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Clinton's coding plan questioned
June 1993
Computer Fraud & Security Bulletin
“If it moves, hack it”. On passing sentence, Judge Michael Harris accepted that the activity of the hackers was not carried out with the intention of damaging systems, misusing information, or creating personal profit. However, he stated that a custodial sentence was appropriate, “To penalize you for what you have done and for the losses caused and to deter others who might similarly be tempted”. Earlier this year, Paul Bedworth, another member of ‘8LGM’, was acquitted of three charges under the Computer Misuse Act, following a plea of not guilty on medical grounds arising from an ‘addiction’ to computers.
appeal against his sentence and then the Italian authorities will attempt to extradite him.
Clinton’s coding plan questioned The Clinton administration’s controversial Clipper Chip system, has been questioned by a group of computer manufacturers communications companies. According
report in the New York Times, the group, whose members form part of the Digital Privacy and Security Working Group, have sent a letter to President Clinton concerned about the creation of a voice-
China executes hacker The Chinese government has announced that it has executed convicted hacker Shi Biao as a warning to other potential computer criminals. According to a report in Computing, Biao, who was an accountant at the Agricultural Bank of China, embezzled more than f 122 000 over three months by forging bank deposit slips. He was caught when he and an accomplice tried to transfer money to the province of Shenzen in southern China.
and to a
and data-encoding
standard
that
would protect information but also allow law-enforcement officials to eavesdrop on electronic communications after obtaining a warrant. It is feared that this system has a built-in security weakness and the wisdom of basing it on a set of mathematical instructions which will be kept secret has been questioned. The lobbying group has said that several elements of the new plan warrant further discussion, including that whether a system permitted law-enforcement agencies to obtain a key to crack codes would really help solve crimes: the plan’s effect on the competitiveness of American companies and the trade balance, and the strength and integrity of the system.
Jail sentence following virus scam According to Computing, zoologist Joseph Popp has been given a two-and-a-half year prison sentence in absentia by the Italians following an international fraud involving infected disks. In December 1989, 20 000 disks were mailed from the UK to various companies around the world. These were professed to contain information on the AIDS virus, but actually contained a malicious ‘Trojan Horse’, which would render hard disks unusable. The companies were sent demands for f244 to be sent to a PO Box in Panama. Following extradition to the UK from the States in 1991, Popp was remanded in custody where Southwark Crown Court ruled that he was mentally unfit to plead. Popp has now 60 days to
Company sues former employee for time-bomb virus The UK company, Media Research, which monitors the number of times records are played on radio and television stations has sued former employee, Raj Bangar, for a time-bomb virus activated by Media Research’s systems clock. As reported in Computing, the bomb, which has gone off three times leaves the message, “Your computer has been terminated. Please contact Raj Bangar of Computerfare for password”. After this happened for a second time, and Media Research had to wait more than a day for the password, they decided to sue Bangar for f19 000.
01993
Elsevier Science Publishers
Ltd
Computer Fraud & Security Bulletin
“If it moves, hack it”. On passing sentence, Judge Michael Harris accepted that the activity of the hackers was not carried out with the intention of damaging systems, misusing information, or creating personal profit. However, he stated that a custodial sentence was appropriate, “To penalize you for what you have done and for the losses caused and to deter others who might similarly be tempted”. Earlier this year, Paul Bedworth, another member of ‘8LGM’, was acquitted of three charges under the Computer Misuse Act, following a plea of not guilty on medical grounds arising from an ‘addiction’ to computers.
appeal against his sentence and then the Italian authorities will attempt to extradite him.
Clinton’s coding plan questioned The Clinton administration’s controversial Clipper Chip system, has been questioned by a group of computer manufacturers communications companies. According
report in the New York Times, the group, whose members form part of the Digital Privacy and Security Working Group, have sent a letter to President Clinton concerned about the creation of a voice-
China executes hacker The Chinese government has announced that it has executed convicted hacker Shi Biao as a warning to other potential computer criminals. According to a report in Computing, Biao, who was an accountant at the Agricultural Bank of China, embezzled more than f 122 000 over three months by forging bank deposit slips. He was caught when he and an accomplice tried to transfer money to the province of Shenzen in southern China.
and to a
and data-encoding
standard
that
would protect information but also allow law-enforcement officials to eavesdrop on electronic communications after obtaining a warrant. It is feared that this system has a built-in security weakness and the wisdom of basing it on a set of mathematical instructions which will be kept secret has been questioned. The lobbying group has said that several elements of the new plan warrant further discussion, including that whether a system permitted law-enforcement agencies to obtain a key to crack codes would really help solve crimes: the plan’s effect on the competitiveness of American companies and the trade balance, and the strength and integrity of the system.
Jail sentence following virus scam According to Computing, zoologist Joseph Popp has been given a two-and-a-half year prison sentence in absentia by the Italians following an international fraud involving infected disks. In December 1989, 20 000 disks were mailed from the UK to various companies around the world. These were professed to contain information on the AIDS virus, but actually contained a malicious ‘Trojan Horse’, which would render hard disks unusable. The companies were sent demands for f244 to be sent to a PO Box in Panama. Following extradition to the UK from the States in 1991, Popp was remanded in custody where Southwark Crown Court ruled that he was mentally unfit to plead. Popp has now 60 days to
Company sues former employee for time-bomb virus The UK company, Media Research, which monitors the number of times records are played on radio and television stations has sued former employee, Raj Bangar, for a time-bomb virus activated by Media Research’s systems clock. As reported in Computing, the bomb, which has gone off three times leaves the message, “Your computer has been terminated. Please contact Raj Bangar of Computerfare for password”. After this happened for a second time, and Media Research had to wait more than a day for the password, they decided to sue Bangar for f19 000.
01993
Elsevier Science Publishers
Ltd