NewsBits for September 9, 2004 ************************************************************ German jailed for email bomb hoax A 44-year-old German man has been jailed for three- and-a-half years for trying to extort money by running a bomb hoax scam. The man - who used the aliases Jonathan Drake and Vincent Baxter - sent out 39 emails to companies in Germany and Austria, threatening to blow up buildings or kill people unless he was paid. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/09/thailand_email_hoax/ - - - - - - - - - - A hacker nabbed The Blagoveschensk regional court (Russia) should start hearings on the creation, utilization and distribution of malicious software criminal case. Police charges a local programmer Sergey Davydiuk, also known as hacker Sobol of the mentioned activity. The hearings were deferred. http://www.crime-research.org/news/09.09.2004/623/ - - - - - - - - - - House panel approves copyright, spyware bills Hackers who secretly install "spyware" on others' computers and Internet users who copy movies and music without permission could face up to three years in prison under bills that advanced in Congress Wednesday. The House Judiciary Committee voted to enlist the government to a greater degree in the entertainment industry's fight against those who copy its products over the Internet. http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/09/09/tech.copyright.reut/index.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8311-2004Sep9.html - - - - - - - - - - Telenor takes down 'massive' botnet A network of more than 10,000 zombie PCs has been dismantled after security staff at Norwegian telco Telenor located and shutdown its controlling server. Worms such as MyDoom and Bagle (and Trojans such as Phatbot) surrender the control of infected PCs to hackers. These expanding networks (dubbed 'botnets' by the computer underground) can be used for spam distribution or as platforms for DDoS attacks. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/9476 - - - - - - - - - - Internet porn ban enacted for Phoenix libraries A legal battle could be brewing after the City Council enacted a new policy that bars adults from unrestricted Internet access to pornography on Phoenix library computers. The council adopted the policy Wednesday. It was prompted by last month's arrest of a child molester who told police that he had downloaded child pornography at the Phoenix Public Library. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2004-09-09-phoenix-filters_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Tech industry presents less-than-unified defense Last fall, the Blaster Internet worm slammed into Cable Bahamas like a digital hurricane, clogging Web connections for the tiny Internet service provider's 22,000 subscribers. "We got hammered," says Andre Foster, technology vice president for the Nassau-based company. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2004-09-09-zombie-response_x.htm Zombie PCs spam, phish, harass on the sly http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2004-09-08-zombie-antics_x.htm Are hackers using your PC to spew spam and steal? http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2004-09-08-zombieuser_x.htm Signs your PC's under siege, and what you can do http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2004-09-08-zombieinfect_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Bill Seeks Civil Liberties Board A sprawling intelligence reform bill introduced Tuesday in Congress to implement all of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations would create an executive-level civil liberties board with wide oversight and investigative powers. The proposed Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, as outlined in the 9/11 Commission Report Implementation Act introduced by Sens. John McCain (R-Arizona) and Joe Lieberman (D-Connecticut), differs sharply from the board created by President Bush in late August by executive order. http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,64886,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Law Fights to Keep Pace With Tech Government and industry officials butted heads Wednesday over whether a 10-year-old law governing electronic surveillance is working -- and whether industries are meeting their obligations to help authorities catch criminals and terrorists in the internet age. Lawmakers are considering whether to update the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994, or CALEA, to address the recent explosion of technologies such as packet-switched data. http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,64887,00.html - - - - - - - - - - P2P jail bill moves forward HR.4077, the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act, has been approved by the United States' House Judiciary Committee. The bill specifies up to five years' jail for anyone making over a thousand copyrighted works available for download. That's if the infringer is profiting from the action: ordinary P2P users would face up to three years simply for making their collections available. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/09/p2p_jail_bill_approved/ - - - - - - - - - - Online fraud: We got law, but no enforcement Plenty of laws exist to prosecute online identity thieves and fraudsters as well as to co-opt Internet service providers and online auction sites in the fight against fraud, but enforcement is lacking across the board, according to security experts. "Most countries have laws that adequately address Internet fraud," said Paul Luehr, vice president of consulting and technical services firm Stroz Friedberg LLC, in an e-mail interview. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,95793,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Local woman's dreams of wealth dashed by fraud Sabrina Mount is a 25-year-old single mother of three daughters ages 6, 5 and 4. Before her old computer crashed, one of her jobs as a mystery shopper took her online to file reports and make surveys. She vaguely recalled entering some kind of contest, so when her telephone rang recently and a man identifying himself as Jerry Monaghan told her, "You've won $50,000," she thought it was legitimate. http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12879974&BRD=2256&PAG=461&dept_id=455823&rfi=6 - - - - - - - - - - UK firms 'sleep walking' into virus peril IT managers blame lack of funds to defend against rising tide of attacks. UK enterprises are losing the battle against viruses, with many IT managers blaming poor security on senior managers who fail to provide sufficient investment to meet IT security requirements, a survey has claimed. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1157955 - - - - - - - - - - McAfee app raids Mac users' inboxes Apple has stopped offering the latest version of McAfee's anti-virus package to Mac users following reports of widespread problems with the software. McAfee Virex 7.5 was pulled from Apple's .Mac online service last week - only days after its introduction - following a series of complaints. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/9477 - - - - - - - - - - Spam on the menu at annual virus conference Computer viruses and worms will have to share the stage with a new challenger for the attention of attendees at a conference of antivirus researchers: spam e-mail. Spam -- and how to stop it -- will be a major topic at this year's Virus Bulletin conference in Chicago. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,95810,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Four steps for protecting your internal networks In the sciences, there are general principles that can apply to all environments. The principles of physics (i.e. the general laws) are ubiquitous across disciplines. Why should the information security field be any different? It turns out that it isn't. In my experience, the following general principles have proved beneficial. Companies can apply them with existing internal resources. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,,95656,00.html - - - - - - - - - - For Wall Street, 9/11 lessons three years in the making With the third anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks approaching this weekend, senior Wall Street executives today outlined for Congress unprecedented security measures that continue to be revised and improved to withstand what the government fears is an ongoing effort by al-Qaeda to disrupt the U.S. economy. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,95765,00.html - - - - - - - - - - In Britain, somebody's watching you CCTV used to fight crime, terror in most-monitored nation in world. Flipping through a photo album of a trip to London, few tourists will find they took 300 photographs of themselves. But thats the number of times they were likely caught on close circuit television cameras in a single day in the British capital. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5942513/ - - - - - - - - - - The latest protest tool: 'texting' "Multiple reports of provocateurs setting trash fires in midtown," read one text message sent to 400-plus mobile phones this week through a service called Ruckus RNC 2004 Text Alerts. For protesters navigating Manhattan during the Republican National Convention, text-message broadcasting services like this, sent to their cell phones, provided an up-to-the-minute guide to the action on the streets. http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/09/02/textmessaging.protest.ap/index.html - - - - - - - - - - Mitnick movie comes to the U.S. Nearly six years after it was filmed, Hollywood's trouble-plagued movie version of the hunt for hacker Kevin Mitnick is headed for video stores in the U.S. Originally titled "Takedown," then "Cybertraque," the film is set for a September 28th U.S. release on DVD with the new title, "Track Down." http://www.securityfocus.com/news/9470 *********************************************************** 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. 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