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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 07, 2003 Bush Orders Cyberattack Plan Britain Arrests Two for International Hacking No More Floppy Drives from Dell Ex-Employee Hacks ViewSonic AND Georgetown Shuts Down E-Mail System Ex-Student Indicted for Campus Spying FBI Hunts eBay Data Thief BUSH ORDERS CYBERATTACK PLAN Administration officials have confirmed that President Bush signed a secret directive in July 2002 ordering the development of a national plan to guide when and how the United States would launch cyberattacks against enemy computer networks. The cyberwarfare plan would establish rules under which the United States would penetrate and disrupt foreign computer systems. Critics point out that the United States' dependence on computer networks makes the country highly vulnerable to counterattack and that collateral damage to civilians would almost certainly result because of the interconnectedness of government, military, and civilian computer networks around the world. Washington Post, 7 February 2003 (sub. req'd) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38110-2003Feb6.html BRITAIN ARRESTS TWO FOR INTERNATIONAL HACKING British police arrested two men on suspicion of being part of an international gang of hackers who call themselves THr34t-Krew. The group is blamed for damaging computer systems around the world through a virus-like Internet worm. According to police, the Internet worm created by the group several years ago has now infected about 18,000 computers. The operation resulting in the arrests involved the U.S. Secret Service, FBI, Department of Justice, and Britain's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit. At the same time, a suspected hacker base in Illinois was searched. Nando Times, 7 February 2003 (registration req'd) http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/753510p-5450708c.html NO MORE FLOPPY DRIVES FROM DELL Dell Computer Corporation announced that it plans to stop installing floppy disk drives on its high-end Dimension computers in March, offering them only as an option. The company has already stopped providing floppy drives with its standard notebook computers. The change comes in response to a move by consumers to newer, larger capacity technology such as portable hard drives and rewritable CDs. Dell will provide its 16-megabyte USB flash memory drives in the high-end Dimension model first and then in all desktop computers if customer response is favorable. Associated Press, 5 February 2003 (registration req'd) http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/751847p-5442465c.html EX-EMPLOYEE HACKS VIEWSONIC A federal indictment has charged an ex-employee of ViewSonic with unauthorized access to a protected computer. Andy Garcia is accused of hacking into the company's computer system in April 2000, deleting data files and causing the shutdown of a server vital to foreign operations. The alleged violation occurred two weeks after Garcia was fired. ViewSonic, a privately-held company in Walnut, California, makes computer monitors and high-definition televisions. CNET, 7 February 2003 http://news.com.com/2100-1040-983748.html AND ******************************************** GEORGETOWN SHUTS DOWN E-MAIL SYSTEM After learning of a mass e-mail message from the public-safety department at Georgetown University that inadvertently contained private student information, administrators at Georgetown shut down the university's e-mail system and deleted the message from thousands of student accounts. The system was down for more than 12 hours. The technical staff used an automated program to replace the message with a blank one, although messages automatically forwarded to private accounts could not be deleted. A message to students, staff, and faculty notified them that the message had been deleted and assured them that e-mail messages and accounts were not otherwise touched. Those who received the message were urged not to share its contents. Chronicle of Higher Education, 7 February 2003 http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003020701t.htm EX-STUDENT INDICTED FOR CAMPUS SPYING A grand jury in Cambridge, Mass., indicted former Boston College student Douglas Boudreau on charges of intercepting electronic communications and unauthorized access to a computer system. He is accused of unlawfully installing key-logging software around April 2002 on the Boston College campus, which he used to intercept information and add money to a stored-value card used in the campus dining and bookstore system. He is not accused of misusing credit card numbers or otherwise profiting from the private information collected. Boudreau was a senior in computer science at Boston College until suspended in October 2002. CNET, 6 February 2003 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-983717.html FBI HUNTS EBAY DATA THIEF FBI officials say that a hacker used a computer system at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) to steal private financial information from eBay users. According to complaints, eBay users received e-mails that appeared to come from eBay telling them that their accounts were suspended until they verified personal information, including credit card number and mother's maiden name. A link embedded in the e-mail messages took users to a Web page that seemed to belong to UNCC. The hacker evidently used a university computer server for two hours or more February 2 to post the page before technicians shut it down, according to university spokeswoman Karin Steinbrenner, although the hacker does not appear to be a UNCC student or employee. San Jose Mercury News, 7 February 2003 http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/5130858.htm ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your settings, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/edupage.html Or, you can subscribe or unsubscribe by sending e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To SUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName To UNSUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SIGNOFF Edupage If you have subscription problems, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For past issues of Edupage or information about translations of Edupage into other languages, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/edupage.html ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE PUBLICATIONS EDUCAUSE publishes periodicals, including "EQ" and "EDUCAUSE Review," books, and other materials dealing with the impacts and implications of information technology in higher education. 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