Messages

I think Tom brings up a good point: no one is perfect and I think the one thing about Bruce that bothers me a bit is that a lot of his stuff revolves around psychic attack and negative entities/energy.  I know he is just out to help people, but one's focus becomes reality if you follow.

Have others noticed this too?

Hello all,

Many of you may remember me.  I used to moderate these forums before I became too busy professionally and with my family.  Regardless of my hiatus, I still love this place and the wonderful insights that one can glean from the myriad of knowledgable and sincere people who frequent the forums.

Anyhow, I noticed that AstralDynamics.com has it's own forums.  Do any of you frequent those forums?  If so, are they any good?  Different.  

This still seems like the place to be, regardless of the many new and transient visitors.

Addio,
DT

Airsoft guns are like BB guns, except they shoot plastic projectiles (usually yellow).  Kids (and adults) use them for plinking and friendly team competition.  I didn't know until recently that they manufacture high end models and there are leagues, etc.

My 'ultimate' goal is to become perfect, or one with THE SOURCE once again.  Everything else is entailed in that one, singular event.

Personally, I view marriage as a sacred bond, or covenant, between a man and a woman that brings spiritual growth and happiness.  It is not something invented.  It is not a socially constructed pact.  Marriage is a vehicle to exalt the soul and bring forth progeny.  God, The Source, has followed a similar pattern in creating all of us, his children.  As we carry on the pattern, we brng more spirits to the planet to allow them the chance to choose good above evil and one again return to the Source to then follow the pattern on a different plane. Adultery, therefore, is a in direct contrast to this plan of happiness and progression.

Take my words at their value.  I know many may disagree with me on this point, and that's fine.  I am not here to argue or persuade, only to share and learn.

I don't pretend to know anything about Frank or even his virtual class since I have not been on the boards in quite some time, at least on a consistent basis, but I do know this: Frank once disappeared from the forums for a very long time (months...perhaps about 3-5 months or thereabouts) and then, suddenly, he reappeared.  He had been contributing a lot and his posts, as always, were of the highest caliber.  

Then one day, out of the blue, he was back.  I recall some excuse for his absence (you can search for the posts I'm sure).  Anyhow, it strange and for me, as an outsider, it holds some allure...but more likely than not he is simply busy or lazy.  Perhaps, however, he is ill...but you think he would be able to send out a message or at least give a loved one his username and password to log on and let people know what's going on. :question:

My two cents are officially deposited.

//www.myspace.com/dannytodd

Hi everyone!  I'd like to introduce myself (or rather reintroduce myself...I used to be a real regular, in fact I was once a moderator here, now I am just a tired old hack...actually, I gave up my post due to a busy career and a new baby) and ask a question.

My beautiful son (see my pathetic myspace page for photos, if you must:  www.myspace.com/dannytodd) Carter Daniel was born last Dec., on the 14th to be exact.  That makes him about ten and a half months old now.

My question is this: Carter has not started talking yet.  He is a dynamic little guy who makes a lot of noise, plays with things, is social, etc.  His doctor calls him "smart" as I' sure she does every little baby she sees (actually, I think she really means it, but I have a vested interest in this being the case of course).  So he's no dummy.  The fact is, however, that I am concerned.  When do babies start talking?  I know the answer: it varies.  The reason I am concerned is that in my wife's little pregnancy book it says something along the lines of, "At this point in your baby's life [10.5 months old]  your baby will be saying new things..."  I'm like, "New things!  What NEW things!  He hasn't talked yet!!!"

Of course I ask this with my tongue firmly in cheek, but in reality I am a little concerned only in that I expect this kid to be a genius like his mom and dad...especially his dad!

So I'm calling on you old timers to tell me, "Oh, my son's a rocket scientist and he didn't talk until he was 15!"  or recount for me again the story of Einsteins latent speaking abilities!

Much love,

Danny

Interesting topic.  I have read several accounts of individuals traveling far beyond what we consider our solar system.  

It's good to be back.  I see Gandalf is a moderator now which is a positive thing since he has been a great contributor to the site.

Yes, I love this quote and I think it has deep, significant meaning that applies to all of us.  Sometime I shall expound...and yes, this is a good deal and one I was happy to find.  You just have to see if there are 5 magazines that you'd read.  By the way, your quote is REALLY cool as well...and I think everything I said about mine applies to that one as well.

Frank once disappeared for about 6 months or more about 2 years ago.  Sometimes I think he likes to take a hiatus for whatever reason (perhaps to see how much people miss him, jk)

5 Magazine Subscriptions for $30!!!

Hello friends, I have something here you may be interested in. I hate to look like I am advertising in here, but I don't work for this company or anything I actually just think it's a great deal for anyone who likes magazines and reading (and I imagine many of you do).

Last year a friend of mine sent me to this website to get cheap magazine subscriptions. You get any 5 magazine subscriptions for a full year for $30, no hidden costs no gimmicks. Since I am a school teacher I don't have much money, so things like this are always great to find.

My wife and I signed up last year and we got all 5 magazines for a full year and, in fact, we just renewed them for the same price because we loved getting them. Anyway, I thought I'd pass this on to since it's such a good deal (and I get a free magazine subscription for my friends who sign up).

Since we just had a baby, we did a couple baby magazines and then I got some car magazines and, being the nerd I am, I signed up for some video game and computer magazines (I suggest WIRED, it's great). You just choose 5 mags, enter your info and credit card # and they send them out. Totally legitimate company. Enjoy!

Here's the link:

http://www.bigmags.com/?id=13317


(Just choose your 5 magazines on the left side of the page and then click submit...I know, I know...you can figure it out on your own but I am a school teacher and I am used to explaining things in very simple terms!)-Dan

I enjoyed reading your post and visiting your website.  Very compelling and full of truth.

-Daniel

Hey everybody, it's been a while...I have been so busy.  I am still in school (grad school of education, UC Riverside) and I recently got a job teaching 7th grade language arts, my first teaching job.

So, are there any other teachers who frequent these forums?  If so, tell me about what grade/subject you teach, etc.

-Dan

Is it just me, or is the latest installment of the Potter series better than the first two? I only read the first novel, but now I've seen all three films.  The first two were good, as is the third, but I think this latest film is the best of the three. It is directed by a different guy, Cuarzon or something, who isn't known for "kid's movies" and he really infused this with a lot more of a, well, compelling quality.  Visually I thought the film was stunning, the plot is..well, just like all the Potter series, but the acting, sets, etc. were all very fun.  The latest film is also much darker and brooding...and the special effects, while not hyper-realistic, are very fun and spectacular.

I recommend it and am anxious to see if I am the only Potter fan here in the forums, although I suspect I am not...although there are sure to be a few muggles out there!

Anyone know a good online store or other place to buy new laptops for low prices?  Thanks!

The following news link will take you to an article about a horrific criminal who did horrible things to children and was recently convicted for it.  You'll notice that he practiced "astral projection."  It's unfortunate that a great deal of the news stories that have to do with astral projection have to do with stories such as this.  I suppose it goes to show that everything, including AP, can be used by good and bad people alike for good and bad purposes.

http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=129&fArticleId=324991

Hello all!  I am just posting a little review of "School of Rock" which came out Friday here in the US starring Jack Black.  Fun movie...not a whole lot of substance, but a VERY fun film with a lot of laughs.  Basically it's about a loser who has dreams to be a big time "rocker" but instead is rejected by his band and sinks into a state of depression.  That all changes when he takes the place of his roomate as a substitute teacher and finds out his class of gifted students are musically inclined.  From this point the movie takes on a "Bad News Bears" kind of feel as he tries to turn this nerdy class into a full fledged rock group.

Like I said, it's heavy on the laughs and light on the depth...but it's a movie that the whole family can enjoy.

-Dan

I wear glasses/contacts and am planning on getting laser eye surgery done.  Has anyone here got it done?  If so, how much did you pay and how was it?  Do you see great? etc.

Get Ready for More Cyberattacks

In an article for the Examiner, Ira Wilsker writes that law enforcement officials have uncovered indications that some hacker groups might be planning to launch massive virus attacks on the September 11th anniversary of the New York and Washington D.C. terrorist attacks. Network security professionals and corporate IT administrators are already gearing up to prepare for the possibility, but what does this mean to you, the individual user? What can you do to protect yourself and your system from yet another wave of virus infested email or another round of attacks intended to crash or intrude into your system?

Make sure that you're following security best practices. If you've been operating without a firewall, now is the time to change that. Windows XP provides a built-in firewall, ICF, but you might want to invest in a third party product or download a free firewall program. If you're running an earlier version of Windows that doesn't include ICF, you'll definitely need a third party product. Some of these include:

ZoneAlarm (http://www.zonelabs.com):
Has both a free limited functionality version and a full featured version for purchase
Kerio Personal Firewall (http://www.kerio.com):
Free for home/personal use; otherwise $39 for a single user license
Outpost Personal Firewall (http://www.agnitum.com):
Open Architecture firewall for Windows; both free and "pro" versions available
Sygate Personal Firewall (http://www.sygate.com)
Norton Personal Firewall (http://www.symantec.com)
Black Ice Defender (http://www.networkice.com)
Your firewall is the first line of defense in what should be a multi-layered security plan. The second essential element is a good anti-virus program. We recommend Norton or McAfee. Remember that an AV program is only as good as its virus definition files, and with new viruses being written and released all the time, it's important that you update the definition files at least daily. During high risk periods, many companies will update their files hourly and it's not unreasonable for you to do the same if you have an "always on" Internet connection.
What if an intruder manages to break into your system despite your perimeter defenses? You should take further steps to protect your important data (original work that is irreplaceable, information that's confidential). If you're running XP Pro and using the NTFS file system, you can set access permissions on your files to make it more difficult for an intruder to open them. And just as you might put your most valuable possessions in a safe inside your home in case a burglar gets past your high fence, big dog, deadbolt locks and alarm system, you might consider using encryption to protect your most sensitive files. You can use the EFS encryption built into XP Pro, or use a third party program like DriveCrypt:
http://www.winxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=030909ED-DriveCrypt

Computer security is quickly becoming a necessity, and because of the interconnected nature of the Internet, those who fail to secure their systems can endanger not only themselves, but the rest of us as well. There has been talk in legislative circles of passing laws that would require anyone who connects to the Internet to meet minimal security standards. What do you think? Should it be illegal to run your system "wide open" to the many threats that are out there today, or should your security choices be no one's business but your own? We want to know what you think; email us at feedback@winxpnews.com.

Followup: Technicians and Auto Mechanics

Ouch! We got a few responses from auto mechanics who took last week's editorial a little personally, so we want to clarify right up front that by no means do we consider all mechanics (or all PC techs) unscrupulous. Unfortunately, the minority that are cause problems for all the rest. Good mechanics and technicians are worth more than their weight in gold and when you find one, you should treasure him/her. We do!

Many of you, though, wrote with your own horror stories and it seems that a substantial number of our readers say they would never trust their computers to a technician they don't know. We even had a couple of readers who wrote that PC techs charged them big bucks when their computers wouldn't boot because a floppy was left in the drive. One side benefit of such bad experiences it that it often forces you to learn to repair your PCs yourself, providing you with a valuable skill (don't advertise the fact that you can do it, though, unless you want to be the one all your friends and relatives call when their computers go down).

If you do need to take your system to shop, though, follow the advice of one of our readers who is a repair tech and choose the technician based on: 1) word of mouth recommendation from an actual "repairee," 2) Better Business Bureau, and 3) a shop that's been in business for at least 10 years.

'Til next week,
Deb Shinder, Editor
(email us with feedback: feedback@winxpnews.com)
Get Ready for More Cyberattacks

In an article for the Examiner, Ira Wilsker writes that law enforcement officials have uncovered indications that some hacker groups might be planning to launch massive virus attacks on the September 11th anniversary of the New York and Washington D.C. terrorist attacks. Network security professionals and corporate IT administrators are already gearing up to prepare for the possibility, but what does this mean to you, the individual user? What can you do to protect yourself and your system from yet another wave of virus infested email or another round of attacks intended to crash or intrude into your system?

Make sure that you're following security best practices. If you've been operating without a firewall, now is the time to change that. Windows XP provides a built-in firewall, ICF, but you might want to invest in a third party product or download a free firewall program. If you're running an earlier version of Windows that doesn't include ICF, you'll definitely need a third party product. Some of these include:

ZoneAlarm (http://www.zonelabs.com):
Has both a free limited functionality version and a full featured version for purchase
Kerio Personal Firewall (http://www.kerio.com):
Free for home/personal use; otherwise $39 for a single user license
Outpost Personal Firewall (http://www.agnitum.com):
Open Architecture firewall for Windows; both free and "pro" versions available
Sygate Personal Firewall (http://www.sygate.com)
Norton Personal Firewall (http://www.symantec.com)
Black Ice Defender (http://www.networkice.com)
Your firewall is the first line of defense in what should be a multi-layered security plan. The second essential element is a good anti-virus program. We recommend Norton or McAfee. Remember that an AV program is only as good as its virus definition files, and with new viruses being written and released all the time, it's important that you update the definition files at least daily. During high risk periods, many companies will update their files hourly and it's not unreasonable for you to do the same if you have an "always on" Internet connection.
What if an intruder manages to break into your system despite your perimeter defenses? You should take further steps to protect your important data (original work that is irreplaceable, information that's confidential). If you're running XP Pro and using the NTFS file system, you can set access permissions on your files to make it more difficult for an intruder to open them. And just as you might put your most valuable possessions in a safe inside your home in case a burglar gets past your high fence, big dog, deadbolt locks and alarm system, you might consider using encryption to protect your most sensitive files. You can use the EFS encryption built into XP Pro, or use a third party program like DriveCrypt:
http://www.winxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=030909ED-DriveCrypt

Computer security is quickly becoming a necessity, and because of the interconnected nature of the Internet, those who fail to secure their systems can endanger not only themselves, but the rest of us as well. There has been talk in legislative circles of passing laws that would require anyone who connects to the Internet to meet minimal security standards. What do you think? Should it be illegal to run your system "wide open" to the many threats that are out there today, or should your security choices be no one's business but your own? We want to know what you think; email us at feedback@winxpnews.com.

Followup: Technicians and Auto Mechanics

Ouch! We got a few responses from auto mechanics who took last week's editorial a little personally, so we want to clarify right up front that by no means do we consider all mechanics (or all PC techs) unscrupulous. Unfortunately, the minority that are cause problems for all the rest. Good mechanics and technicians are worth more than their weight in gold and when you find one, you should treasure him/her. We do!

Many of you, though, wrote with your own horror stories and it seems that a substantial number of our readers say they would never trust their computers to a technician they don't know. We even had a couple of readers who wrote that PC techs charged them big bucks when their computers wouldn't boot because a floppy was left in the drive. One side benefit of such bad experiences it that it often forces you to learn to repair your PCs yourself, providing you with a valuable skill (don't advertise the fact that you can do it, though, unless you want to be the one all your friends and relatives call when their computers go down).

If you do need to take your system to shop, though, follow the advice of one of our readers who is a repair tech and choose the technician based on: 1) word of mouth recommendation from an actual "repairee," 2) Better Business Bureau, and 3) a shop that's been in business for at least 10 years.

'Til next week,
Deb Shinder, Editor
(email us with feedback: feedback@winxpnews.com)

See the stories at:

http://news.google.com/news?num=30&hl=en&edition=us&q=cluster:money%2ecnn%2ecom%2f2003%2f09%2f05%2ftechnology%2fdownloads%5famnesty%2f

Here's one of them:
'Amnesty' for song swappers?
By Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY
The battle between the record industry and individuals who upload online music has a new wrinkle. Even as the Recording Industry Association of America is cracking down on file swappers, it also is willing to offer "amnesty."
In exchange for wiping unauthorized song services and the tunes off the hard drive, and noting such in a notarized letter, the RIAA will agree not to file civil suits. But, if the person is discovered trading songs in the future, the association could come back with criminal charges, which carry even heftier fines.

That's why Washington, D.C., attorney Megan Gray says signing this kind of letter "is tantamount to agreeing to have an electronic sensor around your ankle for the rest of your life."

In the wake of a dramatic drop in sales — down 31% the past two years, which the RIAA blames on piracy — the association became aggressive in fighting to save its turf.

This spring, four students were sued for their online music activities, and settled for between $12,000 and $17,500.

The RIAA filed some 1,600 subpoenas to gather personal information for the potential lawsuits. The lawsuits, expected to be filed this week and to be aimed at the most active song traders, will come with a letter describing the various copyright violations the RIAA believes have been committed — fines can reach $150,000 per song — and include a phone number to call at the RIAA to discuss coming to terms and averting trial.

Over the summer, in anticipation of a potential lawsuit, some of the subpoenaed song swappers contacted lawyers and asked them to settle before papers were even drawn up. The fees suggested by the RIAA have ranged from $3,000 to $10,000, lawyers say.

Conditions also were attached: The accused weren't allowed to discuss the case publicly, or to see what evidence the RIAA had against them — for instance, how many songs were on their hard drives.

"The RIAA can go out and crucify the individual by name," says Gray. "But they're not allowed to speak up in their defense? That's not fair."

The RIAA was stung this summer when, after settling the suits with the four students (who didn't have to agree to such terms), two of them went public and received sympathetic coverage. One of the students even raised his entire $12,500 fine from online donations.

"I'd be leery of people voluntarily admitting liability without having thought it through with an attorney," says Daniel Ballard, who represents "Jane Doe," a Brooklyn woman who has been fighting the RIAA's attempts to obtain her personal information. "We can frame a settlement agreement, hypothetically, that limits potential liability."

So how much will it cost to obtain counsel? Ballard says to expect a minimum of $1,000 to work out a settlement; Los Angeles lawyer Joseph Singleton says someone who wants to fight the industry is "looking at anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000. The copyright act provides for attorneys' fees in both directions, so the RIAA could end up footing the bill."

Bob Barnes, a Fresno, Calif., bus driver whose name was given to the RIAA by his Internet provider, hasn't sought legal help — yet.

"It's wait-and-see," says Barnes, 51. "If they sue me, I guess I'll need a lawyer. If not, then I won't. There's nothing I can really do about it until then, is there?"

I wanted to start a thread in which we can share interesting, crazy and funny sites with one another.

I think I, along with a few others, have started similar threads, but they eventually sink out of sight and mind, so let's get this party started again.

Here are some very interesting/funny sites that I found just today:

http://www.stomptokyo.com/otf/

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/features/0301/04dumbcriminals.html

http://www.madville.com/

http://www.originalicons.com

http://www.funnygreetings.com/dumbguys.htm

http://www.bestandworst.com/pages/vote/vote-1668.html

http://www.geocities.com/smlshuga56/iq.html

http://www.badmovieplanet.com/3btheater/

http://www.thestinkers.com/

Sobig Damage Estimate Increased

by Scott Bekker

8/28/03 — Two days after issuing an initial estimate of the Sobig worm damages, a U.K-based digital security firm has revised the damage estimate upward by nearly $1.5 billion and broken out the amount of damage resulting from the Sobig.F variant.
"In just under two days, the economic damage attributable to Sobig has risen from $5.59 billion to $7.05 billion as millions of businesses and households worldwide continue to be flooded with infected e-mail," U.K.-based mi2g said in a statement Thursday.

"Sobig has risen to become the third most damaging virus ever according to the mi2g Intelligence Unit as it continues to choke bandwidth even for users with clean machines who are receiving 'returned e-mail messages' non-stop," the group said. The mi2g finding contradicts statements from some other firms that the worm's activity has been slowing.

-- advertisement --



Sobig has overtaken the Yaha virus in the mi2g's ranking of the most damaging malware over time. It currently trails Klez ($13.94 billion) and Love Bug ($8.75 billion).

The group also estimates that the economic damage from the latest variant, Sobig.F, launched in mid-August, exceeds the damages caused by all previous variants of Sobig. The Sobig.F variant has caused $4.2 billion in damages since Aug. 18, according to the group.

The Mi2g damage estimate is built from sampled productivity loss data, estimates of the number of machines infected and estimates of bandwidth lost.

Sobig.F is scheduled to stop propagating on Sept. 10, when security experts believe the worm's author will launch a new, potentially more potent, variant.

You can contact Scott about "Sobig Damage Estimate Increased" at sbekker@entmag.com.

Teenager arrested in Blaster worm case
Paul Roberts, IDG News Service

01/09/2003 11:09:03

A Minnesota teenager will appear in US federal court on Friday to face charges stemming from the release of a variant of the virulent W32.Blaster Internet worm that ravaged computer systems worldwide earlier this month.

Jeffrey Lee Parson, 18, of Hopkins, Minnesota, was arrested by federal law enforcement Friday morning, according to U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) spokesman Bill Murray.

He will appear before federal magistrate Judge Susan Richard Nelson at the James R. Dougan Federal Building in St. Paul, Minnesota, according to Deputy Clerk Mike Chutich.

Parson was tracked down by a joint federal task force that involved members of the FBI and U.S. Secret Service, Murray said.

According to a complaint filed at the court, Parson will face one count of intentionally causing or attempting to cause damage to a protected computer in connection with the release of W32.Blaster-B, a variant of the original W32.Blaster-A worm.

That variant appeared on August 14, three days after Blaster-A first appeared, and was nearly identical to the original blaster worm. However, Blaster-B used a different file name, teekids.exe, as opposed to msblast.exe, according to antivirus company Sophos.

Teekid was also an online handle used by Parson, according to the complaint, which was filed in the Western District of Washington in Seattle, according to Chutich.

The 10-page complaint lays out Parson's role in modifying the original Blaster worm and releasing the Blaster-B variant, as well as the process law enforcement used to track the virus back to Parson.

The FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office scheduled a press conference for Friday afternoon regarding the worm, according to U.S. Attorney John Hartingh in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington in Seattle.

Further details about the case will be presented then, Hartingh said.

A copy of the complaint obtained by IDG News Service indicates that federal law enforcement first got on the trail of Blaster-B's author by tracking down ownership of an Internet domain, www.t33kid.com, that the Blaster-B worm used to download instructions and report on infected hosts.

That chase led from a San Diego, California, Web wholesale Internet services provider, California Regional Internet, to a small Web hosting provider in Watauga, Texas and, from there, to ISP Time Warner Cable, which provided Parson's father's home broadband account in Minnesota.

Time Warner provided the FBI with the location of Parson's home in Hopkins and federal agents raided that home on August 19, seizing seven computers from the house, according to the complaint.

The results of a forensic analysis of those computers are still pending, but the complaint says that during an interview that day, Parson admitted to modifying the Blaster worm and creating the Blaster-B worm variant, naming it "teekids.exe" after his online name.

Parson further admitted to outfitting the new worm with a backdoor Trojan program, named "Lithium" so that he could reconnect to infected computers.

Blaster-A first appeared on August 11 and exploited a widespread vulnerability in Microsoft's Windows operating system.

The worm takes advantage of a known vulnerability in a Windows component called the DCOM (Distributed Component Object Model) interface, which handles messages sent using the RPC (Remote Procedure Call) protocol.

Vulnerable systems can be compromised without any interaction from a user, which helped Blaster spread quickly on machines running the Windows XP and Windows 2000 operating systems.

At the height of the Blaster outbreak, the worm was credited with shutting down the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration.

Virus experts were surprised that an arrest was pending, citing the difficulty in tracing computer viruses back to their author.

"I think it gets back to how they caught him," said Chris Wraight, a technology consultant at Sophos. "It wasn't digital forensics, but the human intelligence. They did it the old fashioned way, with human intelligence."

However, Wraight was not surprised to learn that the suspect in the Blaster-B case was a teenager.

He and others long maintained that Blaster's blatant copying of proof-of-concept code for using the RPC vulnerability, known as the DCOM exploit, meant that Blaster was the work of a novice virus writer, rather than a pro.

The alleged modification of that code by Parson is typical, Wraight said.

"This clearly shows what happens in the virus world -- people take and modify other people's code and try to one up each other. But most of these guys are not too swift and they get caught because of an error," Wraight said.

While most worm authors are careful to cover their tracks and escape capture, those who are caught face toughened computer crime laws in the U.S. and Europe, he said.

In July, for example, a U.K. court rejected an appeal by 22 year-old Simon Vallor, who was sentenced to two years in prison for writing and releasing three e-mail worms.

In less developed countries, however, there are few laws governing cyber crimes, Wraight said.

The author of one of the most destructive viruses, LoveBug, never faced charges because the Philippines lacked laws on its books to prosecute him, he said.

Parsons will be charged with violating U.S. Title 18, section 1030. If found guilty, he could face between five and 20 years in prison and be asked to pay "thousands of dollars" in damages, Murray said.

No specific damages figures were available for the Blaster-B variant, but the complaint refers to more than 7,000 computers being infected with the Blaster-B variant.

In addition, the complaint includes statements by Microsoft representatives that the company "expended significant internal and external (contracted) resources to respond to the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack launched by Parson's worm against the www.windowsupdate.com site, far in excess of US$5,000.


Second worm suspect investigated


Suspect could face jail time if convicted
A second person is being investigated in connection with the MSBlast worm that caused havoc online last month.
Romanian police confirmed they have a suspect, believed to have released a modified version of the virus.

They have declined to name him, although a computer security company has identified him as 24-year-old Dan Dumitru Ciobanu.

Newly passed Romanian laws mean Mr Ciobanu could face up to 15 years in jail if convicted.


Milder version

Mr Ciobanu is thought to be responsible for creating the "F" version of the MSBlast web worm.

Unlike the original version of the virus, Mr Ciobanu's version is said to have only attacked computers at the Technical University of Iasi, in northeastern Romania.

Text within the virus insulted one of the lecturers at the university and called for him to retire.

Also inside the virus was Mr Ciobanu's online nickname "Enbiei" which helped Romanian police and anti-virus firm BitDefender to track him down.


Suspected virus Jeffrey Lee Parson writer avoids photographers  
"We tracked him using the bulletin boards," said Patrick Vicol from BitDefender. "He actually gave his name, not a very smart thing to do."

The "F" version is not thought to have travelled far beyond Romania and was much less virulent than the original MSBlast virus which infected more than 300,000 systems in mid-August.

A police spokesman confirmed they were investigating a suspect but would not reveal his identity.

Two computers that he regularly uses have been confiscated and will soon be analysed for evidence that he unleashed the modified version of the virus.

Copycat arrest

Last week another programmer was arrested for creating and releasing another version of the MSBlast worm.

Jeffrey Lee Parson is thought to be behind the "B" version of MSBlast that infected a few thousand machines.

Mr Parson was tracked down because he too left his online nickname, teekid, in the version of the virus he modified.

If convicted Mr Parson faces up to 10 years in jail and a fine of $250,000. His next court appearance is on 17 September.

Despite the two arrests the creator of the original MSBlast worm remains at large.



Romanian Net Worm Suspect Faces Stiff Charges
Thu September 4, 2003 12:44 PM ET
By Bernhard Warner and Antonia Oprita
BUCHAREST/LONDON (Reuters) - Fifteen years behind bars for a crime that took but 15 minutes to execute.

This is the maximum prison sentence facing 24-year-old Romanian Dan Dumitru Ciobanu, suspected by authorities of developing the low-grade Internet worm "Blaster.F" that security experts suspect took him maybe a quarter of an hour to write.

The penalty once again has stoked the debate about appropriate sentencing for a crime that until recently was dismissed by law enforcement officers as a relatively benign prank by tuned-in teenagers trying to prove a point.

But with a wave of increasingly strong Internet bugs, including last month's original Blaster worm and the Sobig.F virus, inflicting billions of dollars in damage, a zero-tolerance sentiment has begun to emerge.

In Romania, a person found guilty of the new cybercrime law, which covers online fraud, hacking and virus-writing, faces a sentence of three to 15 years, more than twice the maximum sentence for rape.

"We have had this debate that maybe the Romanian law is too tough. But it's alright to be like this," Romanian MP Varujan Pambuccian, who co-wrote the law, told Reuters. "We intended to make it tough."

The Romanian law may be the toughest anywhere. Britain's Computer Misuse Act, for example, carries a maximum sentence of five years if convicted of releasing a virus that infects other computers.

American teenager Jeffrey Lee Parson was arrested last week for creating and distributing the "Blaster.B" variant, a program that infected at least 7,000 computers. He faces imprisonment of 10 years and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

Meanwhile, the mastermind behind the original Blaster worm, which is believed to have infected over 500,000 computers running Microsoft Windows, remains at large.

LITTLE DAMAGE

Anti-virus experts said Blaster.F has done little damage, infecting roughly 1,000 computers since it emerged on Monday. "It looks like it took him no more than fifteen minutes to write," said Mikko Hypponen, manager of anti-virus research at Finland's F-Secure.

Police have not charged Ciobanu. On Thursday, Gheorghi Plai, chief commissioner at the Regional Center for Combating Organized Crime in the suspect's home city of Iasi, confirmed to Reuters the investigation is continuing.

Ciobanu was identified in a statement issued on Wednesday by BitDefender, a division of Romanian software firm Softwin SRL, which helped police track down the suspect. The firm said on Thursday the suspect's computers would be examined on Friday or early next week, after which charges could be filed.

The Ciobanu case has stirred some mixed feelings about the potential severity of new cybercrime laws, even among security specialists who helped collar the man.

"Among the programmers in our company, I have been confronted by a wave of sympathy for him. They want to know why we identified him and gave him up to the police," said Mihai Radu, a spokesman for BitDefender.

Others in Romania's IT industry, which has become a recruitment hotbed for Western European and American software developers, are pushing for tough justice. They say a few bad seeds could spoil Romania's reputation as an emerging software development hub.

"Romanians are excellent IT programmers, but unfortunately they haven't learned to focus their efforts in the right direction," said Marius Ursachi, creative officer at Web design firm Grapefruit Design in Iasi, in northeastern Romania.

Romania is known for exporting young talent to Western IT companies, but in the ex-communist Balkan country just 13 percent of the country's 22 million population use the Internet. Romania, where monthly salaries average $130, and neighboring Bulgaria are the least wired Eastern European nations.

Time To Update Your Microsoft Software Again

September 4, 2003


SEATTLE - Those of you using Mac OS or Linux can relax, but those using MS Office on Windows, take note: Microsoft has issued some more security alerts.

Microsoft is reporting five new flaws in its software, including one of "critical" severity that affects nearly all programs in its Office suite of software.

The critical vulnerability could allow an attacker to read files on a victim's computer or run programs. To be successful a person would have to open a tainted email attachment.

The flaw appears in nearly all programs included in Microsoft Office 97, 2000 and XP (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access).

It also affects Visio 2000, 2002 and Project 2000 and 2002.

The other four vulnerabilities affect Microsoft Office, Access, Word and Windows, and include flaws of lower severity.

Microsoft has disclosed 38 security flaws so far this year.

This will be the first of a number of posts I am going to make in an effort to 1) Post interesting news stories, etc for you, my astralpulse friends and 2) to attempt to push down the asinine posts that have virtually destroyed the carefree and open community that existed here only a month ago or so.
-----------
The Boat-Car:


Bond's ride? New sports car doubles as boat
Thursday, September 4, 2003 Posted: 10:04 AM EDT (1404 GMT)


MOTORWAY, WATERWAY
Amphibious cars are not new but what makes this one different is speed.

It can move at speeds up to 100 miles-per-hour on land, and, thanks to a jet in the rear, the car can go in excess of 30 mph on water.

To achieve these water speeds, certain problems had to be overcome -- like wheels creating drag. Once the vehicle is afloat, the wheels retract and you can accelerate.  


LONDON (AP) -- Britain's newest sports car took a test drive Wednesday, zooming back and forth across the waters of the Thames River in pure James Bond style.

The Aquada can hit speeds of 100 miles an hour on land -- and once it hits water, the wheels retract into the wheel arch, jets kick in, and the car is suddenly a boat.

Once waterborne it can reach speeds of 30 miles per hour, according to Gibbs Technologies, the British firm that designed it.

Sticker shock
With a sticker price of about $235,000, the convertible has no doors in order to avoid leaks. Drivers and passengers must jump over the side to get into the car -- just like a boat.

"With this you can have a really good car on the road, and an exciting toy that can tow a water skier, that you can commute to work with, that you can go to St. Tropez with and take two girlfriends," the firm's chairman Alan Gibbs told reporters at the car's test drive on London's Thames on Wednesday.

The car is part of the Aquada Bond series, but the company couldn't say whether that is a veiled reference to James Bond and the sports-car-release-submarine that the superspy operated in the movie "The Spy Who Loved Me."

Daunting requirements
The vehicle can switch to cruising on water within seconds, and the drive mechanism switches to power a jet that propels the vehicle, according to the company.

"The design requirements for the Aquada were daunting, but the technology has delivered and demonstrates the quality of British engineering," said Gibbs, a New Zealand entrepreneur who built his first fast amphibian vehicle in 1995, before moving his company to Britain in 1999. He said the Aquada was the product of a seven-year development program and 60 newly patented technologies.

One hundred of the cars are being built and will sell at the end of this year.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/09/04/amphibious.car.ap/index.html




Car-boat would make Q proud
From Agencies
September 05, 2003
LONDON: Britain's newest sports car took a test drive yesterday, zooming across the waters of the Thames in pure James Bond style.

The Aquada can hit 160km/h on land, and once it hits water the wheels retract, jets kick in – and the car is suddenly a boat.

Once waterborne, it can reach almost 50km/h, according to Gibbs Technologies, the British firm that designed it.

The $370,000 convertible has no doors in order to avoid leaks, so drivers and passengers must jump over the side.

"With this you can have a really good car on the road, and an exciting toy that can tow a water skier, that you can commute to work with, that you can go to St Tropez with and take two girlfriends," the firm's chairman, New Zealander Alan Gibbs, said yesterday.

Like a creation of Q, Bond's backroom boffin, the car can switch to cruising on water within seconds, and the drive mechanism then powers a jet that propels the vehicle, according to the company.

No other road-legal vehicle had so far exceeded 10km/h on water, said Mr Gibbs, an entrepreneur who built his first fast amphibian vehicle in 1995. The car-boat has a range of 80km and can go in the sea or fresh water. A hundred of the cars are being built for sale at the end of this year.

Some diversion for all of you sick of what's been going on lately here in the AstralChat forum:

Jackson to open Neverland ranch to 500 guests
Wednesday, August 27, 2003 Posted: 3:46 AM EDT (0746 GMT)

ALSO: click on this link for a suprise:
javascript:CNN_openPopup //('/interactive/entertainment/0302/mjackson.urban.legends/frameset.exclude.html','620x430','toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,width=620,height=430')[


Singer Michael Jackson is opening his California ranch to 500 guests on September 13.

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Like a real-life Willy Wonka, Michael Jackson has announced plans to open his carnival-style Neverland Ranch estate to 500 guests.

The invitation-only event, set for September 13, is a one-time-only gathering, complete with dinner, magicians, games and a tractor-trailer full of stuffed animals, according to Jackson publicist Stuart Backerman.

Tickets for two people cost $5,000, with $1,000 from each sale being divided among three charities. Jackson will keep the rest -- Backerman said it would pay for costs of the party.

Jackson's Neverland Ranch, in Santa Barbara County, includes an amusement park with bumper cars, a merry-go-round and a Ferris wheel.

Guests also will receive a "goodie bag" worth about $1,000 and an original painting by Brazilian artist Romero Britto.

Backerman said 250 tickets will go on sale, potentially worth $1.25 million. The maximum $250,000 charitable donation will be split between the Make-A-Wish Foundation for sick children; Oneness, dedicated to erasing racism through art and music; and E Ai Como E Que Fica, a Rio de Janeiro group that provides food, clothing and medical care to impoverished children.

Jackson's former financial advisers settled a lawsuit against him in June that suggested he was overburdened with debt and near bankruptcy. That has led to speculation that the Neverland property, recently assessed at $12.3 million, would go on the market.