So, where does this put TJX? How would the US react to identity theft originating in Europe or Asia?
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200702/200702050012.html
10,000 Koreans Fell Victim to Overseas Identity Theft
The private data of around 10,000 Koreans who use credit cards associated with Visa, MasterCard and American Express was stolen from a U.S. department store chain last month. Computer hackers were able to access the names, credit card numbers and card expiration dates of millions of customers of TJK Companies retail stores.
The information can be used for fraudulent purchases and cash advances. Accordingly, credit card companies have stepped up their efforts to prevent more serious abuse.
The credit card industry announced Sunday that an intruder had gained access to the databases of TJX Companies and stole sensitive information of about 40 million card users [This number keeps appearing... Why? Bob] including 10,000 Koreans.
... After the U.S. credit card firms informed Korean companies of the compromised information, it was revealed that some cards issued in Korea were involved. Domestic credit card firms have begun to notify their customers. Although the credit card firms in Korea have not revealed precisely how many local customers are at risk, the number is estimated at over 10,000. The extent of fraudulent purchases and cash advances using the stolen information has not been revealed.
Just a guess, but this has to be embarrassing.
http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/29783
Columbia shop ends up with police PC
Computer said to contain sensitive information
By Brett Lovelace, Staff Intelligencer Journal Published: Feb 02, 2007 1:02 AM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - Lancaster County detectives are investigating how a Columbia Police Department computer containing crime-scene photographs, reports and other confidential information wound up in Columbia computer shop.
District Attorney Donald R. Totaro on Wednesday accepted possession of the Dell desktop computer from the shop owner.
“The computer was turned over to this office yesterday by the owner of a computer-repair business who received it as a trade-in for a used computer system,” Totaro said in a statement Thursday. “I am not at liberty to answer any other questions at this time.”
The computer contains thousands of graphic photographs of autopsies, fatal vehicle accidents and bloody crime scenes, the shop owner said.
... Harper said he viewed the images Wednesday at the computer shop and copied them onto a compact disc. [Soon on a web site near you! Bob] He later confronted Greenya at the police station about the discovery.
Harper said Greenya told him the police department replaced their computers about three years ago and that the old computers are stored in the police station.
U.S. Set to Begin a Vast Expansion of DNA Sampling
By JULIA PRESTON February 5, 2007
The Justice Department is completing rules to allow the collection of DNA from most people arrested or detained by federal authorities, a vast expansion of DNA gathering that will include hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, by far the largest group affected.
The new forensic DNA sampling was authorized by Congress in a little-noticed amendment to a January 2006 renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, which provides protections and assistance for victims of sexual crimes. The amendment permits DNA collecting from anyone under criminal arrest by federal authorities, and also from illegal immigrants detained by federal agents.
Over the last year, the Justice Department has been conducting an internal review and consulting with other agencies to prepare regulations to carry out the law.
The goal, justice officials said, is to make the practice of DNA sampling as routine as fingerprinting for anyone detained by federal agents, including illegal immigrants. Until now, federal authorities have taken DNA samples only from convicted felons.
... Peter Neufeld, a lawyer who is a co-director of the Innocence Project, which has exonerated dozens of prison inmates using DNA evidence, said the government was overreaching by seeking to apply DNA sampling as universally as fingerprinting.
“Whereas fingerprints merely identify the person who left them,” Mr. Neufeld said, “DNA profiles have the potential to reveal our physical diseases and mental disorders. It becomes intrusive when the government begins to mine our most intimate matters.”
Immigration lawyers said they did not learn of the measure when it passed last year and were dismayed by its sweeping scope. [Shame on them! Bob]
... While the proposed rules have not been finished, justice officials said they were certain to bring a huge new workload for the F.B.I. laboratory that logs, analyzes and stores federal DNA samples. Federal Bureau of Investigation officials said they anticipated an increase ranging from 250,000 to as many as 1 million samples a year.
... The profiles are loaded into a database called the National DNA Index System.
The F.B.I. also loads DNA profiles from local and state police into the federal database and runs searches. Only seven states now collect DNA from suspects when they are arrested; of those, only two states are authorized by their laws to send those samples to the federal database.
.. Many groups warned that the measure would compound already severe backlogs in the F.B.I.’s DNA processing.
Tools & Techniques: When government monitoring isn't enough? Page 3 shows a more secure credit card, and page 5 illustrates a response to Mad Cow disease.
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/5863e31a4d630110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html
The Future of Personal Security
High-tech security isn't just for the airport anymore. Advances now coming out of the labs will help protect what's dear to you, from your car to your kids, your dinner to your dinero
By Gregory Mone and Elizabeth Svoboda. Illustrations by Graham Murdoch | February 2007
What would you do with this site, if you were an evil hacker?
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/stories/2007/02/04/0204cdchack.html
Hackers break into CDC's Web site
Computers used to visit site could have virus
By ALISON YOUNG The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 02/04/07
Computer hackers tapped into a Web site at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week, planting a virus that has possibly infected computers used by people who visited the site, agency officials said.
CDC's podcast site, www.cdc.gov/podcasts, which contains audio and video on a variety of public health topics, has been taken off the agency's Web site and is expected to be down for at least a few days.
"At this time, CDC does not have any evidence that sensitive information has been compromised in any way. [Red flag! Bob] However, it is possible that computers used by visitors to CDC's site may have been infected with a computer virus," the agency said in a news item posted Saturday evening at www.cdc.gov.
"Users that visited the site Thursday morning should ensure their computer has been scanned for viruses."
The Atlanta-based agency became aware on Thursday morning that the podcast site had been hacked, the news release said.
"As a precaution, CDC has removed the Podcast site and we anticipate the site will be down for the next few days. We are working to make sure the Podcast site is safe, and we will repost it in a few days," the agency said.
"The virus entered the system Thursday morning and within just a few hours we had deactivated the site," CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said. During that window of time, the CDC estimates there were "several hundred" visits to the podcasts Web site, he said. Skinner said he did not have any information Sunday about the nature of the virus.
"The investigation is ongoing, but we believe if there is going to be a problem, hopefully it will be limited in scope because of the fact we were able to detect the virus and take the site down," Skinner said.
Since CDC launched its podcasts Web site in July, the podcasts homepage has received 40,000 visits, Skinner said. Information about how many podcast subscribers and users may be affected by the site being down was unavailable Sunday.
What amazes me is that 42% of any group agree on a definition of porn.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/K/KIDS_ONLINE_PORN?SITE=VALYD&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Study: More Kids Exposed to Online Porn
By LINDSEY TANNER AP Medical Writer Feb 5, 6:14 AM EST
Researcher Janis Wolak (WAH'-luk) says her study found a large percentage of kids ten to 17 years old have seen online porn.
CHICAGO (AP) -- More children and teens are being exposed to online pornography, mostly by accidentally viewing sexually explicit Web sites while surfing the Internet, researchers say.
Forty-two percent of Internet users aged 10 to 17 surveyed said they had seen online pornography in a recent 12-month span. Of those, 66 percent said they did not want to view the images and had not sought them out, University of New Hampshire researchers found. Their conclusions appear in February's Pediatrics, due out Monday.
... Online pornography was defined in the study as images of naked people or people having sex.
"It's so common now, who hasn't seen something like that?" said Emily Duhovny, 17.
The Marlboro, N.J., high school senior said X-rated images pop up all the time when she's online. Duhovny said the first time she saw one, it was shocking, but now, "more than anything, it's just annoying."
... Still, many survey participants said they were not disturbed by what they saw, and Wolak said research is needed to determine how exposure to online pornography affects kids.
Just in case you missed the most important parts...
http://www.cbs.sportsline.com/nfl/postseason/superads
For my Statistics class...
http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Why_IQ_Matters_pic
Why IQ Matters (pic)
A great table correlating IQ to career potential, poverty, and incarceration, among other things.
http://photos1.blogger.com/photoInclude/blogger/6858/1116/1600/1198gottfred_table.gif
Useful?
http://www.researchbuzz.org/wp/2007/02/04/database-of-open-source-educational-content/
February 4, 2007
Database of Open Source Educational Content
Thanks to reader KM who sent me a note about a site called the OER Commons. The OER (Open Educational Resources) Common is a database of open source content related to education. It’s available at http://www.oercommons.org/.
[And two more...
http://www.ocwconsortium.org/ OpenCourseWare Consortium
http://lifehacker.com/software/education/technophilia-get-a-free-college-education-online-201979.php
Technophilia: get a free college education online
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