Network Security Roundup for October 30, 2003

TechNewsWorld: Network Vulnerability and the Electrical Grid
30-Oct-03 7:21 ET

Story Highlights:
"The power blackout that struck the northern United States and Canada in August shocked industry executives into acknowledging the need to upgrade outdated grid circuitry and power-generating equipment. However, analysts and security experts now are warning that the outmoded, intrusion-prone computers used to control the grid pose a greater risk than the aging grid infrastructure."

Full Story on TechNewsWorld

Story Highlights:
"Software used by an electronic voting system manufactured by Sequoia Voting Systems has been left unprotected on a publicly available server, raising concerns about the possibility of vote tampering in future elections. The software, made available at ftp.jaguar.net, is stored on an FTP server owned by Jaguar Computer Systems, a firm that provides election support to a California county."

Full Story on Wired News

Story Highlights:
"Serious security risks have been identified in Mac OS X 10.2.8 and below. Digital security consultant @stake has published three security advisories outlining the issues with pre-Panther versions of the OS. One vulnerability means that an attacker can cause Mac OS X to crash by specifying a long command line argument, and possibly execute commands as root."

Full Story on Macworld

Story Highlights:
"An Ohio woman whose credit card fraud schemes began to unravel when she unwittingly spammed an off-duty FBI computer crime agent pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge Tuesday, and potentially faces years in prison. Helen Carr, 55, admitted in a federal court in Virginia to conspiring with colleagues in the spam community to send mass e-mails to AOL subscribers purporting to be from the company's security department."

Full Story on SecurityFocus