November 9, 2001 Barclays Bank 'blackmailer' acquitted A former encryption expert at Barclays Bank has been cleared of attempting to extort £25m from the bank and threatening to expose confidential security information. Graham Browne, former head of Barclays' elite cryptography team in Cheshire, was acquitted on a charge of blackmail by a jury at the Old Bailey this week. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1126715 - - - - - - - - Cambridge Students Find Way to Hack Into Banks Two graduate students have found a way to hack into security systems that protect many banking and e-commerce transactions, Cambridge University said on Thursday. Michael Bond and Richard Clayton, computer science Ph.D. students, developed programs allowing them to hack into an IBM security computer that was previously thought to be impregnable, it said. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011108/tc/tech_britain_hackers_dc_1.html http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/045088.htm http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5099425,00.html http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,48277,00.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001/11/09/bank-hack.htm http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/22751.html - - - - - - - - Singapore raids net pirated Windows XP More than 4,000 copies of Microsoft software products have been seized in recent police raids in Singapore. Seven raids were conducted in October, across the island's HDB heartlands like Toa Payoh, Ang Mo Kio, Marine Parade and Bedok North. This is because activity at the traditional center of pirated goods, Sim Lim Square, has largely been stamped out by police action. The raids turned up over 4,000 pieces of illegal Microsoft goods. About 80 percent of these were of the software giant's Windows XP system, which premiered on October 25, and arrived in Singapore a day later. The pirated CDs were retailing at S$5 (US$2.75) to S$10 (US$5.50) apiece, compared with S$389 (US$213) for the genuine Windows XP Home edition and S$569 (US$312) for the Professional edition. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5099397,00.html http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-7825427.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/22763.html Microsoft touts XP in China, held back by pirates The world's top software firm has seen few ``concrete results'' in an anti-piracy campaign in the world's most heavily pirated market, but pre-conditions for improvement were falling into place, a Microsoft Corp. executive said on Friday. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/059015.htm http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2823738,00.html - - - - - - - - Finaldo worm: Demo of worse to come Finaldo (w32.Finaldo.b@mm) appears to be a flawed version of a more ambitious worm yet to come. Finaldo is a mass-mailer; it spreads by e-mail, using randomly chosen names as attached files, and via shared network directories. Once activated, Finaldo will attempt to infect EXE, OCX, and SCR files as well as ASP, HTM, and HTML files. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2823577,00.html - - - - - - - - Instant messaging vulnerable to viruses Security experts have warned companies that increased use of corporate instant messaging services could increase vulnerability to virus attacks and the interception of messages. Yahoo! and Sun Microsystems have both announced that they will release instant messaging (IM) software for corporate use, and Microsoft has said that IM will play a large role in its .Net strategy for accessing applications online. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2823750,00.html - - - - - - - - Counterterrorism: `Wartime' changes sweep spy, law agencies. The Bush administration Thursday announced a sweeping ``wartime reorganization and mobilization'' aimed at making counterterrorism the dominant priority of federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies -- even at the expense of other traditional operations. http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/front/docs/fbi09.htm Justice Shift Calls for Better IT http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/1105/web-doj-11-09-01.asp http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/internet/11/09/infrastructure.protection.idg/index.html Share more leads, Ashcroft tells Justice bureaus http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/17463-1.html - - - - - - - - Government brandishes new powers in cybersecurity In Washington, the change in the national mood since September 11 is plain to see. The famous marble monuments stand ringed by makeshift concrete barricades. White police vans sit in parking lots formerly filled with tour buses. Guard dogs prowl outside the White House, while up on Capitol Hill moon-suited investigators sweep for traces of anthrax. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/reuters_wire/1638802l.htm - - - - - - - - House panel flunks federal government on computer security Despite dramatically tighter security at U.S. buildings since the terrorist attacks, a House panel is giving the government failing marks for lax protection of federal computer networks against hackers, terrorists and others. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/011772.htm http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/17466-1.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172052.html http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,48271,00.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001/11/09/security-flunk.htm Security woes dog federal agencies http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-201-7818951-0.html - - - - - - - - UPS technology improving security, chief says For more than a decade, United Parcel Service Inc. has invested a billion dollars a year on computer technology -- for cargo-tracking and management systems -- and that has really paid off since Sept. 11, the company's chief executive officer said Thursday. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/072832.htm - - - - - - - - MS group to oversee hack reports Microsoft and five security companies announced Thursday that they would create an organization to promote the responsible publishing of information about software flaws. Though many of the details have yet to be hammered out, the move marks the beginning of what could be the widespread emergence of ethical rules for security research. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5099420,00.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2098958,00.html Security woes: Who does Microsoft blame? http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2098922,00.html - - - - - - - - Trojans make firewalls futile Security watchers have warned that personal firewalls may be an "exercise in futility" given the latest developments in Trojan techniques. Just days after the security community advised that Trojans are increasingly using outbound connections to pick up commands and avoid port blocking and intrusion detection, experts have said that firewalls may be highly susceptible to such tricks. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1126734 - - - - - - - - IE security hole leads to cookie jar UPDATE: Microsoft has warned that versions of Internet Explorer can expose consumers' personal data contained within cookies. The vulnerability exists within IE 5.5 and 6.0, but earlier browser editions "may or may not be affected," according to a security bulletin posted to Microsoft's Web site Thursday. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-7828689.html - - - - - - - - IBM chip achieves security standard IBM Corp. announced this week that its Cryptographic Security Chip, used in its NetVista desktop computers and ThinkPad notebooks, has received Common Criteria certification, a security standard recognized by the United States and 13 other countries. Common Criteria (ISO/IEC 15408) is an international standard for evaluating information technology security products to be certified at a defined assurance level. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/1105/web-chip-11-09-01.asp - - - - - - - - Digital watermarking feud heats up Verance on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in federal court in Portland, Ore., charging Digimarc with violating antitrust and unfair competition laws, the latest legal blow in a long-standing intellectual property dispute between the two companies. Among other things, the suit alleges that Digimarc illegally submitted Verance's digital watermarking technology to a standards group. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5099397,00.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.