contributed by Weld Pond
The Cyberspace Electronic Security Act (CESA) has even more bad things hidden within it than originally realized. There are at least two separate provisions that will keep " sensitive investigative techniques and industry trade secrets" quit and prevent them from being disclosed even in court. This means keeping backdoors and vulnerabilities that the software manufacturer may know about secret! You aren't even going to know if your software contains a "recovery agent". This will also allow the government to use decrypted evidence in court without revealing how they decrypted it which means whoever the defendant is will just have to believe them.

Electronic Privacy Information Center
Wired

contributed by Macki
Last week Network Solutions Inc. made a major security blunder by automatically opening unwanted email accounts for all of its customers and then mailing the easily guessable passwords to them in the clear. They have since revamped their free email system. Unfortunately the new system also has a gaping hole allowing anyone with an account to read anyone else's email.

2600

contributed by dis-crete
The London Times reports that British banks are being blackmailed by "hackers" who have penetrated computers. It reported that ransoms of hundreds of thousands of pounds have been demanded from several different banks. It is hard to weed out the verifiable facts from the rumor and innuendo in this article. It would seem that blackmail threats are rather common in the EU but the article doesn't seem to mention if these were more than just threats.

The Sunday London Times

contributed by Weld Pond
A new report recently released by Forrester Research, Inc., claims that 90 percent of Web sites fail to comply with basic privacy principles. This reports is 180 degree turn from what the FTC has told congress, that industry self-policing is working.

E Commerce Times
Forrester Research, Inc
HNN Privacy Statement - Read It and Judge for Yourself

contributed by riot
Two students of Evergreen High School who broke into the school computer systems and changed grades for 31 fellow students have plead guilty. The perpetrator was charged with computer trespass and received a 30 day sentence with one year of probation. The students who paid to have their grades changed have not been charged but where suspended from school for 10 days.

The Columbian

contributed by McIntyre
United Loan Gunmen have added another site to their list of defaced web servers. Joining ABC, C-SPAN. Matt Drudge, and NASDAQ, the NAACP is the latest ULG victim.

HNN Defaced Pages Archive