NewsBits for July 21, 2005 ************************************************************ U.S. Accuses 8 Firms of Porn Spam Federal regulators accused eight companies Wednesday of hiring others to send illegal e-mails with pornographic messages to tempt consumers to visit adult Internet sites. The government said five of the firms had already agreed to pay nearly $1.2 million to settle the allegations, making it among the biggest government crackdowns on pornographic e-mail operations. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/12187366.htm http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-pornspam21jul21,1,7311442.story - - - - - - - - - - Biggest 419 bust in history The FBI and Spanish police have arrested 310 people in Malaga, Spain in connection with a 100m Euro bogus (email) lottery scam run by Nigerian gangs. It is the biggest 419 bust in history, and may result in drastic reductions of scam mails. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/21/scammers_nabbed/ - - - - - - - - - - Hidden Sex Scenes Spark Furor Over Video Game The oversight board that puts parental ratings on video games took the unusual step Wednesday of slapping its strongest warning on a bestselling title as the game maker admitted putting explicit, interactive sex scenes on the disc. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/hacking/story/0,10801,103366,00.html http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-sexgame21jul21,1,3151568.story http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/21/gta_reclassified/ http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2140180/grand-theft-auto-pulled-porn http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,68274,00.html http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.games/07/20/video.game.sex.ap/index.html - - - - - - - - - - Man gets 35 years in child porn case A California, Mo., man with two previous sex offenses on his record was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison Wednesday for producing and transporting child pornography. Following his release, Lary Lee Petty Jr., 32, will be on probation for the rest of his life. In his guilty plea Wednesday, Petty admitted that for much of 2003, he coerced a 4-year-old relative to engage in sexual conduct for child porn. On Oct. 20, 2003, Petty also published an ad in an Internet chat room seeking child porn and offering to exchange the material. Petty required others to upload images to his server before they could download images from his collection. http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/12182741.htm - - - - - - - - - - Roanoke Co. man guilty of child porn A Roanoke County man pleaded guilty in federal court on Wednesday to distribution and possession of child pornography. Dereck Charles Buuck, 31, had 1,400 pornographic images of children on the hard drive of his computer and had transmitted 24 such images to a Yahoo group called "house_of_funn," according to prosecutor Joe Mott. http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/27910.html - - - - - - - - - - Biggest-Ever Case of Child Porn? Raleigh investigators say a murder suspect could be linked to what may be the biggest child porn- ography case in Wake County history. Police say Zane Winters, 45, went to his sister-in-law's Suncatcher Lane home on April 17 to help her kick out a man who had been living with her temporarily. Investigators say that man, Bernard Sanford Jr., shot and killed Winters. A police search warrant says the photos showed Sanford engaging in sex acts with underaged children. It says officers have confiscated 452 VHS tapes, 428 photographs, 97 computer discs, pornographic magazines, three pairs of girl's panties and two girl's bathing suits. http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/news/072005_NW_sanfordporncase.html - - - - - - - - - - U.K. to crack down on terrorist sites The British government has announced plans to clamp down on people who run Web sites that incite terrorism. In a parliamentary speech Wednesday, Home Secretary Charles Clarke said that in going beyond the boundaries of usual national security measures, the government would have to "tread carefully" around free speech. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5798787.html Clarke 'lowers bar' on terror crime via web, writing, preaching http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/21/clarke_counter_terror_law_plans/ - - - - - - - - - - High-tech crime-fighters get new 'weapons' Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff held up a laptop at a recent news conference and said it is the new weapon of choice. That's why Salt Lake City now has one of six federal computer forensics labs in the country. The Intermountain West Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory opened for business July 6. http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600150085,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Pirates of the Potter-ian Author J.K. Rowling has been branded a "Luddite fool" for inadvertently encouraging fans to pirate the latest Harry Potter book only hours after its official release. The sixth installment in the popular series was published worldwide Friday and is expected to further enhance what has become a multibillion-dollar publishing phenomenon. http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,68269,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Unpatched IE flaws Security threats Web browsers Microsoft Corp A flaw in Microsoft Internet Explorer's image rendering capabilities may allow attackers to execute code remotely, a security expert has warned. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5798893.html - - - - - - - - - - ChoicePoint says data theft cost it $6M Credit and personal information vendor ChoicePoint Inc. took a $6 million charge in its second quarter, which ended June 30, citing costs associated with the theft of personal information on 145,000 consumers, the company said yesterday. http://computerworld.com/industrytopics/financial/story/0,10801,103384,00.html ID theft fears prompt ecommerce boycott http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/21/id_theft_ecommerce_survey/ - - - - - - - - - - Their Kingdom for a PornPal Porn-site operators have long found that it's easy to make a buck in the online adult industry. The hard part is getting the entire $1 into your hands. In the United States, adult webmasters typically use credit-card processors that take 10 percent to 15 percent out of each charge in return for accepting the risk of working with an industry known for its high level of "chargebacks." http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,68129,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Hacker Mitnick preaches social engineering awareness Properly trained staff, not technology, is the best protection against social engineering attacks on sensitive information, according to security consultant and celebrity hacker Kevin Mitnick. "People are used to having a technology solution [but] social engineering bypasses all technologies, including firewalls," Mitnick said. "Technology is critical but we have to look at people and processes. Social engineering is a form of hacking that uses influence tactics." http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1016567243;fp;16;fpid;0 - - - - - - - - - - The Approaching Chinese Cyber Storm On numerous occasions in the past, Chinas authoritarian regime has publicly stated that the U.S. is its ideological enemy. Comments made by Chinese defector Chen Yonglin to Australian authorities in June support the theory that Chinas leaders view the U.S. as their main adversary. http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=4665 - - - - - - - - - - Security bracelet foils child abduction A father's attempts to abduct his infant son from a North Carolina hospital last week were foiled by an electronic bracelet around the baby's ankle. Walter Mitchell was apprehended by hospital security guards outside Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte after his flight with his newborn son in a cloth bag triggered a "code pink" alert. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/21/child_abduction_foiled/ - - - - - - - - - - Big Brother Hits the Brakes The black box compares the vehicle's speed to the actual allowed speed limit of the roadway. The device sends a signal to the gas pedal to reach the posted speed or sends a signal to the brake pedal to slow the vehicle to the required speed limit. http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=11100002GZL0 *********************************************************** 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. 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