NewsBits for April 14, 2006 ************************************************************ Best Buy's 'Geek Squad' Accused of Pirating Software A Texas software company sued Best Buy in federal court on Tuesday, alleging that the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer was using unlicensed versions of its diagnostic equipment. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,191593,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Police Identify Author Of "Pretty Girl" Computer Virus The creator of the "Pretty Girl" virus has been identified as a 21-year-old student in Hanoi. The quick moving virus infected over 20,000- computers in Vietnam this week. The girl whom authorities have refused to identify by name has since apologized via newspapers and to the police and called the cyber attack a 'study and research exercise trial.' However authorities are still trying to decide if to arrest the girl and what charges if any she will face. http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7003169956 Bug Bounties Exterminate Holes http://www.it-observer.com/news/6101/bug_bounties_exterminate_holes/ - - - - - - - - - - Evidence filed in child porn case Arrest connected to international ring A crown prosecutor filed evidence in court yesterday in the case of a Longueuil man arrested in connection with an international child pornography ring. http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=eb9fddbb-546f-4081-99d4-b8f30eb25e31&k=89920 - - - - - - - - - - Man could face federal child porn charges A registered sex offender appears headed to his fourth appearance before a federal judge. South Williamsport police said yesterday they will pursue federal charges against Robert Blakeslee, 63, of Williamsport, who was arrested Tuesday night inside a radio studio. Police said he was downloading child pornography at the time. http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1145006813139780.xml - - - - - - - - - - Working to keep the Web safe In the past six months in Santa Rosa County, three adults have been arrested for allegedly soliciting undercover officers online. The Sheriff's Office has 23 active cases where officers have been contacted by adults thinking they were communicating with children. "It's a growing crime," Sheriff Wendell Hall said. "You cannot believe what goes on in some of those chat rooms." http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060414/NEWS01/604140334/1006 - - - - - - - - - - Report Details DMCA Misuses A new report from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) takes aim at the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a controversial law enacted seven years ago to protect intellectual property in the digital age. http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3599026 States seek levies on digital-media downloads http://news.com.com/2009-1022_3-6059914.html - - - - - - - - - - Beware of tax refund 'phishing' scams It's just the news that hardworking taxpayers want to see in their inbox: an update on their refund from the Internal Revenue Service. But instead of clicking on that e-mail's links, federal officials advise you to hit the delete key. http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/04/13/irsphishing/index.html - - - - - - - - - - Suspected Czech phishing mule busted Law enforcement authorities in Prague charged a man with assisting in fraud, after arresting him at a bank where he allegedly attempted to pick up cash wired to him by phishing victims. http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/186 - - - - - - - - - - Group protests e-mails blocked by AOL Critics of America Online Inc.'s proposed "pay-to-send" e-mail program were angered earlier this week when e-mail messages containing their www.DearAOL.com Web page links were automatically bounced back to senders by AOL's antispam filters. http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,110552,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Firefox update offers security fixes Internet Explorer users are not the only people patching browsers this week. Mozilla Corp. yesterday released a new version of its Firefox browser that adds native support for Apple Computer Inc.'s Mac OS X running on Intel Corp.'s processors, and contains a number of important security fixes for all Firefox users. http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,110541,00.html Security Updates for Firefox, Opera Browsers http://www.it-observer.com/news/6102/security_updates_firefox_opera_browsers/ - - - - - - - - - - Kaspersky releases mobile antivirus software beta Kaspersky Lab has released a beta version of mobile antivirus software for smart phones using the Symbian OS, it announced Thursday. The product, called Kaspersky Anti-Virus Mobile 2.0, can stop suspicious programs before they infect the phone and scan devices for malicious software, the company said. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,110553,00.html http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,125404,00.asp - - - - - - - - - - Symantec set to launch new storage, security products Jeremy Burton, who joined Symantec last year via the blockbuster merger with Veritas, has his hands full. As senior vice president of enterprise security and data management, he oversees about $2 billion worth of business. Burton spoke recently with Network World about how the merger is going and where Symantec is headed with its messaging management strategy. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,110544,00.html - - - - - - - - - - France launches electronic passports France has begun issuing electronic passports that will allow its citizens to travel to the United States without a visa, according to Amsterdam-based Axalto. The smart-card vendor is providing Frances printing office -- the Imprimerie Nationale -- with approximately 2 million electronic covers for the new passports this year (download PDF). http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,110559,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Heightening defenses against a costly invisible predator There's a shift that's taken place on the Internet. More and more people are concerned about who's lurking behind their computer screen. And for good reason. In North Carolina alone, there were about 15,500 fraud and identity theft complaints last year. The amount paid by North Carolina consumers totaled almost $11.5 million. http://washington.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2006/04/17/focus6.html - - - - - - - - - - Implementing Encryption Using .NET Framework With Visual Basic 6, you do all your operations on a file handle (#1 in this case), and it's up to you to manage this file handle. There isn't a single object that encapsulates the file operations; instead, there are a number of keywords (Open, Close, Input, and so on). http://www.it-observer.com/news/6099/implementing_encryption_using_net_framework/ Considering the Options for Data Encryption http://www.it-observer.com/news/6098/considering_options_data_encryption/ - - - - - - - - - - Terrorists' Web Chatter Shows Concern About Internet Privacy Terrorist groups, which for years have used the Internet and its various tools to organize and communicate, are paying more attention to addressing security and privacy concerns similar to those of other Web users, counterterrorism experts say. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/12/AR2006041201968.html - - - - - - - - - - Why piracy isn't going away in China Over the past few months, some of China's top PC manufacturers have pledged to purchase genuine Windows XP and other Microsoft Corp. products, in an effort to combat piracy in one of the areas where it is most prevalent. Yeah, so? http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,110554,00.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 2000-2006, NewsBits.net, Campbell, CA.