October 11, 2001 Hoax e-mail warns of mall attack At a time when Americans are plagued by a generalized fear of an invisible enemy, the latest urban legend from the Internet warns specifically of a terrorist attack on a mall on Halloween. The e-mail message, which began circulating Oct. 5, describes a story the author heard from a ``friend of a friend'' whose Afghan boyfriend stood her up on a date Sept. 6. On Sept. 10, the e-mail message says, she received a letter begging her not to get on any commercial airlines the next day and not to go to any malls on Halloween. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/045342.htm FBI Warns of 'Skyfall' Attack In a brief but dramatic statement, the FBI warned Thursday that Americans should expect additional terrorist attacks. A two-sentence press release on FBI.gov said there "may be additional terrorist attacks within the United States and against U.S. interests overseas over the next several days." http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47510,00.html - - - - - - - - Online blackmailer leaks hacked data An online gift certificate company said a hacker that blackmailed it for weeks after pilfering its customer information has apparently carried out threats of disclosing the data to its customers. Webcertificate.com customers reported getting an e-mail message that included their home and e-mail addresses. "I hate to inform you that your account has been hacked," said the e-mail, viewed by this reporter, from someone identified as Zilterio. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5098177,00.html http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-7495034.html - - - - - - - - Authorities Find Clues to Terror Finances Officials in France and the Philippines release info on funds controlled by bin Laden network. International officials say they have made strides in tracking down the sources of financing for the al Qaeda network run by Osama bin Laden, considered the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks. http://www.techtv.com/news/politicsandlaw/story/0,24195,3353149,00.html - - - - - - - - Anti-Terror Hackers Claim Arab National Bank Breach Vigilante hackers apparently penetrated the security of a Saudi bank Wednesday, even as the hackers' own Web site was defaced by a notorious computer prankster, Fluffi Bunni. In an effort to locate financial information about terrorists, a member of a group called Yihat claims to have breached the defenses of an Internet-connected server operated by Arab National Bank. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171035.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/22183.html - - - - - - - - Fighting Evil Hackers With Bucks Worried about the threat of terrorists-turned- hackers, members of a House panel spent Wednesday puzzling over how Congress could improve computer security. "What legislative and other steps are needed to increase the focus on computer security?" Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-New York), chairman of the House Science committee, asked at a "cybersecurity" hearing. Boehlert added: "We want to focus on real, concrete problems and develop specific solutions." http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,47479,00.html - - - - - - - - More tech businesses cooperate with FBI. As thousands of leads poured into the FBI after last month's terrorist attacks, the bureau converted its Internet Fraud Complaint Center into a repository for tips received by e-mail. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/064893.htm - - - - - - - - Secrecy foe joins U.S. move to scrub data on Web Qualms about publishing data that could be used to plot terror attacks have prompted a leading official-secrecy foe to scrub its Web site joining a trend well under way among U.S. government agencies. The Federation of American Scientists, a staunch advocate of government openness, said Thursday it had yanked about 200 of its estimated half-million Web pages since Sept. 11 terror attacks killed some 5,500 people in the United States. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/041555.htm http://www.msnbc.com/news/641578.asp - - - - - - - - Security updates deliver a problem A group of German hackers have exposed a new vulnerability in Symantec's LiveUpdate 1.4, which could be used to download and run hostile code from an unauthorized server. Symantec, which makes antivirus and security software, has confirmed that older versions of its virus definition software will allow the deployment of malware such as trojan application viruses, and the remote penetration of systems running LiveUpdate. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2817368,00.html - - - - - - - - Congress Wrestles With Surveillance Bills Although civil liberties advocates have applauded the efforts of lawmakers to temper a pair of sweeping anti-terrorism bills making their way quickly through both houses of Congress, many fear that - no matter what passes - they will have suffered a major loss. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171052.html - - - - - - - - Rep. Cliff Stearns To Outline Federal Privacy Moves House Energy & Commerce Committee leaders are preparing to release a rough draft of legislation to establish a baseline set of online privacy protections. Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., said he and House Energy & Committee Chairman W. J. "Billy" Tauzin, R-La., plan to release details of their long-awaited federal privacy proposal at a press conference on Friday. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171051.html - - - - - - - - On Capitol Hill: An issue of data sharing There's an effort in the United States Congress to approve legislation that would encourage companies to share security data with each other and with the government. "We have a blind spot in this situation, a major national blind spot," says Sen. Robert Bennett, Republican of Utah, about the bill he's co-sponsoring with fellow Republican Sen. John Kyle of Arizona. It would protect from public disclosure security data that's shared with the government by a private company. http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/industry/10/11/congress.data.sharing.idg/index.html A Senator's Lonely Privacy Fight http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47490,00.html - - - - - - - - Money Laundering Bill Cracks Down On Net Gambling The House Financial Services Committee today approved a bill to combat international money- laundering that includes provisions that crack down on Internet gambling. The committee passed the bill 62-1, with Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, supplying the one "no" vote. Rep. Michael Castle's, R-Del., amendment to strip the anti- Internet gambling provisions from the bill failed in a 25-37 vote. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171056.html - - - - - - - - Storage giant sues former executive EMC continues its trend of suing former executives who join rival companies as it pursues Doron Kempel, a former executive who recently joined a startup called SANgate. Storage systems company EMC filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against a former executive who allegedly violated a non-compete agreement when he switched employers. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2097076,00.html - - - - - - - - Advocates lament halting of access to criminal filings. A few weeks ago, online access to federal criminal filings suddenly stopped. Though court records remain publicly available on paper at courthouses, they were deemed too public when it came to the Internet. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/013895.htm - - - - - - - - Symantec admits to LiveUpdate security hole German hackers have warned that an intruder could redirect the virus update to an illicit server of their choice, creating a major security breach. A group of German hackers have exposed a new vulnerability in Symantec's LiveUpdate 1.4, which could be used to download and run hostile code from an unauthorised server. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2097077,00.html http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2817368,00.html http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-7488924.html - - - - - - - - Napster accuses record labels of abusing licenses Industry calls charges a sideshow. The old defiant Napster returned to federal district court Wednesday, turning the tables on the record labels by putting the industry's own business practices on trial. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svfront/nap101101.htm http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5098125,00.html http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/074466.htm - - - - - - - - US Cyber-Czar makes a sound suggestion The man who repeatedly disgraced the memory of thousands of US Sailors who died horribly in a Japanese aerial bombing with trite blather about an "electronic Pearl Harbor" has come around with a fairly sound idea for inter- governmental secure communications. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/22156.html Should the government get its own Net? The Bush administration has apparently decided that the Internet isn't secure enough for its needs and has proposed a new network be created to communicate critical government information. The new network, dubbed Govnet, is the brainchild of Richard Clarke, the newly appointed presidential adviser for cyberspace security, and is intended to carry data, voice-over-IP and possibly video. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5098134,00.html http://www.techtv.com/news/internet/story/0,24195,3353271,00.html http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/17274-1.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001/10/10/cybersecurity-supercomputer.htm Security experts leery of government Net Network-security professionals supported the Bush Administration's idea of a separate government Internet but stressed that security on such a network will be elusive. Actions as simple as a government employee connecting a nonsecured computer to the network or loading data from a diskette could compromise the entire system, experts said. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5098169,00.html http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-7493027.html - - - - - - - - More cybersecurity study 'crucial' New research funds—and possibly a new way of thinking—are necessary to meet an urgent need to secure computer networks supporting the nation's critical infrastructure, said academic, industry and government panelists at a congressional hearing Oct. 10. The number of academic researchers examining computer security is dangerously low, and the federal government needs to provide more money and focused support to change that, panelists told members of the House Science Committee. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/1008/web-cip-10-11-01.asp - - - - - - - - Help is at hand for mobile security Corporate data on multiple PDAs and mobile systems is a security risk. Handango says it has an answer. Handango has announced what it claims to be the first cross-platform security software system for mobile devices. The software could be useful for enterprise administrators worried about protecting data held on the variety of devices that employees bring into work and sync with corporate desktops. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2097095,00.html - - - - - - - - Who Owns the Law? When Texas retiree Peter Veeck posted some local regulations on his website, he had no idea he was sparking a major legal battle over who actually owns the law. Napster, Mp3.com, the RIAA, and Metallica. DeCSS, DMCA, SDMI, and DVD. Encryption, fair use, proprietary software, and e-books. If you've been following the glut of legal battles raging over copyright infringement since the popularization of the Internet, then you probably recognize most of these names and terms. http://www.techtv.com/cybercrime/digitaldisputes/story/0,23008,3344180,00.html - - - - - - - - Still Looking New computerized age-progression technology lets law enforcement agents keep searching for missing kids years after they disappear. Jonathan Ortiz was 2 years old when his mother allegedly kidnapped him from his California home after poisoning his father in 1992. Law enforcement agents distributed the boy's photograph around the country in the hope that someone would recognize him and help return him. http://www.techtv.com/cybercrime/viceonline/story/0,23008,3344944,00.html - - - - - - - - At last! New security measures from MS Last week, Microsoft unveiled a bold new initiative to help protect its beleaguered corporate Windows customers and IIS Web server families from future malicious code attacks. Even the Microsoft press release offered this frank admission: "It's become incredibly clear that viruses and worms directed against our customers' systems are on the increase." http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/comment/0,5859,2816971,00.html MS security glitch allowed access to customer records on web. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/22164.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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