NewsBits for August 29, 2005
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Brazil cuffs 85 in online bank hack dragnet
Brazilian federal police last week cuffed 85 people
across seven states suspected of hacking online
bank accounts and netting $33m, Reuters reports.
The arrests were the culmination of a four-month
investigation, codenamed "Operation Pegasus",
which generated 105 arrest warrants. A total
of 410 officers took part in the swoop.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/29/brazil_hack_arrests/
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Turkish hacker caught by FBI
Turkish hacker responsible for Internet banking
fraud has been caught in Adana. Atilla Ekinci, 23,
is being held responsible for breaking into peoples
accounts and doing transactions. It all started
two weeks ago, when Microsoft headquarters in
the States started receiving angry complaints
from financial companies and media giants such
as CNN International, The New York Times and
ABC who were all plagued with a nasty virus.
http://www.turks.us/article.php?story=2005082711241943
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Alleged Spyware Mastermind, Buyers of the Program Indicted
A 25-year-old fugitive was indicted Friday for
creating and marketing a software program called
Loverspy that allowed buyers to snoop on former
or prospective sweethearts by breaking into their
computers. Four people who bought the program
available for $89 through a Texas website
were also indicted and charged with unauthorized
access to electronic communications.
(LA Times article, free registration required)
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-me-lover27aug27,1,3970127.story
Jealous-lover program creator indicted
The creator and several buyers of a computer
program designed to allow jealous lovers to snoop
on their sweethearts' online activities have been
indicted for allegedly violating federal computer
privacy laws. Carlos Enrique Perez-Melara, 25,
was indicted Friday on 35 counts of manufacturing,
sending and advertising a surreptitious interception
device and unauthorized access to protected computers.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9118279/
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Air Force Specialist Indicted On Child Porn Charge
An Air Force computer security specialist has
been indicted on a federal charge of producing
child pornography in Colorado in the latest
development in a long-running, multiagency
investigation into his activities. Tech Sgt.
Erik Dean Rabes, 44, of La Vista, Neb., is
accused of enticing a minor to engage in sexually
explicit conduct and producing a visual depiction
of that conduct in November 2000, according to the
indictment.
http://cbs4denver.com/topstories/local_story_239223454.html
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Papers give hints about child-porn inquiry
Ex-judges attorneys say he wasnt involved
in making tapes central to the case. Two manila
envelopes containing videos, CDs, a hard drive
and Polaroids are at the center of the FBIs
child-porn case against former Douglas County
Judge Roger E. Wall. Court papers filed since
Walls indictment show the contours of the case
against the longtime judge as well as his planned
defense.
http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050829/NEWS01/50829002
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Two officers lose jobs in Massillon
Before being fired for insubordination, a city police
officer made his own accusations against the Police
Department. Patrol officer Robert Boyd, 34, a 7-year
veteran of the force, said fellow officers had been
circulating child pornography and other obscene
materials throughout the police station for years.
The Police Department denies any child porn, and
a FBI audit found no evidence to support Boyds
claim.
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=239422
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Finland blocking access to foreign web pages containing child pornography
Finnish officials and companies plan to block
access by Internet users in Finland to foreign
websites containing child pornography.
Telecommunications service providers are to be
given a list of websites to be blocked. "In all
child porn scandals uncovered in Europe, the
Internet has been used almost without exception.
The use of the Internet for these purposes is
a major problem. In Norway, this kind of a measure
has managed to prevent as many as 6,000 visits to
Child pornography web sites each day", says Harri
Pursiainen, Director-General at the Ministry of
Transport and Communications.
http://www.helsinginsanomat.fi/english/article/1101980765903
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Web site gives e-mail senders a reputation
A new Web site aims to help determine whether
a specific computer has been sending legitimate
e-mail or spam. The TrustedSource Web site uses
data from reputation filters, which are billed
as the next big thing in e-mail security. Makers
of spam-fighting tools collect data on e-mail
senders and use that to assign "reputations"
to e-mail sending computers and Internet
domains. Those who send a lot of spam get
a negative rating and their messages are
more likely to be filtered out.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5844408.html
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Credit Card Companies Turn to Security To Protect Customer Data
On any given day, data about Visa cardholders
courses through the computer networks of more
than five million merchants, hundreds of data
processors and 14,000 banks before it even
reaches the machines at the Visa operations
center.
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=13200002ZFIO
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Long Registry Names Could Hide Malware
Reports on the Full-Disclosure research list and
by the SANS Internet Storm Center indicate a common
bug in software that interacts with the Windows
registry. The bug could allow malicious programs
to hide values there, obscuring evidence of their
presence on the system.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1853457,00.asp
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Distance detection may help secure Wi-Fi
Intel Corp. is developing a way to locate a Wi-Fi
user by timing how long it takes for packets to
travel to and from a wireless access point, which
could prevent users outside a house or office from
accessing a Wi-Fi network indoors. Precision location
technology is one of several key ideas for the next
few years that Justin Rattner, Intel senior fellow
and director of the company's Corporate Technology
Group, showed off during a keynote presentation on
the last day of the Fall Intel Developer Forum (IDF)
in San Francisco Thursday.
http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,104242,00.html
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The myth of the cyber-meltdown
We've all heard of the impending doom of the
cyber-meltdown by all the so-called experts
in cyber-terrorism but unfortunately they
couldn't be further from the truth. There
will be no cyber-meltdown in the form of
a massive cyber-attack that will cripple
the Internet and IT infrastructure.
http://www.zdnetindia.com/news/commentary/stories/127547.html
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ID theft creates opportunities for data companies
For its victims, identity theft means worry,
headache and countless time spent restoring
bad credit. But for some businesses, the collective
fear that consumer identities may be stolen can
mean opportunity. The surge in identity theft,
estimated to affect more than 9 million Americans
each year at a cost of $50 billion, is spurring
credit bureaus and banks to offer credit-monitoring
services designed to protect against fraud and
guarantee peace of mind.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5843920.html
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Researchers: Distorting biometrics enhances security
In biometrics, a computer reduces an image to
a template of notable features such as a face.
Image: A trick reminiscent of a fun-house mirror
might improve the security and privacy of the
access-control technology that examines fingerprints,
facial features or other personal characteristics.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/08/29/transforming.biometrics.ap/index.html
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