December 31, 1999 Defacements on other side of midnight Australia and New Zealand see minor date-stamping problems, plus 'spray painting' of some Web sites in a so-far-quiet launch to the new millennium. Some minor hacking. Australian Webmasters are also reporting a rash of harmless, but annoying, Web site spray-paint attacks. Typically, these attacks, like the one on the investment site Technology Investments, leave the home page without any links to the rest of the site and the message: "I hacked this site simply to say ... welcome to the Y2K! ... by siko!" http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2415792,00.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - No signs yet of Y2K cyber-chaos A world remade by technology began the rollover to the year 2000 today with no early signs of cyber-chaos, after years of preparation and billions of dollars spent to fix a simple but widespread computer bug. http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/ap/docs/43725l.htm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - DOD's IT shop find no Y2K glitches, hackers One hour after midnight Zulu -- Greenwich Mean Time, which the majority of military communications systems use -- the Defense Information Systems Agency-Pacific could determine that the 120,000 circuits it relies on to provide connectivity for U.S. forces survived the key New Year time change without a bump. DISA-Pacific also had not detected any increase in hacker attacks or probes, Harvey said, "which really surprised us because this is a period of heightened vulnerability. I have three analysts engaged in threat detection and analysis, and though they're busy [monitoring the networks], they're not seeing anything." http://www.fcw.com/pubs/fcw/1999/1227/web-disazulu-12-31-99.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Internet response team eyes Y2K virus threat AUSCERT, the Australian national computer emergency response centre, will be watching for more than bugs. The Queensland-based response team has been preparing for an expected spate of viruses and hacks motivated by either the desire to be the first to wreak damage in the new millennium, or an attempt to use possible Y2K confusion to cover up thefts and intrusion. http://www.it.fairfax.com.au/breaking/19991231/A800-1999Dec31.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Computer Associates warns of 3 new viruses Computer Associates International Inc. Friday warned of three computer viruses the company said were part of string of viruses timed to take advantage of fears about the changeover to the Year 2000. http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/016833.htm http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2415783,00.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Domain hack hits wireless modem company Metricom's Ricochet.net domain name was allegedly commandeered by hackers Tuesday, causing emails sent to users of the company's wireless modems to bounce back to their senders for about 48 hours, the company confirmed. Visitors to the Ricochet.net Web site also were redirected to a pornographic site for nearly two days and some incoming emails continued to bounce back until early yesterday, according to Metricom executives. Service returned to normal by yesterday afternoon, executives said. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200-1510319.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hackers break into rail network's Web page Hackers broke into an official Web site and issued a false warning that train service in Britain had been canceled Friday due to millennium bug problems. The warning, which read ``No trains today,'' was discovered on Railtrack's Internet site at about 9 a.m., officials said. The hoax message also sent greetings to all Railtrack directors and ``all the sheep in Wales.'' http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/068585.htm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - As new millennium approaches, China wary of viruses, hackers Attacked by Taiwanese hackers and flirting with Internet warfare, China has stepped up efforts to guard against viruses and other assaults on its computer systems while passing into the new millennium. After a summer of cyber-skirmishes with rival Taiwan, the Chinese government ordered all agencies and state industries this month to be on guard against viruses and hacker attacks in the new year. The national police force issued a countrywide alert warning computer troublemakers they will be prosecuted. http://www.techserver.com/noframes/story/0,2294,500148366-500179680-50072492 8-0,00.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft warns against Y2K hoaxes Microsoft has warned the Internet users to be on the continuous lookout for Y2K hoaxes in the new millennium. There are already hoax e-mails being circulated around the Internet intended to scare the general public and mislead IT users and the media, it announced on Thursday. One such hoax e-mail claims that there is a Y2K bug in Kernal 32.dll, a component of Microsoft Windows. This is not factual and is simply one of many hoax e-mails that are currently circulating on the Internet. http://www.brecorder.com/story/S00CC/SCL31/SCL31245.htm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CIH virus author gets a job Wahoo International Enterprise Co. says it has lured superhacker Chen Ing-hau to test its hardware. A Taiwan technology firm keen to test its own hardware has hired the super-hacker who created the notorious Chernobyl virus -- which laid waste to hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide in April. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2415539,00.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Melissa Virus: Special Report CyberCrime has been following the Melissa virus since its inception. For the latest news on the trial, as well as exclusive interviews with the lawyers in the case. Profile of the Defense CyberCrime Legal Analyst Alex Wellen gets the inside story on the Melissa trial from Ed Borden, lawyer for alleged virus writer David L. Smith. A Prosecutor's Perspective Christopher G. Bubb, a prosecutor in the Melissa virus case, talks to CyberCrime Legal Analyst Alex Wellen. http://www.zdnet.com/zdtv/cybercrime/features/story/0,3700,2405737,00.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Ban on DVD hack rejected Copy protection: Movie industry rebuffed in battle against software. A Santa Clara County judge on Wednesday refused to stop Web sites from posting software that copies movies stored on DVDs by defeating a copy protection system. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge William Elfving denied a request by the movie industry to not only ban sites from posting the software, but also to prevent other sites from linking to them. http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/dvd123099.htm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mr. Smith goes to Washington; Mr. Bezos receives call from Washington: Computer security expert Richard M. Smith has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission alleging that Amazon.com's Alexa Internet software may violate privacy laws. Smith says the consumer data-monitoring software collects more personal information than Amazon tells its customers it's collecting. (New York Times story; free registration required) http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/12/biztech/articles/30privacy.html