February 27, 2002 Accused piracy leader pleads guilty The accused leader of an Internet piracy group known as DrinkOrDie could face up to five years in prison after pleading guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. John Sankus, Jr., 28, who entered his plea in a Virginia federal court, will be sentenced May 17, federal prosecutors said. As part of the plea, Sankus agreed that he caused between $2.5 million and $5 million in damages by allowing the distribution of illegal software, games and movies over the Internet, the prosecutors said. In addition to possible prison time, he faces fines of up to $250,000. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-846672.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174822.html http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50715,00.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/02/27/piracy-charges.htm - - - - - - - - Hacker says he saw SSN's inside New York Times' network. A San Francisco hacker says he found security lapses in The New York Times' internal computer network that exposed Social Security numbers for op-ed page contributors and other sensitive files. Adrian Lamo, 21, a part-time Internet security consultant, said Tuesday that he hacked the newspaper's Web site and snooped around numerous times about 10 days ago. He said he found at least seven misconfigured servers, allowing savvy users to enter the newspaper's private network through its public Web site. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/2752998.htm http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1105-846313.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2105192,00.html http://www.techtv.com/news/security/story/0,24195,3373973,00.html http://news.com.com/2100-1023-846215.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174808.html http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/16544.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/02/27/hacker-nyt.htm http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/272115p-2493998c.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/24240.html - - - - - - - - Internet Drug Dealing Is Big Business - U.N. Report Whispered tones of street-level dope dealers are morphing into exchanges in private chat rooms while encrypted e-mail messages and other online technologies become the basis for global drug trafficking, but governments are not doing enough to fight the cyberwar on drugs, a new report says. With the explosive growth of legitimate Internet use by consumers and businesses worldwide, as well as the Net's growing importance in the global financial community, comes the spread of cybercrime. And the narcotics trade is flourishing on the Net. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174827.html http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/02/27/net-trafficking.htm - - - - - - - - Are Crackers Behind AOL Spree? America Online users, you have unwanted packages -- due either to the activities of malicious hackers, aggressive pop-up ads or a sudden widespread epidemic of shopping amnesia. AOL has billed thousands of its users for products presented in pop-up ads after users clicked a "no thanks" button to refuse the offer, according to a lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The charges were made public late Monday. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,50697,00.html - - - - - - - - Hack a PC, Get Life in Jail A House panel voted unanimously late Tuesday to expand the types of hacking crimes that would be punished by life imprisonment. Citing the possibility of terrorists wreaking havoc electronically, the House Judiciary subcommittee on crime voted 8-0 to rewrite the Cyber Security Enhancement Act and forward a more Draconian version to the full committee. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50708,00.html - - - - - - - - GPL enforcement goes to court in MySQL case MySQL AB, the originator of the MySQL GPL database, is taking Progress Software Corporation, the corporate parent of NuSphere to court because it continues to distribute a database product that links statically to MySQL's code. The product was originally released without the accompanying source code. The Free Software Foundation's chief legal counsel, Eben Moglen, is set to provide expert testimony in a hearing Wednesday at 2 p.m. in what is the first court test for Richard Stallman's GNU General Public License. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24219.html - - - - - - - - Justice Wants More Electronic Surveillance Funding - Report A good portion of the $1.8 billion increase that The Justice Department is requesting in its 2003 budget will be devoted to funding new surveillance and electronic security programs, according to a new report. "There is a dramatic increase in the amount of money proposed to be spent next year for monitoring in the U.S," Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) Executive Director Marc Rotenberg told reporters in a conference call. "We do not come out flatly against the recommended budget, but we have concerns." http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174833.html - - - - - - - - Senate Panel To Ponder Digital Copyright Protections The Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday will examine whether digital content is being adequately protected in the electronic world. Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-S.C., announced the full committee hearing, which will feature testimony from Disney Chairman Michael Eisner, Intel Corp. Executive Vice President Leslie Vadasz and others. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174828.html Digital Security Fomenting a Feud A Senate committee is stepping into the middle of an increasingly vocal spat over the future of technology: how to prevent illicit copying of digital content. On Thursday morning, Senate Commerce chairman Fritz Hollings (D-South Carolina) will convene a hearing on digital copy protection, which he believes should be embedded in nearly all PCs and consumer electronic devices. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50702,00.html High-Tech: U.S. Out of Hollywood America's largest and most powerful tech firms have agreed on one point: Keep Congress far away from digital content standards. In a 600-word letter sent to movie studios on Wednesday afternoon, the chief executives of IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, Intel and five other corporations said they were eager to work with Hollywood to find "technically feasible, cost effective solutions" for protecting entertainment delivered in digital form. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50716,00.html - - - - - - - - Net Hotline Seeks Tips On Child Porn A missing-persons agency is planning to recruit ordinary computer users into the battle against Internet child pornography and online luring of young people with a new tips line billed as the first of its kind in Canada. Child Find is hoping the service, backed by the Manitoba Justice Department and several police forces, will give investigators some added muscle as they tackle the growing scourge of Web-based child porn and Internet enticement. http://www.canada.com/national/story.asp?id={754A6629-4714-43AD-A404-48D5ED 0790BF} - - - - - - - - Solving the Perfect Computer Crime One FBI veteran told NewsFactor that one of the most effective techniques for solving cybercrime is the merger of traditional investigative processes with new technology. While the perfect computer crime is one that, by definition, will not be discovered, heightened awareness of cyber security has helped law enforcement keep up with the technologies and tactics used to compromise computers, networks and databases. But cyber cops still struggle with such issues as the international reach of the Internet, an increasing number of combined threats and a wide spectrum of legal hurdles. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/16502.html - - - - - - - - DVD pirates and hobbits Like all markets in Cambodia, the Russian market in Phnom Penh is chaotic, packed with hawking and gawking merchants. The floors are littered and various hunks of animal flesh can be purchased, but by Cambodian standards the market is clean and fairly modern. Paint vendors stand next to motorcycle part sellers and a cluster of bootleg video vendors -- all in all, a typical Southeast Asian market. http://salon.com/tech/feature/2002/02/27/dvd_piracy/index.html - - - - - - - - MPAA's Valenti pushes for copy-control PCs Motion Picture Ass. of America (MPAA) President Jack Valenti has made a veiled pitch for copy- control PCs in a letter to the editor published by the Washington Post. While much of the letter is devoted to incoherent ranting about some dastardly cabal of "professors" who are trying to rip the guts out of Hollywood, and hysterical claims such as "some 350,000-plus films are being downloaded illegally every day," we do get an interesting wrap-up where the industry Ass. President alludes to the need for the PC to be transformed into a secure content-distrbution device along the lines of a set-top box. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/24208.html - - - - - - - - Webmasters Urged To Plug PHP Security Hole Web site operators who use server-side scripting software known as PHP are being urged today to upgrade to a new release that does not contain recently discovered - and apparently serious - security holes. Stefan Esser of Germany-based E-matters, a Web development company, reported that a number of memory-allocation bugs were found in PHP code that handles file uploads, also known as multipart/form-data Post requests. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174818.html - - - - - - - - Web tunes sound a security alarm In a newly discerned computer security scenario, you could get an Internet worm for a song. More precisely, you could get a worm along with a song played on a number of popular Internet media players, including Microsoft's Windows Media Player or RealNetworks' RealPlayer. That's because the players provide the ability to embed Web addresses and scripts--key ingredients in self-propagating, hostile code. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-846051.html - - - - - - - - Clinton calls for IT to fight terrorism Addressing a gathering of over 1800 delegates from over 55 countries at the 2002 World Congress on Information Technology, former U.S. president Bill Clinton called for developed nations to use IT to bridge the digital divide, and use technology to make partners--not terrorists--of developing nations. "You can make a compelling argument for technology having created a more interdependent world, but so far we have failed to create a more integrated world," Clinton said. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-846191.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2105187,00.html - - - - - - - - EBay updates privacy policies to tackle fraud Changes to eBay Inc.'s user and privacy policies give the online auctioneer greater ability to notify others about a user's auction history and policy violations. They also state more explicitly the types of information -- such as contact methods and shipping addresses -- that users must provide in order to access certain services. Company spokesman Kevin Pursglove characterized the changes, which take effect March 19 for new users and April 19 for existing users, as ``very routine.'' http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/2758117.htm Watchdogs balk at eBay's privacy update http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-846080.html - - - - - - - - Critics squash bug-reporting plan A draft protocol designed to lay down guidelines for a responsible method of reporting security bugs will let software vendors off the hook and stigmatize those who report bugs, say critics. The draft document, published earlier this month by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), is drawing criticism on several fronts, not least because one of the authors is Scott Culp, manager for Microsoft's security response center. It was Culp, who in his call for more responsible reporting, decried the information and example code released by some companies and independent security consultants as "information anarchy". http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-846217.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2105133,00.html - - - - - - - - ITAA survey: Security supersedes e-gov Security and how it relates to developing a government-wide enterprise architecture overtook e-government as the single most pressing issue facing federal CIOs, according to a survey released yesterday by the Information Technology Association of America. In the industry trade associations 12th annual Survey of Federal CIOs, dealing with Sept. 11 fallout is front and center for many CIOs. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/18039-1.html Perception of e-gov shifting The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 have altered the public's perception of electronic government. Americans now see e-government as a key tool for catching and prosecuting terrorists and for coordinating government responses to bioterrorism attacks, according to a newly released poll. http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2002/0225/web-egov-02-27-02.asp - - - - - - - - UK Web sites face new accessibility rules Companies providing services online are subject to new accessibility laws, following the publication of a Code of Practice. Lawyers expect a test case soon. A Code of Practice addressing discrimination against people with disabilities in the UK has removed some of the uncertainty surrounding Web site accessibility, but it does not go far enough, say lawyers, and the issue is now likely to be settled in court. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2105208,00.html - - - - - - - - Cell phone tracking raises privacy issues The nation's cell phone service providers will soon know exactly where every one of their customers is, at all times, and privacy rights groups are asking what they plan to do with the information. All U.S. carriers are under Federal Communications Commission orders to make it possible for police to locate cell phones calling 911, something police can't do now. Carriers plan to use the same systems to sell services like helping stranded motorists even if they don't know their location, or finding the closest restaurant. http://news.com.com/2100-1033-846744.html - - - - - - - - How can we prepare for the next big virus? Viruses often take us by surprise, but really they should not. Frequently they use well-known tricks that we should be prepared for. Two years ago, the Melissa virus wreaked havoc using a Microsoft Word macro, when macro viruses were common. And the ILOVEYOU worm caused Microsoft Outlook to give away its address book at a time when other Internet worms were already doing this. The latest version of Outlook 2002 no longer allows you to open certain types of attached files, such as macros, and stops malicious code from stealing your Outlook address book to send out multiple e-mails. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-846099.html - - - - - - - - Woz blesses Captain Crunch's new box John Draper, the man better known as legendary phone phreak Captain Crunch, is soon to debut the fruits of recent labors: a box designed to thwart hackers. Crunch played a pivotal role in the phone underground thirty years ago, and paid for it with two spells in the clink. Crunch got his name by discovering that a plastic whistle included in a popular breakfast cereal perfectly reproduced the 2600Hz frequency which unlocked the AT&T phone network. Draper was also the inspiration for the first micro pioneers: Apple co-founders Wozniak and Jobs sold a Blue Box phone from their Berkeley dorm. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/24239.html - - - - - - - - Sniffers: What They Are and How to Protect Yourself Have you ever thought about how your computer talks with others on a network? Would you like to listen to, or sniff, the conversation? Network engineers, system administrators, security professionals and, unfortunately, crackers have long used a tool that allows them to do exactly that. This nifty utility, known as a sniffer, can be found in the arsenal of every network guru, where its likely used everyday for a variety of tasks. http://online.securityfocus.com/infocus/1549 - - - - - - - - No Stone Unturned: Episode One Eliot sat before the glow of his screen. It was early Monday morning, too early for most people to be in the office and still quiet enough for him to indulge in the ritual that burned away the pleasant and comforting fog of the weekend ...strong coffee, e-mail, and a little Web surfing. Subscribing to several lists and having a bookmarked list of pertinent sites kept him in the loop on developments in the computing industry that might impact his day-to-day life. http://online.securityfocus.com/infocus/1550 - - - - - - - - Invasion of the AOL e-mail spammers My mother just left AOL. This may surprise you, as nearly everyone else I know has a mother on AOL. In many ways, the service seems ideal for non-geeks who need e-mail to keep in touch with relatives in foreign countries (like my brother) or who spend far too much time online (like me). She is going to another service, driven away by the levels of spam she encountered and the complications of AOL's system for dealing with it. And also by a strange encounter with pro-gun lobbyists in Chicago. When the spam started she laughed it off: "Why are they trying to sell me Viagra? I can't use it." But that joke wore thin pretty quickly, and several other spams were not funny at all. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-846106.html - - - - - - - - Software Screens Out Terrorists See how US companies avoid selling technology to criminals. American tech companies have joined the war on terrorism by refusing to sell their products to suspect individuals and organizations. Using specialized software, companies are now able to identify potentially dangerous customers before their technology falls into the wrong hands. Vastera, based in Washington, DC, is one of several companies behind the terror-fighting software. http://www.techtv.com/news/culture/story/0,24195,3373854,00.html - - - - - - - - Gun Owners Rally Around Man Denied Computer By Dell Some gun owners are outraged over Dell Computer's initial refusal to sell a notebook computer to a Pennsylvania man because his company deals in combat handguns. According to Jack Weigand, his Feb. 13 telephone order for a Dell Inspiron notebook PC was automatically canceled days later by the computer maker's export department because his company's name, Weigand Combat Handguns Inc., raised a red flag. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174830.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 2000-2002, NewsBits.net, Campbell, CA.