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          ----------------------------------------------------
                              [News Index]
          ----------------------------------------------------

[1] Face recognition kit fails in Fla airport
[2] Qwest Glitch Exposes Customer Data
[3] Navy Domain Hijacked By German Pornography Site
[4] Football e-mails could hide viruses
[5] Hackers gain entry to key state database

[6] State CIOs aid White House in homeland security plan
[7] Experian, Ford Still Unsure How Hacker Stole 13,000 Credit Reports
[8] DARPA developing killer tech
[9] Intrusion-detection net revived
[10] Waiting for Wi-Fi: Europeans trail U.S. in wireless Net hubs

[11] EU probes Microsoft over privacy law
[12] Tips from a cyberterrorism expert
[13] Regents OK A&M security, computer centers
[14] (UK) Government plans national strategy to fight cybercrime
[15] (South Korea) Daum Files Suit Against Spammers

[16] Spammers threaten UK Net user
[17] Senate OKs stripped-down version of bioterrorism bill

    _________________________________________________________________

                                News
    _________________________________________________________________


[1] Face recognition kit fails in Fla airport
By Thomas C Greene in Washington
Posted: 27/05/2002 at 08:02 GMT

Palm Beach International Airport security workers would be racking up heaps
of overtime pay dealing with more than fifty false positives daily if their
bosses were to install Visionics' terror-busting face recognition gear, the
airport administrators have concluded.

The kit had been installed free of charge for a trial run. The airport, not
surprisingly, decided to test it on volunteers who work there over four
weeks. Using fifteen volunteers and a data base of 250 snapshots, Palm Beach
County administrators enjoyed a success rate of less than fifty per cent.
That is, more than half the people the kit should have flagged slipped past
undetected.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/25444.html

Biometric sensors beaten senseless in tests
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/25400.html

The ACLU obtained a copy of the Palm Beach report and has posted it here.
http://www.aclu.org/issues/privacy/FaceRec_data.pdf

         ----------------------------------------------------

[2] Qwest Glitch Exposes Customer Data

Critics say the phone company took too long to close a hole that left some
long-distance phone bills and subscriber credit card numbers accessable to
anyone.
By Kevin Poulsen, May 23 2002 3:30PM

Telecom giant Qwest Communications acknowledged Thursday that a glitch in
its Web-based paperless billing system left some long-distance customer
records exposed for over a week.

Qwest offers long-distance customers a price break if they forgo printed
statements and pay their bills with a credit card though the company's Web
site. Subscribers who avail themselves of the service are offered a choice
of logging in with a phone number and calling card PIN, or a user-specified
name and password.

http://online.securityfocus.com/news/431

         ----------------------------------------------------

[3] Navy Domain Hijacked By German Pornography Site
By Brian McWilliams, Newsbytes May 23 2002 3:59PM

Due to a domain registration snafu, two Internet addresses used by the U.S.
Navy for recruiting new sailors have recently been commandeered by other
sites, including a pornography site.

Since late April, visitors to NavyDallas.com, formerly the home page of the
Navy's Dallas recruiting district, have been redirected to
How-to-find-porn.com, a portal that features links to numerous hardcore
pornography sites.

http://online.securityfocus.com/news/434

         ----------------------------------------------------

[4] Football e-mails could hide viruses

Could David Beckham inspire the next virus attack?

With the World Cup about to kick off, virus experts have warned computer
users to be on their guard against infection.
With millions of people using e-mail and the internet to keep up to date
with the soccer action, anti-virus firm Sophos says screensavers,
spreadsheets and electronic wall charts could prove ideal hiding places for
viruses and worms.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2002000/2002928.stm

         ----------------------------------------------------

[5] Hackers gain entry to key state database
Personnel files were breached last month for 265,000 workers

Ryan Kim, Chronicle Staff Writer    Saturday, May 25, 2002

Computer hackers have cracked into the state's personnel database and gained
access to financial information for all 265,000 state workers, including
Governor Gray Davis, officials said Friday.

The database, housed at state's Teale Data Center in Rancho Cordova, holds
names, Social Security numbers, and payroll information for everyone from
office workers to judges.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/05/25
/MN179392.DTL&type=tech

         ----------------------------------------------------

[6] State CIOs aid White House in homeland security plan

By Liza Porteus, National Journal's Technology Daily

State chief information officers are coalescing to help the White House
Office of Homeland Security with technology-related components of the
national homeland security strategy.

Homeland Security CIO Steve Cooper this week asked the National Association
of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) to designate some members to
help his office decide the technology aspects of the strategy, which is
expected to be released in July. NASCIO likely will name those CIOs next
week.

Cooper "wants to make sure that whatever blueprint Homeland Security puts
out we're in line with," NASCIO President and Connecticut CIO Rock Regan
told reporters Thursday. Regan said there is an "extraordinary relationship"
between NASCIO, the White House and Congress on tech issues, particularly
those addressing homeland security.

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0502/052402td1.htm

         ----------------------------------------------------

[7] Experian, Ford Still Unsure How Hacker Stole 13,000 Credit Reports

NEW YORK, May 28 (LendingIntelligence.com) - It is almost four months after
hackers using at least one Ford Motor Credit Co. authorization code stole
13,000 consumers' credit reports from Experian and the companies still do
not know exactly how the scam was pulled off - although neither is saying it
was at fault for the security breach.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation continues to look into the purported
theft.

http://www.lendingintelligence.com/news.ez?viewStory=1123&Form.sess_id=84552
1234&Form.sess_key=1022430845


         ----------------------------------------------------

[8] DARPA developing killer tech
BY Dan Caterinicchia
May 27, 2002

An office established last fall in the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency has added a key word to the traditional research area of command,
control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance (C4ISR): kill.

Richard Wishner, director of DARPA's Information Exploitation Office (IXO),
said his office is charged with developing technologies to find, precisely
identify, track and kill targets. And it recently coined the phrase C4KISR
(pronounced C4-Kisser), he said.

http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0527/web-darpa-05-27-02.asp

         ----------------------------------------------------

[9] Intrusion-detection net revived

BY Diane Frank
May 27, 2002

The General Services Administration and Carnegie Mellon University this fall
will start testing a new technology to analyze and report on patterns in the
cyber intrusion information gathered across government, an idea that was
first floated and eventually sunk two years ago.

http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0527/news-net-05-27-02.asp

         ----------------------------------------------------

[10] Waiting for Wi-Fi: Europeans trail U.S. in wireless Net hubs

Chris Oakes The International Herald Tribune
Monday, May 27, 2002

PARIS Wi-Fi, a new breed of wireless service that can invisibly connect a
mobile computer to the Internet in "hot spots" - public places like
airports - has yet to gather steam in most of Europe. But industry analysts
see the market gaining momentum by 2003 as telecom operators and start-up
Internet service providers seize a low-cost opportunity to link up laptops
on the go.

http://www.iht.com/articles/58988.html

         ----------------------------------------------------

[11] EU probes Microsoft over privacy law

10:15 Sunday 26th May 2002

Reuters
The European Commission has confirmed that it is investigating Microsoft's
.Net Passport system
The European Commission is checking whether Microsoft's system of collecting
personal data from Internet users breaks privacy laws, compounding the
software giant's antitrust probe headaches in Europe.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t272-s2110895,00.html

         ----------------------------------------------------

[12] Tips from a cyberterrorism expert

By Stephen Pounds, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 15, 2002

FORT LAUDERDALE -- The enemy in the war on cyberterrorism is as likely to be
a person tapping a keyboard in the next cubicle as he is a
government-sponsored hacker or "hactivist" trying to make a political
statement.

"Do you know who the keyholders are to your computer system? Do you know the
guy who changes out your software? I think not. You need to be be vigilant
in checking them out," said Robert Wright, a computer scientist with the
FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center in Washington.

http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/today/business_c31e1c45
c1c4d0ef10d0.html

         ----------------------------------------------------

[13] Regents OK A&M security, computer centers

LAREDO (AP) - The creation of two centers focused on homeland security and
cyberterrorism was approved Friday for Texas A&M University.

The University System Board of Regents, meeting in Laredo, approved the
school's request to establish the Integrative Center for Homeland Security
and the Center for Information Assurance and Security.

http://www.amarillonet.com/stories/052502/tex_regentsok.shtml

         ----------------------------------------------------

[14] Government plans national strategy to fight cybercrime
by  Bill Goodwin
Thursday 23 May 2002

The Government has unveiled plans to create a national information security
strategy that will bring together government bodies and the private sector
in a co-ordinated fight against computer crime.

The national information assurance strategy, to be developed by the Office
of the E-Envoy, is a response to concerns about the threat posed by
computer-criminals as more organisations go online.

http://www.cw360.com/bin/bladerunner?REQSESS=P448304E&2149REQEVENT=&CARTI=11
2687&CARTT=1&CCAT=2&CCHAN=22&CFLAV=1

         ----------------------------------------------------

[15] Daum Files Suit Against Spammers

By Kim Deok-hyun
Staff Reporter

Internet media company Daum Communications said yesterday it has filed a 39
million won lawsuit against three unsolicited advertising e-mail senders.

The country's biggest Internet portal company contended that the three
spammers each sent junk mail six million times a month to its e-mail
subscribers.

http://www.korealink.co.kr/kt_tech/200205/t2002052219020245110.htm

         ----------------------------------------------------

[16] Spammers threaten UK Net user
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 24/05/2002 at 10:53 GMT

A British man has been threatened by a gang of spammers after reporting its
activity to his ISP.

The man, who asked to remain anonymous, is so concerned he fears for this
own safety.
"These people are nasty," he told The Register.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/25424.html

         ----------------------------------------------------

[17] Senate OKs stripped-down version of bioterrorism bill
>From CongressDaily

The Senate Thursday unanimously approved and sent to President Bush
legislation authorizing more than $4 billion in new funding to prevent,
detect and respond to a potential bioterrorist attack and renew for five
years the law requiring brand-name drug makers to pay user fees to the Food
and Drug Administration to speed the drug approval process.

The 98-0 vote came a day after the House approved the conference report,
425-1.

The Senate debate, like the House's a day before, highlighted the bipartisan
comity that surrounded the bill, particularly on provisions aimed at
protecting the nation's food and water supply.

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0502/052402cdam2.htm

         ----------------------------------------------------



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Copyright 2002, IWS - The Information Warfare Site
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IWS - The Information Warfare Site
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