NewsBits for December 7, 2004 ************************************************************ Police drop investigation of roulette hackers Police said Tuesday they are no longer investigating three people who won 1.3 million pounds (US$2.5 million; euro1.8 million) playing roulette, possibly by using a high-tech device to outsmart the table. Two Serbian men, aged 38 and 33, and a 32-year-old Hungarian woman were arrested in March after bosses at the Ritz Club casino in central London grew suspicious of their extended lucky streak. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/10073 - - - - - - - - - - Judge raps eBay over fraud Internet fraud is 'extremely easy' to carry out, according to a British judge, but eBay says its doing all it can to fight the problem. Ebay was criticised by a UK judge on Monday for not doing enough to protect its users from the dangers of fraud. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/ecommerce/0,39020372,39179366,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Court Rejects Plea for Longer Child Porn Sentence Solicitor General Harriet Harman today failed in a bid to increase a 12-month jail sentence imposed on a man for internet child pornography offences. Three judges in the Court of Appeal rejected her submission that the prison term handed out to Timothy Pickup - who is expected to be released from custody tomorrow - was "unduly lenient". http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3853284 - - - - - - - - - - Man with Child Porn Sentenced A 43-year-old man in San Antonio was sentenced to almost six years in prison Friday for possession of child pornography. Lawrence Wayne Clark was sentenced Friday to serve 70 months in federal prison, ordered to pay a $25,000 fine and be placed under supervised release for 20 years after completing his prison term, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton announced. An undercover investigation by the FBI revealed that Clark was a member of a Yahoo group whose primary purpose was the distribution of child pornography. http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=14485D32-BFCA-4CFD-B3D2-803FCE90B7CC - - - - - - - - - - Child porn draws prison sentence A Carbon Hill man who was caught with more than 800 images of child pornography that included infants engaging in sexual conduct will spend eight years in federal prison for his crime. U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor also ordered Joseph M. Miller, 41, to serve 10 years of supervised release once he completes his sentence. http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1102242078170320.xml - - - - - - - - - - Hannibal man sentenced in child porn case Alan Brownell, 36, of Hannibal, was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison and placed on supervision for life for charges of transportation of child pornography. U.S. Attorney James G. Martin and Marion County Sheriff John Waldschlager reported he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel in St. Louis. Martin reported the following details about the case: In June 2003 the State of Missouri investigators received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that someone using the screen name bi-mommy2002 was posting child pornography to a Yahoo Group. http://www.hannibal.net/stories/120604/hap_1206040033.shtml - - - - - - - - - - Two to go to prison for child porn Two men who collected pictures of children being sexually exploited are headed for prison. One, a former Park City police officer, had never been in trouble with the law until authorities found 1,000 computer images in his family's home. John Coleman, 44, received a sentence Friday of nearly three years in a Kansas prison. http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/10337414.htm http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/10341458.htm - - - - - - - - - - Man, 56, jailed for child porn offences A Nuneaton man has been jailed for 15 months after telling a court he tried to cure his impotence by looking at child pornography. But a judge at Warwick Crown Court heard that Richard Aston, aged 56, also sexually abused and took his own indecent photographs of a young child. Aston, of Ansley Road, pleaded guilty to one charge of indecent assault, two charges of taking indecent pictures of her and 10 of making indecent images of children by down-loading them on his computer. http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0125nwarksnews/tm_objectid=14949497&method=full&siteid=50003&headline=man--56--jailed-for-child-porn-offences-name_page.html - - - - - - - - - - Ex-Police Chief Jailed on Child Porn Charges A former top police officer was beginning a four- month jail term tonight for downloading more than 650 indecent images of children from the internet. David Bruce, 44, who has now resigned as a chief superintendent with the British Transport Police, was described by a judge as a "Jekyll and Hyde" character whose high-ranking job and stable family life masked deep psychological and sexual problems and a history of depression. http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3854090 - - - - - - - - - - Family doctor admits possession of child porn A family doctor from Passaic has pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and admitted there were up to 600 pictures and videos of youngsters engaged in sex acts stored on his computer. Edelfonso Mendez, 40, admitted guilt Friday and now faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced March 7. http://www.newsday.com/news/local/state/ny-bc-nj--doctor-childporn1204dec04,0,2259491.story?coll=ny-region-apnewjersey - - - - - - - - - - Man Pleads Guilty In Child Porn Case A Wakefield man faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty to a federal charge of possessing child pornography. John Leroy Morrison, 38, entered the plea Nov. 23 and is in the custody of U.S. marshals pending a March 28 sentencing hearing, the U.S. Attorney's office in Marquette said. The FBI investigated Morrison as part of Operation Peer Pressure, a national initiative to protect children from child pornographers, pedophiles and other sexual offenders, prosecutors said. http://www.teamamberalert.net/news/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=5719 - - - - - - - - - - Siouxland efforts nab child porn suspect A lieutenant with the U.S. Marshals said he could not be happier with Siouxland efforts to apprehend an Oklahoma man charged with 10 felony counts of child pornography. Eric Evan Smith, 29, Oklahoma City, came under investigation after someone saw on his home computer pictures of children engaged in sex acts, said Lt. Scott Cannon with the metro fugitive squad of the U.S. Marshals in Oklahoma City. http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2004/12/07/news/regional/88dca93756e7ed9486256f63001ae130.txt - - - - - - - - - - Scout leader pleads not guilty to possessing child porn A Sioux Falls Boys Scout leader pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges of possessing pornographic photos of children. Charles Edwin Helland, 54, was arrested Wednesday after a grand jury indicted him on 20 counts of possession of child pornography. According to court documents, the photos were found on his work computer at a real estate office. http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/10354377.htm - - - - - - - - - - Fresno deputy arrested on child porn charges Federal authorities say a Fresno County sheriff's deputy confessed to possessing child pornography. Investigators say in federal court documents that Neil Edmiston admitted he viewed and saved child porn images from the Internet after being injured in a patrol accident. Federal court records say his computer and dozens of compact discs revealed approximately 600 images of girls in sexually suggestive poses. http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=2649064 - - - - - - - - - - Fake Lycos screensaver harbours Trojan Virus writers have begun distributing their wares in emails that pose as Lycos's abandoned "Make love not spam" screensaver. The fake screensaver emails contain an attachment with a RAR SFX archive that has embedded key logger Trojan inside, antivirus firm Sophos warns. Infected emails come in emails with subject lines such as "Be the first to fight spam with Lycos screen" and an attachment called "Lycos screensaver to fight spam.zip". http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/07/fake_lycos_screensaver_trojan/ Trojan poses as Lycos Europe screensaver http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5481674.html - - - - - - - - - - FTC Settles Online Porn Billing Case An Internet firm has agreed to forgive $17 million in customers' bills as part of an agreement with the government, the Federal Trade Commission said. In exchange, the FTC will end its probe of Alyon Technologies Inc., which had been accused of illegally billing unknowing customers for a dial-up connection to pornographic websites. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6662350/ http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-rup7.7dec07,1,7871135.story - - - - - - - - - - Reform Bill Weak on Privacy The House of Representatives may vote as early as Tuesday on a newly ironed-out intelligence reform bill that puts in effect many of the suggestions of the 9/11 Commission. But civil liberties activists say Congress should slow down and not centralize surveillance powers without providing adequate safeguards. http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,65955,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Security bugs take a bite out of Apple Apple has posted security updates to fix 16 security vulnerabilities in its Mac OS X operating system. Both client and server versions of the software need patching. The bugs stem from flaws Apache web server software, QuickTime Streaming Server and Apple's Safari web browser, for example. Security firm Secunia describes the patches as "highly critical". http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/07/apple_vuln/ - - - - - - - - - - Industry gives Bush cybersecurity to-do list An IT industry association has offered a list of recommendations it says President Bush should undertake in his second term to improve the nations cybersecurity. The 12 items released by the Cyber Security Industry Alliance include creating an assistant secretary for cybersecurity in the Homeland Security Department, establishing an emergency coordination network, and expanding funding for basic research and standards development. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/28037-1.html Cybersecurity post needs a promotion, firms say The U.S. government is not taking cybersecurity seriously enough and should spend more money and energy on the topic, a group of computer security firms said Tuesday. At an event in Washington, D.C., members of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance warned of the potential dangers of Internet attacks and called on the next Bush administration to create a new assistant secretary position inside the Department of Homeland Security and to ratify a computer crime treaty. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5481497.html - - - - - - - - - - Government Tightens Desktop Data Security Despite the considerable amount of money and effort already spent on protecting sensitive U.S. government data, the threats keep getting more sophisticated and the stakes higher. But several government agencies are working hard to tighten up IT security. http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=54800281 Tougher cyber security measures urged http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6671443/ http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,98097,00.html Bush pressed for more Net security http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/12/07/tech.security.reut/index.html - - - - - - - - - - 'White collar' virus writers make cash from chaos Virus writing has changed from a cottage industry to a commercial enterprise, according to Sophos, the anti-virus firm Sophos. It reports a 51.8 per cent increase in new viruses in 2004. Many of the 10,724 new viruses (up from 7,064 in 2003) surrendered control of infected PCs to virus writers, for use in distributing spam or launching DDoS attacks. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/07/sophos_av_review_2004/ - - - - - - - - - - Fight child porn The family of slain six-year-old Corinne "Punky" Gustavson wonders why the province refuses to commit to putting some of its projected $4.1-billion budget surplus into stopping child porn predators. The grandma of the little girl - whose body was found in 1992 after she had been sexually assaulted and smothered - wants the Alberta government to spend just a little of the extra cash on a provincewide police unit to combat the problem. http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/News/2004/12/04/765020.html - - - - - - - - - - Consortium forms IM threat center A group of companies led by IMlogic on Tuesday unveiled a security center designed to monitor threats targeting instant messages and peer-to- peer applications. IMlogic, which partnered with America Online, IBM, McAfee, Microsoft, Symantec, Yahoo and others, has created the IMlogic Threat Center to post information on the latest IM and P2P threats. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5481414.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39179190,00.htm http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,98092,00.html - - - - - - - - - - 2005: the year the virus gets nasty Next year will see more and more viruses targeting users' financial accounts as organised crime moves online in a big way, according to security company Sophos. Although Sophos found that half of this year's top viruses, i.e. Netsky and its variants, came from a teenager in northern Germany, 2005 will see more and more viruses that collect and forward online banking details. http://www.vnunet.com/news/1159921 - - - - - - - - - - Air Force to merge tech offices Air Force Secretary James Roche announced today that the service would create a new information technology organization called Networks and Warfighting Integration. It combines three offices at Air Force headquarters and the Pentagon: the office of the service's chief information officer the Warfighting Integration Office and the Communications Operations Office. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/1206/web-airmerge-12-07-04.asp http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/28052-1.html *********************************************************** 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.