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Hackers Hit FBI Web Site
Yet another World Wide Web site was temporarily blocked in a "denial of service" attack, the FBI said yesterday. The site was the FBI's. Denial of service attacks flood the target computer with requests for information. The FBI incident was apparently launched from a single computer, and so is not the kind of massive "distributed denial of service" attack that recently blocked access to sites such as Amazon.com, eBay and E-Trade. But even the FBI assault, which occurred last Friday, was enough to shut down the site for several hours, agency spokeswoman Debra Weierman said. "At no time did it affect our internal computer systems," she said. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-02/26/071l-022600-idx.html http://www.newsbytes.com/pubNews/00/144651.html
Banana Rumor Called 'Internet Terrorism'
E-mail Claims Fruit Spread Flesh-Eating Bacteria The attack of the killer bananas? A trade group says absolutely not and is trying to squelch an Internet rumor that has been circulating by e-mail claiming that bananas from Costa Rica carry the "flesh-eating" bacteria called necrotizing fasciitis. International Banana Association (IBA) Vice President Tim Debus calls the rumor "just another case of Internet terrorism like the recent hacker attacks on popular Web sites." The e-mail, which has been around since late January and is still circulating, purports to come from the Manheim Research Institute of the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta -- home of the real Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the respected U.S. government agency. http://www.apbnews.com:80/newscenter/internetcrime/2000/02/25/bananas0225_01.html
Serbs hacked into MoD's computers
SERB experts hacked into Britain's top-secret military computer systems during the Kosovo conflict last year, the Sunday Express has learned. In response, MI5 has been put in charge of improving Britain's defences against cyber attack. It is understood that both sides engaged in covert cyber war alongside the conventional warfare and that British agents successfully hacked into Serb computers. Both sides tried to plant computer viruses into military systems. The Serb attacks focused on computers handling the messaging systems used by the Ministry of Defence to communicate between headquarters in the UK and military units in the field. http://express.lineone.net/express/00/02/27/news/n0220serb-d.html
Hacker arrested in South Korea
A man was arrested Monday for hacking into an Internet firm's computer, prosecutors said, in the first such arrest in South Korea. The Seoul Prosecutor's Office said Kim Young-sam, 26, intruded into the homepage of an Internet-related company he used to work for twice this month and destroyed all data on its bulletin board and in its directories. The hacker was charged with obstructing the firm's business. Prosecutors said Kim was suspected of hacking the company's homepage to take revenge on his former boss. Hacking has mounted in South Korea, with web sites of broadcasting stations and civic organizations hit hard, since attacks shut down prominent Web sites such as Yahoo!, Amazon.com and CNN. (No web link available)
Hackers Crack Australian Stock Exchange Web Site
Hackers broke in to the Australian Stock Exchange public information Web site at the weekend. They placed a message: "Prosthetic owns the ASX," on the site about
8pm on Saturday. ASX spokespeople stress the hackers only
cracked the public information page and did not gain access to any of the exchange's share trading systems. The message was successfully removed. (No web link available)
Net Security Blankets Capitol Hill This Week
Congress members often accuse the federal government of being slow on the uptake compared to the lightning quick innovations of the high-tech industry. But only several weeks after a series of crippling denial of service attacks on popular World Wide Web sites, the Hill this week looks forward to multiple hearings on the subject, along with the possible introduction of the long-awaited Cyberspace Electronic Security Act (CESA). Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is expected to introduce CESA, possibly this week. Introduced as an administration proposal by Attorney General Janet Reno, the idea in its current administration draft has met with some congressional opposition because of its potential infringement on online privacy rights. The program would provide $80 million to the FBI over four years for surveillance purposes and encryption code-breaking technologies. http://www.newsbytes.com/pubNews/00/144618.html
Computer industry tells Congress new anti-hacker laws not needed Even amid dramatic attacks by cyber vandals on some of the Internet's flagship Web sites, the nation's technology industry appears reluctant to ask Congress for new or expanded anti-hacker measures. The industry appears to be maintaining its traditional reluctance against inviting government into its affairs, even in its defense against hackers and online vandals. Those sentiments, expected to be delivered to lawmakers at a congressional hearing Tuesday, illustrate the gulf between Washington and the high-tech industry beyond the 2,400 miles physically separating the epicenters of the two cultures. http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/075453.htm
Only a handful of cyber-crooks are ever punished
Only a handful of computer attackers are actually caught and convicted as federal law enforcement of cyber-crime lags far behind the explosive growth of the Internet, Justice Department records show. In 1998, the private sector reported at least 3,700 hacking incidents to federal authorities, but the FBI opened just 547 computer intrusion investigations and the Justice Department convicted only 56 people for computer crime. Of the 47 people convicted specifically for violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, only 12 were sent to prison, according to Justice Department statistics. Those convicted of violating the law face prison sentences of up to 5 years per incident and 10 years for second-time offenders, as well as a $250,000 fine. The numbers of federal prosecutions, convictions and prison terms for computer crime in 1999 are not available but likely will be higher. The FBI, for example, said it opened 1,154 investigations into computer crime last year. Prosecutions and convictions, however, again will fall far short of the soaring number of computer attacks, which more than doubled to 8,268 incidents last year, according to reports filed with the Computer Emergency Response Team, or CERT, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,150017165,00.html
U.S. group: Copyright piracy rampant in Israel, Palestinian Authority Rampant copyright piracy in Israel and the Palestinian Authority cost U.S. industries more than $200 million in losses in 1999, according to a report by a U.S. trade alliance published Monday. The Washington-based International Intellectual Property Alliance said the region suffers from ``rampant piracy and totally inadequate enforcement,'' and said it would maintain a priority watch on both areas. A lucrative network of Palestinian and Israeli copyright outlaws who cooperate in pirating CDs, CD-ROMs, and other media brought together justice officials from both entities for a two-day conference -- the first day in an Israeli kibbutz, the second in this Palestinian town Monday. http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/025147.htm
KGB specter raised by Net spying
The Federal Security Service, successor to the KGB, is now also spying on the Internet, raising fears that the information it collects could be used for blackmail and business espionage. ``The whole Federal Security Service will be crying tomorrow over your love letters,'' warns one of the banners angry Russian Web designers have posted on the Internet. Russian human-rights and free-speech advocates say the security service has already forced many of the country's 350 Internet service providers to install surveillance equipment. ``Most Internet providers in Moscow, including all the large providers and many in the provinces, have opened a hole'' for security agents to peep at traffic, said Anatoly Levenchuk, a Russian Internet expert. http://www.kentuckyconnect.com/heraldleader/news/022700/techdocs/27tech-KGB.htm
We Care About Privacy - National Security Agency Says The Fourth Amendment indeed holds water with the National Security Agency (NSA), the agency Thursday said in a letter sent to every member of the House of Representatives, in anticipation of a CBS 60 Minutes report on secret, potentially unconstitutional surveillance systems. The NSA said that, despite a spate of recent media reports about potentially unconstitutional spy activities, as well as foreign media and government complaints about the so-called Echelon satellite spy network, the agency does not violate the spirit or letter of the law. The agency declined to acknowledge the existence of the Echelon network or any other "legal" spy/surveillance activities - citing national security as its reason. http://www.newsbytes.com/pubNews/00/144617.html
Free Crypto Offered to Schools
While federal investigators continue their hunt for the folks behind the recent denial-of-service attacks that crippled some of the Internet's biggest players, security companies are plying their wares with a vengeance. But some security firms are bucking the trend and have instead decided to give their products away for free in hopes of expanding their base of users. SSH Communications Security plans to make its login encryption software available to universities free of charge. SSH struck an agreement with the SANS Institute, RSA Security, MIT, and MindBright Technologies to make its Secure Shell is available at no cost. http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,34528,00.html
CIOs Need to Be Held Accountable for Security
While law enforcement agencies chase their tails in an international hacker hunt, hosting providers and eCommerce CIOs have surprisingly escaped the wrath of accountability. Stockholders of Internet companies should be asking who inside their investment holding is responsible and is being held accountable for security. If no one is held accountable, you can be assured that security will continue to be a low priority. http://www.technologyevaluation.com/news_analysis/02-00/NA_ST_LPT_02_28_00_1.htm
Dark side of the Net
The Internet isn't so great at protecting our secrets, but hopefully government obfuscation will get the same treatment. Technology has always been something of a turncoat, capable of siding with the good and bad guys in equal measure. Weapons of mass destruction and life saving equipment are all grist to technology's mill. The Internet, too, has a touch of the chameleon about it. On the one hand, it unites all races and nations in a global chat room. On the other, it unleashes a Pandora's box of paedophiles and drug smugglers. It should come as no surprise that a network conceived in secret as the military equivalent to the cockroach -- indestructible in the event of a nuclear attack -- is now throwing our secrets back in our faces. http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/2000/8/ns-13651.html
Are security fears running ahead of reality?
Word of a severe privacy breach once again spread over the Net like wildfire last week, sending a company scrambling to douse incendiary charges of spying on consumers. Such accusations have become almost routine in the wake of high-profile privacy gaffes by RealNetworks last fall and more recently by Internet advertising firm DoubleClick. But the latest incident, which involved online advertising software firm Aureate, shows how fears of abuse may be in danger of running ahead of reality. "There's a lot of concern, no question," said Richard Smith, a Massachusetts-based Internet consultant who has tested Aureate's software. Nevertheless, he said, "There seems to be more fear than anything else." http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-1558696.html
FC