Folks, Our CRIME member's efforts got top billing on today's report. Networking and partnering pays off! Geo -----Original Message----- From: NIPC Watch [mailto:nipc.watch@private] Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2001 8:21 AM To: daily Subject: NIPC Daily Report, 28 June 2001 Significant Changes and Assessment - No Significant Changes. Private Sector - An 18-year-old man is under investigation after he allegedly used a school computer and the Internet to hack into three dozen NASA computers. According to a search warrant affidavit filed on 21 June in U.S. District Court in Portland, Oregon, the man gained user privileges for NASA computers, allowing him to delete or damage the contents of the systems. The cost of the damage and repair is estimated at $192,750. The same man was linked to another hacking case in August, 1999, where credit card numbers were stolen off the Internet and used to spend more than $23,000 on Egghead.com, an online computer store. The case was adjudicated in juvenile court, the results of which are not public under Oregon law. (Source: Associated Press, 27 June) An ambitious attempt by an international coalition of hackers to create a file-sharing program that can defeat censorship has gone back to the drawing board, the project's leader said on 27 June. Known as "Peekabooty," and previously as Project X, the program could allow dissidents in authoritarian countries to speak out online by hiding the identity of its users. While the program was expected to be released at the upcoming Def Con conference, the group has decided to solve some sticky technical problems first. "I have decided to delay the release in the interests of end-user safety," the project's leader, a hacker known as "Oxblood Ruffin," said in an e-mail on 27 June. "Although I am very pleased with what we've accomplished to date, it would be irresponsible to release the software in its current state." (Source: ZDNet, 27 June) According to SANS Institute, the best new security initiative of 2001 is the early warning system created by Incidents.Org. It is called the Internet Storm Center and has been surprisingly effective in discovering new worms as they are launched. It is like the weather service where sensors (more than 2,000 in 45 countries) feed data to analysis centers. Individuals with Zone Alarm, McAfee, PIX, IPChains, Snort and several other systems all send log data that provides a real-time map of attacks on the Internet. One of the best features is that they aggregate attack data and "fight back" by pushing Internet Service Providers to inform people whose machine are being used in attacks. Additional information can found at www.incidents.org, www.dshield.org and www.mynetwatchman.com. (Source: SANS Newsbites, 27 June) Just days after Microsoft disclosed a password-related security vulnerability in Windows 2000, a program that attempts to exploit a new but related hole has been posted on the Internet. On 27 June, Eliel C. Sardanons, a college student in Argentina, released a program designed to perform brute force password attacks on Windows 2000 systems running the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). In a brute force attack, an attacker makes repeated, rapid-fire attempts to log into an account by guessing the password. According to Sardanons, the program allows users to choose if they want passwords to be generated at random or by using common words, a technique known as a dictionary attack. The program also allows the attacker to target a single legitimate user's account or a list of users. Windows 2000 administrators can foil password guessing attempts by limiting the number of times a user can provide an incorrect password and locking the user out after the limit has been exceeded. However, according to Sardanons, that security feature can block legitimate users in a kind of denial-of-service condition if his program rapidly runs through accounts and incorrectly guesses passwords. Microsoft officials said they are studying the report and had no immediate comment. (Source: Newsbytes, 27 June) Military - Intrusions into Navy unclassified networks are increasing, and officials are blaming poor systems management and the availability of Web-based hacking tools. In fiscal 2001, there have been 125 successful intrusions into Navy unclassified networks, up from 117 in 1999 and 89 in 2000, said Scott Henderson, the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) information assurance division head at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in San Diego. He spoke on 26 June at an NMCI press conference. If systems administrators had downloaded updates to the antivirus products that the Navy uses, many of the intrusions would have been stopped, said Henderson, who called this poor systems management "alarming." (Source: Federal Computer Weekly, 27 June) International - In Australia, computer hackers could be jailed for up to 10 years under new government measures to crack down on cybercrime. The measures introduced to Parliament on 27 June, are based on recommendations contained in a model criminal code report released in January. Also under the bill, accessing restricted information would incur a penalty of two years in jail. "Updated laws are vital if authorities are to effectively detect, investigate and prosecute cybercime activities," Attorney General Daryl Williams told parliament. He said the laws would place Australia at the forefront of international efforts to address cybercrime. "Cybercrime activities, including hacking, virus propagation, denial or service attacks and Web site vandalism pose a significant threat to the integrity and security of computer data," said Williams. (Source: Infosec News, 27 June) Major European companies have lost billions of dollars to fraud during the past two years, and many view cybercrime as the greatest threat in the future. Professional services company Pricewaterhouse Coopers performed the "Economic Crime Survey 2001" for 536 companies and found that companies lost at least US$3.1 billion in the past two years, and that only one in five recovered more than half of the lost assets. One third of the companies believed the risk of fraud would increase during the next five years. Embezzlement by employees was seen by 63 percent of the companies interviewed as the most common form of fraud, followed by cybercrime at 13 percent. Nevertheless, 43 percent of the companies said cybercrime would become the biggest risk in the future. (Source: InfoSec News, 27 June) A NATO coordination group will hold a meeting today in Armenia on computer network problems. The Foreign Ministry's press service said importance is attached to such meetings in view of Armenia's interest for the development of information technologies. A NATO representative will submit the draft project of the "Virtual Silk Road," for the development of computer networks in South Caucasus and Central Asian countries. The program has a preliminary budget of 2.5m dollars. Its implementation proposes establishment of the computer networks which will connect the educational and scientific institutions of the South Caucasus and Central Asia. Similar meetings were held last year in Georgia, Azerbaijan and other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. Fifteen countries, Hungary, Denmark, U.S., Romania, Germany, Turkey, Great Britain, Canada, Czech Republic, Norway, Portugal, Greece, Sweden, Belgium and Armenia, have been involved in the work of the group. (Source: Mediamax, 28 June) Government - NTR Defacements - NTR U.S. SECTOR INFORMATION: Banking and Finance - NTR Emergency Services - NTR Government Services - NTR Water Supply - NTR Gas and Oil Storage Distribution - NTR Electrical Power - NTR Transportation - NTR Telecommunications - NTR NOTE: Please understand that this is for informational purposes only and does not constitute any verification of the information contained in the report nor does this constitute endorsement by the NIPC or the FBI.
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