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News for 121199
contributed by nvirb
David L. Smith, who was arrested for creating and releasing the Melissa
virus in April, plead guilty on Thursday to a second-degree charge of
computer theft. The charge covers intercepting computer communications
and damages to computer systems or data and is punishable by 5 to 10
years in jail and up to a $150,000 fine.
"Yes, I admit those events occurred as a result of the spread of the
Melissa virus. But I did not expect or anticipate the amount of damage
that took place. When I posted the virus, I expected that any financial
injury would be minor and incidental. In fact, I included features
designed to prevent substantial damage. I had no idea there would be
such profound consequences to others." - David Smith (quote taken from
ZD Net)
ZD
Net
Reuters
Associated
Press - via ABC News
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contributed by Evil Wench
It has been standard practice of the Department of Defense to report
the names and social security numbers of officers getting promoted to
the US Senate. This information is then entered into the Federal
Register for all to see. Several of these officers have become victims
of credit card fraud. The Secret Service is investigating. The Pentagon
said it is no longer providing Social Security numbers to Congress.
(Thats just brillant. Any foriegn power can now run credit checks on
high ranking military personel. Wonderful.)
Nando
Times
Public Sources for SSNs
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contributed by Code Kid
Yet another government/industry partnership focusing on Internet
security has been introduced, this time by the Commerce Department.
This one hopes to spread information security best practices throughout
the private sector. There are 65 companies and associations from almost
every industry segment involved in the Partnership for Critical
Infrastructure Security. (Sounds familiar. Ummm does Infraguard or
FidNET ring a bell? How many of these taxpayer funded organizations do
we need?)
Federal
Computer Week
Yahoo
News
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contributed by hero
Attrition.org is celebrating one year of free service to the net.
Attrition is well known for its crypto/text/denial/advisory archives as
well its errata sections. It is probably most well known for the
excellent work they do on the Attrition Defacement mirror.
Attrition.org
Birthday Message
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contributed by AlienPlaque
The successor to the KGB, the Federal Security Service (FSB), has set
up a network of data links connected to every major Russian Internet
service provider that allows unlimited monitoring of private emails and
electronic banking. The System for Operational Investigative Activities
(SORM) was introduced quietly late last year by government
regulations that needed no parliamentary approval.
The
Times
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contributed by Evil Wench
The technical details of the listening device recently found at the US
State Department is starting to beavailable. The devices was battery
operated and voice activated. It was about the size of a quarter, and
used a frequency-hopping mechanism to which made it harder to detect.
The device was located inside the chair rail, a piece of molding
mounted on the walls at waist level. (Wow, thats pretty neat.)
ABC
News
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