NewsBits for May 2, 2005 ************************************************************ Data for 600,000 Time Warner employees MIA Personal information for 600,000 current and former Time Warner employees has been lost, the company announced on Monday, potentially setting the stage for one of the largest cases yet of identity theft. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5692534.html http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7711667/ http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,67409,00.html http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,101500,00.html - - - - - - - - - - HK man pleades innocent to sharing movies online A Hong Kong man on Friday pleaded innocent to violating copyright laws by uploading three movies onto the Internet using the popular BitTorrent file-sharing software. Chan Nai-ming, 38, was arrested in January for allegedly uploading the Hollywood films, "Daredevil," "Red Planet" and "Miss Congeniality," onto a Web site so that others could obtain them - the first such arrest in Hong Kong. http://news.findlaw.com/ap/o/51/04-29-2005/f7ad0006883042bb.html - - - - - - - - - - Sober worm variant makes the rounds A new variant of the mass-mailing Sober worm has been discovered and is spreading among consumer PC users, security experts said Monday. Sober.P, which operates in a similar fashion to other Sober worms, uses a subject header in an e-mail to try to entice people into opening an attachment. The virus then harvests e-mail addresses from the victim and directs a barrage of spam to those addresses. http://news.com.com/Sober+worm+variant+makes+the+rounds/2100-7349_3-5692718.html - - - - - - - - - - Cabir Mobile Virus Spreads Across 20 Countries The Cabir virus has now been detected in 20 different countries ... including in the U.S., China and Russia ... We found the virus in Luxembourg two days ago and in the Netherlands two weeks ago," said Mikko Hyppoenen, head of antivirus research at Finnish Internet security firm F-Secure. http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=002000001GJM - - - - - - - - - - More hacking targets iTunes, antivirus wares Online criminals turned their attention to antivirus software and media players like Apple Computer's iTunes in the first three months of 2005, as they sought new ways to take control of peoples' computers, according to a survey released Monday. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5692053.html http://news.com.com/More+hacking+targets+iTunes%2C+antivirus+wares/2100-7349_3-5692053.html Hackers aren't just picking on Microsoft: study http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2005-05-02T112914Z_01_N29265580_RTRIDST_0_TECH-TECH-SECURITY-DC.XML - - - - - - - - - - Netcraft: 5,600 Phishing Sites Since December Netcraft has tracked and blocked 5,600 known phishing sites since the December launch of its anti-phishing toolbar, which it has now updated with a risk rating feature that warns users about new sites with phishy characteristics, based on trends observed in known phishing scams. http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/05/05/02/188202.shtml - - - - - - - - - - Man indicted on child porn charges A Concord man suspected of mailing child pornography hidden in a greeting card to a federal prison inmate in North Carolina has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Oakland. The indictment handed up Thursday charges William Glenn Olsen, 38, with one felony count each of distribution by mail of child pornography and possession of child pornography. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years' imprisonment. http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/local/crime_courts/11542823.htm - - - - - - - - - - Disgrace for former city councillor A lawyer and former Queenstown district councillor, found with hundreds of child pornography images on his work computer, has been fined nearly $3000. Wayne McKeague pleaded guilty to two charges of downloading child pornography after being caught up in an international investigation by the American Department of Homeland Security. http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_national_story_skin/531544%3fformat=html - - - - - - - - - - Trial to start on threats sent to top eBay officials Last summer, with no fanfare, federal prosecutors indicted a New York man for sending threats to eBay and unidentified executives of the San Jose-based online auction giant. In a case with an unusual cloak of pretrial secrecy, documents filed in federal court do not name the targets of the alleged threats. But as it turns out, Florin Horicianu, who is charged with sending the threats in e-mails and other correspondence, aimed high: He is accused of directing them at billionaire eBay chairman and founder Pierre Omidyar and Chief Executive Meg Whitman, among others. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/11544897.htm - - - - - - - - - - Business inaction could lead to data privacy laws U.S. businesses for years have urged the government to let them set computer-security standards of their own, but their inability to do so could now prompt Congress to step in, experts say. Those who worry that regulation may stifle innovation say the business community may have already missed an opportunity to prove the government's help is not needed. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5691942.html - - - - - - - - - - Illicit downloading is now tantamount to domestic terrorism A little sneaky law-making - and suddenly illicit downloading and file-sharing is a federal crime in the US. Interesting battle lines were drawn with the family entertainment and copyright bill,2005, signed into law by President Bush last week. American drafters habitually smuggle in tough regulation under the skirts of something beguilingly innocent. On the face of it, the "Family Movie Act" (which the new measure incorporates) is all motherhood and apple pie. http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1474673,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Russian piracy is on the rise Two senators known for carefully taking public stands have stepped into the intellectual property arena by calling for the U.S. to get tough on Russia and China for allegedly inadequate IP protection. Sens. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) introduced a resolution on Tuesday -- World Intellectual Property Day -- criticizing the two countries for "failing to enforce (IP) laws." http://www.crime-research.org/news/01.05.2005/1195/ - - - - - - - - - - New list of critical vulnerabilities released for Q1 '05 The SANS Institute of Bethesda, Md., has begun updating its top 20 list of Internet vulnerabilities on a quarterly basis in an effort to give administrators more timely data to help prioritize patching. Since new Internet threats are discovered daily, user organizations that rely on the top 20 list have been asking for more frequent updates, the organization announced. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/35719-1.html - - - - - - - - - - Smart phone owners concerned over security threats Most smartphone users are aware of the increasing risk of viruses attacking mobile devices, but they still store sensitive data on their phones. That's according to a survey of 300 American adults by security company Symantec, which revealed that 73 per cent of smart phone users know about viruses and other attacks that target the devices. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/02/symantec_smartphone_secuity_survey/ - - - - - - - - - - Data leak highlights common mistake Savvy computer users easily uncover secrets Just a few clicks were enough to reveal names, training procedures and other secrets the U.S. military thought it had blacked out from an electronic report. The data leak resulted from a type of mistake that is becoming increasingly common as government agencies and corporations scrap paper in favor of cheaper, faster distribution online. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7712290/ - - - - - - - - - - AOL treats emergency e-mails as spam Frequent alerts mistaken as junk messages Emergency managers in Indian River County, hard-hit by hurricanes last year, thought the best way to get out weather alerts was by e-mail until they learned that AOL was tagging the messages as spam. Because we send out mail in large numbers, it becomes a pattern for spam senders, said Basil Dancy, a county computer software engineer. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7709995/ http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-05-02-aol-fla-county_x.htm http://computerworld.com/softwaretopics/software/groupware/story/0,10801,101499,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Papal succession fuels April religious spam blitz Junk mail relating to religion has soared during April, accounting for one in 10 spam emails. Porn, medicines and financial scams - spam's unholy trinity - each lost ground to religious junk mail last month, according to a study by email management specialist Email Systems. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/02/religious_spam/ Italians Seek to Close Website Showing Pope as Nazi http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=8347984 - - - - - - - - - - New spyware bill needs a rewrite Spyware's creators must be uniquely bad people. Anyone who distributes malicious code that infects your computer and surreptitiously monitors what you're doing deserves what's coming to them. The problem is that the measures in an ostensibly anti-spyware bill due for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives may not be the best way to punish these folks. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5692376.html - - - - - - - - - - Top tips to stop spam It's not big and it's certainly not clever, but spam is an unfortunate by-product of digital communication that most email users will have to contend with on a daily basis. While it's hard to eradicate spam from your inbox altogether, there are ways to limit the amount of spam you have to weed out from the legitimate emails you receive. http://www.computeractive.co.uk/features/1162767 - - - - - - - - - - 'Cyber theft case rekindled BPO debate' Jaithirth 'Jerry' Rao cannot predict the future. But he very nearly did. Some time back at an India Today event, where he was the moderator, the Chairman and CEO of MphasiS had this to say about security at Indian BPO centres. ". . . when India gets the reputation of having poor security, the whole industry could get into trouble. There is no perfect security. One September day the most unsafe place was downtown Manhattan. I think we are at it because we are concerned that it is a marketing issue." http://inhome.rediff.com/money/2005/may/02inter.htm - - - - - - - - - - CNN on the Spam Attack? The blogosphere is buzzing with rumors about a strange viral marketing campaign concerning CNN, that may be promoting the cable channel or squelching criticism of it -- or perhaps both at the same time. Earlier this month, blogger Nick Lewis noticed a strange post about CNN on his blog. The comment was critical of some new shows on CNN, but also included detail about the shows, their show times and the anchors hosting them. http://wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,67371,00.html - - - - - - - - - - iPod blamed for spike in subway crime The iPod craze has spawned a crime wave in city subways. Police told the city transportation board on Wednesday that 50 iPods have been reported stolen on the subways so far this year, compared to none during the same period last year. Cell phone thefts have more than doubled to 165 from 82 last year. http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/ptech/04/28/subway.crime.ipod.ap/index.html - - - - - - - - - - Monitor your home from afar with Web cameras Wondering what the kids are doing when you're not home? Traveling and need to see what triggered your alarm? Whether you're 10 minutes by car or 10 hours by plane from home, you can see and hear what's happening from a Web browser. To get started, you'll need a broadband Internet connection, an 802.11b/g home network and a camera kit bundled with the necessary hardware and software. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/2005-05-02-home-monitoring_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Who answers 911? It's the phone number that can help save a life. But calling 911 and expecting help to come running is becoming more of a gamble than ever before -- especially in a tech-savvy place like Silicon Valley, where people rely heavily on cell phones and are more likely to try out a new technology such as Internet phone service. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/11543832.htm *********************************************************** 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 2000-2005, NewsBits.net, Campbell, CA.