DigitMemo.com

Tens of thousands of Britons’ financial details are sold on the internet

Security breaches that are allowing the financial details of tens of thousands of Britons to be sold on the internet are to be investigated by the country’s information watchdog.

Without paying a single penny, The Times downloaded banking information belonging to 32 people, including a High Court deputy judge and a managing director. The private account numbers, PINs and security codes were offered as tasters by illegal hacking sites in the hope that purchases would follow.

Click for more on Websites sell secret bank data and PINs »

Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime.

It’s no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.

In other words, it’s OK to flame someone on a mailing list or in a blog as long as you do it under your real name. Thank Congress for small favors, I guess.

This ridiculous prohibition, which would likely imperil much of Usenet, is buried in the so-called Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act. Criminal penalties include stiff fines and two years in prison.

Click for more on Create an e-annoyance, go to jail »

If you ever have the opportunity to illegally change your grades, think of these two California students - they’re facing up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for exactly that crime.

29-year-old John Escalera and 28-year-old Gustavo Razo were indicted on October 25 for hacking their way into the California State University, Fresno computer system and changing their grades.

According to the charges, Escalara worked in CSUF’s information technology department and was able to slip into the grading database fairly easily.  He allegedly used the password of his supervisor to gain access to some of the university’s most sensitive data banks.

Click for more on Two students charged with hacking into system, changing grades »

AbsolutePoker.com says ‘geek’ hacked system to prove it could be done.

In a case that illustrates the perils of online betting, a leading Internet poker site said Friday that a hacker exploited a security flaw to gain an insurmountable edge in high-stakes, no-limit Texas holdem tournaments — the ability to see his opponents’ hole cards.

The cheater, whose illegitimate winnings were estimated at between $400,000 and $700,000 by one victim, was an employee of AbsolutePoker.com who hacked the system to show that it could be done, said a spokesman for the company, who spoke with msnbc.com on condition of anonymity.

Click for more on Online poker cheating blamed on employee »

A bipartisan bill that would let victims of identity theft seek restitution for money and time they spent repairing their credit history was introduced on Tuesday in the Senate.

Last year, 8.4 million Americans were victims of identity theft, and many were left with a bad credit report, which takes months or years to repair, the lawmakers said. The legislation would also give federal prosecutors more tools to combat identity theft and cybercrime.

Click for more on Bill would let ID theft victims seek restitution »

Washington man accused of faking emergency call that sent armed response to unsuspecting Lake Forest family’s home.

SWAT officers expected to find a victim shot to death, drugs and a belligerent armed suspect when they surrounded the home of an unsuspecting couple, but found they were only a part of a false emergency call caused by a teenager who hacked into the county’s emergency response system, authorities said.

As officers swarmed the home with assault rifles, dogs and a helicopter, a Lake Forest couple and their two toddlers inside their home slept unsuspectingly.

Click for more on Man Hacks 911 System, Sends SWAT on Bogus Raid »

A Washington woman has pleaded guilty to placing a Craigslist ad that caused her aunt’s vacant house to be ransacked. 

Nichole Marie Blackwell placed the ad on March 24th which stated that anyone could come and take “whatever you want”.  Even though the ad was only up for less than two hours, people came and stole everything from the home – they even took the kitchen sink and windows.

Click for more on Woman pleads guilty to fake Craigslist ad »

Yahoo hopes to spur on an industry that has been slow to fight the scourge of so-called phishing attacks.

If you use Yahoo Mail you should be seeing a significant reduction in the number of e-mail scams purporting to be from eBay and PayPal very soon.

Click for more on Yahoo, eBay and PayPal Fighting Against Phishing Email »

Thinking you’re getting away with something on the sly while the world laughs at you, anticipating your inevitable demise.

Dane Brown says

Last week a number of computers were stolen from our office in Vancouver, BC. One of those computers was a shared iMac with Flickrbooth, an app that automatically uploads photo booth shots to our flickr account, installed on it. Just this morning a friend called to tell us that there are photos of whoever has the computer now in our flickr stream! Obviously the guy didn’t know he was uploading images of himself and his awesome tattoos.

Click for more on Presumed idiot criminal uploads pix of self from stolen iMac »

The names, Social Security numbers and credit information of 5,208 customers are leaked onto the LimeWire peer-to-peer file-sharing network.

Citgroup has confirmed that it’s investigating a data breach involving the names, Social Security numbers and credit information of 5,208 customers leaked by an employee of its ABN Amro Mortgage Group unit onto the LimeWire peer-to-peer file-sharing network.

Click for more on Citigroup Customer Data Leaked on P2P Network »