NewsBits for February 2, 2006 ************************************************************ Japanese man places Internet order to kill father A Japanese has been arrested for allegedly ordering the murder of his wheelchair-bound father by hiring an amateur hitman on an Internet bulletin board, police said Wednesday. Tomitaka Nomoto, 49 and unemployed, had a history of beating his 76-year-old father Tsutomu, said, quoting their neighbors in Matsumoto city of central Nagano prefecture. http://news.inq7.net/express/html_output/20060201-64787.xml.html - - - - - - - - - - Former Boys Club Official Pleads Guilty To Child Porn Charges A former Boys Club official has pleaded guilty to possession and distribution of child pornography. Salvatore Frederick Rubino, 67, of Laguna Niguel was sentenced to 270 days in a work furlough program and must register as a sex offender. http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/6679244/detail.html - - - - - - - - - - $6 million pirating ring alleged Federal prosecutors Wednesday charged 19 members of an alleged software- and movie- pirating ring with stealing more than $6.5 million in copyrighted material. The group, known among members as RISCISO, is accused of copying and sharing pirated films, software and video games through password-protected sites on the Internet, authorities said. U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald said the group, founded in 1993, collected a staggering amount of pirated material. On a single server, the group stored more than 23,000 CD-ROMs of movies, songs, games and software, the indictment alleges. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-060201pirate,1,4091855.story http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/cybercrime/story/0,10801,108288,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Three cuffed during London raids Kent police and the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) seized 100,000 fake DVDs and arrested three men during an operation yesterday, the BBC reports. Two Chinese men were arrested in Burnt Oak, north London, and another in Peckham, south of the river. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/02/dvd_operation_busted/ - - - - - - - - - - Man caught with more than 150 pirate DVDs A man selling pirated DVDs mistakenly thought he could hide behind a veil of ignorance when a council's officers served him with a notice. The Lambeth Trading Standards officers handed the Chinese trader a notice written in Mandarin and confiscated the counterfeit goods. More than 150 bootleg DVDs were seized from the seller. They were examined and among the haul of pirated new cinema releases were discs depicting child abuse. http://www.24dash.com/content/news/viewNews.php?navID=7&newsID=2820 - - - - - - - - - - Kama Sutra: the final countdown Da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-daaaa... The destructive Kama Sutra worm has begun thrashing files on infected machines with incorrectly set system clocks. Even though the worm is programmed to first delete files on infected machines on Friday (February 3), its deadline is based on the clock of infected Windows PCs. Finnish anti-virus firm F-Secure says it has already received two reports from users who've had files on their system overwritten by the worm. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/02/kama_sutra_final_warning/ Fake F-Secure e-mail contains malware http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,108300,00.html http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2149633/virus-threat-phoney-f-secure What will happen tomorrow with your PC? http://www.crime-research.org/news/02.02.2006/1797/ http://smh.com.au/news/breaking/dday-for-virus/2006/02/02/1138836358969.html Nyxem worm poised to wreak havoc http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2149645/fears-grow-potential-virus - - - - - - - - - - Verizon wins injunction in spam case Verizon Wireless, the No. 2 U.S. mobile phone service, said on Wednesday it had won a permanent injunction to prevent a Florida company from sending unsolicited text messages to its customers phones. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-6034104.html - - - - - - - - - - Lawmakers promise action against phone-record sales House committee members decry practice, but industry warns against haste. Members of a U.S. House of Representatives committee yesterday promised fast action to outlaw the sale of telephone and mobile phone call logs. Lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee were united in their call to take some kind of action against businesses that sell phone records without the permission of the telephone customer. http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,108297,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Flood of fakes: Counterfeits inundate high-tech market Counterfeit goods have long been hidden in the back alleys of the business underworld. But now counterfeiting has invaded the high-tech industry so brazenly that scammers are hawking sleek fakes of DVD players, MP3 players and other hot products to potential buyers at trade shows, retail stores and online. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/13772428.htm - - - - - - - - - - It's Time to Arrest Cyber Crime As the bad guys get ever more sophisticated, even more ambitious efforts to thwart them are needed. Here are some tips. Last year for the first time, proceeds from cyber crime were greater than proceeds from the sale of illegal drugs, according to recent comments by Valerie McNiven, an adviser to the U.S. Treasury Dept. "Cyber crime is moving at such a high speed that law enforcement cannot catch up with it," she says. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2006/tc20060202_832554.htm British businesses not taking cybercrime seriously http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=5296 - - - - - - - - - - IT giants demand action on Chinese web censoring Microsoft and Yahoo look to US government to pressure China. Yahoo and Microsoft have urged the US government to act at an international level to stop foreign governments censoring the online content that their citizens can view and access. http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2149606/google-microsoft-call http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/01/MNG24H13K78.DTL Gates warns on the futility of censorship http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,39020369,39250157,00.htm Microsoft, Yahoo and Google snub China briefing http://www.vnunet.com/forbes/news/2149589/gates-microsoft-yahoo-google Tech Giants Accused of Bowing to China http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=002000001RUE - - - - - - - - - - Boston Globe in clueless security breach Two Massachusetts papers - the Boston Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette - have apologised after exposing the credit card details of up to 240,000 subscribers. Most of those affected were Globe readers. Information security breaches by major US corporations are becoming an almost weekly event but the breach involving the two papers, both part of the The New England Media Group owned by The New York Times, was especially boneheaded. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/02/globe_data_security_breach/ Giving newspaper readers some credit http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/124 - - - - - - - - - - Security glitch bites IE7 beta Researchers have discovered a security vulnerability in a preview version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) browser just days after its release. A denial of service bug in IE 7 beta 2 creates a means for a hacker to crash the software and potentially execute arbitrary malware on PCs running the code, according to security researcher Tom Ferris. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/02/ie7beta_vuln/ http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,108279,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Mozilla Plugs Firefox 1.5 Security Gaps The Mozilla Foundation has shipped the first patch for its flagship Firefox 1.5 browser to plug a series of security vulnerabilities and memory leaks. The open-source group has started pushing out Firefox 1.5.0.1 as an automatic update and recommended that all users apply the upgrade to protect against a known denial-of-service bug and several undisclosed security issues. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1918087,00.asp http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6034374.html - - - - - - - - - - County courthouse becomes first for high-technology cases The San Mateo County Court was named the first Bay Area courthouse dedicated to high technology cases and other lawsuits deemed complex. By creating a special court just for complex litigation, San Mateo Superior Court is able to proactively address the unique requirements of these special cases and provide the necessary resources, stated Presiding Judge George A. Miram in an announcement of the designation. http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=50646 - - - - - - - - - - Biometrics use to accelerate in 2006 Electronic passports have driven technological improvements in biometrics and will pave the way for greater commercial use of it in 2006, IT services company Unisys predicted. "Traveler security is driving the adoption of biometrics much faster than commercial pressures would have," Terry Hartmann, director of secure identification http://news.com.com/Biometrics+use+to+accelerate+in+2006/2100-1029_3-6034384.html NIST finalizes biometric specification for HSPD-12 http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/38173-1.html http://www.fcw.com/article92184-02-02-06-Web - - - - - - - - - - Malicious Malware: attacking the attackers, part 2 This article explores measures to attack those malicious attackers who seek to harm our legitimate systems. The proactive use of exploits and bot networks that fight other bot networks, along with social engineering and attacker techniques are all discussed in an ethical manner. Part two of two. http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1857 Malicious Malware: attacking the attackers, part 1 http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1856 - - - - - - - - - - Understanding the Roles of Server 2003 Security Policies Using policy-based mechanisms to secure your systems and network. Windows domains rely on policy-based security mechanisms, but Windows security policy deployment can be confusing to the uninitiated. What's the difference between the local security policy, domain security policy and domain controller security policies? When and how do you use each? How do you use site GPOs and OU GPOs for best security, and how do they all interact together? http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,108301,00.html - - - - - - - - - - DOJ skeptical of exemptions to a BlackBerry injunction As a potential shutdown of the popular handheld BlackBerry devices and network looms, the Justice Department is still not convinced that government users can be easily exempted from a possible injunction. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/38167-1.html NTP Asks Federal Judge To Turn Off BlackBerrys http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/01/AR2006020102202.html - - - - - - - - - - Super Bowl security to use sensor fusion to fight WMD threats The Michigan National Guard will be field testing devices for the U.S. Army. As some 65,000 football fans gather at Ford Field in Detroit Sunday for this years Super Bowl XL, Michigan National Guard troops will be patrolling the stadium and nearby neighborhoods with handheld computers and special sensors tied together in a uniform system to fight terrorist threats. http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,108304,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Mobile phone tracking, girlfriend stalking and the law A service has launched in the UK which allows you to track any mobile phone around the globe and follow its movements from your own computer. The Guardian ran a feature on it yesterday called 'How I stalked my girlfriend'. It painted a scary picture. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/02/mobile-phone_tracking/ *********************************************************** 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 2000-2006, NewsBits.net, Campbell, CA.