(Associated Press/Reuters, 24 March) The Associated Press reports that two 18-year-old boys, one identified as Raphael Gray (known online as "Curador"), were arrested Friday in Britain on charges of breaking into e-commerce Internet sites in five countries, stealing information on more than 26,000 credit card accounts, and posting some of it on the Web. "Curador" reportedly obtained the credit card details of Microsoft's Bill Gates, and claimed "I just wanted to prove how insecure these sites are. I have done the honest thing, but I have been ignored.'' The pair was arrested in connection with intrusions into nine e-commerce Web sites in the U.S., Canada, Thailand, Japan and the UK over the past several months. The FBI estimated the intrusions by "Curador" could result in losses of more than $3 million. The case was investigated by the FBI, the Dyfed-Powys Police Service, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Internet security consultants. (Com/news, 27 March) The Civil Police of Sao Paulo yesterday tracked down a member of Inferno.br, one of the most famous hacker groups in Brazil. According to Police Chief Mauro Marcelo de Lima e Silva, one of the group's leaders, whose nickname is Jamiez Jamiez, was arrested at his house and had two PCs and other equipment confiscated. The Inferno.br group has been active since September 1998 and has reportedly hacked dozens of sites, becoming well known in the underground. According to Silva, Microsoft helped the police by breaking the Hotmail account used by the group. The police chief didn't reveal Jamiez's real name, but said that he is 22 years old and works as a security analyst for a company in Brazil. Jamiez is free while he mounts his defense, and according to Silva, jailing him is unlikely because he doesn't have a criminal record. Inferno.br has allegedly hacked sites belonging to NASA, NATO, and a number of other local government sites. Three days before his house was searched, Jamiez gave an exclusive interview to IDG Now. He said the group consists of four young men with ages ranging between 19 and 22. The most difficult Web site the group has ever hacked was NATO, last December, he said. (DIA, 25 February) An international hacker convention known as "Y2HACK" is to be held in Tel Aviv, Israel, from 28-30 March at the Israel Trade Fairs Convention Center. This meeting is to be held in conjunction with the Internet World Exhibition. This is the first ever Israeli-hosted hacker conference and will include discussion panels involving personnel from the Israeli Defense Force, Israeli law enforcement, Israeli computer security vendors, and other guest speakers. Conference literature can be found at <http://www.2600.org.il. (AFP, 24 March) Japanese police yesterday made their first arrest under a new anti-hacker law that prohibits unauthorized Web site access. Police arrested 34 year-old Hideki Kobayashi for attempting to hack into an Internet provider system in Tokyo earlier this month and for selling user identification codes and passwords over the Internet. Kobayashi was selling the ID's and passwords for between 5,000 yen and 30,000 yen (US $47-$284). (AFP, 27 March) An unknown computer hacker vandalized the Web site of the Philippines foreign department on Monday, forcing the government to shut the site down. The intruder, with the code name "string.h" redirected the link of the department's mission statement to a profanity-laced page which attacked the government's alleged lack of concern for millions of Filipinos working abroad. The department's web master said it was the first time the foreign department site had been vandalized. The Web site was set up in April last year. IMPORTANT NOTICE: If you are not using HushMail, this message could have been read easily by the many people who have access to your open personal email messages. Get your FREE, totally secure email address at http://www.hushmail.com.
