digital camera. He received a receipt and despatch confirmation emails. All well and good except that he hadn't placed the order. In fact, Dave didn't even have an account with dabs.com. http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/08/18/dabs_password_misdirected/ - - - - - - - - - - Finns urge better Wi-Fi security after bank break-in Data security officer is suspect in $245,400 theft Finland called on its citizens to take more care securing their Wi-Fi networks after news emerged this week that about $245,400 (U.S.) had been stolen from a local bank using an unprotected home network. http://computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/story/0,10801,104005,00.html - - - - - - - - - - 180Solutions sues former affiliates over illegal tactics Adware maker 180solutions has sued seven former distributors for using networks of compromised computers to surreptitiously install its software on users' PCs. The complaint, filed in King County Superior Court, names defendants Eric de Vogt of the Netherlands, Jesse Donohue of Australia, Khalil Halel of Lebanon, Imran Patel of the UK, Zarox Souchi of Canada, Youri Van Den Berg of the Netherlands and Anton Zagar of Slovenia. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/16/180_sues_bad_actors/ - - - - - - - - - - Alaskans sue security agency to stop data dump Four Alaskans on Thursday sued to stop the Transportation Security Administration from destroying personal information it collected on airline passengers in order to test a government screening system. http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=32027&sid=28 - - - - - - - - - - Online scammers pose as execs in 'spear-phishing' Online criminals trying to pry passwords and other sensitive information out of companies have started using phony e-mails that look as if they were sent from powerful executives of the targeted organizations, experts said yesterday. Known as "spear phishing," the technique is an ingenious wrinkle on the "phishing" e-mail scams that try to trick consumers into giving up bank-account information and other sensitive details that can be used in identity theft. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,104000,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Child porn on Net rising dramatically Despite highly publicized arrests, law-enforcement officials say that the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet is growing dramatically. Over the past four years, the number of reports of child pornography sites to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has grown by almost 400 percent. Law-enforcement officials are particularly disturbed by the increased number of commercial sites that offer photos of exploited children in return for a credit-card number. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-08-17-child-pornography-sites_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Cisco issues hacker patch Cisco has released a patch for its Cisco Clean Access (CCA) software, which is designed to seek out unsafe hardware on a network. http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2141302/cisco-issues-hacker-patch - - - - - - - - - - Schooled in security Academic institutions want to maintain the free exchange of ideas and information between faculty, students and researchers, both on campus and from university to university. That presents a challenge for keeping networks secure. Unlike businesses, schools can't rely on using the typical firewall to keep threats out. http://news.com.com/Schooled+in+security/2100-7347_3-5837352.html - - - - - - - - - - Users confuse spyware with Star Wars Survey: IT directors are worried that most of the population have no idea what spyware is, with a sizeable minority believing it is something they have seen in a movie. Some 11 percent of the British population are convinced that spyware is "a gadget from Star Wars", according to research published on Thursday. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39213731,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - New Standard in Ethical Hacking The University of Glamorgan and leading Information Security Company 7Safe have teamed up to launch a world-first Postgraduate Certificate (PgC) in Penetration Testing and Information Security. The unique qualification offers IT professionals the opportunity to learn about penetration testing (ethical hacking) and information security in depth, acquiring a recognised qualification in the process. http://www.crime-research.org/news/18.08.2005/1439/ - - - - - - - - - - A Replayable Debate on Game Violence Nothing solidifies a case for or against a particular issue like a study. Fortunately, each side in the battle over video game violence has new research it can use to wallop the other. The first study, released last week by a speech- communication professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said "robust exposure to a highly violent video game" did not prompt players to project violent tendencies into real life. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/18/AR2005081800656.html - - - - - - - - - - NYPD Enlists Foreign-Born Internet Police On a recent afternoon in a drab office near the banks of the Hudson River, a team of undercover investigators _ foreign-born and fluent in languages like Arabic and Farsi _ huddled in front of computers, hunting for extremists. The New York Police Department officers surfed jihadist Web sites and chat rooms where suicide bombings and beheadings are celebrated, and hatred of the West rages. Their assignment: Pose as Islamic extremists, locate and engage real ones, then extract any shred of information about possible terrorist threats against the city. http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=1077643 - - - - - - - - - - Police IT: Why we swapped Linux for Microsoft Central Scotland Police is replacing parts of its open source infrastructure with Microsoft software following a review of its IT strategy. The force has signed a three-year, PS60,000 per year agreement with Microsoft which will see it replace some open source technologies with Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Windows XP and Office for 1,000 users. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9590_22-5838530.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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