December 31, 2002 Reward Posted for Stolen Military Records A government contractor posted a $100,000 reward Tuesday in the theft of Social Security numbers and other personal records of 500,000 military service members and their families in 16 states. The theft of computer hard drives from TriWest Healthcare Alliance could turn onto one of the largest identity thefts on record if the information is misused, the Federal Trade Commission said. http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PENTAGON_COMPUTER_THEFT?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME - - - - - - - - Teacher Arrested On Child Porn Charges A Peterborough high school teacher has been arrested on child pornography charges. Kenneth Little turned himself into police Monday after a warrant was issued for his arrest. Little is a computer engineering teacher at Conval High School. Police said that he was arrested after they seized computer equipment from his home containing child pornography. They were called to his home in Rindge after his son and wife claimed to have discovered the pornography while using Little's computer. http://www.thechamplainchannel.com/wnne/1863353/detail.html - - - - - - - - Ex-coach pleads guilty to child porn charges A former Thousand Oaks youth diving coach pleaded guilty Monday to felony and misdemeanor charges of possessing child pornography. William Glinton Douglas III, 45, faces up to 16 months in state prison at his sentencing on Feb. 28. He pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography with the intent to distribute and three counts of possessing child pornography. "Mr. Douglas possessed over 1,000 images, and he admitted to trading with others," said Deputy District Attorney Howard Wise. His arrest followed an FBI investigation into a Yahoo! chat group and further investigations by federal and local authorities. The FBI launched the Operation Candyman investigation in 2001, making arrests in more than 20 states as part of a nationwide crackdown on the proliferation of child pornography via the Internet. http://www.dailynews.com/cda/article/print/0,1674,200%257E20954%257E1081517,00.html - - - - - - - - Unhappy new Yaha A new version of the Yaha mass mailing email worm has been released, ready to trip up the unwary on their return to work next week. Yaha-M (or Yaha-K as it is also described by some AV vendors) is spreading rapidly this week, after first appearing on December 21, MessageLabs notes in an updated advisory. The company has blocked 7,320 copies of the virus in the last 24 hours alone. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/28705.html The Year Ahead: The future of viruses http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2127605,00.html Help keep your computer safe from viruses http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-et-kidcal31dec31,0,7697541.story - - - - - - - - Security, Telecom Top Tech Policy Agenda for 2003 Congress Will Oversee New Cybersecurity Bureaucracy, Revisit Broadband Rules. Even before the 108th Congress convenes, lawmakers face an inbox full of tech policy items left over from previous sessions and crowded with a growing list of emerging policy items sure to draw attention on both sides of Capitol Hill. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55618-2002Dec30.html - - - - - - - - The year the criminals took over Con artists scam millions in 2002 with help of Internet. This year brought no Melissa virus, no Code Red, no daylong outages at Microsoft or Yahoo, and few tales of high-profile hacks. So one might conclude computer crime was down in 2002. And that would be a mistake. Because this year more than any other, fame-seeking teenage graffiti artists were pushed aside by real criminals who have discovered how user-friendly the Internet is. Millions of dollars are being stolen now from innocent and naive Net users by con artists of every flavor, and theres reason to believe organized crime rings are now taking a sizable slice of that pie. And theres no reason to think things wont get even worse next year. http://www.msnbc.com/news/849801.asp - - - - - - - - W.Va. works to plug security holes in state computer systems West Virginia is overhauling state computer security to prevent hackers from accessing confidential information or using agency Web sites to create digital mischief. A new policy aimed at revamping computer security across state government is due to Gov. Bob Wise's office this week. The policy was developed by a special security committee comprised of officials from all state departments. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2002-12-31-west-virginia_x.htm - - - - - - - - DVLA fails in reverse domain name hijack The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), the government body responsible for administering and issuing driving licences in the UK, has been heavily censured in a rejection of its bid to acquire the domain DVLA.com. The DVLA went to domain arbitrator WIPO in an attempt to obtain control of the disputed domain from DVL Automation Inc, a Pennsylvania-based firm which specialises in automation control and logic systems for power plants. It lost its case, and earned itself a sharp rebuke from Dan Hunter, sitting alone on WIPO's arbitration panel. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/28706.html - - - - - - - - Toward a More Secure 2003 The challenges to info-tech security will surely be daunting, and companies' efforts to stay safe will have to keep increasing. With holiday cookies and sweets still being shared around offices everywhere, security is the least of concerns these days as most businesses are thinking merry, not wary. So what better time to examine the year ahead for what to expect in terms of computer security? http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2002/tc20021231_1450.htm - - - - - - - - Windows Forensics: A Case Study, Part One It's a security person's worst nightmare. You've just inherited a large, diverse enterprise with relatively few security controls when something happens. We all try to detect malicious activity at the perimeter of the network by monitoring our intrusion detection systems, and watching attackers bang futilely on our firewall. Even those attackers tricky enough to slip through the firewall bounce harmlessly off our highly secured servers, and trip alarms off throughout the network as they attempt to compromise it. Reality is usually somewhat different: most of us simply don't have the tools, or at least we don't have expensive, dedicated tools. But we do have ways to stop the pain. http://online.securityfocus.com/infocus/1653 - - - - - - - - Questions raised about scanners for screening airport workers Two major U.S. airports are using special ID scanners and software to weed out job applicants with bogus identification documents, such as driver's licenses and passports. The company behind the technology, Bedford, N.H.-based Imaging Automation, is also trying to persuade the federal Transportation Security Administration to buy the toaster-sized scanners to perform the same checks on air passengers' ID cards. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/4850811.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.