December 12, 2002 Mac fraud bust: the Inside Story Police in Markham, Illinois charged a 38-year old man this afternoon on two counts of forgery. The arrest is the result of extraordinary perseverance and pluck from a 21 year old New Orleans student, aided by the online Mac community. Melvin Christmas obtained a G4 PowerBook from a student Jason Eric Smith, and paid for it using a counterfeit check from LaSalle bank. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/39/28548.htm - - - - - - - - Cops Raid Ex-Vivendi Head's Home French authorities on Thursday searched the headquarters of Vivendi and the home of its former chairman, Jean-Marie Messier, as part of an investigation into alleged financial irregularities, officials said. The company confirmed that authorities had searched a number of offices. Messier's home also was being searched, authorities said. Messier canceled an appearance scheduled for later in the day at the Anglo-American Press Association. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,56822,00.html - - - - - - - - Elcomsoft copyright case goes to jury A federal jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon on the fate of a Russian software company accused of violating the controversial 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In closing arguments, prosecutor Scott H. Frewing brought up Enron, WorldCom and other corporate miscreants. He told the eight-man, four-woman jury that Moscow-based Elcomsoft Co. Ltd., is expected to follow the rules just like American corporations. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/4725830.htm http://news.com.com/2100-1023-977766.html http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,56832,00.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2002-12-12-digital-case_x.htm - - - - - - - - FBI launches online manhunt The FBI on Wednesday said it plans to launch an online manhunt for an alleged Boston mob boss, in a novel crime-fighting experiment in partnership with Web portal Terra Lycos. As part of the effort, Terra Lycos has agreed to donate advertising space on its network carrying a likeness of James "Whitey" Bulger and messages alerting people to the $1 million reward for his capture. Bulger is on the FBI's list of the 10 most wanted fugitives. Bulger's photograph sits directly below that of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-977007.html http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/12/12/lycos.fbi.ap/index.html - - - - - - - - Contractor says tech industry must rise to information security challenge Vance Coffman, chairman and CEO at Lockheed Martin, on Thursday said that as the information technology industry moves to address homeland security, it will be challenged continually to examine ways that it uses information for security, and must " rise to meet that challenge." That can be done by providing "just the right information, at the right time, to the right people, in the right waywithout threatening people's individual liberties," he said in prepared remarks. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1202/121202td2.htm - - - - - - - - Therminator to watch for cyberattacks To create better protection for the nation's computer networks, the National Security Agency and the Defense Department have signed an agreement with Lancope Inc. to build Therminator, an advanced information security tool. Therminator will produce a graphical representation of network traffic that allows information security workers and network administrators to recognize the impact of cyberattacks in real time. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/1209/web-nsa-12-13-02.asp - - - - - - - - Tech Pros Gather Antispam Forces Tradeshows have never been most people's idea of big fun, but over the past few years they've been downright depressing. Light attendance, bevies of bummed-out booth babes with no one to flirt with and an ever-dwindling crowd of exhibitors make for a pretty melancholy way to spend a day. But vendors and attendees at this week's Infosecurity 2002 show were surprisingly cheerful. http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,56809,00.html Top spammer hit by junk mail blitz http://www.vnunet.com/News/1137552 Smiley man to end spam? http://www.vnunet.com/News/1137530 - - - - - - - - Managed security services are coming, Symantec CEO says Outsourced managed security service contracts are the wave of the future for government networks, but the market is still nascent, John W. Thompson, the chairman and chief executive officer of Symantec Corp. of Cupertino, Calif., said yesterday in an interview. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/20648-1.html - - - - - - - - All bugs are created equal Security tools vendor ISS has promised to handle security vulnerabilities affecting open source and Windows platforms the same way following criticism of its premature disclosure of open source security problems. In recent months, sections of the security community allege that ISS has jumped the gun in releasing information on flaws within a Solaris font daemon, BIND and (most notably) Apache ahead of the widespread availability of a fix. Critics argue ISS acted out of self-promotion rather than the interests of the wider Internet community. http://online.securityfocus.com/news/1800 - - - - - - - - Microsoft warns of Java VM flaws Microsoft late Wednesday issued a "critical" security alert for a series of Java Virtual Machine bugs, one of which could allow a hacker to steal information or reformat the hard drives of compromised computers. The alert, which relates to Microsoft's version of the JVM, comes a week after Sun Microsystems asked a federal judge to issue an injunction compelling the software titan to carry Sun's version of the JVM in the Windows XP operating system. Microsoft's version of the JVM is based on 5-year-old Sun technology. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-977051.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2127469,00.html http://news.com.com/2100-1001-977051.html http://news.com.com/2100-1001-977123.html http://www.idg.net/ic_989091_5055_1-2793.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/28546.html - - - - - - - - RealNetworks Readies Patch for Media Player RealNetworks has reviewed the code of its media player software and will deliver a patch by Christmas to fix all security flaws it has found, the company said Wednesday. "RealNetworks has undertaken a comprehensive review of all of the RealOne Player code to reduce the possibility that any vulnerabilities remain. An update of the RealOne Player that contains identified fixes will be available by December 25," RealNetworks said in a statement sent via e-mail. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,107927,00.asp - - - - - - - - Trend Micro squashes buffer overflow bug Trend Micro has issued a fix to address buffer overflow vulnerabilities within popular versions of its anti-virus software packages. The bug, within the POP3-proxy of PC-cillin and OfficeScan, came to light during evaluations of various antivirus products by Joel Soderberg of Swedish security firm Texonet last month. http://online.securityfocus.com/news/1799 - - - - - - - - Fences go up as Net outgrows its innocence On the Internet, you can learn about virtually anything. You can seek comfort from others similarly afflicted by a rare disease or explore such sensitive topics as birth control. Just as long as you're not connecting from work, a school or a public library, that is. And if you're using any number of e-mail services that employ junk mail filters -- or a search engine such as Google -- don't count on wholly unfettered access, either. http://online.securityfocus.com/news/1803 - - - - - - - - Bugwatch: 'Tis the Season To Be Careful The key is not to stop employees from accessing the Internet but to improve the way in which they use it from a security perspective. Each week vnunet.com asks a different expert from the antivirus world to give their views on recent virus and security Relevant Products/ Services from IBM issues, with advice, warnings and information on the latest threats. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/20233.html - - - - - - - - Homeland Security will consolidate software licenses Speaking at a Spy Museum breakfast today, Secret Service assistant director Steve Colo said the new Homeland Security Department will consolidate all its component agencies software licenses for the greater good, looking first at large contracts with vendors such as Microsoft Corp. and Oracle Corp. Colo said HSD must quickly stand up an enterprise architecture, and the components CIOs know where they want to go. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/20654-1.html - - - - - - - - Ridge says intelligence czar probably unnecessary Tom Ridge, President Bush's choice to head the Homeland Security Department, said on Wednesday that if the architecture of the department is carefully crafted, an intelligence czar would not be necessary, but added that the president has said the topic is open for discussion. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1202/121102h1.htm - - - - - - - - Multinational war games will test analysis tool When the U.S. Joint Forces Command conducts a second multinational war games experiment in February, it will use a new software analysis tool that displays relationships between key facts buried in separate files. In an event called Multinational Limited Objective Experiment 2, the Joint Forces Command will join Australian, British, Canadian and German defense officials in enacting a 2010 Pacific Rim scenario to establish whether they can easily and securely share information and, together, gauge an enemys socioeconomic, political, military and technological potential. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/20644-1.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.