December 2011 News Archive

December 19, 2011

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Photos lead to identity theft arrest in LA

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police say surveillance photographs made public last week led to the arrest of a Southern California woman suspected of assuming other people's identities to steal $14,000 from personal bank accounts. ...read full article

Good Samaritans conned into paying for $41K hotel stay

You kind of have to wonder. What's worse? Having your credit card stolen, or being mocked for it on the blogosphere? ...read full article

Digital Data on Patients Raises Risk of Breaches

One afternoon last spring, Micky Tripathi received a panicked call from an employee. Someone had broken into his car and stolen his briefcase and company laptop along with it. ...read full article

'Barefoot Bandit' pleads to 16 counts

COUPEVILLE - Colton Harris-Moore , the "Barefoot Bandit," has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty to dozens of state charges. ...read full article

Madison purse snatcher arrested in Indiana, police say

A young woman who allegedly stole the purse of an 87-year-old woman while the victim was loading groceries into her vehicle at a Madison store has been arrested in Indiana, authorities reported. ...read full article

Inside Charity 'Scam'

A bunch of hardened gangbangers have gone from hustling on the street corner to hustling Wall Street. ...read full article

Sprint Disables Carrier IQ Software on its Devices

Sprint has decided to stop using Carrier IQ’s diagnostic software in light of the ongoing controversy about user privacy, according to reports. ...read full article

Japanese game maker to reopen hacked site, says no private data lost

The company said it aims to reopen its "Square Enix Members" site to Japanese and U.S. users by the end of the year.

IDG News Service - Japanese game developer Square Enix said Monday that no private data was stolen when a server for a fan site was hacked last week, and it plans to reopen the site to users by the end of the year. ...read full article

December 16, 2011

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Iran tricked U.S. spy drone into landing in country, report says

Computerworld - The U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel spy drone that was recently captured and displayed by Iranian authorities may have been tricked into landing in that country after being electronically ambushed. ...read full article

Md. man convicted in identity theft, card skimming case

A Laurel man authorities said ran an identity theft and credit card skimming ring that victimized more than 780 people was convicted in federal court this week. ...read full article

NYC officer arrested in ID fraud scheme

NEW YORK — Prosecutors say a 23-year-old New York City police officer has been arrested on grand larceny and forgery charges as part of massive identity theft take down earlier this year. ...read full article

Consumer Confidential: Firms caught up in identity theft offer little help to victims

Victims of identity theft will tell you: The shock of being defrauded isn't the worst part. What really stings is having to spend days or even weeks undoing all the damage. ...read full article

Harrisburg Man Charged with Identity Theft and Mail Fraud in Unemployment Benefits Scheme

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 -- The U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania issued the following news release: The United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced today the indictment of an individual for identity theft and fraudulently obtaining unemployment compensation benefits from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Mark E. Givens, age 45, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was charged in a 36-count indictment handed up by the Grand Jury sitting in Harrisburg yesterday. ...read full article

Malcolm X youngest daughter behind bars in identity theft case

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Malikah Shabazz, the youngest daughter of black civil rights leader Malcolm X, is in prison for failing to start paying back money stolen in an identity theft case, law enforcement sources confirmed on Thursday. ...read full article

Internet Pioneers, Security Experts Send Letter to Congress Blasting SOPA

Letter for SOPAA group of engineers, networking specialists, security experts and other specialists deeply involved with the Internet's development and growth have sent a letter to lawmakers criticizing the highly controversial SOPA and PIPA bills and imploring them not to pass the legislation, which they say would stifle innovation and "threaten engineers who build Internet systems or offer services that are not readily and automatically compliant with censorship actions by the U.S. government." ...read full article

'Self-aware' bank account robbing code unleashed by hacker

A hacker has published code for potent cross-site scripting attacks that he claims go beyond the usual cookie stealing and phishing for users' private details. ...read full article

Twitter stalking case dismissed by Md. judge

The Judge said that protections under the First Amendment extend to online speech

IDG News Service - A U.S. judge in Maryland dismissed on Thursday a criminal case against a person who was charged with stalking a religious leader on Twitter, upholding "a tradition of protecting anonymous speech, particularly anonymous political or religious speech" ...read full article

BigPond customers targeted by phishers

Telstra’s beleaguered BigPond customers, who suffered a major security breach last week when customer details were leaked to the web, are now subject to a targeted phishing campaign. ...read full article

Westbury Mortgage Fraud Kingpin Sentenced

DA: Sweet’s group stole more than $20M from banks individuals and Nassau County government

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice has announced that the kingpin of the largest mortgage fraud and identity theft ring in Nassau County history has been sentenced to four to 12 years in prison for his role in leading an organization that stole more than $20 million from homeowners, banks, and the Nasssau County government. ...read full article

Sixteen Persons Charged in International Internet Fraud Scheme

LAS VEGAS—Federal charges have been unsealed against 16 individuals for their involvement in an international Internet scheme that defrauded online purchasers of purported merchandise such as automobiles and other items, announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada. ...read full article

December 15, 2011

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Casino thief convicted of conspiracy, wire fraud and identity theft

United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced that Christopher Donte Evans, 27, of Frierson, Louisiana, was convicted today by a federal jury of one count of conspiracy, four counts of wire fraud, and four counts of aggravated identity theft. ...read full article

In Push For Data, Schools Expose Students To Identity Theft

"Burdened Beginnings" is a series examining the problem of child identity theft. Other stories in the series can be found here. ...read full article

Alaska fishing crewman accused of identity theft

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska State Troopers say a 30-year-old man from East Wenatchee, Wash., has been arrested in Alaska's Dutch Harbor in an identity theft case. ...read full article

UK’s biggest ID fraud hotspots revealed

Londoners are most at risk of identity theft, with the UK's five biggest fraud hotspots all situated in the capital. ...read full article

Production house becomes victim of identity theft

Identity theft is certainly not an alien occurrence for many in the industry. But this time around, the unidentified imposters have managed to masquerade as the production house, UTV Motion Pictures. ...read full article

FDLE arrests 48 in child computer sex crimes investigation

LEE COUNTY, Fla.- The Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested 48 child predators as part of a six-month investigation known as Operation Amalgamate. The investigation began in July after Attorney General Pam Bondi and FDLE merged the FDLE’s Computer Crime Center and the AG’s Child Predator Cybercrime Unit to more effectively investigate online child exploitation. ...read full article

Police Want Public's Help in Identity Theft Scheme

Anne Arundel County police are asking for the public's help in identifying a man who made two separate wire transfers at SunTrust Bank in Edgewater. ...read full article

Woman accused of identity theft

BENTON, La. (AP) - A 48-year-old Haughton woman faces a charge of identity theft for using her neighbor's debit card without permission. ...read full article

iBahn, supplier of hotel internet services, denies breach

iBahn said it relentlessly monitors attempted hacks on its network

IDG News Service - iBahn, a provider of internet services to some 3,000 hotels worldwide, denied on Thursday a news report that its network was breached by hackers. ...read full article

FBI Likely to Get More Cybercrime Agents

The FBI is one of a handful of U.S. agencies tasked with investigating computer crimes and one of the many roadblocks that has stood in the way of more successful cases and prosecutions is a lack of resources, mostly in the form of trained agents. It looks like the bureau will be getting the money in 2012 to hire more agents for its cybercrime unit, but the 14 new agents included in next year's budget still aren't nearly enough to address the full scope of the problem in the U.S., let alone globally. ...read full article

December 14, 2011

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Restaurant Depot Admits They Were Hacked, Customer Data Stolen

A hack has the Restaurant wholesale chain Restaurant Depot in hot water, after thieves compromised the firm's credit card processing systems and made off with customer information, including credit card numbers. One published report claims as many as 100,000 individuals may have been victims of the breach. ...read full article

Firms caught up in identity theft offer little help to victims

Being a victim of identity theft is bad enough, but the time and trouble involved in trying to do damage control is often worse. Companies caught up in the wrongdoing should assist consumers. ...read full article

Peoples Gas warns customers of identity theft risk

December 13, 2011 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Peoples Gas says some customers could be at risk for identity theft. The utility sent a letter to those customers warning them about a security breach. ...read full article

Identity Thief Tries to Run

Albuquerque, NM - On Friday December 09, 2011 Officers with the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) attempted to arrest federal fugitive Fernando Calleros. Calleros was wanted by the United States District Court for failing to comply with his conditions of pre-trial release. Calleros faces federal charges on Fraud by Wire and Mail Fraud where it is alleged he attempted to steal peoples’ identity. ...read full article

Five apps banned from Apple's App Store in 2011

From tethering to DUI checkpoints and radiation detection--five apps shown to the door by Apple

Apple gave the app, Drivers License, the boot this week after concerned politicians claimed it encouraged identity theft. Drivers License joins a short list of apps that Apple gave boot in 2011 because Apple either didn't get the joke, offered too much functionality, or that Apple felt was downright dangerous. ...read full article

Man faces sentencing today for 3 Tenafly slayings in 2008

A New York man who admitted stabbing three people to death at their home in Tenafly in 2008 faces up to 75 years in prison when he is sentenced today. ...read full article

Twenty Something Asks Facebook For His File And Gets It - All 1,200 Pages

Be careful of what you ask for. That's a lesson that Max Schrems of Vienna, Austria, learned the hard way when he sent a formal request to Facebook citing European law and asking for a copy of every piece of personal information that the world’s largest social network had collected on him. ...read full article

December 13, 2011

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Windows Phone bug reportedly disables messaging

The Windows Phone messaging hub is disabled by sending certain a text string, according to the Winrumors blog

IDG News Service - A reported vulnerability in Windows Phone causes its messaging features to be disabled after the device is sent a specific SMS or chat message. ...read full article

Homeland Security Warns SCADA Operators Of Internet-Facing Systems

In the wDHSake of the hack of water and sewer infrastructure operated by a Texas community, the Department of Homeland Security is again warning owners and operators of critical infrastructure to take note of SCADA and industrial control systems that may be accessible from the Internet. ...read full article

Counties warn of juror-ID theft scam

Officials in Kane and McHenry counties are warning residents to beware of a possible identity theft scam in which people are mailed a bogus juror summons asking a person to mail back a form that includes their Social Security number. ...read full article

ID theft suspect who police say bailed on trial arrested again

PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) - An identity theft suspect who authorities say skipped out on the last day of his trial last week is back behind bars. ...read full article

Cheswick man sentenced to 4 years for bank fraud

A loan closing agent from Cheswick was sentenced Monday to four years in prison for bank fraud, money laundering and identity theft. ...read full article

Attacks Against Oil Conglomerates Ramping Up, Execs Claim

Executives for some of the world’s largest oil companies stressed that cyber attacks against their companies are becoming more strategic and happening more frequently at a conference last week, according to a report today from the BBC. ...read full article

Malicious apps infiltrate Google's Android Market

Bogus games purged after more than 10,000 downloads

Google security crews have tossed at least a dozen smartphone games out of the Android Market after discovering they contained secret code that caused owners to accrue expensive charges for text messages sent to premium numbers. ...read full article

December 12, 2011

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PhD student sentenced in identity theft, fraud case

A gifted college student who masterminded an identity theft and credit card fraud operations was sentenced on Friday to 70 months in prison. ...read full article

Developing countries most vulnerable to cyberattacks — UN

Developing countries are at higher risk of being the target of cyberattacks, a United Nations-led forum on cybersecurity said on Friday, where experts discussed ways to mitigate the phenomenon at the national and international levels. ...read full article

UPDATE:Credit Card Identity Theft From Russia (And Not With Love)

Federal prosecutors in Virginia alleged that Jonathan Oliveras, 26, managed a credit card fraud operation that operated throughout the East Coast of the United States. That scheme involved the purchases over the Internet of stolen credit card from sellers believed to be located in Russia. Upon obtaining the stolen information, Oliveras purportedly distributed the data to individuals in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. ,who then used the information to make fraudulent purchases. ...read full article

FTC Gives Refunds to Rogue Antivirus Victims

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is sending reimbursement checks to more than 300,000 people victimized by a rogue antivirus scam. ...read full article

Court dismisses most breach claims against Heartland by banks

Nine banks want Heartland to pay for damages related to 2008 breach

Computerworld - A U.S. district court in Texas has dismissed all but one of the claims brought by several banks against Heartland Payment Systems over the massive data breach the payment processor disclosed in January 2009 . ...read full article

Surveillance tech companies should not sell to despots, EU says

And U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warns surveillance companies that their products could be used to breach human rights

IDG News Service - Surveillance technology companies have a moral obligation not to sell to repressive regimes, said Europe's Digital Agenda Commissioner on Friday. Her views were echoed by the U.S. secretary of state who said that companies cannot pretend they don't know what their technology is used for in countries like Syria and Iran. ...read full article

Chinese cyberspies stealing key data, U.S. analysts say

As few as 12 different Chinese groups, largely backed or directed by the government there, do the bulk of the China-based cyberattacks stealing critical data from U.S. companies and government agencies, according to U.S. cybersecurity analysts and experts in Washington. ...read full article

Cyber crime stretches local police resources

When a woman in Pennsylvania reported that someone was using her credit card to buy pizzas in Forest Lake, police tracked the deliveries to a local apartment. ...read full article

Web scam-busting trio thwarted by mystery DDoS rocket

Backhanded compliment for fraud alert sites

A bunch of anti-scam sites were knocked offline last week by fierce and apparently well-organised distributed denial of service attacks. ...read full article

Wanted fugitive arrested in Boonville

BOONVILLE, N.Y. (WKTV) - The Oneida County Sheriff Office arrested a wanted fugitive on Route 12 in the Town of Boonville after pulling him over for speeding. ...read full article

December 9, 2011

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Four Romanian Nationals Charged with Allegedly Participating in Multimillion Dollar Scheme to Hack into and Steal Credit Card Data from U.S. Merchants

WASHINGTON – Four Romanian nationals were charged in an indictment unsealed yesterday in federal court for their alleged participation in an international multimillion dollar scheme to remotely hack into and steal payment card data from hundreds of U.S. merchants’ point of sale computer systems, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney John P. Kacavas of the District of New Hampshire and Special Agent In Charge Steven Ricciardi of the U.S. Secret Service, Boston Field Office. ...read full article

Cnet Apologizes for Nmap Adware Bundling

Officials at Cnet's Download.com site have issued a statement apologizing for bundling the popular open source Nmap security audit application with adware that changed users' search engine and home page to Microsoft properties. Fyodor, the author of Nmap, raised the issue earlier this week, saying that his app was being wrapped in malware on Download.com. ...read full article

Six cuffed in £1m student readies phishing probe

That's a lot of beer money nicked from bank accounts

Scotland Yard's cybercrime crackdown squad has cuffed suspected crims accused of masterminding a phishing scam that netted more than £1m in cash from hundreds of unsuspecting students. ...read full article

Owner of Miami-Area Mental Health Company Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison for Orchestrating $205 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

WASHINGTON – The owner of a fraudulent Miami-area mental health care company, American Therapeutic Corporation (ATC), was sentenced today to 35 years in prison for orchestrating a $205 million Medicare fraud scheme, announced the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). ...read full article

Google's Schmidt calls Carrier IQ software a keylogger

It actually records keystrokes, he says at a conference in the Netherlands

Computerworld - Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt today distanced his company from Carrier IQ's software, even as he described the technology as a keylogger. Schmidt's comments came at an Internet freedom conference in the Netherlands. ...read full article

LI mortgage fraud ringleader sentenced

The kingpin of the largest mortgage fraud and identity theft ring in Nassau County history was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison on Thursday for his role in stealing more than $20 million from homeowners, banks and the county government, according to a statement from Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice. ...read full article

Man indicted for identity theft and false claim as U.S. citizen

BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury indicted a Mexican man in the United States illegally for falsely representing himself as a U.S. citizen, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance. ...read full article

Two arrested after allegedly using stolen debit card to pay bills, shop

DECATUR - A 28-year-old suspect was arrested on charges of identity theft and obstruction of justice after he allegedly used a debit card that had been dropped by a woman at a gas station to pay his $700 cellphone bill. ...read full article

Woman Wanted in Identity Theft Bank Scam

GLENDALE, Calif. -- Police are asking for the public's help in identifying a woman accused of stealing more than $14,000 from bank accounts throughout Southern California. ...read full article

Fed Raid over Alleged Identity Theft Scheme

(Coldwater, MS 12/8/2011) Two people living under assumed names in Tate County face hundreds of years in prison and millions of dollars in fines. ...read full article

HP Facing Class Action Suit For Not Disclosing Printer Vulnerability

A class action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in California against Hewlett-Packard could have wide ranging implications for software makers, should the court agree with the plaintiff's claim that the company violated the state's consumer protection laws by failing to disclose a serious vulnerability in the software that runs some of its printers. ...read full article

Digital certificate authority suspends ops following breach

Websites belonging to a Netherlands-based issuer of digital certificates were unavailable following reports hackers penetrated their security and accessed databases that should have been off limits. ...read full article

December 8, 2011

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Yahoo awarded $610M in spam case

The spam campaign promised people prizes from a non-existent Yahoo lottery in an effort to steal their information

IDG News Service - Yahoo has won a lawsuit against spammers, a legal victory that also includes a default judgment of $610 million. ...read full article

DeKalb man charged with identity theft gets probation

SYCAMORE – A DeKalb man charged with identity theft and deceptive practices was sentenced Wednesday to 60 months of probation. ...read full article

Miami VA Hospital employee charged with identity theft

A Miami VA Hospital employee is charged with selling patient IDs for cash

An employee at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Miami has been charged with selling the personal identities of disabled patients who receive services at the hospital, authorities said Wednesday. ...read full article

Botnet Lair in Ukraine Demonstrates Dangers of Infection

A recently discovered server in Ukraine demonstrates the danger -- and volume -- of industrial-level identity theft. The server, located by the United Kingdom-based security firm Prevx, was a storage site for data stolen from 160,000 computers that had been infected by viruses. ...read full article

Attackers Using Known Trojan in Exploits on Adobe Zero Day

The newly discovered vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat that the company is planning to patch next week is being used to install a known Trojan that has been used in attacks against other Adobe vulnerabilities in the past. ...read full article

Thieves plunder apartment for Facebook booty

São Paulo police are warning of the perils of flashing your wealth on Facebook after a teenager's snaps of his electronic equipment and foreign holidays on the social network prompted thieves to rob his family's apartment. ...read full article

Symantec confirms Flash exploits targeted defense companies

November attacks delivered in malicious PDFs attached to messages promising a contract guide for 2012

Computerworld - Security researchers at Symantec today confirmed that exploits of an unpatched Adobe Reader vulnerability targeted defense contractors, among other businesses. ...read full article

December 7, 2011

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Banks Rely Too Heavily On Social Security Numbers, Report Finds

Banks can do better at protecting their customers from the risk of identity fraud, a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research finds. ...read full article

Major identity theft investigation at UA

TUCSON - A multi-agency investigation into identify theft has more than a hundred UA students facing questions. ...read full article

Former Saugus Public Library employee Linda Duffy charged with stealing more than $800,000 from library account

Saugus — The Department of Justice issued the following press release about the indictment of former Saugus Public Library employee Linda Duffy. ...read full article

Judge gives CA woman 4 years for bank fraud

BOISE -- A California woman convicted for bank fraud and identity theft has been ordered to serve four years in a federal prison and repay more than $18,000 to her crime's victims. ...read full article

Nurse sentenced in patient ID thefts

A nurse who worked at four hospitals in the Denver area has been sentenced for stealing patient records and identity theft. ...read full article

Hackers hit supermarket self-checkout lanes, steal money from shoppers

Criminals have tampered with the credit and debit card readers at self-checkout lanes in more than 20 supermarkets operated by a California chain, allowing them to steal money from shoppers who used the compromised machines. The chain, Lucky Supermarkets, which is owned by Save Mart, is now inspecting the rest of its 234 stores in northern California and northern Nevada and urging customers who used self-checkout lanes to close their bank and credit card accounts. ...read full article

Convicted Staten Island identity thief caught up in fingerprint scam, cops say

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A convicted identity thief from West Brighton is at it again, authorities say. ...read full article

Personal Information of 3.5 Million Poker Players Spilled Online

Customers of the online poker Website Ultimate Bet (UB) are the victims of a data breach that spilled the private information of up to 3.5 million of its customers online over the weekend. ...read full article

Man fights felony hacking charge for accessing wife's email

Gmail showed her having extramarital affair

A Michigan appeals court is trying to decide whether the state's anti hacking law should be invoked against a man who broke into his wife's Gmail account to see if she was having an affair. ...read full article

Hackers exploit Adobe Reader zero-day, may be targeting defense contractors

Adobe credits Lockheed Martin, victim of earlier attack, and defense industry cyber-threat group with reporting unpatched bug

Computerworld - Adobe today confirmed that an unpatched, or zero-day, vulnerability in Adobe Reader is being exploited by criminals. ...read full article

December 6, 2011

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RSA security lapse led to March hack, says researcher

Exploit targeted Windows XP machines that didn't have DEP switched on

Computerworld - The attack that hacked RSA Security's network earlier this year succeeded because the company failed to take a basic security precaution, a researcher said Monday. ...read full article

Anti-Kremlin websites complain of DDoS attacks

Election fraud monitors: 'We were silenced as Russia went to the polls'

Websites publicising doubts about the fairness of the Russian parliamentary election last weekend have become the victim of denial of service attacks. ...read full article

Idaho's consumer chief targeted by identity theft

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The head of Idaho's consumer protection division warns that even he is not immune to identity theft. ...read full article

Man Sentenced For Fraud, Identity Theft

NATIONAL CITY, Calif. -- A man who gained unauthorized access to the names and personal identifying information of employees of a San Diego business and their family members, then used the stolen information to open credit cards in the victims' names, was sentenced on Monday to four years in federal prison. ...read full article

Text messages lead Paramus police to suspects

A text message sent to a suspect already in custody led to two more arrests on charges of identity theft in Paramus last week. ...read full article

Verizon Becomes First Company to Offer Certified Online-ID Protection

Verizon has become the first company certified to offer high-level online-identity protection for federal personnel and visitors to dot-gov websites, officials at the telecommunications firm announced on Monday. ...read full article

From Sony's DRM Rootkit to CarrierIQ: Why Commercial Rootkits Make Us So Mad

The half life of the CarrierIQ "rootkit" scandal proved to be a little more than a week. That's about how long it took for Trevor Eckhart, a young, Connecticut-based Android developer to begin raising questions about some stealth software he discovered running on Android phones by HTC and speculation in the media and online to run rampant about what kinds of spying said software might be engaged in. ...read full article

Denver cops nail 'Breakroom Bandit'

A man law enforcement accuses of being the "Breakroom Bandit" faces 22 felonies after a string of thefts from employee lockers at Denver area stores. ...read full article

December 5, 2011

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Committee approves cybersharing bill despite privacy concerns

The bill would give the NSA access to private information held by U.S. companies, a critic says

IDG News Service - The U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee has approved a recently introduced bill that would allow greater cyberthreat information sharing between U.S. intelligence agencies and private companies even though privacy advocates say it would allow those agencies to spy on U.S. residents. ...read full article

Albuquerque identity theft victim almost sent to jail mistakenly

An Albuquerque man learned his identity was stolen when a lawyer called to notify him about a felony charge he didn’t commit. ...read full article

Lawmakers propose alternative to Stop Online Piracy Act

Eleven lawmakers call for the U.S. International Trade Commission to investigate copyright infringement complaints

IDG News Service - A group of U.S. lawmakers has proposed an alternative to the controversial copyright enforcement legislation, the Stop Online Piracy Act, with the draft proposal giving the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) the authority to investigate complaints about copyright infringement on foreign websites. ...read full article

Plea bargaining for financial crime set to come into law early next year

Plea bargaining to settle serious financial crimes could be introduced as early as next year according to politicians and leading legal experts.

Research by The Daily Telegraph has shown leading City law firms and Government Ministers are looking at new rules on deferred prosecution agreements to be introduced in the next session of Parliament starting in May. ...read full article

Making 'clone' Facebook accounts can fool ANYONE into accepting a fake friend within 24 hours - even security experts

Think your Facebook profile is private? Well think again. A security expert has worked out a way to 'friend' anyone with the use of social media trickery. ...read full article

Carrier IQ: How big a threat is it?

The maker of the software that monitors smartphone performance is facing increasing scrutiny, following a security researcher's report on Carrier IQ. ...read full article

Should Homeland Security control the electrical grid? Maybe

The electrical grid is commonly cited as a potential security issue for the U.S. And in a wide-ranging study on the matter, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say that the time has come for the U.S. government to focus a single agency's efforts on doing a better job of securing it. ...read full article

December 2, 2011

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Forest Grove legal assistant pleads guilty to aggravated identity theft

The legal assistant at Robert Browning's Forest Grove law firm pleaded guilty Thursday in Washington County Circuit Court to first-degree theft and aggravated identity theft. ...read full article

Sen. Franken Demands Answers From Carrier IQ on Mobile Tracking

The fallout from the controversy surrounding the presence of Carrier IQ's monitoring software on millions of mobile devices on several different platforms has now reached Washington. Sen. Al Franken on Thursday sent a letter to the company, demanding answers to a series of questions about the software and its capabilities, and saying that the data that Carrier IQ collects "may violate federal privacy laws". ...read full article

How to turn off Carrier IQ on your iPhone

Apple says it stopped supporting the monitoring software on 'most' iOS 5 devices

Computerworld - iPhone users can turn off the Carrier IQ software that's raised a ruckus among consumers, bloggers and privacy advocates with just four taps. ...read full article

OpRobinHood more likely to stiff punters than bankers

Stealing from the rich, giving grief to the poor

Charities are unlikely to benefit from an Anonymous-led operation attempting to use stolen credit card details to make donations to worthwhile causes. ...read full article

Yahoo Messenger flaw enables spamming through other people's status messages

The unpatched vulnerability in Yahoo Messenger allows attackers to change other people's status messages automatically

IDG News Service - An unpatched Yahoo Messenger vulnerability that allows attackers to change people's status messages and possibly perform other unauthorized actions can be exploited to spam malicious links to a large number of users. ...read full article

Federal prosecutor in Portland calls release of repeat aggravated identity theft defendant a 'grave mistake'

A month ago, a federal judge warned Andrew J. Clark, who was facing aggravated identity theft charges shortly after having served a stretch in federal prison for the same crime, not to mess up, as he hesitantly released the man pending trial. ...read full article

Police Release Suspect Photo In Staten Island Identity Theft

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — The NYPD is asking for the public to help uncover a bewildering case of grand larceny involving a Staten Island man. ...read full article

Teacher's aide fired, NISD makes changes after alleged ID theft

SAN ANTONIO - Northside Independent School District fired an instructional assistant charged with identity theft, and the district is now making changes within. 25-year-old Jason Miller was let go Thursday, two days after his arrest. ...read full article

Florist pleads no contest to identity theft

He and his wife used customers' credit card information for themselves, detectives say.

A Glendale florist and his wife pleaded no contest Thursday to multiple charges of identity theft following accusations that they stole financial information from customers who shopped at their Glenoaks Boulevard shop, officials said. ...read full article

Elderly Woman Imprisoned as Leader of People Smuggling Ring

An 85-year-old ring leader of an extensive migrant smuggling operation in southern California has been sentenced to 30 months in prison. ...read full article

December 1, 2011

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Identity Theft Reported by Households Rose 33 Percent From 2005 to 2010

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An estimated 8.6 million households had at least one person age 12 or older who experienced identity theft victimization in 2010, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. This was an increase from the 6.4 million households victimized in 2005. ...read full article

2 RI men deny charges they arranged $25M investment fraud by stealing IDs of terminally ill

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Rhode Island estate planner and one of his former employees pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges they orchestrated a $25 million swindle of insurance companies and brokerage houses by stealing the identities of terminally ill and elderly people, including some they met by advertising offers for a $2,000 charitable gift in a Catholic newspaper. ...read full article

4.9 million retired military members, families have medical information stolen

CORPUS CHRISTI — Personal and protected health information for 4.9 million retired military members and their families or dependents has gotten into the wrong hands, according to Science Applications International Corp., a government contractor that handles health information for the United States Department of Defense Military Health System. ...read full article

Duqu hackers scrub evidence from command servers, shut down spying op

Delete all files and logs just days after researchers revealed botnet's existence

Computerworld - The hackers behind the Duqu botnet have shut down their snooping operation, a security researcher said today. ...read full article

GAO: Federal Cybersecurity Workforce Intiatives Lack Focus

According to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, federal cybersecurity workforce initiatives are in need of better planning and coordination, particularly with regards to human capital. ...read full article

Identity theft charges filed against Cartwright

A Chippewa Falls man is accused in separate criminal complaints of identity theft-related crimes. ...read full article

Fargo Man Pleads Guilty to Identity Theft, Possession of Materials Involving the Sexual Exploitation of Minors

A Fargo man has pleaded guilty to charges of identity theft and possession of materials involving the sexual exploitation of minors. ...read full article

Off-duty Border Patrol agent sentenced to probation for purse theft

BISBEE — An off duty Border Patrol agent who stole a woman’s purse in Douglas in August was sentenced to serve three years of probation Friday in Cochise County Superior Court. ...read full article

Northern Ireland's top cops 'hacked by NotW' - new claim

Senior police officers and a Cabinet minister may have been targeted for computer hacking by unscrupulous journalists at News International. ...read full article

UN Says Old Server, Old Data Exposed In TeamP0ison Hack

UNIn the wake of a highly visible hack of its network infrastructure, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) says that hackers from the group TeamP0ison compromised an unpatched server and that e-mail addresses and account passwords exposed in the attack were outdated. ...read full article

Bill would allow U.S. intelligence to share cyber-threat info

The legislation would help protect U.S. businesses against cyberattackers, the sponsors say

IDG News Service - A bill introduced by senior members of the House Intelligence Committee would allow intelligence agencies to share classified cyber-threat information with approved U.S. companies, while encouraging companies to share their own information. ...read full article

Inside the shadow world of commercialised spook spyware

'We'll penetrate commsats, undersea cables, Skype ...'

Exclusive Western and Chinese high-tech companies are competing aggressively to sell, install and manage intrusive and dangerous internet surveillance and communications control equipment for the world’s most brutal regimes, a six-month investigation has found. ...read full article