SecurityFocus News:

Lamo believes the arrest warrant is for his most high-profile hack. Early last year he penetrated the New York Times, after a two-minute scan turned up seven misconfigured proxy servers acting as doorways between the public Internet and the Times private intranet, making the latter accessible to anyone capable of properly configuring their Web browser.

posted by js at 11:28

Interesting article from the NYTimes on the nefarious software floating around the Net today. Not just worms and viruses, but the adware and spware that plagues a typical home PC.
posted by mt at 14:23

The Register reports that the US is sponsoring Anonymizer for Iran.

A pact between the U.S. government and the electronic privacy company Anonymizer, Inc. is making the Internet a safer place for controversial websites and subversive opinions -- if you're Iranian.

This month Anonymizer began providing Iranians with free access to a Web proxy service designed to circumvent their government's online censorship efforts. In May, government ministers issued a blacklist of 15,000 forbidden "immoral" websites that ISPs in the country must block -- reportedly a mix of adult sites and political news and information outlets. An estimated two million Iranians have Internet access.

posted by mt at 14:08

Anil Dash has some thoughts on what do do Jeffrey Parson - the kid who the FBI picked up for SoBig.

The reality is, Sobig is the worm that's done the most damage recently, which is a totally different problem. And the strain of Blaster which caused the most damage had already run its course before Parson created his version. All he did was modify an existing worm and make a variant that was, by all accounts, much less successful. Throw in words like "terrorism" and "potential damage", though, and this kid's going to get royally screwed when this case comes to trial.

In my opinion, a worm like this should never even get momentum. Defense required a simple patch. MS and shoddy system security are to blame.
posted by mt at 11:16

Wired has an interview with Security Focus regular Richard Forno on his new political musings.
posted by mt at 10:03

I'm quoted in this article off the AP wire regarding the damage caused by SoBig and ramifications for its author. In one blurb, I imply that a kid should not get jail time. Got some flames for that.

A Minnesota teenager was arrested Friday, accused of disseminating a version of "Blaster." But investigators scrambling to trace that infection, along with "Sobig" and other computer viruses face a daunting challenge: an incredibly hard-to-track international crime set in an obscure and anonymous environment.

posted by mt at 09:23