May 2002

Subject: Network Outage - Wireless System 2:00am
Date: May 31st, 2002

CSInet Technicians will be performing emergency network maintenance to the Rolling Prairie tower. Technicians hope to have service restored by mid-morning Friday May 31st, 2002 We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Questions or comments should be directed to noc@csinet.net

Subject: Klez.H beats SirCam, becomes worst virus ever
Date: May 30th, 2002

 In October 2001, the Klez worm was discovered, but security companies were still unaware of the damage this worm would end up causing. With time, Klez evolved to several variants and became of the most dangerous worms on the Web. In the end of April, its H and I versions were already spreading alarmingly fast. More.

Subject: The Top 10 Internet Spam Frauds!
Date: May 29th, 2002

It's almost human nature to trust people are telling you the truth. That's why spammers spend so much time with fraudulent advertisements of wealth, riches, loans or good jobs. You really should not answer any spam you receive that makes such promises. If you do take time to read your spam, ask yourself one question "Does this sound too good to be true?" If your answer is yes, then you're right. All the spammer is doing is trying to steal your cash. Fraud is nothing new; PLEASE don't fall victim to it because you received a SPAM. It costs the spammer next to nothing to lure you using email and they don't have to worry about the US Postal Inspector putting them in the slammer. To learn more, check here.

Subject: Windows debugger has critical flaw
Date: May 27th, 2002

 Microsoft's security website has alerted yesterday for a newly discovered authentication flaw in Windows debugger that can lead to elevated privileges. The company said the flaw puts in risk administrators of Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 systems. Considered critical, the vulnerability has gained a patch that should be applied to all systems that allow unprivileged users to log onto them interactively. More.

Subject: E-mail scam cites U.S. soldier in Afghanistan
Date: May 24th, 2002

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A new e-mail scam from a purported American "Special Forces Commando" in Afghanistan who needs help getting terrorist drug money out of the country is making the rounds on the Internet.

Click here for the whole story...

Subject: Millions of Kazaa users threatened by new worm
Date: May 23rd, 2002

 Sources have informed this Monday that millions of users of the Kazaa service could end up victims of a new worm. The worm called Worm.Kazaa.Benjamin" could end in these users' computer when they download files in Kazaa's P2P network. More.

Subject: Hotmail policy raises privacy concerns
Date: May 22th, 2002

(IDG) -- Hotmail users can now get a better look at their personal account settings--but some of the service's estimated 110 million active users may not like what they find.

Click here for the whole story...

Subject: Scheduled Network Maintenance - reminder
Date: May 20th, 2002

 This is just another reminder that on Monday Evening, May 20th, we will be performing necessary network
maintenance.  This will require that the email services be interrupted. The maintenance work will directly impact your ability to send and
receive email for the duration of the procedure.  All Email transfer functions will be unavailable during the procedure. CSInet regrets any inconvenience this may cause. We have alerted you two weeks ahead of the event (see the May 5th note below) so that you make necessary arrangements to accommodate the disruption.

Email services will be interrupted Monday, May 20th, starting at 11:00PM.
We expect the procedure to take 10 to 12 hours.

Your ability to surf the Web will not be affected.

 Thank you for your patience and understanding.

The CSInet server team

Subject: Microsoft's "monster patch" not THAT effective
Date: May18th, 2002

 Last Thursday, Microsoft issued what some called a "monster patch" for its Internet Explorer browser. The 2MB fix was offered to cover six newly discovered vulnerabilities. But later this week, sources informed that the patch was not so effective as it promised to be, leaving some of the vulnerabilities still active. More here.

Subject: Scheduled Network Maintenance
Date: May 16th, 2002

 On Monday Evening, May 20th, we will be performing necessary network
maintenance.  This will require that the email services be interrupted.
We regret any inconvenience this may cause.

 Email services will be interrupted Monday, May 20th, starting at 11:00
PM.  We expect the procedure to take 10 to 12 hours.

 The maintenance work will directly impact your ability to send and
receive email for the duration of the procedure.  All Email transfer
functions will be unavailable during the procedure. 

 You can continue to read emails already downloaded to your computer, and
you may continue to compose new emails, but the send and receive
functions will be temporarily suspended.

 All other network services (Web, etc.) will continue to function
normally.

 CSInet regrets any inconvenience this may cause. We are alerting you two
weeks ahead of the event so that you make necessary arrangements to
accommodate the disruption.

 Thank you for your patience and understanding.

The CSInet server team

Subject: ISPs seek to void ruling on police searches
Date: May 14th, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO, California (Reuters) -- Web giant Yahoo! Inc. and several Internet trade associations filed papers Monday seeking to overturn a court ruling which they said could fill the offices of Internet companies with police officers overseeing the execution of search warrants.

Click here for the whole story...

Subject: Microsoft warns of security hole in MSN chat
Date: May 13th, 2002

(IDG) -- A security hole deemed "critical" by Microsoft could allow an attacker to run code of their choice on a vulnerable PC by exploiting a problem in Microsoft's MSN Chat, MSN Messenger and Exchange Instant Messenger products, Microsoft said in a security alert this week. The company has patched the vulnerability.

Click here for the whole story...

Subject: Worms--who's the deadliest of them all?
Date: May 10th, 2002

The latest fast-spreading versions of the Klez worm have so far infected more than 7 percent of PCs worldwide, surpassing totals chalked up by previous threats such as SirCam and Nimda, according to a new survey by an antivirus company.

Click here for the whole story...

Subject: Long-awaited privacy bill unveiled
Date: May 9th, 2002

Several U.S. lawmakers introduced a long-awaited privacy bill Wednesday that would allow U.S. businesses to share information about customers who have not explicitly forbidden them to do so.

Click here for the whole story...

Subject: Virus Removal Tools
Date: May 8th, 2002

Viruses have become increasingly complex and virus infections involve more system elements than ever before. Symantec Security Response has developed tools to automatically conduct what would often amount to extensive and tedious manual removal tasks. If your system has become infected, the tools listed below should aid you in repairing the damage

Click here to review Norton's list of virus removal tools.

Subject: Hackers say holes exposed retail data
Date: May 7th, 2002

(IDG) -- White-hat hackers last week discovered vulnerabilities in the wireless networks of two major retailers -- holes that they claimed exposed data that appeared to include customer information.

Click here for the whole story...

Subject: 'Kournikova' virus writer appeals sentence
Date: May 6th, 2002

(IDG) -- Jan de Wit, the 21-year-old Dutchman who was sentenced last September to 150 hours of community service for creating and sending out the "Anna Kournikova" e-mail worm, is appealing the verdict, his lawyer said Friday.

Click here for the whole story...

Subject: Scheduled Network Maintenance
Date: May 5th, 2002

 On Monday Evening, May 20th, we will be performing necessary network
maintenance.  This will require that the email services be interrupted.
We regret any inconvenience this may cause.

 Email services will be interrupted Monday, May 20th, starting at 11:00
PM.  We expect the procedure to take 10 to 12 hours.

 The maintenance work will directly impact your ability to send and
receive email for the duration of the procedure.  All Email transfer
functions will be unavailable during the procedure. 

 You can continue to read emails already downloaded to your computer, and
you may continue to compose new emails, but the send and receive
functions will be temporarily suspended.

 All other network services (Web, etc.) will continue to function
normally.

 CSInet regrets any inconvenience this may cause. We are alerting you two
weeks ahead of the event so that you make necessary arrangements to
accommodate the disruption.

 Thank you for your patience and understanding.

The CSInet server team

Subject: The danger behind a USB port
Date: May 4th, 2002

 Computer security is considered a hot topic nowadays. But the more vulnerabilities and holes are discovered, the more Internet users have the impression there is no way to fully protect their systems. An unusual type of vulnerability was found this Thursday, when websites started alerting for the danger of USB ports. More.

NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) -- The creator of the "Melissa" computer virus was sentenced Wednesday to 20 months in federal prison for causing millions of dollars of damage by disrupting e-mail systems worldwide in 1999.

Click here for the whole story...