New "TXTMob" Messaging Available for Convention Protests

Protestors at last week's Democratic National Convention had a new tool in
their arsenal — a text messaging service designed just for them.

"TXTMob,"
as the service is called, allows users to quickly and easily broadcast
text messages to groups of cellphones. The system works much like an
electronic b-board: users subscribe to various lists, and receive messages
directly on their phones.

bin Laden 'Suicide' Virus Pitched to Online Newsgroups

Message Designed To Lure Readers Into Trojan Horses

SEATTLE, Washington (Reuters) — A virus purporting to show images of Osama bin Laden's suicide popped up on the Internet Friday, designed to entice recipients to open a file that unleashes malicious software code, security experts said.

The virus was attached to a message that was posted on over 30,000 usenet newsgroups and is not being spread via e-mail, said Web security vendor Sophos.

The U.S. government has been hunting for bin Laden since 2001, holding him responsible for masterminding the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001, but he has not yet been found.

Chris Kraft, senior security analyst at Sophos, said the message and virus was designed to lure unsuspecting readers into opening a file, similar to the Anna Kournikova virus that enticed readers to open a file that unleashed malicious software code.

"If you don't know the person or the origin of a message, you shouldn't be opening it," Kraft said.

The fake bin Laden suicide file, when opened, unleashes a program called a Trojan horse that makes it possible for attackers to take over infected personal computers running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system.

Kraft said the virus itself had already appeared on the Internet before, but the virus writer had apparently repackaged it by saying it contained bin Laden's suicide photos.

kirsten anderberg writes:

"The Gold of the Nuclear Age:
Lost and Stolen Nuclear Materials"
Kirsten Anderberg

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (www.lanl.gov) in New Mexico, USA, the birthplace of the atomic bomb, has halted much of its operations as of July 15, 2004, in an unprecedented, and open-ended, shut down of important “secret work,” until security breaches can be seriously addressed.

Citing the loss of two computer discs containing classified information from the testing and design facility of the plant, during the first week in July 2004, as well as other security concerns, the nuclear plant is regrouping. In the last year and a half, Los Alamos has admitted losing classified materials four times, according to the Albuquerque Journal. And the Associated Press is reporting that in the last year, Los Alamos employees lost 9 floppy discs, a large-capacity storage disk full of classified information, and a recordable data storage device, and the lab officials say these materials are “believed” to have been destroyed.