Somehow, journalists fail to notice these minor inconsistencies in their stories. How will you convince a jury to convict when the “victim” claims it never happened?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/26/philippines-usa-idUSL4E7MQ01Z20111126?type=companyNews&feedType=RSS&feedName=companyNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FcompanyNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Company+News%29

Philippines say arrested hackers funded by Saudi group

Philippine police and the FBI have arrested four people that Manila said were paid by a militant Saudi Arabian-based group to hack into U.S. telecom AT&T's system, but the company said it was neither targeted nor breached.

… "The hacking activity resulted in almost $2 million in losses incurred by the company," the CIDG said in a statement.

… Police said the suspects had hacked into the trunk-lines of different telecom companies, including AT&T, with revenues diverted to accounts of the unnamed Saudi-based group.

… Last month, Philippine police said weak laws against cyber crime and poor technical capabilities had made the country an attractive base for organised crime syndicates involved in cyber pornography, cyber sex dens, illegal gambling, credit card fraud and identity theft.

Tis the season! (A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and identity theft in the check out line)

http://www.databreaches.net/?p=21835

Save Mart warns customers to check accounts after skimmers found in 20 stores

November 25, 2011 by admin

Rick Hurd reports:

Modesto-based Save Mart Supermarkets is warning customers at several of its Bay Area stores that their personal banking information may have been compromised.

The company issued a news release Wednesday saying that upon routine maintenance, [Weekly or annual maintenance? Bob] store employees found credit and debit card readers that had been tampered with in the self-checkout lanes of 19 Lucky stores and one Save Mart store.

Read more on Modesto Bee.

[From the article:

The company said the tampered card readers were replaced [Does this suggest that the 'bad guys' replaced the original card readers? Bob] and that enhanced security was added to all of its 234 stores.

When they say this is the minimum you should do, then really mean minimum!

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/028846.html

November 24, 2011

FCC Launches the Small Biz Cyber Planner

News release: "The FCC is launching the Small Biz Cyber Planner, an online resource to help small businesses create customized cybersecurity plans. This is the result of an unprecedented public-private partnership between government experts and private IT and security companies, including DHS, NCSA, NIST, The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, The Chertoff Group, Symantec, Sophos, Visa, Microsoft, HP, McAfee, The Identity Theft Council, ADP and others. The online tool is available at FCC.gov/cyberplanner. By almost any measure small businesses have an outsized impact on our economy and it is critically important that small businesses, a vibrant engine for job and idea creation, are secure using the many broadband enabled tools they need to efficiently run their businesses. According to a survey released in October, 2011 by Symantec and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), two-thirds of U.S. small businesses rely on broadband Internet for their day-to-day operations. This effort is part of an ongoing program to raise awareness about the cybersecurity risks to small businesses and to help these businesses become cyber-secure. Earlier this year, the FCC and a coalition of public and private-sector partners developed a cybersecurity tip sheet, which includes tips to educate business owners about basic steps they can take immediately to protect their companies. The tip sheet is available at FCC.gov/cyberforsmallbiz".

We probably need more than a map marked “Here be dragons!” but it's better than nothing.

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/028848.html

November 24, 2011

Mapping the Mal Web - The world’s riskiest domains

Mapping the Mal Web - The world’s riskiest domains, by Barbara Kay, CISSP, Secure by Design Group and Paula Greve, Director of Research, McAfee Labs

• "McAfee has found overall web risk is up from last year. We saw increasing risk in some already risky portions of the web, such as .INFO; some significant reductions in risk within last year’s riskiest TLDs, especially Singapore (.SG) and Venezuela (.VE); and some new areas of concern, including Vietnam (.VN), Armenia (.AM), and Poland (.PL). Next time you search for a celebrity photo or “how to” hint, pay special attention to the top-level domains (TLDs), the last few characters at the end of the URL in the search results. In this year’s Mapping the Mal Web study, McAfee found that web risk climbed to a record 6.2% of more than 27 million live domains we evaluated for this report. If users don’t click with care, simply viewing a page can return much more than they bargained for. This year, more websites contain malicious code that steals passwords and identity information, takes advantage of security holes in browsers, or secretly installs the ingredients that turn computers into zombies...

It's for the children! All immunizations are perfectly safe – trust us!

In Australia, Immunize Or Lose Benefits

An anonymous reader writes with news of a plan from the Australian government to cut down on the number of kids who aren't vaccinated. The new scheme will deny family tax benefits to parents whose children don't pass immunization checks. Quoting:

"The FTB supplement, worth $726 per child each year, will now only be paid once a child is fully immunized at these checks. Families are already required to have their child fully immunized to receive Child Care Benefit and the Child Care Rebate. Children will also be required for the first time to be vaccinated against meningococcal C, pneumococcal and chicken pox. Children will also be immunized against measles, mumps and rubella earlier, at 18 months instead of the current four years of age."

Only 9?

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/11/reasons-to-wear-tinfoil-hats/?pid=202&viewall=true

9 Reasons Wired Readers Should Wear Tinfoil Hats

...because sometimes the cab driver doesn't know he needs protection until days, even months after the fact? How many police officers are dedicated to cab image scanning?

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=25861

Cn: Taxi cab recorders bring up privacy doubts

November 25, 2011 by Dissent

It’s not just Oxford City Council‘s plans to install recorders in cabs that has people concerned. Wu Yiyao reports that similar systems are already in place in China:

Wide debate has arisen over the video cameras and sound recorders that have been installed in as many as 6,000 taxis in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province.

Critics say the devices infringe upon privacy.

But Xu Hong, director with the Nanjing passenger transportation management office, said they are in fact meant to protect the safety of drivers and the rights of passengers.

The cabs’ recorders will run 24 hours a day and their cameras will be able to take eight pictures a minute.

The sound recordings will be stored in a data collector inside the taxis while the images will be transferred using a global positioning system to the police and to transportation management authorities. If a taxi driver feels endangered, he can press an emergency button that will make the camera start recording uninterruptedly and then send a report to the police.

Read more on China Daily.

It's the little things that make me suspicious...

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=25884

Biometrics Institute to launch privacy charter

November 25, 2011 by Dissent

Lisa Banks reports:

The Biometrics Institute has announced the launch of its international privacy charter, with the document set to be released next week in Canberra.

Biometrics Institute general manager, Isabelle Moeller, said the guide will provide hands on information to the public about how to follow best practice privacy principals.

Read more on ComputerWorld (AU)

[From the article:

The Institute, earlier this year, released survey results that showed there has been an increase in the number of people who accept biometrics' growing role in society.

Avoiding US spying is both trivial and good business?

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=25869

Swedish Cloud DBaaS Avoids Patriot Privacy Snag

November 25, 2011 by Dissent

Eric Doyle reports:

Two Swedish companies are taking advantage of the US Patriot Act to drum up some European business.

Severalnines, which offers automation and management software for cloud database provisioning, and the City Network hosting company have banded together to produce “a fully European Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) solution”. The Severalnines DataCloud service is still in beta under the name of the City Cloud Database Service but is ready to take customers on board.

Read more on eWeek.

This is clever. A you-define-it sensor!

http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/25/twine-foreshadows-a-future-where-all-objects-talk-to-the-internet/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

‘Twine’ Foreshadows A Future Where All Objects Talk To The Internet

Want to be notified to turn on the AC when a room reaches a certain temperature? Or when your laundry’s done? Well MIT Media Lab alumni Supermechanical have built Twine, a sleek 2.5″ rubber square which connects to Wifi and allows objects to “communicate” under certain conditions.

The Twine, which reminds me of a Square from a design simplicity perspective, comes with a web app, ‘Spool’ which allows you to program its sensors with natural language rules like “When: accelerometer is at rest, Then: Tweet” in the case of the laundry done thing, for example.

You can hook up the battery operated Twine to communicate through SMS, Twitter, Email and even HTTP requests if you’re into that sort of thing.

The basic Twine comes with an internal temperature sensor and an internal accelerometer, and the Twine guys are making optional external sensors including a magnetic switch for doors, a moisture sensor and a breakout board for those of you that want to create your own DIY sensor action.

For my techie/geeky students

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/programr-run-programs-in-browser/

Programr: Code, Compile & Run Programs In Your Browser

One of the biggest handicaps when trying to learn a new programming language is the lack of proper tools. These may include having access to a server, installing databases and many other tools before you can even write a single line of code. Programr changes all that by letting you do everything in your browser window.

… Supported languages include Java, C++, PHP, C#, J2EE, FLEX, Javascript, AJAX and more. In addition to these, you can also create apps for iPhones and even games. You can create a program/app from scratch or modify an existing one that other users may have saved. Once created, your program can be compiled right within the same browser window with a single click and also executed without requiring additional resources. Each chunk of code can also be downloaded, saved to your profile or embedded anywhere.

Programr is also a social network for programmers. You can browse programs created by other users, post comments on them, view similar programs, see a programmers profile and contact them if needed. It lets you browse programs by language, or programs that have been recently created along with searching for programs using keyword. Programr also has tons of courses that you can take online to learn for a small fees.

www.programr.com