November 16, 2000 Vice Principal Accused of Downloading Child Porn When he wasn't pursuing his duties as vice principal of a large regional high school or tending to his part time political career, James Michael Lumley would sequester himself in his school office with a marijuana pipe and download child pornography from the Internet, authorities said. Now, the 53-year-old educator once named teacher of the year is facing up to 10 years in prison on charges of possession of child pornography and official misconduct, said Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Patricia Baglivi. Lumley, who is also a member of the borough council as well as the police commissioner in his hometown of Haworth, a comfortable suburb in northern New Jersey, was released on $25,000 bail, authorities said. http://www.apbnews.com/NEWSCENTER/BREAKINGNEWS/2000/11/16/schoolporn1116_01.html - - - - - - - - - Argentine group set to crack down on software piracy A group of Argentine software companies began Thursday a crackdown on software piracy in the South American country, where it says 60 percent of computer programs are obtained illegally. Software Legal, a group representing local software interests, said it would initiate legal action against offending companies following the end Thursday of a 45-day ``truce'' for businesses to legalize their software. ``We're going to intensify our judicial action with a very intense campaign. In the next quarter we're planning no less than 100 lawsuits against companies that have not regularized their situation,'' Martin Carranza Torres, president of Software Legal, told Reuters. http://www0.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/073202.htm - - - - - - - - - Domain Name, Net Auction Frauds Hit The Net The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today warned potential online domain name registrants of a scheme that purports to offer new generic top-level domain names (g-TLDs) approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Trouble is, ICANN is only in the meeting stages this week in Marina del Rey, Calif., to discuss new g-TLDs, and has made no decision to do so yet. Meanwhile, the National Consumers League (NCL) released a report saying that general online fraud is on the rise, with online auctions proving the most virulent breeding ground. The FTC in a statement said that fraudsters are soliciting via fax and e-mail offers to win new top-level domain names for a fee, once they become available. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/00/158270.html - - - - - - - - - Fake Israeli army Web site goes on offensive It looks official, but the ``Israel Defense Force'' Web site on the Internet has the Israeli military up in arms. Click on www.israeldefenseforce.com and up comes a page that appears almost identical to the real Israeli army spokesperson's site at www.idf.il. The logo is the same, save for a missing letter, and both sites carry photographs of four Israeli soldiers killed by Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The big difference is the content. Under the soldiers' photographs, a caption on the fake site reads: ``The four Israeli soldiers murdered just before their trip to the West Bank on a mission to kill Palestinian civilians.'' http://www0.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/641821l.htm - - - - - - - - - Hacking for Israel Ehud Tenenbaum ("the Analyzer") was only eighteen-and -a-half at the end of 1998 when he achieved his fifteen minutes of fame by breaking into the US Pentagon computer. The Tenenbaum trial has continued ever since and the defense is now entering its plea. In the meantime, it turns out that Tenenbaum has adapted himself to the Zeitgeist by serving as technical manager and security consultant in the 2XS company, which for its part cooperates with an anonymous organization, called the Israeli Internet Underground (IIU). The goal, part commercial and part patriotic, includes marketing the security services of Tenenbaum’s company to Israeli web sites. Are you worried that Arab hackers will break through your security wall? Here is your salvation. http://new.globes.co.il/serveEN/globes/DocView.asp?did=450980&fid=984 http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/11/16/News/News.15625.html - - - - - - - - - Chatrooms will increase child attacks, say experts Children who log on to chatrooms could be the unwitting prey of sophisticated paedophiles. Child psychologists have warned that Internet chatrooms will increase the number of attacks on children in the UK. Experts agree that increasing use of chatrooms in the UK is creating myriad opportunities for paedophiles to operate in relative safety online, eventually luring children into meeting them offline. Psychologists argue that chatrooms provide predatory offenders with a convenient sample of children that they can cherry pick at will. http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/2000/45/ns-19117.html - - - - - - - - - The Metropolitan Police has joined the growing list of critics urging Yahoo! to act against paedophiles using its chatroom services. Chief superintendent Martin Jauch of the Metropolitan Police's Clubs and Vice Unit slammed Yahoo! for its apparent apathy in dealing with paedophiles using its service and called on the industry to act more responsibly. But Jauch's calls may fail to have an effect on the Internet giant, which has adopted stonewalling tactics and refused to discuss the issues. In its defence, Yahoo! says it is in ongoing dialogue with the child agency Childnet to deal with the problem. Last week however Childnet led calls for Yahoo! to change its chatroom protocols and said it was disappointed by the company's inaction on the issue. http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/2000/45/ns-19128.html - - - - - - - - - FBI Releases More Documents On Carnivore The FBI released another batch of previously classified documents on its now infamous e-mail surveillance system, also known as "Carnivore." Among the 362 pages released today are documents that appear to indicate the FBI's surveillance device could trap more data than necessary, a suspicion widely held by a number of consumer and privacy groups since news of Carnivore broke earlier this year. "The information in today's packet seems to conflict with what the FBI said about how Carnivore collects information that's been filtered," said David Sobel, general counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), the group that filed the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, which led a court to force the Justice Department to begin releasing the documents. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/00/158282.html - - - - - - - - - Can Linux be pirated? Linux luminaries including Linus Torvalds and Jon 'maddog' Hall attempted to answer this question during a low-key panel session in the darkest depths of Comdex this week. In a debate about the internationalisation of Linux, the panel was asked whether Linux would suffer the same problems with software piracy that Microsoft and others have in areas such as Asia and Eastern Europe. The 200 or so delegates heard several opinions, but none that nailed down the awkward question. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1114020 - - - - - - - - - MSN Criticized For Open Spam Relays Responding to complaints that the Microsoft Network is allowing spammers to relay junk e-mail through MSN servers, the Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS) has added several MSN systems to its notorious anti-spam blacklist. The action could potentially disrupt emails from thousands of legitimate MSN subscribers. MAPS is the controversial California non-profit that maintains databases of known junk e-mailers. The lists are used by many Internet service providers to protect their users from unsolicited commercial e-mail. Spokesperson Kelly Thompson Wednesday confirmed that the organization has placed six MSN servers on its MAPS Relay Spam Stopper or RSS list, which contains more than 50,000 entries and is used by thousands of ISPs. http://www.internetnews.com/wd-news/article/0,,10_512791,00.html - - - - - - - - - Ingram Micro seeks identities of its online critics Ingram Micro, the computer distributor with a sales center in Amherst, has gone to court in California to unmask 12 "John Does" who discussed the company anonymously on an Internet bulletin board. The legal action makes the Santa Ana, Calif.-based company the latest combatant in a nationwide controversy over privacy rights on the Internet, as companies increasingly move to expose their online critics. In a lawsuit in Orange County, Ingram Micro charges that the authors of the messages are current or ex-employees who are illegally airing company secrets. "In many cases, these acts were committed during regular business hours, a further violation of Ingram's policies," the company's complaint states. http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20001115/1034085.asp - - - - - - - - - Holding off the hackers Last summer's issue of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly, passed along a juicy tip to hackers everywhere: how to probe Ruby Tuesday's corporate computer system. While this may seem to hit a little too close to home, it's no anomaly. Many businesses are beginning to realize that while the new economy requires the Internet, it also requires protection from those who find pleasure or profit sneaking into a company's electronic recesses. http://www.knoxnews.com/science/18447.shtml - - - - - - - - - FBI aids local businesses with computer security Over the past year, FBI agent Steve McFall has investigated less than a dozen local cases of computer hacking. He suspects many more instances of corporate hacking occur in East Tennessee, however, but businesses either don't realize they can call the FBI or don't want to publicize their problems. So the FBI has launched the local branch of a national effort to ally business and law enforcement in addressing computer security concerns. The organization, called InfraGard, held its first meeting last month. More than 25 businesses showed up, a response FBI officials found encouraging. http://www.knoxnews.com/science/18449.shtml - - - - - - - - - Commerce, DoD team up on cybersecurity assessment The Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced Wednesday that it will partner with the Defense Department to assess the vulnerabilities of critical infrastructures in facilities in Colorado and Wyoming. NTIA will act as an interface between Defense and industries with facilities in the region as DoD seeks industry input into the process of developing critical infrastructure protection. "DoD is looking for an integrated approach," said DoD Assistant Secretary Linton Wells. The partnership "provides an enormous opportunity to outreach to the private sector." http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1100/111600td.htm - - - - - - - - - Board selects new Internet Names The Internet got its first new batch of international domain names on Thursday with the selection of .biz, .name and five other suffixes that will enable a lot more Web site variety. The decision by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers capped a half decade of discussions about how to relieve the crowded field of addresses ending in .com. ICANN approved .info for general use, .biz for businesses, .name for individuals, .pro for professionals, .museum for museums, .coop for business cooperatives and .aero for the aviation industry. http://www0.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/ap/docs/644609l.htm - - - - - - - - - Online Access To Financial Data Raises Questions About Security, Trust The convenience of online access to bank accounts, mortgage payments, credit-card bills, stock portfolios, and even travel arrangements--and having it all in one place--has great appeal for many consumers. As many as 90 million people will have online access to their financial information by 2005, U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray predicts. But the aggregation of financial data also raises questions about who controls information when funds are transferred electronically to pay bills or buy stock, for example. In the past, banks have not taken advantage of customer information, but will playing by Web rules change that? http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20001116S0004 - - - - - - - - - "NTI, Introduces Internet Investigations Training Course" New Technologies (NTI), a computer forensics and risk management company based in Gresham, Ore., has added a concentrated two-day Internet investigation training course to its existing high- tech crime-fighting courses. "The NTI course is one of the few that emphasizes evidence documentation and explains how existing laws impact the investigation of Internet criminal activity," said Curt Bryson, NTI consultant and lead instructor. "We concentrate on teaching participants why they need to take immediate action if they suspect a breach, what the critical first steps are and when to turn to investigation experts." http://www.newswire.com http://www.forensics-intl.com - - - - - - - - - With biometrics, you're the password In early September, a laptop believed to contain confidential company information belonging to Qualcomm Chairman Irwin Jacobs was stolen at a conference. Though no information about the damage this loss may have caused Qualcomm has come to light, the incident did provoke a fair amount of fear and security-measure-tightening in corporate boardrooms. However, if Jacobs had been using any one of a number of biometric products on display here at the Comdex trade show, he, and Qualcomm's investors, would have had a lot less to fear. http://idg.net/ic_289643_1794_9-10000.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, NewsBits.net, Campbell, CA.