August 30, 2001 Singapore man denies part in tech smuggling Charlson Ho, a 51-year old Singaporean, has been accused by the U.S. Customs Service for attempting to export military encryption technology to China. However, in an interview, Ho claimed that he was innocent of all charges. Overnight, two men were arrested by Customs Service officials in Baltimore, Maryland and accused of scheming to smuggle two units of KIV-7HS, which are devices used to encrypt classified and sensitive national security data transmissions. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/newsbursts/0,7407,2809434,00.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2094245,00.html - - - - - - - - Online sting nets 100th paedophile A young Dutchman has just become the 100th person to be arrested by the Cook County sheriff's child exploitation unit, after he flew all the way to Chicago for sex with an underage girl. Instead of the 14-year old he expected to meet, he stepped straight off the plane into the long arms of the law. Menno Blom (23), pictured above right, is the first person to have incriminated himself by using the Internet to send realtime video images of himself to undercover detectives. The 14-year old he believed he was soliciting was, of course, none other than a burly Chicago cop with a talent for portraying himself as a teenage girl. http://cooltech.iafrica.com/technews/774600.htm - - - - - - - - Former Social Worker Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Charge A former Albemarle County social worker has pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography he downloaded from the Internet. Patrick M. Quigley, 47, had been a child protective services investigator with the county for nearly two years when he was arrested in August 2000. Quigley's former live-in girlfriend had given police computer discs her son found depicting children in "sexual situations," Detective K.W. Robinson testified during a hearing Wednesday in Albemarle County Circuit Court. Quigley told police he had distributed the photos to "lots" of people in Albemarle County during May 2000, Robinson testified. http://www.timesdispatch.com/frontpage/MGBK9LBT0RC.html - - - - - - - - Paedophile businessman escapes jail A paedophile businessman wanted by the FBI has walked free from a British court with a fine. Jonathan Aslett, 53, was arrested in Greater Manchester after firefighters tackling a fire at his office spotted pornographic images of children. Aslett was fined £3,250 with £1,000 costs after pleading guilty to 13 charges of making indecent photographs. The maximum sentence is three years. Police found 339 obscene images on a computer http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1515000/1515539.stm - - - - - - - - Accused Russian programmer hopes for U.S. justice Dmitry Sklyarov, the Russian software programmer who pleaded not guilty on Thursday to violating a controversial new U.S. copyright law, is taking a Zen approach to his fate, biding his time bike- riding and hoping his family can join him soon. ``I was surprised when I was arrested but I was not scared. I believe in justice and I think all will be done in proper order,'' the 26-year-old Sklyarov told Reuters in an interview at Santa Clara University after his arraignment. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/reuters_wire/1449374l.htm Russian programmer arraigned in Copyright case http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/reuters_wire/1448262l.htm Adobe 'hacker' charged http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/main_news.cfm?NewsID=3424 Sklyarov Pleads Not Guilty On All Charges http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/169589.html Sklyarov, Boss Plead Not Guilty http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46396,00.html - - - - - - - - Montreal hacker awaits sentence A 17-year-old hacker who jammed major Internet sites such as Amazon and Yahoo! shows no remorse and should spend a year in a juvenile detention facility, prosecutors argued Wednesday. Judge Gilles Ouellet set the sentencing date for Sept. 12. The Montreal teen, who cannot be identified under Canadian law and is known by his Internet nickname, Mafiaboy, pleaded guilty earlier this year to 58 charges related to attacks and security breaches of Internet sites in Canada, the United States, Denmark and Korea in February 2000. http://www.computeruser.com/news/01/08/30/news11.html http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/69845p-989743c.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001-08-29-mafiaboy-sentencing.htm - - - - - - - - FBI Warns of New Worm, Says No Code Red Suspects Yet The FBI has not yet issued any warrants for the arrest of individuals suspected of authoring the Code Red Worm, a spokesperson for the agency's National Infrastructure Protection Center said today. An investigation into the release of the original worm and several variants is still pending, according to NIPC spokesperson Deborah Weierman. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/169601.html U.S. report: Code Red computer worm born in China The ``Code Red'' computer worm, which caused $2.4 billion in estimated cleanup costs on Internet- linked computers last month, seems to have been born at a university in China's southern Guangdong province, according to the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress. ``The worm is believed to have started at a university in Guangdong, China,'' Keith Rhodes, chief technologist at the General Accounting Office, said in written testimony Wednesday before a House Government Reform subcommittee. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/031257.htm - - - - - - - - Breaking Microsoft’s e-book code Programmer finds way to decrypt them. It’s easy to load a small library of electronic books into your laptop or handheld organizer and carry it with you on the bus or to the beach. But try to make backup copies of those same e-books or loan one to a friend, and you’ll run smack into the digital equivalent of an electrified fence. The problem is that once a literary work has been liberated from the printed page, it’s potentially vulnerable to unlimited digital piracy-a danger that makes most e-book publishers insist on strict software controls to prevent anyone but the purchaser from opening an e-book file. http://www.msnbc.com/news/621827.asp Programmer claims to crack MS Reader http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2809412,00.html - - - - - - - - 'Microsoft' sending out dangerous new Internet worm It has just come in that a new Internet worm called Win32.Invalid.A@mm is being sent out in an email purporting to be from Microsoft Technical Support. The worm is dangerous and encrypts exe applications with a random key, rendering them unusable. It also checks that there is an Internet connection open and searches for files with the extension ".ht*" in your My Documents folder, takes the email addresses and forwards itself, reports anti-virus company Central Command. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/21376.html - - - - - - - - Don't Get Mad At SirCam, Get Even A new tool offers relief for computer users still plagued by e-mails infected with the file-stealing SirCam worm – or who have voyeuristic tendencies. ClipSirc is a tiny DOS utility that automatically dissects the data files that come attached to messages generated by SirCam. Developed by Israeli anti-virus vendor Invircible, the free tool strips the worm's installation code from the legitimate document it uses as a Trojan horse. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/169522.html - - - - - - - - Carnivore may enter wireless realm Congress is pondering legislation that could rein in Carnivore, but it is up to the Federal Communications Commission to decide in the next month whether the Internet snooping technology will spread to wireless communication. The FCC must decide whether to extend a Sept. 30 deadline set for the wireless Internet industry to develop less intrusive methods for law enforcement agencies to use when intercepting e-mail and text messages sent over the Internet from wireless devices. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/0827/web-fbi-08-30-01.asp http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0801/082701tdam1.htm - - - - - - - - DOD defends Web site shutdown Military officials continue to defend the decision to shut down public access to hundreds of Web sites to thwart the Code Red worm, but they also say they have learned from the experience and may do things differently in the future. The Pentagon already has increased the capacity of some of its central processing units to handle messages and avoid being overloaded during a so-called denial-of-service attack. That means officials likely will be more selective in cutting off public access in the future. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/0827/web-worm-08-30-01.asp - - - - - - - - Pentagon gives go-ahead to Grid The Pentagon has approved the Global Information Grid architecture, a worldwide architecture for providing data to military forces around the world from regional commanders to soldiers on the front lines, the acting Defense Department deputy chief information officer said. That architecture will provide the first slice of an integrated DOD enterprise information technology architecture, Margaret Myers said Aug. 29 during a breakfast forum sponsored by Federal Sources Inc., McLean, Va. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/0827/web-dod-08-30-01.asp - - - - - - - - Air Force to test biometric security The Air Force will soon begin testing three types of biometric applications for greater security in daily operations, with partial funding from the Defense Department. Frankie Sorrell, the Air Force biometrics program manager, said the 16th Air Force in Aviano, Italy, and the Air Intelligence Agency and the Cryptologic Systems Group, both in San Antonio, are taking what she called a "quick look" at the systems. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/16966-1.html - - - - - - - - Virus Flood Raises Scrutiny Of Govt Network Security The recent spate of insidious and debilitating viruses sweeping the Net highlights the need for government agencies need to be more paranoid than ever about computer network insecurity, a panel of private and public sector security officials told lawmakers on Wednesday. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/169606.html - - - - - - - - Calls for cybercrime database Business leaders are calling on the government to set up a national database to combat internet fraud. Modelled on the United States Internet Fraud Complaint Centre, the Centre for Cybercrime Complaints in the UK would channel complaints to the relevant investigating bodies. Business bosses also want the 1990 Computer Misuses Act to be extended to cover attacks that cause IT systems to fail. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1514000/1514215.stm - - - - - - - - Separating Students From Smut Over the next year, schools will be in danger of losing precious technology funding unless they can certify they have a filtering system that blocks obscene websites. The Children's Internet Protection Act requires that by Oct. 28, schools must certify that they are either in compliance with filtering requirements, or are in the process of becoming compliant by evaluating blocking software. http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,45804,00.html - - - - - - - - California E-Mail Privacy Bill Clears Legislature A bill that would prevent employers from reading their underlings' communications on work e-mail addresses passed the California State Assembly today and now awaits Gov. Gray Davis', D, signature. The bill, originally sponsored in the State Senate by Debra Bowen, passed the Assembly in a 43-22 vote. The legislation, while seen as a move in favor of privacy rights, allows employee e-mail monitoring if the worker's business says such monitoring is company policy. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/169603.html - - - - - - - - Protesters declare war on copyright law Supporters backing Dmitry Sklyarov, the Russian programmer accused of five counts of copyright infringement, declared war on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act at a fund-raiser for Sklyarov's legal defense on Wednesday. "This is a war being waged by copyright interests who see each opportunity on the Internet as an opportunity to change the meaning of copyright law," said Lawrence Lessig, director of Stanford University's Center for Internet and Society and author of Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5096421,00.html http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-7014821.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/21375.html No Big Change Needed In Digital Copyright Law - Feds http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/169594.html Keep Digital Copyright Law Intact, Agency Says http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/169559.html - - - - - - - - Sex offender lists create Web traffic jam South Korea carried out a controversial plan on Thursday to post the names of convicted sex offenders on a government web site, sparking hot debates and a web traffic jam in the world's most wired nation. The Commission on Youth Protection posted the names, birthdates, occupations and hometowns of 169 people convicted of crimes including rape and pedophilia--a move which had activists cheering and legal experts crying foul. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/newsbursts/0,7407,2809404,00.html http://www.techtv.com/news/internet/story/0,24195,3345120,00.html http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46437,00.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/21377.html - - - - - - - - U.S. plans to help thwart China's Web censors The United States is planning to finance the spread of new computer technology designed to help Chinese Web surfers dodge their government's efforts to censor the Internet, architects of the plan said Thursday. The high-tech U.S. reply to Web site blocking by Beijing is being led by the same U.S. agencies that poured billions into piercing the Iron Curtain with Cold War radio broadcasts. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/006148.htm http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5096452,00.html http://www.techtv.com/news/internet/story/0,24195,3345146,00.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/169604.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/621746.asp - - - - - - - - Backstreet Boys' goods-maker loses internet case A firm that makes Backstreet Boys' merchandise lostits cybersquatting case against Web sites with similar but misspelled versions of the U.S. teen-pop band's name, international arbitrators ruled Thursday Backstreet Boys Productions Inc. failed to prove it had any rights to the Backstreet Boys trademark in its complaint against John Zuccarini of Pennsylvania who had registered such sites as backstreeboys.com, backsreetboys.com and backstreetboyz.com. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/reuters_wire/1448732l.htm - - - - - - - - Security patch RFP delayed The Federal Computer Incident Response Center is delaying its solicitation for a system that will automatically send out security patches to civilian agencies in order to expand the types of software that will be covered, officials said this week. FedCIRC started working on the idea for an automated patch dissemination system late last year and planned to release a request for proposals by the end of August. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/0827/web-rfp-08-30-01.asp - - - - - - - - MS releases IIS 'lockdown' utility Microsoft has released its latest security-oriented utility, this time addressing the many vulnerabilities in Internet Information Server (IIS) with its free 'IIS Lockdown Tool'. The purpose here is not to patch systems like the HFNetChk hotfix checker, but to configure IIS for improved security independent of patching. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/21359.html - - - - - - - - Kaspersky locks into virus protection for SMTP gateways Kaspersky Labs has released a beta of its anti- virus product that will work for SMTP gateways. The software will sit between the Internet and the email server, filtering any emails before they hit your system. This means that it will work independently of whatever server you are running. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/21355.html - - - - - - - - Where Worms And Viruses Dwell, So Do Safeguards The recent run of infectious computer codes, including the SirCam virus and the Code Red worm, is once again sending computer users scrambling for information on how to inoculate themselves against an attack. Several computer security companies specialize in dispensing alerts and advisories, if for no other reason than to drum up business for their products. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/169560.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. 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