Tag: Fraud
UK businesses at threat from "evolved" cyber criminal attacks
The CA Internet Security Business Unit have released their latest State of Internet security report, revealing that rogue or fake security software, major search engines, social networks and Web 2.0 threats were the most notable online security issues in 2009….
OPINION: Embrace the spam
So after yesterday’s rubbish McAfee scare-mongering attempt to get us all to sign up for one of its products, us lot here at Tech Digest thought it might be good to take a look at a sample of genuine spam.
You never know, one of those lottery emails just might be the real deal. And what if, one fortunate evening, you find yourself in the company of a willing lady and could actually really do with some herbal Viagra and a winky that’s five times its original size?
Spam could be a life saver. And if nothing else, it’s always very entertaining…
Don't go to (click on) Hong Kong – one-in-five .hk domain names are scams
Fear-spreader and paranoia-monger McAfee has raised panic levels of internet browsers to DEFCON 2 today, with its latest guidance on web sites that will do bad things to your computer when/if you visit them.
And it’s the Hong Kong domains – web sites ending in .hk – that are the biggest causers of trouble. Trouble like having pornography set as your home page, trouble like…
Seattle Spam King faces 26 year sentence
Spam… annoying isn’t it? Not quite as annoying as spending 26 years in the slammer though I’ll bet. That’s what Seattle man Robert Soloway, 28, faces after pleading guilty to electronic mail fraud, ordinary mail fraud, and not filing a tax return three years ago. The latter part doesn’t seem so exciting but this was believed to be when Soloway made over $300,000 from his nefarious internet practices.
Facebook warned again over lack of underage user protection – could face fraud charges too
Facebook’s in yet more trouble, with New York brass demanding it changes its description and lessens its boasts of safety for youngsters – or face fraud charges.
Just last week New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo kicked off over Facebook’s lack of response when investigators, posing as 12 to 14-year-olds…
Limewire fraudster arrested for massive online thievery
That’s an official offence in the UK, y’know: ‘Massive Online Thievery’. Well, it should be. Usually it’s the sort of phrase used by the music industry to describe what happens on P2P file-sharing services like Limewire, but in this case, I’m talking about a bloke using Limewire to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from fellow users.
London is an internet fraudster's paradise
Anti-fraud firm Early Warning has released new figures showing that crafty cockneys are the Brits most likely to be fraudulently obtaining goods over the internet. The company has even worked it out by postcode, identifying SE18 as the ‘Card Fraud Capital of Europe’. Those pesky Thamesmead residents, eh?
Opinion: Facebook numpties deserve to be defrauded!
Jonathan Weinberg writes…
Two days into the week and TWO Facebook security threats appear. The first in The Guardian on Monday warned secret code from FB’s inner-workings had been published on the internet prompting warnings of a security risk for users. Boring! Code, schmode, it’s far too technical.
But then this piece of wonder appeared today in The Times and it’s far more worrying, not least because everyone I know does it – and also because it involves a frog!
Freddi Staur is a cute green frog who has stolen email addresses and mobile phone numbers from users on the social network website – in an experiment to show how easily people give out their personal information to strangers…
Second-hand computers an ID fraudster's paradise
New research from Navigant Consulting suggests that slack handling of computers destined for the second-hand market could make them an identity-thief’s dream.
To demonstrate the potential dangers, the consultancy purchase three second-hand computers last week, and determined that one of them still contained sensitive personal information on the hard drive.
It’s not enough to simply wipe the hard drive using most basic operating system tools, as anyone with some tech knowledge can recover data from a disk that’s supposedly been wiped. Simply dumping the hard drives intact isn’t a good plan either – it’s akin to putting your paper-based financial documents in the waste bin without shredding them first.
One second-hand computer recovered from a community college still contained student and staff details, including names and addresses, budgets, payroll information, photos, and bank account details.
AOL cash in on fear of identity theft, for just £7 a month
AOL seems to have decided that it's time to branch out from their core business of providing Internet access and services, and instead are offering to be a go-between for credit reference agencies and an insurance company.
