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'Coolio' may be charged
A 17-year-old New Hampshire computer junkie known as ``Coolio'' may be charged in a handful of vandalism incidents at private
and government Web sites, but is no longer a suspect in last
month's attacks on major sites, U.S. federal law enforcement sources said on Friday. Investigators are considering charging Coolio with hacking into and defacing three Web sites: D.A.R.E., an anti-drug organization; Internet security company RSA Security Inc. and the U.S. government's Chemical Weapons Convention site, FBI sources said. http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/286275l.htm http://www.lycos.com/computers/flash/hackers.html
Two Accused of Using Stolen Credit Cards
Tax police arrested an Italian man and his Israeli wife Saturday, accusing them of using thousands of American credit card numbers snagged off computer lists to place $750,000 worth of online lottery bets. The couple, arrested at their house in the eastern Sicilian city of Catania, won about $400,000 from the betting, Capt. Giancarlo Sulsenti of the paramilitary tax police said in a telephone interview from Catania. The pair, who allegedly hacked into computers to obtain thousands of Visa and Mastercard numbers, also went on an online buying spree, ordering clothing, watches, ``but most of all books,'' Sulsenti said. http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/ap/docs/280801l.htm
Microsoft's Israeli ISP debuts with DoS marketing campaign: Israeli ISP Internet Gold confirmsthat malicious hackers launched a Denial of Service attack on a new Web site it launched in partnership with Microsoft over the weekend. The assault slowed access to the site for about 30 minutes. http://www.technologypost.com/internet/DAILY/20000306103456615.asp?Section=Main http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/newsbursts/0,7407,2456092,00.html
Official warns of Chinese hackers during Taiwanese elections Computer hackers have broken into the Web site of Taiwan's state spy agency, but officials have ruled out China as the source of the cyber attack, a security official said Monday. The culprits were local hackers, said Chang Kuang-yuan, chairman of the National Security Bureau. Nevertheless, Taiwan must still guard against possible Chinese efforts to disrupt Taiwan's March 18 presidential election, he said. The Web site was attacked for
30 minutes over the weekend, as was the Internet site of ruling
Nationalist Party candidate Lien Chan. Chang did not elaborate on the damage done. http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/073991.htm
Report Warns of Fraud Risk in Online Voting
While Arizona makes final preparations to use online voting in an official election, a voter watchdog group warns that "opportunities for mischief abound," including the use of phantom Web sites to hijack votes. A 30-page report titled "Are We Ready for Internet Voting?" published by The Voting Integrity Project, was written by Deborah M. Phillips, president of the nonpartisan organization in Arlington. Phillips said much of the current online voting information highlights the promise and not the potential problems. http://www.apbnews.com/newscenter/breakingnews/2000/03/06/votingonline0306_01.html
Anti-Hacker Center Fights for Respect
Internet: Federal agency created to combat the rise in cyber-crime is viewed with distrust by firms it is supposed to protect. Facing a sharp rise in serious Internet hacking episodes, the federal government two years ago launched its biggest counterattack on cyber-criminals, creating the National Infrastructure Protection Center to protect the nation's multibillion-dollar investment in computer networks. But with funding this year of just $18.5 million --far less than the cost of a single combat jet or the venture capital raised by many dot-com start-ups--Internet security experts doubt that the center can provide much of a bulwark against cyber-sabotage. And as the center struggles to solve the latest wave of attacks that blocked access to major Web sites last month, it faces an even greater long-term challenge: The NIPC badly needs the cooperation of the industry, but many technology leaders deeply distrust the center and its approach to network security. http://www.latimes.com/news/state/20000305/t000021367.html
Justice makes its case for $138 million to battle cybercrimes With attacks on the rise, officials tell Congress they need more money to keep up with the bad guys. Long before last month<92>s sweeping denial-of-service attacks, the Justice Department had drafted plans to bolster its ability to fight cybercrime. Its plans, part of the administration<92>s fiscal 2001 budget proposal, became public last month, although the budget preparation began almost a year earlier. So just as large commercial Web sites were under denial-of-service at- tacks, Justice officials were detailing their cybercrime budget requests for Congress. http://www.gcn.com/vol19_no5/news/1454-1.html
Police step up war on cyber crime
At least one officer with computer-crime knowledge is to be drafted to each of the 45 police divisions as the problem grows. The Police Training School has started teaching trainee constables and inspectors how to fight computer crime. The computer-crime section of the Commercial Crime Bureau will increase staff from 17 officers to at least 20. With Internet use growing worldwide, the force needed to improve its ability to counter computer crime, said bureau Senior Superintendent Peter Else. Figures from the Office of the Telecommunications Authority show that the estimated number of Internet accounts grew from a little more than one million in June last year to 1.86 million by the year's end. The number of computer crimes grew from 25 in 1997 to 38 in 1998 and 266 last year. These crimes included unauthorised access, Internet shopping fraud, publication of obscene material and criminal damage. The bureau received 84 requests for computer forensic examination last year, up from 60 in 1998. http://www.technologypost.com/internet/Daily/20000306095448529.asp?Section=Main
$1.5B DOD security deal in the works
The Defense Department this week plans to launch a $1.5 billion procurement for a wide range of information security services, including new efforts to defend critical DOD networks against the kind of attacks that recently locked up Yahoo, Amazon.com and other popular Web sites. The Information Assurance Capabilities contract, managed through a Defense Information Systems Agency and National Security Agency joint program office, will replace contracts awarded in 1995 to Computer Sciences Corp., Science Applications International Corp. and Merdan Group Inc. Although the new contract focuses on off-the-shelf security products and services, DOD also aims to use the contract to integrate its major networks and ensure that those networks remain secure and available around-the-clock. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2000/0306/fcw-news-dodfrp-03-06-00.asp
A glimpse of cyberwarfare
Governments ready information-age tricks to use against their adversaries At first, the urgent phone call from the U.S. Transportation Department confounded Cheng Wang, a Long Island-based webmaster for Falun Gong, the spiritual movement that has unnerved Chinese authorities. Why did the department think his computers were attacking theirs? The answer turned out to be startling. The electronic blitz hadn't come, as it seemed, from various Falun Gong Internet sites. Rather, someone had lifted their electronic identities. Computer sleuths followed a trail back to the XinAn Information Service Center in Beijing<96>where an operator identified it as part of the Ministry of Public Security, China's secret police. Web hacking, it seems, isn't just for amateurs anymore. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/000313/cyberwar.htm
U.S. Wants to Trace Net Users
The ease of hiding one's identity on the Net is giving police migraines and justifies providing broad new powers to law enforcement, the White House says in a forthcoming report. The federal government should take steps to improve online traceability and promote international cooperation to identify Internet users, according to a draft of the report commissioned by President Clinton and obtained by Wired News. Police should be able to determine the source of hacker attacks or "anonymous emails that contain bomb threats," states the 200 KB document prepared by a high-level working group chaired by Attorney General Janet Reno. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,34720,00.html
Outsourced Security On The Rise
Following the recent wave of cyberattacks, providers of managed security services are beefing up firewall, intrusion-detection and risk-assessment offerings. RIPTech Inc., Exodus Communications and MyCIO.com are readying new services for organizations that lack the internal IT personnel to deal with the latest hacker attacks. Until the attacks exposed vulnerabilities, the companies had not experienced any reason for concern. http://www.internetwk.com/story/INW20000303S0005
Intel tackles notebook security
Intel Corp. plans to announce this week a new security architecture designed to make stolen notebooks "as useful as bricks." The new preboot security method, which is based on IPAA (Intel Protected Access Architecture), will integrate additional software and hardware components into laptops to provide an added level of protection, said officials at the Santa Clara, Calif., company. Basically, after turning on the PC, the user will be required to "authenticate" himself or herself by using a fingerprint reader or other biometric device, a Universal Serial Bus token or key, a smart card, or another authentication device, said Naveen Musinipally, marketing manager for security with Intel's Mobile Products Group. In addition, a password or personal identification code may be required. Once the user has been authenticated, the password-protected hard drive automatically unlocks, and the computer boots. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2455579,00.html