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by CSO Contributor

Diplomatic Window Closed on Iraq, Bush to Address Nation Tonight; Armey Says Justice Department Exploits Threats, Identity Theft and Bandwidth Theft

News
Mar 17, 20032 mins
CSO and CISOData and Information Security

Diplomatic Window Closed, Bush to Address Nation Tonight

According to a Reuters report in The New York Times today, the United States, Britain and Spain today ended diplomatic efforts to win U.N. approval for an ultimatum to Iraq, clearing the way for them to launch a war without Security Council authority. The White House announced that President Bush will issue an ultimatum to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein Monday night that Saddam step down or face war. “The president will address the” nation at 8 p.m. He will say that to avoid military conflict, Saddam Hussein must leave the country,” the Times quotes spokesman Ari Fleischer. “The next move will be up to Saddam Hussein.” Armey Says Justice Department Exploits Threats

Former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey blasted his fellow Republicans for a “lust” to violate individual privacy rights in the name of fighting terrorism, according to a report by IDG News. The story reports that Armey mentioned the FBI’s Carnivore e-mail spying program and the proposed Terrorism Information and Prevention System, known as TIPS, which would have encouraged U.S. citizens to report suspicious activity by others, as examples of programs that the Justice Department tried to justify with threats of terrorism.

Identity Theft and Bandwidth TheftUSA Today writes that increasingly, hackers are seeking profit rather than just fun, and computer identity continues to be a fast-growing cybercrime, especially among financial services. Last month was a record month for credit card information theft. The Justice Department is encouraging banks that are victims of computer crimes to be more forthcoming with details to aid authorities in the arrest and prosecution of hackers, but many banks are still hesitant to report break-ins, fearing they’ll scare away customers. The Dayton Daily News today reports on a range of hacker crimes, and looks at how the University of Daytons network security officer battles incursions into the schools many computers. With more powerful computers and tools than ever at their fingertips, the story says, cyber intruders are inflicting billions of dollars in financial losses and computer downtime on a wired nation. Theyre stealing trade secrets and credit card numbers, defrauding banks, defacing Web sites, disrupting computer operations and bombarding consumers with millions of unwanted, sometimes offensive and often fraudulent e-mail ads.

Two recent stories cover some of the biggest dangers posed by hackers.