October 24, 2001 UK Net pedo jailed for eight years A UK man, inappropriately named Lawrence Horn, has been jailed for eight years after trying to seduce a 14-year-old boy in an Internet chatroom. The 14-year-old was in fact detective Mark Bucci from Philadelphia in the States who was working under the pseudonymn Justin. Mr Horn, 35 from near Ashford in Kent, held numerous conversations with "Justin" which became increasingly sexually graphic. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/22447.html - - - - - - - - Taliban opposition site a casualty of war A Web site operated by opponents of Afghanistan's Taliban regime will likely remain offline for at least another month after hackers took it out of commission in an apparent case of mistaken identity. Visitors sent about 10,000 hate messages soon after the Sept. 11 terrorism strikes, and hackers brought down the ``AfghanGovernment.org'' site within days. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/011931.htm - - - - - - - - Hacking Incident Closes Security News Site The day before Marquis Grove decided to shutter his popular computer security news site, the operator of SecurityNewsPortal.com was brimming with energy about his labor of love. "I have a large viewership and I feel I owe them a responsibility to be there and keep slamming out the freshest news that I can to keep them amused and informed," said Grove in an e-mail interview Monday. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171478.html - - - - - - - - Bin Laden worm wriggling in South Korea A computer virus named after Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born fugitive accused of masterminding the attacks on the United States, has surfaced in South Korea, a local antivirus software maker said Wednesday. "We received a report from a personal computer user who got an e-mail containing the virus, "Jin Yoon-jung of antivirus company Ahnlab told Reuters. "His computer was not infected, as he reported it to us without opening the e-mail." http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-7641111.html 'Bin Laden' Worm Targets ICQ, Outlook Users http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171467.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/647159.asp - - - - - - - - House OKs anti-terror bill The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed and sent to the Senate for final congressional approval a broad bipartisan bill to expand the power of law enforcement to combat terrorists--including broader wiretapping powers and the right to track suspects' Internet use. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-7640612.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171465.html House close to anti-terrorism compromise giving http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/071023.htm - - - - - - - - Call for industry to take part in homeland defense. Office of Homeland Security director Tom Ridge today called on the IT industry to use their products and expertise to support homeland defense efforts. Rep. Curt Weldon, who chairs the procurement subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, echoed Ridge’s call while decrying the information stovepipes among intelligence agencies. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/17366-1.html - - - - - - - - Sharing key to combating threats As awareness about the importance of sharing information about cyber and physical threats grows following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the General Accounting Office last week released a report on the best practices of leading organizations in the public and private sectors. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/1022/web-gao-10-24-01.asp - - - - - - - - Wisconsin Gov. Considers Video Voyeurism Bill Wisconsin Gov. Scott McCallum, R, has received a bill for his consideration that would, in many cases, outlaw videotaping or photographing naked people without their consent. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171472.html - - - - - - - - U.K. Groups Team To Sound Cybercrime Alarm Two of the U.K.'s key information technology security associations have joined forces to tackle cybercrime, a problem they say the country is not prepared to battle. The Information Assurance Advisory Council (IAAC) has teamed up with the Institute for Communications Arbitration and Forensics (ICAF) with the aim of better educating businesses and their customers about cybercrime. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171470.html - - - - - - - - Law makes Scotland attractive to Net paedophiles A criminal psychologist has warned that child pornography laws in Scotland will lead Internet sex offenders north of the border. A leading criminal psychologist has warned that Internet paedophiles may move to Scotland to take advantage of weaker sentencing guidelines on the downloading of child pornography. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2097893,00.html - - - - - - - - Mobile Porn Coming to Europe The U.S. wireless industry raised a collective eyebrow over news that a European phone company plans to offer wireless pornography over third- generation mobile phones. Hutchison 3G, a new entrant to Britain's overcrowded mobile phone sector, recently appointed an executive to oversee mobile porn. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,47813,00.html - - - - - - - - FCC Chairman Responds To Senator Over Wireless Flap Facing the annoyance of lawmakers and wireless companies over a controversial spectrum auction decision, FCC Chairman Michael Powell Tuesday sent a letter to a powerful Senate Committee chairman defending his agency's moves. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171479.html - - - - - - - - E-gov won't get left behind E-government projects will not be left behind in budget debates as priorities and funding concerns turn toward homeland security, according to the Bush administration's top technology official. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/1022/web-forman-10-24-01.asp - - - - - - - - Filter Plan Leaks Like a Sieve A Web-rating system touted by Microsoft, AOL Time Warner and Yahoo as a way to protect children may be far less useful than its backers have claimed. The companies predicted at a press conference Tuesday that parents will be able to configure their child's Web browser to reject sites that either lack ratings or are self-labeled as having unacceptable amounts of violence, sex or nudity. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,47808,00.html - - - - - - - - Macintosh Users Warned Of IE 5.1 Browser Security Hole Some users of the Apple Macintosh OS X operating system and Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser are being warned that downloading certain kinds of files could open a security hole in their systems. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171468.html - - - - - - - - Microsoft beefs up security with Windows XP Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP, to be launched this week, will be better able to fend off the hackers and viruses that have successfully breached previous versions of Windows, analysts say. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/032158.htm http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5098754,00.html Entertainment control freaks have an ally in Microsoft http://web.siliconvalley.com/content/sv/opinion/dgillmor/w Web giants back launch of content labeling scheme http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/industry/10/24/icra.backers.idg/index.html Windows XP includes security add-ons http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-7644040.html Congress mum on Windows XP since attacks http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-7646319.html - - - - - - - - Biometrics: for your eyes only An iris-recognition authentication system was launched in Australia yesterday - but some experts fear it could give away personal Information to employers. The old saying "the eyes never lie" took on new currency yesterday as Siemens Business Services launched Australia's first iris-recognition authentication system. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2097913,00.html - - - - - - - - Connecticut to combine all criminal databases Two Connecticut agencies and the state’s judicial branch are making it even more difficult for criminals to slip through the gaps in society’s net. The Policy and Management Office, the IT Department and agencies in the judicial branch cooperated to award Sierra Systems Group Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia, a contract to develop a central offender database. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/17368-1.html - - - - - - - - Once-feared hacker works the other side Erik Bloodaxe, co-founder of the notorious Legion of Doom group, was once one of the world's most feared hackers. But since 1991, Erik has reverted to the name given him at birth -- the rather more prosaic Chris Goggans. And in a poacher-turned-gamekeeper move, he has been working as a computer security consultant -- protecting companies from hackers. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/072182.htm - - - - - - - - Could the Net be used to fight bioterrorism? Just when the Internet seemed down and out stumbling out of lowlife bars, unkempt, penniless and a blink away from jumping off a bridge iit might save the American way of life. The Internet could save us from bioterrorism. Which would be good news, considering few people believe anything can save us from bioterrorism, other than taking up residence inside Biosphere 2 in the Sonoran Desert. Anyone know if it's got vacancies? http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/ccarch/2001/10/24/maney.htm - - - - - - - - First, brand all the children Cyber-liberties swept away by tidal wave of security concerns. Anthrax, Afghanistan, al-Qaida, Ashcroft and anti-terrorism legislation. We aren’t even through the first letter of the geopolitical alphabet before jumping all the way to “S” as in “screwed” as in what’s happening to civil liberties in the online world. http://www.msnbc.com/news/646793.asp - - - - - - - - Security: Not just a technological problem Security is all about knowing and trusting that someone else is paying attention to matters of safety, rights, etc., such that we, individually and in the groups that matter, can focus on living our lives. Today, the world finds itself feeling more insecure perhaps than ever before. Why? Because we don't know exactly who or what would do us harm, but we have the means to quickly learn about every single horrific act that happens everywhere. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/comment/0,5859,2819925,00.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.