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Identity Theft NewsMarch 12, 2010 Database state breached 11 timesHome Secretary Alan Johnson has given Parliament some details on the most recent breaches of the various identity databases held by his ministry. ...read full article March 12, 2010 TJX Hacking Conspirator Gets 4 YearsHumza Zaman, a co-conspirator in the hack of TJX and other companies, was sentenced Thursday in Boston to 46 months in prison and fined $75,000 for his role in the conspiracy. The sentence matches what prosecutors were seeking. ...read full article March 12, 2010 Monoprice.com Shuttered After Fraud ComplaintsAudio visual cabling giant monoprice.com shut down its Web site – possibly for the next couple of weeks – while it investigates the possible compromise of its customer credit and debit card information. ...read full article March 12, 2010 Computer stolen from bank contained customer informationTHEFT, WILSON MILLS ROAD: On March 1, a financial advisor at US Bank, 5154 Wilson Mills, reported a laptop missing from his desk. ...read full article March 12, 2010 Ex-TSA worker allegedly sabotaged computer containing terrorist dataA former Transport Security Administration analyst has been indicted with trying to sabotage a computer that contained a database for screening potential terrorists who may be trying to fly in the US. ...read full article March 12, 2010 Bank phishing profits up by 14 per centOnline banking losses rose last year by 14%, according to the UK Cards Association, although overall losses card fraud fell. ...read full article March 12, 2010 Rise in online fraud highlights computer security needsIndividuals need to step up their computer security efforts as online fraudsters increasingly target home users rather than larger corporations, it has been claimed. ...read full article March 12, 2010 Sarah Palin testifying against hackerFormer Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will testify in person next month against a college student who hacked into her e-mail account during the presidential campaign, Palin’s lawyer confirmed to POLITICO. ...read full article March 12, 2010 India, Mexico, Brazil have most Mariposa botsAn analysis of the dismantled Mariposa botnet has revealed that it consisted of 13 million infected PCs spanning 190 countries and 31,901 cities worldwide, according to anti-virus vendor Panda Security. ...read full article March 12, 2010 Koobface worm can double command and control servers in 48 hoursThe Koobface worm, which targets social networking sites, can double the number of command and control (C&C) servers in 48 hours, says security firm Kaspersky Lab. ...read full article March 12, 2010 USB stick blamed for DHB's virus shut-downA USB stick inserted in a carpark booth computer at Waikato Hospital has been blamed for bringing down the district health board's computer network in December last year. ...read full article March 12, 2010 Turkey examines PKK hacker ringTurkish police rounded up more than 20 suspects in 13 provinces on allegations of computer hacking and ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party. ...read full article March 12, 2010 McAfee inadvertently speeds creation of Metaploit IE exploit packA security researcher has credited McAfee for helping him to develop exploit code that cracks open an unpatched flaw in older versions of Internet Explorer. ...read full article March 12, 2010 Safari update cages numerous security bugsApple published an update of its Safari browser on Thursday that plugs 16 security vulnerabilities. ...read full article March 12, 2010 SSD tools crack passwords 100 times fasterPassword-cracking tools optimised to work with SSDs have achieved speeds up to 100 times quicker than previously possible. ...read full article March 12, 2010 Drummond Group in EHR testing for the "long term"Officials at Drummond Group, Inc., announced on the company's blog that after a "thorough review" of the recent notice of proposed rule making, it will apply this year to become an Office of the National Coordinator-Authorized Testing and Certification Body (ONC-ATCB). ...read full article March 12, 2010 Vodafone HTC Smartphone Ships With MalwareResearchers at antivirus software vendor Panda Security are used to finding malicious code in every nook and cranny of the Internet. But this week they stumbled across something even more concerning: a colleague's new Vodafone HTC Magic smartphone was shipped with a motley assortment of malware samples, including the potent Mariposa botnet. ...read full article March 12, 2010 Medical records found in drive-thru trash canWhen a fast food worker found three folders with private information on three different people, he decided to call KENS 5. We tracked down the three men who were none too happy to find their personal information compromised. ...read full article March 12, 2010 Financial ID theft on riseProtecting your personal information requires more than keeping your credit card safe as savvy thieves now target businesses and organizations that have access to personal data. ...read full article March 12, 2010 Utah State Legislature ID LawNew legislation is being introduced in the Utah State Legislature that supporters say would help protect children from identity theft. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is pushing the bill aimed at protecting the identity of Utah state children. ...read full article March 12, 2010 Medical Records the Latest Target for ID ThievesHealth insurance is becoming a new target for identity thieves. ...read full article March 12, 2010 SEC halts alleged Ponzi scheme targeting Ill., Calif. retireesThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission received an emergency court order to shut down an alleged Ponzi scheme targeting retirees in California and Illinois it says took in $20 million with only $900,000 currently in the possession of the alleged perpetrators. ...read full article March 12, 2010 Owner of Club Kalua Arrested for Allegedly Running $2 Million Queens Mortgage SchemeQueens County, the new hotbed of white collar crime and prosecutions, is the home of another alleged fraudulent scheme being prosecuted by the Queens County District Attorney's Office. According to a Queens County District Attorney's Office press release, Roger Arias, Martina Duran (a.k.a. Gladys Arroyo), Aldo Bussi, Ramon Gaston, and Percy Randall are alleged to have taken part in a $2 million Mortgage Fraud and Identity Theft scheme. ...read full article March 12, 2010 ZeuS botnet code keeps getting better for criminalsNew capabilities are strengthening the ZeuS botnet, which criminals use to steal financial credentials and execute unauthorized transactions in online banking, automated clearing house (ACH) networks and payroll systems. The latest version of this cybercrime toolkit, which starts at about $3,000, offers a $10,000 module that can let attackers completely take control of a compromised PC. ...read full article March 12, 2010 Security industry faces attacks it cannot stopAnalysis: Today's security products not much help for advanced persistent threat attacks...read full article March 12, 2010 Tighter security coming for .org namesThe Public Interest Registry will add an extra layer of security known as DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) to the .org domain in June -- a move that will protect millions of non-profit organizations and their donors from hacking attacks known as cache poisoning. ...read full article March 11, 2010 Man charged with faking medals goes to courtHUNTSVILLE, Ala. — A 26-year-old man accused of wearing military medals he didn't earn is due in federal court in Huntsville on Thursday for arraignment. ...read full article March 11, 2010 HSBC: Data Theft Incident Broader Than First ThoughtHSBC said Thursday about 15,000 accounts of its Swiss private banking unit were compromised after an employee allegedly stole data, some of which ended up in the hands of French tax authorities. ...read full article March 11, 2010 Former TSA analyst charged with computer tamperingIDG News Service - A U.S. Transportation Security Administration analyst has been indicted for allegedly tampering with databases used by the TSA to identify possible terrorists who may be trying to fly in the U.S. ...read full article March 11, 2010 $20 Million Ponzi in L.A., SEC SaysLOS ANGELES (CN) - The SEC obtained an emergency order to stop a $20 million Ponzi scam that invited suckers to meetings at country clubs and banquet halls, then promised 11 percent returns on "Turkish Eurobonds," federal prosecutors say. The SEC says Francois Durmaz and Robert Pribilski preyed on retirees through USA Retirement Management Services, with offices in Irvine, Los Angeles, and Oakbrook Terrace, Ill. ...read full article March 11, 2010 FTC Releases Agenda for Final Roundtable on Consumer PrivacyThe Federal Trade Commission has released the agenda for its final roundtable on consumer privacy issues scheduled for March 17, 2010, at the FTC Conference Center, 601 New Jersey Ave,. NW Washington DC, 20001. The Roundtable is the last of three public events designed to explore the privacy challenges that are posed by technology and business practices that collect and use consumer data. The agenda, http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/privacyroundtables/index.shtm includes a panel addressing Internet architecture and privacy issues, panels focusing on health and other sensitive consumer information, and a concluding panel to discuss lessons that have been learned from all three roundtables and possible ways forward. ...read full article March 11, 2010 Thrivent Financial Suffers Breach Of SecurityA Great Lakes-based insurer says it has suffered a security breach that may have compromised sensitive client data. ...read full article March 11, 2010 Citibank apologizes after exposing 600,000 Social Security numbersRead any good envelopes lately? If you did and you have criminal intent, you might have just won the identity-theft lottery. ...read full article March 11, 2010 Six newly revealed breaches on HHS siteIt seems that using the new HHS/OCR web site will be even more difficult to use than I anticipated, as they are sorting breach reports by the date of breach, not date that the incident was added to their site, so I have to review the entire list to see what’s been added instead of just looking for what’s new at the top of the list. ...read full article March 11, 2010 Reader exploit prompts Adobe update alertMalicious PDF downloads a Trojan backdoor onto systems that have not implemented the patch issued only three weeks ago ...read full article March 11, 2010 EU Parliament rejects secretive ACTA in vote for opennessComputerworld UK - The European Union's Parliament has approved a common resolution that calls for openness over the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), voting 663-to-13 vote that ACTA contradicts agreed EU laws on counterfeiting and piracy online. ...read full article March 11, 2010 Pennsylvania's Web security officer leaves post a week after talking about PennDOT hacking incidentLast week, Pennsylvania’s chief information security officer Robert Maley was at an information security conference in San Francisco talking about a hacking incident involving PennDOT’s computers. This week, Maley is gone. ...read full article March 10, 2010 LifeLock Will Pay $12 Million to Settle Charges by the FTC and 35 States That Identity Theft Prevention and Data Security Claims Were FalseLifeLock, Inc. has agreed to pay $11 million to the Federal Trade Commission and $1 million to a group of 35 state attorneys general to settle charges that the company used false claims to promote its identity theft protection services, which it widely advertised by displaying the CEO’s Social Security number on the side of a truck.. ...read full article March 10, 2010 VA investigating security breach of veterans' medical dataThe Veterans Affairs Department's inspector general has launched a criminal investigation into a physician assistant's alleged downloading of veterans' clinical data at its Atlanta medical center, sources have told Nextgov. ...read full article March 10, 2010 Breaches Affecting 500 or More IndividualsAs required by section 13402(e)(4) of the HITECH Act, the Secretary must post a list of breaches of unsecured protected health information affecting 500 or more individuals. The following breaches have been reported to the Secretary. ...read full article March 10, 2010 Breach hits hundreds of employeesA data breach involving unauthorized access to paper records of Brown employees and their family members occurred in December, and Brown officials were notified of the breach Jan. 5, said David Sherry, chief information security officer. ...read full article March 10, 2010 UTMB sends more letters to possible ID theft victimsOne month after mailing letters to 1,200 patients whose confidential information may have been stolen in 2009, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston this week sent 1,200 letters to other patients whose financial data could have been breached by the same person. ...read full article March 10, 2010 Perceived Security vs. Real Vulnerability: Is Your Data at Risk?Combining the benefits of automated governed and managed file transfer in one centralized, highly secure platform allows organizations the flexibility to implement more modern, efficient file transfer processes, easily add new partners, and speed up the delivery of new business services to customers. ...read full article March 10, 2010 UK plastic fraud losses fall for first time in 3 yearsOnline banking losses up though...read full article March 10, 2010 Twitter adds filter to cut phishing linesTwitter has tightened up security procedures in order to curtail phishing attacks against users of the micro-blogging service, which have become rampant over recent weeks. ...read full article March 10, 2010 Suburban woman accused of using net to recruit terroristsFeds cuff JihadJaneMarch 10, 2010 Fears of increased identity fraud as bankruptcy goes onlineThe introduction of a new online system for bankruptcy petitions has raised concerns that fraudsters may use the system for criminal activity. ...read full article March 10, 2010 Cybersecurity program has serious defects, GAO saysImplementing the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, a broad program intended to protect the nation’s cyber infrastructure, has been hampered by a lack of coordination and transparency, according to the Government Accountability Office. ...read full article March 10, 2010 Phony Web Site Targets Madoff Victims, Claims $1.3B Discovered In HideoutVictims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme are being warned of another possible scam – a suspicious Web site claiming $1.3 billion has been recovered from a Madoff hideout in Malaysia and asking investors to submit personal information to obtain their share of the money. ...read full article March 10, 2010 Woman admits to stealing her young daughter's identitityMisti Cope, 31, was accused of defaulting on $1,200 in payments to Duke Energy in May 2007 on an account in her then-4-year-old daughter’s name, Hamilton County court records show. ...read full article March 10, 2010 Those seeking license renewal driven to frustrationFor Charlotte Cooper, getting a renewed Florida driver's license has been a challenge to her patience as well as her pocketbook. ...read full article March 9, 2010 Prosecutors charge trio in identity theft ring that netted $2 millionProsecutors charged a trio of suspected identity thieves each with nearly two dozen criminal charges Monday for allegedly taking $2 million by using credit card skimming technology at gas pumps. ...read full article March 9, 2010 Missing Hard Drive Risks ID Of 35,000 Ark. SoldiersThe Arkansas National Guard now said 35,000 current and former soldiers are at risk of identity theft because of a missing computer hard drive. ...read full article March 9, 2010 IRS warns of e-mail scamThe Internal Revenue Service warns taxpayers that e-mail scams are circulating that fraudulently use the IRS name or logo as a lure. ...read full article March 9, 2010 Cybercrimes expand to global brandsWhile financial institutions still top the phishing radar, cybercriminals are now moving beyond to top brands, with one of the recent victims being a hardware manufacturer, according to the latest Anti-Phishing Work Group report. ...read full article March 9, 2010 Seagate identity thieves nabbed for murderSwiping Irina Malezhik and Viktor Alekseyev’s identities wasn’t enough. Dimitry and Julia Yakovlev had to take their lives as well, federal prosecutors announced last week when they filed murder and fraud charges against the Sea Gate couple. ...read full article March 9, 2010 Medical Identity Theft: How to Protect YourselfVictims Say Credit Reputations Ruined by Medical Identity Thieves...read full article March 9, 2010 The dark side of digital ‘love’Sometimes, the click of a mouse can be a hurtful tool in the wrong hands...read full article March 9, 2010 Sophisticated Minnesota fraud ring has global tentaclesInvestigators say members steal ID, credit card and ATM data from banks and trash cans....read full article March 9, 2010 Brother, can you spare an identity?A South Philadelphia man pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to stealing his brother's identity in connection with a scheme to fleece the Veterans Administration for free medical benefits at a methadone clinic. ...read full article March 9, 2010 High School Reunion Ruin: Classmates.com Sued Over Opt-Out Privacy Setting ChangeTwo members of networking site Classmates.com have sued the service for allegedly violating their privacy by revising the service to make members' information more accessible to the Web at large. ...read full article March 9, 2010 Opera confirms critical browser bugOpera Software yesterday confirmed a critical vulnerability in its Windows desktop browser, and said it is working on a patch. ...read full article March 9, 2010 FDIC: Hackers took more than $120M in three monthsOngoing computer scams targeting small businesses cost U.S. companies $25 million in the third quarter of 2009, according to the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. ...read full article March 9, 2010 Police: Man Eyed in 2nd Calif. Teen MurderA registered sex offender charged with murdering a teen girl last month is a focus of the investigation into the death of a 14-year-old girl whose remains were found more than a year after she disappeared near her school, police said Monday. ...read full article March 8, 2010 IT scurries to meet e-health records deadlineHealth care providers must start EHR projects before the feds finish writing the rulesComputerworld - U.S. hospitals and physicians have four years to deploy comprehensive electronic health records (EHR) systems if they hope to snag some of the billions of dollars the federal government has earmarked to reimburse them for the work. ...read full article March 8, 2010 USB battery charger installs TrojanThe software that shows to which extent the battery is charged through the Energizer DUO USB recharger comes bundled up with a Trojan, says US CERT. ...read full article March 8, 2010 Is chasing cybercrooks worth it?(CNN) -- This week's arrests of three men in connection with one of the world's largest computer-virus networks may seem like great news -- perhaps even a sign authorities are starting to win the war against cyberthieves. ...read full article March 8, 2010 Thailand approves credit card hacker's extradition to USIDG News Service - A Thai court has approved the extradition to the U.S. of a Malaysian man allegedly involved in hacking credit card information, causing massive losses for victims in the U.S. ...read full article March 8, 2010 Zuckerberg hacked into journalists' email?The renowned Facebook co-founder has been accused three years ago of stealing the source code and the business plan for the social network from some Harvard colleagues and for sabotaging their efforts by delaying the development of their site so that Facebook could be the first one to see the light. ...read full article March 8, 2010 Phishers Targeting More Online BrandsThe latest survey by the Anti Phishing Working Group shows that organized phishing syndicates are working all the angles to get their hands on the most valuable data. ...read full article March 8, 2010 Spear phishing aimed at high-value targets increasesSpear phishing aimed at high-value targets increases. The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) released its Q4, 2009 Phishing Activity Trends Report, which reveals that eCrime syndicates are expanding the base of brands they exploit for online fraud far beyond major financial institutions and online merchants, with the number of hijacked brands reaching a record 356 in October, up nearly 4.4 percent from the previous record of 341 in August 2009. ...read full article March 8, 2010 Police get Webcam pictures in school spy caseTwo IT employees at Pennsylvania's Lower Merion School District have been put on administrative leave, and pictures taken from Webcams on school-issued computers have been turned over to the local police department, according to the attorney of one of the employees now on leave. ...read full article March 8, 2010 Shands notifies 12,500 patients that data at riskShands HealthCare has notified about 12,500 patients that a laptop containing their medical information was stolen in January. ...read full article March 8, 2010 UWMC patient financial information compromisedIn early February, an employee of the National Collection Office (NCO) Financial Systems Inc., a debt-collection agency that UW Medicine contracts with, violated security and compromised at least 50 confirmed contacts, and as many as 80 more are being investigated. ...read full article March 8, 2010 Argos exposes customers' credit-card numbers in emailsHigh street retailer Argos has compromised its customers' security by sending their credit-card details - including the vital security code - in unencrypted emails. ...read full article March 8, 2010 UT Southwestern alerts patients of possible identity theftThe University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center is advising 12,000 patients to guard against fraud after a former employee was found in possession of a limited amount of patient billing data. ...read full article March 8, 2010 Westin hotel in LA reports possible data breachIDG News Service - People who stayed at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in Los Angeles last year and used their credit or debit card to eat there should keep a close eye on their bank statements. ...read full article March 8, 2010 Internet hit by wave of ransom malwareCriminals re-used an attack from 2008 to hit the Internet with a huge wave of ransomware in recent weeks, a security company has reported. ...read full article March 8, 2010 US citizen a key player in alleged Italian telecom fraudIDG News Service - An apparently well-connected Soviet-born U.S. citizen has emerged as a key player in a massive Italian telecom fraud, according to court documents and published reports. ...read full article March 8, 2010 Feds indict couple again in theft, sale of patients' dataLast year, they were charged with running a racket to pilfer patient records from Jackson Memorial Hospital to sell to lawyers for personal-injury claims. ...read full article March 8, 2010 Biometric answer to ID fraud has limits: expert(Reuters) - The advent of the electronic frontier will limit the kind of identity fraud perpetrated by the killers of a Hamas commander in Dubai but will not eradicate the practice entirely, a border security expert says. ...read full article March 8, 2010 Fake drug peddlers hijack academic websitesLegal sites are often compromised and used as a stepping stone through which the user is taken to a malicious site. ...read full article March 8, 2010 Security and Privacy? Forget About ItSecuring the United States' digital infrastructure against foreign and domestic cyberattacks could mean less privacy for Internet users. Security experts are debating just how far the government should be allowed to snoop -- or whether private enterprises, not government agencies, should be the ones doing the snooping in the first place. ...read full article March 8, 2010 Paypal freezes CryptomeeBay Inc has suspended Cryptome's PayPal account, confiscating donations made to the site in the past two weeks. New York architect John Young has refunded around $5,300 to donors. ...read full article March 8, 2010 Four Indicted in $25 Million Scheme Defrauding and Hacking Ticketmaster, Tickets.com, and Other Ticket VendorsThree men who used fraud, deceit, and computer hacking to make more than $25 million by acquiring and reselling more than 1.5 million of the most coveted tickets to concerts, sporting events, and live entertainment throughout the United States surrendered to federal authorities this morning after being charged in an Indictment, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. ...read full article March 8, 2010 E-Verify misses half of illegal workers, can't detect fraud, research company saysThe system that Congress and the Obama administration want employers to use to help curb illegal immigration is failing to catch more than half of the unauthorized workers it checks, a research company has found. ...read full article March 8, 2010 S. Florida couple accused of stealing, selling patient info — againLast year, they were charged with running a racket to pilfer patient records from Jackson Memorial Hospital to sell to lawyers for personal-injury claims. ...read full article March 8, 2010 FBI Warns Brewing Cyberwar May Have Same Impact as 'Well-Placed Bomb'NATO and America's European allies are sounding the alarm over what they say are increased cyber attacks originating from China that are targeting key government and intelligence computers. ...read full article March 8, 2010 Rai$ing the dead in Medicaid 'rip-offs'Paging Dr. Frankenstein. A massive state audit claims that health-care providers billed Medicaid for services provided to 287 dead patients. ...read full article March 5, 2010 FBI embeds cyber-investigators in Ukraine, EstoniaIDG News Service - Hoping to catch cybercrooks, the FBI has begun embedding agents with law enforcement agencies in Estonia, the Ukraine and the Netherlands. ...read full article March 5, 2010 Class Says Internet Dating Site Loots Their Address BooksLOS ANGELES (CN) - Internet dating site WooMe.com loots email address books and uses them to solicit new members with viral email that makes it appear the messages come from friends, according to a federal class action. The class claims that Irvine-based WooMe promises it will not use their personal email information, but uses licensed software to copy their "entire email address book ... to send its solicitation emails to all the users' contacts who are not WooMe subscribers." ...read full article March 5, 2010 Cloud security, cyber war loom over RSA ConferenceTrusting corporate data to the cloud is a risk to be dealt with, experts saySAN FRANSISCO -- Cloud security loomed over the RSA Conference this week as a major concern of business, but worry about the threat of cyber war was also strong, with officials from the White House and FBI weighing in to encourage private participation in government efforts to defend information and communications networks. ...read full article March 5, 2010 FBI Director: Hackers have corrupted valuable dataRobert Mueller called the attacks a threat to the nation's securityIDG News Service - Hackers breaking into businesses and government agencies with targeted attacks have not only stolen intellectual property, in some cases they have corrupted data too, the head of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said Thursday. ...read full article March 5, 2010 Miami Couple Accused of $135 Million Ponzi SchemeBusiness owners allegedly targeted investors at charitable and religious gatherings and at social functions in their home, according to the SECThe Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday charged a prominent Miami-based business leader and his wife with fraud, alleging they conducted a $135 million Ponzi scheme involving real estate investments from hundreds of elderly Cuban-American investors living in South Florida. ...read full article March 5, 2010 Purcell lawyers in complaint over data breachLawyers for the ex-boss of Glasgow City Council say claims in a newspaper relating to his health were leaked by former colleagues.The complaint relates to reports in The Scotsman newspaper, which claimed Mr Purcell's in-house team of advisers were about to reveal the reasons behind his sudden departure as head of Scotland's largest local authority. ...read full article March 5, 2010 How Koobface has evolved to stay a step aheadThe Koobface worm is a case study of how swiftly cybercriminals react to emerging trends. Koobface first appeared in the fall of 2008 just as social networks were getting hot. Its creators initially sent Facebook users friendly messages asking them to click on a link to see a video. ...read full article March 5, 2010 Cyber Threats Pit Privacy Versus SecuritySecurity experts are torn between just how far the government and the private sector should go to protect critical data from cyber criminals without violating individual rights. ...read full article March 5, 2010 ICO urges data protectionA report urging organisations to put a value on personal information and invest in privacy protection was released by the Information Commissioner's Office this week. ...read full article March 5, 2010 Prosecutors: ID theft case takes deadly turnNew York (CNN) -- An identity theft case involving a Brooklyn couple has taken a more serious turn, according to federal prosecutors. ...read full article March 4, 2010 DoD to reduce use of Social Security numbersThe Defense Department is preparing to launch a military wide effort to reduce the use of Social Security numbers to lower the chances of identity theft for military and civilian workers and contractors. ...read full article March 4, 2010 Tracing attack source key to cybersecurity strategy, Chertoff saysFormer DHS chief talks of difficulties in creating a national deterrence planComputerworld - SAN FRANCISCO -- The difficult task of identifying the true sources of cyber attacks remains one of the biggest challenges in the development of a national cybersecurity strategy, former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told Computerworld in an interview at the RSA Security conference here today. ...read full article March 4, 2010 Maine Bill Would Restrict Birth, Marriage RecordsAUGUSTA, Maine (AP) ? Maine lawmakers heard arguments Wednesday for a bill that would restrict the release of birth and marriage records as a way to combat fraud and identity theft. ...read full article March 4, 2010 Israeli raid called off after Facebook slipJERUSALEM — The Israeli military says a planned raid on a West Bank village was called off after an Israeli soldier disclosed its details online. ...read full article March 4, 2010 Tweet this: Social network security is risky businessPanel discussions at RSA focus on a more social attack vectorComputerworld - SAN FRANCISCO -- Businesses are still trying to figure out what to make of social networking. The knee-jerk impulse at some companies is to ban its use because it's insecure and seen as unproductive, while at others it's viewed as, in fact, the way a lot of people now get work done. ...read full article March 4, 2010 Credit Repair Scammers Settle FTC ChargesA credit repair company that falsely claimed it would help boost consumers’ credit ratings will settle Federal Trade Commission charges filed last year as part of “Operation Clean Sweep,” a federal-state crackdown on credit repair scams. ...read full article March 4, 2010 New BlackEnergy Trojan Targeting Russian, Ukrainian BanksBotnet lets attackers steal online banking credentials and DDoS Russian and Ukrainian banksSAN FRANCISCO -- RSA Conference 2010 -- Russian hackers have written a more sophisticated version of the infamous BlackEnergy Trojan associated with the 2008 cyberattacks against Georgia that now targets Russian and Ukrainian online banking customers. ...read full article March 4, 2010 Financial Services Firms Ripe for Data AttacksStudy finds porous data protection policies and technologies are putting millions of customers -- and their assets -- at risk.Sloppy operating practices across the financial services sector leave firms vulnerable to breaches that could expose sensitive data or put customers' and employees' privacy at risk, according to a new study from the Ponemon Institute. ...read full article March 4, 2010 Feds weigh expansion of Internet monitoringSAN FRANCISCO--Homeland Security and the National Security Agency may be taking a closer look at Internet communications in the future. ...read full article March 4, 2010 RSA authentication weakness discoveredThe most common digital security technique used to protect both media copyright and Internet communications has a major weakness, University of Michigan computer scientists have discovered. ...read full article March 4, 2010 Monster botnet held 800,000 people's detailsFourth zombie admin could be in South AmericaThe Mariposa botnet had the power to dwarf Georgia and Estonia cyberattacks if it had been used to launch denial of service attacks, say Spanish police. ...read full article March 4, 2010 eBay scammer gets four yearsThe leader of a UK-based gang who made millions selling counterfeit luxury golf kit and other knock-off goods through auction site eBay has been jailed for four years. ...read full article March 4, 2010 Data miningDoctors ease into electronic records; barriers to braodband expansion; and the decade's biggest data lossesPhysician offices have increased their use of electronic health records by 9.7 percent in the past year, according to a survey by research firm SK&A. In the United States, 36.1 percent of medical offices now use EHRs, compared with 32.9 percent a year ago. ...read full article March 4, 2010 Hacking human gullibility with social penetrationSecurity penetration testers Mike Bailey and Mike Murray rely plenty on attacks that exploit weaknesses in websites and servers, but their approach is better summed up by the famous phrase "There's a sucker born every minute". ...read full article March 3, 2010 RSA 2010: identity management key to cloud security, says Microsoft’s Scott CharneyIdentity is important on the internet, but this is amplified in the cloud, says Scott Charney, corporate vice-president of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group. ...read full article March 3, 2010 Medical identity theft strikes 5.8% of U.S. adultsNetwork World - Identity thieves are not only interested in tapping financial resources, but are also after your medical identification data and services. ...read full article March 3, 2010 Nonprofit Says it Was Scammed for $2M(CN) - An Ohio-based Ponzi scammer used his businesses, Money Market Alternative and Hybrid Money Market Management, to bilk a Swedish nonprofit of nearly $2 million, the Vasa Order of America claims in Cuyahoga County Court, Cleveland. The Akron Beacon-Journal reported that previous lawsuits accused lead defendant Enrique Villalba of taking as much as $18 million in the Ponzi scam. ...read full article March 3, 2010 Spanish police take down massive Mariposa botnetIDG News Service - Spanish authorities have arrested three men in an operation that has crushed a major botnet network of infected computers. ...read full article March 3, 2010 Ponemon Study: Voice Calls May Be At Risk83 percent of companies do not train users on the dangers of using cell phones in high risk areas, survey saysSAN FRANCSICO -- RSA Conference 2010 -- A survey released today by the Ponemon Institute suggests that large and medium businesses are putting themselves at risk of cell phone voice call interception. ...read full article March 3, 2010 Microsoft exec suggests Internet tax to pay for cyber securityCharney equates infected PCs with infected people, and suggests the equivalent of quarantines to stop malware from spreadingHow will we ever get a leg up on hackers who are infecting computers worldwide? Microsoft's security chief laid out several suggestions Tuesday, including a possible Internet usage tax to pay for the inspection and quarantine of machines. Today most hacked PCs run Microsoft's Windows operating system, and the company has invested millions in trying to fight the problem. ...read full article March 3, 2010 Man swallows flash drive, charged with obstructionThink of the worst thing you have ever swallowed. Haggis, perhaps? Maybe pig's ear? Arguments you have swallowed don't count. You see, I want to get you into the appropriate mood for the story of Florin Necula. Necula seems to have gotten himself into a bothersome situation with the upstanding members of our Secret Service. ...read full article March 3, 2010 Debt Collectors Will Pay More Than $1 Million to Settle FTC ChargesClaimed Debts Were Owed Despite Consumers’ DisputesA nationwide debt collector has agreed to pay a civil fine of more than $1 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated federal law by inaccurately reporting credit information and pressing consumers to pay debts they often did not owe. ...read full article March 3, 2010 White House Offers Glimpse of Cybersecurity ProgramThe White House yesterday released a newly declassified description of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI), a highly classified program that is intended to protect U.S. government computer networks against intrusion and disruption. ...read full article March 3, 2010 'Shoulder surfing' latest way identity thieves target youTEMPE, AZ -- You could be a victim of identity theft and never know it. ...read full article March 3, 2010 File-Sharing Software Potential Threat to Health PrivacyThe personal health and financial information stored in thousands of North American home computers may be vulnerable to theft through file-sharing software, according to a research study published online in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. ...read full article March 3, 2010 ER worker accused of stealing dying man’s credit cardsThis is not the first time we’ve heard about hospital workers stealing dying patients’ credit cards or information, but it is nonetheless distressing. Candice Ferrette reports on a case at Westchester Medical Center in NY, where a patient care technician in the emergency room has been accused of stealing credit cards from a dying plane crash victim and then going on a high-end spending spree. The theft was not the first incident in which the technician was involved, it seems. He was also accused of stealing a credit card from another emergency room patient in October. ...read full article March 3, 2010 Lawsuit filed against Elgin clinic over P2P breachOfficials from a local medical clinic remained silent Monday about claims they allowed sensitive information on AIDS patients to be leaked. ...read full article March 3, 2010 Woman charged with stealing patients' identitiesDetectives have arrested a West Palm Beach-area woman, accusing her of stealing personal information of diabetes patients. ...read full article March 3, 2010 Zombie tactics threaten to poison honeypotsInnovations in botnet technology threaten the usefulness of honeypots, one of the main ways to study how bot herders control networks of zombie PCs. ...read full article March 3, 2010 BMA branch opposes fast rollout of summary e-recordsA branch of the British Medical Association has issued a statement supporting the concerns of doctors who are reluctant to allow patient records to be uploaded to a central database as part of the £12.7bn NHS IT scheme NPfIT. ...read full article March 2, 2010 Data theft creates notification nightmare for BlueCrossIDG News Service - A break-in one evening last October at a shopping mall in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is proving expensive for BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. ...read full article March 2, 2010 Four indicted for $25M online ticket fraud schemeWiseguy Tickets allegedly hacks its way to Springsteen, Rose Bowl, Broadway ticketsComputerworld - Four men have been indicted for illegally buying and reselling tickets to major concerts, a Rose Bowl game and tapings of the television show Dancing with the Stars. ...read full article March 2, 2010 Microsoft: Don't Press F1 Key in Windows XPMicrosoft told Windows XP users today not to press the F1 key when prompted by a Web site, as part of its reaction to an unpatched vulnerability that hackers could exploit to hijack PCs running Internet Explorer (IE). ...read full article March 2, 2010 Court rules anti-terror data storage illegalIn a victory for privacy advocates, Germany’s highest court on Tuesday knocked down an anti-terrorism law that allows authorities to store all phone and internet records of private citizens. ...read full article March 2, 2010 Former Bank Vice President Sentenced for Fraudulently Transferring Money from Clients’ AccountsMade 21 Fraudulent Wire Transfers in Seven Months Totaling $226,000BALTIMORE, MD—U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Andrew Rosenfeld, age 39, of Ellicott City, Maryland, today to one year and a day followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Judge Motz also ordered that Rosenfeld pay restitution of $226,000. ...read full article March 2, 2010 Spam disguised as spam notificationIn their constant battle against anti-spam filters, spammers have recently started to camouflage their messages as spam quarantine notifications. ...read full article March 2, 2010 Botnets cause surge in February spamSpam now accounts for close to 90 percent of all e-mail worldwide due to a surge in February, according to Symantec. ...read full article March 2, 2010 PS3 console errors fixed, leap year bug to blameReports are still scattered, but after testing our own PS3, it appears the global 8001050F error that left most non-Slim PS3 consoles essentially unplayable seems to be fixed. We're guessing this issue was corrected on the server side of things, as there was no update or download required; our console just worked. ...read full article March 2, 2010 Top 7 threats to cloud computingThe Cloud Security Alliance and HP have presented today new research findings that detail the potential threats linked to the use of cloud services. ...read full article March 2, 2010 Industrialized Cyberattacks Infect Educational Servers WorldwideImperva report warns that hackers have become industrialized and represent an exponentially increased threat to individuals, organizations and governmentREDWOOD SHORES, CALIF., "March 1, 2010" Imperva, the data security leader, today released a new report warning that hackers have become industrialized and represent an exponentially increased threat to individuals, organizations and Government. Imperva's report says the emerging industrialization of hacking parallels the way in which the 19th century revolution advanced methods and accelerated assembly from single to mass production. The result is that today's cybercrime industry has transformed and automated itself to improve efficiency, scalability and profitability. ...read full article March 2, 2010 One quarter of Germans fine with microchip skin implantIt sounds like something from a creepy science-fiction film, but a poll published on Monday showed one in four Germans would be happy to have a microchip implanted in their body if they derived concrete benefits from it. ...read full article March 2, 2010 Chelsea King's Disappearance: Who Is Watching California's Sex Offenders?Investigators Searching California Coastline After Finding Piece of King's ClothingChelsea King's family is holding out dwindling hope that their bright-eyed daughter will one day return home, but the growing link between the missing San Diego-area teenager and a known child molester has raised questions about why he was allowed on the street. ...read full article March 2, 2010 Lockheed seeks to predict cybersecurity threatsGAITHERSBURG, Maryland (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp, the No. 1 information technology provider to the U.S. government, is working hard to better predict and protect against increasingly sophisticated and stealthy cyber attacks. ...read full article March 2, 2010 Medical Files Left in Recycle BinsA visit to the doctor’s office is supposed to make you feel better, from a sore throat to wheezing and coughing. But some patients are now feeling sick to their stomachs after FOX 5 uncovered a serious threat to their privacy. ...read full article March 2, 2010 Old Brit Faces Long Term for FraudLOS ANGELES (CN) - A 65-year-old British man faces up to 170 years in federal prison for bilking investors of $7.3 million and spending the money on a high-priced home and a Land Rover. A jury took just 20 minutes to find him guilty after a 2-week trial, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. ...read full article March 2, 2010 Police: Little Falls woman stole identityLITTLE FALLS — A Little Falls woman was charged with stealing someone’s identity in connection with theft allegations, according to city police. ...read full article March 2, 2010 Police: Fake bridal show signs up thousandsAuthorities say around 6,000 people and vendors signed up for the scamBOSTON - Scammers set up a Web site advertising a fake bridal show billed as the "biggest and most extravagant" and used it to steal from thousands of brides-to-be and their vendors, who were lured by chances to win "fabulous gifts and prizes," police and FBI experts said Monday. ...read full article March 2, 2010 Ethical considerations in P2P researchMichael Zimmer has recently raised ethical questions about research utilizing publicly available information from sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Similarly, ethical questions have also been raised by a group of researchers who investigated exposure of personal financial information and personal health information on peer-to-peer or file-sharing networks. ...read full article March 1, 2010 More than 100 companies targeted by Google hackersIDG News Service - The hackers who broke into Google two months ago have gone after more than 100 companies, according to an estimate by security vendor Isec Partners. ...read full article March 1, 2010 Student Fined $27,750 for Sharing 37 Songs(CN) - The 5th Circuit ordered a college student to pay $27,750 for illegally sharing 37 copyrighted songs on a peer-to-peer file-sharing network. The court rejected the former high-school cheerleader's claim that she was "too young and too naïve" to understand that CD copyrights applied to downloaded music. ...read full article March 1, 2010 58 percent of software vulnerable to security breachesVeracode released a "State of Software Security" report detailing vulnerabilities found in software that large organizations rely on for business critical processes, which finds that more than half of the nearly 1,600 internally developed, open source, outsourced, and commercial applications analyzed when first submitted contained vulnerabilities similar to those exploited in the recent cyber attacks on Google, the U.S. Department of Defense, and others. ...read full article March 1, 2010 Microsoft to target other botnets with legal weaponAcknowledges it's too soon to judge its fight against Waledac botsComputerworld - Microsoft has several other botnets in its crosshairs, and believes it can use the same legal tactic against them that it deployed last week to strike at the Waledac botnet's command-and-control centers. ...read full article March 1, 2010 Kate Middleton set for £10,000 privacy victoryKATE MIDDLETON, the girlfriend of Prince William, is set to win a controversial claim for alleged invasion of her privacy. ...read full article March 1, 2010 Beware of fake Security Essentials softwareMicrosoft has warned users to be wary of sites promoting fake versions of its free Security Essentials anti-malware software. ...read full article March 1, 2010 DarkMarket credit card fraudster jailed for five yearsThe man who set up DarkMarket, an online supermarket for credit card fraudsters, has been jailed for almost five years. ...read full article March 1, 2010 FTC to Appeal Ruling in 'Red Flags' CaseThe Federal Trade Commission will appeal a ruling from October that stripped the agency of its authority to enforce new anti-fraud rules against lawyers. ...read full article March 1, 2010 Payment Processing CEO Banned from the Business; Company Illegally Debited Millions from Consumers’ Bank AccountsThe chief executive officer of a payment processing company will be banned from the business as part of a settlement resolving Federal Trade Commission charges that the company illegally debited millions of dollars in bogus charges from consumers’ bank accounts. ...read full article March 1, 2010 Hacker posts risque First Direct tweetFirst Direct's Twitter account has been hacked by a spammer who used it to post a link to an adult sex site. ...read full article March 1, 2010 Cyber warriors gather as online battles rageUS national security leaders and top cyber warriors from around the world are gathering here to plot defenses against criminals and spies that increasingly plague the Internet. ...read full article March 1, 2010 To Catch a Thief on FacebookKhayree Billingslea, 19, a freshman at Arizona State University, was given an unpleasant surprise when police showed up at his honors dorm room, handcuffed him and escorted him out of the building. ...read full article March 1, 2010 Britney Spears’ Attorneys Worried About Personal LeaksBritney Spears’ conservatorship attorneys, Geraldine Wyle and Jeryll Cohen, are worried that personal and medical information will leak out into the media unless it’s put under legal lock and key – and have taken steps to do just that. ...read full article March 1, 2010 4 more healthcare breaches from 2009Maryland has updated its web site to provide breach notifications that it has received since its last update. The newly posted notifications are for the period ending December 31, 2009. Some of the breaches described in the notifications were reported in the media at the time, but I spotted a number of previously unknown breaches from the healthcare sector or reports that either update us or provide additional information that may be of interest. ...read full article March 1, 2010 Talking Bots with Japan’s ‘Cyber Clean Center’I’ve grown fascinated over the years with various efforts by Internet service providers to crack down on the menace from botnets, large groupings of hacked PCs that computer criminals remotely control for a variety of purposes, from spamming to hosting malicious software and attacking others online. Indeed, botnets problem have become such a global menace that entire countries are now developing anti-botnet programs in collaboration with domestic ISPs. ...read full article February 26, 2010 Inmate Leaves Prison by Impersonating CellmateAuthorities in Maryland were searching Friday for an inmate serving three life terms who walked out of a Baltimore prison after impersonating his cell mate. ...read full article February 26, 2010 Twitter hits fan as scams smite banks, cabinet ministersThe Twitter phishing attacks from earlier this week stepped up a gear on Friday with huge volumes of spam from compromised accounts, some of which belonged to UK cabinet minsters and even a bank. ...read full article February 26, 2010 Latvian hacker tweets hard on banking whistleA hacker has become a popular hero in the Baltics, and scourge to the authorities, by leaking information on the finances of banks and state-run firms to Latvian TV. ...read full article February 26, 2010 Theft-proofing your identityOn Monday, tough new regulations to protect personal information collected from consumers will take effect in Massachusetts, and companies throughout the US are scrambling to get ready. ...read full article February 26, 2010 Man charged in identity theft incidentJohnson City police accused a Boston man of using the identity of another person to make unlawful purchases in the village. ...read full article February 26, 2010 ID theft rises exponentially in Albuquerque areaA once-obscure crime has jumped nearly 5,000% over the past ten years. ID theft has jumped that much in Bernalillo County, and the district attorney says it's up to all of us to stop it. ...read full article February 26, 2010 Identity theft, burglary charges filed in alleged theft of Social Security numberA 20-year-old man was arraigned Thursday on charges of identity theft and burglary after using another man's Social Security number to obtain an auto loan and a department store credit card. ...read full article February 26, 2010 Facebook Glitch Sends Email to Wrong RecipientsFacebook Inc. said a glitch with a software update caused some email messages to be sent to the wrong recipients for "a short time" late Wednesday, raising questions about privacy on the site. ...read full article February 26, 2010 Britain all atweet over Twitter phishing attackThe latest phishing attack on Twitter users swept the U.K. overnight claiming several prominent users. ...read full article February 26, 2010 Students suspended for Facebook pranksAustralia's prime minister said Friday he would consider appointing an online ombudsman to investigate complaints about Internet bullying after a string of incidents on social network sites. ...read full article February 26, 2010 Facebook e-mails go to wrong inboxesFacebook inadvertently routed e-mails to the wrong addresses Wednesday night, a problem the social networking site said was quickly resolved, but not before the messages landed in the inboxes of strangers. ...read full article February 26, 2010 FTC Issues Report of 2009 Top Consumer ComplaintsThe Federal Trade Commission today released a report listing top complaints consumers filed with the agency in 2009. It shows that while identity theft remains the top complaint category, identity theft complaints declined 5 percentage points from 2008. ...read full article February 25, 2010 Guilty plea for hacker who took Comcast off WebIDG News Service - A member of a telephone hacking group known as Kryogeniks has pleaded guilty to taking Comcast's Web site offline in May 2008. ...read full article February 25, 2010 Twitter hit by another round of phishing attacksTwitter users are being targeted by another phishing campaign, according to Webroot malware researcher Andrew Brandt. ...read full article February 25, 2010 ATM Skimming: How to Recognize Card FraudCriminals are increasingly turning to card skimming as a profitable way to steal cash. Would you know what to look for at your local ATM? ...read full article February 25, 2010 Court order helps Microsoft tear down Waledac botnetIDG News Service - With the help of a U.S. federal judge, Microsoft has struck a blow against one of the Internet's worst sources of spam: the notorious Waledac botnet. ...read full article February 25, 2010 Intel admits it is under constant attack from hackersIntel regularly faces cyber attacks by intellectual property thieves and malicious hackers, the chip maker's latest report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission reveals. ...read full article February 25, 2010 The Intel Intrusion: When Is a Hack Just a Hack?Intel has revealed it's been the victim of hacker, though it's making considerably less fuss about it than Google did when its system was compromised several weeks ago. The Intel break-in happened around the same time, but Intel says it sees no evidence that any intellectual property was stolen, and it's not saying for sure whether its hacker problem was in any way related to Google's. ...read full article February 25, 2010 Microsoft launches 'phone home' anti-piracy updateCritic says Windows 7 users should block KB971033, now arriving via Windows Update ...read full article February 25, 2010 Baidu: Registrar 'incredibly' Changed our E-Mail for HackerA hacker who took down top Chinese search engine Baidu.com last month broke into its account with a U.S. domain name registrar by pretending to be from Baidu in an online chat with the registrar's tech help, according to a lawsuit filed by Baidu. ...read full article February 25, 2010 Do Companies Need Fed Cybersecurity Intervention?The former U.S. director of national intelligence was the latest in a long line of intel gurus telling Congress how woefully under-protected America's infrastructure is from cyberattacks. The Senate is currently mulling the U.S. Cybersecurity Amendment Act of 2009 and considering how much new regulation the government may need to introduce in the name of national security. ...read full article February 25, 2010 Officials: Mom Sold Dead Son's Identity To Pakistani ManNEW YORK (WPIX) - A Staten Island mom is accused of selling her dead son's identity to a Pakistani man, officials announced Wednesday. ...read full article February 25, 2010 NSW Govt ousts web developer over security breachThe NSW Government has terminated its relationship with the developers of the state's transport blueprint website after they admitted a security lapse - rather than hack - was the cause of a document leak. ...read full article February 25, 2010 Large-scale credit card data robbery in HelsinkiThe data from as many as 100,000 credit cards were endangered by a security breach, the financial paper Kauppalehti reports. ...read full article February 25, 2010 UW medical records compromisedSEATTLE - An alarming letter was sent to Charles Tomaras from the UW Medical Center letting him know that someone had stolen his personal information, including his Social Security number, credit card number, birthdate and address. ...read full article February 25, 2010 Cyber-whistleblower stuns Latvia with tax heistRIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvian officials struggled Wednesday to come to grips with an enigmatic group that stole millions of classified tax documents from government computers in a purported effort to expose waste and graft in Europe's weakest economy. ...read full article February 25, 2010 Dubai murder suspects climb to 26Police announced 15 new suspects in the January killing of a Hamas leader at a Dubai hotel, bringing to 26 the number of people suspected of involvement in his death. ...read full article February 24, 2010 Comcast (finally) brings security extensions to DNSComcast - one of the largest ISPs in the US - has deployed new technology designed to protect the internet against a well-known form of attack that allows attackers to surreptitiously lure end users to impostor websites. ...read full article February 24, 2010 Six more British passports used in Dubai assassination of Mahmoud al-MabhouhThe alleged Mossad hit squad that killed a Hamas leader in Dubai used a further six British passports in the assassination — bringing the total involved to twelve. ...read full article February 24, 2010 FTC Warns Of Widespread Data BreachesThe Federal Trade Commission on Monday said that it had notified almost 100 organizations in both the public and private sector that they need to review their security practices. ...read full article February 24, 2010 Former Decker employee faces theft chargesA 38-year-old New Berlin woman charged with embezzling more than $46,000 from her employer over three years is scheduled to make her initial court appearance next month, according to online court records. ...read full article February 24, 2010 Experts warn of catastrophe from cyberattacksComputer-based network attacks are slowly bleeding U.S. businesses of revenue and market advantage, while the government faces the prospect of losing in an all-out cyberwar, experts told Senators in a hearing on Tuesday ...read full article February 23, 2010 Elvis Presley passport exposes security flawLondon, England (CNN) -- In the name of improved security a hacker showed how a biometric passport issued in the name of long-dead rock 'n' roll king Elvis Presley could be cleared through an automated passport scanning system being tested at an international airport. ...read full article February 23, 2010 Attackers going after end-users rather than serversThe Web traffic study also finds issues with botnets, corporate policies, and outdated browsersRather than targeting Web and email servers, attackers these days are prone to going after enterprises from the inside out, compromising end-user systems and then using them to access confidential data, according to a Web traffic analysis report by security-as-a-service provider Zscaler. ...read full article February 23, 2010 Poor governance at the heart of poor data security, says ICOInformation security, particularly in central government, is undoubtedly improving, but several common problems remain, says the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). ...read full article February 23, 2010 Judge Tells School to Stop Taking Web Shots From Student LaptopsPHILADELPHIA (CN) - A federal judge late Monday ordered a suburban school district not to activate "any and all Web cams embedded in laptop computers issued to students" at Lower Merion School District, nor to take remote screen shots from them; and to preserve evidence; but not to contact any students or parents about the issues raised by a federal class action the families have filed. The class action came after a family claimed that an assistant principal told their son that the school district knew he "was engaged in improper behavior in his home, and cited as evidence a photograph from the Web cam embedded in minor plaintiff's personal laptop issued by the school district," according to the original complaint. ...read full article February 23, 2010 Two sentenced on mail theft chargesA Slater man has been sentenced in federal court for his role in a conspiracy to steal mail, bank fraud and identity theft in numerous counties, including Callaway County. ...read full article February 23, 2010 Woman charged with identity theftA 22-year-old Sheboygan woman has been charged with seven counts of identity theft for allegedly stealing credit card information from patrons of the motel where she worked and using it to reserve rooms at other motels, to buy movie tickets and to have food delivered. ...read full article February 23, 2010 PIX Exclusive: DMV Identity Theft Ring BustedNEW YORK (WPIX) - PIX News has learned that federal, state and city authorities have busted a sophisticated identity theft plot to sell drivers licenses for the right price. ...read full article February 23, 2010 Physical Security Risk and Countermeasures: Effectiveness MetricsIs your security program working? Here's how to establish metrics for systematic measurement and improvement of countermeasures. ...read full article February 23, 2010 Criminals Hide Payment-Card Skimmers Inside Gas Station PumpsWave of recent bank-card skimming incidents demonstrate how sophisticated the scam has becomeCriminals hid bank card-skimming devices inside gas pumps -- in at least one case, even completely replacing the front panel of a pump -- in a recent wave of attacks that demonstrate a more sophisticated, insidious method of stealing money from unsuspecting victims filling up their gas tanks. ...read full article February 23, 2010 Phishers target Blogger usersUsers of Google's Blogger, a free blog publishing tool, are the targets of the latest phishing email campaign. ...read full article February 23, 2010 Alarming breach in privacy investigated at London schoolPRIVACY: The Medix School is investigating after files containing personal information were discovered near a mall dumpsterAn armload of personal documents -- health records and criminal record checks among them -- was found carelessly tossed out by a private vocational school in London, an alarming breach of security, the school's director says. ...read full article February 23, 2010 Rise of the Point-and-Click BotnetIn 2005, a Russian hacker group known as UpLevel developed Zeus, a point-and-click program for creating and controlling a network of compromised computer systems, also known as a botnet. Five years of development later, the latest version of this software, which can be downloaded for free and requires very little technical skill to operate, is one of the most popular botnet platforms for spammers, fraudsters, and people who deal in stolen personal information. ...read full article February 23, 2010 Credit card skimming attacks on pay-at-the-pump petrol stationsAccording to US media reports, criminals have launched large-scale attacks on petrol pumps with built-in card payment systems to gain access to card data. Similar attacks that involve the attachment of special skimming devices over the legitimate equipment to copy card data, have previously only targeted cash points. Attackers often obtain the PIN with a hidden camera or a secondary PIN pad placed over the machine's original keyboard. More details on this method of attack can be found in The H Open article "Manipulated ATMs - Attack of the card cloners". ...read full article February 23, 2010 IT Firm Loses $100,000 to Online Bank FraudA New Hampshire-based IT consultancy lost nearly $100,000 this month after thieves broke into the company’s bank accounts with the help of 10 co-conspirators across the United States. ...read full article February 22, 2010 Credit card relief is here, but watch out for new trapsNEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- If you haven't heard, big changes are here for the credit card industry. On Monday the CARD act goes into effect and consumers finally get some relief from such practices as "double-cycle billing" and arbitrary rate increases. ...read full article February 22, 2010 Video: Twitter users targeted by Chinese phishing attacksTwitter users are being targeted by a phishing campaign designed to steal passwords and use hijacked accounts to spread money-making spam campaigns. ...read full article February 22, 2010 Irate Parents in Pa. Say Schools Use 'peeping Tom Technology'The parents of a Pennsylvania high school student want a federal judge to bar school district personnel from switching on cameras in school-issued MacBook laptops, calling the security feature "peeping tom technology." ...read full article February 22, 2010 EU data protection chief slams secret ACTA talksIDG News Service - The anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) being negotiated in secret by the U.S., E.U. and others potentially runs roughshod over European data protection requirements, European data protection supervisor (EDPS) Peter Hustinx said Monday. ...read full article February 22, 2010 Video: Cyber attacks cost large enterprises £1.4m a year, study revealsCyber attacks cost large enterprises an average of £1.4m a year, according to the Symantec 2010 State of Enterprise Security study. ...read full article February 22, 2010 Chinese schools deny role in Google hackCyber attacks on Google were reportedly traced to computers at two schools in ChinaTwo schools in China where computers were reportedly linked to cyber attacks on Google and other companies have denied involvement in the hack, Chinese state media said Sunday. ...read full article February 22, 2010 Data security breaches often triggered by carelessnessFor physicians, a lost smartphone or forgotten laptop can mean a long, arduous process of notifying patients -- and the risk of penalties under HIPAA.Often the biggest threat to your practice and patient data is not an outside hacker or a snooping employee -- it's somebody's forgetfulness. ...read full article February 22, 2010 The Snitch in Your PocketLaw enforcement is tracking Americans' cell phones in real time—without the benefit of a warrant.Amid all the furor over the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program a few years ago, a mini-revolt was brewing over another type of federal snooping that was getting no public attention at all. Federal prosecutors were seeking what seemed to be unusually sensitive records: internal data from telecommunications companies that showed the locations of their customers' cell phones—sometimes in real time, sometimes after the fact. The prosecutors said they needed the records to trace the movements of suspected drug traffickers, human smugglers, even corrupt public officials. But many federal magistrates—whose job is to sign off on search warrants and handle other routine court duties—were spooked by the requests. Some in New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas balked. Prosecutors "were using the cell phone as a surreptitious tracking device," said Stephen W. Smith, a federal magistrate in Houston. "And I started asking the U.S. Attorney's Office, 'What is the legal authority for this? What is the legal standard for getting this information?' " ...read full article February 22, 2010 Report: Most Organizations Now Suffer Cyber AttacksSymantec's 2010 State of Enterprise Security finds three quarters of all enterprises have been hit by a cyber attack, and security is now more pressing than any other concern ...read full article February 22, 2010 IT pros divided about security of virtualization, cloud computingSurvey reveals one-third of enterprise security managers believe the technologies make security 'harder,' while one-third say it was 'easier' ...read full article February 22, 2010 Why it is all too easy to become a cybercriminalThe disclosure of Operation Aurora last month and the outing of the Kneber botnet gang’s stolen booty this week have much in common. ...read full article February 22, 2010 Losses from identity theft skyrocketVictims forced to bear hefty salvage costsCHICAGO — Identity theft and fraud have ruined Dave Crouse’s life. In less than six months, $900,000 in merchandise, gambling and telephone- service charges were siphoned out of his debit card. His attempts to salvage his finances have cost him nearly $100,000 and have bled dry his savings and retirement accounts. His credit score, once a strong 780, has been decimated. And his identity — Social Security number, address, phone numbers, even historical information — still is being used in attempts to open credit cards and bank accounts. ...read full article February 22, 2010 Javelin Study Finds Identity Fraud Reached New High in 2009, but Consumers are Fighting BackIdentity Fraud Affected 11 Million Americans in 2009; Proactive Measures by Financial Institutions, Businesses and Consumers Helped Decrease Costs; Increase in Prosecutions and Convictions ...read full article February 22, 2010 9 arrested at Scottsdale restaurant in identity-theft caseThe Maricopa County Sheriff's Office arrested nine employees of a Scottsdale Mexican restaurant Friday on suspicion of identity theft and forgery. ...read full article February 22, 2010 Iowa drivers licenses to be sent in mail to prevent identity theftDES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — State officials say Iowa drivers will be getting their drivers licenses in the mail later this year because of new security measures to prevent identity theft and other crimes. ...read full article February 22, 2010 EU condemns identity theft involved in Dubai killingBRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union condemned on Monday the use of fraudulent EU passports and credit cards by assassins who killed a Palestinian militant in Dubai, but did not directly link Israel to the killing. ...read full article February 22, 2010 People's Republic of Hacking'Panda' Exploit Offers Rare Inside Look at China's Cybercrime NetworksWUHAN, China—Some of today's biggest cybersecurity worries trace their roots to this central Chinese city, where a hacker with a junior high school education slapped cartoon pandas onto millions of computers to hide a destructive spy program. ...read full article February 22, 2010 Widespread Data Breaches Uncovered by FTC ProbeFTC Warns of Improper Release of Sensitive Consumer Data on P2P File-Sharing NetworksThe Federal Trade Commission has notified almost 100 organizations that personal information, including sensitive data about customers and/or employees, has been shared from the organizations’ computer networks and is available on peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks to any users of those networks, who could use it to commit identity theft or fraud. The agency also has opened non-public investigations of other companies whose customer or employee information has been exposed on P2P networks. To help businesses manage the security risks presented by file-sharing software, the FTC is releasing new education materials that present the risks and recommend ways to manage them. ...read full article February 19, 2010 Czech Researchers Say 'Chuck Norris' Kicks BotsEmerging botnet could redirect users to data-stealing sites, researchers sayCzech security experts say they have uncovered a global botnet that may be redirecting Web surfers to other sites for the purpose of stealing their data. ...read full article February 19, 2010 White Collar Defendant Sentenced to 309 Years in PrisonBATON ROUGE—U.S. Attorney David R. Dugas announced today that Chief U.S. District Judge Ralph E. Tyson sentenced Robert Thompson, also known as John Lawson, age 43, of Zachary, La., to a term of 309 years in prison. Thompson, the leader of a massive identity theft and bribery scheme, was sentenced based on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, computer fraud, access device fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering, and obstruction of justice. This is the longest sentence of any white collar offender in the history of the Middle District of Louisiana. ...read full article February 19, 2010 FTC and States Take Aim at 9 Alleged Job Scam ArtistsThe Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general took another swipe this week at scams that target unemployed people, jointly or separately filing nine new lawsuits against alleged "con artists" who charge victims for bogus job leads. ...read full article February 19, 2010 Thousands Of Organizations Worldwide Hit By Widespread Malware AttackBotnet bearing the Zeus Trojan infected 75,000 systems worldwide in 2,500 enterprises, government agenciesYet another sign that the Zeus Trojan isn't just for stealing consumer online banking credentials anymore: Some 2,500 enterprises and government agencies worldwide have been infiltrated by a botnet spreading the pervasive piece of malware, a security firm revealed today. ...read full article February 19, 2010 35 countries could be monitored for piracyCopyright holders in the US have called for 35 countries to be put on a watch list for piracy and counterfeit activities and have singled out 10 for priority action. ...read full article February 19, 2010 Police: Duke Lacrosse Players' Accuser Assaulted BoyfriendThe woman who falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of rape nearly four years ago has been charged with attempted murder, arson and other counts after a fight with her boyfriend, police said. ...read full article February 19, 2010 Busted, Grilled by FBI, for Arabic-English Flashcards, Collegian SaysPHILADELPHIA (CN) - A Pomona College student says he was arrested, handcuffed and "abusively interrogated" at Philadelphia International Airport "solely because he passed through an airport screening checkpoint with a set of Arabic-English flashcards and a book critical of American foreign policy." Plaintiff Nicholas George, 22, of Pennsylvania, is a senior majoring in Middle Eastern Studies at the well-regarded California college. ...read full article February 19, 2010 Chinese school linked to Google attacks also linked to '01 attacks on White House siteA former U.S. Army officer linked '01 hacker to Shanghai Jiaotong UniversityComputerworld - One of two Chinese academic institutions identified in a New York Times report Thursday as the apparent source of the recent attacks against Google, has also been linked to a hacker who may have been involved with the takedown of whitehouse.gov in 2001. ...read full article February 18, 2010 Massive Windsor debit card scam even took credit union CEO Charles Janisse for $480WINDSOR, ONT. -- No one was immune to the massive debit card fraud scheme that rattled Windsor over the weekend — not even the CEO of a local credit union. ...read full article February 18, 2010 Second person busted in case of stolen credit card dataA Cottage Grove woman turned herself in several days after police circulated surveillance photos of her as a suspect in a case of credit-card "skimming" that netted victims in the Twin Cities area and beyond. ...read full article February 18, 2010 Computer Breach At Southern Illinois UniversityNearly one thousand former SIU students are at risk for identity theft. University officials say an old computer in the math department was hit by a virus last month. ...read full article February 18, 2010 La. man gets 309 years in prison for ID theft scamBATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A Louisiana man whom prosecutors said was the ringleader of an identity theft scheme with dozens of victims has been sentenced to 309 years in prison. ...read full article February 18, 2010 US Cybersecurity Hypothetically PatheticEarlier this week, Cyber ShockWave, a simulated cyberattack on America, once again showed that the U.S.'s cybersecurity is not up to the task of protecting the country's infrastructure. ...read full article February 18, 2010 Ex-Army man cracks popular security chipHardware hacker Christopher Tarnovsky just wanted to break Microsoft's grip on peripherals for its Xbox 360 game console. In the process, he cracked one of the most heavily fortified chips ever put into a consumer device. ...read full article February 18, 2010 Almost 2,500 firms breached in ongoing hack attackCriminal hackers have penetrated the networks of almost 2,500 companies and government agencies in a coordinated campaign that began 18 months ago and continues to steal email passwords, login credentials, and other sensitive data to this day, a computer security company said. ...read full article February 18, 2010 Mozilla Releases Security AdvisoriesThe US-CERT Current Activity web page is a regularly updated summary of the most frequent, high-impact types of security incidents currently being reported to the US-CERT. ...read full article February 18, 2010 A third of laptops are stolen from homesMore laptops are stolen from homes than on public transport, in coffee shops or at airports, according to new research from YouGov. ...read full article February 18, 2010 Man wracks up $100,000 in medical expenses with fake identificationBOCA RATON -- A man who twice checked himself into the hospital and wracked up more than $100,000 in medical expenses with a fake insurance identification has been arrested. ...read full article February 18, 2010 You’ve Got A Mole Giving Away Your Sensitive DataRetailers everywhere are losing sensitive information to their competitors every day. It’s not because some hacker has compromised the corporate database or because some corporate espionage team has gone dumpster diving after a corporate meeting. No, the people responsible for this breach are actually your own customers. ...read full article February 18, 2010 PleaseRobMe.com Solicits Social TheftThe Web site gathers tweets and online posts about people who are away from home to emphasize the risk posed by advertising one's location. ...read full article February 18, 2010 China to crackdown on porn transmitted through mobile phonesChinese authorities have unveiled tougher measures to clean up the telecommunications industry in the country, and said offensive material transmitted through mobile phones will be the main target of a crackdown on Internet porn. ...read full article February 18, 2010 Stolen Goldman computer code is still MIAProsecutors going after former Goldman Sachs computer whiz Sergey Aleynikov for theft say they haven't yet found the allegedly pilfered code on his new employers' computers -- potentially blowing a hole in their case. ...read full article February 18, 2010 Local Man's High-Tech Invention Aims To Stop ID TheftIdentity theft can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars and can lead to a lot of headaches, but a San Diego man's new invention could help stop thieves before they strike. ...read full article February 18, 2010 Court denies appeal in identity theft caseThe state Intermediate Court of Appeals has upheld the 2007 conviction and prison sentence of Henry Calucag Jr. for stealing the identity and land of a Kauai businessman who was found slain in the Philippines. ...read full article February 18, 2010 Britain Gets Tough with Mossad over Identity Theft“Britain has cut ties with Mossad in the past, and will do so again if the Israelis are found to be acting against British interests.” These were the stern words of a British Foreign Office official speaking on allegations that the Mossad agents suspected of assassinating a Hamas leader in Dubai could have used the identities of British ex-pats to gain access to the emirate. ...read full article February 18, 2010 Britain: Israel must 'cooperate fully' in fake passport probeBritish Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Thursday demanded Israel's full cooperation in investigating of the fraudulent use of U.K. passport by the killers of a Hamas official in Dubai. ...read full article February 17, 2010 Wipro investigates alleged $4 million fraud by employeeIDG News Service - Indian outsourcer Wipro said Wednesday it is investigating the embezzlement of $4 million from the company after an employee allegedly obtained a colleague's online password. ...read full article February 17, 2010 Military To Tighten Vendor Cybersecurity PoliciesThe Department of Defense is setting the stage for changes in how vendors handle unclassified military data.The Department of Defense has signaled its intention to develop new policies requiring its vendors to meet increased standards for cybersecurity for unclassified military information residing on or being carried over private sector systems and networks. ...read full article February 17, 2010 New Report Examines Malware's Origins, MotivationsNearly every day, industry analysts and security researchers warn IT professionals about the skyrocketing proliferation of malware. A simple Web search turns up many reports that dissect the technical nature of malicious software, how it works, and how it affects its victims. ...read full article February 17, 2010 Cybercriminals exploiting luger's death, Winter OlympicsCybercriminals have been capitalizing on the world's interest in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver to spread malware, experts warned. ...read full article February 17, 2010 US jury convicts Nigerian on wire fraud chargesIDG News Service - A 31-year-old Nigerian man could face up to 20 years in prison after being convicted Tuesday of charges related to running advance free fraud scams for five years, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. ...read full article February 17, 2010 Dayton woman gets up to 42 years for identity theftA 31-year-old Dayton woman who began an identity theft enterprise in Washoe County shortly after her 2008 release from a Nevada prison on fraud felonies, was sentenced to up to 42 years in prison Wednesday. ...read full article February 17, 2010 ID theft ring that targeted church-goers bustedA group of alleged identity thieves who targeted people who attended churches along the Front Range have been indicted by the State Grand Jury. ...read full article February 17, 2010 Mock cyber attack shows US unpreparednessDuring the simulated cyber attack that took place yesterday in Washington and was recorded by the CNN, one thing became clear: the US are still not ready to deflect or mitigate such an attack to an extent that would not affect considerably the everyday life of its citizens. ...read full article February 17, 2010 EMV hack may be overstatedResearchers at the University of Cambridge in the UK released a report claiming to have identified vulnerabilities with the EMV payment scheme. Industry organizations are meanwhile defending the technology, saying the hack would be difficult to pull off in the real world. ...read full article February 17, 2010 State of Alaska Fears the Worst for Possible Identity Theft VictimsThe accounting firm, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, LLC, is in hot water after the Attorney General finds out that the company knew of a data breach since early December 2009, but just recently released the information. ...read full article February 17, 2010 West Memphis Police Department's computer network compromisedWEST MEMPHIS, AR (WMC-TV) - The FBI is investigating a Mid-South police officer suspected of accessing fellow officers' personal information. ...read full article February 17, 2010 Man wracks up $100,000 in medical expenses with fake identificationBOCA RATON -- A man who twice checked himself into the hospital and wracked up more than $100,000 in medical expenses with a fake insurance identification has been arrested. ...read full article February 17, 2010 St. Petersburg telemarketer eavesdropped to steal credit card numbers, authorities sayST. PETERSBURG — A St. Petersburg man has been charged with stealing customers' credit card numbers from a marketing company he worked for to buy nearly $30,000 in dinners, limos and other luxuries. ...read full article February 16, 2010 Hackers at Pwn2Own to compete for $100K in prizesContest targets to include iPhone, Droid and BlackBerry, IE, Firefox and ChromeComputerworld - A hacking contest next month will award cash prizes of $15,000 to anyone who can break into an iPhone, BlackBerry Bold, Droid or Nokia smartphone. ...read full article February 16, 2010 Orange users angered over response to e-mail data breachThe Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has received complaints from Orange users whose e-mail addresses were accidently disclosed in a marketing letter from its customer relations division. ...read full article February 16, 2010 Mobile Spy Web-site Shuts Down Among Privacy Concerns, Crime AllegationsMobile spyware web-site www.shpioni.ge was withdrawn by its owner Saturday after young lawyers warned that using the service is a violation of privacy and thus a crime. ...read full article February 16, 2010 Foreign Access to U.S. Banking Data ExpandedWASHINGTON (CN) - Banks must provide financial information on people suspected of funding terrorist activity or money laundering to European Union members who are signatories to the Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance. The requirement is in a new Financial Crimes Enforcement Network rule amending the Bank Secrecy Act. The FinCEN and other federal law enforcement agencies will receive reciprocal access to European banking records. ...read full article February 15, 2010 Mayor Roefaro warning residents of scam involving EbayUTICA, N.Y. (WKTV) - Utica officials are warning residents of scam due to numerous complaints called into the Mayor's office. ...read full article February 15, 2010 Criminal hacker 'Iceman' gets 13 yearsIDG News Service - A former security researcher turned criminal hacker has been sentenced to 13 years in federal prison for hacking into financial institutions and stealing credit card account numbers. ...read full article February 15, 2010 Microsoft says malware causing blue screen crashesA sneaky rootkit is blamed for a problem that has sidelined some XP users following patchesA hard-to-detect rootkit may be causing Windows XP systems to crash following Microsoft's latest security updates. ...read full article February 15, 2010 Bail Set at $10 Million for Madoff's Former Finance ChiefBail was set at $10 million Thursday for jailed financier Bernard Madoff's former finance chief, who has remained imprisoned since he pleaded guilty six months ago and cooperated with the government's investigation. ...read full article February 15, 2010 Microsoft's new 'phone home' anti-piracy practice unacceptable, says critic'At what point is one free of this' perpetual checking, asks Lauren WeinsteinComputerworld - The Internet advocate who blasted Microsoft in 2006 over the daily "phone home" habits of its anti-piracy software took the company to task again today for a new practice that will examine consumers' Windows 7 PCs every 90 days to make sure they're running legitimate copies of the OS. ...read full article February 15, 2010 Researchers find huge weakness in European payment cardsIDG News Service - Hundreds of millions of payment cards throughout Europe have a flaw that could allow criminals with a stolen card to enter any random PIN to complete a transaction, according to researchers from the University of Cambridge. ...read full article February 15, 2010 Twitter Application Grader.Com HackedA popular Twitter application used to measure the influence of Twitter users has been hacked and used to send spam messages. ...read full article February 15, 2010 European Parliament blocks US access to SWIFT dataAs reported by the BBC and others, today the European Parliament voted to block further US access to SWIFT banking data. Despite intensive US lobbying the motion to block was approved with 378 votes in favor, 196 against and 31 abstentions. ...read full article February 15, 2010 Abuse of personal data in Bulgaria continues, official saysCompanies are continuing to collect more personal data than absolutely necessary, Bulgarian Commission for Personal Data Protection (CPDP) chairperson Veneta Shopova said. ...read full article February 15, 2010 Government invests £4.3m in crackdown on cybercrimeThe government is to invest £4.3m to fight criminals who use e-mails and websites to con UK consumers out of £3.5bn a year. ...read full article February 15, 2010 Deadline Looms for Mass. Data Protection LawAfter more than a year of delay and several modifications, a contentious Massachusetts data protection regulation appears set to go into effect March 1. ...read full article February 15, 2010 Second Californian Pleads Guilty to False Tax Refund ConspiracyWASHINGTON – Ather Ali of Diamond Bar, Calif., pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to defraud the United States, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. ...read full article February 12, 2010 9 claim tax return ID theftThe IRS and police in northwest Indiana are looking into allegations of identity theft of people who claimed someone had filed tax returns for them before they filed their own returns. ...read full article February 12, 2010 District investigates computer security breachThe Broward County School District in South Florida is investigating whether students at several schools were able to change grades by hacking into computers. ...read full article February 12, 2010 Employee Misuse of Computer Access Ruled Not a CrimeUsing a password-accessed workplace computer in violation of company rules or policies may get you disciplined, but it's not enough to be prosecuted in New Jersey, says a Mercer County judge in a published case of first impression. ...read full article February 12, 2010 Google Buzz Gives Spammers a New Sweet SpotGoogle's new Gmail-based social network, Buzz, is raising hackles among security experts who see it as fertile new ground for propagators of malware and spam. "In the industry's haste to create the next 'Big Thing' for users," said Authenware President Tom Helou, "what results is a one-stop-shop for even amateur hackers to create an imitation identity and get access to sensitive information." ...read full article February 12, 2010 Internet Governance in a World of CyberwarcraftGoogle's ongoing fight with the government of China brings dozens of issues to the table, not the least of which are human rights, censorship and trade and fairness issues. ...read full article February 12, 2010 Adobe pushes out Flash security fixAdobe has published a cross-platform update for Flash that addresses a potentially serious security flaw. ...read full article February 12, 2010 Chip and PIN security bustedSecurity researchers have demonstrated a gaping security hole in Chip and PIN credit card authorisations which undermines trust in the technology as a means to verify retail purchases ...read full article February 11, 2010 Customers' Personal Information Found In Macy's DumpsterHomeless Man Using Papers With Credit Card And Social Security Numbers As A BedA surprising find outside the downtown St. Louis Macy's store. Documents containing personal information including social security numbers. ...read full article February 11, 2010 Online Robbery: Hackers Steal $50,000. Bank Says ‘Tough Luck’It’s every technophobe’s nightmare, but this time its true. Some $50,000 was stolen from Fan Bao’s online bank account by Croatian computer hackers and the bank told him that the loss is not their problem. ...read full article February 11, 2010 Leader of ID theft ring sentencedThe leader of a mail- and identity-theft ring has been sentenced to more than 13 years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver said today. ...read full article February 11, 2010 Lawrence Welk Resort Furious with VisaThe Lawrence Welk Resort says a tech company disabled its computer security system, making 1,427 customers' credit cards vulnerable to ID theft. ...read full article February 11, 2010 Mozilla admits Firefox add-on malware false alarmOne item of AMO badness just a blankMozilla has admitted it erred in labelling one of the two Firefox add-ons offered for download from its official add-on site as malign last week. ...read full article February 11, 2010 FAFSA scams target student applicantsThe State of Tennessee Office of Attorney General issued a warning to students last Thursday about possible financial aid scams. ...read full article February 9, 2010 Woman worms into D.C. taxpayer accountsA mentally ill woman exploited a loophole in D.C. tax office online systems to gain unauthorized access to taxpayer accounts, establish herself as the owner of dozens of businesses and file returns on their behalf. ...read full article February 9, 2010 SSNs Printed On Nearly 50K EnvelopesDepartment Of Health Care Services Alerts Beneficiaries To MistakeEnvelopes sent to thousands of Californians who get benefits from the Department of Health Care Services contained Social Security numbers on the mailing labels. ...read full article February 9, 2010 AvMed: Data of 208,000 at risk after Gainesville theftThe theft of two company laptops from AvMed Health Plans' corporate offices in Gainesville may have compromised the personal information of more than 200,000 current and former subscribers, as well as their dependents, the company announced. ...read full article February 9, 2010 Microscope-wielding boffins crack cordless phone cryptoCryptographers have broken the proprietary encryption used to prevent eavesdropping on more than 800 million cordless phones worldwide, demonstrating once again the risks of relying on obscure technologies to remain secure. ...read full article February 9, 2010 Thieves invade TwitterCYBER criminals are charging each other more than $1000 for stolen identity details that can be used to access Twitter accountsThe social networking phenomenon has not only proved a hit among users, but carved out a popular following among tech-savvy crooks because of the doors it can open. ...read full article February 9, 2010 FICO security lapse scary, but not part of larger problemIt is scary to learn someone is poking through your personal financial information and even more disturbing when you learn that they got it through the people who score your credit. ...read full article February 9, 2010 Ruling: FACTA Does Not Extend to E-Commerce ConfirmationsOnline merchants have dodged another bullet when it comes to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA). In the recent case Shlahtichman v. 1-800 Contacts, Inc., a judge in the Northern District of Illinois ruled in December that FACTA does not apply to electronic displays or e-mail confirmations of Internet transactions. ...read full article February 9, 2010 Global gov's shrugging lets cybercrims frolicSex and drugs and Rickrolling in MadridSomeone will have to die before governments take cybercrime as seriously as they take digital piracy, a panel on cybercrime and internet security was told last week. ...read full article February 9, 2010 Health care department breaches privacyThe Department of Health Care Services said Monday it has breached the privacy of 49,352 people who receive adult day-care services from the state. ...read full article February 9, 2010 Bradenton police warn of fake Verizon, Bright House workersOn Friday, a group of men showed up at The Palms apartment complex going door to door claiming to work for Verizon. ...read full article February 8, 2010 China: Large hacker training Web site shut downWashington (CNN) -- Police in China shut down what officials think was the largest training Web site for computer hackers, local media said. ...read full article February 8, 2010 Internet rape case jolts Wyoming cityVictim's ex-boyfriend allegedly posted online that she had a rape fantasyCASPER, Wyo. - Authorities say a Casper woman was assaulted at her front door, raped at knifepoint in her living room and left bound on the floor, and they say one of the men charged in the brutal attack claimed that he thought it was invited. ...read full article February 8, 2010 Mass injection web hacks yield to targeted attacksMalware authors targeting websites have begun trading quantity for quality, according to web security firm Websense. ...read full article February 8, 2010 ShmooCon: P2P Snoopers Know What's In Your WalletBeing security researchers and all, Larry Pesce and Mick Douglas thought it would be a hoot to take a look at some of the information people send out over peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. They were taken aback by what they found. ...read full article February 8, 2010 The Rise of Caller ID SpoofingApplications that let users change or “spoof” their Caller ID are gaining in popularity in mobile phone app stores, even as Congress considers stalled legislation to outlaw particular uses of the technology, and criminals use it to engage in nefarious activity. ...read full article February 8, 2010 BlackBerry Spyware Can Intercept Texts, Email, Track User's LocationA security researcher demonstrated a spyware program at the ShmooCon conference on Sunday that is capable of intercepting and recording text messages, emails, Web traffic and other data sent to and from BlackBerry devices. ...read full article February 8, 2010 3rd Circuit to Mull Privacy of Cell Phone DataCase offers rare glimpse into the mechanics of federal criminal investigations where nearly all documents are filed ex parte and stay under seal until indictments are handed up ...read full article February 8, 2010 City supe slaps bank for account compromiseA supervisor for the town of Poughkeepsie, New York lashed out at a local bank after someone siphoned $378,000 out of municipal coffers and transferred it to Ukraine. ...read full article February 5, 2010 Cybersecurity Enhancement Act passed by U.S. HouseOne week after having nearly 50 of its websites defaced by hackers, the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill that would seek to improve cybersecurity within the federal government and the public sector. ...read full article February 5, 2010 EU officials downplay carbon credit phishing scamEuropean Union officials have downplayed the seriousness of phishing attacks that enabled cybercriminals to steal carbon emissions permits worth £2.6m. ...read full article February 5, 2010 Mozilla confirms infected Firefox add-ons slipped through securityMalware hidden in two extensions threatens Windows usersComputerworld - Mozilla confirmed late Thursday that it failed to detect malware in a pair of Firefox add-ons, which may have infected up to 4,600 users. ...read full article February 5, 2010 FTC Returns $1.6 Million to Consumers Scammed by Bogus Debt CollectorThe FTC will distribute $1.6 million to thousands of consumers who were scammed into paying money they did not owe by con artists who threatened, harassed and lied to them. ...read full article February 5, 2010 FTC Targets Scammers Pushing Phony Jobs, Bogus Money-Making SchemesIn conjunction with state law enforcement officials and other federal agencies, the Federal Trade Commission will hold a press conference on Tuesday, February 9, 2010, at 11 a.m., to announce a law enforcement sweep cracking down on job and work-at-home fraud fueled by the economic downturn. ...read full article February 4, 2010 Australian judge upholds ISP's defence against piracy claimsAn Australian judge has upheld a "pure conduit" defence by an internet service provider against claims by copyright holders that it should have stopped illegal filesharing on its networks. ...read full article February 4, 2010 Venezuelan VoIP hacker pleads guiltyA Venezuelan man pleaded guilty in New Jersey federal court on Wednesday to hacking into the networks of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) providers and reselling internet-based phone services for profit, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. ...read full article February 3, 2010 Expect highly targeted cyber attacks with inside help in 2010, businesses warnedBusinesses face an increasing number of threats from cybercriminals, according to the latest internet security report by IT management software company CA. ...read full article February 3, 2010 U.S. Navy establishes new Cyber CommandThe U.S Navy has joined the Air Force and Marines with the formation of a new command charged with overseeing cyberspace operations. ...read full article February 3, 2010 Class Claims Experian is Recidivist CheatLOS ANGELES (CN) - Experian's "free credit reports" are not free at all, but trick customers into signing up for a credit monitoring service that can cost up to $179 a year, consumers say in a federal class action. The class claims Experian does this despite promising the FTC in 2005 that it would "stop its fraud" - but all it did was change the name. ...read full article February 3, 2010 Old security flaws still a major cause of breaches, says reportCompanies are overlooking obvious threats in the rush to tackle new ones, says TrustWaveComputerworld - An over-emphasis on tackling new and emerging security threats may be causing companies to overlook older but far more frequently exploited vulnerabilities, says a recent report. ...read full article February 3, 2010 House to Consider Cybersecurity Bill on WednesdayThe U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a proposed bill that is designed to bolster federal cybersecurity research and development activities, and stimulate the growth of a cybersecurity workforce in the country. ...read full article February 3, 2010 Twitter urges users to reset passwords after phishing alertTwitter has asked some users to reset their passwords after a phishing attack. It has urged members who use the same password for other online services to take action to protect their privacy. ...read full article February 3, 2010 Accusations Fly Over Voice Encryption HackGerman encryption firm SecurStar has strenuously denied being behind an apparently independent test of voice encryption products that found many of its rivals could be hacked using a $100 phone-tapping program. ...read full article February 3, 2010 Hackers paralyse emissions trading schemeEmissions trading is considered the yardstick for reducing pollutant emissions. Using market-based mechanisms, it aims to encourage economies and businesses to gradually reduce their overall emissions, such as those caused by burning fossil fuels. Emissions permits that define a specific volume of a greenhouse gas such as carbon dioxide are assigned or purchased, allowing businesses which emit less than their permitted volume to sell excess permits on a trading platform specifically set up for the purpose. Businesses which produce more pollutants than they have permits for must obtain additional certificates. ...read full article February 3, 2010 Credit theft sours winery experienceIt certainly wasn't the wine or the bowtie pasta at St. Clair Winery & Bistro that left a bad taste in Bianca Villani's mouth. It was the call from Visa, informing her that someone in Maryland was trying to put hundreds of dollars of purchases on her card and the cards of two of her other friends - who had also gone to the Dec. 11 dinner. ...read full article February 3, 2010 Mesilla man sentenced to 10 years in prison for child pornA Mesilla Park man has been sentenced to 120 months in prison and lifelong supervision as a result of a national child pornography investigation. David Joseph Dube, 56, a former United States Army captain, worked as an information technology contractor at the time of the offenses, according to the FBI. ...read full article February 3, 2010 Wigan Council loses the data of 200 disabled residentsA Greater Manchester council has lost details of 200 disabled residents - a year after a previous security blunder. ...read full article February 3, 2010 Greensburg medical facility laptops stolenTwo laptop computers containing patient information were stolen from two Greensburg medical complexes over the weekend, city police said Tuesday. ...read full article February 3, 2010 Strangers Lose Personal Information in Non-Profit Mix-UpA mistake by a not-for-profit group may put more than 200 landlords at risk for identity theft. The mistake sent tax forms and social security numbers to strangers. ...read full article February 3, 2010 University employee charged with felonyA University employee with access to sensitive student information was arrested and charged with one count of felony theft by extortion Monday evening, and police said they expect their investigation to lead them to more student victims. ...read full article February 3, 2010 Identity theft, forgery arrestsAn alleged identity theft and forgery ring was disrupted in southeast Phoenix this week after deputies from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office executed warrants at two residences and arrested five illegal immigrants from Mexico. ...read full article February 3, 2010 iPhone vulnerable to remote attack on SSLApple's iPhone is vulnerable to exploits that allow an attacker to spoof web pages even when they're protected by the SSL, or secure sockets layer, protocol, a security researcher said. ...read full article February 3, 2010 Stubborn trojan stashes install file in Windows helpCan't muster rejectionSecurity researchers have spied malware that stashes a copy of itself in a Windows help file to ensure victim computers remain infected ...read full article February 3, 2010 Record year for online tax filing - and phishing mailsScammers rev up for tax seasonHer Majesty's Revenue and Customs is celebrating another record year for online tax returns, over six million people filed online this year. ...read full article February 3, 2010 Watch Out for Scam Toyota Recall NumberSome crafty scammers are playing the numbers game in hopes of cashing in on Toyota's massive recall. ...read full article February 3, 2010 ITRC Fact Sheet 140 – Social Security Number FAQsThe ITRC is frequently asked by consumers about the appropriate time and reason to provide one’s SSN. ...read full article February 3, 2010 Louisiana agent fined $100,000 amid numerous fraud-related chargesA Baton Rouge, La., preacher who allegedly used the identity of a 2-year-old to obtain an insurance license was ordered to stop conducting business by state regulators and fined $100,000. ...read full article February 3, 2010 Mo. insurance agent fined $5,000 for creating false proof of coverageA Missouri man was fined $5,000 by FINRA for creating a false proof of insurance document for a customer. ...read full article February 3, 2010 Possible vendor’s breach may explain some BlackHat attendees being spammedEarlier this week, PogoWasRight.org was contacted by an individual who reported that after attending BlackHat 2009, he recently started receiving spam at a unique e-mail address he had created specifically for Breach Security. After receiving spam, he contacted them to change the e-mail address to another unique e-mail address, but within days, started getting spam at that address, too. The spam started on or about January 27. ...read full article February 3, 2010 How to keep your passwords super secureHands up who uses the same password for everything? Shame on you, and is there anyone out there who uses the same small clutch of passwords for everything? Yes, some shame on you people too. ...read full article February 2, 2010 Crooks try to romance users with Valentine's Day spamEat your heart out, cupid. Valentine's Day still is nearly two weeks away, but the lover's holiday is already attracting the attention of the web's criminal element. ...read full article February 2, 2010 Reports: Phishing attack hits Twitter(CNN) -- If you're on Twitter, it may be a good idea to change your password this morning. ...read full article February 2, 2010 US gaming commission confirms 80,000 personal details exposed after outside attack on serverAround 80,000 Iowa employee names, birth dates and social security numbers have been exposed after a server was hacked ...read full article February 2, 2010 Most consumers reuse banking passwords on other sitesThe majority of online banking customers reuse their online-banking login credentials on other websites, according to a new survey on password insecurity. ...read full article February 2, 2010 Manchester cops clobbered by ConfickerPCs' PCs still unplugged from PNCGreater Manchester Police's computer network has been infected by the infamous Conficker worm, leaving beat cops unable to run computer checks on suspected criminals and vehicles for the last three days. ...read full article February 2, 2010 Incidents of identity theft up by 32pcThe recession has led to a surge in financial fraud with identity theft up by almost a third, latest industry figures have revealed.A worrying trend is emerging where criminals take over the running of your bank account and transfer funds into an account they have set up to accept these bogus payments, according to CIFAS, the UK’s fraud prevention service. ...read full article February 2, 2010 Trail of Iowa computer hack points to Chinaowa investigators suspect a serious breach of a state government computer database last week originated in China, which a congressional panel says has increased its use of cyber espionage tactics. ...read full article February 2, 2010 Web attacks cripple Russia's biggest indie newspaperSeven days and countingThe website of Russia's highest-profile independent newspaper on Monday suffered its seventh straight day of crippling denial-of-service attacks by unknown miscreants. ...read full article February 2, 2010 Cybercrime Checks Into The Hotel IndustryHackers are increasingly targeting hotels and resorts, raiding more than the minibar.Over the past year America's hotels have had some uninvited guests: a wave of increasingly sophisticated invasions by organized cybercriminals. ...read full article February 2, 2010 Identity thieves use sophisticated techniques to steal moneyLeah Broadway was running on the treadmill at her Alexandria gym when someone stole her purse from her car parked outside. ...read full article February 2, 2010 Fla. agent sent to prison for taking more than $1 million in premiumsA Gainesville, Fla., insurance agent was sentenced to 21 months in state prison and 10 years of probation after pleading guilty to the theft of more than $1 million in premiums intended for businesses he had created. ...read full article February 2, 2010 Obama's $3.8 trillion proposed budget: Parsing the tech prioritiesPresident Obama rolled out his $3.8 trillion proposed fiscal 2011 budget that’s teeming with technology projects throughout the Federal government’s departments and agencies. ...read full article February 2, 2010 The future of... data encryptionDigital memories are long. Emails, images, and documents sent today can resurface years from now, but new software could help ensure that what happens online, doesn’t have to live there eternally. ...read full article February 2, 2010 Chinese spies use cyber hacking and sexual blackmail...The New York Times recently published a story that Britain’s spy agency, MI5, warned British business people doing business in China about spying attempts that made used of cyber hacking and attempted to ensnare people through blackmail “over sexual relationships and other improprieties.” ...read full article February 2, 2010 Why it’s easier today for a thief to guess your nine digitsAlessandro Acquisti is an associate professor of information technology and public policy at the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University. His work focuses on the economic and social impact of IT and in particular, the sweet spot between economics and individual privacy. ...read full article February 2, 2010 Tips to national insurance fraud group doubled in 2009Tips from the public about insurance crimes to a national group doubled from 2008 to 2009, as people “lost their patience” with insurance fraud, the group said. ...read full article February 2, 2010 Indian internet users vulnerable to cyber fraud: SurveyNew Delhi: A survey* of more than 5,000 active Internet users across 10 cities in India suggests that users are becoming increasingly concerned about online security. ...read full article February 2, 2010 Belarus orders Internet providers to collect personal user dataMinsk/Belarus' authoritarian government Monday ordered even tighter online controls, ordering internet providers to collect personal data and profiles of their users, according to the independent Belarusian news agency Belapan. ...read full article February 2, 2010 Use of Twitter, Facebook rising among gang membersWhen a gang member was released from jail soon after his arrest for selling methamphetamine, friends and associates assumed he had cut a deal with authorities and become a police informant. ...read full article February 2, 2010 Pressure mounts to phase out Internet Explorer 6A Downing Street petition is calling for the UK government to drop Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) and move to a more modern browser. ...read full article February 2, 2010 Hackers turn to social media to attack companiesSocial media is increasingly becoming fertile ground for hackers to attack companies with spam and malware, according to a report released Monday by a security firm. ...read full article February 1, 2010 Attacks on social networking sites up 70%Malware and spam attacks against users of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have increased by 70% in the past year, according to a report by Sophos. ...read full article February 1, 2010 Clash Over Student PrivacyWASHINGTON -- The U.S. Education Department has fired the top federal official charged with protecting student privacy, in what the dismissed official says was a conflict with the agency's political leaders over their zeal to encourage the collection of data about students' academic performance. ...read full article February 1, 2010 The personal details of 3.4 million Victorians continue to be abused by VicRoads staff despite a State Government bid to stamp out licensing fraud.Seven VicRoads workers have been sacked or resigned for improperly accessing or releasing information from the authority's database in the past two years. ...read full article February 1, 2010 HMRC issues 'tax refund' phishing e-mail alertHM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has issued a warning about fake e-mails about tax refunds which are designed to steal personal information. ...read full article February 1, 2010 Privacy breached: Flow clients rail against directory listingsSubscribers to Flow's telephone service are demanding explanations at the sudden appearance of their private information in the national telephone directory, produced annually by a third party. ...read full article February 1, 2010 Home Office spawns new unit to expand internet surveillanceExclusive The Home Office has created a new unit to oversee a massive increase in surveillance of the internet, The Register has learned, quashing suggestions the plans are on hold until after the election. ...read full article February 1, 2010 Firefox-based attack wreaks havoc on IRC usersWorld's first inter-protocol exploit, but not the lastUnderscoring a little-known web vulnerability, hackers are exploiting a weakness in the Mozilla Firefox browser to wreak havoc on Freenode and other networks that cater to users of internet relay chat. ...read full article February 1, 2010 Laptops with Personal Info Stolen from ColumbiaAbout 1,400 current, former and prospective students at Columbia University have been told that their personal information, including Social Security numbers, is vulnerable following a security breach. ...read full article February 1, 2010 UK.gov unmoved by Internet Explorer 6 security concernsGoogle, NHS cast off exploited browserGoogle and the NHS may soon be ditching support for Internet Explorer 6, but that hasn’t stopped UK government officials from declaring the browser doesn’t give them cause for concern, unlike their French and German counterparts. ...read full article February 1, 2010 CIA, PayPal under bizarre SSL assaultPlus hundreds of othersThe Central Intelligence Agency, PayPal, and hundreds of other organizations are under an unexplained assault that's bombarding their websites with millions of compute-intensive requests. ...read full article February 1, 2010 Grandma endures wrongful ISP piracy suspensionAll Cathi "Cat" Paradiso knew for sure, as she learned that her Web access was being shut off, was that she was losing her struggle to stay calm. ...read full article February 1, 2010 Military joint EHR office rapped for bad planningWASHINGTON – The Government Accountability Office criticized the group directing the project to tie together the electronic health record systems operated by the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments in a recent report ...read full article February 1, 2010 Google censors 'Lolita,' but not 'bestiality'It seems like only yesterday that news surfaced that naughty words were being replaced by hash marks on Android phones. ...read full article February 1, 2010 Health Professionals Petition FTC For Relief From Red Flags RuleIn light of a recent federal court decision, four national organizations representing dentists, physicians and veterinarians called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today to exclude health professionals from controversial new regulation intended to combat identity thef ...read full article February 1, 2010 Medical files found in trashPolice on Tuesday turned up medical files in a trash bin near University Medical Clinics that contained information that could be used to commit identity theft, a police spokesman said Wednesday. ...read full article February 1, 2010 CIA, PayPal under bizarre SSL assaulte Central Intelligence Agency, PayPal, and hundreds of other organizations are under an unexplained assault that's bombarding their websites with millions of compute-intensive requests. ...read full article February 1, 2010 Stolen Twitter accounts can fetch US$1,000According to researchers at Kaspersky Lab, cybercriminals are trying to sell hacked Twitter user names and passwords on-line for hundreds of dollars. ...read full article February 1, 2010 Cocoa Beach police find ATM skimmerSomeone attached a “skimming device” to an ATM at Bank of America on North Atlantic Avenue in Cocoa Beach, and police believe an unknown number of victims may be susceptible to identity theft. ...read full article February 1, 2010 Preying on the down-and-outCon artists target victims with job-hunting schemes, 'free' trialsUnemployment, home foreclosures, rising debt. These problems set the stage for scams last year. ...read full article February 1, 2010 Body parts killer Stephen Marshall jailed for lifeA man who admitted murdering a kitchen salesman, dismembering his body and dumping it, has been jailed for life. ...read full article February 1, 2010 Court Appearance Set for Tax Fraud Suspects35-year-old Don Darrell Price from Jackson and 41-year-old Timothy Benjamin Taylor from Dacula, Georgia, are facing at least 484 counts of identity theft and tax fraud charges combined. ...read full article February 1, 2010 Alamo arrests linked to local identity theft victimsThis week in Alamo, a multi-agency team of law enforcement officers arrested four adults on charges of identity theft, possession of a controlled substance and outstanding warrants. ...read full article February 1, 2010 New Twist in Dead Sea Scrolls CaseIn the latest twist of a curious legal case involving allegations of identity theft, cyber-bullying, and two-millennia-old religious artifacts, a well-known University of Chicago professor has been implicated in a complex, Internet-based scheme to smear opponents of his work. ...read full article February 1, 2010 A Tale of Two VictimsWhen a computer virus infection at a business allows thieves to steal tens of thousands of dollars from the company’s commercial banking account, banks typically don’t reimburse the victim company. But the truth is, most banks make that decision on a case-by-case basis. ...read full article February 1, 2010 'Skimmer' Found Attached To Bank ATMTechnician Discovers Device At Cocoa BankA technician found the "skimmer" late Saturday afternoon at the Bank of America ATM located in the 4300 block of North Atlantic Avenue in Cocoa. ...read full article January 29, 2010 All is not OK in Oklahoma: State tax website victim of hackThe website of the Oklahoma Tax Commission was the apparent victim of a hack yesterday, one in which visitors to the website were prompted to accept an Adobe license agreement and download software. The hack could not come a worse time for the Commission, whose site is undoubtedly experiencing an uptick in visitors as tax season approaches. ...read full article January 29, 2010 Phishing Scam Targets Users of Adobe PDF ReaderA new phishing scam is trying to fool people into thinking it comes from Adobe, announcing a new version of PDF Reader/Writer. The message is making its way into e-mail boxes today, and the real Adobe urged any recipients to simply delete it. ...read full article January 29, 2010 U.S. House leaders ask for investigation into hackingsIDG News Service - Two lawmakers criticized the Web services company that may have enabled the hacking of almost 50 government Web sites on Wednesday. ...read full article January 29, 2010 Inside fraudster jailed for stealing from 7/7 victim's accountFormer HSBC bank worker Paul Walsh has been jailed for two years after stealing more than £32,000 from a victim of the London suicide bomb attack on 7 July 2005. ...read full article January 29, 2010 Mortgage Fraudster Sent Up the RiverMANHATTAN (CN) - Manhattan real estate developer Michael Hershkowitz was sentenced Thursday to 4 years in federal prison for his part in a $27 million Ponzi scheme involving fraudulent loans secured by nonexistent mortgages. Hershkowitz persuaded around 100 victims to loan the money to the Kingsland Group, allegedly to renovate 16 apartment buildings in Upper Manhattan. ...read full article January 29, 2010 EFF online tool reveals 'fingerprint' browsers leave on the WebA browser's digital fingerprint reveals a wealth of information and can potentially be used to profile and identify a user ...read full article January 29, 2010 Judge Tosses Remaining Broadcom Charges, Finds 'Serious Problems' in SEC ComplaintA federal judge on Thursday dismissed drug charges against former Broadcom Corp. Chief Executive Officer Henry Nicholas and threw out a plea deal reached between prosecutors and a witness in a related stock-options backdating prosecution. ...read full article January 29, 2010 Military seeks private sector help to build cyber warfare capabilityhe military is seeking help from the private sector to build offensive and defensive capabilities for cyber warfare. ...read full article January 29, 2010 Data-sharing deal with US could be torpedoed, EU conservatives warnBrussels - The conservative grouping in the European parliament is set to reject a planned agreement with the US on sharing bank transfer data, one of its senior members warned Thursday. The so-called SWIFT agreement between the European Union and US goes before a crucial committee vote next week. ...read full article January 29, 2010 Alberta’s privacy czar must justify delays, court ruleEDMONTON — Alberta’s highest court says the province’s backlogged Information and Privacy Commissioner can no longer take “routine extensions” in privacy cases, a decision that extends to complaints under health and access-to-information laws. ...read full article January 29, 2010 EPIC Urges FTC to Protect Users’ Privacy On Cloud Computing and Social Networking ServicesEPIC submitted comments to the FTC prior to the agency’s second privacy roundtable. EPIC warned of the ongoing privacy risks associated with cloud computing and social networking privacy, highlighting the Google cloud computing complaint and Facebook privacy complaint filed by EPIC in 2009. The comments note that the FTC has failed to take any meaningful action with respect to either complaint, demonstrating the Commission’s “lack of leadership and technical expertise.” EPIC’s comments also draw attention to the success of international privacy initiatives, in hopes of encouraging the FTC to take meaningful action to protect American consumers. For more information, see EPIC: Cloud Computing and EPIC: Social Networking Privacy. ...read full article January 29, 2010 Girl, 16, rejected by mum after leak of medical detailsA sixteen-year-old is an outcast from her devout Catholic family who have branded her a ‘murderer’ after a nurse allegedly broke medical confidentiality and told them about her secret abortion. ...read full article January 29, 2010 Expert sees security issues with the iPadApple's new iPad device looks like it will have some of the same security issues that affect the iPhone, such as weak encryption, a mobile security expert said on Thursday. ...read full article January 29, 2010 Google invites attacks on ChromeGoogle has launched an experimental programme to encourage external security researchers to find and report vulnerabilities in its browser. Borrowing from the Mozilla Foundation's 2004 Security Bug Bounty Program, $500 will be awarded for each bug found. In special cases, a committee will decide whether to increase the amount to a maximum of $1,337 – however, this reward is only for vulnerabilities which are particularly critical, or particularly smart reports on vulnerabilities and their exploitation. ...read full article January 29, 2010 Most companies fail to manage data, study revealsLess than 77% of organisations have established policies that cover electronics records, according to a report by information services firm Iron Mountain. ...read full article January 29, 2010 Advance-fee fraud scams rise dramatically in 2009IDG News Service - People around the world continue to be duped by advance-fee frauds, with one Dutch private investigation company estimating the highest ever annual losses occurred in 2009. ...read full article January 29, 2010 Stolen Twitter accounts can fetch $1,000IDG News Service - According to researchers at Kaspersky Lab, cybercriminals are trying to sell hacked Twitter user names and passwords on-line for hundreds of dollars. ...read full article January 29, 2010 Many voice encryption systems easily crackableUpdated. A vast majority of voice encryption products are seriously flawed, according to controversial tests by an anonymous hacker. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Cybersecurity Chief Confronts Google Attack, Cloud SecurityNew to the job, Howard Schmidt's priorities include developing an organized response to attacks on American systems, private-public partnerships, and R&D.The nation's new cybersecurity coordinator, Howard Schmidt, says the task of overseeing government-wide computer security has been "non-stop" in his first two weeks on the job. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Facebook Tool Could Be Exploited By Cyber-BulliesA recent Facebook feature can be exploited to be a cyber-bullying tool in the wrong hands, a security vendor warns.Facebook's new feature – "reply to this e-mail to comment on this status" – gives attackers a way to post messages on other people's Facebook pages, according to a blog by security vendor F-Secure. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Prominent tech blog TechCrunch hackedA leading technology blog, TechCrunch, was temporarily commandeered by a hacker who managed to place a message that linked to a site offering adult material. ...read full article January 28, 2010 4 Arrested In Alleged Plot To Wiretap Senator's OfficeA conservative activist who posed as a pimp to target the community-organizing group ACORN and the son of a federal prosecutor were among four people arrested by the FBI and accused of trying to interfere with phones at Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu's office. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Anatomy Of A Targeted, Persistent AttackNew report provides an inside look at real attacks that infiltrated, camped out, and stole intellectual property and proprietary information -- and their links to ChinaA new report published today sheds light on the steps ultra-sophisticated attackers take to gain a foothold inside governments and company networks and remain entrenched in order to steal intellectual property and other data. The bad news is these attacks -- including the recent ones on Google, Adobe, and other companies -- almost always are successful and undetectable until it's too late. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Cost of UK data breaches up 7% in 2009he cost of UK data breaches has increased 7% in the past year and 36% in the past two years, the latest annual study by the Ponemon Institute has revealed. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Congressional Web sites hacked near Obama speechIDG News Service - More than two dozen Congressional Web sites have been defaced by the Red Eye Crew, a group known for its regular attacks on Web sites. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Cyber Terrorists Target U.S. Oil IndustryThree of the world's largest U.S.-based oil and natural gas companies were hoodwinked by an extremely sophisticated malware attack designed to steal key proprietary data related to the whereabouts of new oil reserves.Senior executives at ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil in 2008 fell victim to a what security experts called "tenacious" and "clever" cyber attacks that exposed some of the oil titans' most critical intellectual property. eSecurity Planet explains who was responsible for the attacks and what implications this new form of corporate espionage has for all U.S. companies. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Private data of 8,600 Ont. teachers compromisedLaptops containing sensitive records belonging to thousands of Ontario teachers have been stolen, CBC News has learned. ...read full article January 28, 2010 UCSF says laptop with 4,400 patient records stolen, then recoveredUC San Francisco said Wednesday that a laptop containing files with information on 4,400 patients was stolen from a UCSF School of Medicine employee on or about November 30. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Medicare cards could pose identity theft riskTrips to the doctor could be exposing millions of Americans to identity theft because Medicare cards display recipients' full nine-digit social security numbers. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Former Linden man accused of identity theft, $270K loan scamLINDEN -- A former Linden resident was arrested this week and accused of using another man’s identity to secure $270,000 in loans, authorities said. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Miami man gets 22 years for Medicare fraudMIAMI (AP) - A Miami man who authorities say used his chain of clinics in a Medicare fraud case has been sentenced to 22 years in prison. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Social Security numbers visible in mail?The University of Missouri-Columbia has notified students that a recent mailing inadvertently may have revealed Social Security numbers through the envelope window. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Canada to probe Facebook privacyCanada's privacy commissioner has started a second investigation into social networking site Facebook. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Hard Driver Thefts Cost Tennessee Insurer $7 MillionBlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee says the theft of computer hard drives containing personal information on hundreds of thousands of members has already cost the insurer more than $7 million. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Seattle court worker charged with id theftA week after her alleged conspirators were charged, federal prosecutors have a Seattle Municipal Court employee with bank fraud and identity theft. ...read full article January 28, 2010 You may already be a loser: Text message scams spreadText this message: Your cell phone could be sending you the latest identity theft scam. ...read full article January 28, 2010 10 years in prison for a Twin Cities thief named SteeleDonald Steele Jr. did just that -- steal. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Illinois agent, agency lose licenses for impersonating regulatorsAn Illinois agent and his agency have lost their licenses to do business in the state and must pay a $100,000 fine for distributing fraudulent letters on stationary appearing to be that of the state’s department of insurance. ...read full article January 28, 2010 California surgeon faces up to 166 years in jail for bilking insurersA California physician could be sentenced to 166 years in prison after his conviction for defrauding insurance companies by billing cosmetic work as “medically necessary” procedures. ...read full article January 28, 2010 250,000 White House Staffers, Visitors Affected by National Archives Data BreachA data breach at the National Archives and Records Administration is more serious than previously believed. It involved sensitive personal information of 250,000 Clinton administration staff members, job applicants and White House visitors, as well as the Social Security number of at least one daughter of former Vice President Al Gore. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Attempted hacker attacks in healthcare on the riseATLANTA – The information security service SecureWorks, which protects 82 healthcare companies in the United States, reported Tuesday that attempted hacker attacks aimed at its clients doubled in the fourth quarter of 2009. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Study: Of All Breaches, Those Caused by Hacking Are the CostliestThe cost of data breaches rose slightly last year, but breaches resulting from computer hacking incurred by far the highest losses, according to a new report from privacy and data-security research firm Ponemon Institute LLC. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Japanese biometric border check no match for, um, tapeCaught sticky handedJapan's million-dollar biometric immigration screening systems are still no match for a little ingenuity - and some tape. ...read full article January 28, 2010 Identity Thieves Successfully Targeting Wealthy Victims, Study SaysAffluent individuals who live 'the good life' are 43 percent more likely to be victims, according to ExperianIf you're a security pro, then you might think the most likely victims of identity fraud are those with the most poorly protected systems and the least knowledge of computer security. Identity thieves are drawn to the easiest targets, right? ...read full article January 28, 2010 Phishing attacks account for more than one in two virusesMore than half (55.59 per cent) of all malware sent on email is an attempted phishing attack, according to analysis of malware in January 2010 by Network Box. ...read full article January 27, 2010 PlayStation 3 hack released onlineIDG News Service - Days after announcing he'd managed to hack Sony's PlayStation 3 console to run his own software George Hotz has released the exploit online. ...read full article January 27, 2010 Report data breaches or risk tougher sanctions, warns ICOThe Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has warned that organisations may face tougher sanctions if they fail to report security breaches that later come to light. ...read full article January 27, 2010 TechCrunch hacked twice in 24 hoursTechnology website TechCrunch has been hacked for the second time in 24 hours. ...read full article January 27, 2010 Study confirms demise of the myth of attacks from withinLast year, network giant Verizon suggested that the 'attack from within' was more of a myth than a serious threat. A study by UK security services provider 7Safe in conjunction with the University of Bedfordshire underpins this suspicion. Of 60 incidents investigated, only 2% could be traced back to internal attackers. ...read full article January 27, 2010 New attack against IE could expose all files on a victim's PCMicrosoft's popular Internet Explorer web browser suffers from several minor flaws, which, when combined, can allow an attacker to read all the files on a user's computer, according to researchers at penetration testing vendor Core Security Technologies. ...read full article January 27, 2010 Phantom app risk used to bait scareware trapScareware scammers are staking advantage of rumours about an "unnamed app" that supposedly poses a security risk to Facebook users in order to trick users into sites slinging rogue security software packages. ...read full article January 26, 2010 Man to plead guilty in Scientology cyber attacksLos Angeles, California (CNN) -- A Nebraska man is expected to plead guilty next week to launching a cyber attack that shut down the Church of Scientology's Web sites, federal prosecutors said Monday. ...read full article January 25, 2010 Beware Johnny Depp death hoax, says security firm SophosBogus reports circulating on the internet, which claim that Johnny Depp has been killed in a drunken car crash in France, could be exploited by cybercriminals, warns security firm Sophos. ...read full article January 25, 2010 Cybercriminals use China attacks on Google as lureCybercriminals are exploiting the recently announced China-based cyber attacks against Google and more than 20 other companies as a lure for carrying out further targeted attacks. ...read full article January 25, 2010 Bank finally gets it right on fingerprintsIt may be one of the shortest bills debated in the New Hampshire House of Representatives during this legislative session. The operative section of HB 299 consists of a single line: “(c) Reasonable identification shall not include finger prints.” ...read full article January 25, 2010 China rejects accusations on Google hack, Internet freedomIDG News Service - China on Monday dismissed accusations of any official involvement in hacking attacks on Google and other U.S. companies, adding to tension between the two countries over the issue. ...read full article January 25, 2010 MoD staff leak military secrets on FacebookStaff at the Ministry of Defence and the military leaked secrets on social networking sites and forums 16 times in the past 18 months. ...read full article January 25, 2010 Chinese human rights sites hit by DDoS attackIDG News Service - Five Web sites run by Chinese human rights activists were attacked by hackers over the weekend, as a separate row continued between Google and China over political cyberattacks. ...read full article January 25, 2010 Infiltrating the Pushdo BotnetIt's very rare that we researchers get a chance to explore the inner workings of a botnet command and control server. Detailed insight into the botnet server or command component can give us valuable information about the motives of the botnet and possibly the bad guys behind it. But granting access to these command and control servers often depends on the will of the hosting providers. So what happened in this case? ...read full article January 25, 2010 Phishing schemes are becoming sneakier in targeting doctorsA new round of e-mail scams looks like legitimate messages from trusted sources. How can physicians avoid becoming victims? ...read full article January 25, 2010 Mother, son, plead guilty to ID theftRIVERHEAD - Tonia Cheeseman, 64, of Ridge, and her son Michael Cheeseman, 42, of Shirley admitted in court that they used the personal information from files of Tonia Cheeseman’s employer to acquire lines of credit. Stolen identities included Suffolk County residents and residents of Florida where the Cheesemans had lived. ...read full article January 25, 2010 Ladbrokes, police probe data breachLadbrokes is investigating the loss of thousands of customer details from one of its databases, but is reassuring gamblers that the information did not include bank details or passwords. ...read full article January 25, 2010 SQL injections attacks exacerbated by work of ‘gray hat’ researchersIn this LastWatchdog guest blog post Phil Neray, Vice President of Security Strategy at database security vendor Guardium (which was acquired by IBM last November) focuses attention on SQL injection vulnerabilities and attacks — and why they remain a substantive threat. ...read full article January 25, 2010 Slovak biker spat linked to rare destructive wormHi-tech equivalent of tyre-slashing spreads globallyA rare example of a destructive computer worm has been spotted on the web. ...read full article January 25, 2010 Whirlpool allows old stains to linger on Kitchenaid.com siteWarnings put through spin cycleDomestic appliance manufacturer Whirlpool has come under fire for failing to clean up a malware infection on one of its sites, months after it was notified of a problem by UK anti-virus firm Sophos. ...read full article January 25, 2010 Too much info on social media aids ID thievesMore than half of adults 45 and older who are on social networks like Facebook could be in danger of becoming victims of identity theft or other crimes because they share too much private information, according to a study released today. ...read full article January 25, 2010 Survey: Data breaches from malicious attacks doubled last yearData breaches at U.S. companies attributed to malicious attacks and botnets doubled from 2008 to 2009 and cost substantially more than breaches caused by human negligence or system glitches, according to a new Ponemon survey to be released on Monday. ...read full article January 25, 2010 Coldblooded Scam Targeted MexicansSAN ANTONIO (CN) - A 56-year-old Texan was sentenced to 65 months in federal prison for posing as an immigration agent to steal $95,000 from 80 unsuspecting victims by selling them phony documents. Several of his victims were ill and sought temporary visas to get medical treatment. One traveled from the interior of Mexico to Nuevo Laredo only to be denied admission and die on her way home, prosecutors said. ...read full article January 22, 2010 China hacks used as lure for more targeted attacksSpoofed e-mails detailing recent events spotted in targeted attacks, says F-SecureComputerworld - Malicious hackers have begun using the recent cyberattacks against Google and more than 30 other companies as lures for launching even more targeted attacks, security firm F-Secure said in a blog post today. ...read full article January 22, 2010 Music and film industry to fund 75% of anti-piracy campaignThe UK government says music and film producers will have to bear of the cost of clamping down on illegal file sharers on the internet. ...read full article January 22, 2010 Baidu claims Register.com withheld support after hackChinese search engine says its domain registrar was slow to answer pleas for help after its site was hackedChinese search engine Baidu.com was stranded without technical support from its U.S. domain registrar immediately after being hacked last week, Baidu has alleged in its lawsuit against the registrar. ...read full article January 21, 2010 UPDATE: State DMV Database Used for Marketing, Private Data Accessed, Suit SaysTEXARKANA - A federal lawsuit filed in the Texarkana Division of the Western District of Arkansas claims the Arkansas Department of Motor Vehicle database has been illegally used for marketing and it could affect anyone who has had an Arkansas driver's license since 2000. ...read full article January 21, 2010 FBI Broke Privacy Laws, Says Justice Department ProbeThe FBI repeatedly broke the law between April 2003 and November 2006 in its efforts to monitor telecommunications in line with counterterrorism objectives, a Justice Department investigation has found. A report released Wednesday by the Department's Inspector General, Glenn Fine, reveals that three major telecom companies — whose identities remain classified — contracted out six of their employees to the FBI, and provided the government with unchecked access to phone records without legal authority. Those employees worked in FBI office space with government investigators, and responded to more than 700 informal requests for information from the FBI, sometimes passed on verbally or on post-its. The employees gave agents access to some 3,500 telephone numbers, including call records from reporters, "calling circles" of individual suspects and others, the report says. ...read full article January 21, 2010 UN issues call for international privacy agreementCountering counter-terror powersA UN watchdog has called for a new international agreement on privacy following a review of the expanding global array of surveillance measures and databases advanced by governments in the cause of counter-terrorism. ...read full article January 21, 2010 Cough Up Or Go to Jail, Judge SaysMIAMI (CN) - A federal judge found Jamie Solow in contempt for refusing to disgorge more than $3.4 million in a securities fraud judgment after soaking elderly investors. The judge said Solow transferred millions of dollars in assets to his wife; he ordered his arrest if Solow does not cough up the money by Monday. ...read full article January 21, 2010 Mortgage Broker Who Dumped Consumer Records Settles FTC ChargesA mortgage broker who discarded consumers’ personal financial records in a publicly- accessible dumpster paid a $35,000 civil penalty to settle Federal Trade Commission charges. ...read full article January 21, 2010 New Twist On Counterfeit Check Scheme Targeting U.S. Law FirmsThe FBI continues to receive reports of counterfeit check scheme targeting U.S. law firms. As previously reported, scammers send e-mails to lawyers, claiming to be overseas and seeking legal representation to collect delinquent payments from third parties in the U.S. The law firm receives a retainer agreement, invoices reflecting the amount owed, and a check payable to the law firm. The firm is instructed to extract the retainer fee, including any other fees associated with the transaction, and wire the remaining funds to banks in Korea, China, Ireland, or Canada. By the time the check is determined to be counterfeit, the funds have already been wired overseas. ...read full article January 21, 2010 Controversial App Provides Background Checks On the GoOnline privacy is a constant and growing concern as the evolving landscape of Web sites and services erode the traditional expectations of privacy. A new app from BeenVerified is adding even more controversy to the privacy dilemma by enabling users to conduct background checks on anyone in a matter of seconds from their iPhone. ...read full article January 21, 2010 Heartland Moves to Encrypted Payment SystemResponding to its widely reported and massive data breach that took place a year ago, Heartland Payment Systems will be moving to an end-to-end encryption system for payment transactions, according to Chairman and CEO Robert Carr. ...read full article January 21, 2010 UK: Confidential hospital records found at Norwich supermarketHospital records containing highly confidential information about vulnerable patients have been found outside a city supermarket by a member of the public. ...read full article January 21, 2010 More Answers About Law Amending HIPAA RulesThis is the second part of a two-part article providing an introductory overview of the new HITECH law. The first part appeared in the January 1 issue and addressed HITECH in detail. Interpretation of this law is still evolving, and there are currently many unanswered questions. Nothing in this article should be construed as legal advice. ...read full article January 21, 2010 FAQs About HIPAA and HITECH: What Physicians Need to KnowThis is the first of a two-part article on the new HITECH law. Interpretation of this law is still evolving, and there are many unanswered questions. ...read full article January 21, 2010 UK: Patient notes sent to wrong addressA FARMER was left "horrified" when personal and intimate details of a potentially fatal pregnancy complication for another woman were dropped through her letterbox. ...read full article January 21, 2010 Man pleads guilty to fraud, identity theftSalvatore Richard Caccavallo pleaded guilty in federal court in Missoula on Monday to wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and possession of stolen firearms, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. ...read full article January 21, 2010 UK: Manchester police arrest 3 suspects in check counterfeiting, identity theft scheme(KMOV)—Manchester police have arrested 3 suspects after a multi state check counterfeiting and identity theft scheme. ...read full article January 21, 2010 Hospitals asked to report problems with e-health recordsSome software is producing improper medication dosages, Grassley saysComputerworld - The ranking member of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee this week asked 31 hospitals and health-care systems to provide feedback on problems with computer systems associated with the government's efforts to incent the rollout of electronic health records (EHR). ...read full article January 21, 2010 RockYou hack reveals easy-to-crack passwordsAnalysis of the 32 million passwords recently exposed in the breach of social media application developer RockYou last month provides further proof that consumers routinely use easy to guess login credentials. ...read full article January 21, 2010 80% of gov't Web sites miss DNS security deadlineNetwork World - Most U.S. federal agencies -- including the Department of Homeland Security -- have failed meet a Dec. 31, 2009, deadline to deploy new authentication mechanisms on their Web sites that would prevent hackers from hijacking Web traffic and redirecting it to bogus sites. ...read full article January 20, 2010 Hundreds of Network Solutions Sites HackedWeb site domain registrar and hosting provider Network Solutions acknowledged Tuesday that hackers had broken into its servers and defaced hundreds of customer Web sites. ...read full article January 20, 2010 Mystery/Secret Shopper SchemesThe IC3 has been alerted to an increase in employment schemes pertaining to mystery/secret shopper positions. Many retail and service corporations hire evaluators to perform secret or random checks on themselves or their competitors, and fraudsters are capitalizing on this employment opportunity. ...read full article January 20, 2010 Military contractors targeted in Chinese attacks, says F-SecureAttacks followed apparent China-based hacks targeting Google, other tech firmsComputerworld - The targeted cyberattacks apparently originating in China that hit Google and more than 30 other companies late last year are now targeting some U.S. defense contractors, according to security vendor F-Secure. ...read full article January 20, 2010 Security researcher IDs China link in Google hackThe code behind the attack, called Aurora, was written in 2006IDG News Service - The malicious software used to steal information from companies such as Google contains code that links it to China, a security researcher said Tuesday. ...read full article January 20, 2010 How to secure Internet Explorer: four tips to protect web browsingWith some governments warning people to stop using Internet Explorer (IE) until Microsoft patches the latest vulnerability in the software, here are four ways to protect web browsing in IE. ...read full article January 20, 2010 EPIC, Privacy Groups Oppose Facebook “Beacon” SettlementEPIC and other privacy groups sent a letter to the federal judge overseeing a class-action settlement against Facebook in California, opposing the settlement as unfair and unreasonable. As proposed, the settlement does not provide any benefit for Facebook users whose private data was illegally exposed by Facebook “Beacon.” ...read full article January 20, 2010 Ca: Privacy complaint filed against youth-oriented social networking site NexopiaCanada’s privacy commissioner should investigate how a youth-oriented social networking site uses the personal information of its members, an Ottawa-based consumer advocacy group said Tuesday. ...read full article January 20, 2010 German DPA Fines Drugstore Chain €137,500 for Illegal Collection of Health DataOn January 11, 2010, the data protection authority of the German federal state of Baden-Wurtemberg issued a press release stating that it had fined the Müller Group €137,500 for illegal retention of health-related data and failure to appoint a Data Protection Officer. ...read full article January 20, 2010 Classmates Says It Will Prostitute Your Info To Other SitesPete forwarded us an email from the social networking site Classmates, which apparently is attempting to stay relevant by spreading your information around the internet to sites people actually visit. At least users can opt out. ...read full article January 20, 2010 Three charged in Miami area mortgage fraud allegationsIn the following press release Jeffrey H. Sloman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Michael K. Fithen, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service, Miami Field Office, and Al Lamberti, Sheriff, Broward County Sheriff’s Office, announced that Jerry Arthur Riggs, Jacqueline Lopez, and Novelette “Faye” Hanse, all of Broward County, Florida, were charged in a nine count Indictment in connection with their participation in a mortgage fraud scheme. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth A. Marra in West Palm Beach, Florida. The defendants made their initial appearances this morning before U.S. Magistrate Linnea R. Johnson. ...read full article January 20, 2010 FBI Director to chronicle the evolution of cyber threats at RSA Conference 2010Robert Mueller, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, will deliver a keynote address at RSA Conference 2010 RSA Conference 2010. Mueller’s keynote will detail cyber threats through the years – from criminal threats like computer intrusions and identity theft to the use of the Internet by extremists and hostile foreign powers. ...read full article January 20, 2010 Virus attack hits Vista machines, cripples university networkA massive virus attack has hit the University of Exeter resulting in the entire network being shut down both by the virus and the network staff in an attempt to protect the infrastructure. ...read full article January 20, 2010 Windows hole discovered after 17 years - UpdateMicrosoft isn't having an easy time of it these days. In addition to the unpatched hole in Internet Explorer, a now published hole in Windows allows users with restricted access to escalate their privileges to system level – and this is believed to be possible on all 32-bit versions of Windows from Windows NT 3.1 up to, and including Windows 7. While the vulnerability is likely to affect home users in only a minor way, the administrators of corporate networks will probably have their hands full this week. ...read full article January 20, 2010 Beach nurse gets 2 years for identity theftCalling the crime "very disturbing," a federal judge sentenced a nurse to two years in prison after she admitted stealing the identities of several patients, some suffering from dementia, and going on a $14,000 shopping spree. ...read full article January 20, 2010 Cardiff 'is identity theft capital'Cardiff is the UK's card fraud capital, new research has revealed. ...read full article January 20, 2010 Taken to the CleanersA study from Credant Technologies finds clothes dropped off at the dry cleaners are often filled with forgotten USB sticks. ...read full article January 19, 2010 National Center for Disaster Fraud to Coordinate Haitian Fraud ComplaintsThe FBI and the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) have established a telephone hotline to report suspected Haitian earthquake relief fraud. The number is (866) 720-5721. The phone line is staffed by a live operator 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also e-mail information directly to disaster@leo.gov. ...read full article January 19, 2010 3rd Circuit Panel Mulls if Teen 'Sexting' Is Child PornographyAs the nation's first case involving criminal prosecutions of teenagers for "sexting" made its way to a federal appeals court in Philadelphia, all three judges seemed skeptical of the prosecutor's claim that child pornography laws are violated when a teen transmits a nude image of herself. ...read full article January 19, 2010 France, Germany Say Stop Using Internet Explorer 6December's "Operation Aurora" cyber attack from China, which Google disclosed last week, has prompted French and German information security organizations to recommend against the use of Internet Explorer 6, at least until a patch is released to address the vulnerability. ...read full article January 19, 2010 Google Hack Leaked to Internet; Security Experts Urge VigilanceThe code that was used to hack Gmail accounts in China is now publicly available on the Internet, and security experts are urging computer users throughout the world to be highly vigilant until a patch can be developed. ...read full article January 19, 2010 Gmail of foreign journalists in China hijackedGoogle says cyberattacks have also recently targeted the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activistshe Gmail accounts of foreign reporters in at least two news bureaus in Beijing have been hijacked, a journalists' group in China said Monday. ...read full article January 19, 2010 Government personal data handling has improved, says reportMeasures put in place by the Government to better protect individuals' personal data have been successful but more work is needed, according to the first annual internal report due under the new regime. ...read full article January 19, 2010 ContactPoint database suffers 'serious' security breaches during trial phaseThe controversial database containing personal details of all 11 million children in England has suffered at least four security breaches even before its nationwide launch. ...read full article January 19, 2010 Theft of Goodwill safe raises identity theft concernsIn Kent County, the investigation continues into the theft of a safe from a Goodwill location in Kent County. ...read full article January 19, 2010 Video: Clickjacking exploit used to hijack Facebook accountsA security researcher has discovered a vulnerability in Facebook that could allow a hacker to hijack a user's account. ...read full article January 19, 2010 Fixing Flores: Assuring Adequate Penalties for Identity Theft and FraudThis Backgrounder proposes statutory language fixes to federal identity theft and aggravated felony language in 18 U.S.C. §§ 1028 and 1028A to reverse the practical implications of the May 2009 Supreme Court ruling in Flores-Figueroa v. United States.1 Flores crippled prosecutors’ longstanding practice of using the aggravated identity theft statute by requiring that prosecutors now also prove that a defendant knew he was using a real person’s identity information, as opposed to counterfeit information not connected to an actual person. The statute is an important tool for immigration enforcement. Proving a defendant’s knowledge about his crime is always difficult, and impossible in some cases, even where there is substantial harm and clear victims. This is especially the situation with illegal aliens who buy identity information from third parties. The inevitable result of the Flores decision is to enable perpetrators an easy defense and to tie prosecutors’ hands. The defendant in the case was an illegal alien working at a steel plant in Illinois. ...read full article January 19, 2010 FBI broke law for years in phone record searchesThe FBI illegally collected more than 2,000 U.S. telephone call records between 2002 and 2006 by invoking terrorism emergencies that did not exist or simply persuading phone companies to provide records, according to internal bureau memos and interviews. FBI officials issued approvals after the fact to justify their actions. ...read full article January 19, 2010 City staff's private info sent out with water billsA list of the names and Social Security numbers of employees of the City of Oakridge was sent out with monthly water bills in this town of about 1,400 households. ...read full article January 19, 2010 Three lessons for businesses from the Google attackCompanies need to reevaluate security to handle advanced cyberattacksThe cyberattacks against Google and more than 30 other technology companies by adversaries operating out of China highlights what some call the Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) confronting a growing number of U.S commercial entities. ...read full article January 19, 2010 Hackers are defeating tough authentication, Gartner warnsSecurity measures such as the use of one-time passwords and phone-based user authentication -- considered among the most robust forms of IT defenses -- are no longer enough to protect online banking systems against fraud, a Gartner Inc. report warns. ...read full article January 19, 2010 Health Net's missing drive could cost it millionsConnecticut HIPAA lawsuit over lost recordsUS healthcare corporation Health Net kept quiet for 6 months about a lost disk drive, exposing 1.5 million of its members to identity theft. It is now being sued. ...read full article January 19, 2010 Convicted identity thief arrested on new fraud chargesA rural Streator woman, who previously served prison time for identity theft, has been arrested by Livingston County Sheriff authorities on new criminal charges. ...read full article January 19, 2010 Poisoned PDF pill used to attack US military contractorsYet more cyber-espionage shenanigansUnidentified hackers are running an ongoing cyber-espionage attack targeting US military contractors ...read full article January 19, 2010 HMRC fraud warning emails baited by phishersSpotting scams doesn't have to be taxingUK taxpayers were targeted by a tax fraud scam mail run late last week. ...read full article January 19, 2010 Palestinian hackers deface Jewish ChronicleHacktivists protest Gaza blockadeThe Jewish Chronicle website was defaced over the weekend by hackers calling themselves the "Palestinian Mujaheeds" who posted a rant against Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip. ...read full article January 19, 2010 Search warrant nets fraud charge, pot bust for California coupleA California husband and wife were arrested recently during an auto insurance fraud bust at two of their residences that also turned up 131 pounds of suspected marijuana. ...read full article January 19, 2010 Florida officials searching for fake GEICO agentOfficials in three Florida counties are searching for a 21-year-old man who falsely claimed to work for GEICO, selling fictitious insurance documents. ...read full article January 19, 2010 Man masquerading as fashion model bilks wealthy menThe police sought a person who claimed to be Bree Condon and who had bilked thousands out of men in an online scam. They were surprised to meet Justin Brown. ...read full article January 19, 2010 More than 60 people arrested in connection with fraudulent check ringMore than 60 people have been arrested in connection with a fraudulent check ring that stole almost $500,000 from area banks and business, authorities said. ...read full article January 19, 2010 Zain Seeks Help in War On Mobile, Internet FraudstersMobile service provider Zain has issued a global appeal for more information on fraudsters who are using its brand name in order to obtain money ...read full article January 15, 2010 Google Hack Attack Was Ultra Sophisticated, New Details ShowHackers seeking source code from Google, Adobe and dozens of other high-profile companies used unprecedented tactics that combined encryption, stealth programming and an unknown hole in Internet Explorer, according to new details released by researchers at anti-virus firm McAfee. ...read full article January 15, 2010 Pizza delivery man cops to life in DarkMarketRan 'eBay for criminals' from net cafeA former London pizza delivery man faces a 10-year prison sentence after admitting he helped found the notorious DarkMarket forum for computer crime, several news sites reported. ...read full article January 15, 2010 False Moscow CCTV feed scam leads to fraud chargesThe discovery that some CCTV cameras around Moscow streamed prerecorded images, instead of live pictures, has resulted in criminal charges against StroyMontageService, the firm that maintained the network. ...read full article January 15, 2010 Iraqi weapons inspector accused in online sex stingFacing seven yearsA former head of UN weapons inspections in Iraq has been charged with child sex offences after being caught in an online sting. ...read full article January 15, 2010 Oaklyn man gets 27-month term for identity theftAn Oaklyn man was sentenced yesterday to 27 months in federal prison for stealing identities to swindle nine banks. ...read full article January 15, 2010 More charges, suspects in ID theft ringAn identity theft ring uncovered in Oswego last year involved more than just thefts in Kendall County ...read full article January 15, 2010 Eastern students may be victims of identity theftMany students report damage done to creditEastern is not immune to identity theft. Jackie See, financial health coordinator for the Health Education Resource Center, said she has spoken to students with thousands of dollars of damage done to their credit caused by identity theft. ...read full article January 15, 2010 Former Thief Says Identity Theft is Easier Than You ThinkNews Channel 13Wham recently interviewed former identity thief convict, Dan DeFelippi, who testified to the fact that identity theft is a lot easier than you might think. ...read full article January 15, 2010 Connecticut AG sues Health Net over security breachConnecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed a lawsuit against Health Net of Connecticut, alleging the company failed to secure patient medical records and financial information prior to a security breach. ...read full article January 15, 2010 Lincoln National Discloses Breach Of 1.2 Million CustomersShared-password vulnerability may have exposed personal information in online account management system...read full article January 15, 2010 NY Bank Suffers Online Breach8300+ Customers Compromised by HackA Long Island, NY bank announced this week that more than 8,300 of its online banking customers had their log-in credentials stolen in a data breach that occurred last November. ...read full article January 15, 2010 Credit-card thieves sought in connection with Target shopping spreeeAvondale police need the public's help finding two burglars who went on a post-Christmas shopping spree using stolen credit cards. ...read full article January 15, 2010 Tax season brings more sophisticated scamsIt's tax season, and that means IRS-related phishing scams are ramping up. ...read full article January 15, 2010 Soon, security system for touch screens to ward off shoulder surfersNew touch screen phones may soon be equipped with a system to stop 'shoulder surfers' from spying your secret pass codes, thanks to computer scientist who developed the technology. ...read full article January 15, 2010 Houston woman gets prison for $1M computer fraudA Houston woman who worked for a New Orleans mortgage lender has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for stealing more than $1 million from the company. ...read full article January 15, 2010 Conficker worm still spreading, Akamai saysRussia and Brazil replaced China and the U.S. as the top two sources of attack traffic, according to Akamai's State of the Internet report...read full article January 15, 2010 Haiti earthquake themed blackhat SEO campaigns serving scarewareCybercriminals quickly mobilized following the news of a massive earthquake that hit Haiti on Tuesday, by introducing several hundred compromised domains embedded with bogus blackhat seo (search engine optimization) content related to Red Cross donations and general Haiti earthquake relief information. ...read full article January 15, 2010 Woman reports identity theftWINNECONNE – A 57-year-old Winneconne woman reported to police on Jan. 6 that someone had used her identity to purchase energy from a Texas company. ...read full article January 15, 2010 Romanian faces five years in prison for phishing schemeA Romanian national pleaded guilty on Thursday to a charge related to a phishing operation that sought to defraud customers of banks such as Citibank and Wells Fargo, and of Web sites such as eBay. ...read full article January 15, 2010 UK defendants await sentencing in carding schemePart of DarkMarket fraud ring that bought and sold stolen credit cards online...read full article January 15, 2010 Cybercriminals revive old scams to target smartphonesAs mobile phones get more sophisticated, hi-tech criminals are dusting off some old tricks. ...read full article January 15, 2010 Microsoft admits Explorer used in Google China hackMicrosoft has admitted that its Internet Explorer was a weak link in the recent attacks on Google's systems that originated in China. ...read full article January 14, 2010 McKinnon wins review of extradition for hackingSelf-confessed hacker Gary McKinnon has been granted a reprieve from extradition to the US where he faces up to 70 years in jail for hacking federal and Pentagon computers. ...read full article January 14, 2010 Perinton Mail Theft Leads to Identity TheftPerinton, N.Y. -- Thieves used information stolen from a Post Office to create and cash forged checks to the tune of $75,000. ...read full article January 14, 2010 Man gets 8 to 16 years for drugs, ID theftJohn McManus, 37, of 103 Persimmon Drive, Delaware Township pled guilty to various drug and identity theft charges on January 11 at the Pike County Courthouse in Milford. ...read full article January 14, 2010 Four women held in San Jose identity-theft scheme, DA's office saysA team of South Bay authorities said they arrested four women suspected of stealing the identities of at least 100 victims in a ring headquartered at a Days Inn in San Jose. ...read full article January 14, 2010 Dodgy Haiti earthquake-themed domains point to scamsWith sad inevitability, fraudsters have rushed to register the Haiti earthquake-themed scam URLs in the wake of Tuesday's natural disaster in the impoverished Caribbean country ...read full article January 14, 2010 Viruses may target social networksSocial networkers of the world, it's time to amp up your security software and put on your cynical cap before clicking on friend requests and links to "funny videos." Facebook and Twitter will be the top targets for cyber attacks in 2010, according to several security firms. ...read full article January 14, 2010 BlueCross data theft exposes more than 220,000 customersJust calling BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee for claim or policy information could have exposed 220,000 customers to a breach of their most-sensitive data, company officials said Wednesday. ...read full article January 14, 2010 Phoenix business owner gets 6 months in fraud caseAn Anthem man who was arrested as part of an employer-sanctions investigation was sentenced to six months in jail. ...read full article January 14, 2010 China affirms control over InternetBEIJING: China told companies to cooperate with state control of the Internet on Thursday, showing no sign of giving ground on censorship after U.S. Internet giant Google threatened to quit the country. ...read full article January 14, 2010 Law firm in Green Dam suit targeted with cyberattackThe law firm representing a U.S. company involved in a legal dispute over China's Green Dam censorship software says it was targeted with a sophisticated online attack this week, similar to the one reported by Google Tuesday. ...read full article January 14, 2010 IRS: Watch out for online identity theft during tax timeThe Internal Revenue Service is urging consumers to protect themselves against online identity theft and other scams this tax-filing season. ...read full article January 14, 2010 18,000 pay statements sent to wrong addressesPay statements containing names and sensitive information about the finances of about 18,000 recipients of a special pay for disabled retirees were sent to wrong addressees last week, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service said Jan. 14. ...read full article January 13, 2010 Health care: A 'goldmine' for fraudstersThere's a group of people who really love the U.S. health care system -- the fraudsters, scammers and organized criminal gangs who are bilking the system of as much as $100 billion a year. ...read full article January 13, 2010 Indianapolis man 1st to be prosecuted under computer-extortion lawA 28-year-old Indianapolis man was sentenced today to two years in state prison for trying to extort $208,00 from an insurance company after stealing a computer server. ...read full article January 13, 2010 Lethic botnet knocked out by security researchersZombie network taken downThe command-and-control servers of the Lethic botnet have been taken out following a spam-busting collaboration between security firm Neustar and ISPs. ...read full article January 13, 2010 Google may quit China over cyber-attacksFirm vows to stop censoring search results after Gmail accounts are hackedGoogle Inc. will stop censoring its search results in China and may pull out of the country completely after discovering that computer hackers had tricked human-rights activists into exposing their e-mail accounts to outsiders. ...read full article January 13, 2010 'Sandwich attack' busts new cellphone cryptoKasumi cipher cracked (in theory)A new encryption scheme for protecting 3G phone networks hasn't even gone into commercial use and already cryptographers have cracked it - at least theoretically. ...read full article January 13, 2010 The Legal Thicket of Federated Identity ManagementWith the Obama Administration, FTC, GSA, and many industry groups all making online identity management a top priority, it is also time to consider the legal risks -- particularly with respect to federated identity management, a system in which third parties take over the time-consuming and expensive task of identifying, verifying and authenticating users. ...read full article January 13, 2010 Sidestepping Swindlers in the New M-Commerce FrontierWith the growing popularity of smartphones, mobile commerce is taking off, but consumers need to play closer attention to mobile safety. ...read full article January 13, 2010 Report reveals hacking to be top cause of data breaches in 2009Although the total number of reported data breach incidents fell year over year in 2009, the number of compromised records was still estimated at over 222 million. ...read full article January 13, 2010 New York bank admits intruder accessed online bankingMore than 8,000 online customers at New York bank Suffolk Bankcorp were impacted by an intruder getting into its IT system, the bank admitted yesterday. ...read full article January 13, 2010 30% of workers sending confidential dataNearly a third (30 per cent) of employees send confidential and/or sensitive data as a normal email attachment or unsecured in the body of an message, a study has indicated. ...read full article January 13, 2010 Kaiser patient data swiped from employee's carKaiser Permanente this week began sending letters of apology notifying 15,500 members in Northern California that an electronic data storage device containing their health information was stolen from an employee's car early last month. ...read full article January 13, 2010 UK: ICO to fine firms up to £500,000 for data breachesFirms that incur serious data breaches could be fined up to £500,000 when new statutory guidelines come into force on 6 April. ...read full article January 13, 2010 California agent loses license after forgery, grand theft chargesThe California Department of Insurance has revoked the license of an agent accused of fraud, forgery and grand theft involving senior citizens. ...read full article January 13, 2010 Adobe Confirms 'Coordinated, Sophisticated' Cyber AttackIn an attack described as “sophisticated” and “coordinated,” Adobe said its corporate network systems were breached by hackers. ...read full article January 13, 2010 Missouri's Sex Offender Laws UnconstitutionalJEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (CN) - A split Missouri Supreme Court found unconstitutional two laws governing where convicted sex offenders can live and what they can do on Halloween night. The 4-3 ruling addressed laws enacted in 2004 and 2008. ...read full article January 12, 2010 Group behind Twitter hack takes down Baidu.comIDG News Service - The group that took down Twitter.com last month has apparently claimed another victim: China's largest search engine Baidu.com. ...read full article January 12, 2010 Fake Amazon email ships malwareThe image of an open Amazon delivery box has a prominent place in the latest spam campaign that aims to trick users into downloading an alleged order update coming from the dot com giant. ...read full article January 12, 2010 Google yanks suspect banking apps from Android MarketplaceA programmer who calls himself 09Droid has illuminated security concerns sure to come into sharper focus as the tech giants and the financial services industry make their move to extend Internet banking to mobile devices. ...read full article January 12, 2010 Missing Copier Led to $14M, Company SaysHOUSTON (CN) - When a copy machine went missing, an oil services company says, it hunted it down to a property owned by the son of one of its accountants. After firing her and sifting through her computer records, Davis-Lynch claims, it found that the family had embezzled more than $14 million. ...read full article January 12, 2010 Google blames 'human error' for data leakGoogle is apologizing after it mistakenly e-mailed potentially sensitive business data last week to other users of its business listings service. ...read full article January 12, 2010 Nebraska bill would let stores scan driver's licensesow the only state that doesn't allow information to be scanned from drivers' licenses, Nebraska may soon let store clerks do more than just look at them when selling alcohol, tobacco and lottery tickets. ...read full article January 12, 2010 Au: Vinnies 'misused' donor dataTHE St Vincent de Paul Society has been accused of breaching public trust and aspects of the Privacy Act after entering into an agreement that allowed one of the world's largest data companies to gather information through a Christmas mail-out from the charity. ...read full article January 12, 2010 False Facebook charge group used to spread malwareA false rumour suggesting that Facebook is to start charging is being used to bait malware traps. ...read full article January 12, 2010 Philippines Investigates Hacks Of Multiple Government SitesPolitical motives suspected in defacement of high-profile sitesOfficials in the Philippines are investigating a series of incidents in which five different government Websites were hacked in less than a month. ...read full article January 12, 2010 Identity Thieves Target Big BanksPHOENIX -- If you have an account at a major bank, chances are you may have been put at risk for identity theft, according to members of the Merchants Identity Theft Advisory Board. ...read full article January 12, 2010 N.Ky. Legal Secretary Sentenced 2 Years For Identity TheftCOVINGTON, Ky. — Lisa Michaele Matz, 40, of Villa Hills, Ky., was sentenced Monday by United States District Court Judge Danny C. Reeves to two years in prison for committing aggravated identity theft. ...read full article January 12, 2010 ID theft protection among new laws for 2010A law expected to make it more difficult for identity thieves to strike and one that will allow independent cab drivers to gain workers' compensation benefits are among the new state laws going into effect this year. ...read full article January 12, 2010 Suspects jailed in $30,000 Novato identity theft caseTwo San Rafael residents appeared in court Monday on charges they used a Novato couple's personal information to buy $30,000 in merchandise and travel, authorities said. ...read full article January 12, 2010 Man accused of forging 172 checksGLOVERSVILLE - A city man was arrested after police said he forged checks and stole nearly $200,000 from an elderly woman living in a nursing home. ...read full article January 11, 2010 2009 Data Breaches: Identity Theft ContinuesThe Identity Theft Resource Center® Breach Report recorded 498 breaches, less than the 657 in 2008, more than the 446 in 2007. Are data breaches increasing or decreasing? That is the question no one can answer. This fact will not change until there is a single data breach list requiring mandatory public reporting. With some breaches not being reported publicly, and some state Attorneys General not allowing public access to reported breaches, we doubt that anyone is in a position to answer the question above. When we allow laws to be created requiring breach reporting but not disclosure, and provide minimal enforcement or penalty for non-compliance, we can expect a lack of public disclosure. Counting breaches becomes an exercise in insanity. ...read full article January 11, 2010 Two to be sentenced in identity theft scheme that hit N.J. banksNEWARK -- Two men who admitted participating in an international identity theft scheme targeting home equity lines of credit at banks in New Jersey and several other states are scheduled to be sentenced today in federal court. ...read full article January 11, 2010 S. Ill. woman gets 4 years for identity theftJanuary 10, 2010 (EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill.) -- A southwestern Illinois woman charged with stealing identities while working as a restaurant manager has been sentenced to four years in prison. ...read full article January 11, 2010 Nineteen Indicted in Massive Cybercrime ConspiracyDALLAS—A federal grand jury in Dallas returned a superseding indictment this week charging 19 defendants in a massive cybercrime conspiracy, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. This indictment supersedes a September 2, 2009, indictment that charged nine of the defendants in the conspiracy. ...read full article January 11, 2010 E-statements plugged as solution to mail fraudMail fraud and identity theft like that clamped down on by NSW Police this week could be eliminated if bank customers opt for electronic-statements, according to a security analyst. ...read full article January 11, 2010 Customers alerted to BlueCross data breachChattanooga Times Free Press, Tenn.(Chattanooga Times (TN) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jan. 10--Customers of Chattanooga-based insurer BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee slowly are being notified by mail of a potential breach of their personal information. ...read full article January 11, 2010 Ex-UCLA researcher pleads guilty to record breachA former UCLA School of Medicine researcher pleaded guilty to reading confidential medical records of celebrities, high-profile patients and his co-workers in federal court on Friday. ...read full article January 11, 2010 Rogue anti-virus software targets Google GroupsGoogle discussion groups are being hit by messages linking to rogue anti-virus software, security firm Webroot has warned. ...read full article January 8, 2010 TSA Nominee Runs Into Flak Over Improper Database AccessThe improper use of a federal database two decades ago by Erroll Southers, the White House nominee to be administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), has caught the attention of GOP lawmakers. ...read full article January 8, 2010 768-bit RSA crackedResearchers have decomposed a 768-bit number with 232 decimal places into its two prime factors and published a paper with their results. The number is the string released as "RSA-768" under the now defunct RSA Challenge. As a result, RSA encryptions with 768-bit keys must, from now on, be considered cracked. ...read full article January 8, 2010 OH: Ninety-Month Sentence for Man Who E-Mailed Threats to a Columbus Company, Florida LegislatorKyle Jeffrey Tschiegg, 39, of Sarasota, Florida was sentenced in United States District Court here today to 90 months’ imprisonment for e-mailing threats, including threats to cause a candidate to drop out of a race for statewide office in Florida; hacking into e-mail accounts of individuals and companies; and using stolen identity information to commit computer crimes. ...read full article January 8, 2010 Hackers crack security on Eugene school employee infoEUGENE, Ore. -- Hackers breached the security a computer server containing the names, phone numbers and employee ID numbers of current and former Eugene School District employees, the district said Tuesday. ...read full article January 8, 2010 UMC lacks way to log patients’ recordsHealth Division probe follows reported leaks of private dataUniversity Medical Center has no system to track patient records, leading to numerous instances in which hospital paperwork containing Social Security numbers, birth dates and other private information goes missing, a state investigation has found. ...read full article January 8, 2010 Heartland To Pay Up To $60 Million In Breach Settlement With VisaA year after the big breach, Heartland is still paying for hackHeartland Payment Systems and Visa today announced a settlement agreement that will allow issuers of Visa-branded credit and debit cards to recover some of the money they lost a year ago, when the payment processor was breached for approximately 130 million records. ...read full article January 8, 2010 Springfield Man Pleads Guilty to Identity TheftA Springfield man could spend 50 years in federal prison for passing bogus bills and identity theft. ...read full article January 7, 2010 Cyber Attack Simulation Planned Next MonthA financial sector group aims to help organizations learn how to respond when hit with a cyber attack.A financial services industry group is planning to simulate a series of cyber attacks to test how well banks, payment processors and retailers deal with online threats. ...read full article January 7, 2010 National ID card linked to NI numbers, goverment saysThe national identity card is linked to people's national insurance number, the government hasconfirmed.Home secretary Alan Johnson said NI numbers are one of several data items that are part of the national ID card database but not the passport database. ...read full article January 7, 2010 Michael Jackson fans hack Iranian president's websiteHackers attacked the website of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday, redirecting visitors to a plea to God from a Michael Jackson fan. ...read full article January 7, 2010 China Helped State-Backed Companies Steal Computer Code, U.S. Firm SaysLOS ANGELES (CN) - In "one of the largest cases of software piracy in history," the Chinese government helped two state-backed companies steal encrypted data from an Internet content-filtering program developed by a family-owned U.S. company and made more than $2 billion selling it with the help of manufacturing giants such as Sony and Toshiba, who "chose to turn a blind eye," Santa Barbara-based Solid Oak Software claims in Federal Court. China uses the program to spy on its people, according to the complaint. ...read full article January 7, 2010 Hacker pilfers browser GPS location via router attackIf you're surfing the web from a wireless router supplied by some of the biggest device makers, there's a chance Samy Kamkar can identify your geographic location. ...read full article January 7, 2010 Nevada and New Hampshire Data Security and Privacy Laws Take EffectOn January 1, 2010, two important state data security and privacy laws took effect in Nevada and New Hampshire. The laws create new obligations for most companies that do business in Nevada and for health care providers and business associates in New Hampshire. ...read full article January 6, 2010 FTC Examining Cloud ComputingThe agency wants its findings to be considered as the FCC formulates a National Broadband Plan.In response to a Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Notice of Inquiry into how broadband and data portability issues relate to cloud computing, identity and privacy -- part of the FCC's effort to formulate a National Broadband Plan -- the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said last month that it is examining the privacy and data security implications of cloud computing for consumers. ...read full article January 6, 2010 HHS wants contractor to test privacy of 'anonymous' dataThe challenge is to see whether "de-identified" data can be "re-identified"Can personal medical data that has been stripped of its identifiers to protect privacy later be used to identify a specific person? That is the question that the Health and Human Services Department is hoping a research contractor can answer. ...read full article January 6, 2010 Florida men charged with running multistate identity theft operation with victims in N.J.BENSALEM, Pa. — Four Florida men have been charged with running a multistate identity theft operation out of a suburban Philadelphia motel room. ...read full article January 6, 2010 New Attack Locates Web Users Via XSS, Google DataThe security researcher who created the MySpace XSS worm in 2005 has developed a technique that enables an attacker to accurately locate a Web user with GPS coordinates, without using IP-based geolocation. ...read full article January 6, 2010 Kingston flash drives suffer password flawKingston Technology has asked customers to return certain models of its DataTraveler secure flash drives for an update, following the discovery of a flaw in the memory sticks. ...read full article January 6, 2010 Willimantic Resident Who Created Fake Identity is SentencedNora R. Dannehy, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that AMJAD IQBAL, also known as “Asif Ali,” 38, a citizen of Pakistan lawfully residing in the United States in Willimantic, Connecticut, was sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Peter C. Dorsey in New Haven to two years of probation. On September 15, 2009, IQBAL pleaded guilty to one count of Social Security fraud. ...read full article January 6, 2010 Hacker Hits Eastern Washington UniversityColleges continue to be popular targets for hackers, with another 130,000 student records exposed.Eastern Washington University this week is notifying more than 130,000 current and former students that their personal information -- including Social Security numbers and birth dates -- may have been accessed by a hacker sometime in the past year. ...read full article January 6, 2010 FBI Investigating Online School District TheftA New York school district has reverted to using paper checks after cybercriminals tried to steal about US$3.8 million from its online accounts just before Christmas, prompting an FBI investigation. ...read full article January 6, 2010 Exclusive: Documents found in mall parking lotPALISADES (WABC) -- Hundreds of documents with personal information like social security numbers were found in the parking lot of a popular mall. ...read full article January 6, 2010 Atlanta man indicted on ID Theft and Short Sale fraud allegationsIn the following press release from Sally Quillian Yates, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia it was announced that Brent Merriell, 37, of Atlanta, Georgia has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of aggravated identity theft and false statements to the FDIC, today waived his detention hearing today before United States Magistrate Judge Russell G. Vineyard, and has been immediately detained. The indictment charging Merriell was filed on December 15, 2009, and unsealed yesterday with his arrest. ...read full article January 6, 2010 Internet pirates find 'bulletproof' havens for illegal file sharingInternet pirates are moving away from safe havens such as Sweden to new territories that include China and Ukraine, as they try to avoid prosecution for illegal file sharing, according to experts. ...read full article January 5, 2010 Man gets jail, fine in U.S. for identity theftOTTAWA — An Ottawa man has been sentenced to jail in the U.S. and a fine of $5,000 for identity theft after he tried to cross the border with eight counterfeit credit cards and a counterfeit Quebec driver’s licence. ...read full article January 5, 2010 Skimming Scams – Identity Theft Gets SophisticatedRochester, N.Y. – Identity thieves have been using more sophisticated devices, but now, a new state law targets thieves who use skimming devices, which are small and hard to spot. ...read full article January 5, 2010 Man sentenced for identity theft, forgeryA man from Mexico will spend 81 days in jail for using another man's identity to gain employment in Orange City and Hospers, Iowa. ...read full article January 5, 2010 Hackers switch Spanish PM for Mr Beankers have used a common website security weakness to deface awebsiteset up to mark Spain's six-month presidency of the EU.An unidentified hacker succeeded in briefly replacing an image of Spain's leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero with one of fictional comic character Mr Bean. ...read full article January 5, 2010 Thirteen people accused in forgery operationAs many as 100 people may be involved, police sayThirteen people with ties to Salem have been arrested for their alleged involvement in a massive check forgery operation, and police said as many as 100 more people could face related charges. ...read full article January 5, 2010 Does reasonable expection of privacy extend to your car’s wiring system?Over on FourthAmendment.com, John Wesley Hall Jr. alerts us to an Ohio case involving GPS and the Fourth Amendment. In State v. Dalton, 2009 Ohio 6910, the court remanded the case because the lower court had not addressed Dalton’s claim that he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his car’s wiring system and that the placement of a GPS device in his car’s wiring system by police was unconstitutional. ...read full article January 5, 2010 Top 10 security nightmares of the decadeRemember when we didn't worry about cyberwar, botnets or phishing?Blame the Internet for the latest decade of security lessons. Without it, you probably wouldn't even recognize the terms phishing, cybercrime, data breach, or botnet. Let's revisit the top security horrors of the past ten years, and try to remember what we learned from each. ...read full article January 5, 2010 How to Tell the Difference Between a US Census Worker and a Con ArtistThe 2010 Census is getting underway. The government is making every effort to get folks signed up. The forms will arrive in the mail and if you don't send it back in, expect someone to be knocking at your door - but be aware, you could fall for a scam. ...read full article January 5, 2010 Fresno businessman sentenced to 70 months for identity theftAlfred Ford of Fresno has been sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison and ordered to pay $91,721 in restitution for conspiracy to commit identity theft and access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. ...read full article January 4, 2010 Kingston flash drives suffer password flawKingston Technology has asked customers to return certain models of its DataTraveler secure flash drives for an update, following the discovery of a flaw in the memory sticks. ...read full article January 4, 2010 DHS releases 2009 Data Mining ReportThis report describes DHS programs, both operational and in development, that involve data mining as defined by the Federal Agency Data Mining Reporting Act of 2007. The report provides the detailed information required by the Act and includes updates on program modifications and other developments since the Department issued its 2008 Data Mining Report in December 2008. ...read full article January 3, 2010 TSA turbulence grips Logan, nationLynn couple accused in airport ID theft caseA recent data breach at Logan International Airport involving a TSA contract worker, coming amid other high-profile Transportation Security Administration lapses, casts another cloud over a federal agency engulfed in turmoil. ...read full article January 3, 2010 Data breaches affect million state residentsOne million Massachusetts residents - or 1 in 6 people - have had their credit card numbers, medical records, or other personal information leaked or stolen over the past two years, according to records provided to the Globe by state officials. ...read full article January 1, 2010 U.S. security rules would break privacy laws, Canadian airlines contendCanada's major airlines say they will be forced either to break privacy laws or to ignore new American air security rules unless the federal government comes up with a response to U.S. demands for passenger information. ...read full article January 1, 2010 'Monster' German employee database goes onlineUnder controversial new legislation, German employers must now submit data on their workers to a central information storage hub, affecting as many as 40 million employees throughout the country. ...read full article January 1, 2010 Personnel files for Larch workers stolenRecords were in briefcase taken from manager’s carThe Washington Department of Corrections is investigating an incident in which a briefcase full of sensitive personnel records was stolen from the vehicle of a Larch Corrections Center manager early Monday morning. ...read full article December 31, 2009 Waldec spreading through fake New Year's e-cardsCybercriminals behind the Waledac botnet have begun using a New Year's-themed campaign to capture more victims, security experts warned Thursday. ...read full article December 31, 2009 Elderly Protected From Predation by Investors(CN) - The Securities and Exchange Commission won an order blocking executives at Homestead Properties from swindling elderly investors by allegedly day trading with millions of dollars in investment funds. ...read full article December 31, 2009 Judge blocks part of new Neb. sex offender lawOMAHA, Neb. — A federal judge yesterday blocked portions of Nebraska's new sex-offender registry law, including provisions that sought to monitor convicted sex offenders' computer usage and prevent them from visiting certain Web sites. ...read full article December 31, 2009 Three, including father and son, charged in accusations of inflating appraisals to obtain business from lendersIn the following press release the Orange County (CA) District Attorney announced that a father and son have been arrested on charges of conspiring to commit fraud by inflating property appraisal values with their real estate appraisal executive in order to secure more business with lending institutions. James Merritt Eaton, 60, his son Brian Chandler Eaton, 28, both of Laguna Beach, and real estate appraisal firm executive Michael John Bell, 32, Corona del Mar, are each charged with one felony count of conspiracy to defraud another of property, 17 felony counts of grand theft by false pretense, two felony counts of identity theft, two felony counts of false personation, and sentencing enhancement allegations for aggravated white collar crime over $100,000 and property damage over $50,000. If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 18 years in state prison. ...read full article December 31, 2009 One convicted, two others plead guilty in Queens/Brooklyn mortgage fraudIn the following press release Queens (NY) District Attorney Richard A. Brown today announced that a Queens Village woman who is a loan officer has been convicted of stealing the personal identity of a former client to help another client purchase a house in Brooklyn. ...read full article December 31, 2009 Security breach reported by Internet trading site collective2.comUsers of the do-it-yourself trading site collective2.com received an “urgent” e-mail at a few minutes past noon Wednesday notifying them that the company's computer database had been breached by a hacker and that all users should log in to change their passwords immediately. ...read full article December 31, 2009 RockYou Sued Over Alleged Security HoleLawsuit says Facebook, MySpace app failed to protect the data of millions of users.An Indiana man has filed a class action lawsuit against RockYou, alleging it failed to protect the personal data of more than 32 million customers. ...read full article December 31, 2009 Twitter Blacklists 370 Shoddy PasswordsTo protect its users from themselves, the social networking site is preventing new users from selecting some common or easily hacked passwords for their accounts. ...read full article December 30, 2009 Hacker Pleads Guilty in Major Cyberfraud CaseA sophisticated hacker pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to hack into computer networks supporting major American retail and financial organizations, and to steal data relating to tens of millions of credit and debit cards in a case that the Justice Department said is one of the largest data breaches ever investigated and prosecuted in the United States. ...read full article December 30, 2009 Homeland Security Blinks Over REAL ID ActWASHINGTON (CN) - The Department of Homeland Security has indefinitely lifted its January 1 deadline to allow federal agencies to accept state driver's licenses and ID cards before allowing people to board commercial airplanes or enter federal buildings and nuclear power plants. ...read full article December 30, 2009 Dodge deputies bust alleged multi-county theft ringAn accident in late September helped Dodge County sheriff's deputies break an alleged identity theft ring operating in four counties. ...read full article December 30, 2009 Police: Woman stole ID to get loanA scheduler at Holmes Hospital in Corryville is accused of stealing a patient's identity and using it to get a small loan. ...read full article December 30, 2009 Identity theft: Preparation is the best defenseIdentity theft is an extremely serious crime; people are facing greater attacks on their personal and financial privacy than ever before. ...read full article December 30, 2009 MS dismisses IIS zero-day bug reportsIt ain't vulnerable, just 'inconsistent'Microsoft has dismissed reports that there's an unpatched critical flaw in the latest version of its webserver software. ...read full article December 30, 2009 X-Box 360 theft suspect busted after online gaming seshFrom tagged to fraggedAn alleged X-Box 360 thief was tracked down after he forgot to disable the game console's auto sign-in feature before hopping on the net. ...read full article December 30, 2009 Study - Victims of Online Scams Avoid Reporting AttacksResearchers at the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies of the University of Portsmouth recently conducted a study under NFA (National Fraud Authority) to find that people who become victims of spam mails, fake lotteries, phishing and identity theft, feel so embarrassed that they restrain from telling police about them. ...read full article December 30, 2009 Adobe to be Prime Target for Malware in 20102009 is drawing to a close, and 2010 is almost upon us. The Chinese calendar says 2010 is the Year of the Tiger, but a report released from McAfee claims it could be the year of Adobe malware. ...read full article December 30, 2009 Penn State notifies 30,000 of computer security breachSocial Security numbers may be compromisedThree Penn State University computer breaches described by an official as apparently unrelated have prompted the school to begin notifying nearly 30,000 individuals that their Social Security numbers may have been compromised. ...read full article December 30, 2009 New Hampshire Enacts Strict Data Breach Notification Law Affecting Health Care Providers and Business AssociatesNew Hampshire’s new breach notification law builds on the breach notification requirements under the HITECH Act by requiring health care providers and business associates to notify individuals of disclosures of their protected health information that are prohibited by New Hampshire law, even if such disclosures are permitted under HIPAA or other federal law. ...read full article December 30, 2009 Target Co Was Victim Of Hacker Albert GonzalezBOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Target Co said it was among the victims of computer hacker Albert Gonzalez, mastermind of the biggest identity theft in U.S. history. ...read full article December 30, 2009 McMurray man indicted on identity theft chargesA federal grand jury yesterday indicted a McMurray man for allegedly obtaining another person's credit to get more than $330,000 in financing. ...read full article December 30, 2009 California man accused of ID theft to sell life insurance policiesA Covina, Calif., man, who already lost his insurance license for fraud violations in 2003, is now accused of stealing a former employee’s identity to enable him to collect commissions from life insurance policies. ...read full article December 29, 2009 Greatest security threats to educationWith education-related cyber-security threats expected to rise in 2010, WatchGuard is predicting the top threats facing schools, colleges and universities. ...read full article December 29, 2009 Health Net data breach likely caused by theft, Connecticut official saysThe state attorney general also questions whether the health information leaked was as indecipherable as the plan claimed.Health Net is defending its account of a data breach earlier this year, following criticism by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who said the data disk the company claimed had "gone missing" from its Shelton, Conn., office most likely was stolen. ...read full article December 29, 2009 Medical Co. Boss Says Worker Sold Her the Brooklyn Bridge(CN) - The owner of a biomedical company claims an employee stole $500,000, told her an elaborate tale about a nonexistent FBI investigation, and said her life was in danger and she should flee the country and refrain from checking her bank accounts. When she did that, the woman moved into her home and emptied it of furniture, according to a RICO complaint in Oakland, Calif., Federal Court. ...read full article December 29, 2009 Hackers show it's easy to snoop on a GSM callIDG News Service - Computer security researchers say that the GSM phones used by the majority of the world's mobile-phone users can be listened in on with just a few thousand dollars worth of hardware and some free open-source tools. ...read full article December 29, 2009 Chase Bank Says VP Embezzled & RanMANHATTAN (CN) - JPMorgan Chase Bank says a former vice president embezzled $2.8 million from a customer's account, then took it on the lam to Argentina. And the bank says that came after he embezzled $2.5 million from a client at his previous job, with UBS. ...read full article December 29, 2009 Einstein and Citizens’ PrivacyEinstein is an intrusion detection – and soon an intrusion prevention – system the government is deploying to safeguard government IT systems. Some cybersecurity experts contend Einstein has the potential to intrude on the privacy of individual Americans, a concern Philip Reitinger dismisses. ...read full article December 29, 2009 26C3: Network design weaknessesAt the 26th Chaos Communication Congress (26C3) in Berlin, security researcher Fabian Yamaguchi demonstrated a number of vulnerabilities that can apparently be found in many average communication networks and affect all levels from the access layer to the application layer. Attackers exploit many minor design flaws which allow "dangerous attacks" when combined, explained the Berlin-based security expert who last year investigated vulnerabilities in the basic TCP internet protocol. Overall, the "bugs" can reportedly be exploited to hijack a proxy server such as Squid and control all of the network traffic that flows through it. ...read full article December 29, 2009 After Hacks, Louisiana Restaurants Sue POS CompaniesMore than 100,000 credit cards exposed by keylogger attack, Secret Service saysTwo lawsuits have been filed in Louisiana after point-of-sale (POS) systems in restaurants were allegedly hacked via keylogger, resulting in the exposure of some 100,000 credit cards. ...read full article December 29, 2009 Microsoft confirms IIS holeMicrosoft has confirmed the security hole in its IIS web server, but hasn't disclosed which versions of the product are affected. According to the finder of the "semi-colon bug", versions up to and including version 6 are vulnerable. The hole allows attackers, for instance, to camouflage executable ASP files as harmless JPEG files and upload malicious code to a server. ...read full article December 29, 2009 Good Guys Bring Down the Mega-D BotnetChalk up one for the defenders. Here’s how a trio of security researchers used a three-step attack to defeat a 250,000-pronged botnet.For two years as a researcher with security company FireEye, Atif Mushtaq worked to keep Mega-D bot malware from infecting clients' networks. In the process, he learned how its controllers operated it. Last June, he began publishing his findings online. In November, he suddenly switched from defense to offense. And Mega-D--a powerful, resilient botnet that had forced 250,000 PCs to do its bidding--went down. ...read full article December 29, 2009 Two indicted in Maryland straw buyer fraud scheme allegationsA federal grand jury has indicted Dema Daiga, age 28, of College Park, Maryland and Oluseun Oshosanya, age 29, of Laurel, Maryland, for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft arising from a scheme to defraud a mortgage lending company of approximately $664,493, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. The indictment was returned on December 2, 2009 and unsealed on December 23, 2009 upon the arrests of the defendants. Daiga is scheduled to have his detention hearing today at 11:30 a.m. and Oshosanya is scheduled to have his initial appearance today at 2:30 p.m. ...read full article December 29, 2009 Browser Attacks Continue to EvolveWhile the security teams at Microsoft, Mozilla and the other browser vendors continue to work on new defenses and exploit mitigations, the state of the art in attacks is continuing to evolve. ...read full article December 28, 2009 Amazon Hit With DDoS AttackThe storage and computing cloud services, S3 and EC2, respectively, were briefly affected Wednesday.Amazon.com and Amazon Web Services (AWS) were apparently affected by a distributed denial of service attack Wednesday that struck their DNS provider. ...read full article December 28, 2009 Foreclosure counselor victim of identity theftMitchell urges people to check credit report once a year ... it's freeRobert Mitchell's job is to provide counseling to people facing foreclosure, and he often urges them to check their credit report as they try to get their finances in order. ...read full article December 28, 2009 Two sought in identity theft caseCrimestoppers and Champaign police are seeking the public's help in solving a case of deceptive practice, identity theft and forgery that took place last month. ...read full article December 28, 2009 CRS: Privacy: An Overview of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic EavesdroppingThis report provides an overview of federal law governing wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping. It also appends citations to state law in the area and contains a bibliography of legal commentary as well as the text of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). ...read full article December 28, 2009 Hospital keeps secret DNA fileChildren’s University hospital in Temple Street is under investigation by the Data Protection CommissionerA DUBLIN hospital has built a database containing the DNA of almost every person born in the country since 1984 without their knowledge in an apparent breach of data protection laws. ...read full article December 28, 2009 Oregon drivers file lawsuit against purchasers of state databaseSome Oregon drivers have filed a class action lawsuit against Direct Response Media Group and others who they claim purchased their drivers’ records in violation of Driver Privacy Protection Act, 18 U.S.C. §2721. ...read full article December 28, 2009 Former Executive Accused Of Selling Data From Matchmaking FirmEx-employee allegedly ransomed customer information, then tried to deal it to competitorsA former executive of a matchmaking service firm in China is accused of stealing the personal data of about 16,000 registrants and attempting to sell it to other matchmaking firms. ...read full article December 25, 2009 Woman faces ID theft charges on Christmas EveIn Court: Police say they found 25 stolen licenses, in her purse; she was trying to open bank accountA 25-year-old Olympia woman appeared in court on Christmas Eve after she was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of 25 counts of identity theft and one count each of forgery, marijuana possession and possession of methamphetamine. ...read full article December 24, 2009 Sex Offender Charged in Disappearance of Maryland GirlPolice in Maryland were searching Christmas Eve for a missing 11-year-old girl last seen wearing fuzzy Christmas pajamas, and they have charged a registered child sex offender in her disappearance. ...read full article December 24, 2009 Dentist's Account Missing Nearly $400KDentist Office Recently Came Under Attack Of Phone Sex Calls...read full article December 24, 2009 Ex-Marana police officer facing felony chargesA former Marana Police Officer has been indicted on charges of computer tampering and identity theft. ...read full article December 24, 2009 Ca: Commissioner Cavoukian expects health sector to encrypt all health information on mobile devices: Nothing short of this is acceptableOntario Information and Privacy Commissioner, Dr. Ann Cavoukian, today directed the province’s health sector not remove from their premises any personal health information on mobile devices – unless this very sensitive information is encrypted, as required in a health order issued in 2007. ...read full article December 24, 2009 GAO: Release of Nuclear Document Caused No DamageA five-month long investigation by the Government Accountability Office determined that the inadvertent publication of a 267 page document describing U.S. civilian nuclear research facilities caused no damage to national security and did not require any remedial security measures at the cited facilities. Yet surprisingly, even though its publication had no adverse consequences at all, GAO endorsed the claim that the document was “sensitive” and recommended that rigorous new procedures be adopted to prevent public disclosure of such information in the future. ...read full article December 24, 2009 Users bypass Kindle restrictionsIn a post on his blog, a hacker has published a Python script for the "Kindle for PC" application that converts open e-books with DRM protection into unprotected Mobipocket books. The method for bypassing the Digital Rights Management (DRM) used on Kindle devices to prevent the sharing of e-books isn't new: A conversion script used by the hack has been in circulation on the internet for over a year. ...read full article December 24, 2009 California-Based Identity Theft and Bank Fraud Ringleader SentencedGRAND RAPIDS, MI—United States Attorney Donald A. Davis announced the sentencing on December 21 of Alonzo Lamar Holloway, 44, of Oakland, California, on a four-count Indictment that charged him with bank fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and with conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and identity theft. Holloway, who is one of 16 defendants from Oakland charged in a long-running investigation conducted by the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert J. Jonker to serve 11 years in Federal prison, to pay restitution of almost $700,000, and to serve five years of supervised release following his eventual discharge from prison. ...read full article December 23, 2009 Suspected computer hack compromises Anchorage credit, debit card holdersANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Just a simple swipe can lead to a ripple of consequences. ...read full article December 23, 2009 Inmate gets 18 months for hacking prison computerA former Massachusetts prison inmate has been given an 18-month prison sentence for hacking prison computers while he was incarcerated. ...read full article December 23, 2009 Identity theft feared as data lostDurham Region's loss of flu clinic information on 83,524 people called `disturbing'Tens of thousands of people who attended flu clinics in Durham Region may be at risk of identity theft following the disappearance of a USB key containing their personal information. ...read full article December 23, 2009 Credit card provider suffers breach, personal data lostMBNA, the UK’s largest credit card provider, has confirmed that a laptop containing the personal details of its customers has been stolen from one of its third party contractors – NCO Europe Ltd – earlier this month. The information is said to include personal details, however, no PIN numbers were reported to be contained in the stolen data. ...read full article December 23, 2009 Origin says MBNA laptop fiasco could easily have been avoidedReports that a laptop containing the personal records of thousands of customers of MBNA Bank has been stolen (http://bit.ly/6BCAtg) mean that large numbers of the bank's credit cardholders will now be spend a worrisome Christmas and New Year break, concerned about their identities getting stolen. ...read full article December 23, 2009 2010 data security trends: External attacks from the insideSentrigo announced its top data security trends to watch for in 2010.Generally, companies have viewed attacks as either coming from outside the network perimeter or from internal users abusing privileges. However, the line between internal and external is blurring as a result of several new attack vectors. ...read full article December 23, 2009 Facebook clickjacking attack spreadsA new clickjacking attack has targeted Facebook users. It presents itself in the form of a comment on the users' account ...read full article December 23, 2009 Mother of two sent to jail for multiple identity-theft chargesA Hamilton mother of two girls who claims to have been a "runner" for a ring of identity thieves has been sentenced to 22 months in a provincial reformatory. ...read full article December 23, 2009 Waupun couple charged in series of burglaries, identity theftsJUNEAU — A couple accused of breaking into several storage units and vehicles parked near the Horicon Marsh has been charged. ...read full article December 23, 2009 Pharma link spammers invade Live SpaceFake blog posts spamvertise knock-off pillsCybercrime affiliates of unlicensed pharmaceutical websites have begun moving on from attacks purely designed to poison Google search engine results, and are now targetting Microsoft's web properties. ...read full article December 23, 2009 That’s not me: Resident fights identity theft, lossHe thought he was building a lasting relationship with someone he met on an online social networking site. What it turned out to be was a detailed, drawn out scam to steal his identity and rob him of more than $9,000. ...read full article December 23, 2009 Hackers break Amazon's Kindle DRMThe great ebook 'unswindle'An Israeli hacker says he has broken copyright protections built in to Amazon's Kindle for PC, a feat that allows ebooks stored on the application to work with other devices. ...read full article December 23, 2009 China State-linked Microblog Service Hacked at LaunchA Twitter-style service offered by a government-linked news site in China was hacked and has since gone offline, according to screenshots posted on the Web. ...read full article December 23, 2009 Malware Writers Get Bold, Rent DatacentersNot content with infecting individual PCs, the criminals who run botnets are now setting up shop in legitimate datacenters. How?Security firm Kaspersky Lab has uncovered a disturbing trend among the criminal syndicates that write and distribute botnets (define). Instead of relying just on individual PCs, they are now taking advantage of loopholes and laxness to set up shop in datacenters. ...read full article December 23, 2009 The scoop on state SSN laws and required policiesBusinesses possess a great deal of personal information about job applicants, employees, and former employees such as retirees. In addition, employees and independent contractors of businesses often have access to personal information. One of the most common types of personal information is a Social Security number. ...read full article December 23, 2009 Settlements Still Leave Many Post-Breach Legal Woes for HeartlandWith two settlements announced in less than a week, merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc. is putting some of the legal repercussions of its huge data breach behind it as 2009 draws to a close. But most of the legal troubles Heartland faces in the wake of the breach it announced last January still await resolution. ...read full article December 23, 2009 New year brings new requirements for Florida driver's license changesA trip to the DMV has always required a certain level of mental preparation -- the patience to endure what could be a long wait, the self-esteem to shrug off a license picture you know doesn't really look like you. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Schmidt Tapped as White House Cybersecurity CoordinatorAn administration official told CSOonline.com Monday night that IT security veteran Howard Schmidt will be the new White House cybersecurity coordinator, a position President Obama created seven months ago. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Ten 2010 IT Security Predictions, Part 2: Schmidt and ICSA LabsHoward Schmidt, former eBay CISO and vice chairman of the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, and the folks from ICSA Labs, a vendor-neutral testing and certification lab, offer 10 predictions for security in 2009. (Second of 2 parts). ...read full article December 22, 2009 Report: Russian gang linked to big Citibank hackIDG News Service - U.S. authorities are investigating the theft of an estimated tens of millions of dollars from Citibank by hackers partly using Russian software tailored for the attack, according to a news report. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Microsoft's 'whitelist' helps hackers, says Trend MicroRival researcher disagrees, says public posting of AV exclusion list no big dealComputerworld - By recommending that users exclude some file extensions and folders from antivirus scans, Microsoft may put users at risk, a security company said today. ...read full article December 22, 2009 FTC Seeks Scam Marketer’s Assets in Bankruptcy Court to Repay Money Owed to ConsumersThe Federal Trade Commission has filed a complaint in bankruptcy court seeking assets from the operator of a defunct money-making scam, so that those assets can be used to help pay more than $17 million that he owes consumers as a result of a court judgment against him. ...read full article December 22, 2009 An E-Book Buyer's Guide to PrivacyAs we count down to end of 2009, the emerging star of this year's holiday shopping season is shaping up to be the electronic book reader (or e-reader). From Amazon's Kindle to Barnes and Noble's forthcoming Nook, e-readers are starting to transform how we buy and read books in the same way mp3s changed how we buy and listen to music. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Teachers' data are private, union saysThe head of Ohio's largest teachers union told a judge yesterday that releasing the names, addresses and other personal information of licensed teachers, administrators and school staff puts their safety and privacy at risk. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Spammer fined, banned from cluttering inboxesA Sunshine Coast man accused of being the mastermind of the world's largest online spam operation, which could send 10 billion emails a day, has been fined $210,000 by a Brisbane court. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Tom Cruise Accused of SpyingLOS ANGELES -- The former owner of a Beverly Hills-based magazine has filed a complaint seeking $5 million from actor Tom Cruise, celebrity lawyer Bertram Fields and private investigator Anthony Pellicano that claims he was illegally wiretapped after Cruise filed a defamation suit against him. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Identity of Chicago Blackhawks legend stolenChicago Blackhawks legend Stan Mikita says he's been the victim of identity theft. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Woman charged with identity theftLINCOLNSHIRE -- A Libertyville woman has been charged with identify theft following an investigation. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Accused member of identity theft ring to enter guilty pleaJACKSON -- A member of an alleged identity theft ring that called itself the "Felony Lane Gang" and operated in south Mississippi is scheduled to plead guilty next month to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, according to federal court records. ...read full article December 22, 2009 How The Koobface Worm Gang Makes MoneyTrend Micro report looks at the true motivation behind the widespread malware-laden botnetChances are you know someone who has been hit by Koobface, one of the first successful social networking worms. But there are many faces to Koobface, and many ways its authors make money from it. ...read full article December 22, 2009 12 things computer users should fear in 2010About once a year, computer security news leaps out of the technology section and onto the front page and the top of network news broadcasts. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Enemies lurk on friendly FacebookSocial networking sites fall prey to cyberbullies who steal identitiesMike Brown was late to join Facebook's swelling ranks. When he finally did, he kept his security settings high, used perfect punctuation and was careful about what he posted. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Accused 'Wolverine' pirate calls charges 'ridiculous'The FBI has accused the man who allegedly was first, or among the first, to upload a pirated copy of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" that circulated online in April. What authorities have apparently yet to do is identify the original source of the leak. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Attorney General Sues Three Companies for Loan Modification ScamTALLAHASSEE - Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced he has filed a lawsuit against three businesses operating in Miami-Dade County, their principles and affiliated attorneys on allegations of deceptive and unfair trade practices regarding their involvement in a foreclosure rescue scam affecting homeowners nationwide. ...read full article December 22, 2009 7-Eleven Hack From Russia Led to ATM Looting in New YorkFlashback, early 2008: Citibank officials are witnessing a huge spike in fraudulent withdrawals from New York area ATMs — $180,000 is stolen from cash machines on the Upper East Side in just three days. After a stakeout, police arrest one man walking out of a bank with thousands of dollars in cash and 12 reprogrammed cards. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Citigroup Denies Report of Hacking Theft(AP) The FBI is investigating a hacker attack on Citigroup Inc. that led to the theft of tens of millions of dollars, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. ...read full article December 22, 2009 iPhone worms can create mobile botnetsParanoid, and not just about AndroidA detailed analysis of the most malign in a recent spate of iPhone worms points to future mobile botnet risks. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Microsoft AV advice may aid attackers, researcher warnsBetter performance. But at what cost?A security researcher is taking Microsoft to task for advising customers to exclude certain files and folders from anti-virus scanning, arguing the practice could be exploited by pushers of malware. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Paper-based data breaches on the riseMore than one quarter of data breaches so far this year involved consumer records that were jeopardized when organizations lost control over sensitive paper documents. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Hacker Breaches College Library SystemOfficials for a community college system in North Carolina this week acknowledged that someone managed to hack his or her way into a server housing the Social Security and driver's license numbers of more than 51,000 library patrons. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Madison woman jilted and duped in identity theft scamAn Eastside woman fell prey to an identity theft scam that cost her $20,000 and her heart. The identity thief used a stolen identity to swoon and swindle her. The woman met the scamster on an Internet dating service according to the Madison Police Report. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Music Producer Files Identity Theft SuitA top music producer has been the victim of brazen identity theft by a convicted felon who allegedly impersonated his way into a Hollywood Records studio. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Chicago Sports Legend: Victim Of Identity TheftChicago (CBS) - More than $100,000 in two weeks -- gone. A Chicago sports legend, the victim of identity theft. CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports that Blackhawks legend Stan Mikita has won virtually everything there is to win. But he thought he lost big, too, when cyber thieves created an online account and started paying themselves with his money. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Five Myths About CybersecurityThe Internet is the global communications and information infrastructure that provides the medium for communication and computation that facilitates the provisioning of numerous applications and infrastructure services, including e-mail, on-line banking, data storage, and quantum computing power. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Alleged fraud targeted money for veteransEight current or former Colorado Springs residents posing as former military service members have been indicted for allegedly stealing $214,000 in unemployment benefits due veterans. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Former Agent in S. California Arrested for Identity TheftCalifornia Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner today announced that James Alfred Morris, 66, of Covina, has been arrested and charged with eight felony counts of identity theft and six felony counts of grand theft after allegedly stealing a man's identity in order to sell life insurance policies and collect commissions. ...read full article December 22, 2009 Madison woman jilted and duped in identity theft scamAn Eastside woman fell prey to an identity theft scam that cost her $20,000 and her heart. The identity thief used a stolen identity to swoon and swindle her. The woman met the scamster on an Internet dating service according to the Madison Police Report. ...read full article December 21, 2009 26 Arrested in Three States in Medicare Fraud SchemesFORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Federal agents arrested 26 suspects in three states on Tuesday, including a doctor and nurses, in a crackdown on Medicare fraud totaling $61 million. ...read full article December 21, 2009 New credit card scam reaches Kent CountyGRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WZZM)- A new credit card scam is circulating, just in time for the holidays. ...read full article December 21, 2009 iPhone Worm Was Simple, Yet Effective, Analysis ShowsThe iKee worm that was infecting jailbroken iPhones last month was a simple, yet effective, piece of software that shows how easy it might be for an attacker to create a fairly large, functioning botnet comprising mobile devices, an analysis of the worm shows. ...read full article December 21, 2009 Google Found Guilty In French Copyright CaseA judge ordered Google to pay 300,000 euros to a French publisher, plus 10,000 euros per day until it removes extracts of the publisher's books from its database.A Paris court on Friday ruled that Google violated French copyright law in digitizing books, but it;s unlikely the decision will be the last word on the search engine's controversial book-scanning project. ...read full article December 21, 2009 Spyware snags Akron Children’s Hospital patient and employee infoThe Associated Press reports that Scott Graham of Ohio faces prison time after pleading guilty in federal court to felony charges of intercepting electronic communications by using spyware to spy on a woman’s computer activities. By spying on her, he also accidentally retrieved confidential information from the computer system at Akron Children’s Hospital, where she was employed. The software he employed was purchased over the Internet by a firm who says it is legal to use the software — if it’s installed on a computer owned by the purchaser. ...read full article December 21, 2009 PennDOT computer heist remains unsolvedThree years after a mysterious heist of computer equipment from a state driver's license center, police are still unsure why the crooks targeted the state Department of Transportation building. ...read full article December 21, 2009 Privilege Takes Center Stage as WaMu Bankruptcy Heats UpLawyers for Washington Mutual filed papers Friday in the bank's Chapter 11 case claiming Sullivan & Cromwell, on behalf of WaMu's new owners at JPMorgan Chase, has been sending out letters asking WaMu's old law firms to turn over their client files on WaMu -- files that include privileged material. ...read full article December 21, 2009 B.C. civil servant accused of sending personal data to U.S. border guardVictoria has suspended the employee and is investigating the security breachA B.C. government employee under investigation for an alleged privacy breach is accused of e-mailing personal data about government clients to an American border guard in Washington state. ...read full article December 21, 2009 DECAF: “Game Over”Earlier this week, this site linked to a news report on DECAF, a counter-COFEE application. Now it appears that DECAF was a hoax (but see Comment 1, below, that it was not a hoax). ...read full article December 21, 2009 Cyber Challenge tests nation's top hackersWashington (CNN) -- With the coolness of a card shark at the final table of the World Series of Poker, Matt Bergin pulls the hood of his brown sweatshirt over his head and concentrates on the task at hand. ...read full article December 21, 2009 New Twitter Attack Details EmergeThe attack that took down Twitter Dec. 17 used legitimate credentials to log in and redirect Twitter.com to a site purporting to be under the control of the Iranian Cyber Army. The incident underscores the importance for businesses of keeping an eye on DNS security. ...read full article December 21, 2009 Brittany Murphy's death used for peddling rogue security softwareIt didn't take long before cybercriminals seized the opportunity to use the death of actress Brittany Murphy to peddle malware. The most obvious choice was search engine optimization poisoning. ...read full article December 19, 2009 Attorney for doctors in WDH privacy breach disputes AG's findingDOVER — An attorney for two doctors impacted by the privacy breach at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital says the Office of the Attorney General would have found WDH had to notify patients if the state knew a rogue employee accessed patients' social security numbers and sensitive insurance policy data. ...read full article December 19, 2009 £1.2bn e-Borders programme may be illegal under EU data lawThe government's £1.2bne-Borders programmecould be illegal under EU law because of thedatait collects on passengers entering the UK, MPs have said. ...read full article December 18, 2009 Thief steals U.S. Army laptop from employee's homeA laptop containing the personal information of tens of thousands of U.S. Army soldiers, family members and U.S. Department of Defense employees was recently stolen. ...read full article December 18, 2009 Twitter Downed By 'Iranian' HackersSocial networking site infiltrated by group claiming ties to Middle Eastern country.Social networking site Twitter was knocked offline early Friday by hackers who claimed to have links to Iran. ...read full article December 18, 2009 Judge grants TJX hacker sentencing delay over healthThe sentencing of TJX hacker Albert Gonzalez was halted after a psychiatrist determined that he has a developmental disorder and may not have known he was committing a crime, according to information filed by his attorneys this week in federal court in Boston. ...read full article December 18, 2009 Facebook Hit With FTC ComplaintElectronic Privacy Information Center files formal objection against social networking site's privacy changes.A group that advocates Internet privacy has filed a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission over Facebook's decision to open more of its members' information to public view unless they actively take steps to limit their data's exposure. ...read full article December 18, 2009 Government Grapples With EMR Security, PrivacyHealthcare providers aren't stepping up to protect privacy of electronic medical records. Can the government provide adequate data security?While electronic medical records promise massive opportunities for health benefits, the privacy and security risks are equally enormous. ...read full article December 18, 2009 Illinois Department of Insurance Warns of Possible Auto Insurance ScamThe Illinois Department of Insurance reports that some Illinois residents have received letters, printed on fake insurance department letterhead, advising recipients that their “automobile insurance policy is cancelled,” and that their “Driver’s License and/or License Plate’s will be suspended within 10 days from receipt of this letter.” ...read full article December 18, 2009 Arkansas Reports Insurance Scam Targeting Consumers in That StateArkansas Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford has cautioned that a scam operation that has sold fraudulent health insurance in Oklahoma and Connecticut is now targeting Arkansans. ...read full article December 18, 2009 Arizona Mulls Shutting Insurance Fraud UnitWith a $2 billion state budget deficit looming, Arizona may become the first state in the country to abolish the anti-fraud unit of its Department of Insurance. ...read full article December 18, 2009 Los Angeles-Area Agent Convicted of Identity TheftCalifornia State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner today announced that Janet Gail Wroe, 49, of Canyon Country has been convicted of felony identity theft and sentenced to two years in prison after she stole the identity of a senior citizen and forged the victim's name on a Medicare Advantage plan enrollment form in order to receive a commission. ...read full article December 18, 2009 Heartland Pays Amex $3.6 Million Over 2008 Data BreachHeartland Payment Systems will pay American Express US$3.6 million to settle charges relating to the 2008 hacking of its payment system network. ...read full article December 18, 2009 Cloud Security Alliance Issues New GuidelinesThe Cloud Security Alliance published the second edition of its guidelines for secure cloud computing on Thursday, delivering a voluminous document that sets out an architectural framework and makes a host of recommendations around cloud security. ...read full article December 18, 2009 How to protect your privacy on FacebookSocial network recently overhauled its privacy policies; here's how users can continue to safeguard their privacyOver the past week, Facebook has been nudging its users to review and update their privacy settings. The site has given users many granular controls over their privacy, more than what's available on other major social networks. Still, in updating their privacy settings, several users might have made more information about themselves public than what they had intended. ...read full article December 18, 2009 Hacker hit community college systemPatrons of the state's community colleges may have had their drivers license and Social Security numbers stolen by a hacker. ...read full article December 18, 2009 Boise man pleads guilty to aggravated identity theftA Boise man pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to aggravated identity theft, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney for Idaho. ...read full article December 18, 2009 Man in alleged identity theft ring to plead guiltyJACKSON, Miss. -- A member of an alleged identity theft ring that called itself the "Felony Lane Gang" and operated in south Mississippi is scheduled to plead guilty next month to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, federal court records said. ...read full article December 18, 2009 ID thief got credit file? Equifax makes amendsDear Fixer: Equifax gave my credit report to an identity thief one day in early September. The thief appears to have visited www.annualcreditreport.com. ...read full article December 18, 2009 American Express phishing scamEmails purportedly coming from American Express are making the rounds of inboxes this month. Panda Labs reports they contain a request for Amex customers to update their accounts. ...read full article December 18, 2009 Officers Warned of Flaw in U.S. Drones in 2004Senior U.S. military officers working for the Joint Chiefs of Staff discussed the danger of Russia and China intercepting and doctoring video from drone aircraft in 2004, but the Pentagon didn't begin securing the signals until this year, according to people familiar with the matter. ...read full article December 18, 2009 B.C. civil servant accused of e-mail privacy breachVICTORIA — The B.C. government is investigating an employee who is accused of e-mailing sensitive government information across the border to someone in the United States. ...read full article December 18, 2009 TSA Cannot Order Sites to Take Down Sensitive ManualAfter a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) manual containing “sensitive security information” was inadvertently disclosed on a government website, it was reposted on several non-governmental websites where it remains freely available. Asked what TSA intends to do about that, Acting TSA Administrator Gale D. Rossides told Congress that her agency does not have the legal authority to compel members of the public to remove sensitive TSA documents from their websites, though she wished that they would do so. ...read full article December 18, 2009 ID Analytics Research Finds Conventional Wisdom About Change of Address and Fraud Risk is IncorrectTraditional Metrics No Longer Provide Comprehensive Risk Coverage: Study Finds Identity Scoring Offers a More Effective ApproachSAN DIEGO, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- ID Analytics, Inc., the leader in on-demand identity intelligence, today announced the publication of its latest research study, "Address Discrepancy Data Study: Change of Address and Address Mismatch." ID Analytics' study examines the relationship between changes in address and fraud risk to determine whether certain variables related to an address change indicate a greater risk of fraud. The study finds that traditional variables no longer provide comprehensive risk coverage and the variables need to be modernized. ...read full article December 17, 2009 U.S. House to toughen internal cybersecurity policyCongressional leaders on Tuesday accepted five new cybersecurity policy recommendations aimed at protecting sensitive information belonging to the U.S. House and securing its IT systems from attack. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Intelligence Improperly Collected on U.S. CitizensWASHINGTON — In February, a Department of Homeland Security intelligence official wrote a “threat assessment” for the police in Wisconsin about a demonstration involving local pro- and anti-abortion rights groups. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Meaning of identity theft key to appeal in Palin caseDefense says hacking e-mail doesn't countThe case of a Democratic state senator's son accused of perusing the contents of a conservative Republican vice presidential candidate's e-mail account is making for strange political bedfellows. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Delaware crime: Police say woman stole $22,600 from accountWachovia Bank teller's suspicions lead to charges of identity theft, forgeryA 27-year-old Philadelphia woman was charged with identity theft after a bank teller notified state police that she was trying to withdraw money from another customer's account. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Credit Suisse to pay $536M to settle Iran wire transfer caseCredit Suisse Group has agreed to pay $536 million to settle a Justice Department probe and admit to violating U.S. economic sanctions by hiding the booming illegal business it was doing for Iranian banks. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Autopsy reports altered in data breach at WDH: Frisbie says it will notify families of deceasedROCHESTER — Frisbie Memorial Hospital says it will notify the families of two patients whose autopsy reports were altered when a Wentworth-Douglass Hospital employee made unauthorized changes to patients records' at WDH's pathology lab. ...read full article December 17, 2009 PCSO fined for data access breachA police community support officer has been fined £2,000 for unlawfully accessing information on Metropolitan Police databases. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Former Lone Star National Bank VP convicted of bank fraud(McALLEN, Texas) - A former vice president and senior loan officer of Lone Star National Bank has been convicted of bank fraud, U.S. Attorney Tim Johnson announced today. ...read full article December 17, 2009 China cages game Trojan hackersChinese authorities have sentenced 11 members of a malware gang to long stretches behind bars, after the group was convicted of creating and distributing Trojans designed to steal the login credentials of online gamers. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Secure USB drive relies on recognising facesWorks as a bottle opener tooPortable data security has stepped up a notch following one manufacturer’s decision to pair a USB Flash drive with facial recognition technology. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Conficker jams up developing interwebsThe infamous Conficker worm has disproportionally affected computer systems in the developing world, according to new research. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Adobe: critical Acrobat flaw fix 4 weeks awayUsers of Adobe's Acrobat and Reader programs have a full four weeks to fret over a critical flaw that's being exploited in the wild to install malware on vulnerable machines. ...read full article December 17, 2009 The 2009 data breach hall of shameA review of the companies that made headlines for all the wrong reasonsComputerworld - If there was anything even vaguely comforting about the data breaches that were announced this year, it was that many of them stemmed from familiar and downright mundane security failures. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Chinese ISP Hosts 1 in 7 Conficker InfectionsSecurity experts have known for months that some countries have had a harder time battling the Conficker worm than others. But thanks to data released Wednesday by Shadowserver, a volunteer-run organization, they now have a better idea of which Internet Service Providers have the biggest problem. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Eighth defendant in North Carolina staged accident ring sentencedThe eighth and final defendant in an auto insurance fraud ring that netted more than $100,000 in phony claims payments from staged accidents was sentenced in North Carolina. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Insurgents Hack U.S. Drones$26 Software Is Used to Breach Key Weapons in Iraq; Iranian Backing SuspectedWASHINGTON -- Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Bank manager charged with embezzlingA branch manager of Piedmont Bank in Statesville was accused Wednesday of stealing more than $270,000 from the bank and its customers - including more than $100,000 from her parents - to support her gambling addiction. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Sands Casino scam attempt doesn't pay offNew York woman faces prison after pleading guilty to thefts. She stole $10,000 in 13 hours. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Police: Identity thief looted $22,000 from bank accountA Philadelphia woman has been arrested and charged with stealing a bank customer's identity and looting the victim's account of more than $22,000. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Consumers Overestimate The Dangers Of Online Identity Theft, Study SaysMore than one-third of users think ID theft is most likely to happen online, but only 10 percent of the losses happen on the Web, researchers say ...read full article December 17, 2009 Google, Dell, Microsoft, Yahoo invoked in work from home scamOnline scammers are abusing top web brand names such as Google, Dell, Microsoft and Yahoo to sell fake "work from home" packages and defraud unsuspecting users, an online security firm has warned. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Trial Date Set for Champaign Couple Charged with Credit Card FraudA Champaign, Illinois couple, Karen D. Dooley, 29, and her husband, Michael J. Jefferies, 32, were arraigned in federal court in Urbana on various federal criminal offenses related to credit card fraud in a seven-count indictment. ...read full article December 17, 2009 8 Japanese computer servers suspected in July cyber attackJapan's National Police Agency said Thursday it suspects eight computer servers in Japan were involved in a wave of cyber attacks in July against government and private sector websites in South Korea and the United States, Japan's National Police Agency said Thursday. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Five Things to Know About Social EngineeringSOCIAL ENGINEERING IS GROWING UP. Social engineering, the act of tricking people into giving up sensitive information, is nothing new. But today's criminals are having a heyday using e-mail and social networks. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Cybersafety Booklet for Parents and Kids Now AvailableFTC, Department of Education, Federal Communications Commission Officials Present Free Booklet at D.C. Middle SchoolA new booklet released today by the Federal Trade Commission and other government agencies helps parents and teachers steer kids safely through the online and mobile phone worlds. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Parkersburg Man Facing Federal ChargesA Parkersburg man is facing federal charges after he's indicted for fraud and identity theft. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Identity theft case has a bizarre twistA five-page criminal complaint detailing a bizarre story of a man who claims to be a professor involved in human cloning research allegedly stealing the identify of a man in prison for murder in California who could be his brother. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Upper Darby man arrested, faces identity theft chargesUPPER DARBY — An alleged swindler involved in a sophisticated identity-theft ring involving personal information copied from hospital records is facing multiple identity theft and theft charges, police said. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Tennessee: Former Knox County deputy faces theft chargesA former Knox County sheriff's deputy was arraigned in federal court in an identity theft case. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Sanctions Imposed for Wiping BlackBerrysNumerous courts have imposed sanctions for failing to preserve e-mails and other electronic documents. But few decisions have addressed the consequences of destroying electronic information stored on portable electronic devices -- such as BlackBerrys and smart phones. This may be starting to change. ...read full article December 17, 2009 Check your Facebook privacy settings. Now!More than ever, your personal information is flapping in the breezeIf Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg can't figure out his social networking site's privacy settings after they were ripped open earlier this month, what hope is there for the rest of us? ...read full article December 17, 2009 Ohio court: Cell phone searches require warrantACLU described ruling by Ohio Supreme Court as landmark caseCOLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio Supreme Court said Tuesday police officers must obtain a search warrant before scouring the contents of a suspect's cell phone, unless their safety is in danger. ...read full article December 16, 2009 Microsoft Tackles the Child Pornography ProblemThe Internet is a hyper-efficient distribution channel for media of all kinds. So it is hardly surprising, even if disturbing, that the march of the Net has also brought “an explosion in the spread of child pornography,” as Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, put it. ...read full article December 16, 2009 CA Predicts More Malvertising, Mac Attacks in 2010Security researchers at business software developer CA this week warned enterprise customers to expect even more complex security threats in 2010 -- including an expected surge in so-called "malvertising" scams and more attacks targeting the Apple platform. ...read full article December 16, 2009 Detroit Police probe stolen medical records2 separate incidents put many at risk of identity theftDetroit -- City health department officials announced Tuesday that police are investigating two incidents in which patients' medical records, including Social Security numbers, were stolen. ...read full article December 16, 2009 Police Bust Possible Identity Theft RingOfficers discover 61 pieces of stolen personal informationDallas police said they believe they have broken up a major identity-theft ring. Officers discovered all kinds of stolen personal information inside a motel room on Finnell Street. Police arrested Mark Anthony, but investigators said they believe he may be part of a larger operative of identity thieves. ...read full article December 16, 2009 Adobe Offers Advice on Avoiding New Reader AttackOne day after warning of a new attack on its Reader and Acrobat software, Adobe issued a security advisory Tuesday offering users some advice on how to mitigate the problem. ...read full article December 16, 2009 Facebook sues men for allegedly phishing, spammingFacebook has sued three men, alleging they used phishing techniques to get access to Facebook user accounts and then sent spam from the compromised accounts. ...read full article December 16, 2009 Scammers exploit Google Doodle to spread malwareOnline scammers are taking advantage of the public's interest in the Google Doodle to spread malware, a security firm warned on Tuesday. ...read full article December 16, 2009 SEC Invokes Immunity in Negligence Suit by Madoff VictimsBernie Madoff became America's poster child for financial scandal one year ago this week, though decades may pass before the mess he made is finally cleaned up. Just in time to mark this Ponzi anniversary, the Securities and Exchange Commission moved Monday to dismiss a suit by two Madoff victims who want to hold the agency accountable for failing to uncover Madoff's scheme more quickly. ...read full article December 16, 2009 9/11 Museum Director Says Website HackedGREENBELT, Md. (CN) - A Maryland man hacked into the Ground Zero Museum Web site, deleted it and left a link that redirects Web surfers to a page that criticizes the museum, its founder Gary Suson claims in Maryland Federal Court. The museum on West 14th Street in Manhattan showcases artifacts from Ground Zero of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. ...read full article December 16, 2009 Honeynet research lifts the lid on spam trendsStats from the one billion spam messages blocked by Project Honey Pot over the last five years provide an insight into junk mail trends and spamming practices. ...read full article December 16, 2009 UCSF belatedly announces September data breachUC San Francisco said late Tuesday it has alerted 600 patients and others that an external hacker may have obtained “temporary access to emails containing their personal information” as a result of a late September phishing scam. ...read full article December 16, 2009 Drug data mining ban unlikely in Senate health billNo vote seen for "prescription mining" proposalWASHINGTON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - A Democratic proposal to ban the collection of doctors' prescription records for marketing purposes is unlikely to be included as part of the Senate's overall health reform bill, a Senate staff member said on Monday. ...read full article December 16, 2009 Colorado Supreme Court rules that immigrants' tax records are private, were illegally searchedDENVER — The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Monday that authorities violated the constitutional and privacy rights of suspected illegal immigrants when they used tax returns to try and build hundreds of identity theft cases against them. ...read full article December 16, 2009 Mass. Supreme Court throws out lawsuit against BJs over '04 data breachRuling shows difficulty of winning tort actions in data breach casesComputerworld - The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a lower court ruling dismissing a lawsuit brought against BJ's Wholesale Clubby dozens of credit unions over a 2004 data breach. ...read full article December 15, 2009 Feds Arrest Suspects in 3-State Medicare Fraud CrackdownMIAMI — Federal agents have arrested several suspects in Miami as part of a Medicare fraud crackdown in three states. ...read full article December 15, 2009 ID theft gang steals $200,000 in casino cash advancesSeven members of an alleged identity theft gang were arraigned in federal court today. ...read full article December 15, 2009 Personal informatio |
