January 16, 2002 Six arrested in anti-hacking swoop Six Italian youths aged between 15 and 23 have been arrested in connection with almost 600 website defacements. Identified as part of a group known as Hi-tech Hate, the hackers made headlines last summer after they went on a defacement spree protesting against the G8 summit in Genoa. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1128379 http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=628527 - - - - - - - - NZ Hacker Convicted In Landmark Case - Update (Note: This story updates a July 19, 2001 story with details of Garrett's sentencing and corrects an error in the original story.) A landmark computer related court case in New Zealand resulted in the conviction last August of a man who used a Trojan horse computer program to obtain passwords to Internet service provider accounts. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173699.html - - - - - - - - FBI Warns Internet Companies The FBI warned law enforcement and high-tech companies to be on guard for possible terrorist activity that could use or affect the Internet, government officials said Wednesday. The alert warned of possible attacks on or through utility, municipal and state information systems, said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House office of homeland security. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020116/pl/terrorism_internet_alert_1.html - - - - - - - - Auditor fired over purging of Enron data He rushed to destory e-mail, papers as investigation loomed, firm says. Arthur Andersen on Tuesday fired the man who audited Enron's questionable accounting records, saying the partner ordered the destruction of thousands of e-mails and Enron documents immediately after federal regulators began investigating the sinking energy company. http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/front/docs/enron16.htm Enrons Electronic Clues -- Computer Scientists Seek to Recover Deleted Files http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/enronPCfiles020116_wire.html http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/085710.htm http://www.msnbc.com/news/688648.asp http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/industry/01/16/enron.computer.sleuths.ap/index.html http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,49774,00.html http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/15835.html - - - - - - - - DVD Crypto Defendant Appeals To California Supreme Court A former Indiana resident who is being sued for participating in an online forum dealing with digital video disc (DVD) decryption, on Tuesday formally asked the California Supreme Court to rule that he cannot be compelled to stand trial in California. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173709.html - - - - - - - - Court: Interior hasn't acted to fix Net problems Vital Interior Department computer systems managing law enforcement and fire data are still not accessible from the Internet, but a court investigator said Tuesday Interior officials Interior officials say that a court-ordered Internet blackout is hindering their efforts to protect dams and critical facilities from terrorist attacks, protect visitors to National Parks, and access important fire, earthquake and volcano information. http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/01/16/interior.internet.ap/index.html - - - - - - - - California wiretapping bill dealt legal setback Gov. Gray Davis' controversial bid to give state and local law enforcement more power to listen to private telephone conversations was dealt a setback Tuesday as the state's legislative counsel concluded that California does not have the authority under federal law for such wide-ranging surveillance. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/depth/wirtap011602.htm http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5101818,00.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173701.html - - - - - - - - Congress Takes Up Cybersecurity Lawmakers are moving to beef up the nation's information security with legislation that would provide more than $870 million over five years for a wide range of research and education grants. The Cybersecurity Research and Development Act, introduced Dec. 4 by Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., and five co-sponsors, would allocate more than $560 million to the National Science Foundation. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173655.html - - - - - - - - InstaKiss Password-Stealing Scam Sites Proliferate America Online owns the AOL-InstaKiss.com domain, and American Greetings Corp. holds a trademark on the term "InstaKiss," but the companies haven't been able to stop Internet scam artists from trading on the name. Authorities moved quickly Tuesday to shut down the latest "InstaKiss" Web site designed to dupe AOL users into giving up their account passwords in exchange for an electronic smooch. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173689.html - - - - - - - - Lies, damned lies and anti-virus statistics Computer Economics has published its assessment of the damage worldwide caused by malicious code attacks in 2001 - the figure comes in at a whopping $13.2 billion. This is 23 per cent less than 2000, the year of the Love Bug, when damages from viruses were estimated at $17.1bn. In 1999 the cost to the world was $12.1 billion in 1999, Computer Economics says. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/23707.html - - - - - - - - The New War on Cybercrime The U.S. government has been quietly taking some giant steps forward over the past few weeks in the fight against cybercrime. But just how serious are the feds in tracking and punishing those who perpetrate crimes online? In November, the Department of Defense (DOD) awarded a US$86 million contract to Computer Sciences Corporation to train DOD cybercrime fighters. That came just days after the U.S. and 29 other countries signed an international treaty to fight online crime. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/15832.html - - - - - - - - Standards agency plays up role in homeland security. Concurrent with the Bush administration's increased focus on homeland security and the high-tech sector, the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will receive greater attention, senior department officials said Wednesday. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0102/011602td1.htm Computer Security, Biometrics Dominate NIST Agenda The events of Sept. 11 and the subsequent anthrax attacks have caused a major shift in priorities for the National Institute of Standard & Technology, prompting the agency to double its efforts to develop new standards for everything from security scanners to biometrics to computer security, the agency's new chief said today. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173706.html - - - - - - - - Commercial database use flagged Privacy advocates have filed a lawsuit in federal court to force the Justice and Treasury departments to disclose details about buying information about individuals from commercial databases. The agencies are generally banned from amassing such information on their own. Electronic Privacy Information Center officials said Jan. 15 that the two agencies have illegally failed to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests for details about their information purchasing practices. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0114/web-epic-01-16-02.asp - - - - - - - - Multitasking Viruses Expected Experts warn worms, viruses will target new technologies, such as broadband and wireless. The year 2001 was dubbed, by some, the year of the virus. And not without good reason, as it brought the potentially damaging Code Red and Nimda worms, along with scores of lesser, more annoying threats into offices and homes worldwide. If 2001 was the year of the worm, though, what does 2002 hold for home users? http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=628529 - - - - - - - - Protecting critical infrastructures by sharing information Months after the Sept. 11 assaults on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, America's critical infrastructure industries remain on high alert. A pipeline, refinery, oil or gas storage facility, electricity grid, power station, water treatment plant, or bridge could be the next target. But the possibility of physical sabotage isn't all that concerns infrastructure owners. A successful cyber attack on the computers that switch the nation's data and voice circuits could bring America's banking and financial systems--and the U.S. economy--to their knees. http://www.platts.com/features/enron/index.shtml - - - - - - - - Software security law call Windows XP has had security problems since launch. An influential body of researchers is calling on the US Government to draft laws that would punish software firms that do not do enough to make their products secure. The US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has released drafts of a report commissioned after 11 September to look at the state of America's computer systems. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1762000/1762261.stm - - - - - - - - Microsoft to shift focus toward security Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced to employees Wednesday a major strategy shift across all its products, including its flagship Windows software, to emphasize security and privacy over new capabilities. In e-mail to employees obtained by The Associated Press, Gates referred to the new philosophy as "Trustworthy Computing" and called it the "highest priority" to ensure computer users continue to venture across an increasingly Internet connected world. http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/01/16/microsoft.htm - - - - - - - - Microsoft Falling Behind In Browser Security Fixes With the discovery this week of another serious security flaw in Internet Explorer, the list of unpatched vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Web browser continues to grow. Yet the company will not disclose its plans for releasing patches, or even acknowledge the flaws. "The trend is not good with IE6. I think Microsoft may have pushed it out the door too soon. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173704.html Windows Media Player must be patched to fix IE A trivial scrap of malicious JavaScript can defeat entirely the Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) 'protections' Microsoft has integrated into Internet Explorer 6, all because of a dodgy 'feature' in Windows Media Player (WMP). http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/23700.html - - - - - - - - .Net breakdown: More to come? Experts question Microsoft's ability to provide reliable 'software-as-a-service' after a five-day .Net outage. After a five-day outage, Microsoft fixed a technician's error on Tuesday, allowing Windows users to once again access critical operating system updates on the company's Web site. But the problem--the latest in a series-- had .Net analysts questioning whether the software giant can deliver the reliability necessary for its widely touted 24-7 Web services initiative. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2102590,00.html - - - - - - - - Breakable A U.K. security expert is preparing to unveil a trove of serious vulnerabilities in Oracle's database products. Can the company redefine 'unbreakable' in time? An Oracle advertisement emailed last week to InfoWorld subscribers typifies the software company's newest marketing campaign. It begins with the unsettling assertion that annual computer security incidents have increased ten-fold since 1997, then lists the ways that the company's database products can defend the reader against hackers. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/309 Oracle security claim to be debunked -- expert http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/23709.html Backing Up Oracle's 'Unbreakable' Vow http://www.securityfocus.com/news/308 - - - - - - - - Wireless LANs: Trouble in the Air As the airline industry scrambles to meet a Jan. 18 deadline to screen every checked bag for explosives, security experts, analysts and government officials are raising serious concerns about the security of wireless technology that's integral to the effort. http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV47_STO67344,00.html Wireless security concerns increase Wireless security concerns are rising in tandem with corporate uptake of wireless technologies, a survey of over 1,200 IT and security professionals has found. However, the results of the survey also suggest that the skill sets for securing those networks may not keeping pace with such uptake. http://www.securitysearch.net/display_industry_news_article.cfm?id=432 - - - - - - - - Software program tags cheaters A software program designed by Georgia Tech professors to detect cheating in students' computer programming homework turned up 186 possible violators, school officials said. The students who were enrolled last fall in either "Introduction to Computing" or "Object Oriented Programming" will be investigated by the student dean's office, Tech spokesman Bob Harty said Tuesday. http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/review/2002/1/16/cheating-software.htm *********************************************************** 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 2000-2002, NewsBits.net, Campbell, CA.