NewsBits for February 27, 2006 ************************************************************ Nanny victimized in Internet scam A new spin on an old scam has state Attorney General Tom Corbett's office issuing a familiar warning: Overseas traveler's checks plus requests for wire transfers to Nigeria over the Internet equals risky business. http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/pittsburgh/s_427486.html - - - - - - - - - - FACING THE DEFACERS: ISLAMIC HACKER ARRESTED IN FRANCE On Tuesday , 2/21/2006, the Moroccan hacker known as Yanis was arrested in Metz by the Paris PJ. Anyway he got out of prison after 20 hours and he is waiting for judgement. Yanis is accused of having defaced several French important websites (university of Strasbourg and Toulouse, website of the city of Lyon etc..), but his activity as defacer is far more complex http://www.zone-h.org/en/news/read/id=205990/ - - - - - - - - - - Dutch police target 23 Nigerian gangs - Only the beginning? Dutch police say they are targeting another 23 Nigerian gangs after the arrest of 12 suspects as part of a joint US/Dutch investigation into 419 money-making schemes. Four chief suspects will be sent to the US for prosecution, where they could face up to twenty years of jail time if convicted. Eight others will be prosecuted in the Netherlands. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/27/police_target_419_gangs/ - - - - - - - - - - FBI nabs state trooper in sex sting The FBI nabbed a veteran Massachusetts state trooper Friday in an undercover sweep of men seeking sex with underage boys on America Online. State police Sgt. Brian OHare was arrested after he arranged to meet who he thought was a 14-year-old high school freshman, in the parking lot of the Meadow Glen Mall in Medford. He was freed on $50,000 unsecured bail following his arraignment. http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=128081 - - - - - - - - - - US paras fingered over gay porn Makes a change from torturing Iraqis... Seven US soldiers have been charged over offenses linked to their appearance on a gay porn site. The men are charged with "sodomy, pandering and engaging in sex for money while being filmed", Reuters reports. One is also charged with adultery. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/27/soldiers_naughty_websites/ - - - - - - - - - - Porn Squatter in Student Cellar SHOCKED STUDENTS have discovered a man using their internet to access child porn sitting in their basement. Officers were last week hunting for the pervert who dumped his laptop and fled after being discovered in the house. The intruder had even hacked into the households wireless internet connection to download the child pornography http://www.student-direct.co.uk/?p=1621 - - - - - - - - - - Difficulties averting nightmare: Spotlight shines on the screening process after Millis child porn charge. Its every parents nightmare: The smiling adult who takes their youngsters hand as they drive away each morning, plays blocks with them and serves their juice and cookie snack, is accused of fantasizing about them in a forbidden way. http://www.dailynewstribune.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=70579 - - - - - - - - - - Massive rise in child porn sites The number of websites found to be offering child pornography to UK internet users increased by 75 per cent last year amid fears of an explosion in illegal images generated overseas. The sharp rise will alarm child protection campaigners and raise concerns that there has been a related increase in the number of people accessing child pornography sites. http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1718290,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Email users hit by "weekend" Trojan A password-stealing Trojan bombarded global email users over the weekend, leaving an unknown number exposed to a zero-day risk until Monday morning. The PWSteal.Tarno.S Trojan, to give it its Symantec moniker, first appeared on Friday afternoon, and was subsequently reported in rising numbers in the early hours of Saturday. It increased dramatically in frequency throughout that day and Sunday. http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=5460 - - - - - - - - - - CardSystems Settles Charges A data breach that left 40 million customer accounts vulnerable to hackers will lead to tighter security measures to protect millions of credit and debit card users, Federal Trade Commission officials said Thursday. CardSystems Solutions Inc. has settled charges that the company broke the law by failing to ensure adequate safeguards for sensitive customer information. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6042665.html http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-card24feb24,1,1902771.story - - - - - - - - - - Politically motivated attacks soar in 2005 Web server attacks and website defacements rose 16 per cent last year, according to an independent report. Zone-h, the Estonian security firm best known for its defacement archive, recorded 495,000 web attacks globally in 2004, up from 393,000 in 2003. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/27/defacement_report_2005/ - - - - - - - - - - Symantec: More phishers impersonate government More cybercriminals are pretending they are government agencies to fool people into providing confidential information or downloading malware, a security expert said today. http://www.fcw.com/article92433-02-24-06-Web Rootkit Pharming http://www.it-observer.com/news/5781/rootkit_pharming/ Kits help phishing sites proliferate http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6043463.html ISP says staff averted phishing scam http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411419/667929 - - - - - - - - - - Increasing Web attacks disrupt commerce Website attacks are increasing in frequency and ferocity, hammering DVD sales and disrupting online payment services. Called "distributed denial of service attacks" (DDOS), they bombard sites with so much data that legitimate traffic can't get through. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2006-02-26-web-attacks_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - UK rapped on data retention law The UK argued the measure were necessary to help fight terrorism. Britain's net industry has named the UK presidency of the EU as its villain of the year. The Internet Service Providers' Association (Ispa) singled out the UK for its role in pushing for Europe-wide data retention laws. The laws, requiring telecom operators to store phone and internet data to help fight terrorism, received its final go- ahead earlier this week. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4744304.stm - - - - - - - - - - 'Copyright criminals' look to remix the noise--legally When Paul Miller, aka DJ Spooky, says he thinks musicians should be able to remix samples of others' clips into new works, he puts his money where his mouth is. http://news.com.com/Copyright+criminals+look+to+remix+the+noise--legally/2100-1025_3-6043247.html - - - - - - - - - - Cisco Applies Unified Field Theory to Security Management Cisco has announced the new Cisco Security Management Suite, an integrated set of security management applications that provide an operational framework for system-wide security policy enforcement and administration. The suite is made up of the Cisco Security Manager (CSM) and a new version of the Cisco Security Monitoring, Analysis, and Response System (CS-MARS) version 4.2. http://www.it-observer.com/news/5782/cisco_applies_unified_field_theory_security_management/ We need layered security http://www.it-observer.com/news/5783/we_need_layered_security/ Open Source Model for Security Threats http://www.it-observer.com/news/5784/open_source_model_security_threats/ Security pros must improve, says new body http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=5459 IBM, Novell aid open-source identity project http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/149 Microsoft's InfoCard draws open-source response http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6043360.html Users: PLM Apps Lack Security http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,109014,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Keyloggers on the rise Keylogger use is on the rise, with millions of dollars at stake in stolen money and ties to organized crime. While the use of keyloggers is nothing new to SecurityFocus readers, their use for illegal activity is continuing to rise. The New York Times has an article discussing the growing trend of keyloggers used by criminals to steal banking information from unwary users. http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/148 - - - - - - - - - - Is Mac OS as safe as ever? Apple Computer fans have long loved to point out the safety of using Mac OS X, which has mostly been left alone by hackers. But the recent arrival of three threats has some asking: Is the software's charmed security life over? In the past two weeks, a pair of worms that target Mac OS X have been discovered, along with an easily exploitable, severe security flaw. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6043353.html - - - - - - - - - - Is your cell phone due for an antivirus shot? Programs that fight viruses have become a necessary evil on Windows PCs. Now the antivirus industry is turning its attention to mobile phones--but it's running into reluctance from cell service providers, who aren't so sure that the handset is the best place to handle security. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6042745.html - - - - - - - - - - Wi-Fi Security Checklist It shouldn't be so much of a surprise that 802.11b networks have taken off to the degree that they have. The combination of relatively high speed, low price, and ease of installation make them an instant hit. There is a dark side to 802.11b though, in the latter half of 2002 WiFi security has become the conversation topic of choice at corporate IT water fountains and coffee machines. http://www.it-observer.com/news/5780/wi_fi_security_checklist/ - - - - - - - - - - Google Hacking: Ten Simple Security Searches That Work Google has become the de facto standard in the search arena. It's easy, quick and powerful. For those same reasons that the general user has gravitated to Google, so have the hackers. http://www.it-observer.com/news/5779/google_hacking_ten_simple_security_searches_that_work/ - - - - - - - - - - Gaming, Celebrity Sites Nastiest Web Neighborhoods Your mother was right: some neighborhoods are more dangerous than others. In a recently published paper, researchers at the University of Washington said that some Web wards are significantly more likely to host spyware and launch "drive-by downloads," the term for the hacker practice of using browser or Windows vulnerabilities to silently install software. The nastiest Web neighborhoods? Games and celebrity-oriented sites. http://www.securitypipeline.com/news/180207766 - - - - - - - - - - NSA searches for advanced data mining tech The National Security Agency (NSA) visited Silicon Valley this month on the hunt for private sector technology to beef up its already formidable snooping and signals intelligence portfolio. Data mining technologies to search for connections between seemingly unrelated snippets of information was top of the NSA's shopping list, according to venture capitalists who held meetings with agency officials. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/27/nsa_silicon_valley_shopping/ - - - - - - - - - - Distributed computing cracks Enigma code An open source application has broken an encrypted message from World War II, and wants your help to finish the job. More than 60 years after the end of World War II, a distributed computing project has managed to crack a previously uncracked message that was encrypted using the Enigma machine. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39254661,00.htm http://news.com.com/Distributed+computing+cracks+Enigma+code/2100-1029_3-6043572.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/27/enigma_m4_code_breaker/ *********************************************************** 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 2000-2006, NewsBits.net, Campbell, CA.