NewsBits for February 10, 2004 sponsored by, Southeast Cybercrime Institute - www.cybercrime.kennesaw.edu ************************************************************ Guilty plea for eBay pirate A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to selling pirated copies of movies on eBay, in the first such criminal copyright case brought by federal prosecutors. According to the Department of Justice, 20-year-old Andre Pnewski testified that he downloaded the films from the eDonkey file-trading service and sold them on CDs through eBay. He was sentenced to six months of home detention with electronic bracelet monitoring and must pay $7,170 in damages to the Motion Picture Association of America. http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1104_2-5156977.html - - - - - - - - - - MyDoom author may be covering tracks A worm that started spreading on Sunday places the source code for the original MyDoom virus on victims' hard drives, an action equivalent to planting evidence, antivirus experts said Tuesday. The worm, Doomjuice, spreads to computers that have already been infected by either the original MyDoom virus or the MyDoom.B variant, and among other actions, places several copies of the source code for MyDoom.A on a victim's computer. http://news.com.com/2100-7349_3-5156836.html MyDoom delivers second payload http://www.vnunet.com/News/1152681 http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_864550.html http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/02/09/new.worm.reut/index.html http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Son_of_MyDoom_Stalks_Microsoft&story_id=23159 Worms pour through MyDoom back door http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/35450.html - - - - - - - - - - Sharman wants court to rule raid evidence legally inadmissible The owners of file-sharing giant Kazaa asked a federal court Tuesday to rule as inadmissible evidence record industry investigators collected during several raids last week. Lawyers for Sharman Networks, which owns Kazaa, questioned whether the Federal Court in Sydney had the power to allow the 12 raids in three Australian states, including those on the homes of Sharman chief executive officer Nikki Hemming and the company's director of technology, Phil Morle. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/7918955.htm http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,62232,00.html Kazaa demands Oz trial delay http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/35458.html - - - - - - - - - - Microsoft warns consumers about major Windows security flaws Microsoft Corp. warned customers Tuesday about unusually serious security problems with its Windows software that could let hackers quietly break into their computers to steal files, delete data or eavesdrop on sensitive information. Microsoft, which learned about the flaws more than six months ago from researchers, said the only protective solution was to apply a repairing patch it offered on its Web site. It assessed the threat to computer users as ``critical,'' its highest rating. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/7920476.htm http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5156647.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29059-2004Feb10.html http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,62239,00.html http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,90039,00.html Microsoft restores broken Internet Explorer URL handling http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,90038,00.html Microsoft lauds IE as 'the most secure browser' http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39146084,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - UK.gov announces hi-tech elite police squad The Home Office has announced a new team of specialist investigators that will take on the challenge of dealing with organised crime in a digital world. The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) will pool expertise from across the nation's police forces, bringing together specialists in technology and finance as well as those with particular investigative skills. The squad is tasked with using new methods, including hi-tech expertise to uncover the new wave of organised crime, to track down crime bosses and bring them to justice. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/35459.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39145910,00.htm Digital evidence raises doubts http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/02/10/digital.evidence.ap/index.html - - - - - - - - - - ACCC sweeps up scams Australia will lead a global scouring of the internet to crack down on scam sites. The International Internet Sweep, led by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and involving 24 countries, will target websites promising goods and services which are too good to be true. The internet is prime territory for scammers around the globe who seek to take advantage of international boundaries to avoid detection, ACCC chair Graeme Samuel said. http://www.itnews.com.au/printstory.asp?ID=18264 - - - - - - - - - - Hackers targeted ahead of Athens Olympics Olympic security experts are working on ways to prevent computer hackers from infiltrating or attacking electronic equipment that will be used during the Aug. 13-29 games, it was reported Tuesday. According to the Athens daily Ta Nea, officials were alerted to a possible threat after an article was published in an unnamed American computer magazine asking if anyone had thought of a way to hack into equipment being used for the Olympics. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1076421577222_15///?hub=SciTech http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39145914,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - House panel debates Homeland Security's privacy policy The Homeland Security Department's privacy officer on Tuesday told a House subcommittee about her performance even as the surrounding witnesses offered praise and found fault. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0204/021004tdpm1.htm - - - - - - - - - - Government releases guidelines for governmentwide smart cards The Federal Identity and Credentialing Committee has released guidelines for developing interoperable federal identification systems based on smart cards. The government has adopted a policy for establishing a common Federal ID Card, which could be used for both physical and logical access control. Individual agencies would issue and manage the cards, but the cards would interoperable across agencies. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/24919-1.html - - - - - - - - - - New anti-piracy seals to combat rampant counterfeiting Is it a cheap fake, or the real thing? Since buyers here can't always tell, authorities are planning new, high-tech identification seals for legal copies of audio and video products in China's latest effort to combat rampant piracy of movies and music, the Culture Ministry said Tuesday. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/7918904.htm - - - - - - - - - - Study: Spammers turning blind eye to the law Only a fraction of the unsolicited e-mail slipping into in-boxes complies with a federal antispam law, according to new research. Only 3 percent of bulk commercial e-mail includes a valid U.S. postal mail address and a valid link to opt out of future messages, according to data released on Tuesday by MX Logic, a maker of mail-filtering software. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5156629.html - - - - - - - - - - Net boom in kid porn THE internet and video phones are causing a boom in child porn, childrens charity Barnardos revealed yesterday. They have unearthed websites advertising children for prostitution with some rating youngsters on a scale of one to ten. Many kids were groomed for the vile trade by family members. Some are also being lured into taking part in live webcam sex shows. And new 3G video mobiles allow young people to access web sites and other Internet services away from the supervision of their parents or guardians. http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004062372,00.html - - - - - - - - - - VeriSign works to ID kid surfers VeriSign plans to unveil on Wednesday a digital identity program for school-age children, which it says will bolster online safety for the growing number of young Web surfers. The Net infrastructure and security company and partner i-Safe America, a group that educates kids about online safety, will demonstrate the use of digital IDs at a Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee luncheon and technology fair in Washington, D.C. http://news.com.com/2100-1029-5156982.html - - - - - - - - - - Homeland Security's Cybersecurity Words like "virus" and "worm" haven taken on new meaning as more people realize that cyberspace can be just as forbidding a frontier as outer space. With ever increasing numbers of Americans getting Internet access, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has hired Internet security expert Amit Yoran to lead the federal government's efforts to promote cybersecurity in the public and private sectors. http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/04/sp_technews_yoran021104.htm - - - - - - - - - - IT security: Something's gotta give 2004 is just over a month old but it's already been an eventful year for information security with the MyDoom worm carving its name into the annals as the most malicious code cocktail ever. http://news.com.com/2010-7355_3-5156080.html Nanos Safety Checkup http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/innovation10204.asp - - - - - - - - - - Pornographer to sell Whitehouse.com Web address The Whitehouse.com Web site, one of the best examples that the Internet isn't always what it seems, is getting out of the pornography business. Its owner says he's worried what his preschool-age son might think. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/7918892.htm http://computerworld.com/developmenttopics/websitemgmt/story/0,10801,90035,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Robotic canines don't shy away from toxins They sniff, wag their tails, fetch and run in packs. But no one minds if these canines stick their noses into some pretty dirty stuff. That's because they are robotic dogs, modified by engineering students at Yale University to sniff out toxic materials. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/7918943.htm *********************************************************** Computer Forensics Training - Online. An intense, 150 hour, instructor lead program that teaches you computer forensics and helps prepare you for the Certified Computer Examiner exam. 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