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London, Monday, September 23, 2002
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INFOCON News
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IWS - The Information Warfare Site
http://www.iwar.org.uk
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IWS Sponsor
IQPC Defence Conference: Information Operations 2002 25-26/09/02
Information Operations 2002: Analysing development in defensive and
offensive information operations, critical infrastructure protection,
information assurance and perception management.
September 25 - 26, 2002. London, UK (Pre-Conference Masterclass:
24th September 2002)
Information Operations 2002 Conference Web Site
http://www.iqpc-defence.com/GB-1826
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[News Index]
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[1] A Cybersecurity Sleeping Pill
[2] Cybersecurity plan on the lite side
[3] How Uncle Sam wimped out on cybersecurity
[4] UK hacker gets 18 months
[5] Stamp-Size Plastic Chip Provides New Approach to Cryptography
[6] Energy agency says Web info poses threat
[7] Want to know how RIAA.org was hacked?
[8] (UK) Hacker abuses MSP's e-mail address to send porn images
[9] Officials: Netcom ready for launch
[10] US tightens ICANN leash
[11] Copyright Hurdles Confront Selling of Music on the Internet
[12] Online Gaming Illegal (Wink Wink)
[13] Chinese programmer arrested in US for e-theft
[14] Marines poised for Dell deal
[15] Dot-com Era Start-Ups Still Feeling Woes
[16] (UK) Joint loyalty card dips into customer data honeypot
[17] Smart roads could help homeland
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News
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[1] A Cybersecurity Sleeping Pill
>From a White House given to dramatic warnings of electronic Pearl Harbors comes
an incongruously meek national strategy. Did industry lobbyists slip someone a
Mickey?
By George Smith Sep 23, 2002
For sixty-five pages, a fat lot of nothing. That's the only sensible verdict
possible upon scanning Richard Clarke's much-hyped draft of "The National
Strategy to Secure Cyberspace."
After a huge noise in the media, Clarke and the Bush administration pulled
coitus interruptus on its grand September 18 roll out. What was delivered is
best described as a muffled, mildly grumbling fart of toothless suggestions for
industry and stupidly obvious homilies in government-ese expressing a childishly
wishful desire for better national computer security practice.
http://online.securityfocus.com/columnists/110
----------------------------------------------------
[2] Cybersecurity plan on the lite side
BY Diane Frank
Sept. 23, 2002
The Bush administration's long-awaited plan for protecting the nation's critical
computer systems from cyberattacks is too weak because it does not set specific
requirements for federal agencies or the private sector to follow, and politics
is mostly to blame for the watered-down plan, information technology experts
say.
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0923/news-cyber-09-23-02.asp
----------------------------------------------------
[3] How Uncle Sam wimped out on cybersecurity
David Coursey,
Executive Editor, AnchorDesk
Monday, September 23, 2002
I'm a little worried that President Dubya is so busy with an Iraqi maniac who
may or may not be a huge threat to us, but seems so little concerned about
cybercrime and cyberterrorism, which both present "credible threats" to our
critical digital infrastructure right now.
I know you hate it when I get political, but what is a National Strategy to
Secure Cyberspace if not political? For that matter, because the 64-page
document is little more than a request that companies use good data hygiene,
does it really qualify as a "strategy"?
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2881029,00.html
----------------------------------------------------
[4] UK hacker gets 18 months
By James Middleton [23-09-2002]
Revenge is far from sweet for disgruntled consultant
A UK hacker has received an 18-month prison sentence for corporate sabotage.
Stephen Carey, a 28-year-old computer engineer from Eastbourne, Sussex, was
yesterday sentenced to 18 months by Hove Crown Court for hacking into a firm's
database and modifying information.
He had been hired by sheet metalwork firm RP Duct Work in April last year to
carry out essential maintenance and upgrades on the company's database. But
after he botched the job the firm was forced to pay a troubleshooter ?80 per
hour to fix the system.
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1135240
----------------------------------------------------
[5] Stamp-Size Plastic Chip Provides New Approach to Cryptography
Modern encryption techniques are tested every time someone makes a purchase over
the Internet or spends electronic cash stored in smart cards. These strategies
rely on so-called one-way functions, which are easy to execute in one direction
(for instance, multiplying two prime numbers) but difficult to reverse
(factoring a large number into two primes). With ever-increasing computer power
and advances in quantum computing, however, such methods may soon become
breakable. According to a report published in the current issue of the journal
Science, researchers have developed a new approach to cryptography--built around
a piece of plastic the size of a stamp--that is hard to crack and nearly
impossible to forge.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=00053B03-8299-1D8B-B3B98
09EC588EEDF
----------------------------------------------------
[6] Energy agency says Web info poses threat
BY William Matthews
Sept. 23, 2002
Citing the threat of terrorism, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
is proposing new rules to limit the public's access to information about power
plants, pipelines and other components of the energy infrastructure.
Only those with "a need to know" will have access to the information, and they
might be required to sign an agreement that prohibits them from revealing what
they have learned.
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0923/pol-energy-09-23-02.asp
----------------------------------------------------
[7] Want to know how RIAA.org was hacked?
By zone-h.org
Posted: 09/21/2002 at 04:45 EST
Two weeks ago the Recording Industry Association of America website was
defaced.Twice. Even more embarrassing, the crackers installed pirate music files
on the site for download. But how? zone-h.org, a security site-based in Estonia,
has uncovered the elementary mistake in RIAA's robot.txt files which gave the
crackers their back door. This is our first exposure to Estonian humour. And we
like it. The Register is publishing zone-h's entertaining treatment by
permission.
Elementary, Watson! American recording industry's mystery is solved
It was a cold night and thick lay of fog was covering Connecticut Avenue of DC.
Streets around were empty as all the pawns rushed into the only pub that was
still opened at the time: the Romeo India Alpha Alpha.
Holmes and Watson had been sitting there for a couple of hours discussing all
the latest mysteries reported by newspapers.
http://www.theregus.com/content/6/26386.html
----------------------------------------------------
[8] Hacker abuses MSP's e-mail address to send porn images
MURDO MacLEOD
A SENIOR MSP has called in detectives after a computer hacker used her
parliamentary e-mail address to send pornographic images over the internet.
Fiona Hyslop, one of John Swinney's most senior aides within the party, and the
SNP's chief of policy, also found that a hacker had used her name to send junk
e-mail offering internet users cheap loans.
Hyslop said: "I was extremely concerned to discover my name and parliament
e-mail had been used fraudulently. I have made sure that the details have been
passed on to the relevant authorities.
"I know that contact details of MSPs are widely available and that is meant to
help us provide a public service. The parliament was set up to be open and
accessible.
http://www.scotlandonsunday.com/politics.cfm?id=1053342002
----------------------------------------------------
[9] Officials: Netcom ready for launch
BY Dan Caterinicchia
Sept. 20, 2002
With the Oct. 1 launch of the Army's Network Enterprise Technology Command
(Netcom) less than two weeks away, service leaders say the pieces are in place
to ensure a coordinated implementation.
Netcom was established to provide management for the Army's information
technology and networks as an enterprise, and officials are working to "ensure
that the installations, Army contracting and Netcom implementation are postured
for an integrated implementation," said Maj. Gen. James Hylton, commander of the
Army Signal Command, who will assume command of Netcom.
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0916/web-army-09-20-02.asp
----------------------------------------------------
[10] US tightens ICANN leash
By ComputerWire
Posted: 09/23/2002 at 06:01 EST
Saying its progress over the four years since its inception has been
"disappointing", the US Department of Commerce nevertheless has renewed the
powers of the Internet Corp for Assigned Names and Numbers, which coordinates
the internet's addressing systems, Kevin Murphy writes.
But the one-year renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding that gives ICANN its
powers and responsibilities reins in the California non-profit. The DoC is to
oversee ICANN more closely, and has made it clear in one case that if a task is
not completed on time, ICANN's future will be in jeopardy.
http://www.theregus.com/content/6/26391.html
----------------------------------------------------
[11] Copyright Hurdles Confront Selling of Music on the Internet
By AMY HARMON
When the world's major media companies gave in to the idea of selling music over
the Internet, it seemed to herald a sonic paradise, where every song ever
recorded would be available to listen to and perhaps download, legally, with a
few clicks and a small monthly fee.
But for the online services trying to get there - chief among them MusicNet,
Pressplay and Listen.com - the road to paradise is proving to be more like an
intellectual property labyrinth paved with administrative quicksand.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/23/technology/23MUSI.html?ex=1033444800&en=103b48
d5d32ee7d4&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVER
----------------------------------------------------
[12] Online Gaming Illegal (Wink Wink)
By Elliot Borin
2:00 a.m. Sep. 23, 2002 PDT
Despite the defection of several big-name credit card issuers and a recent
Justice Department "advisory" declaring all Internet gambling illegal, many
watchers of online casino operations remain convinced the industry is still on a
roll.
As proof, they cite a federal court decision in Louisiana that could de-fang the
Justice Department's virtual bite, Congress' repeated repudiation of such
measures as the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act and a successful Nevada ballot
initiative directing the state legislature to begin issuing online gambling
licenses. (Several Las Vegas casinos now operate online by way of the Isle of
Man.)
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,55202,00.html
----------------------------------------------------
[13] Chinese programmer arrested in US for e-theft
A Chinese programmer who works for the state-run China National Petroleum Corp.
has been arrested for allegedly trying to steal software used to map underground
oil deposits from a Silicon Valley company by the federal authorities.
Reuters
Saturday, September 21, 2002
SAN FRANCISCO: Chinese national, Shan Yan Ming was arrested Tuesday by the FBI
after workers at privately held 3DGeo company, discovered him trying to download
an expensive, proprietary software program last week. A California-based company
The Mountain View, sells software used in seismic imaging of oil fields.
http://www.ciol.com/content/news/repts/102092103.asp
----------------------------------------------------
[14] Marines poised for Dell deal
BY Christopher J. Dorobek
Sept. 23, 2002
The Marine Corps this week will officially sign a blanket purchase agreement
with Dell Computer Corp. that will enable the service to begin replacing its
aging information technology infrastructure as it prepares to move to the Navy
Marine Corps Intranet.
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0923/web-dell-09-23-02.asp
----------------------------------------------------
[15] Dot-com Era Start-Ups Still Feeling Woes
By Michael Chait
According to new research released Friday morning, companies that rode in on the
"dot-com boom" of the late '90s are still feeling the woes of the "dot-com bust"
harder than their associates at more established companies.
The new report, issued by VentureOne, showed that venture-backed companies that
received initial financing in 1999 and 2000 are going out of business at an
accelerated rate, compared to startups initially funded from 1992 to 1998.
Twenty-two percent of the 1,842 companies first financed in 1999 have already
gone out of business, compared with an average of 15 percent for companies
started over the previous seven years. Of the companies initially financed in
2000, 18 percent are already defunct. In all, the amount invested in startups
founded since 1999 that are no longer operational totals $15.3 billion.
http://siliconvalley.internet.com/news/article.php/1467101
----------------------------------------------------
[16] Joint loyalty card dips into customer data honeypot
Friday 20 September 2002
Some of the biggest players in the loyalty card market have joined forces to
improve their use of customer data but industry experts remain sceptical about
the benefits they anticipate. Daniel Thomas reports.
Last week, Sainsbury's, Barclaycard, Debenhams and BP teamed up to launch a
joint loyalty card programme. They expect 50% of UK households to sign up within
the first year.
The Nectar programme, which officially began on 16 September with a ?40m
advertising campaign, will allow UK shoppers to accumulate loyalty points at
1,800 outlets of Sainsbury's, Debenhams and BP and wherever they pay with their
Barclaycards.
http://www.cw360.com/bin/bladerunner?REQSESS=HM7UY6YC&2149REQEVENT=&CARTI=115874
&CARTT=3&CCAT=1&CCHAN=12&CFLAV=1
----------------------------------------------------
[17] Smart roads could help homeland
BY Megan Lisagor
Sept. 23, 2002
Intelligent transportation systems, originally conceived of as a way to reduce
traffic congestion in major metropolitan areas, are now being considered for
roles in homeland security.
Such systems use a range of technologies, including cameras, telecommunications
and sensors, to make commuting easier and safer. More than 384 public transit
systems nationwide have implemented or are installing some of these devices.
http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2002/0923/web-its-09-23-02.asp
----------------------------------------------------
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Copyright 2002, IWS - The Information Warfare Site
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Wanja Eric Naef
Webmaster & Principal Researcher
IWS - The Information Warfare Site
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