Another skim and cam ATM fraud has been committed in NYC netting $500K.
Friday, 15 May 2009
$500K netted in NYC ATM fraud
It seems that we still do not close the doors even when a threat is well known.
Intelligent CCTV to spot retail fraud
StopLift Inc are trialing a new system that claims to be able to mathematically spot the signs of "sweethearting". This is when the checkout person obscures the bar code of some of the items, passing them free of charge to their accomplice.
This sounds like quite a challenge for a piece of software and the accuracy of its decision making will be under great scrutiny but there can be no doubt that we will see more behaviour based CCTV systems.
EU looses nerve for data breach disclosure law
The EU have been unable to agree a new disclosure law. Even though this legislation was only for communication and Internet providers they were still unable to reach an agreement.
We say DISCLOSE ALL DATA BREACHES NOW, the campaign starts here.
Despite increase in cases there is no increased budget for e-crime unit
Once again the goverment demonstraits that it puts no priority on our privacy by refusing to increase the budget for the (already underfunded) Police Central e-crime unit.
Social engineering and confidence tricks - the easiest way to obtain passwords?
This is a great article on the BBC showing how easy it is to obtain passwords and other confidential information by using basic social engineering and confidence tricks.
A recent report by PGP showed that 70% of all data breaches were down to insider failings, not outside hackers.
Sunday, 10 May 2009
Scope Phase II scrapped - multi-million pound secret IT communications system scrapped by British government
It has been revealed that the government have had to scrap another major IT project. This one was a secret communications network called Scope and the plug has been pulled during the attempted implementation of phase II.
Friday, 8 May 2009
US top secret missile defence system details on EBay hard drive
For the fourth time BT's information research team have carried out a random study of second-hand computer equipment to see if there is any significant data to be retrieved.
Some of the data found included patent medical records, security logs from embassy's, trading figures for a major fashion house and automotive manufacturer and details of a 50 billion proposed currency exchange.
Companies still do not grasp the importance of hard-drive disposal, if you need help contact FaberBrent.
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Medical details hacked and held for $10 million ransom
In a shocking (but inevitable) development of cybercrime, a criminal group have claimed that they have stolen and encrypted 8.3 million patient records from the Virginia government.
Whilst this claim remains unsubstantiated at the moment (including claims they have stolen their back-up data) there is no doubt that this type of crime will increase.
1,258,862 email addresses; 1,235,122 windows passwords; 8,300 banking login's...this is what the Torpig botnet achieved in 10 days
The University of California took control of a well known botnet for 10 days with some shocking results.
They were monitoring over 180,000 hacked computers and this gave a facinating and very worrying insight into the data that the criminals have access to.
Yet another call for mobile data encryption
Computing magazine have written a full article calling for the encryption of all public mobile data storage.
Lack of security awareness and training is the cause of most data breaches
At Infosec 2009 John Colley (managing director of ICS2) confirmed what we have been saying for a long time; the biggest risk to information security is people, not systems and the most effective thing you can do to minimise this risk is to educate.
Sounds like he has been reading our recent article on Security International.
Sounds like he has been reading our recent article on Security International.
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Wire-free wiretaps
More information from the recently released 2008 wiretap report from the US.
Interesting analysis shows the trend away from traditional monitoring to far more prolific and successful wireless surveillance.
1 million social security numbers stolen from a car!
Some things in life are challenging and some things are easy.
Knowing that you must never leave your laptop in an unattended vehicle as there is a high risk of theft is basic. Carying a laptop with no significant security measures containing 1 million social security numbers is criminal.
Knowing that you must never leave your laptop in an unattended vehicle as there is a high risk of theft is basic. Carying a laptop with no significant security measures containing 1 million social security numbers is criminal.
Sunday, 3 May 2009
Government moving ahead with total Internet monitoring
So once again we have been misled by our spin orientated goverment.
Dispite Jacqui Smith making public statements about scrapping a central database to monitor all email and communications traffic it has been revealed (although not a supprise to some of us) that GCHQ's 'Mastering the Internet' or MTI program is already 1 year in, and costing £1 billion over 3 years.
Dispite Jacqui Smith making public statements about scrapping a central database to monitor all email and communications traffic it has been revealed (although not a supprise to some of us) that GCHQ's 'Mastering the Internet' or MTI program is already 1 year in, and costing £1 billion over 3 years.
This program is effectivly creating a master database by installing monitoring systems at ISP's and network hubs.
This contract has been split between Lockheed Martin and Detica who are all bound by the OSA (Official Secrets Act) not to reveal details; but for some reason GCHQ saw fit to place a job advert whose tasks include “operational responsibility for the ‘Mastering the Internet’ (MTI) contract”
Thursday, 30 April 2009
Can hackers steal your data from your glasses?
Very interesting article about the threat from side-band attacks.
Whilst this kind of technique has many challenges the concept of monitoring reflective surfaces with a telescope is a classic.
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
US burglars target small business PC's in mass robbery
In one of the first reported cases of its type a business centre in Los Angeles has been the victim of a systematic robbery where over 60 small businesses have lost there computers.
The overnight theft has left an array of different businesses (including attorneys, real-estate management and talent agencies) trying to assess the damage.
For some occupants this may well be terminal event for their business.
It is probably safe to assume that this kind of targeted computer theft will increase, it you want to know how to avoid becoming a victim contact FaberBrent.
UK identity theft up 40%
The first quarter of 2009 has shown a 40% increase in identity theft according to Cifas, the UK's fraud prevention organisation.
We all need to keep a keen eye out for scams, phishing and unsolicited requests and if in doubt, shred.
Sunday, 26 April 2009
Lost business laptops cost the company an average of $50,000 each
A new survey has attempted to quantify the average cost of lost business laptops.
In a survey covering 138 seperate lost laptop incidents losses were calculated using several factors including data breach cost, loss of productivity, investigative costs and other variables.
The minimum damage in the survey was $1,200 and the biggest loss was just short of $1M!
London workers will sell company secrets - for a price
One in three London workers (out of a survey of 600) said they would be prepared to sell their company data and information for the right price.
The amount of access they have is a real eye-opener. Levels of access include; customer data bases (83%); business plans (72%); accounting systems (53%); human resources databases (51%); and IT admin passwords (37%).
The amount of access they have is a real eye-opener. Levels of access include; customer data bases (83%); business plans (72%); accounting systems (53%); human resources databases (51%); and IT admin passwords (37%).
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