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WASHINGTON -- Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday warned about a serious flaw in almost every version of its popular Windows software that could allow hackers to seize control of a person's computer when victims read e-mails or visit Web sites. Microsoft assessed the problem's urgency as critical, its highest level, and urged customers to download a free repairing patch immediately from its Web site, www.microsoft.com/security.

George W. Bush has backed plans to launch a cyber-attack on Iraqi computer networks if war breaks out, while raising the US terror alert to 'high'. George W Bush: the US is resolved to act The US president signed a secret directive last July ordering the Government to develop guidelines to determine when and how to disrupt enemy computer systems, a strategy which military analysts believe could dramatically reduce war causalities. Invading foreign computer networks could enable the military to shut down radars and electrical plants, and to disrupt phone lines without firing a shot. The news came as the...

<p>OSLO, Norway -- A Norwegian teenager has been cleared of DVD piracy charges in a landmark trial brought by major Hollywood studios.</p> <p>The Oslo court said Jon Johansen, known in Norway as "DVD Jon," had not broken the law when he helped unlock a code and distribute a computer program enabling DVD films to be copied.</p>

Teenager Prosecuted for Watching His DVDs on Linux Computer Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Advisory Oslo, Norway - The criminal trial against Jon Johansen, a Norwegian teenager who watched his DVDs on his Linux computer using a DVD descrambling program called DeCSS, will start in Norway this Monday, December 9. The trial is scheduled to last until Friday, December 13. After a request from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Norwegian Economic Crime Unit (ØKOKRIM) charged Jon Johansen for unscrambling DVDs using DeCSS in 1999 when he was 15 years old. Johansen is charged with violating the Norwegian Criminal...

A federal judge has ruled that law enforcement officials went too far when they tried to use evidence gathered by a known hacker to convict someone of possessing child pornography. The decision, handed down earlier this month, is believed to be the first to say that hacking into an Internet-connected home PC without a warrant violates the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. "This makes it clear that law enforcement needs a search warrant to do this," said Orin Kerr, an associate professor at George Washington University Law School. Kerr said the ruling was the first of...

According to a report published November 12 by Aberdeen Group^, "Security advisories for open source and Linux software accounted for 16 out of the 29 security advisories - about one of every two advisories - published for the first 10 months of 2002 by Cert (www.cert.org^, Computer Emergency Response Team)." Aberdeen says Microsoft products have had no new virus or trojan horse advisories in the first 10 months of 2002, while Unix, Linux, and Open Source software went from one in 2001 to two in the first 10 months of 2002, that in the same 2002 time period "networking...

I have noticed (so have others) that the FR forum has been acting "funky" lately. Sometimes the website is slow, sometimes can't get in at all. While the powers that be are working on the problem, I have a comment. Remember Election 2000? If you recall, the National GOP Website, Drudge Report, and other conservative leaning websites were hacked just in time for election day. While I doubt that many people go searching for information on election day to decide their choices, remember that democrats will do ANYTHING (legal, ethical, or not) to win. If anyone here hosts a conservative...

On the afternoon of July 17, a self-proclaimed expert in biochemistry composed an e-mail message to Saddam Hussein. The message, sent from an MSN Hotmail account on a computer in China, recommended the use of methyl bromide, an agricultural pesticide, as an effective chemical weapon against the U.S. Army. "For weapon use, have function: no color, no smell, will let person dead in a few second," wrote the e-mail's author, who provided the phone number and address of a distributor in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from which the toxic chemical could be purchased "in cylinder or in can." The chilling electronic...

Intentia, a Swedish IT group, will on Monday file criminal charges against Reuters after the UK news agency published the company's third-quarter results before they were officially announced last week. The Swedish company has accused Reuters of breaking into its IT systems without authorisation last Thursday, the day it published the figures. Reuters also published third-quarter figures from three other Nordic companies last week before the results were officially released. They comprised Nordea, the region's biggest bank; Fortum, the Finnish energy group; and Sweco, a small Swedish consultancy. The disclosures are likely to prompt other groups to tighten their internet...

By John Leyden Posted: 10/24/2002 at 06:51 EST Canadian convicts have taken advantage of prison PCs to produce escape plans, make fake IDs and conduct scams. These are among the revelations from an internal report by Canada's Correctional Service (CSC), obtained by the National Post, which warns of the risk of cons spreading viruses or hacking into the prison service's network. A temporary moratorium on new computers has been imposed by the service. However inmates who already have PCs are been allowed to keep them (at least temporarily), despite a recommendation in the "threat and risk assessment" report for...

[FBIS Editor's Note: The following selections are taken from "Unrestricted Warfare," a book published in China in February 1999 which proposes tactics for developing countries, in particular China, to compensate for their military inferiority vis-à-vis the United States during a high-tech war. The selections include the table of contents, preface, afterword, and biographical information about the authors printed on the cover. The book was written by two PLA senior colonels from the younger generation of Chinese military officers and was published by the PLA Literature and Arts Publishing House in Beijing, suggesting that its release was endorsed by at least...

Microsoft: "Our products aren't engineered for security" Friday 6 September 2002 Brian Valentine, senior vice-president in charge of Microsoft's Windows development, has made a grim admission to the Microsoft Windows Server .net developer conference in Seattle, USA. "I'm not proud," he told delegates yesterday (5 September). "We really haven't done everything we could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security," admitted Valentine, who since 1998 has headed Microsoft's Windows division. In August the company put out eight security bulletins. This month it has released two, so far, with the latest urging users to patch a...

<p>Microsoft has issued an unusual warning to Windows users: watch out for a hack attack that could lock you out of your computer and turn it into a launching pad for other attacks.</p> <p>But some security experts said Microsoft's breathless warning provided administrators with little help in sizing up -- or even fending off -- the potential attack.</p>

<p>OCEAN CITY, Maryland (CNN) -- A self-proclaimed Web warrior says he enlisted in the United States' war on terror by mounting an incursion into an Internet site said to be run by al Qaeda.</p> <p>From his beachfront home, Jon Messner uses his keyboard as a weapon against the enemy's site -- first reported by CNN four months ago -- that posts statements from high-ranking al Qaeda members.</p>

Filed at 5:33 p.m. ET LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Can vigilantism save computers from the next big virus threat? Striking back against a computer that is attacking you may be illegal under U.S. law, but a security researcher says people should be allowed to neutralize one that is unwittingly spreading destructive Internet worms like Nimda. ``Arguably the biggest threat the Internet faces today is the propagation of a big worm,'' Timothy Mullen, chief information officer of AnchorIS Inc., based in Charleston, South Carolina. Worms are a form of self-propagating virus that once set in motion can wreak havoc by taking...

FBI will have to pay to enter Defcon 2002 Cunning plan will ask them for cash ByINQUIRER staff: Thursday 01 August 2002, 11:19 FBI AGENTS wanting to arrest hackers at Defcon 2002 will have to pay for the privilege this year, Wired magazine reports. Defcon 2002 delegates will have to stump up $75 in cash to enter the occasion, which was somewhat spoiled last year when FBI suits, at the behest of Adobe, arrested Dmitry Sklyarov under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The occasion, which is held in Eva Glass' hometown, Las Vegas, appears to be getting a tad respectable,...

Man indicted in alleged hacking of county's system By ROSANNA RUIZ Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle A Houston man who once showed a Harris County official how easy it was for an outsider to access a county computer system was accused by a federal grand jury Wednesday of doing just that. Stefan Puffer, 33, was indicted on two counts of fraud for allegedly hacking into the county district clerk's wireless computer system that has been taken out of operation because of its vulnerability. Puffer is accused of accessing the system March 8, costing the county $5,000 to clean up after the...

Mouse clicking your way to martyrdom. Are you an Islamicist with a computer and some spare time? Do you want to contribute to the jihad against the Crusaders but can’t quite make the commitment to fly into buildings or strap on a bomb? Do you “solemnly swear to use your talents only to destroy the Jews with God as your witness?” Then you are just the kind of person being sought to join the “Arab Electronic Jihad Team” (AEJT), a recently announced terrorist initiative preparing to bring the Web to its knees. The AEJT seeks to bring down all Web...

Political contribution watch Strange coincidences of our time By Adamson Rust: Tuesday 30 July 2002, 12:01 CONSIDER THIS LOT BELOW and go figure. At least this kind of information about politicians is publicly available in the US. RIAA applauds peer-to-peer hacking bill as "innovative approach" Congressman Howard L. Berman, "representing California's 26th Congressional District". here. And Berman introduces peer to peer privacy prevention act. The top industries supporting Howard L. Berman. Number One: TV/Movies/Music - $186,981. Representative Howard Coble, United States House of Representatives North Carolina Sixth District co-author of Berman's Bill. Top industries supporting Howard Coble. TV/Movies/Music. And while...

<p>If you or I asked Congress for permission to legally hack other people's computers, we'd be laughed off Capitol Hill. Then we'd be investigated by the FBI and every other agency concerned with criminal violations of privacy and security.</p> <p>Then again, you and I aren't part of the movie and music business. We aren't as powerful as an industry that knows no bounds in its paranoia and greed, a cartel that boasts enough money and public-relations talent to turn Congress into a marionette.</p>