NewsBits for February 22, 2006 ************************************************************ Man hacked into KTB card base DSI The Department of Special Investigation arrested a Malaysian man yesterday for allegedly stealing credit-card information from Krung Thai Bank by using telephone wiretaps to hack into its database. Director-general Sombat Amornwiwat said Lee Kian Sin had caused more than Bt100 million in damage to the bank, which had kept the information theft a secret to avoid causing panic among its cardholders. http://nationmultimedia.com/2006/02/22/national/national_20001342.php - - - - - - - - - - N.H. state server eyed in possible credit card data breach A state IT worker has been placed on leave in connection with the incident. The FBI, the Department of Justice and New Hampshire officials are investigating a potential security breach after the Cain & Abel computer worm was found on a state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) server during a routine security check last week. http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,108896,00.html - - - - - - - - - - European police shut down file-sharing server Swiss and Belgian police have shut down a major component of the eDonkey file- sharing network, used mainly to trade copies of copyrighted movies and music, the Motion Picture Association said on Wednesday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11500439/ Euro cops seize Razorback P2P servers http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/02/22/cops_close_razorback2/ - - - - - - - - - - Senior faces more child porn charges A 63-year-old Ottawa man faces numerous charges after a second child pornography raid. Police searched an Ottawa home yesterday and seized a laptop computer, computer disks and videotapes alleged to contain evidence of child pornography. The same man had been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography on Jan. 29 after three computer hard drives, 184 computer disks and videotapes were seized, police said. http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2006/02/22/1456051-sun.html - - - - - - - - - - Music Teacher Indicted For Child Porn A music teacher awaiting trial on charges he made sexual advances toward one of his students was indicted Tuesday on dozens of additional sex-crime felonies. A Rockingham County grand jury indicted William Liddle of Port Republic on 40 counts of possessing child pornography. The new charges stem from child pornography found on computer equipment seized from Liddles home in July, according to multiple warrants filed in Rockingham County Circuit Court. http://www.dnronline.com/news_details.php?AID=3106&CHID=2 - - - - - - - - - - Child porn magnate shocks judge Sentencing arguments in Joliette court yesterday for Pierre Landreville, a man at the centre of an international child porn ring and actually tracked down in the Montreal-area by Swiss police. The judge was shown just a fraction of the evidence against the 44-year-old man, found on his computer: some 10,000 photos of young children, sometimes babies in sexually explicit poses, about 350 videos of the same genre and over 100 documents showing scenes of bestiality. http://www.940news.com/locale.php?news=2146 - - - - - - - - - - Nude-photo site wins injunction against Google update A federal judge has ruled that portions of Google's popular image search feature, which displays small thumbnail versions of images found on other Web sites, likely violate U.S. copyright law. U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz ruled Friday that Perfect 10, an adult-oriented Web site featuring "beautiful natural women" in the nude, has shown that Google image search probably infringes copyright law "by creating and displaying thumbnail copies of its photographs." http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6041724.html No Googling Perfect 10's Nudes http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70260-0.html Google loses image search copyright case http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/legal/0,39020651,39253737,00.htm Justice Department's assault on Google to backfire? http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6041581.html - - - - - - - - - - Gutierrez says China must stop buying pirated computer software The administration is not satisfied with China's progress in cracking down on rampant piracy of American copyrighted material, and one of the biggest offenders is the Chinese government, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said Wednesday. Gutierrez said it was "absolutely unacceptable" that a vast amount of the computer software in use in Chinese government agencies is counterfeit. http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/2006-02-22-china-piracy_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - China plans spam crackdown Spam and phishing International governments Asia. China is launching an offensive against spam e-mail, a problem the country has become associated with in recent years. But critics suggest the effort may achieve very little in its task of limiting the amount of spam leaving and circulating within the country. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6042067.html - - - - - - - - - - Yahoo! unbans! Allah! - Thank god for that! The Reg was contacted yesterday by a reader - Ed Callahan - who was having trouble registering his mum - Linda Callahan - for a Verizon email address - provided through a Yahoo! portal. But Yahoo! got in touch with us this morning to say it is now accepting Yahoo! identities which contain the letters "allah". The Callahans will be overjoyed. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/22/yahoo_unbans_allah/ - - - - - - - - - - Privacy group: U.S. laws needed to rein in surveillance The gap between spy capabilities and the law is growing daily. U.S. laws haven't kept up with the government's ability to use technology to spy on people, according to a report issued today by the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT). http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,108897,00.html - - - - - - - - - - 58 percent of users targeted by phishing Experts at SophosLabs, Sophos's global network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centres, are warning of a phishing onslaught facing PC users, with more than one fifth now receiving five or more every day. http://www.crime-research.org/news/02.22.2006/1840/ - - - - - - - - - - More security problems bite Apple Security flaws in Apple software could leave users vulnerable. Experts have uncovered a serious security bug in the way Apple software handles downloaded files. The flaw could give malicious attackers a back door into Mac computers if users visit carefully crafted websites and download booby-trapped files. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4739432.stm Unpatched Mac OS X hole poses critical risk http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/22/macosx_vuln/ - - - - - - - - - - Security fears over London's blanket Wi-Fi McAfee has claimed that a plan to cover London's Square Mile with Wi-Fi could put corporate data at risk, but The Cloud insists it is using the best security around. Security company McAfee on Tuesday raised security concerns over the City of London's plan to install a Wi-Fi network throughout the Square Mile. Bills would boost unlicensed Wi-Fi http://news.com.com/2100-7351_3-6041585.html - - - - - - - - - - Vulnerabilities seen in embedded databases A security analyst has warned that embedded databases, such as SleepyCat's, could cause users future problems. Ted Julian, vice president of marketing at New York-based Application Security, Oracle's recent purchase of SleepyCat said, Embedded databases are completely overlooked, yet they represent a soft underbelly. You could have sensitive technical information such as configuration data stored on a router or customer information on a piece of software. http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=5425 - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft Mistakenly Leaks Vista Information Microsoft Corp. prematurely posted information about its much-anticipated Windows Vista operating system on one of its websites, the company said. On a help page under development, the company disclosed information about a plan to release eight editions of the operating system. Microsoft has since taken down the site and declined to confirm the information. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-02-22-microsoft-vista_x.htm http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-briefs22.1feb22,1,2254668.story http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=11200002S840 Microsoft opens window for new Vista test http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9590_22-6042019.html Windows Vista is for businesses - honest http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/22/windows_vista_busienss_users/ Microsoft looks for 'protection' money http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6041818.html - - - - - - - - - - Kaspersky AV update troubles Microsoft users Kaspersky Labs and Microsoft have recovered from an error that caused significant email troubles for some users of Microsoft's Antigen email security software. Antigen users started receiving updates for their Kaspersky Labs antivirus engine again on Tuesday. http://software.silicon.com/security/0,39024655,39156652,00.htms http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/applications/0,39020384,39253749,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Linux Patch testing Critical to the concept of patch management is testing. When applied indiscriminately, patches can override working drivers, break existing software, and change the links to key files. They may introduce new features that override services on which you rely. Best practices suggest that you test every patch before installing it on production computers. Ideally, you'll have one or more extra computers available for this purpose. http://www.it-observer.com/news/5759/linux_patch_testing/ Linux Kernel Security in a Nutshell http://www.it-observer.com/news/5760/linux_kernel_security_nutshell/ - - - - - - - - - - State Department unveils trial of electronic passports The State Department on Friday announced it has started issuing electronic passports on a trial basis. Diplomats received the first e-passports containing radio frequency "contactless chips" and face recognition technology in late December. http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33436 ePassports start their travels Biometric rollout on target. The first ePassports, which feature personal information stored on a computer chip, have been issued. According to the Home Office, ePassports are now being issued by the Foreign Office in Washington, and stocks are being built up for other offices, with the public likely to start getting them from April. http://www.silicon.com/publicsector/0,3800010403,39156620,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Perspective: Ducking a bullet over data encryption In a legal decision that could have broad implications for financial institutions, a court ruled recently that a student loan company was not negligent and did not have a duty under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley statute to encrypt a customer database on a laptop computer that fell into the wrong hands. Intrigued? Read on. http://news.com.com/Ducking+a+bullet+over+data+encryption/2010-7355_3-6042090.html - - - - - - - - - - Round up all the Fortescues! DNA crime scene surname matching Are you the owner of this surname, sir? DNA could be used by police, today's public prints tell us, to 'predict the name of suspects', according to a new study from the University of Leicester Department of Genetics. And indeed it could, but only up to a point, and the way the police would do it involves different, slightly worrying, ways of looking at the data, rather than any new gosh-wow breakthrough in DNA analysis. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/22/dna_surname_matching/ - - - - - - - - - - New FBI computer system already more costly than failed predecessor The FBI's latest attempt to modernize its computers is running behind schedule and its budget already has exceeded the cost of the last failed effort. FBI Director Robert Mueller and other officials have refused to disclose the anticipated cost of the Sentinel program, which won't be fully in place until 2009. But the FBI has set aside $97 million for it this year and is asking for an additional $100 million in the government spending year that begins Oct. 1. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/13934791.htm *********************************************************** 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.