Archive for Crime
Author: Dave Lewis
May 6, 2008 at 7:32 am · Filed under Crime
[UPDATE]: Pedophile captured! (Thurs. May 8th)
Wayne Nelson Corliss, 57, was arrested at his apartment in Union City, New Jersey, about midnight Thursday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Interpol said in a written statement.
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Interpol has sent out a request for help this morning and we’re only too happy to pass the word along.
From INTERPOL:
INTERPOL is asking for the public’s help in identifying a man pictured sexually abusing children in a series of images found on the Internet and retrieved from the computer of a convicted paedophile.
The man, whose name, nationality and location are unknown is featured in approximately 100 images in a series of around 800, which are believed to have been taken in Southeast Asia and depict the sexual abuse of at least three boys aged between six and 10 years old. The first pictures of the man were originally discovered by police in Norway in March 2006.
“The law enforcement community around the world has done all it can to find this man who clearly presents a danger to young children, and we are now asking the public to help identify this predator and protect other potential victims from abuse,” said INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.
“When we made a similar appeal last year, it was information provided by the public which helped identify and locate Christopher Paul NEIL, who is now in jail facing child abuse charges. We hope that people around the world will again play a vital role in tracing this man who could otherwise continue to sexually abuse young children.”
If you have ANY information on who this jackhole might be please contact your local police department who can refer to INTERPOL.
Pass it on.
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Author: Dave Lewis
April 29, 2008 at 7:35 am · Filed under Crime, Malware
Microsoft releases botnet hunting tool to law enforcement.
From Network World:
Botnet fighters have another tool in their arsenal, thanks to Microsoft.
The software vendor is giving law enforcers access to a special tool that keeps tabs on botnets, using data compiled from the 450 million computer users who have installed the Malicious Software Removal tool that ships with Windows.
Although Microsoft is reluctant to give out details on its botnet buster — the company said that even revealing its name could give cyber criminals a clue on how to thwart it — company executives discussed it at a closed door conference held for law enforcement professionals Monday. The tool includes data and software that helps law enforcers get a better picture of the data being provided by Microsoft’s users, said Tim Cranton, associate general counsel with Microsoft’s World Wide Internet Safety Programs. “I think of it … as botnet intelligence,” he said.
Read on for the full article.
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Author: Dave Lewis
April 10, 2008 at 12:52 pm · Filed under Crime, Hacker
There is a growing trend in the “echo” generation. They’re knee deep in the social networking world without a care for consequences of hacking. It’s amazing how many times I see the MySpace denizens act as if they have some sort of anonymity. News flash folks, you don’t.
From CNET:
On Thursday morning, at this year’s RSA conference in San Francisco, Chris Boyd of Facetime and I will present a talk “How to Adapt to the Echo Generation’s Social Media Hacking Game.” The following is a preview of that talk, presented in three parts. On Tuesday we learned who the Echo Generation are. Wednesday we saw how they use online social media for hacks. Today, we’ll see how Chris uses features of social networks and Web 2.0 to shut these kids down.
Known as the Sherlock Holmes of France, famed criminologist Edmond Locard once said that every contact between two items leaves a trace, and that’s also true when talking about online crimes. IP addresses are left behind with every site we visit. Posts to newsgroups remain accessible via Google long after the initial discussion has ceased to have relevance. And there’s also that embarrassing MySpace page that was started but abandoned years ago that’s still active. So when a person suddenly decides to commit an online crime, all that prior online history follows them, and that’s a good thing for Chris Boyd, director of malware research at Facetime Security Labs.
Have a read of the full piece by Robert Vamosi. A very interesting article.
Article Link
Tags: Social Media, Social Media Hacker, Online Crime
Author: Dave Lewis
March 31, 2008 at 8:40 am · Filed under Crime, Hacker, ID Theft
This morning brings word of another data breach. This time the victim was the Irish employment site Jobs.ie.
From Ireland.com:
Jobs.ie would not say how many of its clients had been affected, but said it had now fixed the security breach.
The clients whose information was taken are at risk from identity fraud and “phishing”, where criminals, often posing as a well-known, legitimate company, use the information gleaned to try to extract further personal and financial information from their victims.
It is understood that the hackers used an illegally obtained log-in and password given to employers who are registered with Jobs.ie to access the job applications area of the site. They then downloaded personal information from CVs submitted, along with job applications.
Most of the stolen information relates to archive CVs rather than those of people now looking for jobs.
The company, which is owned by businessman Denis O’Brien, has in recent days contacted those affected to warn them of the possibility that they may receive e-mails from people using their information.
“All of the people affected have been contacted and informed of the situation. We have urged them to exercise extra vigilance with inbound e-mails in the coming weeks to ensure online security,” a spokeswoman said.
Read on.
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Author: Dave Lewis
March 20, 2008 at 7:44 am · Filed under Crime, Legal Aspects
I still loath that “cyber” word. Anyway, this is an interesting article that comes on the heels of one a couple weeks ago wherein the Australian police made it known that they want the ability to track computer crime suspects wherever they might be.
An group of international cyber cops is ramping up plans to fight online crime across borders.
The unit, known as the Strategic Alliance Cyber Crime Working Group, met this month in London and is made up of high-level online law enforcement representatives from the FBI, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. One of the main goals of the group, which was founded in 2006, is to fight cyber crime in a common way by sharing intelligence, swapping tools and best practices, and strengthening and synchronizing their respective laws.
And it has its work cut out for it.
The Government Accountability Office last year said there is concern about threats that nation-states and terrorists pose to our national security through attacks on US computer-reliant critical infrastructures and theft of our sensitive information.
Read on.
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Author: Dave Lewis
March 20, 2008 at 7:31 am · Filed under Crime
This is an interesting article.
From Declan McCullagh’s posting today over on CNet:
A CNET News.com review of legal documents shows that courts have approved of this technique, even though it raises questions about entrapment, the problems of identifying who’s using an open wireless connection–and whether anyone who clicks on a FBI link that contains no child pornography should be automatically subject to a dawn raid by federal police.
Roderick Vosburgh, a doctoral student at Temple University who also taught history at La Salle University, was raided at home in February 2007 after he allegedly clicked on the FBI’s hyperlink. Federal agents knocked on the door around 7 a.m., falsely claiming they wanted to talk to Vosburgh about his car. Once he opened the door, they threw him to the ground outside his house and handcuffed him.
Vosburgh was charged with violating federal law, which criminalizes “attempts” to download child pornography with up to 10 years in prison. Last November, a jury found Vosburgh guilty on that count, and a sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 22, at which point Vosburgh could face three to four years in prison.
The implications of the FBI’s hyperlink-enticement technique are sweeping. Using the same logic and legal arguments, federal agents could send unsolicited e-mail messages to millions of Americans advertising illegal narcotics or child pornography–and raid people who click on the links embedded in the spam messages. The bureau could register the “unlawfulimages.com” domain name and prosecute intentional visitors. And so on.
“The evidence was insufficient for a reasonable jury to find that Mr. Vosburgh specifically intended to download child pornography, a necessary element of any ‘attempt’ offense,” Vosburgh’s attorney, Anna Durbin of Ardmore, Penn., wrote in a court filing that is attempting to overturn the jury verdict before her client is sentenced.
Read the full article.
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Author: Dave Lewis
March 17, 2008 at 7:12 am · Filed under Crime, Hacker, Malware
As part of Operation Bot Roast a hacker named, Robert Matthew Bentley, 21, of Panama City, Florida has plead guilty to a pair of felony counts. Bently, who at times used the moniker LSDigital, was responsible in part for a massive botnet that spanned the globe.
From the Register UK:
An indictment alleged that Bentley and his cronies generated “thousands of dollars” from their botnets. According to court papers signed last week by Bentley, he had applied for an account with DollarRevenue.com, which “pays others for, among other things, the unauthorized intrusion and placement of adware on to vulnerable computers.”
The bot masters, at least one of whom was located in Philadelphia, used the domain name smokedro.com as a command and control channel. They breached Newell Rubbermaid using at least three malicious files bearing the names 84785_redworld[1].exe, mssecure.exe and msiupdate.exe.
Under terms agreed to in the plea agreement, Bentley may qualify for “the granting of relief” if he provides “substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of other persons who have committed offenses.”
Ah, the carrot. So will he turn on his fellow ne’er do wells?
Article Link
Author: Dave Lewis
February 29, 2008 at 1:05 pm · Filed under Crime, Hardware
Just in.
From the Standard:
U.S. and Canadian law enforcement authorities have seized more than US$78 million worth of counterfeit Cisco Systems networking equipment in an ongoing investigation into imports from China, the U.S. Department of Justice and other agencies announced Friday.
The coordinated operation, begun in 2005, has resulted in more than 400 seizures of Cisco hardware and labels, the DOJ said in a news release. The operation targets the illegal importation and sale of counterfeit network hardware such as routers, switches and network cards. One of the operation’s goals is to protect the public from network infrastructure failures associated with the counterfeits, the DOJ said.
“Counterfeit network hardware entering the marketplace raises significant public safety concerns and must be stopped,” Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher of the DOJ’s Criminal Division, said in a statement. “It is critically important that network administrators in both private sector and government perform due diligence in order to prevent counterfeit hardware from being installed on their networks.”
The agencies that worked together on the operation included the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cyber Division, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
$2 million worth of the bust was captured in Toronto today. No word on who exactly was selling it at this point.
Article Link
Tags: Fake Cisco Gear, Chinese Cisco Gear, Operation Cisco Raider, China Cisco, CSCO
Author: Dave Lewis
February 28, 2008 at 9:21 am · Filed under Crime, Malware
Rumblings about potential German police trojans and spyware seem to raised that hackles of the high court. This isn’t really anything new as the Supreme Court in Germany smacked down the use of hacking by German police over a year ago.
From BBC:
Germany’s highest court has restricted the right of the security services to spy on the computers of suspected criminals and terrorists.
Under the technique, software sent in an email enables the authorities to spy on a suspect’s computer hard drive.
The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe said cyber spying violated individuals’ right to privacy and could be used only in exceptional cases.
Civil liberties activists have warned of an unacceptable invasion of privacy.
The case - which began last year - was brought after the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia allowed officials to begin using the technique.
Court President Hans-Juergen Papier said that using such software contravened rights enshrined in Germany’s constitution, adding that the decision would serve as a precedent across the country.
So, the court said no and the police continue to develop? Who is leading this parade?
Article Link
Tags: Crime, German Police Trojans, LE Trojan
Author: Dave Lewis
February 22, 2008 at 3:13 pm · Filed under Crime, ID Theft, Privacy
You know, it never fails to amaze me how people can spin an incident. I was reading the Globe and Mail this morning and I read that a laptop with the personal information on 28,000 students was stolen from a Newfoundland school board. On the face of it that is bad news. But, it gets compounded when the Eastern School District school board issues a statement such as this,
The board said the computers were password protected and therefore limit access to the personal information.
While not inaccurate it is misleading to say the least. It’s trivial to bypass a password on a Windows machine which I’m assuming it is. Well, I guess they are trying to save face.
From the Globe and Mail:
Police in Newfoundland are investigating the theft of a school board laptop computer that contains the personal information of nearly 30,000 students.
The Eastern School District said in a statement Thursday that four laptops were stolen Sunday from an office in St. John’s.
One of the laptops contained an electronic database of bussing information for about 28,000 students.
The school board said the information includes names, grade levels, health card numbers, addresses, phone numbers and the names of parents and guardians.
Article Link
Tags: Laptop Theft, Personal Data Stolen, NFLD Laptop Stolen
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