August 2010 News Archive

August 31, 2010

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Identity Theft Leaves A Trail Of Victims

St. Louis, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com) - He's accused of stealing identifies and leaving a trail of victims across the St. Louis area over the past two years; from parking garages during Cardinals games and the Komen Race for the Cure in Downtown St. Louis, to events at Shaw Park, Creve Coeur Park, in St. Louis County. It took a major collaboration of several police departments to finally take the suspect down. ...read full article

Two West New York men indicted on identity theft and fraud charges

TRENTON - Two West New York men were indicted Friday for alleged identity theft and insurance fraud, state Attorney General Paula Dow announced yesterday. ...read full article

Safeway Employees Help Bust ID Theft Ring

Federal authorities are searching for three Northern California suspects in connection with an international identity theft ring after employees at a local supermarket helped agents crack the case. ...read full article

Crooks said swiped church funds were for sex crime victims

Scammers who made off with $600,000 after breaking into the bank account of a Catholic diocese claim the funds have been earmarked for the victims of paedophile priests. ...read full article

Misconfigured networks main cause of breaches

Responses to a survey from attendees of the DEFCON 18 conference revealed that 73% came across a misconfigured network more than three quarters of the time – which, according to 76% of the sample, was the easiest IT resource to exploit. ...read full article

Tax 'Adviser' Cost U.S. $30 Million, Feds Say

LOS ANGELES (CN) - A man who runs retirement plan "services" cost Uncle Sam $30 million by setting up sham pension plans, welfare benefit plans and other tax frauds for clients, federal prosecutors say. Prosecutors say $30 million is "a conservative estimate" of the damage done by William Alexander, 60, and his companies, Retirement Plan Services and Lyons Pensions. ...read full article

Scam preys on required TweetDeck update

IDG News Service - Scammers are trying to take advantage of the fact that many users will soon have to update their version of the TweetDeck Twitter software. ...read full article

HP agrees to pay $55M to settle fraud charges

IDG News Service - Hewlett-Packard will pay the U.S. government $55 million to settle allegations that it defrauded the U.S. General Service Administration and other agencies by paying kickbacks to systems integrators in exchange for recommendations that agencies purchase HP products, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday. ...read full article

August 30, 2010

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RMC patient info might have been compromised

The Regional Medical Center has offered identity theft coverage to about 200 patients after discovering a possible breach of its computer system. ...read full article

Identity Theft Expert: 5 Ways To Stop Business Data Theft

Cyber criminals, social engineers and identity thieves are crafty about hijacking data from businesses. Identity theft expert John Sileo shares inexpensive tips for protecting your organization, and your identity. ...read full article

Condo Residents Victims Of Identity Theft

Thieves Are Using Fraudulent Checks; Management Uncertain How Information Got Out

SALINE, Mich. -- Residents living at a local apartment complex find themselves the victims of a nationwide identity theft scam. ...read full article

Social Security Today: Don't be fooled by confidence games

Victims of scams or identity theft call or come into the Rutland Social Security office on an infrequent but regular basis. They are reminders that even in Vermont we need to be cautious of scams — Internet, mail, and even phone scams — which can damage credit scores and clean out checkbooks. ...read full article

BBB warns of mystery charges

Mysterious charges of about $65 to $68 from iEarn LLC are turning up on credit card and bank accounts across the United States, according to recent complaints to the Better Business Bureau. ...read full article

ACCESS TO RECORDS AT STAKE

MANATEE COUNTY - Getting information from Florida courthouses remains a quaint, old-fashioned experience compared with how the Internet has transformed communication and data gathering in other areas of life. ...read full article

Consumers beware of ‘replacement’ credit numbers

Hundreds of Internet companies are lurking in cyberspace, waiting for people with bad credit to come calling. ...read full article

Pentagon confirms attack breached classified network

The Pentagon has opened the kimono on what it described as the “most significant breach of US military computers ever,” in which a flash drive in 2008 was used to infect large numbers of computers, including those used by the Central Command overseeing combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. ...read full article

Fake Survey Seeking Opinions on Social Networking Features

Symantec has observed a new spam tactic being used in which fake surveys are seeking users' opinions or views on features provided by their social networking site. ...read full article

Too many disclose sensitive information on social networks

Social networking users should be careful when accepting friend requests and to be conscious of the data they share. ...read full article

Indian e-voting researcher released on bail

IDG News Service - An Indian security researcher who was arrested on Aug. 21 for the alleged theft of an electronic voting machine (EVM), was released on bail on Saturday by a magistrate in Mumbai. ...read full article

Mariposa Botnet Operators Didn't Bite In 'Cookie-Stuffing' Offer

Ecommerce fraud technique steals commission, referral fees from website affiliates

The Slovenian man recently arrested for allegedly writing the malware used to build the now-infamous Mariposa botnet also sold an additional feature for his bot software, a form of cookie fraud known as "cookie-stuffing." ...read full article

25 Percent of New Worms in 2010 Are Designed to Spread Through USB Devices, According to PandaLabs

48 percent of SMBs worldwide are infected every year; one third of these infections are caused by worms that spread on USB devices

ORLANDO, Fla., Aug. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- PandaLabs, Panda Security's antimalware laboratory, has discovered that in 2010, 25 percent of new worms have been specifically designed to spread through USB storage devices connected to computers. These types of threats can copy themselves to any device capable of storing information such as cell phones, external hard drives, DVDs, flash memories and MP3/4 players. ...read full article

Report: British Ministry Of Defense Lost More Than 1,000 Storage Devices In Two Years

Nearly 600 data storage devices have been lost or stolen from the U.K.'s Ministry of Defense (MoD) in the past two years, according to figures released last week. ...read full article

August 25, 2010

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Confidential files found in City Hall East sales items

The Atlanta Police Department has launched an investigation into how documents containing sensitive material were left in furniture sold during a liquidation sale of merchandise at City Hall East. ...read full article

Fine for Edinburgh data snooping policeman

A police officer who admitted snooping through the force computer and obtaining personal data about people has been fined £4,800.

...read full article

Floods in Pakistan: FTC Warns Consumers to Give Wisely

In the wake of the devastation caused by flooding in Pakistan and along the border between China and North Korea, the Federal Trade Commission warns consumers to choose carefully when considering urgent appeals for aid in the news, online, and at social networking sites. ...read full article

£2.28 million fine for Zurich Insurance's data loss

Zurich Insurance's UK branch has been fined £2.27 million by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) as punishment for losing the details of 46,000 customers. Zurich lost an unencrypted backup tape which contained the data while it was being transferred to a South African data storage centre in 2008. ...read full article

Kolkata gets its first cyber crime police station

The police station has been set up in the detective department building at the headquarters and people can directly lodge complaints of cyber crime here instead of going to local police stations

...read full article

DDoS botnet family discovered targeting scores of sites

A new family of bots is responsible for nearly 200 distributed denial-of-service attacks targeting websites in China, the United States, South Korea and Germany, according to researchers at security firm Arbor Networks ...read full article

Brad Pitt falls victim to celebrity death spam

A huge increase in potentially dangerous celebrity death spam has prompted security firm Symantec to warn users not to open morbid messages. ...read full article

Hackers bait Zeus botnet trap with dead celeb tales

Massive 'die-off' of celebrities in plane and car crashes tries to trick users into infecting themselves with malware ...read full article

Man conned by fake Delhi Government e-mail

Hackers used Education Department ID to dupe victim of lakhs of rupees

...read full article

SEC Accuses Two of Inside Trading

CHICAGO (CN) - The SEC obtained an emergency order freezing the assets of two Spanish men who allegedly made $1.1 million by trading on inside information about last week's multibillion-dollar offer for the Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan. One of the men is the head of a research department at Banco Santander, which advised BHP Billiton on its bid, the SEC said. ...read full article

Lottery Winner Sues Texas for Privacy

AUSTIN (CN) - A Texas lottery winner sued the state to keep his identity private, for the privacy and safety of his family. After the Lottery Commission claimed that it had received a freedom of information request about the winner, Attorney General Greg Abbott ruled that information about John Doe should be released without redactions. ...read full article

Truro police seek ATM skimmer

TRURO - The Truro Police Service is looking for the public's help in identifying a man believed to have used electronic equipment on a banking automated teller machine (ATM) in order to steal banking information from unsuspecting individuals. ...read full article

Two Individuals Sentenced to Prison for Conspiring to Traffic in Counterfeit Slot Machines and Computer Programs

Rodolfo Rodriguez Cabrera, 43, a Cuban national, and Henry Mantilla, 35, of Cape Coral, Fla., were sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Philip M. Pro in Las Vegas to two years in prison each for conspiring to produce and sell counterfeit International Game Technology (IGT) video gaming machines, commonly known as slot machines, and counterfeit IGT computer programs. ...read full article

Is 'Private' Data on Social Networks Discoverable?

Calif. federal court ruling holds that messages and comments on social networks visible to a restricted set of users are protected

On May 26, a federal court issued an opinion in a discovery dispute that applies outmoded federal electronic privacy laws from the 1980s to Facebook and MySpace. The ruling could permanently change the way "social networking" sites are viewed by businesses and those involved in litigation. The decision also appears to offer the first in-depth analysis on the effect of "privacy settings" found on many social networking sites and whether information is protected from discovery by federal privacy laws. ...read full article

'Porn mode' browsing not really that private

"Private Browsing." "Incognito." "Porn mode." Since 2005, every web browser has added a feature that automatically erases any record of visited websites, cookies or images. For the most part, these modes do effectively hide user Internet habits from other people using the same computer. But new evidence shows that dedicated attacks can retrieve the information. ...read full article

Ohio Sex Offender Arrested in Rochester

Rochester, N.Y. -- Police arrested a 66-year-old Ohio man in Rochester early Tuesday morning after a 2-year search. ...read full article

August 24, 2010

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Iowa hospitals crack down on employee snooping

Clark Kauffman of the Des Moines Register has a round-up of area hospitals that have fired employees for snooping in patient files ...read full article

Ill. trucker rebuilding life after identity theft

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Trucker Earl Robert Hood didn't know his identity had been stolen until his commercial driver's license was suspended in 2008 for four DUIs he never committed. ...read full article

Hacker’s Arrest Offers Glimpse Into Crime in Russia

MOSCOW — On the Internet, he was known as BadB, a disembodied criminal flitting from one server to another selling stolen credit card numbers despite being pursued by the United States Secret Service. ...read full article

Fairbanks woman who stole identities ordered to pay $18,000 in restitution

FAIRBANKS — A convicted con artist from Fairbanks must pay back about $18,000 in wages she earned while lying about her professional nursing credentials. ...read full article

ABA Urges D.C. Circuit to Reject FTC Position in 'Red Flag' Case

The Federal Trade Commission has no authority to lump lawyers in with creditors in the enforcement of regulations that govern the prevention of identity theft, attorneys for the American Bar Association said in court papers filed in a federal appeals court in Washington. ...read full article

Judge OKs Countrywide data breach settlement

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A federal judge yesterday granted final approval to a settlement between Countrywide Financial Corp. and millions of customers left at high risk for identity theft because of a security breach. ...read full article

Newest E-mail Scams: Could They Fool You?

Think only the pathetically credulous and the uneducated fall victim to outrageous e-mail scams? Don't believe it. ...read full article

UK: Royal Wolverhampton breached Data Protection Act – ICO

the Information Commissioner’s Office has found that Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust breached the Data Protection Act (DPA) after the loss of 112 patient records from the Intensive Care Unit of New Cross Hospital’s Heart and Lung Unit. The unencrypted patient records were on a CD that was discovered at a bus stop near the hospital. There was no password protection on the CD, either. Previous reports had suggested that the CD contained data on over 800 patients. ...read full article

Apple exec stashed $150K in shoe boxes

IDG News Service - SAN JOSE -- Federal agents found more than $150,000 in cash when they searched the house of Apple manager Paul Devine earlier this month, prosecutors said in court Monday. ...read full article

The dangers of insider threat

Whilst the media seems pre-occupied with the problems of cybercriminals causing problems for organizations from outside their network, a survey just published shows that 23 per cent of UK employees will take customer lists and other sensitive data when they leave their employer. ...read full article

DEFCON survey reveals vast scale of cloud hacking

An in-depth survey carried out amongst 100 of those attending this year's DEFCON conference in Las Vegas recently has revealed that an overwhelming 96 percent of the respondents said they believed the cloud would open up more hacking opportunities for them. ...read full article

Why Vulnerability Research Matters

It seems that any time there's a high-profile incident in which a vulnerability is disclosed without a patch being available, there is an immediate and loud call from some corners to abolish the practice of vulnerability research. If researchers weren't spending their days poking holes in software, the bad guys wouldn't have so many flaws to exploit and we'd all be safer, this argument goes. But the plain fact is that all of us--users and vendors alike--are far better off because of the work researchers do. ...read full article

Bank of America Settles Data Theft Claims

Bank of America Corp (BAC) will offer free services and reimbursement for losses to as many as 17 million consumers to settle allegations of data theft related to its Countrywide Financial mortgage unit. ...read full article

New government ID cards easily hacked

Public broadcaster ARD’s show “Plusminus” teamed up with the hacker organisation the Chaos Computer Club to find out how secure the controversial new radio-frequency (RIHD) chips were. ...read full article

Russian government email servers hacked

On Monday it turned out that the Federal Service of Protection (FSO) is not that good at protecting its own privacy. Yesterday internet forums were bubbling with information about a hack into the FSO internal email system. ...read full article

Hacker hits Ballarat City Council files

BALLARAT City Council's online network was in meltdown yesterday after it was discovered somebody had broken into the system. ...read full article

Eastmoreland Surgical Clinic Burglarized

The Eastmoreland Surgical Clinic, Dr. William Graham's office was burglarized on or about July 5, 2010. Three password-protected desktop computers, one password-protect laptop computer and a backup drive were stolen. ...read full article

PayPal Accounts Being Compromised Through iTunes

If you have a PayPal account connected to your iTunes login, now might be the time to decouple the two for a bit. At least one group of scammers has managed to find a security hole allowing them to charge thousands of dollars to users' iTunes accounts via PayPal. ...read full article

PayPal Accounts Being Compromised Through iTunes

If you have a PayPal account connected to your iTunes login, now might be the time to decouple the two for a bit. At least one group of scammers has managed to find a security hole allowing them to charge thousands of dollars to users' iTunes accounts via PayPal. ...read full article

August 23, 2010

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Hospital bosses told to improve security

Hospital bosses in Wolverhampton have been told to tighten up security in areas where patients’ charts are stored after a computer disk containing almost 800 confidential patient files was found at a city bus stop. ...read full article

West Frankfort woman arrested for stealing from mail boxes

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, IL (KFVS) - A West Frankfort woman has been arrested after police say she stole mail from a rural Williamson County mail box. ...read full article

University Of KY Issues Identity Theft Alert

The University of Kentucky hospital has issued an identity theft alert after medical records for more than 2,000 people were stolen. ...read full article

Insurance agent accused of enrolling nursing home patients without consent pleads not guilty

MOBILE, Ala. -- An insurance agent pleaded not guilty in Mobile’s federal court last week to allegations that she enrolled four patients at a Citronelle nursing home without their knowledge in order to obtain commissions from her employer. ...read full article

Trojan-ridden warning system implicated in Spanair crash

Malware may have been a contributory cause of a fatal Spanair crash that killed 154 people two years ago. ...read full article

Yemeni assassin hits York man with spam death threat

A software engineer form York has been left nonplussed after a group of hired guns from the Yemen Arab Republic claimed to have been contracted to "terminate" him with extreme prejudice. ...read full article

Calif. breach notification bill going back to the governor

A California proposed bill that would update the state's pioneering data breach notification law is heading back to the governor's desk. ...read full article

Canadian teen charged in New York cyber attack

DENARE BEACH, SASK.—A teen from a remote Saskatchewan community faces computer crime charges over a cyber attack that crashed a commercial website in New York City. ...read full article

Security study says data breaches often caused by configuration errors

IDG News Service - Hackers are increasingly exploiting configuration errors and faulty application code -- not the kind of software holes that get vendor patches -- to steal information from computer systems, according to a new study by Verizon Communications Inc. ...read full article

Government scraps plans for citizen data sharing system

The government has scrapped plans for a central data-sharing system through which the personal records of everyone in the country were to be shared with all government departments. ...read full article

Hackers prompt Miss Vietnam World to drop audience-choice award

Organizers of the Miss Vietnam World contest cancelled the audience choice award Thursday, following the discovery of weaknesses in its e-election system. ...read full article

Three sentenced on charges of scamming IT vendors

IDG News Service - Three people were sentenced to prison terms Thursday for their roles in a multimillion-dollar scheme targeting payments to IT and consulting services vendors from four state governments, the U.S. Department of Justice said. ...read full article

Full CAO website service restored after cyber attack

The Central Applications Office (CAO) website has resumed full service after a cyber attack this morning that restricted access for thousands of Leaving Cert students checking the first round of course offers. ...read full article

Identity Theft Hits Customers of Mid-South Deli

Some customers who have recently purchased items at Jason's Deli found suspicious activity on their credit or debit accounts, some of which is occurring out of state. ...read full article

Four sentenced in ID theft

Detroit group had possible ties with Russian mob

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Four Detroit men with possible ties to the Russian Mob have been sentenced for their crimes. ...read full article

FDLE: State prisoner scammed Orlando hotel guests

The inmate called hotel guests and tricked them into giving out their credit-card numbers.

A state prison inmate orchestrated an identity-theft scheme that tricked hotel employees and guests into helping him obtain credit-card numbers and personal information, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Friday. ...read full article

$9 Here, 20 Cents There and a Credit-Card Lawsuit

IT’S easier to steal a million dollars a dollar at a time than a million dollars once. So goes an old saying. ...read full article

Man indicted for destroying data with computer virus

(Kyodo)—A 27-year-old man in Osaka Prefecture was indicted Monday on a charge of destroying stored data by using a computer virus, which replaces victims' files with octopus or squid pictures. ...read full article

Conmen take control of home computers

A NEW scam where hi-tech fraudsters take control of your home PC has hit Edinburgh. ...read full article

Expert: China among biggest victims of Internet attacks

China is one of the biggest victims of Internet network attacks in the world and has faced serious network security problems in recent years, said Du Yuejin, head of the National Network Information Institute for Security Technology, on Aug. 21. ...read full article

August 20, 2010

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SEC Charges New Jersey With Securities Fraud

WASHINGTON (CN) - The SEC today charged the State of New Jersey with securities fraud: misrepresenting and failing to disclose that it underfunded the state's two largest pension plans in selling $26 billion in municipal bonds. ...read full article

Scareware tries to trick marks into dropping defences

Virus authors have developed a strain of malware that attempts to con users into uninstalling legitimate security packages. ...read full article

Gillibrand bill helps seniors fight fraud

Maria Esther Romero simply answered the phone last April in her Corona home. The man on the other end said he was a federal official and that Romero had to update her personal information for her Social Security benefits. ...read full article

Anderson man pleads guilty to identity theft

An Anderson man who stole unattended purses and wallets in hospitals, schools and office buildings was sentenced Wednesday for identity theft. ...read full article

Mortgage fraud thrives in good and bad times

CHICAGO — The house on the 53rd block of South Wood Street in Chicago's Back of the Yards doesn't look like a $355,000 home. There is no front door and most of the windows are boarded up. ...read full article

Simple Mailing Mistakes Could Now Be HIPAA Violations Under New HHS Fundraising Rules

Covered entities would be wise to become familiar with the new July 14 proposed rules for fundraising, which could turn an accidental mailing into a costly mistake. One expert says the proposed fundraising rules are straightforward overall but that it is more revealing to look at the areas where HHS is seeking comments. The final rule, she says, is likely to tighten some fundraising restrictions while loosening others. ...read full article

Panel drafts privacy recommendations for health data exchanges

Recommendations developed in response to specific privacy-related questions

Computerworld - A "tiger team" that advises the federally chartered Health IT Policy Committee will submit a list of recommendations on Thursday for ensuring the privacy and security of personally identifiable health information in health data exchanges. ...read full article

Facebook Places could spark new privacy fire

Having to opt out instead of opting in makes some unhappy about Facebook's new location-based service

Computerworld - With its new location-based Places feature, Facebook may have just lit the match that will ignite another round of privacy controversy. ...read full article

Justin Bieber offering free tickets on Facebook? It's a scam

Bieber fans have been targeted by the latest Facebook scam - agree to let the application post messages on your wall and subscribe for a £4.50 per week premium rate service, and you will get free tickets to a concert of the young star. ...read full article

Sex Offenders still slip through cracks

MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif- The Megan's Law website shows you where registered sex offenders live but there's another website in Monterey County called offender watch. You can look up the same detailed information except it also shows unincorporated areas. Even with these websites, some sexual predators still slip through the cracks. ...read full article

Auditor: 35% of Polk County Sex Offenders Not Registering, Sheriff says Statistics Inaccurate

Missouri Auditor Susan Montee says one out of three sex offenders are not registering in Polk County. The county ranked the highest in non-compliance in an audit released Wednesday. The Polk County sheriff says the number of non-compliant offenders in his county is not as high as the audit reveals. He says it’s time to take a look at streamlining the sex-offender system. ...read full article

Sex Offenders Get Tracked Down

If you look on the Megan's Law Website, you'll likely see you're surrounded by sex offenders. Those that are on parole, are tracked with GPS bracelets, but some have figured out a way to get them off. Now the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is catching up with them by email. ...read full article

August 19, 2010

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Beauty salon owner accused of cheating celebs

LOS ANGELES — Authorities say the owner of a Beverly Hills beauty salon is accused of fraud after she used credit card information from celebrity clients such as Liv Tyler to ring up hundreds of thousands of dollars in bogus charges. ...read full article

Heartland Self-Inflicts More Data Breach Injuries

Heartland Payment Systems again finds itself in the glaring light of a data breach probe, but this time, the injuries are almost entirely self-inflicted. The incident in question is the Austin, Texas, data breach of several hundred payment cards from a four-location Greek cafeteria—which one Austin detective said crafts a terrific baklava—that happens to use Heartland as its processor. ...read full article

Attorney General Announces Investigation Into Yale Security Breach

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced today that his office is investigating a data breach after Yale Medical School reported the theft of a laptop containing personal health information involving as many as 1,000 individuals. ...read full article

BBB Alert: College-Age Students are Slower Detecting Fraud

Over the next few weeks, schools around eastern North Carolina will welcome thousands of students back to campus. As these young adults begin, or continue, their college journey, Better Business Bureau serving Eastern North Carolina reminds them of the importance of protecting their identity. ...read full article

Petri Bill Would Enlist IRS Against Identity Theft

It's called "identity theft" when someone pretends to be you in order to obtain credit and other benefits in your name. Victims can spend years demonstrating they have been defrauded, getting free of debts they did not incur, and restoring their credit. ...read full article

Myrtle Beach man charged in Ponzi scheme

A Myrtle Beach man and two California residents have been arrested on charges of operating a $26 million Ponzi scheme that victimized hundreds of investors nationwide. ...read full article

Hackers target state computers

Secretary of State Mary Herrera said Tuesday that her personal laptop computer and several office computers have been targets of computer virus attacks since April. ...read full article

Phishing attacks drop, but threats still exist

Phishing attacks were down 10 percent from April to June 2010 compared to the second quarter of 2009, according to Internet Identity. ...read full article

Employees admit they would steal data when leaving a job

Employees openly admit they would take company data, including customer data and product plans, when leaving a job, according to Harris Interactive. The online survey probed 1,594 full- and part-time employees and contractors in the United States and Great Britain about their attitudes toward accessing and viewing of company-owned data. ...read full article

Baton Rouge man pleads guilty to ID theft

BATON ROUGE — A man alleged to have stolen $150,000 while using the credit information of at least 30 current or retired Baton Rouge police officers has pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft. ...read full article

FIFA Ticketing Partner in Security Breach

(WFI) FIFA is liaising with its official ticketing partner Match after a massive security breach compromised the details of 80,000 of its customers, including Sweden’s former Prime Minister and the head of Norway’s national bank. ...read full article

Data breach demonstrates need for access control policies

A big thanks to Quest's Jackson Shaw for pointing us to a story in the Vancouver (BC) Sun at the end of July. Under the headline "Tax collector accessed private files for gain," the newspaper reported that "A tax collector in B.C. [British Columbia, Canada] used the Canada Revenue Agency's computers to look up the private tax files of hundreds of high-income individuals, apparently in the hopes of hitting them up for a business she ran on the side, according to internal government documents." ...read full article

Capitol Heights Man Pleads Guilty to Stealing the Pay of U.S. Servicemen

Greenbelt, Maryland - Andre Everton Grant, age 27, of Capitol Heights, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to fraudulently accessing a computer containing the payroll accounts of specific U.S. servicemen; using the personal information of other individuals, without their knowledge, to fraudulently obtain and use credit and debit cards; and aggravated identity theft. ...read full article

School Spies Had No 'Criminal Intent,' Say Feds

Federal prosecutors have decided not to press criminal charges against school officials who surreptitiously used a webcam on a school-issued laptop to monitor a student's activities in his home. That decision could send the wrong signal to other school districts regarding permissible encroachments on the privacy of students and their families, suggested Jonathan Handel, an attorney with TroyGould. ...read full article

Pa. man accused of filing $1.39 million claim for bogus storm damage

A Pottstown, Pa., man was accused of fabricating and submitting a false $1.39 million insurance claim for storm damage to a series of modular townhomes that he owned and allegedly hid in protective wrapping for nearly a year. ...read full article

Woman charged with fraudulently cashing mothers $1,132 insurance check

A Raleigh, N.C., woman was charged with insurance fraud for allegedly cashing an insurance claim check sent to her mother. ...read full article

Cameron Diaz tops list of riskiest celeb searches

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- If you're looking for Cameron Diaz, Julia Roberts or Jessica Biel online, look out! ...read full article

Intel to buy McAfee for $7.68 billion

NEW YORK — In a move signaling the growing importance of online security, Intel Corp. said Thursday it is buying computer-security software maker McAfee Inc. for $7.68 billion as the chip maker adds to its arsenal of tools to serve an increasing array of Internet-connected devices, including mobile phones. ...read full article

August 18, 2010

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Spotting and preventing Medical Identity Theft

Medical identity theft occurs when a person uses someone else's identity to obtain medical services or medications. The problem is widespread, with the Federal Trade Commission estimating that 10 million Americans have their identities stolen each year, with 3 to 5 percent of these thefts involving theft for medical purposes. ...read full article

Young adults slowest to respond to theft of personal financial data

Many young adults only learn how to handle their finances once they begin paying bills accumulated in college, however they often do not learn about preventing or discovering identity theft until they become victims. ...read full article

Police: AZ man stole identity of deployed GI

MESA, Ariz. — Police have arrested a man and accused him of assuming the identity of a soldier deployed to Iraq. ...read full article

Two women charged in forgery case

HARLINGEN — Two Harlingen women have been arrested on forgery charges, according to a press release from the Cameron County Precinct 7 Constable Cesar Rene Diaz. ...read full article

Caseworker arrested

A former caseworker at Central Montgomery Mental Health/Mental Retardation Center in Norristown was arrested for allegedly stealing credit cards at Montgomery County Community College. ...read full article

Man Pleads Guilty to ID Theft

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A man alleged to have stolen $150,000 while using the credit information of at least 30 current or retired Baton Rouge police officers has pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft. ...read full article

New Firefox iFrame Bug Bypasses URL Protections

UPDATED--There is a bug in Mozilla's flagship Firefox browser related to the way the browser handles obfuscated URLs in iFrames. However, a Mozilla official said the bug poses "very low" risk to users. ...read full article

Employees admit they would steal data when leaving a job

Employees openly admit they would take company data, including customer data and product plans, when leaving a job, according to Harris Interactive. The online survey probed 1,594 full- and part-time employees and contractors in the United States and Great Britain about their attitudes toward accessing and viewing of company-owned data. ...read full article

Facebook clickjacking scam tries to rip off users

If you happen to see a post on your friends' Facebook pages about "Top 10 Funny T-Shirt Fails ROFL", don't fall for it. ...read full article

DOJ Abandons Challenge of Sex Offender's Desire to Renounce Citizenship

For years, James Kaufman has wanted to renounce his citizenship. He may finally get his wish. ...read full article

Bratz-Barbie Fight Gets Ugly, With RICO, IP Theft Claims

In an explosive counterclaim filed in federal district court late Monday night, MGA Entertainment Inc. fired off a new round in the Barbie vs. Bratz doll war, accusing Mattel Inc. of carrying out an elaborate corporate espionage scheme in which Mattel employees lied about their identities in order to gain access to confidential information about MGA products and those of dozens of other toy industry rivals. ...read full article

Wiretap Act Violations Require Criminal Intent

(CN) - A son who used his iPhone to record a kitchen-table conversation about his dying mother's will did not violate the federal Wiretap Act, the 2nd Circuit ruled, because he had no criminal intent. ...read full article

Update: Android gaming app hides Trojan, security vendors warn

Tap Snake could be used by attackers to monitor movements of an Android system via GPS tracking; Google downplays risk

Computerworld - Security vendors Symantec and F-Secure have issued warnings that Tap Snake, a free gaming application for Google's Android OS, can be used to track and monitor a user's location. ...read full article

DOJ won't file charges in school Webcam spying case

IDG News Service - The U.S. Department of Justice won't file criminal charges against a Pennsylvania school district accused of spying on students via webcams in their computers. ...read full article

August 17, 2010

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Data Security Breach Bill Calls for Strict Notification Requirements

A data breach bill filed August 5 requires entities that hold consumers' sensitive information to create a robust data compliance protection plan and holds them to strict breach notification requirements. ...read full article

Tacoma Dental Office Burglarized

Computer server stolen with patient data; Patients offered identity theft protection

TACOMA, Wash., Aug. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The dental office of Dr. Ward Morris of Tacoma was burglarized on or about July 16, 2010. The thieves broke a window, entered the office and stole a password-protected computer server containing patient information along with a computer monitor. Upon discovery of the theft, a police report was filed with the Pierce County Sheriff's Office, and ID Experts®, a data breach solutions company, was retained to assist in notifying affected patients and to mitigate potential misuse of patient information. ...read full article

Trio charged with stealing debit, credit cards from Palm Beach County mailboxes

Three people are charged with stealing credit and debit cards from Palm Beach County mailboxes and using them for identity and cash thefts. ...read full article

More identity thieves using card skimmers

During a routine maintenance check in late February a 7-Eleven employee in Martinez found something that didn't belong inside one of his gas pumps: a debit and credit card skimmer. ...read full article

Hacked Axl Rose Twitter account spreads false tour news

Axl Rose's Twitter account was hacked on Sunday to spread false rumours that Guns N' Roses was cancelling an upcoming European tour. ...read full article

3 arrested in identity theft in Banning

Three men were arrested last Thursday by Banning police and Riverside County sheriff’s deputies in connection to an identity theft case. ...read full article

Special Report - Flipping, flopping and booming mortgage fraud

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The house on the 53rd block of South Wood Street in Chicago's Back of the Yards doesn't look like a $355,000 (227,200 pounds) home. There is no front door and most of the windows are boarded up. ...read full article

Courier service customers targeted by phishing web sites

Customers of well-known courier services are often targeted by cybercriminals. Sometimes they try to make them open malicious files attached in emails with the excuse of needing them to verify transaction details, but lately Symantec has detected a number of phishing sites that spoof website of courier services. ...read full article

Who is the typical Russian hacker?

Security analyst Fyodor Yarochkin and a senior researcher from security firm Coseinc that calls himself "Le Grugq" have spent 6 months on various Russian web forums in order to discover just what kind of threat Russian hackers present to the world at large. ...read full article

August 16, 2010

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HITRUST: HIPAA Breaches Near $1 Billion

Covered entities and business associates reporting breaches of unsecured personal health information (PHI) affecting 500 or more individuals to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) together could spend nearly $1 billion because of those breaches. ...read full article

Patient information leak at Sligo General

Confidential information on patients at Sligo General Hospital was made public due to staff mistakenly faxing the details to the wrong number. ...read full article

Announcement for Patients of Aultman HealthCare in Your Home

CANTON, Ohio (Aug. 6, 2010) -- A password-protected laptop maintained by Aultman HealthCare in Your Home was stolen on June 7, 2010. A police report was filed at the time of the incident. The information on the laptop computer included some patient names, addresses, dates of birth, telephone numbers, social security numbers, insurance identification numbers and health information related to home health services. No credit card, debit card, or bank account numbers were in this information. ...read full article

Reports: Apple manager arrested over $1M in kickbacks

IDG News Service - An Apple manager with responsibilities for the company's contract manufacturing in Asia was arrested Friday and charged with accepting kickbacks. ...read full article

Many antivirus products fail Vista security test

One-third of anti-malware products fail to secure Microsoft's Windows Vista Business Edition, according to security research company Virus Bulletin. ...read full article

Graphics card supercomputers render passwords pointless

A team of researchers at Georgia Tech Research Institute is investigating whether passwords are now worthless, given the supercomputer-like performance now available to hackers using standard desktop graphics cards. ...read full article

Fremont police see increase in identity theft

FREMONT -- Fremont police Sgt. Dean Bliss said the department has seen quite a few cases of people with phony identification lately, which goes along with recent state trends the Ohio Highway Patrol has spotted. ...read full article

McKernan to enter guilty plea in theft cases

Former Whitpain Supervisor William McKernan III seems to be headed toward pleading guilty to charges he stole nearly $1.5 million from a private client and more than $50,000 from Lower Gwynedd Little League. ...read full article

Cell Phones: Easy ID Theft Targets

(CBS) Cell phones are more powerful than ever, with innovations and features being unveiled constantly. ...read full article

Underground credit card clearing house hacked

An underground credit card clearing house has itself been hacked, an investigation by Trend Micro has confirmed. ...read full article

Man sentenced for DIY gift-card cloning

A 22-year-old Oregon man has been sentenced to 18 months probation for stealing $6,000 worth of merchandise using gift card–cloning gear he found online. ...read full article

August 13, 2010

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Patients’ files left at public dump

4 Mass. hospitals investigating

Four Massachusetts community hospitals are investigating how thousands of patient health records, some containing Social Security numbers and sensitive medical diagnoses, ended up in a pile at a public dump. ...read full article

8 indicted in identity theft ring

A group of eight people, including some with ties to Northwest Indiana, were charged Thursday with running an identity theft ring that hit people in at least 21 states and took almost $200,000. ...read full article

Man, 30, admits stealing credit-card numbers from gas-station patrons in Union County

ROSELLE — A Union County man faces three years in prison after admitting his role in a scheme to steal other people's identities and engage in credit-card fraud, New Jersey Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced Thursday. ...read full article

'Hoax mom' to stay in prison

"Hoax mom" Bonnie Sweeten will stay in prison because she's a flight risk, a federal judge ruled Thursday. ...read full article

Heartland denies systems involved in new data breach

Austin police says hackers broke into a network connecting restaurant with payment processor

Computerworld - Heartland Payment Systems, which last year suffered the largest ever data breach involving payment card data, is downplaying reports out of Austin, Texas linking the payment processor to a data breach at a local restaurant chain. ...read full article

Wireless Car Sensors Vulnerable to Hackers

Researchers figure out how to hijack sensor communications.

Hackers could "hijack" the wireless pressure sensors built into many cars' tires, researchers have found. Criminals might then track a vehicle or force its electronic control system to malfunction, the University of South Carolina and Rutgers University researchers say. ...read full article

Judge Transferred Over Alleged Actions in Visitation Case Involving Sex Offender

Complaint alleges judge joked about child pornography during custody proceeding, misstated the facts of the case and maintained an 'inappropriate' relationship with the father's attorney ...read full article

August 12, 2010

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VA Data Breaches Go Live

Today the Veterans Affairs Department started posting online its monthly data breach reports as part of its ongoing transparency thing, VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker told a press briefing this morning. He said the latest report (for July) might not make it to the Web until Thursday. ...read full article

7 steps college students should take to protect their identity

Parents, understandably, worry about their children when they send them off to college. While the primary concern may be their safety, parents should also make their college students know to take all necessary precautions to protect their identity. ...read full article

Senate Democrats reveal details of data-leak prevention legislation

Senate Democrats Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Mark Pryor of Arkansas recently introduced a bill designed to mandate improvement in data-leak prevention at businesses and non-profit organizations throughout the United States. The measure would require companies to implement a series of new security features to improve the protection of consumer information targeted by cyber criminals. ...read full article

Laptop with psychologist's patient data stolen

PORTLAND – A Portland psychologist who has seen thousands of patients over the years put out a warning Tuesday night after his laptop computer was stolen. ...read full article

Hippo-vomiting Anaconda scam targets Facebook users

Sophos is warning Facebook users about a virally spreading survey scam. The attack involves a rogue application that automatically posts status updates and wall posts on affected user profiles with the following message ...read full article

Botnet attacks SSH servers

According to a number of reports, the dd_ssh bot is currently responsible for an increase in brute force attacks on SSH connections. Botnet herders are apparently injecting the script via a phpMyAdmin vulnerability and using the compromised computers for targeted SSH attacks. The vulnerability is a year old and only affects the outdated phpMyAdmin versions 2.11.x prior to 2.11.9.5 and 3.x prior to 3.1.3.1. ...read full article

Verizon DBIR Cryptography Challenge: Here's The First Clue

So, according to a little birdie tweeting in the night, the 2010 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) contains another encryption challenge that leads to actual cash prizes. ...read full article

Facebook bug spills name and pic for all 500 million users

Updated A bug in Facebook's login system allows attackers to match unknown email addresses with users' first and last names, even when they've configured their accounts to make that information private. ...read full article

Junk mail kingpin held on child abuse charges

Notorious spammer Leo Kuvayev is being held on remand in his native Russia over child sex charges. ...read full article

Credit card trafficker cuffed after nine-month manhunt

A Russian accused of being one of the “most prolific” sellers of stolen credit-card data has been arrested in France, following a nine-month manhunt. ...read full article

Cybercriminals Target Online Banking Customers

In July 2010, an organized network of cybercriminals launched a complex, multi-level scheme that targeted online customers of a large UK financial institution. Based on information M86 Security Labs found on the malicious Command & Control (C&C) server, we assume that close to £675,000 was stolen from the bank between July 5 and Aug. 4, 2010, and approximately 3,000 customer accounts were compromised. Exact figures are being verified at this time. In this report, we will expose the architecture, business model, tools and methods used by this cybercriminal organization. ...read full article

August 11, 2010

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Seven Tips for College Bound Students to Fight Identity Theft

College students have enough to juggle when it comes to school, work and their social life, and fighting consumer fraud often doesn’t make the list of priorities. Because college students are so susceptible to identity theft, Better Business Bureau recommends that they take seven simple steps to protect themselves on campus. ...read full article

FTC reminder: Skip cell phone numbers on 'Do Not Call' list

Federal regs already prohibit most telemarketing to mobile phones

Computerworld - Viral e-mails urging cell-phone users to hurry up and register with a government "Do Not Call" list to avoid advertising spam are still circulating five years after federal officials first told consumers they could basically ignore the message. ...read full article

N.Y. man is charged with stealing identities from pediatric cancer centers, hospitals

NEWARK — During the last decade, identity thieves have devised countless ways to steal their victims’ personal data and, ultimately, money. They have fished discarded bank statements from Dumpsters, hacked computer systems and duped the elderly. ...read full article

Unauthorized access at Littleton Regional Hospital results in firing

For the second time in as many years, Littleton Regional Hospital has reported a problem with employee snooping. On June 29, the hospital’s Chief Administrator Officer notified the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office that on May 21, a hospital employee reported that another employee was improperly accessing patient records. The hospital’s audit of their computer system confirmed that an employee had accessed patient records for purposes not related to their care. The unauthorized access of several patients’ records included their contact information, dates of birth, insurance information, physicians’ names, medical history and allergies, date, type, time, and nature of physician visits, and provider notes for the visit. ...read full article

South Korean police raid Google’s Seoul office

South Korean police have raided Google's office in Seoul as part of an investigation into the company's collection of private Wi-Fi data. ...read full article

Online Viewer of Child Pornography Ordered to Pay Restitution to the Victim

Courts nationwide have split over requiring restitution for child pornography victims who did not know their pornographers or those who viewed the images

A man caught with pornographic images of a girl being sexually abused by her uncle has been ordered to pay restitution of nearly $50,000 to the victim, even though the defendant was a viewer of illegal images collected from the Internet who has never met the uncle or the girl. ...read full article

Local College Students’ Personal Info Ends Up On Google

Personal information — including addresses and social security numbers — of students at Pensacola State College and five other schools was exposed on Google due to an error by a library services company. ...read full article

School officials nervous about student identity theft

LEWISTON — A new state law requires schools to ask parents to submit their children's Social Security numbers so schools can track students' progress after they graduate from high school. ...read full article

National Survey Finds Online Safety Personal Priority For Americans

Cambridge, MA, United States (AHN) - A majority of Americans believe their online personal actions can help make the online world a safer place for everyone, according to a national survey conducted by the National Cyber Security Alliance and the Anti-Phishing Workshop Group. ...read full article

August 10, 2010

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FTC halts domain-name registration scam

IDG News Service - A U.S. judge has ordered a halt to a Canadian operation that allegedly posed as a domain-name registrar in an effort to collect fees from thousands of U.S. consumers, small businesses and nonprofits, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said. ...read full article

Zeus v3 Trojan draining more than £675,000 from UK bank

A UK financial institution is being targeted by a sophisticated attack using web-based malware to steal money from accounts, says M86 Security. ...read full article

Hospital data contained on stolen laptops

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Jewish Hospital is now working to encrypt all its computers after security breach. The hospital says two laptops were stolen out of the catheterization lab between July 16 and July 19. ...read full article

How an ancient printer can spill your most intimate secrets

Researchers have devised a novel way to recover confidential messages processed in doctors' offices and elsewhere by analyzing the sounds made when documents are reproduced on dot-matrix printers. ...read full article

Android phones hit by text-based Trojan

Google's Android mobile operating system has been hit by its first text-based Trojan, according to security firm Kaspersky Labs. ...read full article

DWP goes old school - loses paper docs, hangs onto e-data

The Department for Work and Pensions has reported data leaks from paper but none from electronic devices over the year. ...read full article

Personal info of hundreds of Boise city employees on missing data tape

BOISE -- The Boise mayor's office says the names and personal information of about 300 current and former Boise city employees were on a backup computer tape that went missing in March. ...read full article

Thief Stealing From Hocking Co. Mailboxes

Ohio Households Fallen Prey To Mail Thief

LOGAN, Ohio -- Investigators say at least a dozen households in southeast Ohio have fallen prey to a thief stealing from home mailboxes. ...read full article

Scam targets Medicare recipients

Jack Boggs has a simple warning for seniors and anyone else contacted by callers wanting personal information: Don’t give it to them. ...read full article

August 9, 2010

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Laptop repair fraudster jailed for nine months

A Polish laptop repair engineer who tried to hack in to an undercover reporter's bank account after stealing details from her computer has been jailed for nine months. ...read full article

Admitted Ranger faker won’t leave office

CANTON, Ga. — A Cherokee County Commissioner doesn’t plan to resign after he acknowledged fudging his military and education background. ...read full article

Fort Worth medical clinic spends $15,000 notifying patients of theft

FORT WORTH -- In June, employees at a Fort Worth allergy clinic discovered that the office door had been kicked in and four computers containing patients' personal information including Social Security numbers and birth dates had been stolen. ...read full article

In turnabout, Ohio ex-con gets data on neighbors

Neighbors routinely get a picture and a name when a sex offender moves next door. In a turnabout, an Ohio sex offender has received private information about his neighbors, including their Social Security numbers. ...read full article

Hackers offering tech support for malware they installed

Research shows bold move by malware makers

In a bold move some hackers are offering tech support and customer service for removing malware from their victims' computers, according to research by Kaspersky Lab. ...read full article

Alleged RBS WorldPay hack ringleader extradited to the U.S.

26-year old Estonian Sergei Tsurikov - one of the 3 alleged alleged masterminds behind the massive RBS WorldPay hack executed in November 2008 - has been extradited to the U.S. ...read full article

Feds Say Ponzi Man Targeted Elderly

SANTA ANA, Calif. (CN) - An Orange County man defrauded investors, many of them elderly, of more than $6.2 million in a Ponzi scheme, federal prosecutors say. Richard H. Nickles, 57, of Irvine, was to be arraigned today (Monday) on four counts of mail fraud and two counts of securities fraud. ...read full article

Update: Network admin Terry Childs gets 4-year sentence

A City of San Francisco administrator who refused to hand over administrative passwords to the city's network was sentenced to four years in state prison Friday. ...read full article

Stuxnet malware targets utility systems

Computerworld - Last month's disclosure of a sophisticated malware program targeting control system software from Siemens AG has renewed long-standing concerns about whether the U.S. power grid can withstand targeted cyberattacks. ...read full article

Senators worry for-profit schools cheat vets

A congressional report about possible abuses of federal financial aid by for-profit colleges and universities has prompted two key senators to ask whether service members and veterans are really getting a quality education when they use GI Bill education benefits and military tuition assistance. ...read full article

U.S. Marshal Imposter Indicted for Fooling TSA & Forcing a Woman Out of the Country

SAN DIEGO - A man suspected of posing as a federal marshal to take a woman from her Hemet home and put her on a plane to her native Philippines, claiming he was deporting her, was indicted today, along with his wife, by a federal grand jury in San Diego. ...read full article

August 5, 2010

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Billionaire Donald Bren targeted in $1.4-million ID theft

A man who looks nothing like the Orange County real estate magnate allegedly opened accounts in Bren's name and deposited a tax-refund check stolen from Bren, a criminal complaint says. ...read full article

Rockland’s paychecks scattered from truck

ROCKLAND — Hundreds of current and former Rockland town employees have been put at risk for identity theft after canceled paychecks being sent to a recycling facility blew out of the truck transporting them. ...read full article

Six arrested for compromising 10,000 online bank accounts

Six people have been arrested on suspicion of stealing credit cards, personal information and banking details as part of a suspected online banking fraud. ...read full article

Hingham to inform 1,300 employees of compromised personal data

More than two weeks after a Hingham official inadvertently sent dozens of people a document containing the names and Social Security numbers of everyone who worked for the town last year, town officials said they will notify the 1,300 employees of the breach Wednesday afternoon through e-mail and first class mail. ...read full article

Study Points To Mobile Data Leak Risk

International IT governance body ISACA has released a study detailing the increasing potential for mobile devices to pose a significant threat to data loss. Pointing to information leakage over wireless and poorly secured wired networks, Securing Mobile Devices is intended as a wake-up call for companies who refuse to close backdoors leading to confidential enterprise information and intellectual property. ...read full article

Do We Have To Sneak Audit Site Hosts Now?

For retail IT directors, the end of American Eagle Outfitters’ 8-day E-Commerce collapse just marks the start of a new fear: that they’ll have to begin dispatching staffers to do sneak inspections of outsourcers. Will they need to burn precious staff time in unannounced audits, looking over the shoulders of service providers to make sure those techs are doing their jobs? ...read full article

Virus writer charged with destroying property

Japanese police have arrested a suspected virus writer over allegations he created and distributed an old-school virus that targeted freetards and destroyed data. ...read full article

August 4, 2010

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Flood Victims' Personal Information Posted Online

Some of Nashville’s flood victims who were applying for property tax relief had their personal information posted on a Metro website. ...read full article

Zeus botnet plunders nearly 100,000 UK user credentials

Security firm Trusteer has uncovered a large Zeus version 2 botnet being used for financial fraud in the UK. ...read full article

DOE: Common security holes leave energy grid vulnerable

The U.S. is leaving its energy infrastructure open to cyberattacks by not performing basic security measures, such as regular patching and secure coding practices, according to a report prepared by the Department of Energy. ...read full article

Smooth-Talking Hackers Fool IT Giants

Hackers attending the Defcon security conference have proved that smooth-talking is the easiest way to obtain sensitive information from employees of some of the world's leading IT companies . ...read full article

Beware: Attackers Could Use New iPhone 4 Jailbreak Code to Carry Out Malicious Attacks

It seems like almost everyone I know has an iPhone, or at least wants one. Among iPhone users in the U.S.—where the phone’s operating system is locked and customers are limited to just one carrier—jailbreaking the devices is almost as popular. Jailbreaking Apple devices such as the iPhone essentially unlocks the operating system to allow root access, enabling users to make additional customizations to their phones. ...read full article

Hack uses Google Street View data to stalk its victims

A security researcher has devised an attack suitable for stalking and similarly creepy endeavors that uses JavaScript and geo location data from Google to pinpoint a victim's precise location. ...read full article

Man who doctored police report, insurance claim gets 30 days in jail

A West Orange, N.J., man, who altered the date of an incident on a police report as part of his filing of a false insurance claim, was sentenced to 30 days in a New Jersey county jail. ...read full article

Osaka man arrested for using computer virus to tamper with data

TOKYO — Tokyo police said Wednesday they have arrested a 27-year-old man in Osaka on a charge of using a computer virus to destroy stored data. Masato Nakatsuji is the first person in Japan to be charged with destroying property by tampering with data using a computer virus, they said. ...read full article

Blind Utica woman has phone scammer's number

When a customer service representative calls your home, it can be hard to decipher if the voice at the other end is legitimate, or a scam artist at work. ...read full article

August 3, 2010

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Missing woman found alive in Kentucky; alleged captor at large

A 19-year-old Kentucky woman missing for two weeks has been found, and police are searching for a registered sex offender believed to be involved in her disappearance, authorities said Monday. ...read full article

2 Arrested in 'Massive Scheme'

The Wakulla County, Fla. Sheriff's Office has arrested two men for involvement in what's described as "a massive scheme" to defraud thousands of victims across the United States via identity theft. ...read full article

Data Breaches Hit 113 Health Care Organizations, Report Says

Of the 385 organizations hit with data breaches so far this year, 113 were in health care, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center's report for July 28. Just 39 breaches have been reported in banking and finance according to the ITRC. Experts cite a lack of compliance and improper data access by insiders as culprits. ...read full article

AP IMPACT: New ID theft targets kids' SS numbers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The latest form of identity theft doesn't depend on stealing your Social Security number. Now thieves are targeting your kid's number long before the little one even has a bank account. ...read full article

Identity theft, fraud ring hit apartment mailboxes: police

EDMONTON — Tax forms and hunting licences were among documents stolen from Edmonton apartments by an organized mail fraud ring, police allege. ...read full article

Cuyahoga County human services worker accused of identity theft

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cuyahoga County Department of Health and Human Services worker is accused of stealing the identities of two co-workers, getting credit cards in their names and charging $13,000 in merchandise. ...read full article

Texas Firm Blames Bank for $50,000 Cyber Heist

A business telephone equipment company in Texas is trying to force its bank to settle a liability claim over an attack by organized cyber thieves last year that cost the company $50,000. ...read full article

August 2, 2010

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GAO sting shows passport fraud remains a problem

Earlier this year, undercover investigators from the Government Accountability Office applied for and obtained three of seven passports they sought using common identity theft techniques. State Department officials issued five of the seven passports, but retrieved two from the mail before they were delivered -- after employees discovered the GAO sting. ...read full article

St. Al's missing data tapes with employees' personal info

BOISE, Idaho – Approximately 1,000 current and former Saint Alphonsus employees are being notified that a computer back-up tape containing their personal information has gone missing. ...read full article

Hacker shows cellphone tapping device

LAS VEGAS - A computer security researcher has built a device for just US$1500 that can intercept some kinds of cell phone calls and record everything that's said. ...read full article

Tenants can’t get answers on Guttenberg security breach

Residents of Guttenberg’s subsidized public housing projects are afraid their personal information could be misused now that the Guttenberg Housing Authority sent them letters this month saying a computer security breach allowed “an unauthorized individual” access to their personal files, including Social Security and credit card data. ...read full article

ID theft feared at Ont. government website

An NDP critic is blasting the Ontario government after it revealed there was a possible case of identity theft linked to its driver's licence address change website. ...read full article

Arizona drivers warned about gas-pump credit-card scam

The Arizona Department of Weights and Measures is warning consumers to take extra precautions to protect their identities because of an increase in the use of illicit credit-card readers at gas pumps. ...read full article

New laws on ID theft, business start today

Ever worry about having your identity stolen? Ever wondered if a business that claims to have local ties is telling the truth? Or had your vehicle impounded? Or tried to discourage your child from using tobacco? ...read full article

Deputies: Bank manager helps foil DeBary check-fraud scam; three arrested

Thanks in part to a vigilant bank manager, three were charged with fraud on Friday in what authorities in Volusia County are calling a "check fraud and identity theft caper." ...read full article