THE APOCALYPSE VIRUS & COMPUTER ARMAGEDDON IN 2007?
-------------------
2004 MARCH ; The 2004 MyDoom virus, whom many say was unleashed by the file sharing web sight Kazaa, spread faster and caused more damage than any previous virus in history. MyDoom infected millions of computers and the economic damage was estimated in the billions. At one point, MyDoom was infecting 1 in 12 of all e-mails world wide. The originators of the MyDoom virus have never been caught or even identified. A new underground network named SINIT is reportedly designed to share malicious codes in such a way that it can't be shut down. Once your computer is infected, it becomes another node in the SINIT network and begins to send out Trojan horses, worms, viruses, and other bit packets. Your computer or Network is now nothing more than a zombie machine under control by a alien network. Because their is no central server for SINIT it would be virtually impossible to shut it down. The ARMAGEDDON or APOCALYPSE virus has yet to be unleashed but. I feel the year 2004 or 2007 will likely be the date. The unleashing of viruses are not just pranks being launched by teenagers anymore showing off to their piers ones expertise in computer hacking. Numerous virus writers include organized crime, trying to steal credit card numbers or someone's identity for financial theft. A recent new tactic being used by criminals is "phishing". Phishing comes in the form of a spam e-mail which directs you to a financial web site. The tactic they use is the site your directed to is the actual financial web site, but the scam begins with a  pop-up window appears on the web site, asking for your credit card number and your PIN code. Their are governments whom attack other government's computer infrastructure to raise economic and communications havoc. Individuals in the anti virus software industry themselves, who are unleashing viruses and causing panic on the Internet community in which they can sell their software, raise their profits and stock value. The virus protection software industry is seeing billions in sales and it grows as new viruses are unleashed. In a recent Neilsen poll, over 75%, or 203 million American homes have access to the Internet. A new threat is the USB drives, where a disgruntled employee, government worker, or any person with a vendetta can simply plug these tiny USB devices into any computer port and begin to download or upload the data they need to inflict damage to a networks system and data base.

YEAR 1999

HACKERS & CYBER TERRORISM
 

Below Are The Department Of Justice & The CIA Sight WebSight's After Being  Hacked in the late 1990's

    FBI on offensive in 'cyber war,'raiding hackers' homes June 20, 1999

The FBI has raided at least 18 in June,1999 in response to computer hackers who have vowed to vandalize every federal government Web site."I would definitely rather be sitting at a computer right now," said a19-year-old who cofounded a hacker group called Global Hell, or "gH". The shelves and sockets in his apartment are now bare following an FBI raid Global Hell
was the name splashed on the official Web site of the White House after it was hacked in May,1999. The FBI "took computers, printers, modems and all computer- related stuff  that was here.Phones, alarm clocks," said the teen,who asked to remain unidentified. He said that he didn't break into the White House Web site, but that a member of his group did. The site (http://www.whitehouse.gov) features a virtual White House tour,presidential speeches and other information about the Clinton administration. It contains no sensitive data but was forced to shut down for more than 24 hours following the cyber
attack.Some members of the hacker community and the FBI have been battling each other for months."It seems to be a never-ending battle that just seesaws back and forth," said a hacker who calls himself Space Rogue. "They were upset with the FBI's actions against Global Hell and started de-facing even more Web pages, some government, some not." The FBI says it pursues hacker cases to discourage kids from turning to more serious computer crimes. "We've had lots of cases where the same techniques were used to steal credit card information where the hackers can then go and use the credit cards to
purchase goods," said FBI agent Michael Vatis. Hacking into Web sites is a felony that carries a maximum punishment of five years in jail and a $250,000 fine.Annoyed by a recent wave of attacks against official US government Web sites,the White House on Tuesday warned that crackers who target federal Internet sites would be caught and punished."There's a government-wide effort to make sure thatour computer systems remain secure," White House press secretary Joe Lockhart said in a briefing."For those who think that this is some sort of sport, I think (it will be) less fun when the authorities
do catch up with them."

To protect against attacks that in recent days and weeks have disabled sites run by the Department of Energy, the FBI, the Senate, the Interior Department, and the White House, the Defense Department said it planned to temporarily shut down its Web site, said Ken Bacon,the Pentagon's chief spokesman."This is much more protective than reactive," Bacon said. "It's looking to the future to prevent the types of problemsthat the other agencies" have experienced in recent weeks
on their sites, he said.Attacking US government Web sites is becoming an increasingly popular tool of people angry
with the Clinton administration and its agencies. May,1999, crackers responded to a six-state FBI sweep of about 20 suspected hackers by attacking several government Internet locations forcing the FBI, the Interior Department, and the US Senate to temporarily shut down their Web sites.

After NATO jets hit the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in May, crackers from China attacked a handful of US government sites, including one maintained by the Department of Energy. In an unrelated  incident, the official White House site was shut down briefly when unidentified crackers attempted to tamper with it,officials said.In recent years, the Justice Department's
site has been shut down once by crackers who put Nazi swastikas on its home page, while the CIA to shut down  its site after crackers changed the name  from "Central Intelligence Agency" to "Central Stupidity Agency." With many government sites under attack, computer security experts are bracing for additional Internet hacking incidents.

Supporters of Kevin Mitnick, a cracker jailed in Los Angeles since February 1995,will demonstrate in 14 US cities on Friday,seeking his release to a halfway house and an easy probation when he is sentenced on 14 June.Mitnick, 35, pleaded guilty on 26 March to seven counts of wire fraud, computer fraud, and illegal interception of a wire communication.
Federal officials said he impersonated an employee of Finland-based Nokia to steal software worth US$240,000.He also stole software from Motorola, Novell, Fujitsu Network Transmission Systems, and Sun Microsystems, federal officials said.

Supporters of Mitnick say the four years Mitnick has spent in jail awaiting trial is a harsher term than for many people convicted of violent crimes like robbery and assault. Their protest on Friday will seek a more lenient sentence. The US Attorney for the Central District of California said Mitnick would be sentenced to 46 months in prison on 14 June as part of his
plea bargain agreement with the government.Mitnick, whose exploits inspired an upcoming Hollywood movie, also will be obliged to pay the victims of his crimes from any profits he makes from books or movies about his life, a spokesman for the US Attorney's office said.

While hacking incidents may not be part of Friday's nationwide protest, there could be a surge in attacks if Mitnick's sentence is perceived as too stiff, said John Vranesevich, the founder and director of AntiOnline Ltd. "Hackers attack when they're mad about something.The demonstration on Friday will be an attempt to educate," said Vranesevich. "However, if Kevin Mitnick is put in jail, there very well could be more attacks after that."Still, other experts said Internet sites should upgrade their security against  possible attack before Friday."Given the timing, it probably would be a good idea to be more on-guard than usual," said Jevon Jaconi, the district attorney of Kewaunee County, Wisconsin, and an expert in the developing field of cyberspace law. Between 70 percent and 80 percent of all Internet cracking occurs on systems that have not updated their security codes, routinely sent by computer manufacturers and network administrators, Jaconi said.

Hacked hackers vow vengeance on federal Web sites.Hacker groups angry at the FBI's investigations into computer intrusions have declared cyber war,vowing that every Web site with an address ending in ".gov" will be a target. That includes every U.S. government Web site from the Senate to NASA to the Fish and Wildlife Service to the FBI itself.Indeed, the FBI's Web site has been inaccessible for most of the past five days.Two of the latest sites defaced belong to the Interior Department and the General Services Administration.A member of the Forpaxe, a Portuguese group taking credit for some of the intrusions, told
CNN in an on-line chat that "hackingis a means to inform ...At the same time, we get what we want."Computer security experts say that what these groups want is attention."It's the equivalent of spray painting something on a wall," said Russell Shumway of Global Integrity."The nice thing about defacing a '.gov' site if you're a hacker is that you immediately get a lotof  press for doing that."These government Web sites are usually designed just to supply information,and their servers don't access sensitive records.So they often have less security than e-commerce sites that process personal and credit card information.

"The primary risk to the government is not the loss of confidential data. It's the pubic image loss," Shumway said. After being forced to shut its site, the FBI says finding those responsible is apriority."It is no prank, and if we find out who did it, we will seek to prosecute," said FBI spokesmanTron Brekke.In 15 American cities and Moscow,demonstrators staged protests Friday against the continued imprisonment of Kevin Mitnick, jailed after pleading guilty to seven counts of wire and computer fraud."Just don't call him a 'celebrity cracker,'"growled Macki,the Webmaster for 2600,the hacker group and magazine that organized the events.How Much Damage Did Mitnick Do?Armed with yellow "Free Kevin" stickers and flyers
describing Mitnick's case, Macki and nearly 20 other Mitnick supporters battled the miserable San Francisco wind to fight for the cause."We're getting the word out to the worldwide and national consciousness about [Mitnick's] sentencing," said Marc Powell, a pink-haired member of the local hacker collective New Hack City. Clad in an "I [Heart] Feds" T-shirt, Powell
said that although his own cyber-tomfoolery has been strictly within the law, he sympathized with Mitnick's imprisonment.

As far as protests go, Mitnick's demonstration was relatively low-key. The attendees cheered as a low-flying airplane went by trailing a banner that said "Free Kevin Mitnick www.freekevin.com," but after seven or eight more passes, the enthusiasm waned.Some in the group had followed Mitnick's plight from the beginning, but others were just there to be part of an anti-government staging. Robin, a self-proclaimed anarchist and network administrator with a partially shaved head and a
plethora of piercings, said he was in attendance because it was a strike back at the government.

But others, like Perry McNulty, said Mitnick was a study in civil rights. "It's not just a hacker in jail,"said McNulty, who has followed Mitnick's case for about a year. "A lot of civil rights have been violated. It could happen to any one of us."The dramatic growth in computer-perpetrated crime has not been lost on big accounting firms, which smell a growing profit center in helping clients protect themselves against online trespassers. In the past six months, both Deloitte & Touche and PriceWaterhous Coopers have formed new cyber-"fraud squads" to investigate crimes and evaluate security systems. The other big accounting firms, as well as IBM and smaller private investigation outfits, are also jumping into the game."We think there are significant unmet needs,"said Bill Boni,director of Price Waterhouse's cybercrime investigations group, which was created
earlier this year. "It's certainly going to be an area of interest for all the large accounting firms."The reason for the interest is simple: Incidents of fraud and other crime perpetrated online are on the rise. Putting a number on the increase is difficult,since many incidents go unreported.One of the most useful measuring sticks, however, comes from annual reports released by the
Computer Security Institute, which surveys 521 security practitioners from corporations, banks,government agencies, and universities.

Last year, 32 percent said they reported serious incidents to law enforcement agencies,nearly twice the number as three years ago. Meanwhile, 55 percent said that company insiders gained unauthorized access to computer networks, and 30 percent reported intrusions by outsiders. The San Francisco-based group estimates that computer security breaches cost
the respondents more than $123 million last year, and worldwide may cost businesses tens of billions of dollars, according to Richard Power,the organization's editorial director."With the rise of the Internet and the transaction of e-commerce, corporations and government agencies are far more open to attack then ever before,"Power told CNETNews.com in an
interview. "There are all kinds of new ways to make money through computer crime."That's where accounting firms come in. For a host of reasons,companies whose online security has been breached frequently prefer to take their problems to private investigators rather than law enforcement agencies. "Some [law enforcement agencies] have taken aggressive stances, but even in Silicon Valley you will find that most of the senior officials in police departments are not that sensitive to high-tech matters," said John O'Laughlin, director of worldwide security at Sun Microsystems. "Most of them are not up to speed in dealing with high-tech issues."Companies are also hesitant to go to authorities out of fear the matter will generate negative
press. "Some of these companies don't want to admit that they've been compromised," said assistant U.S. attorney Chris Painter, who investigates high-tech crime. A benefit of taking a crime to private investigators is that companies can learn all the facts before deciding whether to take the matter to court.

"They keep control of their information," said George Vinson,former head of the FBI's computer intrusion team in San Francisco and now practice leader for Deloitte & Touche's fraud and forensics team. "So many times [companies] are interested in settling something civilly rather than seeing it splashed on the A-1 page"of the local newspaper.The bulk of Vinson's work so far has been investigating claims of copyright infringement.Typically, that means comparing the
source code of a client's software against that of a suspected infringing copy. Vinson also investigates people suspected of using the Internet to manipulate a company's stock price and tracks employees who misappropriate a company's trade secrets. The accounting firms also assess clients' security systems to make sure they are not vulnerable to attacks. The work is
similar to what Vinson did while at the FBI. In 1996 his group brought down more than 20 Internet users in 10 states who used chat groups to trade software titles made by companies such as Adobe and Microsoft. And with more and more companies transacting business online, the demand for computer forensics services is only expected to continue, said Sun's O'Laughlin.
"I don't think there's any question the e-commerce is here to stay," he said. "You're going to see that it's pretty vulnerable to fraud and abuse and [companies] want to get ahead of the curve."

Computer hackers defaced the Army's main Web site in the latest digital attack on a federal system in June of 1999. Pentagon workers noticed it early Monday and repaired it. Army spokesman Jim Stueve said administrators believe hackers altered the site between 8 p.m. Sunday and 5 a.m. Monday, but no internal systems were affected. ''There were no security
breaches,'' he said. The altered site  announced the attack ''has a purpose ... to settle rumors'' about the demise of the loosely organized hacker group that claimed responsibility for the May attack on the White House Web site.Computer hackers continued their assault Tuesday,June 29,199 on government Web sites,vandalizing  the Storm Prediction Center of the National Oceanic  and Atmospheric Administration's Internet site.Center director Joe Schaefer said the attack  prevented emergency management officials nationwide from using the Web site to check the center's forecast for thunderstorms and tornadoes.
 

The Hack King Calvin Cantrell & The PhoneMasters

Mr. Morris first learned of the group in August,1994 when he received a phone call from a Dallas detective that stated Cantrell could sell him information on anyone such as reports on credit,motor vehicle,records from the FBI Crime Information Center and the phone numbers and address of any famous person.In a cat and mouse game Morris gained Cantrell's trust and began buying information.One such transaction was selling 850 Sprint calling card codes at $2 apiece .In the latter days Cantrell was contacted by one of the Phonemasters and had informed him that his phone number was one the FBI monitoring data bases.
The Phonemasters had accessed the FBI data base but neglected to check and see if their own phone numbers were being monitored.In February,1995 agents raided Cantrell's house and now is waiting for his trial.Mr. Morris continues to travel the world and give law enforcement agencies tips on state of the art investigations of hacker crimes.

          FBI Trying To Catch Up With Hackers

    Hackers Ascend Upper 'Echelon

                     FBI CIA NSA IRS ATF BATF DOD WACO
                     RUBY RIDGE OKC OKLAHOMA CITY
                     MILITIA GUN HANDGUN MILGOV ASSAULT
                     RIFLE TERRORISM BOMB DRUG HORIUCHI
                     KORESH DAVIDIAN KAHL POSSE
                     COMITATUS RANDY WEAVER VICKIE
                     WEAVER SPECIAL FORCES LINDA
                     THOMPSON SPECIAL OPERATIONS GROUP
                     SOG SOF DELTA FORCE CONSTITUTION
                     BILL OF RIGHTS WHITEWATER POM PARK
                     ON METER ARKANSIDE IRAN CONTRAS
                     OLIVER NORTH VINCE FOSTER PROMIS
                     MOSSAD NASA MI5 ONI CID AK47 M16 C4
                     MALCOLM X REVOLUTION CHEROKEE
                     HILLARY BILL CLINTON GORE GEORGE
                     BUSH WACKENHUT TERRORIST TASK
                     FORCE 160 SPECIAL OPS 12TH GROUP
                     5TH GROUP SF

The campaign has spread around the Net and has been translated into German.Organizers hope "gag Echelon day"catches on on a global scale as a means of raising awareness of the system.Neither the NSA, nor its UK equivalent, the Government Communications Headquarters  has admitted that the system exists, although its capabilities have been debated in the European
Parliament.Australia's Defense Signals Directorate,an agency allegedly involved in Echelon,recently admitted the existence of UKUSA, the agreement between five national communications agencies that reportedly governs the system.Last fall, the Washington-based civil liberties group Free Congress Foundation sent a detailed report on the system toCongress, but the system was not debated.The latest effort hopes to further boost public awareness of the system. "Most people are
angry about it," saidThompson. "When you find out it is not some science fiction movie, most people will be outraged." "Public awareness should empower, notscare people aware from using the Net,"a activist stated, who identified himself only as Sam.

Privacy advocates may not have been able to stop the snooping, but making their intrusion-jamming efforts highly public may have done some good after all.If you forgot to mark it on your calendar,Thursday was the day to jam international communications systems tracking your every word. Activist hackers conceived Jam Echelon Day under the premise of: If we're being monitored, let's really give them something to monitor.The email-based campaign came amid expanding conjecture that superpower world governments may have constructed a massive global system for monitoring all electronic communications the mysterious, undocumented system known as Echelon."Today is officially the first annual day [that] the world is invited to protest ourglobal surveillance by the spooks at Echelon, the global communications monitoring system that has been set up to keep an eye on all our potentially subversive business, social,personal and other communications," read an invitation sent to subscribers of the Hacktivism email list.According to the message, participants were encouraged to "pass a few of the keywords sought by the Echelon systems by phone, fax, or email to someone else in hopes of first making a blip of protest on the Echelon
radar and later, perhaps, even crashing the system."The near-mythical worldwide computer spy network reportedly scans all email, packet traffic, telephone conversations, and more in an effort to ferret out potential terrorist or enemy communications. Once a communication is plucked from the electronic cloud, certain keywords allegedly trigger a recording of the conversation or email in question.Use at least one email with at least 50 keyword words, such as "revolution" or"manifesto" or "revolt," organizers suggested. Various civil liberty and activist groups have made their own trigger suggestions.These include the following red flags:

                     ATF DOD WACO RUBY RIDGE OKC
                     OKLAHOMA CITY MILITIA GUN HANDGUN
                     MILGOV ASSAULT RIFLE TERRORISM
                     BOMB DRUG KORESH PROMIS MOSSAD
                     NASA MI5 ONI CID AK47 M16 C4
                     MALCOLM X REVOLUTION CHEROKEE
                     HILLARY BILL CLINTON GORE GEORGE
                     BUSH WACKENHUT TERRORIST.

Although organizers said it was hard to tell if the theoretical sniffing system was affected, observers monitoring hacker lists and activism sites detected a fair degree of participation."People are sending emails with what they think are keywords and trying to trigger it," said the webmaster of the respected hacker journal, 2600, who identifies himself by the handle Macki. He said it was very difficult to quantify participation, but guessed that the event saw at least thousands of participants."[People are writing] 'Yeah -- I jammed Echelon,' and putting half a dozen keywords in their email, and on the Hacktivism mailing list," Macki said.
Privacy activists have put triggering words in their signature files in the past,but activists wanted to trip up Echelon in a more significant way. They hoped the event, also referred to as "gag Echelon day," would catch on with global scale and raise awareness of the alleged system.One non-hacker participant who added the words to his email Thursday was 75-year-old World War II veteran Everett E. Slaughter. "I remember the oath I took when I joined the military in 1942. I took an oath to defend the Constitution," he said. "I still honor that oath."The US Constitution guarantees the right of privacy, and that should extend to fax, email, and telephone communications,Slaughter said. "I think we need to honor those things."Neither the
National Security Agency(NSA) nor its UK equivalent  the Government Communications Headquarters has admitted that the system exists, although its feasibility and characteristics have been debated in the European Parliament. Australia's Defense Signals Directorate, an agency allegedly involved in Echelon, recently admitted the existence of UKUSA, an agreement between the five national communications agencies that reportedly governs the system.2600's Macki, for one, thinks Echelon is no longer a far-fetched notion."It's been very well documented by the European parliament, and other groups.Intelligence agencies are interested in a very broad range of subjects."The flap over Echelon highlights the broader issue of intelligence communities spying on their own citizens, Macki said.Echelon is the perfect solution for an otherwise illegal activity. "It's like
Australia is spying on US citizens, then passing that off to US intelligence agencies . it's kind of a mutual way of getting around spying on ourselves which is of course illegal.
 

Russian News Site Hacked

    ------   Cracker Launches Attack on NASA

Marine Corps Headquarters at Pentagon hit by Computer Virus

          Password Thief Ransacks AOL

That is the disconcerting tone of email sent to America Online users in what looks to be a rash of password thefts
targeting the massive online service.The theft is being conducted by way of malicious email sent from the free Web
service OperaMail. Victimized AOL users who contacted OperaMail staff say the offending messages contained attached
programs that sent passwords back to the sender."I have caught the programs sending out my password to two different accounts both with your server as their provider," reported one AOL victim to OperaMail, in an email.OperaMail, run by Opera Software, has responded to the long queue of complaints from AOL users by repeatedly closing down offending accounts. Since the attacker re-opens new accounts almost immediately, however, the service said it cannot keep up.
 "I'm closing down these accounts everyday. I can't stop them," said Opera sales manager Christian Dysthe.
Email that may be using a trojan horse-like virus  the effects of which aren't immediately detected -- arrives at
the inbox of an unsuspecting AOL user. One user reported that the attached program bore the name "buddylist.exe." If
the user opens the attached file  an action AOL claims to repeatedly warn users against -- it launches a small
 program that obtains the user's password off the hard disk and sends it back to the  hacker's OperaMail address.
The password-stealing process is identical to the one that stole user accounts maintained by the AOL-owned
instant messaging service, ICQ.AOL spokesman Rich D'Amato said the company is investigating the matter. He
 said the company repeatedly educates AOL users to beware the techniques of the wily password-stealer. The company
does so by way of a "neighborhood watch" information area for users. The password thefts have the typical
markings of bravado hacker activity, where the security breach is conducted for show rather than extensive
destruction. The crackers announce the password theft to the AOL user then leave the account open so that the
original owner can change their password.By examining the messages sent from OperaMail accounts, Dysthe counted at
least 10,000 AOL password thefts, each containing the alleged stolen passwords as evidence.AOL security chief Tatiana Gau confirmed  the existence of a trojan horse that sent an unspecified number of passwords to an OperaMail.com email address. The company cannot yet provide the number of affected users, but any numbers OperaMail gives may need tempering, Gau said. She said that trojan horses often generate an email each time the victimized user logs on, so the number of affected accounts is likely overstated. "My estimation is that at least, at minimum, 45 percent duplication," Gau
said.Dysthe said that when he notified AOL's customer support staff of the problem they were unresponsive, saying it was a result of the general lack of security of the Internet and email. Dysthe said AOL representatives asked him for the IP
addresses associated with the abusing OperaMail accounts but gave no details about how the information would be used.
Dysthe said emails sent to an AOL account used for reporting email fraud were met only with auto-response messages. "AOL doesn't really seem too eager to do much. Why aren't they shutting the hole that makes it possiblefor this virus to [steal passwords]?" No surprise, said David Cassel, editor of the AOL Watch newsletter. This is just the latest in a string of vulnerabilities AOL is failing to adequately address."It's part of a larger pattern," Cassel said by email. "In 1996, the Washington Post reported AOL cancelled 370,000 accounts in one three-month period for 'credit card fraud, hacking, etc.'" And by 1998, hackers had hit at least 34 AOL areas  including Steve Case's monthly column for AOL users.
 No permanent fix can be applied to stop future attacks, AOL's Gau said, because trojans are very much like viruses, in that they can continually mutate. Antivirus software, such as that available on AOL (keywords: virus info) must be updated to catch each new trojan horse."It's a continual monitoring, keeping your ear to the ground. There's always going to be that gap until the software is updated."Cassel said rather than tune up its rapid response, AOL has quietly adopted a "hackers happen" attitude. AOL has  indicated that it takes measures to head off security breaches, but they are never adequate. In October, the anti-spam community worried that a once-responsive abuse team had been whittled down. They feared that incidents of abuse affecting both AOL users and the rest of the Internet would be on the rise as a result.

          MSN Messenger Shows Passwords

                     <noscript> <meta http-equiv=Refresh
                     content="0;url=http://www.hotmail.com">
                     </noscript> <form name="pform"
                     action="http://www.hotmail.com/cgi-bin/dologin"
                     method="POST"> <input type="hidden"
                     name="login" value="xxxxx"> <input type="hidden"
                     name="passwd" value="xxxxx"> <input
                     type="hidden" name="rru"
                     value="/cgi-bin/HoTMaiL"> <input type="hidden"
                     name="js" value="yes">

The password is passed from MSN Messenger to the Web page invisibly so the browser can automatically log on to the Hotmail service without requiring the user to go through the log-in process. If the process is not stopped, then the page would be deleted as soon as the browser logs into Hotmail.This exploit is only possible from the user's system. Someone has to physically be at the user's computer and initiate the Hotmail log-in process from MSN in order for it to work. There is no risk of someone stealing an MSN Messenger  password over the Net. BetaNews recommends that users not save their password in the Messenger program, but instead type it in manually each time they log in. They also recommend logging off when leaving a computer unattended for any length of time.Microsoft and AOL have been fighting over their instant messaging programs since Microsoft released MSN Messenger in July. AOL started by disconnecting any AOL user it detected was using MSN Messenger. In the process of kicking users off, AOL then shilled its own product, AOL Instant Messenger.Microsoft cried foul, accusing AOL of doing the same thing it's been accused of for the last decade: blocking competition. The company found a sympathetic ear from a number of instant messenger vendors like Yahoo, Tribal Voice, and Prodigy, who banded together with Microsoft to send a letter to AOL CEO Steve Case, asking AOL to drop its policy of blocking non-AOL users and to discuss a cooperative resolution.AOL's response was to put together its own alliance with Sun, Novell, and RealNetworks. Thus far, there has been no settlement.Microsoft is aware of the problem and plans a fix. For now, the company says users should use password protection for their computer when it's left unattended, even if it's at work. By Friday, Microsoft will issue a patch that will block sensitive information being passed from the messenger to Hotmail, according to Deanna Sanford, lead product manager for MSN Messenger at Microsoft. Users will not have to download the entire application again, just the  patch. The update will add cryptography to the page, so if users try to get at the HTML code, it will appear as garbage characters.

ICSA

Japan Risks Digital Pearl Harbor

YEAR 2000

       Y2K Disaster Passes As World Sighs a Heave of Relief

The original uses of the Internet were electronic mail (commonly called "E-mail"), file transfer (using ftp, or file transfer protocol), bulletin boards and newsgroups, and remote computer access (telnet). The World Wide Web (q.v.), which enables simple and intuitive navigation of Internet sites through a graphical interface, expanded dramatically during the 1990s to become the most important component of the Internet. (see also Index: World Wide Web) The Internet had its origin in a U.S. Department of Defense program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 to provide a secure and survivable communications network for organizations engaged in defense-related research. Researchers and academics in other fields began to make use of the network, and at length the National Science Foundation (NSF), which had created a similar and parallel network called NSFNet, took over much of the TCP/IP technology from ARPANET and established a distributed network of networks capable of handling far greater traffic. NSF continues to maintain the backbone of the network (which carries data at a rate of 45 million bits per second), but Internet protocol development is governed by the Internet Architecture Board, and the InterNIC (Internet Network Information Center) administers the naming of computers and networks. Amateur radio, cable television wires, spread spectrum radio, satellite, and fibre optics all have been used to deliver Internet services. Networked games, networked monetary transactions, and virtual museums are among applications being developed that both extend the network's utility and test the limits of its technology.

College Student Accused of Hacking Government Computers

      A Blow Against Big Brother...for Now Anyway
JULY 2000: Ian Clarke ,a 23 year old British Computer nerd sits at home and downloads free music and other copyrighted works off the Internet from such web sites as Napster, Gnutella, MP3 and insists he feels no pangs of conscience stating, "Copyright is a crutch, it's inherent in nature that information wants to be free." Clarke was fascinated by the 1983 hacker movie War Games. Now Mr. Clarke is a computer science student at Edinburgh and has developed what may be the most incredible anonymity program ever developed called FreeNet. The program was developed by Clarke in 1998 and it's main purpose is to be on the web, surf the web, post on the web in pure anonymity. Computers hooked up to FreeNet become 'nodes' meaning they are host to data files deposited on them for varying amounts of time. There is no central server needed so there's no need for web surfers to sign on showing there identity. The program can be downloaded as of now at freenet.sourceforge.net.

Clarke believes no one, whether it's a government or corporation should control the Internet or regulate it. "An attempt to
control information could be just as disturbing as a organization or government controlling the air we breath." states Clarke.
Law enforcement are worried this type of freedom would seriously hinder their snooping abilities on criminals and honest citizens alike. As for terrorism and child pornography, Clarke doesn't believe humanity should be denied free speech or the right of privacy because a few people will abuse it for unsavory directives. The course of history has always been, any technology that can be used to help mankind, can also be developed to destroy it.

Phone Phreaks to Rise Again?

            Philippines LOVE BUG Writer Mr. Guzman
May 14,2000:Onel de Guzman, who wanted to do a college senior thesis paper that consisted of a program designed to acquire other people's passwords and used IDs presented it to the Dean of Amable Mendoza Aguiluz Computer College. Mr. Diona, the dean of the college, rejected the paper and wrote to Mr. Guzman," This is illegal!" Guzman, part of a small but growing hacking community in the Philippines called GrammerSoft, may or may not have set the virus on purpose. Their goal was to make the Internet free for everyone. Guzman and many others from the poor in the Philippines stated it cost them a halve days wages just to surf the net. They hope by creating the virus they would be recognized for their skills and make the technology free for everyone. The main problem it seems has allot to do with Microsoft, who's programs such as it's Outlook,E-Mail,Excel SpreadSheet are vulnerable to these VB script attacks which also included the Milissa Virus in 1999.

Philippine Investigators Detain Man in Search for 'Love Bug' Creator

BEWARE OF NEW LOVE VIRUS!

The virus, officially called "vbs.loveletter.a" by virus company Symantec, also clogs up networks with thousands of copies of the replicated message.  European computer systems were hit hard by the virus,which shut down networks at the British Parliament for several hours. Dow Jones reported that the worm has also affected networks in Hong Kong and Singapore, hitting investment banks and public relations firms particularly hard. "Virus writers leave a whole lot of clues behind and they can be traced," Smith said.  Smith, president of Pharlap Software, found the name of Melissa's alleged author, David L. Smith, embedded in the code. Investigators ultimately traced him through his dialup connection to the Internet.

Hacker Pleads Guilty to U.S. Attacks

Hack Attacks

U.S. Defense and Intelligence agencies are cyber-hacked at least 800 times a day but they themselves are able to fight back in ways shrouded with stealth and secrecy ,that are in some ways,are more powerful than nuclear weapons in the damage and chaos they can do.The main object of any war,rather it be nuclear, conventional  ,or now the infamous E_BOMB,is to disable the enemies communications ,financial and industrial strongholds.By setting such devices as Logic Bombs or Worms,a business or countries electronic structure could be shut down by a powerful and undetectable computer virus that could
disable electric power grids,wipe out and empty bank accounts,blank airport radar screens, cripple telephone and other communications and disable weapons systems.The upcoming YK2 "Year 2000" (which passed with a few flaws)poses many threats through out the world in nations such as The United States which rely on computer infrastructures to comply with financial and military needs.The Pentagon and the CIA consult on such activities and "special information operations"
that must meet a special review and approval process.Dr. Peter D. Feaver,a political science professor at Duke University,said the process of this new age of computer war-fare programs remind him of the US early years concerning the the nations  nuclear research.It reminds Dr. Feaver of the stark images of US nuclear planning in the early years,before the political
leadership understood what nuclear weapons could do.Dr. Feaver remembers a mid-level military advisor saying,"If we waited around for political guidance ,we wouldn't be able to do anything." Dr. Feaver concludes that the military is fascinated by the new E-BOMB because it seems to deliver a ideal weapon that is bloodless and extremely discriminating and that
can deliver a catastrophic blow to it's enemy by causing chaos in a enemy countries computer power grid and it's financial and military infrastructure.

     Hacking or Was It Big Brother?

The major question was it a hacker or was it Big Brother?The latter seems more acceptable and here is why.The attacks
on the web sites brought world wide media coverage and raised major concerns on security and cyber~crime.The frenzy
sent the Clinton Administration's Attorney General Janet Reno and FBI Director Louis Freech to congress asking for a
additional 37 million to bolster it's cyberforce in the tracking of hackers and computer related crimes.One of it's operations
named "Innocent Images"is the monitoring of suspected adults interested in minors in various chat rooms.In a Wall Street Journal article (FEB.16,2000)one agent named Allison Mourad is one of several agents who spend their days posing as young teenagers in Internet chat rooms trying to lure pedophiles.In most cases this would be considered emtrapment.To capture true pedophiles who stalk our children online is a admiral accomplishment.Trying to lure other's online into illegal activity is quite another story.Since the INNOCENT IMAGES inception,424 of 500 people have been convicted and most of those arrested
had no prior criminal history or interest in children.Randy Aden,supervisor of the Los Angeles FBI SAFE division stated,"Simply by their names or chat room they are in such as gilrs&olde guys or dad&duaghter sex they're indicative of criminal activity. The February 2000 attack on major web sites was not done in stealth or secracy .It was not done in a attempt to steal information or financial records .It was done in order to send a message to the Internet.You are not safe..You are not secure...You are not infallible..Let Big Brother come in and wrap his secure arms around you and regulate the Net.Let Big Brother have more access to your privacy.Let Big Brother pat it's citizen's on the head as if we were children and needed their stern control.in order to protect us from scary monsters and things that go bump in the night.

In 1997 a team of government NSA hackers managed to shut down the Pentagon's top secret National Military Command
Center.The NSA team shut down the whole system except for one fax machine,which the NSA faxed a message on it telling the Pentagon it had been hacked.This episode brings to mind the recent attacks on the commercial web sites.The Internet was
originally developed through The United States Department of Defense.The recent attacks look's very much like a minor BLACK OPP attack where not much damage was done,but enough media coverage was accomplished.

Reno: 'We Must Punish Mafiaboy

A'Hacking the Military Will Go

      FBI Computer Expert Accused of  Hacking

The Kevin Metnick Saga

Long before the Internet became a household staple and years before Yahoo and bandwidth emerged as commonplace jargon, the self-taught Mitnick was a cyberspace juvenile delinquent. At 17, Mitnick spent three months in L.A.'s Juvenile Detention Center for destroying Pacific Bell computer data. Two years later, in 1983,University of Southern California campus police
arrested Mitnick while he was sitting at a computer in the school's terminal room,attempting to break into a Pentagon computer.He spent six months in a California Youth Authority prison after that arrest. His compulsion to hack and learn drove Kevin Mitnick.In 1987, he was arrested and convicted by a state court of stealing software from a software company and sentenced to 36 months of probation. Two years later, he pleaded guilty in federal court to breaking into a Digital Equipment
Corp. computer, after which Los Angeles U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer sentenced him to a year in a prison and six months of therapy to combat his computer "addiction."In 1992, while Mitnick was working at the Tel Tec Detective Agency, the FBI suspecting that he was illegally using a commercial database system  launched yet another investigation into his activities. The FBI soon issued an arrest warrant for Mitnick, who was charged with one count of hacking and one count of violating the terms of his 1989 probation. But when federal authorities showed up to arrest him, Mitnick had vanished,
and a two-year, high-tech cat-and-mouse game with his pursuers began. He ultimately made the FBI's most-wanted list.At one point, in late 1992, investigators from the California Department of Motor Vehicles almost caught Mitnick. Someone using a valid law enforcement requestor code called the DMV and requested that a photo of a police informer be faxed to a number in Studio City. The number turned out to be a Kinko's copy center, and Mitnick was seen leaving the store with the fax.But Mitnick spotted the investigators, dropped the fax and outran them.

Federal authorities finally arrested Mitnick in February 1995 in Raleigh, N.C., after an extensive manhunt, which had been fueled by front pagecoverage in The New York Times.He quickly agreed to plead guilty to violating his probation and to a new hacking charge filed by federal prosecutors in Raleigh and was sentenced to 22 months in prison. He was soon transferred to the Federal Detention Center in Los Angeles,where he faced 25 more counts of hacking and illegal copying of information
during digital  break-ins of companies, including Sun Microsystems Inc.In March 1999, he cut a plea bargain with federal prosecutors that requires him to serve an additional year in federal custody. In theory, he could move into a halfway house as early as next month to finish out his sentence.Though he pleaded guilty to the high-tech crimes against Sun and others, Mitnick claims he didn't share the information with anybody. Prosecutors and the victimized companies claim that $150 million worth of their research and development has been ruined.(These companies accusations of losses were not reported to the companies share holders by the way,if the lost anything at all.)The government, though, is asking the court to order Mitnick to pay a more modest $1.5 million in restitution. But Mitnick's court-appointed lawyers, led by Donald Randolph of SantaMonica's Randolph & Levanas, contend that Mitnick caused little, if any, actual damage.They're arguing for a $5,000 fine. Pfaelzer has scheduled a hearing on the subject for July 26. Once Mitnick settles his federal affairs, he still has to contend with the L.A. DA's single charge of computer fraud for allegedly duping the DMV to fax him the informer's photo.

It is that charge that may prevent him from getting into a halfway house to serve out the rest of his federal sentence. No bail in the state case, no halfway house. In fact, Mitnick fears prosecutors will try to have him moved from the federal jail tothe dreaded county jail."We've been waiting to prosecute him for five years," says L.A. Deputy District Attorney Larry Diamond, who brushes off criticism that the state charge and the $1 million bail amount to overkill."Because he wants to finish his [federal] sentence in a halfway house," an unsympathetic Diamond retorts, "Kevin wants special treatment." In fact, argues Diamond, Mitnick has been receiving special treatment since Pfaelzer first put him on probation in 1989 for hacking. The 25-year veteran of the DA's office is unimpressed with just about every aspect of Mitnick's case. He dismisses Mitnick as "just another case" andSerra as "just another defense attorney." As for his view of Pfaelzer: "She's coddled 'poor Kevin' from day one."Diamond also rejects the argument that the bailis excessive -the bail schedule calls for $25,000 saying Mitnick has been a "notorious fugitive."

Schindler, who has been locking up hackers since 1991, says Mitnick got the same prison sentence he would have received had he gone to trial. "What we gave away [with the plea bargain]was the right to argue for an upward departure" inMitnick's sentence, says Schindler, referring to a prosecutor's ability to seek a longer prison term than the one called for in federal sentencing guidelines.Schindler concedes that Mitnick's sentence is the longest that he has seen during the years he's been prosecuting hackers. Kevin Poulson, another infamous hacker that Schindler prosecuted, received a 51-month sentence. Hewas also ordered to pay about $100,000 in restitution.When all is said and done, Mitnick will have been sentenced to 68 months in federal custody, may yet do state time, and may also be ordered to pay several times the restitution Poulson did. And as for Diamond's forum-shopping charge,Schindler says, "Mitnick begged us to transfer him to L.A." Now that Tony Serra has taken Kevin Mitnick's case goes to show how ubiquitous this Internet thing has become. The Digital Age has truly affected all segments of society if it has touched an aging radical lawyer like Serra.U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno has asked Congress to give the Justice Department's computer crimes and intellectual property division an additional $120 million to fight cybercrime next year. Other agencies, federal and local ,are beefing up their cybercrime forces as well.In the wake of
several Mitnick-inspired hack jobs on government Web sites in the past year, a federal multi-agency task force has been formed in Dallas specifically to fight hackers. The task force has issued 16 warrants in 12 jurisdictions,but has yet to charge anyone with a crime. "So far, cybercrime has mostly been a federal effort,"says Jennifer Granick, a San Francisco criminal defense attorney who is carving out a nice niche for herself as a computer crime specialist. "But the locals are getting increasingly involved, too." By 2005, it's predicted that one billion people worldwide will be on the Internet, and prosecutors expect the number of cybercrime cases will rise accordingly.So it's not a stretch to imagine Serra representing more hackers and others accused of computer crimes down the line.But first, he's got to learn how to use a computer.But it's Figueroa and Hagin who will do the heavy lifting, such as wheedling discovery out of Diamond and handling Mitnick's bail appeal.That's the way it works in Serra's office, and the two young lawyers Figueroa and Hagin are appreciative.Both have been attorneys for less than a year and probably would not have landed work on such a high-profile case -- albeit for expenses only -- if not for Serra. He says he'll give them a chance to examine witnesses if Mitnick's case gets to trial. They also appear smart enough to ignore Serra's complaints of high-technology ignorance."Tony pretends to be mystified by computers," saysFigueroa."But he's not. He'll be ready for trial."Mitnick's view is'I was never a malicious person,the federal government manipulated the facts.'

Mr. Mitnick Goes to Washington

May 9, 2000: In an escalating contest that pits notorious computer hacker Kevin Mitnick against the U.S. Probation Department in Los Angeles, First Amendment expert Floyd Abrams is throwing his considerable influence behind
Mitnick. "I expect to be making a submission on behalf of Contentville.com," Abrams says, referring to a media Web site that sought to hire Mitnick as a columnist before probation officials ordered him off the journalism and lecture circuits April 12.
Mitnick served nearly five years in prison on charges he infiltrated the likes of  Motorola Inc., Novell Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc. and the University of Southern California -- stealing software and altering information in a computer crime spree that cost corporate America millions of dollars. On his Jan. 20 release under a plea agreement, Los Angeles U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer prohibited Mitnick from access to computers for three years, and also barred him from using cellular telephones, televisions or any equipment that allows Internet access. The judge speculated at the time that he would be unable to earn anything above minimum wage. But Mitnick's reputation as a cyberbandit turned out to be bankable. He confirms
estimates that until he was reined in, he'd lined up some $20,000 worth of work as a writer and speaker. "I was writing for Time, Newsweek and the London Guardian," says Mitnick, now living in the San Fernando Valley. He also participated by phone in a computer conference in Jerusalem, testified per government request at congressional hearings in March, and
appeared on CNN and Fox networks as well as Canadian TV.Mitnick says his probation officer encouraged him because he was helping educate the public and curb computer crime. The problem arose, he insists, when his assigned officer was away and a supervisor balked at his featured appearance in a panel discussion at the Utah Information Technologies Association
Convention."Probation limits can be based on two things: rehabilitation and protecting the public. It's not supposed to be punitive, "Rehabilitation means working a person back into the mainstream, back into a normal job and life in society," says
Schindler, now a partner at Los Angeles' Latham & Watkins. "To the extent that he's trading on the crimes he committed,
that's not happening."Robert Latta, the chief U.S. probation officer in L.A., agrees."It's a little like the Son of Sam laws. A person shouldn't profit from the fruits of  his crimes," he says.

Hacker Kevin Mitnick Back Online

   FBI charges teen with defacing anti-drug site

Teen Hacker's Home Raided

YEAR 2001

Anna Kournikova Virus 2001

"These virus kits are bad juju. People who wouldn't normally dream of releasing a virus are too tempted by the ease of writing and releasing crap with those kits," a cracker named Taltos wrote in an e-mail. "And there are going to be more and more of these viruses released, mark my words. Maybe OnTheFly did people a favor by releasing his harmless virus," Taltos said. "Maybe people will wise up and stop clicking on everything that lands in their e-mail boxes before some kid unleashes something that's really destructive." Jesper Johansson, professor of computer science at Boston University, agrees with Taltos. He does not think other virus writers will be deterred by OnTheFly's legal problems." Criminals never think they will get caught. I think we will see a lot of 'kit' viruses," said Johansson, adding he has no respect for virus kit users." Do I think they are elite? No, I don't. I think they are petty criminals."

Hackers Are Now Terrorists in England
  Of Course this Excludes Big Brother From Hacking You

YEAR 2003

                    ICANN.ORG & THE FOUR HORSEMAN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) the technical coordination body for the Internet. Created in October 1998 by a broad coalition of the Internet's business, technical, academic, and user communities, ICANN is assuming worldwide responsibility for a set of technical functions previously performed under the U.S. government contract by IANA and other groups. Specifically, ICANN coordinates the assignment of the following identifiers that must be globally unique for the Internet to function such as, Internet domain names ,IP address numbers protocol parameter and port numbers In addition, ICANN coordinates the stable operation of the Internet's root server system as a non-profit, private sector corporation, ICANN is dedicated to preserving the operational stability of the Internet.

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330
Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6601
Phone: +1.310.823.9358
USA

There are four entities under ICANN which are responsible for the world's registration of IP numbers and other technologies. They are ARIN.NET which covers the area of North America, APNIC.NET which covers the area of Asia, RIPE.NET which covers the area of Europe, and LACNIC.NET which covers the area of South America. There are 13 major Computers, located through out the world in which the Internet is operated. This term computer may also be classified as Routers or Data Centers. These 13 machines are so highly protected that I wasn't even able to see what they looked like or their exact locations. This may be due to security reasons.

THE FOUR HORSEMAN OF THE INTERNET

ARIN
3635 Concorde Parkway, Suite 200
Chantilly, VA, USA 20151-1130
Main number: (703) 227-9840
Registry for Internet Numbers manage resources for North America, a portion of the Caribbean, and sub-equatorial Africa.
ANGOLA
ANGUILLA
ANTARCTICA
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
BAHAMAS
BARBADOS
BERMUDA
BOTSWANA
BOUVET ISLAND
BURUNDI
CANADA
CAYMAN ISLANDS
CONGO
CONGO, THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE DOMINICA
GRENADA
GUADELOUPE
HEARD AND MC DONALD ISLANDS
JAMAICA
LESOTHO
MALAWI
MARTINIQUE
MOZAMBIQUE
NAMIBIA
PUERTO RICO
RWANDA
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS
SAINT LUCIA
SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
SOUTH AFRICA
ST. HELENA
ST. PIERRE AND MIQUELON
SWAZILAND
TANZANIA, UNITED REPUBLIC OF
TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS
UNITED STATES
UNITED STATES MINOR OUTLYING ISLANDS
VIRGIN ISLANDS (BRITISH)
VIRGIN ISLANDS (U.S.)
ZAMBIA
ZIMBABWE

Office Location:
RIPE NCC
Singel 258
1016 AB Amsterdam
The Netherlands

RIPE NCC
P.O. Box 10096
1001EB Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Phone: +31 20 535 4444
Fax:     +31 20 535 4445
Primarily for the benefit of the membership in Europe, the Middle East, northern Africa, and parts of Asia
ALBANIA
ALGERIA
ANDORRA
ARMENIA
AUSTRIA
AZERBAIJAN
BAHRAIN
BELARUS
BELGIUM
BENIN
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOWINA
BULGARIA
BURKINA FASO
CAMEROON
CAPE VERDE
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
CHAD
COTE D'IVOIRE
CROATIA (local name: Hrvatska)
CYPRUS
CZECH REPUBLIC
DENMARK
DJIBOUTI
EGYPT
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
ERITREA
ESTONIA
ETHIOPIA
FAROE ISLANDS
FINLAND