December 19, 2002 5 Brothers Charged With Aiding Hamas Federal officials intensified their pursuit of terrorist financing today with the arrests of four brothers in Dallas who investigators said used their computer business to funnel money to a leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas. The four brothers, including one who led an Islamic charity in Texas that the authorities say was a front group for terrorist financing, also illegally shipped computer goods to Libya and Syria despite their official designations as state sponsors of terrorism, prosecutors said. Officials filed charges against a fifth brother, the brothers' company and a Hamas leader overseas and his wife. (NY Times article, free registration required) http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/19/national/19INDI.html - - - - - - - - Pakistani police and FBI arrest 9 suspected al-Qaida operatives Police arrested nine suspected al-Qaida operatives including two Americans and a Canadian in a joint raid with FBI agents in this eastern Pakistani city Thursday. All nine were of Pakistani origin and belong to the same family. Pakistan Television reported an exchange of gunfire during the raid on the family's home, after the family's guards apparently opened fire on police. Relatives said FBI officials searched the home for at least two hours and seized four computers and CDs. http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/4774695.htm - - - - - - - - Westside Man Guilty of Satellite TV Pirating A West L.A. man pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges of illegally manufacturing and selling more than 6,000 devices designed to pirate satellite television signals from the Dish Network and DirecTV. Randy Walter, who sold the devices for $30 each, faces a five-year prison term when sentenced in April. (LA Times article, free registration required) http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-me-briefs19.4dec19,0,5207182.story - - - - - - - - Main suspect in Ericsson spy investigation ordered to stay in jail The main suspect in a spy investigation involving wireless equipment maker LM Ericsson must spend the holidays in jail, a Swedish court ruled on Thursday. The Stockholm district court said prosecutors must file charges by Jan.16. It said the suspect, whose name hasn't been released, must stay in jail until that deadline. The man is accused of handing over secret company information to a foreign intelligence agent. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/4775672.htm - - - - - - - - eBay sues operator of eBaytoo.com The online auction house eBay has sued a man for allegedly operating a similar business on the Internet. John Wederman, of Schenectady, who operates eBaytoo.com, allegedly violated eBay's copyright in an attempt to "trade on the eBay name and to take advantage of initial consumer unfamiliarity and confusion," according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Albany. eBay is seeking unspecified damages and legal fees. http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/12/19/ebay.suit.ap/index.html http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/681383p-5072287c.html - - - - - - - - Domain registrar exposes customers NamesDirects password leak opens up 180,000 transactions. Peter was just doing some simple administrative tasks at NamesDirect.com when a glitch brought him to a suspicious looking page full of computer code. A quick glance revealed that the firms user name and password were exposed on the page and these were not just any set of login credentials. It was the keys to the firms entire kingdom of customers, providing detailed access to 180,000 domain name purchases during the past two years, including every credit card transaction. http://www.msnbc.com/news/849290.asp - - - - - - - - BT 'unleashes' sinister Trojan bunny The next security issue to worry about: a rabbit with a vicious streak. BT has warned of a new security flaw that will have Monty Python fans screaming: 'Run away, run away!' The Trojan 'rabbit' made an appearance in a licensing arrangement for some ADSL tweaking software released by BT. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1137672 - - - - - - - - E-card virus warning for Christmas Sophisticated computer viruses are hiding behind some Christmas e-cards, wrecking the season of goodwill, analysts warn. Thousands of European companies fall prey to viruses every month, and this figure is rising as more employees send Christmas cards through cyberspace. http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/12/17/ecard.virus/index.html - - - - - - - - Bush to propose requiring ISPs to monitor Net The Bush administration is planning to propose requiring Internet service providers to help build a centralized system to enable broad monitoring of the Internet and, potentially, surveillance of its users. The proposal is part of a final version of a report, ``The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace,'' set for release early next year, according to several people who have been briefed on the report. It is a component of the effort to increase national security after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/4779109.htm - - - - - - - - Turning tables on government Internet activists have a message for John Poindexter, the head of a controversial Pentagon research project to find terrorists by searching the everyday transactions of Americans: Threaten to invade our privacy, we'll invade yours. They've plastered Poindexter's e-mail address and home phone number on dozens of Web sites, forcing him to block all incoming calls. They've posted satellite images of his suburban Washington house and maps showing how to get there. And they've created online forms to collect even more personal data on him. http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/4771217.htm Snooping in All the Wrong Places The 2002 elections proved one thing: The promise of security wins votes. The GOP campaigned on a pledge to make the country safer, and it brought home one of the biggest midterm victories in decades. That huge win may have emboldened the Bush Administration to ignore widespread criticism of the Defense Dept.'s $240 million effort to develop a Total Information Awareness system [TIA]. http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/businessweek12-19-040001b.asp - - - - - - - - Cities Say No to Federal Snooping Fearing that the Patriot Act will curtail Americans' civil rights, municipalities across the country are passing resolutions to repudiate the legislation and protect their residents from a perceived abuse of authority by the federal government. On Tuesday, Oakland became the 20th municipality to pass a resolution barring its employees -- from police officer to librarian -- from collaborating with federal officials who may try to use their new power to investigate city residents. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,56922,00.html - - - - - - - - Consultation on privacy promised for new year Following outrage at proposals that would let a wide range of government agencies access personal data, the Home Office is to take feedback from the public. The Home Office is to publish a consultation paper in the new year to help gauge how much electronic invasion of privacy the public is willing to accept. The move follows the debacle in June when a code of practice for controversial snooping laws revealed the wide extent of public bodies that would be able to access individuals' communications data. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2127816,00.html Privacy in the UK: Where next? http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2127819,00.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2588213.stm http://www.vnunet.com/News/1137700 - - - - - - - - Bye Telemarketing, Hi More Spam? If annoying calls from telemarketers are to fade into a distant memory due to a landmark Federal Trade Commission ruling Wednesday, more spam may be sneaking into e-mail boxes as a result. That's a harsh projection coming from privacy watchdogs based on the FTC's announcement for a national do-not-call registry. Consumers will be able to add their names to the list, either by registering on the Internet or calling a toll-free number. http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,56912,00.html - - - - - - - - Web services specs focus on security A group of companies led by IBM and Microsoft on Wednesday published a series of specifications designed to make Web services more secure. The proposed specifications describe how companies can establish policies on exchanging information among trading partners and how to make disparate security systems interoperate. IBM and Microsoft co-authored the specifications with input from a limited number of companies, including BEA Systems, RSA Security and VeriSign. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-978314.html - - - - - - - - Norwich Union beefs up security cover Extends deal with Sophos to 35,000 desktops Global insurance group Aviva, which includes Norwich Union in the UK, is boosting security by extending the scope of its antivirus cover. Norwich Union, a Sophos antivirus user since 2000, will increase deployment by about 10,000 to 35,000 licences for desktop protection in the UK. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1137695 - - - - - - - - Digital Copyright: A Law Defanged? Cyberlibertarians who denounced the feds' prosecution of a Russian programmer have their victory, but not the precedent they really need In the summer of 2001, the tech slump wrenched Silicon Valley, but the geek masses had more to fret about than layoffs. Dmitry Sklyarov also had them spooked. On July 16 of that year, federal agents arrested the Russian programmer at the Defcon hacker confab in Las Vegas shortly after the waifish code jockey's well-attended lecture on the weaknesses in the copyright protection technology used to guard Adobe's eBook Reader. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2002/tc20021219_4518.htm Once it's published online, whose law applies? http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/681560p-5073234c.html Shots fired in copyright cold war http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,5702032%5E15321%5E%5Enbv%5E15306,00.html - - - - - - - - Beware these false security assumptions about work-from-home PCs An increasing number of employees are building sophisticated computer networks in their homes, containing a mix of personal and company equipment. Many enterprises are allowing this practiceor even encouraging itbelieving that work conducted at home on employee-purchased PCs or networking equipment will save them money. However, security problems are created when users link personal systems to the corporate network, especially if enterprises fall prey to false assumptions about the associated risks. http://www.techrepublic.com/article.jhtml?id=r00320021218ggp02.htm - - - - - - - - INS system fingers murder suspect Border Patrol officers near Douglas, Ariz., yesterday arrested a 24-year-old-man wanted on an outstanding murder warrant in Washington after stopping him at the border and matching his fingerprint via the Immigration and Naturalization Services Automated Biometric Identification System, known as IDENT. INS officials said Jorge Luis Naverette-Camacho, a Mexican citizen, gave a false name and birth date when he was picked up while attempting to cross the border illegally near Douglas. Border Patrol officers ran his fingerprints through the IDENT system and generated the match. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/20720-1.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.