contributed by no0ne
A group of teenagers have discovered a way to take over any AOL Instant Messenger account as long as they know the person's screen name. A staff tool that was picked up from AOL's proprietary online service lets them exploit a hole in AOL 5.0's registration process, allowing them to reset users' passwords. During the AOL 5.0 registration process, AOL asks for a person's screen name. The teenagers enter the screen name they want to have, when prompted for a password they make one up to get the "invalid password" message. AOL 5.0 then buffers the screen name within the registration process. The perpetrators then jump to another part of the registration process where AOL thinks the intruder is the rightful owner of the AIM screen name and permits the password to be reset. AOL says it is working to correct the problem.

C|Net
ZD Net
MSNBC
Wired

contributed by Evil Wench
By changing the order number in the URL users at Outpost.com are able to view the personal information, including the type of credit card used, of other users. An Outpost spokesperson said that the problem would be fixed immediately. (This type of problem is extremely old, it is surprising that such a large company such as Outpost has this problem. This just further illuminates the need for effective e-commerce security.)

Wired

contributed by Zorro
The National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime in Norway has raided the home of Jon Johansen of Steinsholt Norway. Jon is the author of the controversial software DeCSS. Authorities confiscated his computer and cellphone, they also questioned him for up to seven hours. Both Jon and his father have been charged with breaking the copyright act and the penal law which could result in up to 3 years in prison.

Slashdot
VG - Norwegian
TV 2 - Norwegian

contributed by Jay
When Solaris 8 is unveiled Wednesday in New York it is expected that Sun will also announce that the software will be free as well opening access to the software's source code. Solaris 8 is expected to ship in February.

ZD Net

contributed by Brian Oblivion
For years DoD officials have claimed that the global eavesdropping network known as Echelon was nothing more than a myth fabricated by journalists. Now recently declassified papers by the NSA actually confirm the existence of the operation.

The NSA Declassified

contributed by Evil Wench
On Monday Japan's Science and Technology Agency and Japan's Management and Coordination Agency had their web sites defaced. This is con in the first-ever defacement of a Japanese government computer system. Japanese officials have said that they will be seeking assistance from US officials in tracking down the perpetrators.

Reuters - via Yahoo

contributed by Evil Wench
Originally developed as a means to gather real time Radio ratings information, technology created by Alabama based MobilTrak is now being used by marketers. The road side devices hone in on emissions from car radios to determine exactly what station they are turned to. Now concert promoters are using the technology to determine what station concert attendees listen to as they park cars their cars when attending concerts.

Wired

contributed by dave
HNC has released a new Crypto Tool which supports a wide variety of cryptography methods. It has the ability to encrypt/decrypt whole files or passages of text. with the use of custom keys and pass phrases.

HNC Networks - Warning: the site is awfully slow