October 25, 2001 California AG says he's probing pre-attacks cyberterrorism California's attorney general says the state is investigating well-coordinated cyber-attacks that targeted computers in California and 21 countries and ended September tenth. Speaking at an anti-terrorism conference of law enforcement officials from Northern California, Bill Lockyer said the attacks were systematic, extensive, and appeared to be government-sponsored. http://home.abc28.com/Global/story.asp?S=515707&nav=0zGK2RaY5GaQ - - - - - - - - China sentences computer hacker to two years According to Chinese media, the hacker posted a message in English advocating the splitting up of China. Police arrested Lin Qican after tracing the defacement to a computer at the bank he worked in. The court also ordered the 27-year-old to pay around £360 in compensation. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_431829.html - - - - - - - - Indian news sites hacked Two of India's leading news organisations are reviewing their cyber security after their websites were hacked, allegedly by Pakistani-based groups. Zee News and India Today were at the receiving end on Tuesday when their portals were hacked by the Pakistani-based Gforce Pakistan and Pakistani Hackerz Club. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1617000/1617478.stm - - - - - - - - Taiwanese hackers reportedly broke into Army Web site Taiwan's Investigation Bureau is looking into a claim that local hackers broke into a U.S. military Web site in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, officials said Wednesday. "An investigation is now under way," a bureau official told AFP in response to a report by the Liberty Times newspaper. He declined to give details. http://www.nandotimes.com/world/story/156851p-1482681c.html - - - - - - - - Jilted boyfriend hacked into ex's internet bank account A jilted Hong Kong man hacked into his ex girlfriend's bank account and stole her money after they split up. Cheung Wing-hang, who's 20, stole around £420 from the HSBC account which had an internet banking facility. He was convicted of four charges of theft and five of dishonest computer access at the Eastern Court. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_431974.html - - - - - - - - BT Plays Down Hacker Claims BT has denied that its new online music subscription service's built-in security can be hacked. As we reported yesterday, a hacker known as Beale Screamer claimed to have successfully hacked Microsoft's Digital Rights Management System, which is designed to prevent unauthorised copying of downloaded music in the WMA format that BT has chosen for the service. http://www.computerbuyer.co.uk/NNguest/newnews/newsarticle.php3?id=2959 - - - - - - - - Window Security Site Defaced With Anti-XP Message As Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates was celebrating the release of Windows XP in New York today, Web vandals replaced the home page of Windowsecurity.com with a derogatory message about Redmond's new operating system. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171523.html - - - - - - - - Senate clears anti-terror bill for Bush signature The U.S. Senate Thursday gave final congressional approval to a landmark bill that would expand the power of law enforcement to track down terrorists. President Bush, who has sought such legislation since shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, is expected to sign the measure into law Friday. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/017978.htm http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/020818.htm http://www.techtv.com/cybercrime/privacy/story/0,23008,3356335,00.html http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/17374-1.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171520.html http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47893,00.html http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47858,00.html http://www.usatoday.com/hphoto.htm Ashcroft to speed Net search for terrorists http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5098796,00.html - - - - - - - - Politics: House's anti-terror bill requires judge to monitor FBI's use of e-mail surveillance system. The anti-terror bill passed Wednesday by the House will require a judge to monitor the FBI's use of an e-mail surveillance system that has raised concerns about privacy. http://www.nandotimes.com/politics/story/156953p-1484013c.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001/10/24/carnivore.htm House passes bill to add leeway in searches, wiretaps http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/hottopics/attack/bill102501.htm http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svfront/049828.htm - - - - - - - - White House asks industry to develop secure network. President Bush's special adviser on cybersecurity on Wednesday told hundreds of information technology specialists that he wants the private sector's recommendations on how to build a secure nationwide intranet for government agencies and their estimates on its cost. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1001/102501td1.htm - - - - - - - - German Carriers Told To Install Cyber-Snooping Tech The German government has rushed through proposals forcing telcos to install cyber-snooping technology that would give police and security agencies access to most German communications. While the proposals have been on the table for almost five years, their progress was held back prior to the events of Sept. 11 because of consumer privacy issues and the costs of installing surveillance systems at smaller Internet service providers (ISPs). http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171516.html - - - - - - - - Devastating Attacks on the Net "imminant" A new wave of devastating internet attacks is just waiting to happen, says a report by a US internet watchdog. What is more, there is there is currently little chance of preventing it. The threat is a variation of the "denial of service" (DoS) attack, commonly used by malicious hackers to block a website by bombarding it with spurious requests. However, the new threat would target routers, key hubs of the internet's infrastructure, instead of individual websites. http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991477 - - - - - - - - Alert System Sought for Internet Attacks News of cyberattacks, viruses and hoaxes often spreads through the computer security world in the same haphazard way as gossip. Jonathan Disher, who oversees the security network for Internet Pictures Corp., for instance, gets his information from several Web sites, two e-mail lists, pages and phone messages. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171505.html - - - - - - - - Hacktivists take sides in war. GForce is one of the most prolific hacker groups. Online graffiti artists are taking the war on terrorism to cyberspace. It is not the kind of cyber-warfare that some have envisioned with state-sponsored super hackers targeting key networks and wreaking offline havoc as water, power and transportation systems go down. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1614000/1614927.stm - - - - - - - - 'Jam Echelon Day' called a success An international day of protest designed to jam the US-led communications spy system Echelon was a "rousing" success according to its organizers, who claim that the cyber-demonstration helped to raise public awareness about the surveillance system. Jam Echelon Day took place on October 21, and encouraged members of the Internet community to send out as many e-mail messages as possible, containing so-called trigger words that the Echelon system is believed to pick up on. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/newsbursts/0,7407,2820233,00.html - - - - - - - - Ernst & Young Kids' Learning Game Becomes Porn Site When a domain name is sold there's always the risk that former visitors to a site under that domain will continue to log on to the old Web address. But what if the domain was an educational site for kids and the new domain holder turns it into a porn gateway? That's exactly what happened to Moneyopolis, a Web site designed by accounting giant Ernst & Young LLP to teach kids financial skills. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171493.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/22460.html - - - - - - - - Tool lets users copy a hard drive without a trace. Law officers use this forensic kit, even though it can take a half an hour. Even before the terrorist attacks, the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies were using the Image MASSter Solo 2 Forensic Kit, a three-piece hardware kit for covertly copying a suspect’s computer files. http://www.gcn.com/20_31/reviews/17323-1.html - - - - - - - - XP vulnerable to DoS attacks "It suffers from being very complicated," Steven Gibson says, trying to explain why he thinks a little-known feature of some operating systems could spell doom for businesses on the Internet. http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2819030,00.html XP Shopping Fuels Privacy Debate New OS features will make online shopping easier, but it has privacy advocates concerned. Windows XP will open new doors for online shoppers, but as consumers offer up more and more personal information for the sake of easier online experiences, there is a parallel risk of loss of privacy and security. http://www.techtv.com/news/specialreport/windowsxp/story/0,24195,3356077,00.html Privacy groups want FTC action on Passport http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/industry/10/25/ftc.action.idg/index.html - - - - - - - - Big Brother Is E-Watching You A new digital video surveillance system is a real eye-opener. Biscom Inc. has unveiled Webeyealert and its cache of weapons aimed at keeping tabs on work environments, schools, airports and other venues via live video on the Web, or via mobile devices. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171522.html - - - - - - - - Bin Laden hack-meister in defacement, financial debacles Shameless German glam-h4x0r Kim Schmitz aka Kimble, who recently stole headlines with his YIHAT (Young Intelligent Hackers Against Terrorism) publicity stunt and his unsubstantiated claims to have hacked a Sudanese bank with /bin/laden accounts, has been fingered in a defacement of SecurityNewsPortal (SNP) which prompted the site's sudden closing. Oh, and the flamboyant Schmitz is broke, too. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/22457.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171473.html - - - - - - - - Homeland Cyber Security – We Need a Czar, Not a Coordinator President Bush has appointed a National Advisor on cyber-security; but without the means to enact real change, the appointment will be another in a long line of failed initiatives. Coordinator –noun- An equal, one who fosters consensus and agreement toward a shared goal. Czar – noun – A person with great authority. http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/32 - - - - - - - - County tries virtual terror training Florida's Osceola County is looking to virtual reality tools to help it test the terrorism section of its Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP), the detailed strategy all municipal organizations have to prepare and keep up-to-date. http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2001/1022/web-fla-10-25-01.asp *********************************************************** 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. 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