October 2, 2001 Robbers hit Microtronica for £500K Microtronica UK and made off with £500,000 worth of kit. Trays of Pentium 4 2GHz chips made up most of the haul. Microtronica, which is part of the Arrow Group, was hit at the weekend. UK MD, Les Billing, said the job was done extremely professionally, but could not comment on whether or not it was an inside job. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/51/21984.html - - - - - - - - Code Red II Is Dead - Experts After a nearly two-month rampage across the Internet, the Code Red II worm has entered a period of self- inflicted euthanasia as of midnight Sept. 30, security experts said today. For reasons unknown, the worm's unidentified author programmed the worm to stop attempting to spread to other vulnerable Microsoft systems running Internet Information Server (IIS) software once the month of October arrived. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/170751.html How Code Red revealed the perils of port 80 In the few months that the Code Red worm and its relatives have traveled the Net, they've caused considerable consternation among users of Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS) and elicited abundant schadenfreude from unaffected onlookers. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/comment/0,5859,2815638,00.html - - - - - - - - Anti-Nimda Technology Saved Billions - Report The hefty damage toll from Nimda could have been far worse, if many Internet users hadn't been running automatically updating anti-virus software, a research firm said today. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/170743.html Nimda Virus Lingers on House, Senate Computers http://www.antionline.com/showthread.php?threadid=116076 - - - - - - - - Thousands of idiots still infected by SirCam The Nimda worm might be the worst virus at the desktop level but SirCam continues to be the most widely circulated email-borne virus. That's the conclusion we draw from September statistics on viruses blocked by MessageLabs, a managed service provider that scans its users email for viruses. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/21987.html - - - - - - - - Anti-terrorism bill to go to House A congressional committee is scheduled to begin reviewing draft anti-terrorism legislation Tuesday that could greatly expand the electronic surveillance powers of police and ratchet up penalties relating to certain computer crimes. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5097691,00.html http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-7376176.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/170736.html Eavesdrop Now, Reassess Later? http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47230,00.html Intelligence gathering needs new approaches to keep up http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/depth/hide100201a.htm - - - - - - - - Weak crypto blamed on civil libertarians The former Home Secretary Jack Straw has attacked what he calls "naive" civil liberty groups for opposing Internet snooping laws which could, he believes, have prevented the horrendous terrorist attacks on the US last month. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2096472,00.html - - - - - - - - Bush forming panel of science, technology advisers President Bush yesterday signed an executive order creating the latest incarnation of the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, a group made up almost entirely of private industry and academic advisers. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/17207-1.html - - - - - - - - Supreme Court Takes Up Online Pornography Law Later this month, the Supreme Court will hear a case focused on computer-generated child pornography. The outcome could create new concerns for businesses when it comes their liability for employees' activity. The case, Ashcroft vs. Free Speech Coalition, deals with the 1996 Child Pornography Prevention Act, which makes it illegal to distribute, receive, or possess an image that "appears to be of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eEgB0BfOqd0V20Std0AK - - - - - - - - Internet 'grooming' legislation faces delays Groundbreaking laws proposed to protect children from Internet paedophiles are likely to be shifted down the legislative timetable, to make way for the introduction of new terrorist laws. Speaking at the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference in Brighton on Monday, Beverley Hughes, the Home Office minister and chair of the Internet Taskforce on Child Protection, implied that new "grooming" laws could be delayed by an urgency to update terrorist laws as quickly as possible. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2096430,00.html - - - - - - - - Congress Likely To Defer Database Protection To 2002 The high-tech industry's denizens agree that intellectual property protection for databases is a must-have item, but Congress more than likely will file away the issue until early next year, according to House committee sources. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/170742.html - - - - - - - - Cybersecurity R&D 'inadequate' The federal government needs to dedicate more of its research and development resources to address problems such as cybersecurity, where research has been "inadequate," said Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), chairman of the House Science Committee. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/1001/web-cyber-10-02-01.asp - - - - - - - - Federal grants fund security research The federal government's technology standards agency announced on Tuesday that nine grants totaling $5 million were awarded to research data security technologies. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5097724,00.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/170738.html - - - - - - - - Feds Eye Setting Software Standards Top official warns software makers to improve their security record or risk government intervention. If software companies don't start doing a better job of fixing vulnerabilities in their products, they could face formal government standards, a top federal official warned Monday. http://www.techtv.com/news/hackingandsecurity/story/0,24195,3351092,00.html http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-7387419.html - - - - - - - - Human Firewall launches campaign To help managers and employees improve the protection of critical information, a consortium of government, industry and nonprofit organizations on Oct. 1 announced the launch of an international educational campaign to raise the awareness of information security. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/1001/web-fire-10-02-01.asp - - - - - - - - Carnivore substitute keeps Feds honest The Forensics Explorers division of CTX is ready to go to market with a Carnivore-like suite called NetWitness which, the company says, can enable ISPs to surrender to the Feds only those specific bits of information about a suspect which a court has authorized for collection. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/21992.html - - - - - - - - Toy company pays fines for collecting information A manufacturer of toys and school supplies for girls settled government charges that it used its Web site to collect personal information from children without their parents' permission. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/071614.htm http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/170737.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001/10/2/company-settles-privacy-charges.htm - - - - - - - - FTC won’t back new privacy law Reversal of Clinton-era mandate for consumer protection. Federal Trade Commission chairman Timothy J. Muris is to announce Thursday that his agency will not seek stronger consumer privacy laws. His position is a reversal of Clinton-era policy that said consumer privacy laws were needed to protect personal data on the Internet. http://www.msnbc.com/news/637166.asp - - - - - - - - Companies rethink customer data privacy Some US companies handed over entire customer databases to law enforcement agencies without warrants after the 11 September attacks. Companies are scrambling to ensure their online privacy policies do not run afoul of the sprawling investigation into last month's terrorist attacks, a move that could prompt some to rewrite their published statements, privacy experts said. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2096450,00.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/636929.asp - - - - - - - - Securing patient privacy As medical professionals move their daily practices further and further into the electronic world, so too has the mandate grown to protect the privacy of patient information. U.S. government regulations such as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) hold health care facilities responsible for bringing legacy IT systems into stringent compliance and ensuring the security of patient records. http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/industry/10/02/medical.privacy.idg/index.html - - - - - - - - Web filters prohibited in S.F. library San Francisco officials have voted to ban Internet filters on computers in local public libraries, risking the loss of some $20,000 in federal funds. San Francisco's Board of Supervisors on Monday unanimously prohibited Internet filters on city-owned computers used by the public for Web access. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5097734,00.html - - - - - - - - BSA bounty helps foil piracy Tip-offs about firms using pirated software have risen sharply following the BSA's poster campaign. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has reported a surge in prosecutions of firms running unlicensed software, following an advertising drive that has encouraged tip-offs in return for cash rewards of up to £10,000. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2096474,00.html - - - - - - - - MusicNet's EMI Crosses Over, Signs On With Pressplay EMI Recorded Music, the third largest music label and a stakeholder in the forthcoming digital music subscription service MusicNet, today became the first record company to license its songs to the other major-label subscription service, Pressplay. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/170745.html NSync CD is copy protection "experiment" http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991367 - - - - - - - - FTC Seeks to Trap a Mousetrapper Suing John Zuccarini is like riding the neighborhood bicycle: Everybody gets a turn. He's already been assailed 63 times by everyone from The Wall Street Journal to Disney, Yahoo and Nicole Kidman. Now the feds, in a lawsuit announced Monday, have become the latest plaintiff to take Zuccarini to court. His alleged offense this time: registering misspellings of popular domain names, then bombarding hapless visitors with a seemingly infinite series of pop-up ads. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,47217,00.html - - - - - - - - WIPO Rejects Hotel's Bid For Casino Domain The "luxury gaming vessel" that inspires the motif at the Casino Grand Bay Web site doesn't really exist, but referees in an international domain name dispute say that doesn't mean that a U.K.-linked gambling outfit doesn't have a right to the address CasinoGrandBay.com. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/170739.html - - - - - - - - The changing definition of privacy We live in an extremely sophisticated and complex society, and oftentimes our language has not evolved as rapidly as our technology and social conditions have changed. This is certainly the case with the word "privacy," which carries many different shades of meaning to many different groups of people in many different situations. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/comment/0,5859,2815772,00.html Attacks put privacy into focus http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2815784,00.html - - - - - - - - Wanted: Your name and number The hijackers in the terrorist attacks were masters of identity theft. Now lawmakers are worried about copycat persona stealing. Just three days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the FBI released the names of 19 men suspected of carrying out the murderous and suicidal hijackings. Not long after, however, doubts surfaced as to the real identities of the kamikaze terrorists. http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2001/10/02/identity_theft/index.html - - - - - - - - A Battle-Ready Net? It's not there yet. Plenty needs to be done to safeguard it against either a physical assault or a cyber attack. As anyone who tried calling into or out of New York City on Sept. 11 can attest, phone service there fell apart that day and for several days after the terrorist attack that downed the World Trade Center. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2001/tc2001101_7845.htm - - - - - - - - How technology is used to mask communications A network of people conspired to kill thousands and caught the world by surprise. In an era when just planning a picnic takes a multitude of phone calls and e-mails, the near-silent organization of the World Trade Center and Pentagon assaults has left authorities mystified. If privacy is dead, as is often alleged, then how did it serve as an accomplice to this murder? http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/depth/hide100201.htm - - - - - - - - Easy Installations Kill The biggest computer security threat isn't a vicious virus or a skilled and malicious hacker. The real danger, according to dozens of experts, is easy-to- install software and software vendors who focus too heavily on adding convenient features instead of solid security solutions into their applications. http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,47244,00.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. 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 2000-2001, NewsBits.net, Campbell, CA.