-----Original Message----- From: information_technology-admin@private [mailto:information_technology-admin@private] On Behalf Of InfraGard Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2003 7:15 AM To: Information Technology Subject: [Information_technology] Daily News 10/08/03 October 07, Reuters - Virus writers probed for terror ties. The National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU), Britain's task force against high-tech crime, has started working to identify patterns in the source code of the most damaging Internet worms and virus programs to determine whether they are the work of organized subversive groups or crime syndicates. The hope is that buried somewhere in the lines of code will be clues to the author's identity, motive and possibly, future acts of sabotage. A mounting concern is that a program could bore into a computer network and compromise, say, a police emergency response phone system or air traffic control system. A digital attack in isolation would inflict relatively little damage, but should the incident be timed to coincide with a physical act of sabotage the toll could be high. In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, response plans to all potential acts of sabotage--digital or physical--are being reviewed. Detective Chief Superintendent Len Hynds, head of the NHTCU, said the NHTCU has trained officers to work with the UK's National Infrastructure Security Coordination Center, the government body charged with protecting critical infrastructure, in honing a response. Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54868-2003Oct7.html October 06, Computerworld - DHS launches cybersecurity monitoring project. The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) cybersecurity division creating a real-time cybersituation-awareness system, a senior DHS official said this week. The aim of the system is to provide a nationwide capability to conduct instant analysis of security incident data for signs of coordinated attacks or major virus and worm outbreaks. Sallie McDonald said the National Cyber Security Division of the DHS is developing a nonproprietary data collection system that will run on an automated security extranet and feed incident reports to the various Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs) operating in the private sector. The ISACs would then feed the data to the national situation-awareness system. The new incident reporting and analysis system will be launched in December at the first DHS-sponsored Cyber Security Summit to be held in Silicon Valley, said McDonald. The DHS also plans to announce a security awareness effort targeted at 50 million home users and small businesses, and will draft a national cybersecurity road map that includes specific milestones and metrics for measuring progress in bolstering security. Source: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,112764,00.asp October 06, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) - Feds take up arms as computer crime becomes multibillion-dollar problem. The Minnesota Cyber Crimes Task Force will be in operation by the end of the year. The task force will be the first office in the nation to combine the efforts of the FBI, Secret Service and the U.S. attorney's office. Paul McCabe, a special agent in the Minneapolis FBI office, said it will investigate crimes that include Internet attacks, online fraud, cyberspace theft of intellectual property, online child pornography and the use of the Internet as a communications medium for terrorists. Paul Luehr, an assistant U.S. attorney who prosecutes many of the federal cyber crime cases in Minnesota, said the task force promises a new way of handling cyber crimes because in the past the two federal investigative agencies have tended to go their own way, with the Secret Service heading up cyber crime investigations in New York and San Francisco and the FBI running comparable investigations in Pittsburgh and San Diego. McCabe said the FBI will contribute 10 people, including seven investigators and three "computer forensic examiners" who examine seized computers for evidence and know their way around the Internet. Source: http://www.startribune.com/stories/789/4137187.html October 06, Associated Press - Iraq awards mobile telephone contracts. Iraq's reconstruction got a boost Monday, October 6, when licenses were awarded for wireless phone networks that are expected to be operating within weeks in a country bypassed by the cellular revolution. The licenses were awarded to three Middle Eastern companies that have investors in Iraq and elsewhere in the region. "This is an important day for Iraq," said Communications Minister Haider Jawad al-Aubadi. "Iraq badly needs the mobile system to enhance the security of the country." The mobile system will especially help in Baghdad, where 12 landline telephone exchanges were knocked out during the U.S.-led invasion last spring. Nationwide, one in four phone lines remains out of service. Before the war, Iraq had just three phone lines for every 100 people. The wireless buildup will bring hundreds of millions of foreign dollars into Iraq, where continuing guerrilla violence against U.S.-led occupation forces could delay major redevelopment investment. The companies all operate with the GSM phone standard widely used in Europe and the Middle East. Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52475-2003Oct6.html?refer rer= email October 06, BBC - Hacker attack left port in chaos . Aaron Caffrey, 19, allegedly hacked into the computer server at the Port of Houston in Texas on September 20, 2001 in order to target a female chatroom user following an argument, a UK court has heard. It was claimed that the teenager intended to take the woman's computer offline by bombarding it with a huge amount of useless data, and he needed to use a number of other servers to be able to do so. Prosecutor Paul Addison told the court that the attack bombarded scheduling computer systems at the world's eighth largest port with thousands of electronic messages. The port's Web service, which contained crucial data for shipping pilots, mooring companies and support firms responsible for helping ships navigate in and out of the harbour, was left inaccessible. It is thought to be the first time that part of a country's national infrastructure has been disabled by an electronic attack. Addison said: "The data on the server contains information on navigation, tides, water depths and weather. No injury or damage was, in fact, caused." Following an investigation, American authorities were able to trace the computer's internet provider number to a computer at Caffrey's home. He was arrested and questioned by police in January 2002. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/dorset/3168696.stm AlertCon: 1 out of 4 https://gtoc.iss.net Security Focus ThreatCon: 1 out of 4 http://analyzer.securityfocus.com/ Current Virus and Port Attacks Virus: #1 Virus in the United States: WORM_LOVGATE.G Source: http://wtc.trendmicro.com/wtc/wmap.html, Trend World Micro Virus Tracking Center [Infected Computers, North America, Past 24 hours, #1 in United States] Top 10 Target Ports 135 (epmap), 80 (www), 137 (netbios?ns), 1434 (ms?sql?m), 445 (microsoft?ds), 1433 (ms?sql?s), 139 (netbios?ssn), 25 (smtp), 466(eDonkey2000), 27374 (SubSeven) Source: http://isc.incidents.org/top10.html; Internet Storm Center _______________________________________________ Information_technology mailing list Information_technology@listserv
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