contributed by yo
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a precedent-setting decision yesterday that software source code was a language. The 2-to-1 vote reaffirmed U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel's 1997 ruling in Daniel Bernstein vs. the Justice Department. That decision means that the export controls of the United States violated the University of Illinois math professor's First Amendment right. Bernstein wanted to post crypto code on his Web site as part of an international course he teaches. The Justice Department is expected to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.

EFF- Full Text of Court Ruling
C|Net
ABC News
ZD Net

contributed by Weld Pond
L0pht Heavy Industries has found a problem with IIS 4.0 and the ASP sample file, showcode.asp. This sample file is designed to view the contents of the sample .asp files that come with the software. Unfortunatley due to weak security this file can allow any remote user to view any text file on the web server. This has the potential to put transaction logs, credit card numbers, and other customer information from e-commerace servers at risk

L0pht Heavy Industries

contributed by Esoterica
Yesterday HNN reported that the FBI had raided Iron Lungs (IL) and possibly dk and had taken them into custody for questioning. One of the groups that IL has been affiliated with is F0rpaxe. This Portuguese group has claimed responsibility for defacing numerous military and government web servers. HNN has received an exclusive statement from F0rpaxe that details what they are about and what they aim to do.

F0rpaxe Speaks Out

contributed by Laup
A java script password-stealing application is known to have snared at least 10 users passwords and is the first time such a hole has been known to have been used to actually steal passwords. This particular hole involved an emailed attachment with a Web page link. A script running on the attacker's Web page then negotiated a request to change the password with the Hotmail server, locking the user out of the account and giving the attacker access to it.

C|Net

contributed by erwhon
Here is a heavy-duty report from EU STOA (Scientific and Technical Options Assessment) on the Echelon spy network, entitled "Report to the Director General for Research of the European Parliament, on the development of surveillance technology and risk of abuse of economic information." Especially interesting from briefly scanning the report is part #59 in regards to a 'bot' from the NSA's National Computer Security Center dropping into JYA.com (http://jya.com/crypto.htm) looking for new files and copying them if there are any.

Interception Capabilities 2000

contributed by joeldg
The Consortium, an independent news agency, reports that the U.S./NATO battleplan may be moving into a new phase aimed at short-circuiting and otherwise hobbling Yugoslavia's information infrastructure. Using techniques borrowed from hackers, the military can take down electrical utilities and telephone networks without bombs, using viruses and other malicious changes to code on the Yugoslavian government's computer networks.

Consortium News

contributed by -=stealth=-
(Ed Note: The following was translated from Finnish) At Nettinite happening two computers (Linux and NT) have been made available for break-in attempts. The addresses of the computers will be made public on May 7th 10.45pm Finnish time (EET GMT+2) in http://www.nettinite.net and http://www.lanwan.fi web servers. There is a live broadcast to Finnish national TV channel Nelonen from the happening. The computers have been protected with a firewall and a set of security devices, but there are security breaches left to be exploited. Activity will be monitored real-time with intrusion detection technology.

These hacker challenges are so much media hype and prove absolutely nothing. If you want to be exploited feel free to join in. Otherwise avoid these things at all costs.

HackIt

contributed by Anonymous
S C R E A M Busted?
HNN has received an email that claims that S C R E A M, the well known web site cracker, well respected for his group H.A.R.P (Hackers Against Racist Parties) and his fight against racism/facism, is being questioned by the FBI. He was reportedly taken into custody in the early hours of Friday morning. We will provide more details if they become available

Cracked
The following sites have been reported as cracked.
http://www.chiba-fjb.co.jp/
http://www.koexbank.co.kr
http://apizaco.podernet.com.mx
http://www.wel.it
http://www.koexbank.co.kr
http://www.pgjecoah.gob.mx
http://www.sonora.gob.mx
http://rmarketing.lh.net
http://www.landersoil.com
http://www.chiba-fjb.co.jp
http://www.damm.org
http://www.bank-service.net