NewsBits for September 19, 2005 ************************************************************ Childern's Health Council data stolen A backup tape that contained the Social Security numbers, birth dates and detailed psychiatric and other health information for thousands of current and former clients of the Children's Health Council in Palo Alto was stolen just after Labor Day, the non-profit agency confirmed Sunday. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/peninsula/12682559.htm - - - - - - - - - - College Station man gets 20 years for child porn Defendant faced 103 counts of possessing graphic images. A College Station man who was charged with 103 counts of child pornography possession earlier this year after investigators found thousands of graphic images on his computer was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison. Robert Anthony Duncan, 40, took the sentence as part of a plea agreement after admitting to all charges. http://www.theeagle.com/stories/091705/local_20050917023.php - - - - - - - - - - Monk Accused of Using Internet to Lure Minor A Franciscan monk from Mexico City has been arrested in San Diego on charges of using the Internet in an attempt to lure a minor to have sex with him. Earl John Place, a 61-year-old U.S. citizen, is also accused of trying to transfer obscene material through the mail and Internet to a minor, according to the two-count indictment unsealed Wednesday. (LA Times article, free registration required) http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-me-sbriefs15sep15,1,7542490.story - - - - - - - - - - Singapore Police Raid Company Suspected of Illegal Software Use Singapore police raided a company suspected of using illegal software, seizing computers and compact discs in the city-state's first bust following new anti-piracy laws that took effect this year. Police on Thursday confiscated 11 computers and five CD-ROMs from an interior design company, a police statement said. The compact discs were pirated, it said. http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1126861514488 - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft sues more resellers in piracy battle Information from an antipiracy hotline and "secret shoppers" has led to eight lawsuits against companies accused of peddling pirated Microsoft software. The lawsuits were filed in Arizona, California, Illinois, Minnesota and New York against companies that allegedly sold counterfeit copies of software such as Office 2000 Professional and Windows XP, Microsoft said in a statement Monday. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5873069.html - - - - - - - - - - Accused File-Sharer Can Challenge Music Industry's Collection Efforts A woman who was sued for allegedly sharing copyrighted music files over the Internet can proceed with two of her claims against a company retained by the Recording Industry Association of American to collect "settlements" from accused file-sharers, a federal judge in Seattle has ruled. http://news.findlaw.com/andrews/bt/cmp/20050916/20050916leadbetter.html - - - - - - - - - - Senate attention could compute to prison time for cyber perverts U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts said he needed time to study the issue while Missouri's senators wasted no time in proposing legislation aimed at helping law enforcers prosecute cyber crime perverts. http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15210920&BRD=1459&PAG=461&dept_id=155725&rfi=6 - - - - - - - - - - Dutch Dutch Parliament endorses tougher approach to cybercrime A substantial majority in the Dutch Parliament's lower house is behind justice minister Piet Hein Donners proposals to fight the more serious forms of cyber-crime. Computer hackers, mass spammers, denial-of-service perpetrators and spreaders of virulent viruses, for example, could face a year in prison. And those caught stealing information could receive a maximum of five years in the slammer. http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=10212 - - - - - - - - - - New Worm Spoofs Google Security researchers at Panda Software say they have discovered a new worm that generates a spoofed version of Google, the Web's most popular search engine. The company's PandaLabs unit reported late Friday that it had identified a worm it has labeled as P2Load.A that creates a fake Google site, and launches adware on infected computers. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1860688,00.asp http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/19/google_spoof_worm/ - - - - - - - - - - Zombies take hold of London London is the zombie capital of the world, with approximately 150,000 PCs secretly controlled by hackers, Symantec has revealed. And the UK - thanks mostly to the rapid growth of broadband - is officially the worst bot-infected place on the globe. Somewhat bizarrely the obscure city of Winsford in Cheshire is the world's second biggest hotspot for zombies, according to Symantec, followed by Seoul in Korea. http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=4422 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/19/symantec_zombie_threat/ - - - - - - - - - - IT panel toughens data theft, child porn law The new IT panel appointed by the Government has proposed radical changes to the Information Technology Act 2000 by proposing strict penalities for child pornography and video voyeurism. The expert committee headed by Information Technology Secretary Brijesh Kumar also said anyone accused of data theft will be punished with imprisonment of up to one year. http://www.siliconindia.com/shownewsdata.asp?newsno=29467 - - - - - - - - - - Cyber cons, not vandals, now behind viruses-report Computer hackers seeking financial gain rather than thrills or notoriety are increasingly flooding the Internet with malicious software code, according to a semi-annual report issued on Sunday. Symantec Corp.'s Internet Security Threat Report said during the first half of 2005 the number of new viruses targeting Microsoft Windows users jumped 48 percent to nearly 11,000 compared to the previous six months as hackers used new tools and a growing sophistication to create malicious code. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050919/tc_nm/security_symantec_dc;_ylt=;_ylu=u http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/hacking/story/0,10801,104762,00.html http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1860545,00.asp - - - - - - - - - - Hackers target net call systems Net phone systems could prove irresistible to hackers. Malicious hackers are turning their attention to the technology behind net phone calls, says a report. The biannual Symantec Threat Report identified Voice over IP (Voip) systems as a technology starting to interest hi-tech criminals. The report predicted that within 18 months, Voip will start to be used as a "significant" attack vector. As well as prompting new attacks, Voip could also resurrect some old hacking techniques, warned the report. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4259554.stm Hackers thwart security by going small http://www.securityfocus.com/elsewhere/41193 - - - - - - - - - - Typosquatters Target Anti-Virus Vendors Internet typosquatters are registering misspelled domains of anti-virus vendors and making money by redirecting surfers with Google's AdSense pay-per-click program. The startling discovery was made by Finnish security vendor F-Secure Corp., a company that's being targeted in the elaborate scam. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1860661,00.asp http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5873001.html - - - - - - - - - - Citadel offers cybersecurity warranty Citadel Security Software has introduced Hercules SecurePlus, which may be the first insurance policy against financial losses caused by cyberattacks. http://www.fcw.com/article90856-09-19-05-Web - - - - - - - - - - AirDefense Launches Free Wi-Fi Security Tool The consumer version of AirDefense Personal agent allows the user to monitor a laptop's wireless connection for potential security risks. Consumers can track malicious or accidental wireless activities and wireless misconfigurations and close their wireless connection if a security threat is discovered. http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=10300002CC1B - - - - - - - - - - Imagine Widespread Anti-Phishing Use There are many anti-phishing tools for Windows, but they're all small-timers. That all changes with Internet Explorer 7. Jaded old jerks like me who are skeptical of everything don't need anti-phishing software. I don't trust anyone, let alone some vendor sending me an e-mail. But anti-phishing software is definitely a good thing, and I have high hopes for it. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1860483,00.asp - - - - - - - - - - Mac users deluding themselves over security, says Symantec Mac users are "operating under a false sense of security", according to Symantec, and Firefox users will have to recognise that the open-source browser is currently a greater security risk than Internet Explorer. Symantec's latest Internet Security Threat Report, published today, found evidence that attackers are beginning to organise for attacks on the Mac operating system. http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=4431 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/19/symantec_threat_report/ Q: Which is better, Windows or Linux security? http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=4429 Security officers must change or die http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/employment/0,39020648,39218825,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Why is Application Security so Elusive? Ever wonder why it is so difficult to get your hands on high-quality applications? CIO Update guest columnist Ed Adams of Security Innovation has a few answers. Consumer and business products that we use every day -- calculators, lawnmowers, stoves -- are very robust and meet or even exceed industry and legal standards. And, although they might fail from time to time, I remain comfortable using them. http://www.it-observer.com/news.php?id=5486 - - - - - - - - - - Ciphering Out Security Recent headlines underscore the need for data encryption, and the idea is slowly gathering steam in businesses. Here's a look at various approaches taken by early adopters. The past few months have seen a torrent of stories about corporate mismanagement of customer data. Backup tapes that were lost by the likes of Bank of America Corp., Citibank, Ameritrade Holding Corp. and Time Warner Inc. contained the personal data of millions of customers. Nobody wants that kind of press. http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,104675,00.html Sidebar: Cryptic Differences http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,104676,00.html Tools Aim to Give IT More Time for Testing Patches http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,104731,00.html Sidebar: OS Security Remains a Top Priority http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,104734,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Crave privacy? New tech knocks out digital cameras Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have come up with an inexpensive way to prevent digital cameras and digital video cameras from capturing that secret shot. The technology they've devised detects the presence of a digital camera up to 33 feet away and can then shoot a targeted beam of light at the lens, according to Shwetak Patel, a grad student at the university and one of the lead researchers on the project. http://news.com.com/Crave+privacy+New+tech+knocks+out+digital+cameras/2100-7337_3-5869832.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.