contributed by Evil Wench
The Army has placed all of its worldwide cyber defense teams on full alert after learning of a threat from a group known as The Boys From Brazil. The group has threatened to deface the army.mil home page. The Army has said that it is aware of the group's or attack profile, and is prepared for any attack against the Army's Web site and that they have enacted additional 'countermeasures' to protect the site. (Is there really a threat? Who knows, but this sounds like one hell of a publicity stunt.)

Federal Computer Week

contributed by William Knowles
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has blocked all access to its web site from addresses originating in Brazil due to fears of a cyber attack. JPL spokes people said that access would be restored once additional security measures where in place. (How does blocking one country effect anything?)

Newsbytes

contributed by William Knowles
Just as the FBI was posting information about the 50th anniversary of its "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" to its web site it was hit with a denial of service attack. The attacked forced the web site offline for several hours.

UPI - via Virtual New York

contributed by Evil Wench
Someone has finally been arrested in a scam that has been circling around the Internet for months. Various online banks offer cash rewards just for opening an account. The scam works by opening several accounts under false names and then transferring the free money from each account into a real account. A 14 year old student at Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Jefferson City Missouri was able to amass over $2000. The scam was uncovered by a postal worker after he started delivering 'bushels' of mail to an address owned by the kids father. (Discovered by a postal worker?)

APB News

contributed by no0ne
31 year old Abdelkader Smires, was charged in United States District Court in Brooklyn with computer-related fraud and remained in custody pending a bail hearing on Friday. Smires is being accused of causing his former company, Internet Trading Technologies, Inc. (ITTI) which provides software that allows market-makers to conduct online securities transactions, to shut down several times since last Thursday by directing coordinated attacks against the firms computer networks.

NY Times
C|Net
Associated Press - via San Jose Mercury News

contributed by acopalyse
Some DVDs released for the North American Region can be played on PlayStation2 consoles in England. While pressing buttons in a certain sequence while the PlayStation2 boots up into DVD mode can sometimes allow Region 1 CDs to be played on the Region 2 device. (Wonder if this will have any effect on the DeCSS lawsuit?)

The Register UK
Gaming Intelligence Agency

contributed by Chris
The Internet Security Task Force, a conglomeration of big name tech companies ISPs and other e-business firms have produced a "vendor neutral set of recommendations in understandable language" about the problems and solutions in internet security. The paper doesn't say anything new, but because it was released by "credible" vendors and not "the evil underground" some suits might finally pay attention. But then again, maybe not.

Initial Recommendations For Conducting Secure eBusiness