ON COMPUTER AND NETWORK SECURITY

While a new issue of Netsurfer Focus on Computer and Network Security is in preparation, here are links to some related news stories that have appeared in our flagship publication, Netsurfer Digest.

Big Hack Attacks

Soft-Sided Software

Spy vs Spy

Lighter Elements

BIG HACK ATTACKS

Financial gain, or 15 minutes of fame, many are the motivations and techniques to get into someone else's cyberknickers.

A general review:

Network Attack Trend Analysis: Who Hacks What How

Moustaches and graffitti on billboards, and then twiddling the neon signs (remember the "First National Bank of Co _ _ erce"?) The web offers some great new opportunities for personal expression.

New York Times

A Look at the New York Times Web Site Hack

NYT Hack Source

Yahoo

The Yahoo Hack Page

Of course the US Department of Defence is a nice, juicy target for any hacker who wants to earn primo bragging rights. But is getting into India's Bhabha Atomic Research Centre really political protest?

The Pentagon

The Pentagon and the Hackers

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

Atomic Hacking

And don't think that it's just the government's problem. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and your personal identity and information is just as yummy to another set.

Your credit card number

Credit Card Data Compromised at Online Auction Sites

Your email access

Hacking Hotmail

Your online identity at AOL

Social Engineering is Alive and Well

SOFT-SIDED SOFTWARE

Microsoft is arguing to the DoJ that the browser is an integral part of a PC's operating system, and if our activities at Netsurfer are anything to go by, we certainly can't disagree with that. Still, the pace of innovations leaves a trail of security holes that keeps us patching.

Netscape Communicator

Netscape 4.06 Supports Web Ratings, Hack Disables Same

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Another New Internet Explorer Security Bug Involving JScript

Want to Pirate Some Fonts? Fire Up IE 4.0

Security Bug in Internet Explorer 4.0: Description and Fix

Serious Security Flaws in Microsoft's Explorer and Web Server

Both

CERT Issues Serious Browser Security Advisory

Push disappeared with nary a whimper and the goldrush is on for e-mail. But popularity breeds exposure and the killer app becomes the killer trap as a slew of problems is discovered in everyone's email programs.

Netscape

Shockwave Security Bug Exposes E-Mail

Microsoft

Serious Windows E-Mail Security Problem: Fixes, More Fixes, and Workarounds

Eudora

Eudora Pro Hit with Security Bug, Patch Available

And the standard itself

S/MIME E-Mail Encryption Not Really Cracked, Just Weak

And exposure it is with a vengeance. As Microsoft's offerings become widespread its pecadilloes, like those of Bill and Monica, find an audience on the Internet. NT servers run into the run-o'-the-mill sorts of challenges all systems have, but Active X seems to be in a class of its own in inspiring creativity.

NT

CERT Advisory on Windows NT Denial of Service Attacks

Meanwhile, Another NT Security Flaw Surfaces

Another Microsoft Networking Bug Exposes Passwords

Microsoft NT Password Cracking Software Makes the News

Out of Bandwidth Attack Patches for Windows 95/NT

Active X

Sun Dramatically Demos ActiveX Security Flaws

German Hackers Use ActiveX to Snag Cash

Convergence, ahoy! Just to prove that challenging security schemes is an equal opportunity opportunity, cracking of the phone network's diverse infrastructure continues:

Phone card boo-boo

The Failure of Security through Obscurity

And don't trust those new handsets either

Digital Cell Phone Keypad Code Cracked, Voice Next?

SPY vs SPY

As the French say, "Plus ca change...". In the security game, most of us are lucky rather than really good, and the evidence continues.

A Small, Troubling Security Survey

There is always another password cracker, another hole in the firewall. However, there are always those among us pushing the envelop, ignoring previous boundaries, and here are some breakthroughs.

Hiding attacks

New Hacker Tactic: Slow, Coordinated Attacks from Multiple Locations

A leak in the secure sandbox?

Strange Brew, the First Java "Virus"

Chipping at the pillars of e-commerce

A Bug in Web Crypto SSL Algorithm, and a Fix

And the white hats insomniacs too, continue to contribute to the Internet stew.

MCI Releases Free Denial of Service Tracker Security Tool

RSA Donates Domain Name Security Software to the Net

LIGHTER ELEMENTS

Bright but not always beautiful to the beholder, here is an assortment of other antics scampering across the headlines.

A bright young wag

Domain Name Hijacker Sprinkles Microsoft with Dirt

Greedy and maybe not so bright

Netscape Security Bug: Doing Business with the Big Boys

Failed

Net Hacks Can't Crack Mac

Faked

Fake "PGP Cracked" Message Lures Users into Trap

Fratricidal

RSA Crypto Cracking Contest, NML, Hacking Attacks, and Hotwired

NETSURFER FOCUS (c) S. M. Lieu. This document may be distributed freely in electronic form in its entirety and without modification. All other rights reserved. NETSURFER DIGEST is a trademark of Netsurfer Communications, Inc. Other publication, product, and company names may be trademarks of their companies.