03.22.06
Posted in security, privacy, fraud, hacking at 5:44 pm by HowardG
Cyber-attacks, hacks, and acts of online vandalism perpetrated by loners in attempts to direct attention to themselves were at one time the biggest threat companies had to worry about. For those individuals, breaking into a company’s network produced no direct gain. Instead, they did it for the glory of becoming a cyberspace anti-hero, or at least to relieve the boredom of their humdrum lives. But today, those misguided fools are the least of a company’s network security worries. Malicious attacks are increasingly being carried out for very specific reasons. Cyber criminals are using bot-nets, denial-of-service extortion attacks, and sophisticated identity theft techniques for financial gain. Read the rest of this entry »
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03.01.06
Posted in security, privacy, fraud at 11:27 am by HowardG
The Internal Revenue Service released what it calls its “Dirty Dozen” list of tax scams for 2006 this month (http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article). The scams range from tax filers making frivolous claims that income tax is illegal, to misuse of trusts and offshore transactions. While most of the top twelve involve fraud perpetrated by taxpayers, number three on the list is phishing, a scam whereby an identity thief attempts to take advantage of an innocent taxpayer and obtain personal financial data.
According to the IRS, criminals using phishing attacks sometimes pose as IRS representatives to gain the trust of an individual taxpayer. Typically, the scam revolves around a fictitious e-mail correspondence sent out, which appears to be from the IRS. Read the rest of this entry »
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01.30.06
Posted in security, hacking at 11:09 am by HowardG
Cisco Systems recently published a security alert and a fix for its Cisco CallManager product, a piece of call-processing software that works with Cisco’s IP telephony solution. According to the alert, all versions of CallManager are vulnerable to Denial of Service attacks, which could result in interrupted VoIP services or servers rebooting. The Cisco report says that versions of CallManager “do not manage TCP connections and Windows messages aggressively,” and leave known ports vulnerable to Denial of Service attacks. The vulnerability could also allow a user with read-only privileges to gain full administrative access to the system.
In addition to deploying the free software fix available from Cisco, users should also secure the CallManager through standard best practices to minimize the possibility of a successful attack. Read the rest of this entry »
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01.22.06
Posted in security, privacy, law at 4:19 pm by HowardG
The Federal government has been attempting to force Google and other major search engines to turn over information from their databases. Since September 11, the Bush administration has rankled privacy advocates with a host of new measures that infringe on the rights and privacy of citizens, in the name of the fight on terrorism and under the banner of the Patriot Act.
In court papers filed in the U.S. District Court of San Jose, the Department of Justice noted that Google has not complied with a subpoena it issued last year. Read the rest of this entry »
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01.03.06
Posted in security, spyware, microsoft, hacking at 11:15 am by HowardG
Security experts discovered a serious vulnerability in late December, through which hackers can attack a fully patched Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 system. The vulnerability involves the OS handling a corrupted Windows Metafile (.WMF) graphic file.
Microsoft has not released a fix for the vulnerability, which has already caused significant damage. Read the rest of this entry »
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09.01.05
Posted in security, identitytheft, virus, spyware at 5:34 pm by DarrenS
Spyware has overtaken viruses as the biggest security threat facing Windows computer users. A survey of Australian and New Zealand consumers conducted by Symantec in 2005 revealed that spyware and adware is creating chaos. Read the rest of this entry »
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08.22.05
Posted in security, identitytheft, hacking at 10:41 am by DarrenS
According to a research done by IBM’s Global service division different companies and government organizations are becoming the target of computer security attacks at a very increasing rate. Read the rest of this entry »
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08.07.05
Posted in security, identitytheft, spyware at 12:29 pm by HowardG
A Florida-based software company discovered a server containing personal information, including bank account information and social security numbers, from thousands of computers across the country. Obtained through the use of spyware, the data on that server apparently has been, at the least, accessed by identity thieves. Read the rest of this entry »
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07.14.05
Posted in identitytheft, fraud at 4:06 pm by Jordana
The Computer Crime and Security Survey conducted by Computer Security Institute (CSI) released its tenth annual report today amidst growing instances of security threats in the financial services industry. Read the rest of this entry »
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07.12.05
Posted in security, identitytheft, fraud at 4:31 pm by DarrenS
Bank of America has taken many proactive steps in the past to counter the threat of online banking frauds. With an online banking customer base of 13.2 million, Bank of America needs to exercise extra caution. So in a recent move, it has decided to roll out a robust security system that it believes will be difficult to breach. Read the rest of this entry »
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