NewsBits for April 19, 2006 ************************************************************ 15 years of jailtime for computer crime A Littleton woman was sentenced to 15 years in prison today for embezzling more than $1.2 million from a commercial real estate investment firm in Lakewood where she worked. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4632736,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Fired employee sentenced for selling secrets A fired Corning Inc. employee was sentenced to four years in federal prison for stealing company trade secrets and selling them to a rival business in Taiwan. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/14378899.htm - - - - - - - - - - US spyware fraudster fined PS48,000 Product falsely claimed PCs were infected A US man has been fined almost PS48,000 for marketing a bogus anti-spyware program. http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2154310/spyware-fraudster-fined-48 - - - - - - - - - - Sex Offender Site Back Up The Maine Department of Public Safety restored its Web-based sex offender registry Monday, following the Easter-weekend slayings of two convicted sex offenders and the suicide of the alleged killer. http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-na-maine19apr19,1,7129633.story - - - - - - - - - - Dad feels safer in custody after being charged in child-porn case A 35-year-old father accused of participating in an international child pornography network said he feels safer remaining in custody during the legal proceedings. Lawyer Emmanuel Ayotte told Quebec court Judge Guy Lambert that his client feels safer remaining in jail. The accused was arrested March 23 after being identified by police during a Canadian investigation. The network was initially uncovered in Edmonton. The information was then sent to Toronto and Longueuil, Que. http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/497807.html - - - - - - - - - - Lafayette High Coach Arrested A Lafayette High track coach is in jail after being arrested for allegedly trying to solicit sex from a juvenile over the internet. Iowa police say the arrest was part of a department sting that began Monday. http://www.klfy.com/Global/story.asp?S=4787167 - - - - - - - - - - Warrants released in Allegan County child porn case A warrant obtained by 24 Hour News 8 takes us inside the Allegan County Case where it's alleged a number of kids were sexually abused. 24 Hour News 8 is not disclosing the names of the suspects in this case, because they are related to the alleged victims. The seven child victims are now in custody of the state. http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4787092 - - - - - - - - - - Man faces child porn charges A Westbrook man has been released on $100,000 bail after police arrested him last week and charged him with 25 felony counts of possession of child pornography. http://www.keepmecurrent.com/Community/story.cfm?storyID=17635 - - - - - - - - - - Suspect in Child Porn in Court 4 years ago, what was believed to be child porn, was discovered by someone going through garbage bins in the 17 hundred block of Avenue C North. When police had gone through all the garbage they discovered 6 hundred 17 floppy disks and numerous documents. http://www.saskatoonhomepage.ca/news_view_story_2147496304.php?story_id=2147497317 - - - - - - - - - - Oz nails its first spammer Australia has convicted its first spammer under the country's tough anti-spam laws. Wayne Mansfield, and his company Clarity1, from Perth in Western Australia, were held liable for sending more than 56m spam messages in the 12 months following the introduction of Australia's Spam Act laws in April 2004 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/19/oz_spam_conviction/ - - - - - - - - - - Bill to Add Felony Child Pornographers to Megans Law Database Today, Senator Jim Battins (R- La Quinta) bill which would close an outrageous loophole exempting child pornographers from having to report to the Megans Law database passed the Senate Public Safety Committee with bi-partisan support and a 4-0 vote. http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=8291 - - - - - - - - - - Yahoo gave China information used to jail user Yahoo turned over a draft e-mail from one of its users to Chinese authorities, who used the information to jail the man on subversion charges, according to the verdict from his 2003 trial released Wednesday by a rights group. It was the third time the Internet company has been accused of helping put a Chinese user in prison. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/world/2006-04-19-yahoo-china-dissident_x.htm http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/04/19/yahoo.china.internet.reut/index.html http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12390324/ - - - - - - - - - - Groundwork for cybersecurity R&D agenda begins The Bush administration has drafted a federal plan to improve cybersecurity research and development. Yesterday, the National Science and Technology Council, a Cabinet-level body that coordinates governmentwide science and technology policies, issued a preprint release of the Federal Plan for Cyber Security and Information Assurance Research and Development. http://www.fcw.com/article94110-04-18-06-Web - - - - - - - - - - Privacy rule compliance said to be diminishing Three years after federal rules governing privacy of patients medical records went into effect, compliance seems to have declined, according to an annual survey conducted by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). http://govhealthit.com/article94120-04-19-06-Web GAO hits agency info-sharing policy http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/40446-1.html - - - - - - - - - - DHS Bug Hunt Returns Mixed Reaction The results of a Homeland Security Department-funded bug hunt spanning 40 popular open-source programs has thus far met ambivalence from the open- source community. While many projects are using the results to improve their software, others are bemoaning the high number of false positives. http://www.gcn.com/print/25_8/40387-1.html - - - - - - - - - - Have Identity Thieves Got Your Number? Internet fraudsters are selling the credit- card details of hundreds of Britons each night by hacking into companies' computer systems. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,192169,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Kids outsmart Web filters Last November, Ryan, a high-school sophomore, figured out a way to outsmart the Web filters on a school PC in order to visit the off-limits MySpace.com while doing "homework" in the computer lab. http://news.com.com/Kids+outsmart+Web+filters/2009-1041_3-6062548.html - - - - - - - - - - Quantum cryptography record broken Scientists have reported an important speed breakthrough which brings closer the day when quantum encryption becomes a usable part of communications security. http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=5820 http://www.it-observer.com/news/6127/code_unbreakable_quantum_encryption/ http://software.silicon.com/security/0,39024655,39158161,00.htm Tape drive vendors hail crypto first http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=5819 Deniable File System http://www.it-observer.com/news/6130/deniable_file_system/ - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft releases SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 1 Microsoft Corp. released the first service pack for SQL Server 2005 today, fixing dozens of bugs and paving the way for more businesses to upgrade to its latest database software. http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,110663,00.html Microsoft to demo new patch tool http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=5817 BigFix Broadens Appeal of Patch Management Suite http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1950859,00.asp Gartner warns of Microsoft patch issues http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2154330/gartner-warns-issues-latest - - - - - - - - - - Update: Oracle offers security fixes, releases password tool Oracle Corp. has published a collection of software patches that address security vulnerabilities in a range of the company's products, including its database and application server software. As part of this update, it also released a tool designed to ferret out commonly used default passwords that theoretically could be misused by hackers. http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/holes/story/0,10801,110642,00.html Oracle releases bad password tool http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=5816 Oracle Plugs 36 Holes in Critical Patch Update http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1950801,00.asp - - - - - - - - - - MacScan 2.1 Anti-Spyware SecureMac has announced the release of MacScan 2.1, a major update to its anti-spyware program. MacScan 2.1 has been totally revamped and is now a Universal Application, which will run natively on both Intel and PowerPC- based Macintosh Computers. http://www.it-observer.com/news/6128/macscan_21_anti_spyware/ http://news.com.com/Apple+issues+Java+security+update/2100-1002_3-6062766.html - - - - - - - - - - DHS completes live test of e-passports The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced on Tuesday that the agency had completed initial testing of electronic passports, or e-passports, at San Francisco International Airport, but the latest security and privacy measures still may not satisfy critics of the technology. http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/189?ref=rss DHS Completes International e-Passport Live Test http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?content=5541 Private sector sees barriers to new identification system http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33863 No2ID plans passport protest to scupper ID cards http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/19/no2id_call/ Keeping tabs on citizens http://news.com.com/Keeping+tabs+on+citizens/2009-1028_3-6062873.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/legal/0,39020651,39264035,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - How to Steal Money with a Virus When talking about the Internet and associated technology, it is quite common to talk about cyberspace. A parallel universe, virtual and intangible, in which everything that exists in the real world can exist through a cable. Modern technologies have enabled the creation of this digital world in which any experience is possible. http://www.it-observer.com/articles/1117/how_steal_money_with_virus/ - - - - - - - - - - Analysis: Protecting yourself from an inside job In an effort to safeguard corporate data, businesses must consider threats from within as much as from outside. Ron Condon looks at the best ways to rein in staff. http://software.silicon.com/security/0,39024655,39158082,00.htm Senior UK execs pessimistic about IT security http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2154317/senior-uk-execs-pessimistic - - - - - - - - - - Social Engineering: The Biggest Risk to Internet Security The unfortunate bottom line of networking security problems is that hacking happens because it is allowed to happen. Most cases of fraud could have been prevented if people had just adhered to sensible protocols and properly implemented available security solutions. http://www.it-observer.com/news/6133/social_engineering_biggest_risk_internet_security/ - - - - - - - - - - Software insecurity: Plenty of blame to go around The reason software so often is not secure is the fault either of developers or of users. A free-wheeling debate on software security at the 2006 International Conference on Network Security in Reston today came to no clear consensus on responsibility for the disappointing quality of software. http://www.it-observer.com/news/6125/software_insecurity_plenty_blame_go_around/ - - - - - - - - - - Businesses Fail to Protect their Critical Data A survey by leading IT analyst firm, the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), has found that businesses need to do a better job of protecting their critical data. According to the survey of 227 security professionals, titled "Protecting Confidential Data", 47% said that more than half of their company's data can be classified as 'confidential'. http://www.it-observer.com/news/6134/businesses_fail_protect_their_critical_data/ Scalable DRM Protects Sensitive Documents on the Network http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,110610,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Great Hackers Make the Worst Developers Good programmers are what make a software company. Not just good programmers, mind you, they have to be great hackers, rock stars, the best. Great hackers are three times, five times, maybe even 10 times more productive than the merely average. http://www.it-observer.com/news/6129/great_hackers_make_worst_developers/ - - - - - - - - - - Watch Out, Kids: With GPS Phones, Big Mother Is Watching Ever since the first telecom engineer figured out how to cram a Global Positioning System receiver into a cellphone, people have worried about how "They" might exploit those features. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/18/AR2006041801604.html - - - - - - - - - - No green light for driver with traffic signal gadget 'That thing paid for itself' A man who said he bought a device that allowed him to change stop lights from red to green received a $50 ticket for suspicion of interfering with a traffic signal. http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/18/traffic.changer.ap/index.html - - - - - - - - - - Porn Industry Again at the Tech Forefront Downloads for TV will be offered. Hollywood may be looking at its own digital future. A top producer of hard-core porn will start selling downloadable movies that customers can burn to DVD and watch on their TVs, illustrating how Southern California's multibillion-dollar adult entertainment industry may again set the technological pace for Hollywood. (LA Times article, free registration required) http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-porn19apr19,1,7787275.story *********************************************************** 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. 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