NewsBits for March 15, 2006 sponsored by Digital Investigation - The International Journal of Digital Forensics & Incident Response - www.digitalinvestigation.net ************************************************************ Spyware-for-hire couple plead guilty Israeli prison looms for Haephratis An Israeli couple faces prison after confessing to the development and sale of a spyware Trojan horse that helped private investigators snoop on their clients' business competitors. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/15/spyware_trojan_guilty_plea/ - - - - - - - - - - Child porn ring busted, 27 face charges Molestation on demand reportedly offered via Internet chat room. Charges were announced Wednesday against 27 people in the United States, Canada, Australia and Great Britain in connection with an Internet chat room allegedly used to trade child porn and view real-time child molestation. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11839832/ http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/14105658.htm http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/03/15/childporn.arrests/index.html Global child porn probe led to false accusations http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/MSN/world/national/2006/03/14/landslide-porn060314.html - - - - - - - - - - Child-porn probe nets more suspects Two more people face child-porn charges in the Halifax region, bringing the number up to eight so far this year. A three-member police task force was created in April 2003 to investigate child pornography cases in Nova Scotia. Last year, there were 12 child- porn charges. http://www.cbc.ca/ns/story/ns-childporn20060314.html - - - - - - - - - - U.S. man faces child porn charges An Indiana man faces child pornography charges after customs officials discovered a DVD containing pictures of nude young girls after he landed at Ottawa Airport. http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=8f2fd627-eaa7-4db8-bd3c-e06c7d95ff66&k=7467 - - - - - - - - - - Kalamazoo man arrested for using peer-to-peer software to trade child pornography A news conference will be held Wednesday detailing the arrest of a Kalamazoo man in connection with an international child pornography ring. http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4631643 - - - - - - - - - - Deputy fired after charge of possessing child porn Possessing child pornography is the latest charge facing a Collier County sheriffs deputy, capping off what has already been a tumultuous month for the Sheriffs Office. http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/mar/15/deputy_fired_after_charge_possessing_child_porn/ - - - - - - - - - - How cell phone helped cops nail key murder suspect No one saw the fiend who dumped Imette St. Guillen's body by the muddy shoulder of a dead-end Brooklyn road. But a tall, blue electronic sentinel stands just around the bend and sources say it puts prime suspect Darryl Littlejohn at the scene about 2 1/2 hours before St. Guillen's corpse was found. The NYPD traced Littlejohn to that lonely corner of East New York, off the Belt Parkway, by tracing the invisible "pings" that his T-Mobile cell phone sent to the antenna-studded tower, sources said. http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/399892p-338804c.html - - - - - - - - - - Google porn probe compromise imminent A federal judge said Tuesday he intends to require Google Inc. to turn over some information to the Department of Justice in its quest to revive a law making it harder for children to see online pornography. U.S. District Judge James Ware did not immediately say whether the data will include words that users entered into the Internet's leading search engine. http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/03/14/google.hearing.ap/index.html - - - - - - - - - - Americans Want Banks To Spy On Their Accounts Nine out of 10 Americans want their banks to monitor their online accounts for signs of suspicious behavior, much as credit card companies do now, according to a survey conducted by security vendor RSA Security. http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml;j?articleID=181503699 - - - - - - - - - - Slobodan Trojan poses as murder pics Windows security killer on the loose. Emails purporting to prove that the recently deceased former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic was killed contain a malicious Trojan, called Dropper-FB. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/15/slobodan_trojan/ - - - - - - - - - - RFID tags can be infected with a virus Dutch researchers have warned that RFID tags small microchips, which can be used to tag products or animals - can be infected with computer viruses. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/15/rfid_tags_infected_by_virus/ http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,109560,00.html http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11837702/ http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2152020/experts-unconcerned-rfid-virus http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/ptech/03/15/rfid.virus.reut/index.html http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2152061/researchers-craft-first-rfid - - - - - - - - - - Users hit by extortion Trojan Anti-virus experts have discovered a new file encryption Trojan that zips up its victims files before demanding $300 to have them unscrambled. Variously identified as Zippo and Cryzip by anti-virus companies, the Trojan is believed to be infecting users PCs either after visiting infected websites, or by arriving as an attachment in their email inbox. http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=5574 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39257682,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Apple Misses Bugs, Offers Fix Apple is sending out its second security update for Mac OS X in as many weeks, including follow-up fixes to bugs thought to have been patched on March 1st. http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml;j?articleID=181503692 Tribble on Apple's security troubles http://news.com.com/Tribble+on+Apples+security+troubles/2008-1002_3-6049822.html - - - - - - - - - - Adobe fixes critical Flash vulnerabilities Adobe Systems Inc. has patched a number of critical vulnerabilities in its Flash media player that could be used by attackers to take over an affected system. The bugs are severe enough that Microsoft Corp., which distributes the Flash software with its Windows operating system, has also warned its customers of the issue. http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/holes/story/0,10801,109579,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft issues Office patch Microsoft has issued two security updates for its Windows and Office products, including a patch that fixes a number of critical vulnerabilities found in the Office suite. In an advisory Microsoft said that its update fixes bugs in a variety of Office products, including Microsoft Office XP, Office 2003, Works Suite, and Office X for Mac. But the "critical" security rating - Microsoft's most serious - applies only to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook 2000, or Office 2000. http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=5571 Microsoft: Beware of Malformed Excel Files http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1937775,00.asp - - - - - - - - - - Aussie consumers fearful of Net security Only two percent of home Internet users believe the Net is safe, according to a new survey commissioned by security vendor Symantec. The survey, querying 518 people, also found that close to half of all respondents believed their banking and personal details are not safe either. http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=30863 - - - - - - - - - - Biometrics unreliable, says EU privacy head European Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx criticized governments' fondness for biometrics to identify citizens and warned that greater interoperability of databases may have serious implications for people. http://news.com.com/Biometrics+unreliable%2C+says+EU+privacy+head/2100-1029_3-6050024.html - - - - - - - - - - Government ID Card claims deflated Biometric data open to abuse, says EU data supervisor. Biometric data employed for identification purposes could be misused and lead to "function creep", the European Data Protection Supervisor has warned. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/15/biometric_data_open_to_abuse/ - - - - - - - - - - Human rights and wrongs online 'Censorship' or 'protecting citizens'? A government's position on censorship used to protect its citizenry is dictated by who they are. The well-popularised censorship of internet content in China by Google and other big players, and criticism of this by the US government, is really just the tip of the iceberg. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/15/internet_censorship_versus_protection/ - - - - - - - - - - Police bloggers take softly softly approach A policeman's blog is not a happy one. Blogs written by police officers are getting harder to find as the release of guidelines is deterring many officers from writing about their experiences online. Over the past few years a number of police blogs have been started, including You're Nicked, World Weary Detective, Diary of a Bow Street Runner and Cough the Lot. http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2151977/police-blogs-shut-fears-careers - - - - - - - - - - Codebreakers unravel second Enigma intercept M4 Project targets last naval cipher A distributed computing project has successfully cracked the second of three unbroken Enigma intercepts dating back to World War II. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/15/m4_project_message_break/ - - - - - - - - - - DARPA targets al-Qaeda with spook cyberfly Hybrid Insect-MEMS X project. Geek entomologists stand by your beds: the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is looking for research proposals in the area of Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems, aka HI-MEMS - remote-controlled cyberinsects capable of being "delivered" to within five metres of Osama bin Laden from a control distance of one hundred metres. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/15/cyber_insect/ ************************************************************ Digital Investigation is the international journal of digital forensics and incident response. To apply for a free sample copy visit: http://www.digitalinvestigation.net *********************************************************** 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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