OPSEC Professionals Society The OPSEC Professionals Society was established in March 1990 to further the practice of Operations Security as a profession and to foster the highest quality of professionalism and competence among its members. OPSEC is a process used to deny to potential adversaries information about capabilities and/or intentions by identifying, controlling and protecting evidence of the planning and executing of sensitive activities. This process is equally applicable to government, its contractors, and to private enterprise in the protection of their trade secrets and other proprietary information. While military strength and capability still are required during the next years of uncertainty, we must likewise protect our critical economic information and technologies from those who seek to exploit them to their benefit and to our disadvantage.
The Society provides a network through which all members can exchange views and information on such topics as methodology and procedures for planning, conducting and managing OPSEC programs and related activities. Its training sessions and publications emphasize practical and common sense approaches to solving OPSEC problems.

U.S. Navy caught hacking into British marine charity Web site
The U.S. Navy has been caught attempting to break in to secure areas of a World Wide Web site sponsored by a U.K. marine-mammal preservation charity, according to officials at the organization.

SpyLOG Has Sights Set on World
Russian Internet rating agency SpyLOG has crossed the border and is gearing up to market itself in other European countries, including the Czech Republic, Germany and Britain.
But visitors would never guess the agency's origins by glancing at its English-language site, www.mytrix.com. Its Russian roots are nowhere to be found — which is how SpyLOG wants it.
"We conducted polls and concluded that a statistical service that uses the word 'spy' in its name — and which has Russian roots on top of that — would surely provoke fears in people," SpyLOG head Andrei Andreyev, 26, said in an e-mail interview.

Microsoft withdraws Windows XP security claim
A promotional Web site for Microsoft's soon-to-be-released Windows XP operating system said it would offer the same protection from viruses and hackers that major corporations use, but the company has since rescinded those assurances.

...:::[Root-Core Network]:::...
Root-Core was formaly know as Neblonica and was founded in 1998. In 1999 the named changed to Root-Core. We mainly focus on information sharing not causing havoc. We do not spend all day searching for boxes to root. We are a open group, we almost always accept members.

Computer Key Stroke Logger
The KEYKatcher Monitors computer use in the home or the office and insures computer usage policy compliance. The KEYKatcher is a tiny recording device that clips onto your keyboard cable. It's used to log keystrokes typed on the computer. It doesn't require any external power source and it installs in less than 10 seconds. The KEYKatcher records all keystrokes, and stores them in a non-volatile memory. Even if the device is unplugged, or your computer is turned off, the KEYKatcher will continue to store the information.

[lf] Cyber Citizen lands Felony Charges?
Brian K. West, who did nothing more than try to get a local copy of an html document to pre-test how an ad would look on a webpage, using Microsoft FrontPage, may well have his reputation ruined and his finances destroyed as a result of his actions. He did not deface the site. He did not damage anything. He accidentally found a security hole, tested it to make sure it was real, and then called the owner of the site to inform him of the problem. In short, West faces a felony conviction for telling the Poteau Daily News that he discovered a serious misconfiguration in their server.

Weekend: Encryption effort
There have been many articles recently extolling the virtues of encrypting your communications via the internet. But there is another side to this debate. Russell Kay, senior reviews editor of Computerworld in the US, gives us his view.

Components of the Nigerian Letter Scam

The Nigerian Letter Scam and its infinite variations has been around since the late 70's and is probably known by every fraud officer in the world. This scam has now moved from being committed through snail mail to being committed via e-mail but its essential components are remain the same. The only difference is that the perpetrators have become more sophisticated in their letter writing.

In its simplest form, the scam involves an innocent recipient who receives a letter from an individual posing as a Government Official or an officer of a Nigerian state business who claims to have stolen millions of dollars and needs to get the money out of the country. The person cannot use his own bank account and therefore asks to send money to your bank account after which he would give you 10-35% of the money in exchange for this service. Once the fraudster has your account number he then empties your account.