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European officials continue a push to persuade more countries to sign up to an international effort combating cybercrime. At a recent conference, delegates from governments, police forces and businesses around the world met to discuss the ratification of the Council of Europe's Cybercrime Convention. So far 30 countries have signed the treaty, which aims to align international law on cybercrime, but only eight have actually implemented it in national law. The United Kingdom has signed the convention, but has not yet ratified it. The treaty came into force in July of this year. Some governments are said to be wary of potentially being required to make data on their citizens available to other governments. In 2002, the United States announced it wouldn't adhere to the protocol, which it says would be against its Constitution. Cybercrime issues discussed at the conference include fraud, copyright and child pornography. A former help-desk worker at a New York company that provides credit reports to banks and other lenders pleaded guilty recently for his role in what federal prosecutors said was the largest identity theft case ever. Philip Cummings, 35, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wire fraud and fraud in connection with the scheme that victimized more than 30,000 people. He had been arrested and charged, along with several others, in November 2002. At the time, prosecutors said losses of more than $2.7 million were confirmed. Under federal guidelines, Cummings could be sentenced to at least 14 years in prison and pay a fine up to $1 million. However, Cummings, who suffers from heart problems and hypertension, can seek a more lenient term due to his health. Sentencing is set for Jan. 11. The charges state that while Cummings worked at Long Island-based Teledata Communications from mid-1999 to 2000, he sold to an unidentified person passwords and codes for downloading consumer credit reports. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said that it will order airlines to hand over the complete records of all passengers who traveled on a domestic flight in the month of June. The department's Transportation Security Administration said that the requirement is necessary to test a controversial computer "prescreening" system that attempts to identify terrorists before passengers are permitted to board their flight. The system is called Secure Flight. The information that airlines will be required to divulge by Oct. 29 includes, at a minimum, the passenger's name, reservation date, travel agent, itinerary information, form of payment, flight number and seating information. TSA said that it will use those passenger records in two ways. First, it will verify that Secure Flight is able to match information on air travelers with records stored in government databases. Second, it will combine the passenger records with data purchased from unspecified "commercial data aggregators who provide services to the banking, home mortgage and credit industries" to see how much it may help the data-mining process. Airlines will have a month to comment on the proposal before it takes effect. They will be required to divulge passenger records on optical media in an XML or other structure data format if available. Online credit card processor Authorize.net recently acknowledged that large-scale data attacks have disrupted credit card processing for its Internet merchants over the last week. The service, a business unit of data-processing company Lightbridge, experienced intermittent outages due to a flood of data from a large number of computers on the Internet, what's known as a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. The start of the attack, on Sept. 15, coincided with the company laying off 12 % of its work force. But retribution was not considered as a motive for the attack, because the company had received an extortion letter before the layoffs were announced. The company is cooperating with federal law enforcement to investigate the attacks and find the source. Some companies are upset that Lightbridge failed to notify its customers immediately. The first notice his company received from Authorize.net regarding the outage came nearly a week after the software seller first started having credit card-processing problems. Experts agree that online extortion has become increasingly common with companies that don't pay demands being faced with a flood of data attacks that disrupt their Internet service. Denial-of-service attacks are no longer just the problem of Internet service providers; companies that rely on the Internet need to make their own plans to deal with such attacks. E-COMMERCE RELATED EVENTS AND INFORMATION The following are links to upcoming seminars and other events that our readers might have an interest in and/or other information related to e-commerce. eBizITPA is bringing its most popular class, "Internet Marketing and Sales Strategies," to a location near you on Friday, October 29, 2004, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Brought to you through a partnership with the Ben Franklin Venture Investment Forum, the class will be broadcast live via video conference from Penn State Behrend's Irvin Kochel Center. A The class will be taught by eMarketing expert A.J. Miceli, Chair of Communication Arts at Gannon University, founder of ErieNet, Inc. and Director of Marketing at FishUSA.com. By taking the course, participants will gain an understanding of a variety of e-selling applications and tools, and will learn how e-selling can drive new business to their organization and provide existing customers with a convenient way to access products. Cost of the class is $65.00, including continental breakfast, lunch and an information package. For more information or to register before September 30, contact Denise Brooks at 814-898-6500 or denise.brooks@ebizitpa.org <mailto:denise.brooks@ebizitpa.org>. After September 30, go to www.ebizitpa.org/videoconf <http://www.ebizitpa.org/videoconf> to register. All registrations must be received by October 21. Register now, as seating is limited! PROCUREMENT AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES The following is a listing of recently published technology procurement or Federally funded opportunities with various governmental entities. We hope our readers take the opportunity to investigate these postings and increase their business : Department
of Defense (DoD) The Air Force seeks to advance clock technology to support the development of military satellites. The goal is to (1) provide an initial industrial base to support further development and procurement and (2) develop space-qualified Advanced Technology Atomic Frequency Standards suitable for use on future military satellites. Multiple contract awards having a three-year project period are anticipated. Prospective contractors should submit capability statements by due Oct. 5, 2004. More information is available at: http://www1.eps.gov/spg/USAF/AFSC/SMCSMSC/Reference%2DNumber%2D76/listing.html The Air Force
also is requesting information and follow-up discussions to
support research and development of rapid response
imaging spectrometer sensor payloads suitable for
integration on a government-provided spacecraft bus and interface
to government furnished data storage and processing system
as part of a rapid development experiment. No awards are anticipated
for this information. Responses are due Sept. 28, 2004. More
information is available at: http://www1.eps.gov/spg/USAF/AFMC/AFRLPLSVD/Reference%2DNumber%2DHATS%2D1/ The Department
of the Navy is seeking sources that can provide engineering,
software development, test and evaluation, and program management
services in support of ocean surveillance systems.
Interested small business sources should submit responses by
Oct. 4, 2004. A competitive, multiple-award solicitation is
expected to be released on or about Nov. 15, 2004. More information
is available at: http://www1.eps.gov/spg/DON/SPAWAR/SPAWARSYSCEN_San_Diego/SSC%2DSan The Navy also is soliciting proposals for technologies that will significantly increase the mission performance and operational capabilities of Naval Air Vehicles, as well as reduce the total ownership cost and improve system readiness. Specifically needed is research for advanced gas turbine propulsion component and materials technologies for fighter/attack aircraft engines, patrol/surveillence and rotary wing aircraft engines, missile and unmanned aerial vehicles, and uninhabited combat air vehicles engines. Contract awards are anticipated. Proposals may be submitted at any time until Sept. 30, 2005. More information is available at: http://www1.eps.gov/spg/DON/NAVAIR/N00421/N00421%2D04%2DR%2D0040/listing.html Department
of Labor NASA GSFC also is seeking an industry partner to participate in the Troposhperic Winds Lidar Technology Demonstration. The selected partner will assist in the preparation of the initial proposal, participate in the engineering design phase of the project, and oversee the development of the contributed Doppler lidar enabling technology, system or subsystem. Notices of intent are due Sept. 21, 2004; oral presentation packages are due Sept. 28, 2004. More information is available at: http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eps/synopsis.cgi?acqid=112525 Source: www.ssti.org NEWS & NOTES is a service of the
PA e-Commerce Association. Please forward this e-mail to anyone else who
might be interested in the content or in learning more about the Association.
Remember to visit our website @ www.paecomm.org. or give us a call at
800-497-0809.
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