FW: Security In The News - February 18, 2004

[Howell, Paul]

Title: Message

 

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Subject: Security In The News - February 18, 2004

Security In The News
LAST UPDATED: 2/18/04
This report is also available on the Internet at http://news.ists.dartmouth.edu/todaysnews.html ,

Homeland Security & Infrastructure Protection

DHS sets tech priorities

Federal Computer Week, 2/17/04

Also - Government Executive, 2/17/04

Cybercrime-Hacking

Individual Arrested for Hacking into Messenger Conversations

Chosun Ilbo, 2/18/04

Politics-Legislation

White House calls for less advanced research

Government Computer News, 2/18/04

Move to Block California E-Vote

Wired (AP), 2/17/04

Outcry as Chinese Net dissident arrested

The Register, 2/17/04

Senators question TSA role in transfer of passenger records

Government Executive, 2/17/04

Anti-spam laws as useful as chocolate fireguard, says legal profession

Silicon.com, 2/18/04

Malware

At the Front in the Virus Wars

Wired News, 2/18/04

New variant disables antivirus apps, steals e-mail addresses

PC World, 2/18/04

Vulnerabilities & Exploits

Top Three Security Problems Remain Despite Increased Spending

Enterprise Systems, 2/18/04

Code leak flaw may exist, admits Microsoft

vnunet.com, 2/18/04

Best Practices & Risk Management

Microsoft Sending Security Patches on a CD

Internet News, 2/18/04

Civil & Consumer Issues

AOL Sues Florida Company Again for E-Mail 'Spam'

Reuters, 2/18/04

So not intimidated

LA Times, 2/15/04

Homeland Security & Infrastructure Protection

Title: DHS sets tech priorities

Source: Federal Computer Week

Date Written: February 17, 2004

Date Collected: February 18, 2004

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Chief Information Officer (CIO) Council has outlined eight priorities for the department in its information technology mission: information sharing, information security improvement, creating one technology infrastructure, mission rationalization, enterprise architecture, portfolio management, governance, and information technology human resources. The Council has not prioritized the list, but some areas need obvious improvement; Lee Holcomb, DHS chief technology officer, notes that the department received a low score for its IT security. DHS will spend $12 million for 12 to 24 pilot information sharing projects across governments. Other priorities, such as portfolio management, enterprise architecture, capital investment, and IT governance, should work hand in hand to streamline day-to-day business.

http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0216/web-dhs-02-17-04.asp

Also - http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0204/021704c1.htm

Cybercrime-Hacking

Title: Individual Arrested for Hacking into Messenger Conversations

Source: Chosun Ilbo

Date Written: February 18, 2004

Date Collected: February 18, 2004

Korean police have arrested a man aged 26, identified only by his surname Kim, for hacking into Instant Messenger (IM) conversations between five fellow employees and reporting the conversations to his managers. Police say Kim hacked into the IM conversations sixty times in December using the Radmin program he downloaded from the Internet. One employee, identified as Mr. Park, said he suspected that company executives knew details of his conversations, a suspicion confirmed when he saw his Messenger screen open on Mr. Kim's computer. Mr. Kim allegedly told executives about the conversations to get the others fired. Mr. Kim faces up to five years imprisonment or a fine of 50 million won ($43,000).

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200402/200402180019.html

Politics-Legislation

Title: White House calls for less advanced research

Source: Government Computer News

Date Written: February 18, 2004

Date Collected: February 18, 2004

The Bush administration's 2005 budget eliminates all funding for the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Advanced Technology Program. Since 1990, the program has funded research and development for long-term projects the private sector considered too risky. Connie Partoyan, an advisor at the Department of Commerce, says the new budget signals a shift in research priorities; money that would have gone toward the program has been diverted to other NIST research programs or Homeland Security research. A White House summary of the Commerce budget also states that many of the program's grants go to major corporations that need no subsidies. As of September 2003, the program had awarded 709 grants worth $2.1 billion. Half of the projects were related to electronics, computer hardware, or information technology.

http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/24955-1.html

Title: Move to Block California E-Vote

Source: Wired (AP)

Date Written: February 17, 2004

Date Collected: February 18, 2004

Citizens of Solano, Sacramento, San Diego, and Stanislaus counties in California have requested the Sacramento County Superior Court to issue a restraining order to keep eighteen counties from using Diebold electronic voting machines in the March 2, 2004 primary elections. Secretary of State Kevin Shelley has already ordered random testing of Diebold and Sequoia voting machines citing concerns that flawed software or malfunctions may yield inaccurate election results. Ten counties claim that Mr. Shelley is acting outside his authority and overstating the problem. The court filing, however, argues that "gaping holes" remain in the machines even if Mr. Shelley's pre-election orders are followed, citing reports from security professionals outlining how company insiders and computer hackers could tamper with elections.

http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,62323,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_8

Title: Outcry as Chinese Net dissident arrested

Source: The Register

Date Written: February 17, 2004

Date Collected: February 18, 2004

Such civil liberties groups as Reporters Without Borders are decrying the recent arrest by Chinese authorities of Du Daobin, 40, who allegedly posted 28 messages on the Internet "inciting subversion of China's state power and [the] overthrow of China's socialist system." Police in Hubei province say Mr. Du also accepted money from foreign organizations to help them post articles "harmful to state security." Reporters Without Borders argues that Mr. Du's articles were pacifist in nature, supporting democracy and greater freedom of expression. Mr. Du also campaigned for the release of Liu Di, a student imprisoned for over a year for posting pro-democracy messages on the Internet.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/35619.html

Title: Senators question TSA role in transfer of passenger records

Source: Government Executive

Date Written: February 17, 2004

Date Collected: February 18, 2004

Susan Collins (R-Maine), chair of the Senate Government Affairs Committee, and ranking member Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut) have asked the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to explain its role in the transfer of airline passenger data from JetBlue Airlines to an Army contractor for a Defense Department database project. The TSA has claimed minimal involvement in the data transfer, however, Army officials told committee staff that airlines sought and received TSA approval before transferring the data. The two Senators believe that in order to obtain public trust, the TSA must be open about its role in the JetBlue transfer.

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0204/021704tdpm1.htm

Title: Anti-spam laws as useful as chocolate fireguard, says legal profession

Source: Silicon.com

Date Written: February 18, 2004

Date Collected: February 18, 2004

Anthony Teelucksingh, prosecutor for the US Justice Department, says that criminal anti-spam laws will have little effect on the amount of spam e-mails people receive everyday. Though the government is interested in pursuing criminal prosecutions against spammers--Mr. Teelucksingh says he has taken calls from many prosecutors asking advice for anti-spam cases--Mr. Teelucksingh warns that even many prosecutions against spammers may not lower spam levels. Don Blumenthal, attorney for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), says that though the FTC is devoting more resource to spam investigations under the CAN-SPAM Act, spam will continue to "rule our world in the near future."

http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/protectingid/0,3800002220,39118479,00.htm

Malware

Title: At the Front in the Virus Wars

Source: Wired News

Date Written: February 18, 2004

Date Collected: February 18, 2004

Through late January and early February of 2004, antivirus researchers at F-Secure in Helsinki, Finland, faced ten virus emergencies without a break for nearly a month. When F-Secure detects a virus outbreak, one of the researchers smacks a toy monkey, which then screams to alert other researchers. The research team gathers and assigns duties: reverse engineering, writing an initial short description, testing and posting an antivirus update, and writing a longer description for the Web. Depending on the severity of the virus, a team may issue an in-house alert; a Level 1 alert, for example, automatically cancels any meetings for antivirus researchers. Mikko Hyppönen, director of antivirus research for F-Secure, says that there is no official antivirus training, and few universities teach assembly code any more, requiring antivirus companies to hire experts where they can. Predicting which viruses will become major outbreaks can be difficult; MyDoom, for example, had none of the tell-tale signs of a major virus.

http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,62324,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_3

Title: New variant disables antivirus apps, steals e-mail addresses

Source: PC World

Date Written: February 18, 2004

Date Collected: February 18, 2004

Antivirus companies are reporting a new variant of the NetSky worm only one day after the appearance of the Bagle.B worm. NetSky.B, also known as Moodown.B, spreads over e-mail and shared network folders, and attempts to disable antivirus software, steal e-mail addresses, and copy itself to shared network folders. NetSky.B arrives in an e-mail with a randomly generated subject line, such as "something for you" or "hello," carrying a .zip file attachment. Network Associates reports receiving 40 to 50 copies of the virus each hour. TruSecure reports that most copies seem to come from the Netherlands or elsewhere in Europe.

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,114829,00.asp


Vulnerabilities & Exploits

Title: Top Three Security Problems Remain Despite Increased Spending

Source: Enterprise Systems

Date Written: February 18, 2004

Date Collected: February 18, 2004

The Yankee Group reports that security budgets will increase at many companies, citing its recent survey of 404 decision makers at medium and large companies. 50% of respondents expect security spending to increase over the next three years, while only 8% expected a decrease. The top three products eyed by respondents are antivirus, intrusion detection systems, and firewalls. 40% of Fortune 500 companies plan to buy Web services security products. Yankee expects outsourced managed security to grow from a $1.5 billion market in 2002 to $3.7 billion by 2008. Systems administrators continue to focus on traditional threats--unauthorized servers, intrusions and antivirus, unauthorized senders, and denial of service attacks--while rating peer-to-peer and instant messaging as low priority. Companies are also focusing on regulatory compliance and wireless technologies.

http://www.esj.com/security/article.asp?EditorialsID=860

Title: Code leak flaw may exist, admits Microsoft

Source: vnunet.com

Date Written: February 18, 2004

Date Collected: February 18, 2004

Microsoft is investigating reports of a flaw found in leaked Windows source code. Microsoft had originally downplayed the flaw, found in Internet Explorer 5, saying it had been previously documented and fixed with the release of Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1. However, many users still rely on Internet Explorer versions 5, 5.1, and 5.5. Microsoft is now examining the flaw more closely, though it has not announced whether or when a patch would be released. Companies should consider upgrading to a newer version of Internet Explorer to guard against the vulnerability.

http://www.vnunet.com/News/1152858

Best Practices & Risk Management

Title: Microsoft Sending Security Patches on a CD

Source: Internet News

Date Written: February 18, 2004

Date Collected: February 18, 2004

Microsoft will release a security update CD with every critical patch released up to October 2003 for Windows XP, ME, 2000, and both versions of 98, as well as trial antivirus and firewall software. The CD release is targeted toward home users with a dial-up connections, lacking the bandwidth to download all the security updates. In January 2004, Microsoft released a 317 KB tool to remove the Blaster virus from home computers; 317 KB takes about three minutes to download over a dial-up connection. Microsoft will distribute the CDs for free to improve the patch application "ecosystem." Jupiter research finds that only 30% of homes have migrated to broadband connections, and expects the number to increase to 40% by 2008.

http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3314501

Civil & Consumer Issues

Title: AOL Sues Florida Company Again for E-Mail 'Spam'

Source: Reuters

Date Written: February 18, 2004

Date Collected: February 18, 2004

America Online (AOL) has sued Florida company Connor Miller Software, alleging it set up a network for two clients who then sent 35 million spams to AOL users advertising low-interest mortgages. Charles Henry Miller says his company set up the network, but did not send out any commercial e-mails. AOL originally sued the company in 2003 in Virginia, but a federal judge threw out the suit, ruling that Virginia does not have jurisdiction in the matter. Spam now accounts for half of all e-mail traffic; AOL says it deals with 2 billion spams each year. The lawsuit against the two Connor Miller Software clients is still pending in Virginia.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=4385772

Title: So not intimidated

Source: LA Times

Date Written: February 15, 2004

Date Collected: February 18, 2004

Many college students are reacting to RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) lawsuits not by stopping their illegal music downloads, but by being more careful how they download songs. One downloader, called Shawn, says he and his friends consider the lawsuits a joke, and treat them as such. Jessica notes that the RIAA targets people who upload more than 1,000 music files, so she only downloads songs, and keeps the number on her computer less than 1,000. Jessica says she'd buy the CDs, but she doesn't have the money. RIAA statements that illegal downloads hurt the artist do not carry much weight with downloaders, who reply that smaller bands which rely on touring and merchandise get publicity from downloads, while big name artists live extravagant lifestyles despite their downloads. Many students also see inconsistencies in the law: they are allowed to tape-record a television show, or borrow a CD, but not download them from the Internet.

http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-ca-day15feb15,1,5584243.story?coll=la-headlines-technology

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