NewsBits for February 20, 2004 sponsored by, Southeast Cybercrime Institute - www.cybercrime.kennesaw.edu ************************************************************ - - - - - - - SPECIAL TRAINING ANNOUNCEMENT - - - - - - - - Silicon Valley HTCIA Training May 11 ~ 13, 2004 Foster City, CA HTCIA - Silicon Valley is presenting a three-day conference sponsored by Evergreen Valley College and hosted by VISA International. This seminar will help you better understand and address issues associated with investigations, apprehension and preventative methodologies associated with the newest breed of high tech criminals. This training session is known for its superb content, organization and added value. Training is CA POST certified (POST Plan IV). This year's topics include: Cryptography, PC / Mac forensics, Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC), Legal Updates, Video Enhancement, SPAM, Forensic Tools, Lockpicking, Linux Systems and much more! Register and pay online now for priority class selection. Check for updates, registration and more details on our conference website: http://htciatraining.org ************************************************************ Man in prison for child porn pleads guilty to 10 more charges A local man already sentenced to nearly 20 years in federal prison for his role in an international child pornography ring that operated over the Internet pleaded guilty to 10 more charges Wednesday in Crawford County Common Pleas Court. Edwin Bartholomew, 44, formerly of 366 Cherry St., entered a change of plea and faces sentences of more than 80 years in state prison and fines of up to $150,000 if he gets the maximum penalties on the second-degree felonies. http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/news/stories/20040220/localnews/446810.html - - - - - - - - - - Man sentenced for kid porn A retired employee of the U.S. District Court clerk's office in New Orleans has been sentenced to 27 months in prison on two counts of child pornography, officials said Thursday. Gerald D'Aquin, 57, of Harvey was ordered this week to begin his sentence March 31. U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier ordered that his sentence be followed by three years of supervised release and include a $6,000 fine. Authorities said D'Aquin was arrested after an undercover FBI investigation found that he had received and transmitted sexually explicit images of children over the Internet four times between November 2002 and June 2003. http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1077262538311280.xml - - - - - - - - - - Men enter no contest pleas in child pornography ring case Two men accused of participating in an Internet child pornography and sex ring involving men in several states have pleaded no contest to charges in Oakland County. Brian S. Urbanawiz, 30, of Midland, pleaded no contest Wednesday to three counts of child sexually abusive activity and three counts of using a computer to convey child sexually abusive activity. Sentencing was set for March 12. On Feb. 11, Guy Robert Lendrum, 32, of Clarkston, pleaded no contest to first-degree criminal sexual conduct and other charges in three cases, Circuit Court Judge Rae Lee Chabot's office said. Lendrum was the first arrested in the case and accused of assaulting at least five children. http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw93222_20040219.htm - - - - - - - - - - Sweep of sexual predators in 3 states yields a dozen more arrests A dozen convicted sex offenders - all guilty of offenses against children - have been arrested in a recent two-week sweep that included operations in Texas, Florida and Ohio, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said Thursday. The fugitives were parole violators guilty of assaulting boys and girls ages 6 through 14. Abbott credited his new fugitive unit, along with local law enforcement officials, for the arrests. The attorney general's office also has a 27-person Cyber Crimes Unit that targets those soliciting sex from minors in Internet chat rooms, he said. The unit's investigations have led to 29 arrests and two convictions, with other prosecutions pending, he said. His office spends about $250,000 for the Cyber Crimes Unit. http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/7994117.htm - - - - - - - - - - Nampa man arrested in sex sting operation Canyon County sheriff's deputies have arrested a Nampa man they accuse of trying to solicit sex from an underage girl. Harold Tabert, 46, was taken into custody Tuesday after police said he arranged what he believed was a meeting with a 13-year-old girl in a hotel room. Tabert worked at the Animal House pet store in the 400 block of Caldwell Boulevard in Nampa, investigators said. After Tabert arrived for the meeting at the hotel room, officials said sheriff's deputies arrested him. http://www.idahopress.com/articles/2004/02/19/news/story3.txt - - - - - - - - - - Child-sex chat room sting leads to arrest Louisville resident Larry Taylor is going to Atlanta after all. Charged in an online undercover investigation by FBI agents operating in Georgia, the Kentuckian was arrested last weekend in Nashville. A federal criminal complaint alleges that Taylor thought he was about to have a motel rendezvous here with a young mother and her 4-year-old daughter. Since January, court records say, a computer user with the Yahoo! screen name of ''grandpaforlilones'' had been communicating his desire to begin a long-term sexual relationship with a young girl and her mother. When he began trading messages to ''paulinagahotmom,'' the computer user thought he found the perfect match in two Atlantans, court records said. Taylor traveled to Tennessee to meet them, the FBI said, but quickly learned that he had unwittingly been talking to their agents all along. http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/04/02/47201399.shtml?Element_ID=47201399 - - - - - - - - - - Riverside Police officer accused of abuse There is new information tonight on a former Riverside police officer who is accused of participating in a Wisconsin based child sex ring. Investigators now say 32-year-old Adam James Brown may have abused children in California. Brown was arrested in connection with an internet sex ring. Officers say he had pictures in his possession depicting sexual activity with young boys. And investigators say there are indications that the photos were taken in California. For now, Brown remains behind bars on $600,000 bond. http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=1655082&nav=9qrxKx5S - - - - - - - - - - Former school technician admits child porn charges FORMER Woodley councillor Nelson Bland hoarded a collection of sick paedophile photographs on his teenage daughter's computer. Police found the pornographic images last April while they searched his home when he was arrested in connection with the murder of a Nottingham businessman. And at Reading magistrates' court yesterday Bland, 50, who now lives Polperroy Way in Nottingham, admitted 16 charges of making indecent images of children, and one of distributing the material, between July 2000 and September 2003. http://icberkshire.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0300reading/content_objectid=13967854_method=full_siteid=50102_headline=-Former-school-technician-admits-child-porn-charges-name_page.html - - - - - - - - - - Government finds no violation in JetBlue privacy case Federal employees who persuaded JetBlue Airways to give a defense contractor personal information about 1.5 million passengers without their knowledge or permission will have to undergo training about privacy issues. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2004-02-20-jetblue-privacy_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Program shields anonymous flaw sleuths The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is asking companies to send it tips about flaws in the nation's technological infrastructure under a law that guarantees that the information will be protected from public disclosure. http://news.com.com/2100-7355_3-5162732.html - - - - - - - - - - Music industry lawyers press Australian case against Kazaa Lawyers for major Australian record labels argued Friday that a judge should allow their copyright infringement case to proceed against the file- sharing Web site Kazaa, despite a similar case before a U.S. court. Australia's music industry wants the Australian Federal Court to shut down Kazaa, a Web site that lets users swap music, movies and other computer files. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/8001071.htm http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,62363,00.html Download lawsuits scare some, but song trading still popular http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/music/2004-02-20-song-swaps_x.htm RIAA's New Seal of Disapproval http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,62335,00.html Sharman case back in court http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/legal/0,39020651,39147116,00.htm Music industry's search orders on trial http://news.com.com/2100-1027-5162498.html FBI Ratchets Up Fight Against Music Piracy http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=FBI_Ratchets_Up_Fight_Against_Music_Piracy&story_id=23216 Stob: Pirated 'Wron number yours for free http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/35713.html - - - - - - - - - - Outsourcing: Danger to Privacy Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein warned the chief executives of banks and credit companies this week that she would crack down on them if they didn't take steps to protect their customers' private data, such as medical and financial information, which is increasingly being handled by clerks working abroad. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,62356,00.html http://computerworld.com/managementtopics/outsourcing/story/0,10801,90343,00.html - - - - - - - - - - China threatens to block junk e-mailers The Chinese government is taking a strong stance on spam, giving senders of unsolicited e-mail an ultimatum to clean up their act or face digital exile. Following months of investigations, mainland authorities have identified and blacklisted 656 spam servers worldwide, according to the Chinese news service Xinhua. http://news.com.com/2100-1024-5162355.html - - - - - - - - - - IT fuels intellectual property theft Intellectual property theft is costing UK businesses billions of pounds each year, and is getting worse because of the ease with which electronic documents and files can be stolen. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1152924 - - - - - - - - - - Three Linux server security holes found Three separate security flaws could be used by an ordinary user to gain total control of a Linux server or workstation, security researchers have warned. Two of the vulnerabilities lie in the way the Linux kernel - the core of the open-source operating system - manages memory. They affect all current versions of Linux, according to advisories released on Wednesday by iSEC Security Research, a Polish security company. The third flaw affects the module for the kernel that supports ATI Technologies' Rage 128-bit video card. http://www.silicon.com/hardware/servers/0,39024647,39118519,00.htm http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/linuxunix/0,39020390,39146699,00.htm http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Linux_Vendors_Warn_of_Flaws&story_id=23215 http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/holes/story/0,10801,90359,00.html Linux servers 'attacked more often' http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/linuxunix/0,39020390,39146776,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Cisco VoIP kit open to 'snooping attacks' Security researchers have identified serious security concerns with widely-used Internet telephony equipment from networking giant Cisco. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/35716.html - - - - - - - - - - New level of security for FNB First National Bank (FNB) and RMB Private Bank have added another level of security to Internet banking by introducing a new service using a DigiTag device for generating single-use PIN codes. http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/2004/0402201213.asp - - - - - - - - - - Top net villains and heroes named Britain's net industry has named internet domain giant Verisign as its villain of the year. It won the accolade for a system it set up that hijacked mistyped web queries and sent people to a Verisign-run site. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3506157.stm - - - - - - - - - - Firewall VPN sales soar Global spending on firewall and virtual private network (VPN) technology will double over the next three years to reach almost $6bn in 2007. According to a study by market analysts Datamonitor, increased publicity of threats and security breaches, recent worms and viruses have highlighted the deficiencies in enterprise's current security infrastructures. This in turn has spurred the drive to beef up perimeter defences by investing in firewall and VPN technologies. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/5/35708.html - - - - - - - - - - Automating Windows Patch Management: Part II In the previous installment of this article, I discussed SUS, its purpose, and some of the workings on the server side, including how to push out the Automated Updates client. In this segment, you'll learn what happens on the client computers when SUS is active, how to monitor the client's patching activities, and how to fix or work around some common problems. http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1762 - - - - - - - - - - Knock, Knock, Knock If hundreds of thousands of people are still blindly clicking on attachments in their email, is there any hope of mitigating the threat of hundreds of thousands of compromised systems with open backdoors? http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/221 - - - - - - - - - - Traces of Guilt: computer crime from the front line It's rare to read a book about computer security that captures the spills and thrills of hunting cyber-criminals. Neil Barrett's Traces of Guilt conveys the intellectual excitement of the chase and sheds light on the real extent of computer crime and the use of computer evidence in a wide variety of cases. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/35720.html - - - - - - - - - - Dell site queries customers over terrorism Dell's e-commerce site is taking extra measures to ensure its customers are not developing weapons of mass destruction. Computer maker Dell has hit upon a direct way of ensuring customers are not planning to use hardware bought from its e-commerce sites for nefarious purposes: it simply asks them. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/legal/0,39020651,39147120,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Scenes of abuse on intercepted camera feed lead to charges The woman whose alleged act of child abuse was caught on a neighbor's surveillance system remained in jail Thursday on a $10,000 signature bond. Theresa Smith, 39, made an initial appearance on a felony charge of physical abuse of children in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. Her case is Wisconsin's first involving intercepted video, District Attorney E. Michael McCann said. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-02-19-video-abuse_x.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. For more information see; www.cybercrime.kennesaw.edu *********************************************************** 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 2000-2004, NewsBits.net, Campbell, CA.