November 1, 2001 Computer dealers charged in £100m money laundering case Five computer component dealers, and three others, are to appear in court charged with laundering £100 million for criminals around the world. Customs officers arrested the eight and seized £200,000 during searches of businesses and homes yesterday. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/51/22607.html - - - - - - - - Mideast 'cyberwar' veteran indicted The Turbaned Chupacabra may rest snug in his Afghan cave, and the House of Saud may be paying generous protection money to Al Qaeda behind our backs; Anthrax may spread through the postal system and India may attack in Kashmir while the US Secretary of State stands on Pakistani soil, but the FBI has struck a solid blow for Democracy and Freedom by persuading a federal grand jury to indict celebrity hacktivist DoctorNuker. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/22594.html - - - - - - - - NY Times laid low by Nimda offshoot The mysterious "storm of data" that swamped computers at The New York Times was not caused by a malicious attack aimed at the paper but rather by a reemergence of the Nimda worm, company officials said Wednesday. A New York Times network administrator said in an internal e-mail. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/newsbursts/0,7407,5099070,00.html http://www.techtv.com/news/story/0,24195,3357814,00.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001/11/01/new-york-times-outage.htm http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/01/technology/01VIRU.html - - - - - - - - SirCam haunts dim-witted users SirCam is still the most infectious computer virus on the Internet. Four months after it was first released it continues to haunt users. The privacy-threatening, bandwidth-stealing worm headed the monthly chart of virus reports compiled by antivirus vendor Sophos and accounted for 21.7 per cent of calls to its support centre in October. It was followed by Nimda-A (17.8 per cent), September's chart topper, and the Magistr-B (16.1 per cent). http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/22590.html - - - - - - - - Rep. Goodlatte Intros Bill To Outlaw Internet Gambling House lawmakers today introduced legislation to outlaw most forms of Internet gambling, a rapidly growing and unregulated $6 billion industry fed largely by U.S. demand. The bill introduced today by Rep. Robert Goodlatte, R-Va., clarifies that telecommunications laws strictly forbid most types of Internet gambling ("games of skill," such as fantasy sports leagues and "educational" games would be exempt). http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171772.html - - - - - - - - Nuclear Regulatory Agency Plans Terrorist-Proof Site The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) soon plans to debut a new Web site, one that contains far less information that could be useful to terrorists planning to attack U.S. nuclear sites. According to a notice on the site this morning, the NRC "will begin deploying its newly redesigned public Web site in a phased approach." http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171768.html Energy Ramps Up Its Cyber-Security http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171761.html - - - - - - - - High-tech security may get $1 billion boost A $20 billion stimulus package in the works by Senate Democrats may include $1 billion to bankroll an information-technology fund, CNET News.com has learned. As proposed by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., the U.S. Office of Management and Budget would administer the fund and award money to projects that aim to further protect the United States' critical infrastructures, improve the security of government computer systems, or harden the nation's defenses against natural and manmade threats. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-7749471.html - - - - - - - - Cybersecurity chief to offer input on agency budgets The nation's top cybersecurity adviser will work closely with the White House Office of Management and Budget to ensure that federal agencies have the money to implement effective computer security, a government official told cybersecurity experts Wednesday. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1101/110101td1.htm - - - - - - - - Cybersecurity panel to build Web forum The Bush administration's new Critical Infrastructure Protection Board is already considering several ways in which industry can be involved in the federal cybersecurity effort, including a new Web site to promote new ideas and solutions, an official said Wednesday. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/1029/web-chat-11-01-01.asp - - - - - - - - DISA backs wireless net The Defense Information Systems Agency is on board with plans to help create a wireless priority system for the government's short- and long-term communications needs, according to the agency's chief. The Wireless Priority Access Service is a "national priority" and is being funded outside the Defense Department to aid emergency response efforts in selected cities, said DISA director Lt. Gen. Harry Raduege,Jr. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/1029/web-disa-10-31-01.asp - - - - - - - - Protecting intellectual property In the new economy, intellectual property often constitutes the crown jewel not only for technology- related companies, but also for companies that simply use technology to make their own business- es more effective. Every business — whether high- tech or low-tech — should conduct periodic audits to identify whether they have created innovations that should be protected as intellectual property. http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/ccarch/2001/11/01/sinrod.htm - - - - - - - - 'DeCSS' DVD descrambler ruled legal The Copy Control Association (CCA), which was granted a preliminary injunction against Andrew Bunner and other Webmasters, was handed its head in a California appellate court Thursday. The trial court had granted the injunction against publishing Jon Johansen's DeCSS DVD descrambler, but Brunner appealed on First Amendment free- speech grounds. The CCA scoffed at the notion, claiming that the source code has a mere practical function and no expressive content. The court saw it differently. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/22613.html - - - - - - - - Sony's robot-dog gets hacked Sony has forced a programmer to remove from his Web site code that changed the behavior of its Aibo robot dog. According to a report in New Scientist, the programs gave Aibo new functionality. One, called Disco Aibo, made the robotic canine dance to music. Sony protested, saying that the applications used proprietary and encrypted code. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5099089,00.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2098461,00.html - - - - - - - - Whatever happened to fair use? In music sharing, it's the record labels vs. the consumers and the battle is just beginning. Like any college student, Tony Tran knows his rights. He has the right to sample music for free over the Internet. He has the right to download an entire CD to his computer's hard drive and listen to it for days to determine whether to buy it. And he has the right to make copies for his friends. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/depth/faruse110101.htm Copying music unstoppable http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/depth/copy110101.htm - - - - - - - - Ring tones spark digital copyright battle Selling ring tones is big business in Europe and Asia, where hundreds of companies offer snippets of popular music to replace the prepackaged tones used to alert someone to a call. More than $300 million in ring tones were sold in Japan last year. Nokia estimates it will make billions selling ring tones by the end of 2005. But the industry is still relatively unregulated. Several industry insiders estimated that up to 65 percent of all ring-tone companies aren't properly licensed. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5099060,00.html - - - - - - - - TV networks sue maker of digital video recorder The three major television networks are suing the makers of the first Internet-ready personal digital video recorder, saying the ReplayTV 4000 allows people to make and distribute illegal copies of television programs. NBC, ABC and CBS filed suit Wednesday in federal court in Los Angeles against SONICblue Inc., claiming the ReplayTV 4000 would violate their copyrights by allowing users to distribute copies of programs over the Internet. The networks also complained that technology in the personal video recorder can automatically strip out commercials. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/071594.htm - - - - - - - - NodeScan service checks for security holes Pan Security's ASP service interrogates systems or weaknesses open ports that may harbour known trojans or backdoors. UK-start up Pan Security International (PanSec) has launched an ASP package called PanSec NodeScan that tests security measures to see that they are correctly configured and working properly. NodeScan tests an individual device or node on a network such as the web or mail server for vulnerabilities daily from its security operating centers (SOC). http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2098470,00.html - - - - - - - - Privacy expert resigns to focus on security Richard Smith, famous for revealing high-profile privacy flaws in RealNetworks and Microsoft software, is to switch his focus to security. Well-known privacy watchdog Richard Smith said Wednesday that he is leaving his post at the Privacy Foundation to research security issues following the September 11 attacks, one sign of the country's shifting focus from protecting privacy to ensuring safety. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2098456,00.html - - - - - - - - Culture jammers spoof WTO web site The World Trade Organisation is fuming over a spoof Web site which copies the WTO's design but subverts the text to support the aims of anti-global protesters. The Web site, at www.gatt.org (referring to the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs, WTO's predecessor), has been up and running since September. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/22601.html - - - - - - - - Patriotism and privacy I've begun to trust the government. Not completely, mind you, but a good deal more than I usually have. I've always been a patriotic sort, but with a prudent distrust of state power. When your government can do more for you, it can also do more to you, so I usually greet any expansion of police authority with a shiver of dread. http://digitalmass.boston.com/news/globe_tech/upgrade/2001/1101.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.