NewsBits for July 27, 2005 ************************************************************ 'Pentagon hacker' McKinnon fights extradition A Briton accused of hacking into numerous Pentagon and NASA computers began his fight against extradition today. Gary McKinnon (AKA Solo), 39, of Wood Green, north London, allegedly hacked into 97 military and NASA computers over a 12 month period from February 2001 until March 2002, causing an estimated $700,000 (PS370,000) in damages. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/27/mckinnon_extradition_hearing_begins/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4721183.stm http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39210979,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Video game pirate headed to slammer A Maryland man has been sentenced to four months behind bars for helping to organize a software and hardware piracy scheme out of a chain of video game stores. Hitesh Patel, one of a group of employees and managers from the three-store Pandora's Cube chain in Maryland, pled guilty and was sentenced to four months in prison, said Rick Hirsch, senior vice president for intellectual property enforcement at the Entertainment Software Association. According to the ESA, Patel was charged with conspiracy to commit felony copyright infringement and for violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. http://news.com.com/Video+game+pirate+headed+to+slammer/2100-1043_3-5807547.html - - - - - - - - - - Ex-Caltrans worker may get year in jail A former Caltrans employee pleaded guilty yesterday to a misdemeanor charge of possession of child pornography. The former Oceanside resident's plea came in the latest case in a far-reaching federal investigation into pornographic Web sites featuring children in which several public officials and a San Diego priest have been convicted. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20050727-9999-7m27plea1.html - - - - - - - - - - Former coach faces 58 child-porn charges A former Suffolk coach was arrested Monday evening after a Suffolk grand jury indicted him on 58 charges of possessing child pornography. Suffolk police arrested Kenneth Wayne Crowder, 52, at his residence on Northbrooke Avenue on Monday. Police seized his computer earlier this year and said they found numerous pornographic images of children in the computer. http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/southofjames/dp-56892bf0jul27,0,3988673.story - - - - - - - - - - Junk Fax Act a boon to businesses President Bush this month signed legislation known as the "Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005" (the "Junk Fax Act"), which is quite favorable for businesses and trade associations. As readers of this column may recall, the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") has been vigorously enforcing the ban on the faxing of unsolicited advertising. Numerous entities have been fined for violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (the "TCPA") and the FCC's junk fax rules including one for over $5 million. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/ericjsinrod/2005-07-27-junk-fax_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - 'San Andreas' Rocks the 'Righteous' Hot Coffee. Everybody's getting some this summer. I'm not talking about the beverage, rather the on-screen sex in the videogame "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" that has triggered a Federal Trade Commission probe and inflamed the passions of the U.S. Congress. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/27/AR2005072700603.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/27/ftc_gta_probe/ Sex in games worries makers http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/games/2005-07-26-coding-mature_x.htm http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.games/07/27/video.game.probe.ap/index.html Grandmother sues game maker over hidden sex in 'GTA' http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/12237326.htm http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,68323,00.html http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.games/07/27/game.lawsuit.ap/index.html Illinois video game law challenged in court http://news.com.com/2100-1043_3-5803988.html - - - - - - - - - - Personal storage sites are a 'safe haven for hackers' Websense, the employee management software outfit that's become best known for heaping FUD on emergent net technolgies, has found a new target. Hot on the heels of charecterising online storage sites as a conduit for industrial espionage and blogs as a host of malware it's decided to chastise personal web hosting sites as a "Safe Haven for Hackers". http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/27/personal_storage_attack_websense/ Blogging sites harbouring cybercriminals http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39210633,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - Airborne Viruses: Real Threat or Just Hype? "The biggest threat that I see right now is that Research In Motion's Blackberries and palmOne's PDAs are connected to names and addresses," said IBM Global Solutions Manager for Managed Security Services Doug Conorich. http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=37450 - - - - - - - - - - Cisco Security Hole a Whopper A bug discovered in an operating system that runs the majority of the world's computer networks would, if exploited, allow an attacker to bring down the nation's critical infrastructure, a computer security researcher said Wednesday against threat of a lawsuit. Michael Lynn, a former research analyst with Internet Security Solutions, quit his job at ISS Tuesday morning before disclosing the flaw at Black Hat Briefings, a conference for computer security professionals held annually here. http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,68328,00.html http://news.com.com/Cisco+hits+back+at+flaw+researcher/2100-1002_3-5807551.html http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5807551.html - - - - - - - - - - More e-crime training for UK police UK police officers are to receive improved training on how to deal with high-tech criminal evidence, using an elearning portal. Centrex, the Central Police Training and Development Authority, has introduced the online course to address the technical knowledge gap between new recruits and serving officers. http://www.vnunet.com/computing/news/2140430/crime-training-uk-police - - - - - - - - - - In-Q-Tel chief: IT security policies have become self-defeating The head of the CIA's venture-capital arm told an audience of cybersecurity experts today that misguided IT security policies have paralyzed the government's ability to share vital national- security data. "From an IT perspective, we are losing the war on terror," said Gilman Louie, president and CEO of In-Q-Tel. "The bad guys are winning because we have convinced ourselves that our networks are so insecure, and that we are unable to protect information on them, that we don't put information on our systems." http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/36512-1.html - - - - - - - - - - Elderly Americans lose millions to Internet scams Scams involving Internet auctions, as well as identity theft, lotteries, prizes and sweepstakes, top the list of fraud complaints by older Americans, who lost $152 million to con artists last year, U.S. officials told a Senate panel on Wednesday. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5807779.html - - - - - - - - - - Are People Too Scared To Shop Online? "Trust has been broken on more than one level. It's not only the transaction, it is the storing and transporting of personal information that is making people afraid to shop online," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center. http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=12300002QT19 - - - - - - - - - - PGP inventor to debut VoIP crypto Phil Zimmerman, inventor of Pretty Good Privacy cryptography, will unveil a prototype of his new privacy software for net phone calls this week. Unlike PGP however, it doesn't use a PKI. It's based on the open source Shtoom VoIP client software, Zimmerman told CNET, and he hopes to have working software available next year. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/27/zimmerman_voip_crypto/ http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/networks/0,39020345,39210813,00.htm - - - - - - - - - - GSA wants specifics on smart cards, fingerprint biometrics The General Services Administration has released a request for information to figure out when 128k smart cards will be available to the government and what type of fingerprint biometrics is best. The agency is trying to collect information to help the Office of Management and Budget finalize requirements for the federal identity card called for in Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/36513-1.html - - - - - - - - - - iDefense ups ante for bounty hunters The security firm is upping the cash rewards it offers to researchers who give it information on previously unknown vulnerabilities in computer systems. Security intelligence company iDefense has sweetened its offer to hackers who sell it details on new software vulnerabilities. The change comes one day after rival TippingPoint started to offer rewards for pinpointing bugs. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39210815,00.htm Company to pay for rights to security vulnerability data 3Com Corp. has entered the evolving market in undisclosed security flaws with a program to pay for exclusive access to information about new vulnerabilities. The Santa Clara, Calif., company announced its Zero Day Initiative this week at the Black Hat Briefings. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/36505-1.html - - - - - - - - - - A New Stab at Password Protection The increase in identity theft has prompted two Stanford University professors to develop software that protects computer passwords from internet thieves. John Mitchell and Dan Boneh will unveil Pwdhash, software that scrambles passwords typed into websites, then creates a unique sign-on for each site visited, at the Usenix Security Symposium in Baltimore next week. http://www.it-observer.com/news.php?id=5308 - - - - - - - - - - Security vendors holding off on 64-bit Windows Companies looking to become early adopters of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows x64 Edition operating systems may find that their favorite antivirus software won't work on their new desktops. http://computerworld.com/softwaretopics/os/windows/story/0,10801,103508,00.html Microsoft 'most counterfeited tech brand' http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/legal/0,39020651,39210814,00.htm Red Hat holes less severe than Windows - study http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/27/red_hat_security/ - - - - - - - - - - Black Hat Day 1: A Cover Up? One of the primary reasons companies send their computer security experts to the annual Black Hat security conference here is to learn about new security vulnerabilities that bad guys could use to disrupt Internet communications that most of us rely upon to send e-mail and browse the Web. http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2005/07/mending_a_hole_.html - - - - - - - - - - FBI tech upgrade still more than three years away The FBI will not complete its departmentwide technology upgrade for more than three years, FBI Director Robert Mueller said in an oversight hearing held by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=31869&sid=1 http://www.fcw.com/article89707-07-27-05-Web FBI's Mueller criticized on computers, translators http://news.com.com/FBIs+Mueller+criticized+on+computers%2C+translators/2100-7348_3-5807482.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. 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