September 2010 News Archive

September 29, 2010

---

Trio charged in Larimer County with burglary, ID thefts

Charges have been filed in Larimer County against three people accused of running a burglary and identity theft ring. ...read full article

Microsoft Beefs Up Hotmail Security

On Monday, Microsoft announced that it had improved Hotmail security, in large measure to help stop attackers from hijacking Hotmail accounts. ...read full article

Former teacher charged

Ferguson is arraigned on nine counts of identity theft

MARTINSBURG - A former Berkeley County teacher, charged earlier this month with six counts of felony child abuse for allegedly beating her six children over the course of several years, was arraigned Tuesday on nine additional felony counts charging her with identity theft. ...read full article

World of Warcraft phishing scams

Blizzard's MMORPG World of Warcraft is one of the most popular games out there, and its players are among the most targeted by online scammers. ...read full article

DA: Los Altos man charged with San Bruno blast scam

REDWOOD CITY -- A Los Altos man has become the fifth person to be charged with stealing aid that was destined for the victims of the natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, a prosecutor said. ...read full article

East Grand Forks man accused of stealing more than 50 identities

Police suspect an East Grand Forks man of stealing the identities of more than 50 people — mostly area residents — and applying for credit cards in their names. ...read full article

Millions lost as Zeus Trojan leads e-crime unit overseas

Police believe the arrest of 19 people on Tuesday may be just the first attack on an international computer crime gang that has stolen millions of pounds from British bank account holders. ...read full article

D.C. man pleads guilty in card-skimming scheme

Prosecutors said the leader of a card-skimming ring that scammed diners at Washington restaurants out of more than $100,000 has pleaded guilty. ...read full article

Bangor woman accused in thefts

A Bangor woman released from a neighboring county jail in June after being accused of burglarizing a Sparta home for a purse now is suspected of identical behavior in La Crosse County. ...read full article

Woman Convicted of Stealing Dead Sister's Identity

OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) -- A jury has convicted a western Kentucky woman of stealing her dead sister's identity to avoid being arrested. ...read full article

Details Emerge on IE 8 Data-Stealing Bug

Security researcher Chris Evans has released details of the data-stealing bug in Internet Explorer 8 that he publicized earlier this month, saying that the CSS flaw can be used to force victims to post messages on Twitter and that the bug appears to be no closer to being fixed. ...read full article

Wire-transfer fraud poses a growing problem

Identity theft takes many forms, but Lenny Vigliotti never imagined it would show up as somebody wiring $12,000 from his South Florida saving account through multiple banks to end up in the Ukraine. ...read full article

McKernan enters guilty plea for stealing from clients, LG Little League

Former Whitpain Township Supervisor William McKernan III pleaded guilty to third-degree felony theft charges in Montgomery County Court Sept. 22. ...read full article

Ex-bank employee faces larceny charge

GOSHEN — Prosecutors say a bank employee used account information to steal nearly $40,000 from customers. ...read full article

September 28, 2010

---

EXCLUSIVE: Pedophiles Find a Home for Social Networking -- on Facebook

The world’s largest pro-pedophilia advocacy group uses Facebook to connect with its members throughout the world; to find and exchange photos of children; to hone its members' predatory behavior; and to identify, target and reel in child victims, an investigation by FoxNews.com reveals. ...read full article

Scammer arrested by Romanian authorities for eBay phishing

Romanian authorities have arrested a phishing scammer who broke into eBay systems and accessed confidential files, including data of eBay customers and their transactions. ...read full article

Leesburg Police Warn Of E-mail Scam

According to the Leesburg Police Department, there has been an increase in online fraud scams hitting victims in town. Residents should be on alert for these attacks. ...read full article

Fresh ACS:Law file-sharing lists expose thousands more

The personal details of a further 8,000 people alleged to have shared music or films illegally have appeared online. ...read full article

After attacks, Microsoft to rush out fix for ASP.net bug

IDG News Service - Microsoft is rushing out a fix for a Windows Web server flaw that is starting to be exploited by online attackers. ...read full article

Hackers hit Twitter again

IDG News Service - Twitter has put a stop to a worm that posted obscene messages to victims' Twitter feeds. It's the second worm attack the site has suffered in a week. ...read full article

FBI agents cheated on computerized exam, IG says

FBI Director Robert Mueller said today the bureau may discipline at least 22 FBI agents who were found to have cheated on a computerized “Virtual Academy” exam in an investigation by the FBI's Office of Inspector General. ...read full article

September 27, 2010

---

Government worker's laptop stolen

WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) - The county department that has helped more than 60,000 families in need in New Hanover County, now needs the help of the Sheriff's Office. ...read full article

New wave of fraud cases prompts fresh phishing warnings

Customers using online banking have once again been warned to be wary of phishing following a series of online frauds. ...read full article

ACS:Law Email Database Leaked onto The Pirate Bay

There appears to have been a serious data security breach on ACS:Law's website today, as the website's root directory was temporarily exposed for several hours. One of the files may have been a backup file of the website, which possibly included the firm's email correspondence of solicitor Andrew Crossley. ...read full article

French police bust network of mobile phone hackers

French police have busted a network of mobile phone hackers, a fraud worth millions of euros, and arrested nine people, including employees of cellular phone companies, investigators said Sunday. ...read full article

Hospital Notifies Patients After Laptop Stolen

INDIANAPOLIS -- St. Vincent Hospital has notified 1,200 patients their personal information was on a laptop stolen from an employee's home. ...read full article

ZeuS attacks mobiles in bank SMS bypass scam

Security researchers have warned that cybercrooks might be able to compromise online bank accounts even in cases where banks use SMS messages to authorise transactions. ...read full article

Anti-piracy lawyers' email database leaked after hack

Hackers have uploaded a leaked database of emails from anti-piracy law firm ACS:Law onto P2P networks and websites. ...read full article

Extradited Hacker Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison for Masterminding First-ever Hack into Internet Phone Networks

NEWARK, N.J. – The first individual ever charged with hacking into the networks ofVoice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers and reselling hacked VoIP services for a profit wassentenced today to 120 months in prison, United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. ...read full article

September 24, 2010

---

Three plead guilty to using Franklin County Court website as part of ID theft conspiracy

COLUMBUS – Three Columbus residents have pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal credit accounts belonging to people whose identities they stole from a government website in 2006. ...read full article

Eau Claire Police investigating attempted ATM fraud

Eau Claire (Press Release) - Eau Claire Police are investigating an attempted identity theft case that occurred on Saturday, 9/18/2010. On that date an electronic card scanning device was found attached to the US Bank ATM on Golf Rd. near Oakwood Mall. ...read full article

Fined for illegal e-mail access

FORMER SPH MediaBoxOffice (SPHMBO) chief executive Steven Choo Luke Kuo had a secret e-mail account in the company's e-mail system so that he could monitor the e-mail going through the system. ...read full article

Gangs behind credit card fraud held

CHENNAI: Fifteen persons have been arrested for indulging in credit card fraud by obtaining card details of customers from some petrol bunks in the city. ...read full article

Aussie cards prime target for skimming

Outdated banking technology has made Australia a prime target for international ATM skimming gangs, according to police. ...read full article

LA patient data breach compromises 33K patient records

The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS) and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) has announced a privacy breach comprising more than 33,000 patient records housed at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Multi-Service Ambulatory Care Center (MLK MACC) in South Los Angeles, and the arrest of a suspect charged with one count of felony commercial burglary. ...read full article

College Students Increasingly Victims Of ID Theft

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Credit experts are warning college students and young adults to monitor their credit information and prevent identity theft. ...read full article

FTC Testifies on Data Security Legislation

The Federal Trade Commission today told a Senate Subcommittee that it supports proposed legislation that would require many companies to use reasonable data security policies and procedures and require those companies to notify consumers when there is a security breach. ...read full article

Church gets $84,000 back in stolen funds

Federal authorities continue to investigate a "cyber theft" of $121,000 from a prominent Catholic church in Brookfield that has all the markings of a sophisticated Internet crime operation. ...read full article

Personal Information Left In Trash

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. -- Piles of people’s personal information from a local accounting firm has been tossed into a garbage can for anyone to find. ...read full article

Five appear in court over card skimming

TWO foreign nationals and three South African women appeared briefly in the East London Magistrate’s Court yesterday to make a formal bail application after they were arrested for alleged credit card skimming. ...read full article

Man held for duping people at ATMs

JAIPUR: Sindhi Camp police have arrested the supervisor of a security company --- which provides guards to the banks on charges of duping many people by tampering ATMs. The accused duped several people who used ATMs. ...read full article

NYC, Istanbul Police Bust Latest Bulgarian-bred ATM Scams

Two Bulgarian brothers have been charged with scamming more than USD 1 M by installing electronic skimmers and hidden cameras on Chase and Citibank ATMs. ...read full article

ATM-scam bust

Two brothers have been charged with scamming more than $1 million by installing electronic skimmers and hidden cameras on Chase and Citibank ATMs. ...read full article

Spear phisher targeted eBay employees

Romanian authorities said they have detained a man suspected of absconding with more than $3m through a series of computer crimes that included phishing attacks that targeted eBay employees. ...read full article

September 23, 2010

---

Identity theft becomes issue in Fla. race

Florida House candidate Allen West (R) signed up for LifeLock after Democrats circulated his Social Security number in a campaign mailer. ...read full article

Corporate ID thieves mining the store

Dozens of businesses in Colorado, and probably thousands more nationally, are victims of a new and frighteningly easy breed of identity theft in which corporate information is hijacked and millions of dollars in phony credit purchases are made. ...read full article

Woman on Salem's most-wanted list arrested

Salem Police arrested three suspects on outstanding warrants Tuesday night including a woman on Salem's 10 most wanted list for charges ranging from identity theft to possession of a controlled substance. ...read full article

Former dispatcher arrested again

The former San Carlos police dispatcher convicted of using friends’ stolen credit cards on a spending spree of spa treatments and room service is now accused of forging a judge’s signature on a restraining order against the father of her twins. ...read full article

Police: 'Heiress' accused of fraud

A woman who posed as a rich socialite purchased more than $1 million in New Hope property and more than $150,000 in jewelry with worthless checks, officials said. ...read full article

3 plead guilty in ID-theft scheme

Three Columbus residents have pleaded guilty in federal court to their roles in stealing identities from the Franklin County Municipal Court website. ...read full article

McKernan enters guilty plea

Former Whitpain Township Supervisor William McKernan III pleaded guilty to third-degree felony theft charges in Montgomery County Court Sept. 22. ...read full article

Man jailed for selling fake transit passes

A Burnaby man has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail

A Burnaby man has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail for selling fake transit passes that could have cost Trans-Link $250,000 in lost revenue, TransLink police said Wednesday. ...read full article

Identity Theft Victim Arrested

Most victims of identity theft lose money, but Lakeshua Jackson lost her freedom. ...read full article

Roseville Arrest May Not Lead To Credit Card Hacker Arrest

Roseville — Roseville Police say they've arrested a man who was trying to use a credit card number stolen by a computer hacker several weeks ago. It was a routine arrest by security officers at a Roseville Department store. Police say 22 year old Vinh Thien Huynh of Stockton was trying to use a phony credit card to make a purchase. ...read full article

Victims of Data Breach Cannot Sue for Damages

Maine's Supreme Court has ruled that victims of the Hannaford Supermarket chain's massive data breach cannot sue for damages if they didn't suffer financial losses, physical harm or identity theft. ...read full article

San Ramon police search Union City location in connection with mail theft cases

UNION CITY -- San Ramon police served a search warrant in Union City this morning,looking for evidence in connection with identity and mail theft in San Ramon. ...read full article

"Catch Me If You Can" subject speaks in Columbia about identity theft

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - He is the man behind many of the security features you see on your checks and even your money. Frank Abagnale is the authority on white collar crimes, and if that name sounds familiar, it's because his life was re-created in the 2003 film "Catch Me If You Can." ...read full article

FTC settles privacy violation claims with online data broker

Online data broker US Search sold a service that claimed to lock down private records so no one else in the world could see them. The Federal Trade Commission said any such privacy claims were false and deceptive. ...read full article

Data breach victims get $19.05 payout

An administrator working for the US Federal Trade Commission has been given the task of mailing 14,023 cheques for US$18.17 ($19.05) to victims of the massive 2005 ChoicePoint data breach. ...read full article

Possible Security Breach Endangers Four A's Data

The HIV status of thousands of Alaskans could be in the hands of a thief.

...read full article

Security breached as former prostitute pilfers Einfeld police transcript

It took a former prostitute just a few days to pilfer sensitive computer files and find what she wanted: the nine-page police interview of the disgraced former judge Marcus Einfeld. ...read full article

Judge's laptop stolen from court

An Additional Sessions Judge became the victim of a theft when an unidentified crook escaped with his laptop from his cabin inside the Saket Court premises. The incident has raised security concerns as the perpetrator managed to escape from the judge's cabin even though CCTV cameras are installed in the vicinity. ...read full article

Thousands Of Personal Documents Dumped On O'Fallon Lawn

Thousands of abandoned documents, full of people's personal information, were in an O'Fallon, Missouri, driveway Tuesday, along with a mess that included a recliner, an old bedroom set, TV, and dinner table. ...read full article

Court Halts Deceptive Envelope-Stuffing Operation

Consumers Misled to Believe They Could Earn Substantial Income, FTC Alleges

At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a U.S. district court has temporarily halted an envelope-stuffing operation that allegedly scammed cash-strapped consumers by falsely promising they could make substantial income working from home. ...read full article

Victims of ChoicePoint Data Breach to Receive Redress Checks

An administrator working for the Federal Trade Commission is mailing checks to 14,023 consumers who were victims of ChoicePoint’s alleged failure to implement a comprehensive information security program to protect consumers’ personal information, as required by a previous court order. As a result, in the spring of 2008, an unauthorized person accessed its database and conducted unauthorized searches. ...read full article

September 22, 2010

---

Man Facing 27 Charges for Allegedly Spying on ATM to Steal ID's

MOUNT PLEASANT, Wis. (WTAQ) - A Racine County man is accused of spying on ATM customers with binoculars, and then using ID numbers to grab money from their bank accounts. ...read full article

Over 23,000 patients notified in three breaches reported to HHS

The Kent Center in Rhode Island reported that paper records of 1,361 patients were stolen in July. ...read full article

Australian 17-year-old takes blame for Twitter chaos

A 17-year-old Australian schoolboy said on Wednesday he unwittingly caused a massive hacker attack on Twitter which sent users to Japanese porn sites and took out the White House press secretary's feed. ...read full article

Junior doctor loses patient records on train

Yet another NHS Trust has been found wanting with its data protection policies after an unencrypted USB device containing sensitive patient records was lost on a train by a junior doctor. ...read full article

FTC and International Privacy Enforcement Authorities Launch Global Privacy Cooperation Network and Website

The Federal Trade Commission and privacy enforcement authorities from 11 countries around the world recently launched the Global Privacy Enforcement Network (GPEN), a new network that promotes information sharing and international assistance in enforcement of privacy laws. ...read full article

4chan invades Tea Party website

A website run by the conservative Tea Party movement was overrun by the denizens of 4chan on Tuesday. ...read full article

Hackers Find New Ways To Assume Identities

Brent Sweitzer was stuck in London, robbed of his money, phone and passport, his friends were informed in e-mails. The Atlanta man urgently needed their financial assistance, they were told. ...read full article

Identity fraud costs billions a year, conference told

Fraud experts say one in five Australians have fallen victim to identity theft and it is costing Australia around $3 billion a year. ...read full article

Orlando-area business uncovers global identity-theft scheme

Steven Miguel was puzzled when people across the country started calling his Winter Garden company about the help-wanted ads on the business' website. Miguel wasn't hiring, and the site had no such ads. ...read full article

September 21, 2010

---

Belarusian extradited to US for one-stop ID theft site

US prosecutors have extradited a Belarusian national accused of running a website that helped thousands of criminals exploit stolen financial information. ...read full article

Students targeted by internet fraudsters

The Student Loans Company warned of a rise in the number of scams aimed at university students as hundreds of thousands of undergraduates prepared to start the new academic year. ...read full article

Man Sentenced In $1.3 Million Bank Fraud Scam

One man was sentenced to prison Wednesday for participating in a scheme with three others that defrauded banks of more than $1.3 million, according to the U.S. Justice Department. ...read full article

Indictment Alleges HIPAA Violations

A Pennsylvania man has been indicted for alleged HIPAA privacy violations stemming from accessing patient information that was then used to file false tax returns. ...read full article

Officials: 13,800 credit cards ‘skimmed’ in alleged scheme

Federal charges have been filed against a Las Vegas man in connection with the production and use of counterfeit credit and debit cards that allegedly were encoded with information skimmed from gas pumps in Las Vegas and elsewhere. ...read full article

Suspended Bangalore techie allegedly stole company data

Bangalore: A techie in Bangalore, who was suspended for poor performance last month, has gone missing after allegedly stealing the company's confidential data worth crores. ...read full article

Hacker attacks Florida Family Policy Council website

ORLANDO (FBW)-Florida Family Policy Council, an organization associated with Focus on the Family, is the apparent victim of an attack by a radical Muslim, according to the organization’s president, attorney John Stemberger. He said the organization’s website was hacked Sept. 10 and rendered useless. ...read full article

Grocery chain responds to debit thefts

Discount grocery chain Aldi Inc. reports that it is taking steps to improve security after dozens of customers in the Buffalo Grove area had their debit cards used elsewhere for unauthorized purchases. ...read full article

Medical records breached at MLK Ambulatory Care Center

County health officials said Friday that medical records of patients at Martin Luther King Jr. Multi-Service Ambulatory Care Center were breached this summer. ...read full article

Data breaches remain high

The number of reported data breaches have skyrocketed since numerous states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, adopted new data breach notification laws in 2005 and 2006. ...read full article

23% of university students have hacked into an IT system

Nearly a quarter (23 percent) of university students have successfully hacked into IT systems, says Tufin Technologies. ...read full article

Authorities investigate elaborate counterfeit, ID theft ring

Authorities are investigating an elaborate counterfeiting operation involving stolen mail from throughout Marin County, credit card numbers of more than 200 people, counterfeit cash, fake checks, printers and laptop computers. ...read full article

Thieves jam key-fob lock signals in mystery car thefts

Surrey police are exploring the theory that a gang of car thieves are jamming central locking systems to make it easier to steal goods from cars. ...read full article

Man allegedly bilked clients of $600,000 with securities fraud

A Fort Wayne, Ind., man is facing seven counts of securities fraud and one count of corrupt business influences for allegedly selling fraudulent, unregistered securities. ...read full article

New Jersey investment advisor charged in $100 million Ponzi scheme

A New Jersey investment advisor paid for gambling and trips all over the world with the nearly $11 million she allegedly obtained fraudulently from 100 investors, according to federal authorities. ...read full article

September 20, 2010

---

Interpol chief admits Facebook ID theft

Interpol chief Ronald Noble has admitted that criminals have stolen his identity by setting up two Facebook accounts in his name. ...read full article

Orlando-area business uncovers global identity-theft scheme

Steven Miguel was puzzled when people across the country started calling his Winter Garden company about the help-wanted ads on the business' website. Miguel wasn't hiring, and the site had no such ads. ...read full article

IRS Urged To Do More To Protect Taxpayers' Data

According to an audit report released by the United States Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has made some progress in the protection of social security numbers (SSNs) but has not chosen a date by which to eliminate or reduce their use on outgoing correspondence. ...read full article

Google confirms dismissal of engineer for breaching privacy rules

Google has confirmed that it has dismissed a systems engineer after he accessed private details from the Gmail, Google Voice and IM accounts of four teenagers. ...read full article

eNom pressured into acting against bogus online pharmacies

eNom, the world's second-largest seller of website addresses, is to begin screening applicants to block bogus online pharmacies. ...read full article

Intel investigates how anti-piracy HDCP protocol was exposed

Intel is investigating how a master key for its High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) anti-piracy protocol was published online. ...read full article

ZoneAlarm slammed for scarewarey marketing

ZoneAlarm has run into criticism from its customers for using scary pop-up warnings as a marketing tactic designed to persuade users to purchase the paid-for version of its personal firewall. ...read full article

September 17, 2010

---

Indianola board president arrested for identity theft

INDIANOLA – The Vermilion County sheriff's department arrested William D. "Donnie" Turner, president of the Indianola Village Board, on a preliminary charge of identity theft on Sept. 8. ...read full article

ID theft, false credit, loan scams alleged in fraud ring bust

A Palisades Park-based bank-fraud ring that catered to Korean clients made millions of dollars through a variety of sophisticated bank, credit card and government fraud schemes by exploiting loopholes in the security surrounding identification documents, authorities say. ...read full article

Tredyffrin man fleeced in international scam; woman charged

TREDYFFRIN — When police contacted Maryland resident Sheila Otela Myers about the alleged scam she pulled on an 81-year-old man, she placed the blame on Tom Hanks. ...read full article

Elmira man facing charges of idenity theft, forgery

TOWANDA — A 21-year old Elmira man is accused stealing and using bank checks of grandparents of a former girlfriend, Pennsylvania State Police in Towanda reported. ...read full article

AG Six Warns Storm-Affected Kansans Of Fraudulent Contractors

Attorney General Steve Six today warned Kansans to be wary as they begin the clean-up and rebuilding process following the recent severe weather that damaged South Central Kansas communities. In the coming days, the Attorney General’s office expects an unwelcome increase in the number of transient roofers and contractors attempting to scam Kansans by taking money out of their wallets and out of their insurance claims. ...read full article

Puerto Rico issuing new birth IDs to avert fraud

SAN JUAN (Reuters) - Puerto Rican officials are working to issue millions of new birth certificates after a rash of fraud and identity theft cases, some involving stolen documents from school children later sold to illegal immigrants in the United States. ...read full article

Authorities say bank-fraud, identity-theft network was 'sophisticated operation'

The alleged criminal web stretched from storefronts in Bergen County to islands in the South Pacific, trading in stolen identities, ill-gotten credit cards and aged whiskey. ...read full article

US asks EU to up cyber security

The US has urged the EU to make cyber security a larger priority as Washington begins to up the ante on its own defences. ...read full article

Manitowoc woman convicted of identity theft

MANITOWOC — A 36-year-old woman facing 12 identity theft-related charges was convicted Thursday of four felonies during a plea hearing in Manitowoc County Circuit Court. ...read full article

September 15, 2010

---

Former Delco chiropractor charged with theft

The Delaware County District Attorney announces the surrender of Hania T. McCracken nee: Danko, age 30, who has no known address. ...read full article

What every taxpayer should know about identity theft

Taxpayers need to be careful to protect their personal information. Identity thieves use many methods to steal personal information and then they use the information to file a tax return and get a refund. ...read full article

Feds have charged 1,360 with hurricane fraud

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Justice Department says more than 1,300 people have been charged in federal fraud cases related to the 2005 hurricanes in the five years since the storms struck the Gulf Coast. ...read full article

Identity Theft Victim Becomes His Own Investigator

CEDAR RAPIDS – An identity theft victim takes police detective work into his own hands. Now Cedar Rapids Police need your help to find two people who stole much more property. ...read full article

Siemens: Stuxnet worm hit industrial systems

IDG News Service - A sophisticated worm designed to steal industrial secrets and disrupt operations has infected at least 14 plants, according to Siemens. ...read full article

Act MP admits obtaining false passport

Act MP David Garrett today admitted in Parliament that 26 years ago he obtained a false passport using the birth certificate of a dead child. ...read full article

'Insurance' Called $85 Million RICO Scheme

MANHATTAN (CN) - Two business groups claim a "nationwide criminal enterprise" bilked them of $85 million by selling "nonexistent" health insurance. The federal RICO complaint claims that defendants William M. Worthy II, David L. Clark, and their Real Benefits Association have been in cahoots and defrauding customers for years. ...read full article

Disbarred Attorney Gets Nearly 11 Years for Role in Ponzi Scheme

A judge has sentenced a disbarred attorney to nearly 11 years in prison for money laundering conspiracy in the $3.7 billion Ponzi scheme allegedly run by Minnesota businessman Tom Petters. ...read full article

Elaborate e-mail fraud case goes to trial

Son of scholar accused of defaming father's rival through detailed Internet impersonation

The dispute was about ancient history. But the tactics someone used to cast aspersions on a prominent Judaic studies scholar couldn't have been more modern. ...read full article

September 14, 2010

---

ID thief hits state coffers for $200,000

A mobile blood-testing company is believed to be the source of 500,000 California identities used to create fake drivers licenses and checks, investigators said. ...read full article

Global botnet offering DDoS services

Damballa discovered a botnet that offers pay-for-delivery DDoS attacks. The IMDDOS botnet, named after the commercial name on the botnet website, has grown to be one of the largest active global botnets in less than four months from initial testing. ...read full article

IRS e-mail snoop's wiretap conviction upheld

Here's a cautionary tale for anyone tempted to engage in intra-office espionage. ...read full article

Man sought on identity theft charges

Rocky Mount police are asking the public for help finding a man wanted for identity theft and financial card fraud. ...read full article

The stolen packages kept coming and coming

It started out as a routine case of credit card fraud. ...read full article

Mail fraud case sees 1st guilty plea

A San Antonio woman pleaded guilty Monday to charges that she helped a former employee of a company that processes child-support payments divert thousands of dollars from the intended recipients. ...read full article

September 13, 2010

---

MV Sun Sea migrants’ information stolen from Tamil group’s office

Canada’s most prominent Tamil organization is concerned about the safety of some families in Sri Lanka after sensitive information about their boat-migrant relatives was stolen from the group’s Toronto offices. ...read full article

Cybercrims target SMB bank accounts

Cybercriminals have ramped up attacks on the bank accounts of small to medium businesses (SMBs), and tailor-made trojans are the weapon of choice, according to a report by Trustwave's SpiderLabs. ...read full article

UK firms bombarding customers with spam

Businesses in the UK are contributing to the deluge of junk email clogging up inboxes, according to research by Spam Ratings. ...read full article

Employee charged with hacking computer with porn

It happened one day last year, as more than a dozen board members of a Baltimore substance abuse center had gathered around a conference room. The CEO was giving a PowerPoint presentation on his accomplishments. ...read full article

Westchester Police Arrest Bronx Man for Credit Card Fraud

Westchester County Police along with the U.S. Secret Service have arrested a Bronx man and charged him with stealing credit card information and then using it to buy more than $100,000 worth of consumer electronics. ...read full article

Mom's suit dumps on HS

A Manhattan mom and her daughter are suing the city and the Department of Education after an East 25th Street high school dumped hundreds of confidential student records onto the street last year. ...read full article

Corona-Norco Unified pulls private personnel files off website

The names, social security numbers and teaching certifications of 83 Corona-Norco Unified School District teachers were inadvertently posted on the district’s website, a news release from a national privacy organization said. ...read full article

Email containing employee Social Security numbers inadvertently sent to 144 ASU addresses

During the regular course of business on August 26, 2010, a report containing the social security numbers of employees authorized to operate State of Arkansas vehicles was inadvertently sent via email to 144 ASU email addresses. ...read full article

Wikileaks will soon post biggest military leak ever

Wikileaks is just weeks away from posting a huge cache of classified documents related to the US war in Iraq in what one journalist says will be history's biggest military leak. ...read full article

McAfee warns of new porny worm

The old "social engineering" methods used by hackers to get people to download toxic payloads are still the most effective. ...read full article

Anti-US hacker takes credit for 'Here you have' worm

A hacker who claims he was behind a fast-spreading e-mail worm that crippled corporate networks last week said that the worm was designed, in part, as a propaganda tool. ...read full article

September 10, 2010

---

Hotel operator warns of data breach

Attacks on point of sale systems at several upscale hotel and resort properties may have exposed card data on 3,400 customers ...read full article

Facebook, Twitter imposters may be outlaws in Calif.

Computerworld - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature on a bill passed by state legislators last month would make it illegal to impersonate someone on Facebook or Twitter there. ...read full article

“Here you Have” mass e-mail worm hits in-boxes

A new mass-mailing worm with the subject line "Here you Have" and "Just For you" is hitting thousands of in-boxes around the world. ...read full article

Vet sentenced for wearing unearned medals

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — An Army veteran accused of wearing military medals he didn't earn has been sentenced to two years in prison for misrepresenting himself in order to get an Army contract and fraud. ...read full article

Do Identity-Theft Protection Services Work?

Identity-theft protection services are a hot topic in security circles. Do these services work? Should you use them? Here's what should you know about them before you decide to sign up. ...read full article

Koran-burning 'pastor' loses website

Red-nosed pastor Terry Jones, who plans to burn copies of the Koran and Jewish text the Talmud at the weekend, has either had his website hacked or his ISP has pulled the plug. ...read full article

Hospital Fined $250,000 For Not Reporting Data Breach

Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University has been fined $250,000 by California health officials for failing to report a patient records breach as of April 23, apparently linked to the theft of a hospital computer. ...read full article

Rogue employees sell passport data of World Cup fans

Reports are coming in that the Information Commissioner's Office has started investigating FIFA, the world football governing body, over allegations that details of thousands of World Cup fans' - including their passport data - were accessed by one or more members of staff and then sold on the black market. ...read full article

September 9, 2010

---

Gov. Schwarzenegger to sign 'Chelsea's Law' on Thursday

The parents of a California teen who was raped and murdered by a sex offender this year will join Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday as he signs into law a bill that increases penalties for certain sex offenses. ...read full article

New Zealand business owners dealing with data loss after earthquake

Companies and other agencies in Christchurch, New Zealand have been forced to deal with data loss as a result of the massive earthquake that struck the region last week. The earthquake, which was measured at higher than a 7 on the Richter scale caused damage to countless buildings, but the resulting data loss may also put some of them out of business permanently. ...read full article

Council sorry for data protection gaffe

EAST Lothian Council has apologised over a “serious” staff error which saw the personal details and previous convictions of taxi licence applicants published on the local authority’s website for two hours. ...read full article

Va. court: Police can use GPS to track suspect, 1st Ld-Writethru, VA t

RICHMOND, Va. (AP)The same GPS technology that motorists use to get directions can be used by police without a warrant to track the movements of criminal suspects on public streets, the Virginia Court of Appeals said Tuesday. ...read full article

Google Instant a potential bonanza for search scams

Security watchers are concerned that scareware scammers may quickly adapt to the introduction of real-time search technology from Google to develop even more potent search engine poisoning attacks. ...read full article

1 in 4 Internet users gives fake name online

A survey has found that people are nearly as likely to be web criminals as to be victims of them, with a large amount of dishonesty coming from the respondents themselves. ...read full article

Hackers exploit new PDF zero-day bug, warns Adobe

Adobe today warned users that attacks have begun exploiting an unpatched bug in its popular Reader and Acrobat PDF viewing and creation software. ...read full article

September 8, 2010

---

3rd Circuit: Probable Cause May Be Needed for Cell Phone Location Data

In the first appellate ruling on a cutting-edge privacy issue, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has declared that cell phone location data may trigger Fourth Amendment concerns and that prosecutors demanding access to such records may be required at times to satisfy a probable cause standard. ...read full article

Microsoft warns of new browser-specific scareware

Microsoft is warning of a new type of scareware that uses bogus virus scans to scare people into buying fake anti-virus software. ...read full article

Gmail spam bug traced to routing system update

IDG News Service - A bug introduced during a routing system update caused Gmail to turn some users into unintentional spammers by resending some messages multiple times to increasingly annoyed recipients including company bosses, clients, prospective employers and friends. ...read full article

Spammers exploit second Facebook bug in a week

Facebook says it fixed flaw that let app-based worm automatically post scam messages

Computerworld - Facebook today said it has fixed the bug that allowed a spamming worm to automatically post messages to users' walls earlier this week. ...read full article

SAS A2010 conference: Data explosion teases information away from analysts

Data analytics used to be a job for data miners, statisticians and forecasters who made information accessible to all business users. Now data analytics specialist SAS's strategy aims to bring analytics to the masses. ...read full article

Microsoft investigates public report of IE8 zero-day vulnerability

Microsoft is investigating a public report of a data-stealing vulnerability in its Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) web browser. ...read full article

Five arrested in St. Louis for nationwide identity theft ring

(KMOV) – Five people have been arrested in St. Louis for a nationwide identity theft ring. Police say the gang depended on car break-ins to get drivers licenses, checkbooks and credit cards. The ring started in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but the five thieves ended up ripping people off in Clayton, Maryland Heights and Webster Groves. ...read full article

Bogus Debt Collectors Impersonating Bank Regulators

They've impersonated lawyers, police officers, private investigators and agents for a number of different payday lenders. Now these scammers try to convince their victims they work for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). ...read full article

Identity thieves get bolder, go high tech

Identity theft is a serious crime and a trend that is growing daily. In a busy day, you might write a check for groceries, rent a car with your credit card, use your debit card to buy gas and buy tickets online for an upcoming baseball game. You probably don’t think twice about any of those transactions. But an identity thief does. ...read full article

The Silent Epidemic: Cybercrime Strikes More Than Two-Thirds of Internet Users

New Norton Study of 7,000 Web Users Is First to Gauge Emotional Impact of Cybercrime; Victims Feel Ripped Off

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Sept. 8 -- /PRNewswire/ -- The next time you surf the Internet, consider this: You might be just one click away from becoming the next cybercrime victim. A new study released today from security software maker Norton reveals the staggering prevalence of cybercrime: Two-thirds (65 percent) of Internet users globally, and almost three-quarters (73 percent) of U.S. Web surfers have fallen victim to cybercrimes, including computer viruses, online credit card fraud and identity theft. As the most victimized nations, America ranks third, after China (83 percent) and Brazil and India (tie 76 percent). ...read full article

Data leak exposes pensioners’ personal information

Dover, Del. —Last week some 22,000 retired Delaware governmental employees opened innocuous looking letters informing them, in boldface type, that their Social Security numbers were posted on the Internet for four days, viewable to anyone in the world including those who would use the information to commit fraud. ...read full article

UK hacker fined for personnel database mischief

A court has ordered a UK hacker to pay compensation after he used a purloined laptop to hack into his ex-employer's personnel database. ...read full article

Airport ‘Naked Image’ Scanners in U.S. May Get Privacy Upgrades

Holli Powell, a Phoenix medical- software consultant who flies every week, says she avoids getting into airport security lines that end at what she calls a humiliating full-body scanner. ...read full article

E-mail remains the top source of data loss, survey finds

The potential threat to organizations’ data via employees’ use of social media is on the rise, but the most common vehicle for data loss is still old-fashioned e-mail. Proofpoint, an e-mail security and data loss prevention company, recently released its seventh annual security survey, conducted by Osterman Reasearch during June and July. The results were gathered from 261 responses from companies with 1,000 or more employees. ...read full article

As smart grid approaches, security concerns follow

A final set of guidelines for a smart-grid security architecture has been released by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, outlining how security requirements will be incorporated into the design of the nation’s next-generation power distribution system. ...read full article

Mozilla fixes Firefox's DLL load hijacking bug

Mozilla on Tuesday patched 15 vulnerabilities in Firefox, 11 of them labeled critical. ...read full article

Symantec: Most hacking victims blame themselves

Just under two-thirds of all Internet users have been hit by some sort of cybercrime, and while most of them are angry about it, a surprisingly large percentage feel guilt too, according to a survey commissioned by Symantec. ...read full article

Estate agents risk legal action for not following data rules, warns ICO

Some UK letting and estate agents are failing to notify the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) that they are handling people's personal information. ...read full article

SEC Busts Hedge Fund Manager

(CN) - The SEC charged Colorado investment adviser with defrauding his elderly clients by pushing his own companies' risky, ill-funded hedge funds, and taking millions of dollars in fees along the way. Neal Greenberg, 54, of Boulder, pushed his Agile hedge funds in the fraud, the SEC says. ...read full article

September 7, 2010

---

Can a Relative or Roommate Spy on Me?

A lot of that depends on if you're using your own computer or the roommate's. Using their PC inevitably involves compromises. For instance, they'd have every right to object if you try to install software. ...read full article

Computer stolen with students' information

NEW YORK (WABC) -- This school year is getting off to a bit of a rough start for thousands of CUNY students. ...read full article

Bungling West Midlands medics lose 12,000 private patient records

BUNGLING Midland medics have lost the personal records of nearly 12,000 NHS patients in just eight months, the Sunday Mercury can reveal. ...read full article

Hostile nations trying to steal India's defence secrets

NEW DELHI: Even as Chinese and Pakistani online espionage agents continue their attempts to hack into Indian computer systems, hostile intelligence agencies are also trying to steal defence secrets through use of computer storage media (CSM) devices like pen drives, removable hard disks, CDs, VCDs and the like. ...read full article

Kirstie Allsopp's Twitter account hacked by iPad spammers

Plummy-voiced property crumpet Kirstie Allsopp has fallen foul of hackers on Twitter, who posted messages pointing to free iPad scams this weekend from her account. ...read full article

Exposed student data leaves prying eyes wide open

An online MCTC directory left sensitive student data and internal documents accessible to the prying eyes of anyone with an Internet connection since at least the summer of 2006, according to an investigation by City College News. ...read full article

First persons charged under Cyber Crimes Act

TWO men have became the first persons in Jamaica to be arrested and charged under the Cyber Crimes Act. ...read full article

Eastern Michigan University investigating computer security breach, employee banking information may be compromised

An Eastern Michigan University computer server was hacked into late Friday, potentially exposing employees' direct deposit banking information, some university passwords and personal identification numbers, according to an e-mail sent to the EMU community tonight. ...read full article

Spammers exploit another Facebook flaw

Spammers have taken advantage of a vulnerability in Facebook to spread auto-replicating links, a trick that makes it possible to spread crud without using social engineering. ...read full article

TechCrunch purges Zeus malware attack

TechCrunch Europe has cleaned up its website following the discovery of malicious code that left visiting surfers exposed to infection by a variant of the infamous Zeus banking Trojan. ...read full article

Browser security warning lookalike pushes malware

Scareware peddlers have developed a new ruse that relies on mimicking browser warning pages. ...read full article

Former Paint Manufacturing Chemist Pleads Guilty to Stealing Trade Secrets Valued up to $20 Million

A former chemist for a northwest suburban paint manufacturing company pleaded guilty today to theft of trade secrets, admitting that he stole numerous formulas and other proprietary information valued up to $20 million as he prepared to go to work for an overseas competitor. ...read full article

Web Impostors May Face Prison in California

California Web impostors beware: You may soon be breaking the law, even if you aren't one of the perpetrators targeted by the state's "e-personation" bill. ...read full article

Fifa in spotlight over passport identity theft claims

An investigation is under way into allegations that the passport details of thousands of football fans were sold on the black market by an official linked to Fifa. ...read full article

Advice: Leave Cards With ID At Home

(NewsCore) - Maybe you’re old enough to remember actor Karl Malden’s faux-cop warning -- “don’t leave home without” your American Express Card, the Times Herald-Record suggested Saturday. ...read full article

Microsoft investigates two-year-old IE bug

Microsoft last Friday said it was looking into a long-known vulnerability in Internet Explorer (IE) that could be used to access users' data and Web-based accounts. ...read full article

September 6, 2010

---

US Department of Defense plans insider threat detection system

A US Department of Defense (DoD) agency is to develop a system that can identify and stop insiders from stealing information from its networks. ...read full article

Facebook becomes second most targeted phishing site

Facebook has pushed eBay off its second place position in the list of organisations most often attacked by phishers, according to security firm Kaspersky Lab. ...read full article

Nigerian advance-fee scammer gets 12 years

IDG News Service - A Nigerian man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for sending out fraudulent e-mails offering victims big bucks in exchange for moving cash to the United States. ...read full article

Lawyer Accused of Impersonating Client's Dead Wife

In what could be a first, an Arizona attorney may face disciplinary action after an investigation found that she told a client she was channeling his dead wife, then lied about it during an unrelated disciplinary proceeding. ...read full article

Facebook glitch let spammer post to walls

IDG News Service - A clever spammer found a glitch in Facebook's photo upload system and used it to post thousands of unwanted Wall messages this week. ...read full article

Investigators find famous DJ's credit card details for sale

IDG News Service - Armin Van Buuren is one of the world's most well-known trance music DJs. He also apparently has had his credit card details stolen. ...read full article

US NIST publishes guide to smart grid cybersecurity

The US has released a 537-page guide on how to protect the country's electrical power grid from cyber attack. ...read full article

Car computers potentially vulnerable to wireless attack, US reseach shows

Modern cars could be vulnerable to wireless hacking, research by the University of California San Diego and the University of Washington has revealed. ...read full article

FAKE FUNERALS, EMPTY CASKETS

It’s a morbid tale involving phony death certificates, staged funerals with paid actors, and coffins buried with no bodies, but in the end, it’s just a financial fraud scheme like thousands of others we investigate every year. ...read full article

September 3, 2010

---

Cape recruiter faces possible reprimand for throwing away sensitive info

The U.S. Air Force is investigating the circumstances surrounding a Cape Girardeau recruiter who allegedly discarded sensitive documents belonging to potential recruits, such as birth certificates, Social Security cards and high school diplomas. ...read full article

American university sees $1 million stolen after banking malware intercepts controller's credentials

Attackers have managed to steal around $1 million from The University of Virginia. ...read full article

Rescue of Chilean miners used as new lure by banker Trojan, reports PandaLabs

PandaLabs, Panda Security’s anti-malware laboratory, has uncovered a new malicious code, Banbra.GUC, which lures users with a video about the rescue of the trapped Chilean miners. This is a new variant of the infamous Banbra family of banker Trojans, which first emerged in 2003. ...read full article

News of the World faces fresh phone hacking charge

The government tonight came under pressure to set up a judicial inquiry into the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World after the paper confirmed that it has suspended a journalist while it investigates new allegations of the unlawful interception of voicemail. ...read full article

Australian wanted in US over web scam

An Australian man accused of pulling off an elaborate internet scam involving $US25,000 ($27,500), a convertible Mercedes-Benz sports car and a fake Google website is being hunted by US authorities. ...read full article

KCI working to contain employee data breach

San Antonio-based Kinetic Concepts Inc. was offering credit monitoring and other identity-theft prevention services to its U.S. employees Thursday after an inadvertent e-mail containing an attachment listing employees' vital information was sent internally Wednesday, a KCI spokesman said Thursday. ...read full article

Confiscated blacklist leaked back into market

The files, which contain details of the trade union activity of 3,213 construction workers, were taken out of circulation in March 2009 when the ICO seized them from the Consulting Association. ...read full article

Faculty, staff ID threatened

At 8:55 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 26 an e-mail containing the Social Security number, driver’s license number, and first and last name of 2,484 full and part-time ASU employees was sent to 144 ASU e-mail addresses. ...read full article

Putnam County Woman Sentenced for Identity Theft

Tina Holsopple, 44, of Culloden, West Virginia, was sentenced to 14 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $146,494.91 for identity theft. ...read full article

United States Attorney Charges Nine Former Cell Phone Company Employees with Stealing Customer Information in $15 Million Cell Phone Cloning Scheme

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York issued the following news release: PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and BRIAN PARR, the Special Agentin-Charge of the New York Field Office of the United States Secret Service ("USSS"), announced today the unsealing of a Complaint charging nine defendants - all former employees of a national cell phone service provider - with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft for their alleged roles in a $15 million cell phone cloning scheme. ...read full article

Card security breached in Qtown

A spate of credit card scams has hit Queenstown. The biggest scam was centred at the Man St parking building, but it was not the only scam to breach cardholder security in the resort this week. ...read full article

Symantec Snoop Dogg rap contest site rickrolled

Symantec's attempts to link up with Snoop Dogg to launch a cybercrime rap contest have descended into farce after it emerged that vulnerabilities with a dedicated site can be easily rickrolled. ...read full article

Spammers latch onto Ping to pump iPhone survey scams

Spammers have been quick off the mark in exploiting Apple's new iTunes social network to punt survey scams. ...read full article

Miami Man Pleads Guilty to Purchasing, Selling and Using Stolen Credit Card Information

U.S. Secret Service Agents Found More than 26,000 Credit Card Numbers Stored on Defendant’s Computer ...read full article

Stolen Burnaby hospital laptop contained patients’ private information

The private information of several patients may have been breached after the theft of a laptop computer from a hospital in Burnaby, B.C. ...read full article

Laptop theft results in data breach for P.K. Yonge employees, students

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The personal information of more than 8,300 current and former students and employees of P.K. Yonge Development Research School was on a laptop computer stolen last month. ...read full article

Scammers and spammers attack Apple’s new Ping social network

Scammers and spammers are flooding Apple's newly-launched Ping music-related social network with fraudulent messages, says security firm Sophos. ...read full article

Women did well on Defcon social engineering test

IDG News Service - Of the 135 people Fortune 500 employees targeted by social engineering hackers in a recent contest only five of them refused to give up any corporate information whatsoever. And guess what? All five were women. ...read full article

Facebook stalker continues to harass 12-year-old girl

Hot on the heels of a woman who's suing Facebook after the world's largest social network bounced her account (for reasons that remain unclear), comes a story from Australia about a mother who can't get Facebook to shut down a stalker using the site to harass her 12-year-old daughter and her friends. ...read full article

September 2, 2010

---

AON leaks 22,000 ID records

The human capital consulting arm of global risk management company AON Corporation has admitted to accidentally leaking identity details of 22,000 former employees of the US State of Delaware. ...read full article

White hat hackers damage huge Pushdo spam botnet

A botnet responsible for a significant amount of spam has been crippled but may reconstitute itself in a matter of weeks, according to vendor M86 Security. The Pushdo or Cutwail network of hacked computers ranked in the top five or so botnets for spam, responsible for as much as 10 percent of all spam, said Ed Rowley, product manager for M86 Security. ...read full article

Scam member to be deported

U.S. District Court in Charleston Tuesday handed down a three-year prison sentence to Angella Muthoni Chegge-Kraszeski, 34, of Raleigh, NC. Having already served time behind bars Chegge-Kraszeski will spend the next 20 months in the federal prison after which she will be deported back to Kenya. ...read full article

Taoist temple blog falls victim to hacker

GEORGE TOWN: The blog of a 120-year-old Taoist temple here has become a victim of a cyber attack by a person claiming to be an Indonesian hacker. ...read full article

Facebook coming under increasing attack from phishers

Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content management solutions, announces the publication of its monthly report on spam activity for July 2010, as well as the top malicious malware detected in August 2010. ...read full article

UK consumers face 1 in 63 chance of attack online

A new survey by antivirus vendor AVG has found that the chances of a UK internet user having the security of their computers compromised by malware or other hacking techniques are one in 64, which is significantly higher than the global average. ...read full article

Spying and sabotage: Rivalry between Nazareth's Arabic media heats up

Israel police investigators on Wednesday brought the general manager of the newspaper Kul Al Arab in for questioning on suspicion that his paper spied on rival newspaper A-Sonara and sabotaged its computers and its website. ...read full article

Global spam hits all-time high

Spam hit an all-time high this year, with more unwanted messages pouring in from a smorgasbord of countries, thanks in part to globalization. Such are the findings of a recent and comprehensive report on all things security-related from IBM X-Force. ...read full article

ATM cloning FIR: Bank says 11 lost money

CHANDIGARH: UT cops registered an FIR against unidentified persons at Sector-17 police station for forgery and cheating in connection with money being withdrawn from accounts of State Bank of India (SBI) customers through cloning of automated teller machine (ATM) cards. ...read full article

Metro restaurant workers indicted in credit card scam

Three Twin Cities restaurant workers and four alleged accomplices are facing federal bank fraud charges of capturing the credit card information of local diners and using it to make at least $150,000 in purchases for themselves. ...read full article

Union pension mailer reveals recepient's Social Security numbers

A local union pension fund sent mailers that included Social Security numbers of the recipients printed on the outside of the envelopes, according to members of the Carpenters District Council of Greater St. Louis and Vicinity who received the letter. ...read full article

Implementation of Red Flags Rule delayed until appeals court rules on lawsuit

Implementation of the Red Flags Rule by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which would require doctors and other businesses to take specific steps to minimize identity theft, has been delayed until a federal appeals court rules on a lawsuit by the American Bar Association (ABA). ...read full article

Two indicted in N.J. for alleged role in insurance fraud scheme

Two Hudson County, N.J., men were indicted for their alleged role in an insurance fraud and identity theft scheme. ...read full article

Pa. agent can’t duck 114 false insurance claims filed with AFLAC

An insurance agent from Secane, Pa., had his insurance license revoked after state regulators determined he submitting 114 false insurance applications. ...read full article

Iowa City Woman Convicted of Accessing President’s Student Loan Records

Davenport, IA - On August 25, 2010, a federal jury found Sandra Teague, a.k.a., SandraTeague-Garvis, 54, of Iowa City, IA, guilty of exceeding authorized computer access, announced United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt. ...read full article

Cyber-jihadists deface home of teddy bears' picnic

Geographically mixed-up Algerian hackers made themselves look rather silly by defacing the website of an English stately home instead of Belvoir Fortress in Israel, their intended target. ...read full article

Feds crack phone clone scam that cost Sprint $15m

Federal prosecutors have uncovered a scam that used tens of thousands of cloned cellphones to defraud Sprint out of $15m in lost long distance revenue. ...read full article

Russian cops cuff 10 ransomware Trojan suspects

Russian police have arrested 10 suspected members of a ransomware gang who allegedly made millions via a locked computer malware scam. ...read full article

Miami man pleads guilty in ID theft case

A Miami man has pleaded guilty to two identity-theft related charges after federal agents found more than 26,000 credit card numbers stored on his computer, the U.S. Department of Justice said. ...read full article

Seattle tech star indicted; years-long fraud alleged

Five months after arresting the high-tech millionaire, federal prosecutors have filed a five-count indictment against former-startup star Mark Phillips, alleging he tried to bluff his way into $11 million of company money. ...read full article

Botnet takedown may yield valuable data

Researchers are hoping to get a better insight on botnets after taking down part of Pushdo, one of the top five networks of hacked computers responsible for most of the world's spam. ...read full article

DARPA launches insider threat detection effort for military

The Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched a project for detecting and responding to insider threats on Department of Defense networks. ...read full article

September 1, 2010

---

Shark Bite Victim Says Hospital Intruded

HONOLULU (CN) - A shark-bite victim claims a Honolulu hospital violated his privacy by photographing and posting on the Internet a picture of his "gaping leg wound," without his consent, "while he was completely helpless, undraped, and in a life-threatening and traumatic shock condition." Todd Murashige claims The Queen's Medical Center violated HIPAA protections and caused him "severe emotional shock and mental anguish." ...read full article

Lawrence County deputies say woman used children's identity for credit

LAWRENCE COUNTY, AL (WAFF) - On Monday, August 30, Lawrence County Sheriff's Investigators, along with the Alabama Bureau of Investigations, arrested Kayla Miranda Latham on four counts of Identity Theft. ...read full article

State retiree data breached

DOVER -- In a data breach that one security expert said could be worth millions of dollars to scam artists, Aon Consulting, the state's benefits consultant, inadvertently posted personal information of about 22,000 state retirees on the Web, potentially exposing them to identity theft for the rest of their lives. ...read full article

Judge Rejects Gov't Request For Cell Tower Data, Noting Recent 4th Amendment Rulings

We recently wrote about a somewhat surprising ruling by the appeals court in the DC circuit saying that long-term use of a GPS to track someone without a warrant violated the 4th Amendment. What was surprising about this is that, while state courts had ruled similarly, the federal courts had almost universally ruled that such tracking was legal. While that case will almost certainly be appealed and seems to have a decent likelihood of ending up before the Supreme Court, it's apparently already impacting some rulings elsewhere. ...read full article

Police Bust Hacker Gang Who Made $30 Million in One Month

Russian police have detained ten people who managed to get one billion roubles, approximately $30 million, through a clever scheme involving a computer virus, blackmail and SMS billing. ...read full article

Facebook founder fights to keep life private

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg says a lawsuit by a man who claims to own a huge chunk of the popular social networking website is seeking to uncover needless details about his private life. ...read full article

City of Utica warns of fake codes inspectors

UTICA, N.Y. (WKTV) - Facebook - it's more than just a social networking site. ...read full article

Officials: Mom used kids’ IDs for thefts

MOULTON - Lawrence County officials say a Decatur woman stole her children’s identities to obtain credit. ...read full article

MO man gets 12-plus years in mortgage fraud case

KANSAS CITY, KS (AP) - A Missouri man has been sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison for mortgage fraud. ...read full article

Buffalo woman sentenced for identity theft

A Buffalo woman convicted of aggravated identity theft last Sept. 16 has been sentenced to two years in prison, one year of supervised release and ordered to pay $16,194.43 in restitution. ...read full article

8 charged with identity theft in Chambersburg

Chambersburg Police are tracking down the details of what is so far eight cases of identity theft between two unrelated families using other people's Social Security numbers and false identification to portray themselves as American citizens. ...read full article

Retirees vent fury over leak of data

Angry state pensioners swamped Aon Consulting's phone lines Tuesday after opening their mailboxes and finding letters informing them that the benefits consultant had inadvertently posted their Social Security numbers and other personal information on the Web. ...read full article

White Paper: When Legitimate Sites Threaten Your Network

The Internet has matured from a network of connected dial-up modems into a valuable platform for information exchange, global commerce, and workplace productivity. ...read full article

Russian cops cuff 10 ransomware Trojan suspects

Cybercrime gang allegedly raked in $16m

Russian police have arrested 10 suspected members of a ransomware gang who allegedly made millions via a locked computer malware scam. ...read full article

CarderPlanet founder charged in $9.4m RBS WorldPay hack

A man accused of being one of the most prolific sellers of credit-card data has been charged with participating in the brazen hack of RBS WorldPay in 2008 that funneled about $9.4m out of the payment processor in just 12 hours. ...read full article