NewsBits for July 23, 2004 ************************************************************ Osama 'death' pics hide Trojan threat Hackers prey on surfers' morbid curiosity to deliver Hackarmy malware. et.com. ITInternet users have been warned that messages about the 'suicide' of Osama Bin Laden posted on internet message boards and usenet groups are hoaxes masking an attack on their computer. The messages attempt to persuade readers to download a file which contains the Hackarmy Trojan. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1156861 http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-5281604.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/emergingtech/0,39020357,39161518,00.htm http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5499484/ http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/07/24/virus.binladen.reut/index.html http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,64333,00.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/23/hackarmy_trojan/ http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2004-07-23-osama-trojan_x.htm http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Bin-Laden-Used-As-Trojan-Horse-Lure&story_id=25997 http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,64333,00.html - - - - - - - - - - US criticised over cyber-security Homeland security has become a key issue in the US. Efforts by the US authorities to counter cyber-crime and terrorism have been criticised in an official report. It said the Department of Homeland Security's cyber-strategy suffered from poor coordination and communication, as well as an inability to set priorities. The internal report warned that the US "still faces a number of challenges to address long- term cyber-threats and vulnerabilities." It described cyber-terrorism as one of the US's top five security threats. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3921515.stm http://news.com.com/Report%3A+Federal+cybersecurity+effort+needs+improvement/2100-1009_3-5281898.html http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5494089/ Inspector general: DHS' cybersecurity efforts only partly successful http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0719/web-dhsig-07-23-04.asp - - - - - - - - - - Potato Chip Deliveryman Charged In Internet Sex Sting A potato chip deliveryman from Brooklyn has been charged with setting up meetings for sex with whom he thought was a 14-year-old girl. The girl was actually a New York City police detective. Todd Hudson, 36, was charged in an Internet sting operation with attempted dissemination of indecent material to a minor, attempted child endangerment and attempted criminal sexual act. http://www.wnbc.com/news/3563122/detail.html - - - - - - - - - - Government auditors slam IRS for IT security risks Reports cite insufficient oversight of contractors, unauthorized use of PDAs. Auditors from the U.S. Department of the Treasury have issued two reports about IT security risks at the Internal Revenue Service, one saying that contractors working on IRS systems "committed numerous security violations" and the other taking the agency to task over unauthorized use of PDAs. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,94741,00.html - - - - - - - - - - New Virginia strike force to prosecute cybercrime Federal, state and local law-enforcement authorities are linking up in a new operation that will investigate and prosecute child pornography, fraud and other crimes perpetrated through use of computers and the Internet. U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty and state Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore yesterday announced the formation of the Virginia Cyber-Crime Strike Force. http://www.crime-research.org/news/23.07.2004/514/ - - - - - - - - - - Porn filters ineffective against Tribbles Letters This Friday's post bag was bulging with comments about the number of child porn sites blocked by BT's new CleanFeed filter, ISPA's subsequent call for clarification, and BT's response. For anyone just back from an extended holiday in Cuba, the only way you could have missed this one, this is the story that BT kicked off by reporting that in the last three weeks, it has blocked nearly a quarter of a million attempts to access kiddie porn. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/23/letters_2307/ - - - - - - - - - - Completely secure networks get one step closer Single photon research means quantum cryptography may soon become a reality. A joint research project between Fujitsu and the University of Tokyo may have discovered a way to provide complete data security between two networks. The two have been working on a viable quantum cryptography system that would allow two parties to share encryption keys via telecommunication networks with full confidence that they have not been compromised en route. The team has succeeded in generating and detecting a single photon at wavelengths useful for telecommunications, said Yasuhiko Arakawa, director of the Nanoelectronics Collaborative Research Center at the University of Tokyo and leader of the research project. http://www.techworld.com/networking/news/index.cfm?NewsID=1970&Page=1&pagePos=5 - - - - - - - - - - They've got your number Cutting-edge technologies work as tattle-tales for a surveillance-minded state, Canadian privacy advocates warn Many Canadians became aware that late-model cars are equipped with "black box" technology during a recent high-profile trial in which a motorist was jailed in the death of a university student in Montreal. Black box data showed that Eric Gauthier was driving at 157 kilometres an hour just seconds before he struck and killed Yacine Zinet. The trial marked the first time that car data recorders have been accepted as evidence in a Canadian courtroom. http://www.canada.com/technology/story.html?id=e061566b-bd5b-4fb8-858e-ffb59d17f7b6 - - - - - - - - - - Eye spy with my little network Closed circuit surveillance systems are going digital, which will not only reduce costs but lead to a dramatic increase in the scope of coverage. Ken Young reports. Closed circuit television surveillance is big business. In 2001, there were about a million CCTV cameras in use in the UK: today, that figure is more than 4m. It may grow even faster now that the industry is waking up to the benefits of using digital recording with internet protocol (IP) cameras, instead of traditional analogue cameras and tape storage. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1268192,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Portuguese pooches to get radio-tagged Once a tech industry darling, radio frequency identification tags have officially gone to the dogs. Actually, RFID remains a hot topic in hardware, software and retail markets, but other applications of the technology, which marries microchips with radio antennas to foster easier tracking of inventory, have taken wing, or at least paw. On Friday, Digital Angel, which sells RFID scanning and communications tools for tracking everything from airplanes to farm animals, announced that it had won a $600,000 deal to start affixing radio tags to dogs in Portugal. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5281608.html http://news.com.com/Portuguese+pooches+to+get+radio-tagged/2100-7343_3-5281608.html - - - - - - - - - - Police to retain DNA records of cleared suspects Police will be able to keep DNA and fingerprint records of innocent people on file indefinitely following a landmark legal ruling yesterday. The House of Lords, the highest court in England and Wales, upheld earlier rulings by the High Court and Court of Appeal against two people who wanted their records destroyed by South Yorkshire Police after separate criminal investigations against them were dropped. Five law lords unanimously ruled that the need to solve crimes outweighed civil liberties concerns. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/23/police_dna_retention/ *********************************************************** 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.