December 1, 1999 Witness request denied for ex-Infoseek exec A federal judge denied a former Infoseek executive's request to call an expert witness who would testify about Internet addiction and how the fantasy world of online chatrooms is understood among participants as a place for adults who assume different identities. http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/business/docs/naughton01.htm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Virus is on the loose Worm returns, strikes at least a dozen large companies and wipes out files. A destructive virus that hit last summer made a comeback Tuesday by striking at least a dozen large companies, wiping out files on employees' hard drives and causing headaches for tech support staffs. The virus is essentially a replica of the Worm.ExploreZip virus that arrived last June. This time around, though, a clever hacker disguised the virus using a different technology to shrink the size of the file, allowing it to slip past anti-virus programs. http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/business/docs/virus01.htm http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2402114,00.html http://www.networkworld.com/news/1999/1201zip2.html http://www.techserver.com/noframes/story/0,2294,500063551-500105149-500470485-0,00.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Police recover stolen goods by bidding on eBay Having all but given up hope of recovering a prayer shawl and other religious items stolen from his car, Morris Sochaccewski took the advice of a friend and looked for the items online. Sure enough, on the online auction site eBay, he found what he was looking for: ``Beautiful Hebrew Prayer Set in 2 blue velvet pouches,'' read the description. A few clicks and a $395 bid later, Officer Ken Driscoll arrived at the seller's home, eight blocks from Sochaccewski's house. http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/047312.htm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - New York Times Co. fires 23 for offensive e-mail More than 20 employees of The New York Times Company have been fired for sending what the company considered "inappropriate and offensive" e-mail. Russell Lewis, president and chief executive, and Cynthia Augustine, senior vice president for human resources, sent a memo to all employees telling them of the firings. "While the Company does not routinely monitor the e-mail communications of employees, we do investigate when a violation of the company's e-mail policy is reported," the memo said. "Such a case occurred recently ... and as a result, more than 20 individuals have been terminated for violation of our e-mail policy." http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/body/0,1634,500063508-500105093-500469259-0,00.html (NY Times article, free registration required) http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/01nytimes-email-firings.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - E-mail Interception Fine An Internet bookseller, which also operated an Internet service provider (ISP), has been sentenced in federal court for intercepting electronic communications and the unauthorized possession of password files. The case against Emeryville, Calif.-based Alibris, which is thought to be the first of its type, involved one company intercepting e-mail from Amazon.com and others to book dealers without the authorization of the dealers concerned. http://www.currents.net/newstoday/99/12/01/news8.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hacker breaks into secretary of state's site The state attorney general's office confirmed Monday it has started a criminal investigation into the hacking of the secretary of state's website. Chief Deputy Attorney General Kevin Higgins, in charge of the high-tech crime prevention program, said it is the first case of its kind to come to his attention. http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/archives/1999/nov/30/509415391.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Pentagon planners gird for cyber assault In a large windowless room of a nondescript office building a few miles from the Pentagon, the war of the future is being waged. The field of battle is several dozen flat-screen computer monitors that show Department of Defense communications. Six screens display selected computer traffic, though one during a recent visit was tuned to the Weather Channel. If fears of a concerted cyber attack on the U.S. military are realized - what Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre has called an "electronic Pearl Harbor" - this room, the Global Network Operations and Security Center, is where the battle will be won. Or lost. http://www.phillynews.com/inquirer/99/Dec/01/front_page/CYBER01.htm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Handle on hackers Bedford firm seeks security standard with software-weakness list. Before the invention of the periodic table in 1869, chemists struggled to put elements such as hydrogen and lithium into a coherent classification scheme. Today, parts of the field of computer science now seem stuck with the same lack of organization. In particular there is little agreement among software security specialists on just how to classify the sections of computer code that are often targeted by hackers. http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/335/business/Handle_on_hackers+.shtml - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Cursing cursors: Responding to an outcry over the privacy implications of its software, Comet Systems announced Tuesday it would allow customers to delete a serial number the company was using to track them across the Net. http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/076537.htm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Bergen Brunswig to auction drugs over the internet Drug and medical products distributor Bergen Brunswig Corp. unveiled on Wednesday a new Web site that is the first to auction pharmaceuticals, as well as other health care supplies, to hospitals and doctors. http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/1140371l.htm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Egg admits another personal data blunder Tormented online bank Egg has admitted that until a fortnight ago it was standard practice to send out customers credit-card numbers and other personal data in unencrypted mails. The revelation comes a day after it was discovered that an Egg customer's bank account was illegally accessed by another Egg user. http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/1999/47/ns-11873.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Bubbleboy virus is wild, no danger yet Bubbleboy spreads through the Net... The dreaded Bubbleboy virus has been found on the Internet according to Russian based anti-virus company, Kaspersky. The virus, which was sent to anti-virus companies earlier this month, was hailed as a revolution in virus writing because it does not require the victim to open any email to infect a computer. http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/1999/47/ns-11874.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Asia urged to stop crime via Internet Asian nations should take action to prevent criminals using the Internet to launder their ill-gotten money, a leading Thai research institute said yesterday. The Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) warned that quick action was needed to prevent Internet money laundering, as e-commerce gains popularity throughout the region. http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/biz/regb4_1201.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - E-Commerce & Security Top List E-business and information security will be the two most critical technologies of the new millennium according to a just released survey of information officers (IO) from government agencies and the public sector. The survey, conducted by Computer Sciences Corporation, forms part of the company's 12th Annual Critical Issues of Information Systems Management Study. http://www.currents.net/newstoday/99/12/01/news9.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - HotSynced for Crime William Gibson once said, "The street has its own uses for technology." It's proven true of the Palm Pilot. Last week, 26-year-old Bloomingdale's cashier Tania Ventura was charged with four felonies for allegedly using her portable electronic organizer and an attached magnetic stripe reader to surreptitiously copy customer's credit card information for what are presumed to be less than altruistic purposes. http://www.zdnet.com/zdtv/cybercrime/chaostheory/story/0,3700,2401966,00.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hack or Hoax? Forget about post-Thanksgiving Day shopping; play America's favorite interactive CyberCrime game! Do you know your hacker history and current events? Here's a chance to test your wits. Below, we'll give you the description of a hack (leaving aside how that term should be defined), and then you decide whether it really happened (HACK!) or we're just blowing smoke (HOAX!). Let the games begin. http://www.zdnet.com/zdtv/cybercrime/features/story/0,3700,2126414,00.html