Spyware and Trojan threats are rising dramatically, now accounting for the majority of the online attacks, a new report reveals. Webroot's latest report shows that during the first quarter of 2006 the number of spyware infections jumped to 87 per cent from 72 per cent in the same period in 2005; a rise of 15 percent.
Category: security
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Interview: Kevin Mitnick On Social-Engineering
Famed hacker says companies need to beware social-engineering techniques used to get sensitive data.
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ScamBaiter Interview – Video
FOX news did a piece on “scambaiting,” where the baiters fight Internet scams, a.k.a. 419 scams. They waste the scammers' time and resources chasing a payday that never comes. Includes an interview with a guy who collects fake checks from scammers trying to “buy” laptops. He sends them junk and sticks them with the shipping fee (in cash).
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Yahoo mail worm author merely job hunting
A person claiming to be the author of Monday's Yamanner worm that targeted an unpatched vulnerability in Yahoo's mail application has contacted several security vendors, asking them for a job.
The security industry collectively told him to get lost. -
Homeland Security accepts fake ID
information used by retired cop to enter
–>place of birth as “Tijuana, B.C.”
–>address as “123 Fraud Blvd.”
thats funny -
More of your information might be online than you think
“If you are worried about a thief stealing your identity, it's not your wallet that needs guarding — it's your state and local governments.”
The “Virginia Watchdog” has raised security/privacy consciousness 10 fold. Her name is BJ Ostergren she runs www.TheVirginiaWatchdog.com
She is a heroine for modern privacy concerns. The Virginia Watchdog is attempting to save what is left of our privacy by getting in the face local politicians.
Check out her interview with CNN and the Washington Post.
While there are some reactive and proactive measure that you can take to guard against ID theft, it is a bit disconcerting to think that no matter how many bank statements and bill invoices you shred all your data can be stolen from an office like the DMV or VA that has all of your personal information.
It is bad when government employees lose a database of personal records but in my opinion it is much worse if they make your social security number public on purpose.
“Public records laws were designed to shed the light on government activities, not our personal information,” said Kerry Smith, an attorney with Public Interest Research Groups, a coalition of state consumer advocacy organizations. States are “clearly not striking the right balance when they release our Social Security numbers — the key to our financial identity — to commercial data brokers and anyone with access to the Internet.”
The major move of hard copes to softcopies came from a string of laws that were set forth in the 90's:
Federal, state and local government agencies have complied the paperless government laws. Now those electronic documents are finding their way on Internet. These documents include mortgage, tax and property anything you might find as the County Clerks office. The data (a portion of your digital signature: name, DOB, SSN) is (in some cases) being bought and sold to the highest bidder.
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Big Microsoft Brother
Yet another take on the Microsoft Spyware issue: Who wouldn't trust a company that hid built-in spyware on every Windows-based PC in the land?
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Microsoft is Taking More & More Information
In short, Microsoft is admitting to pulling even more information from your PCs — such as your IP address and date and timestamp data “relating to systems' booting and continued operations.”
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Judge denies Bush's request to summarily dismiss anti-wiretapping lawsuit
“The ACLU wants the program halted immediately, arguing that it violates the rights to free speech and privacy, and says the government has already publicly revealed enough information about the program for Taylor to find it illegal. The Bush administration wants Taylor to dismiss the lawsuit.”
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Phishing Attempt
I personally haven't seen a phishing attempt in a little over a year. This is not an “official” story by any means but never the less it's a pretty good attempt at obtaining all of your information.