Archive for 2011/02/21

Europol: Successful police operation disrupts international card skimming network

Posted: 2011/02/21 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Organized Crime

Romanian law enforcement authorities, in close cooperation with Europol, have successfully disrupted an international organised crime group responsible for payment card fraud. The criminal group was active in many EU countries including Poland, Romania, Sweden and the UK. The main focus of their criminal activities was the skimming and counterfeiting of payment cards, and illegal cash withdrawals all over the European Union. The criminal activities and illegal card transactions led to substantial financial losses for the card holders and issuers in the EU.

Five members of the international criminal structure were arrested in Romania. Additionally, during 14 house searches conducted in several Romanian cities, including Pitesti, Galati and Vaslui, police officers seized large amounts of cash (EUR 50 000, USD 50 000 and GBP 15 000), as well as goods illegally purchased by the suspects.

More:
http://www.europol.europa.eu/index.asp?page=news&news=pr110216.htm

Advanced Zeus Trojan Hits Polish ING Customers

Posted: 2011/02/21 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Organized Crime, Tech Evolution

A version of the Zeus malware that intercepts one-time passcodes sent by SMS (Short Message Service) is targeting customers of the financial institution ING in Poland.

Zeus has changed its tactics, since some banks are now using one-time passcodes sent by SMS to authorize transactions performed on a desktop machine. First, attackers infect a person’s desktop or laptop. Then, when that person logs into a financial institution such as ING, it injects HTML fields into the legitimate Web page.

Those fields ask for a person’s mobile phone number and the model of their phone. When that information is entered, the attacker sends an SMS leading to a website that will install a mobile application that intercepts SMSes and forwards messages to another number controlled by the attackers. The Zeus mobile component will work on some Symbian and Blackberry devices.

Once that setup is complete, the attacker can simply do a transfer whenever it is convenient, such as when an account has just received a deposit. An attacker can log onto the account, receive the SMS code and begin transferring money.

More:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/220223/advanced_zeus_trojan_hits_polish_ing_customers.html

Open Internet for Libya: Use your modem to dial in

Posted: 2011/02/21 in Education / Awareness, Tech Evolution


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/t/open-internet-for-libya-u_39774888914845696.html

and
http://www.libyafeb17.com/?p=1498

Would You Reveal Your Facebook Password to Get a Job?

Posted: 2011/02/21 in Education / Awareness, Privacy / Data Protection

American Civil Liberties Union into action

According to the ACLU, Collins “had to sit there while the interviewer logged on to his account and read not only his postings, but those of his family and friends too.”


http://gizmodo.com/#!5766150/would-you-reveal-your-facebook-password-to-get-a-job

Judge Rules Against China; ‘Green Dam’ Suit Heads to Trial

Posted: 2011/02/21 in Education / Awareness, Litigation

About a year after Cybersitter sued the Chinese government and several Asian OEMs for allegedly copying its code to create the “Green Dam” software, a U.S. federal judge has allowed the $2.3 billion suit to proceed.

Much more:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2380614,00.asp

With the ARNOVA web radio & TV, you will definitely replace your standard FM radio device or alarm clock

Posted: 2011/02/21 in Education / Awareness, Tech Evolution
  • More than 12,000 high quality web radio stations worldwide
  • More than 1,500 web TV channels and podcasts worldwide
  • High quality reception compared to standard FM radio receivers
  • Great sound with the two built-in stereo speakers
  • Alarm clock function with multiple alarms
  • Supports all the major video file formats: AVI, MPEG-4, FLV
  • Supports all the major audio file formats: MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, FLAC


    • http://www.archos.com/products/arnova/arn_webradiotv/index.html?country=us&lang=en

    Mobile Heavyweights Seek to Finalize 1Gbps Mobile Standard

    Posted: 2011/02/21 in Education / Awareness, Mobile tech, Tech Evolution

    The world’s top handset makers are meeting this week to finalize a version of an advanced mobile communication standard that would raise data transfer speeds to 1Gbps

    About 800 people, from companies such as HTC, Nokia and Samsung Electronics, will agree on final terms for the Long-Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-Advanced) standard at a meeting of the 3GPP standards body in Taipei


    http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20110221/tc_pcworld/mobileheavyweightsseektofinalize1gbpsmobilestandard

    Alibaba.com, the largest e-commerce site in China, announced today that two senior executives had resigned after an internal investigation found a rise in fraudulent activity on the site

    Posted: 2011/02/21 in Education / Awareness
    More than 2,300 fraudulent storefronts registered on the site in 2009 and 2010 as “Gold Suppliers,” offering inexpensive electronics for sale to buyers overseas. However, no goods were delivered after payment was received


    http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20034444-93.html

    While everyone else thinks ‘tablets,’ Apple thinks ‘ecosystem’

    Posted: 2011/02/21 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models


    http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/while-everyone-else-thinks-tablets-apple-thinks-ecosystem/11496

    Google sneakers: The pair of shoes every SEO and search engine geek should have!

    Posted: 2011/02/21 in Education / Awareness

    More:
    http://www.zdnet.com/blog/seo/google-sneakers-the-pair-of-shoes-every-seo-and-search-engine-geek-should-have/2280

    Google Gets Involved in BitTorrent Search Engine Lawsuit

    Posted: 2011/02/21 in Education / Awareness, Google, Illegal File Sharing, Litigation

    The search giant has involved itself in the MPAA vs. isoHunt case recently, but not completely to the delight of isoHunt’s owner

    Google specifically states that it agrees with the District Court’s conclusion that the isoHunt search engine induced copyright infringement. According to Google isoHunt can be seen as a true “pirate” service and no objections are made against the Court’s final decision

    More:
    http://torrentfreak.com/google-gets-involved-in-bittorrent-search-engine-lawsuit-110220/

    ICE Confirms Inadvertent Web Site Seizures

    Posted: 2011/02/21 in Blocking, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Public Policy

    Authorities are reviewing what happened to prevent a similar misstep in the future

    More:
    http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229218959

    US Paid Millions For Bogus (Patented) Intelligence Software; Now Trying To Cover It Up Claiming ‘National Security’

    Posted: 2011/02/21 in Education / Awareness


    http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110220/18583513178/us-paid-millions-bogus-patented-intelligence-software-now-trying-to-cover-it-up-claiming-national-security.shtml

    Swedish Court Fines File Sharer About $300 For Sharing 44 Songs

    Posted: 2011/02/21 in Education / Awareness, Jurisprudence

    $7 per song


    http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110221/02012413182/swedish-court-fines-file-sharer-about-300-sharing-44-songs.shtml

    There’s a lot of discussion about Do Not Track at the moment, writes the EFF’s Peter Eckersley

    Posted: 2011/02/21 in Education / Awareness, Privacy / Data Protection

    He notes, “The FTC has announced support for the idea; Mozilla has added a Do Not Track header option into Firefox betas, and Congresswoman Jackie Speier has introduced a Do Not Track bill. Other proposed privacy legislation, such as Rep. Bobby Rush’s bill, could also achieve similar objectives”, going on the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) “submitted comments urging the Federal Trade Commission to defend online privacy by supporting the header-based Do Not Track feature”

    More:
    http://www.p2pnet.net/story/49157

    Facebook has announced it is actively reviewing its policy of a total ban on all content relating to sexual activities

    Posted: 2011/02/21 in Education / Awareness


    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/02/21/facebook_smut/

    Latvian cops cuffed a 27-year-old man on Saturday for allegedly popping a cap in a fellow cinemagoer

    Posted: 2011/02/21 in Education / Awareness

    We’re obliged to a Latvian reader for clarifying that the shooter was actually the one eating crisps in a disorderly fashion when the victim complained. The former waited until the end of the movie before making his fatal move, at which point he was overpowered by other audience members until cops arrived


    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/02/21/popcorn_slaying/

    A computer crook who swindled eBay customers out of more than £185,000 has been jailed for three-and-a-half years

    Posted: 2011/02/21 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Jurisprudence

    Richard Kirk, 22, and from the Sherwood area of Nottingham, raided the PayPal accounts of 303 eBay users, transferring the money to accounts under his control. He used the stolen funds to buy a variety of goods, including laptops and bars of gold bullion

    More:
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/02/21/paypal_swindler_jailed/

    A step closer to Skynet? Pentagon wants fighting robots to talk to each other

    Posted: 2011/02/21 in Education / Awareness, Tech Evolution


    http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/02/a-step-closer-to-skynet-pentagon-wants-robots-to-talk-to-each-other.ars

    How the atom bomb helped give birth to the Internet

    Posted: 2011/02/21 in Education / Awareness

    The Internet owes its existence in part to the threat of all-out nuclear war between the US and USSR


    http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/02/how-the-atom-bomb-gave-birth-to-the-internet.ars

    Donations pour in for PS3 hacker; Sony court battle continues

    Posted: 2011/02/21 in Education / Awareness, Litigation

    Fighting Sony in court will be a long, hard battle, but hacker George Hotz has raised enough money from donations to keep fighting. Friends with deep pockets, media attention, and rapping skills: this fight could be exciting to watch.


    http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/02/george-hotz-secures-enough-donations-to-fight-sony-rap-battle-begins.ars

    See also:

    “OtherOS” class-action lawsuit: GeoHot, Sony now share same charge

    http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/02/otheros-class-action-lawsuit-geohot-sony-now-share-same-charge.ars

    Dutch Freedom Party Leader Geert Wilders takes action against spoof, satire and parody website

    Posted: 2011/02/21 in Blocking, Education / Awareness, Public Policy

    Dutch media are reporting that Freedom Party (PVV) leader Geert Wilders is not amused about the website PVVHaaglanden.nl, a fake website containing satire and parody which focuses on the Freedom Party and its members. It is said that he is considering taking legal action.

    The site contains articles about how PVV members would want to chop down numerous trees on the side of the roads to prevent people from hitting them with their cars, how Egyptian geese should be sent back to Egypt for harassing the Dutch geese, how Highland Cows need to go back to Scotland and Conic Horses back to Poland. The site also contains job ads for uniformed security staff present at public swimming pools in order to keep out those wanting to swim in so-called bur-kini’s.

    Screenshot:


    http://www.pvvhaaglanden.nl/

    Previously the Freedom Party was upset over fake Twitter accounts as well as cartoons referring to its plans to have vandals ( Tuig ) live in container appartments outside city limits.

    Dutch language news article:
    http://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/nederland/article3434064.ece/Wilders_bespreekt_stappen_tegen_nep_PVV-site.html

    Dutch language news article:
    http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/9079113/__Wilders_wil_actie_tegen_nepsite__.html?p=3,1

    Libyan dictator’s son Saif Al Islam Al Gaddafi addressed Libyans earlier on Libyan State television. He blamed Facebook, foreign mercenaries, Islamists, drug addicts and an army not trained in dealing with civilians for the carnage Libya has suffered

    Posted: 2011/02/21 in Education / Awareness, Public Policy, Tech Evolution

    On Twitter, tweeps reacted to the speech in different ways. Here is a snap shot of some of the reactions:


    http://twitpic.com/420xny

    More: 
    http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/02/21/libya-gaddafi-juniors-speech-welcomed-with-shoes-and-slippers/