Phishers appear to be growing more imaginative, perhaps as a sign of growing consumer sophistication about their tactics. I have just received a phishing email that seems to play on phishing scam fears by asking users not to give information away, but then directing them to a website where they Read more…
The sad case of the ‘Star Wars kid‘ in Canada has been settled out of court. A teenager in Quebec made a video where he emulated the double lightsabre famously wielded by Darth Maul. The video was released on the internet by three other students, labeled as the “Star Wars Read more…
Can people “steal” wifi? A man in Illinois has been fined $250 USD and given a one year suspended sentence for sitting in his car at 2 AM and accessing an open Wifi network belonging to a charity. This poses several interesting legal questions . Many legal systems now have Read more…
Two hackers from the international group THr34t-Krew (do you l33t?) have been sentenced by a Newcaste court for conspiracy to cause unauthorised modification of computers with intent, or in plain language, for writing a worm that did not even create a lot of problems, but had the potential for great Read more…
A new security threat has been uncovered. The keys on a keyboard can be digitally recorded and used to determine what’s been written. Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley (where else?) have been using a computer program that can pick up more than 90 percent of key sounds Read more…
This is the name of an amazing documentary shown last night on Channel 4. I could try to describe the circumstances that gave rise to the documentary, but The Guardian does a better job than I could, but I will try a very rough description. Mark, a 16-year-old boy from Read more…
Spyware is back in the news with some chilling warnings regarding a vicious keylogger spyware application called CoolWebSearch. This program used to be mostly an annoyance, it is a browser hijacker, which installs dozens of bookmarks to porn sites, changes the home page and continually changes it back, which can Read more…
I have just received my first phishing email in French. Here it is: Monsieur/Madame le possesseur de carte de crédit MasterCard, Nous sommes désolés de vous informer que nous avons dû bloquer temporairement l’accès à votre carte de crédit pour avoir été avisés qu’il avait été compromis par des personnes Read more…
This is probably not a Nigerian scam, but I don’t know how else to call it. I received it yesterday, and was struck by the change of tactics from scam writers. People are now better informed and will instantly be suspicious of any offer from dodgy bank officials from Ouagadougou, Read more…
An article in today’s Guardian warns about the growing dangers of cybercrime. From phishing to eBay fraud, organised crime is increasingly using the internet to promote some criminal activities. Although this is a growing development, there seems to be a certain luddite stream running through these articles. It is almost Read more…