security/news
A single smartphone can DoS federal wiretaps
As the telecommunications world went wireless and digital, the tried-and-true method law enforcement agencies used for wiretaps—splicing into the local loop—was in danger of becoming an anachronism. In 1994, Congress passed the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act , which required telecommunications switches to incorporate a capacity for government monitoring of phone calls and other communications. That requirement ultimately produced an ANSI standard, J-STD-025, that dictated the capabilities of the hardware interface used by law enforcement agencies.
Continue reading »Data breach notifications one step closer to law… again
Every time there’s a major data breach in retail or government, there’s a chorus of frustrated customers trying to find out whether their information was exposed to would-be identity thieves. The problem is that it’s near impossible to find out this information unless the organization in question takes the initiative to notify customers with exposed data. This, quite frankly, happens very slowly.
Continue reading »Cyberattacks: Espionage now, sabotage soon
In April 2009, the US National Academies of Science suggested that it was time for the US to get serious about cyberwarfare , setting official policy for its offensive use and spearheading the development of international norms governing its deployment. Less than three months later, the US and Korea were each hit by a series of network-based attacks that are thought to have originated in North Korea.
Continue reading »Nigeria actually arrests, shuts down online scammers
It turns out Nigeria is taking measures to fight Internet scams—law enforcement there has shut down close to a thousand websites and made 18 arrests as part of a new initiative to save the nation’s reputation and crack down on Internet scammers. The program, called “Project Eagle Claw,” has only just begun, but Nigerian officials expect it to be fully operational in 2010. Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) described the initiative as “a renewed bid to clap down” (*clap clap*?) on Internet fraudsters.
Continue reading »Americans fear online robberies more than meatspace muggings
A new survey shows, perhaps unsurprisingly, that more Americans are worried about being robbed online than they are about being mugged in real life. The bi-annual Unisys Security Index found that Americans fear fraudulent use of their personal credit and debit cards significantly more than they fear for their personal safety; and, in a change from the previous March survey, Americans fear for the nation’s security even more than they do the security of their finances. Americans are also much more concerned about pandemic flu viruses than they are computer viruses, and they’re a little less concerned about paying their bills than they were in the first half of the year.
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