WorldWar-E™

New Zealand police said Thursday that Google did not commit a criminal offence when it collected data from wireless networks for its “Street View” mapping service.

The New Zealand Privacy Commissioner called in police in June after Google admitted that its cars taking photographs of cities in more than 30 countries had inadvertently gathered personal data sent over unsecured wifi systems.

Privacy regulators in Australia, Europe, the US and Canada also launched investigations into data the web giant’s camera-equipped cars collected while taking photos of streets and houses.

New Zealand police said Google’s actions did not constitute a criminal offence and they had referred the matter back to the Privacy Commissioner.

“An investigation by police has determined that there is no evidence to suggest a criminal offence has been committed,” Detective Senior Sergeant John van den Heuvel from the NZ police cyber crime centre said.

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September 3rd, 2010 | Tags: criminal lialibility, Google, Information Security, street view | Category: Consumer Cyber Alert, Google, Privacy Issues, Security News | Leave a comment

Microsoft on Tuesday again abstained from naming which of its Windows programs, if any, contain bugs that could lead to widespread “DLL load hijacking” attacks.

Also on Tuesday, the company published an automated tool to make it easier for users to block attacks exploiting vulnerabilities in a host of Windows applications.

The DLL load hijacking vulnerabilities exist in many Windows applications because the programs don’t call code libraries — dubbed “dynamic-link library,” or “DLL” — using the full pathname, but instead use only the filename. Criminals can exploit that by tricking the application into loading a malicious file with the same name as the required DLL. The result: Hackers can hijack the PC and plant malware on the machine.

“Microsoft plans to address those of our products affected by this issue in the most appropriate way for customers,” said Jerry Bryant, a group manager with the Microsoft Security Response Center, in a Tuesday entry on that team’s blog . “This will primarily be in the form of security updates or defense-in-depth updates.”

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September 3rd, 2010 | Tags: Bugs, Exploits, Security, software security, windows vulnerbility | Category: Consumer Cyber Alert, Exploits & Hacks, Security News, Windows | Leave a comment

BlackBerry may have won a reprieve but Google and Skype were squarely in the firing line Tuesday as India’s security agencies widened their crackdown on telecom firms.

India’s 1.1 million BlackBerry users heaved a sigh of relief after the government Monday gave the smartphone’s manufacturer a two-month window to provide a permanent solution to avert a ban on its corporate message services.

Security forces in India, battling insurgencies ranging from Kashmir in the northwest to the far-flung northeast, are insisting that telecom groups give them the capability to monitor their data.

Skype, the Internet phone service, and Google, which uses powerful encryption technology for its Gmail email service, are expected to be among the next wave of firms to come under New Delhi’s scanner.

“If a company is providing telecom services in India then all communications must be available to Indian security services,” a spokesman for the home ministry told AFP.

“If Google or Skype have a component that is not accessible, that will not be possible,” he said, asking not to be named in line with standard government procedure in India. “The message is the same for everybody.”

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September 3rd, 2010 | Tags: Google, Information Security, National Security, security crackdown, Security Threats, skype | Category: India, Internet Monitoring, Security News | Leave a comment

Russian police are reportedly investigating a criminal gang that installed malicious “ransomware” programs on thousands of PCs and then forced victims to send SMS messages in order to unlock their PCs.

The scam has been ongoing and may have made Russian criminals millions of dollars, according to reports by Russian news agencies. Russian police seized computer equipment and detained a Russian “crime family” in connection with the crime, the ITAR-TASS News Agency reported Tuesday.

Russian-language reports say that 10 people are expected to be charged and that tens of thousands of Russian-language victims were hit by the scam, which also affected users in Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.

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September 2nd, 2010 | Tags: Cyber Security, internet scam, Malicious Actions, PC lock-up, Ransomware | Category: Consumer Cyber Alert, Cyber Crime, Russia, Security News | Leave a comment

Cisco has fixed a bug in its IOS (Internetwork Operating System) router software that contributed to a brief Internet blackout last week, thought to have affected about 1 percent of the Internet.

The bug was discovered last Friday when the RIPE NCC (Reseaux IP Europeens Network Coordination Centre) and researchers at Duke University started distributing experimental BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) data via RIPE NCC’s systems. A large number of routers on the Internet became unreachable within minutes and the experiment was quickly stopped.

The Border Gateway Protocol is used by routers to find the best ways to send traffic to each other on the Internet. Because it is very easy for bad BGP data to spread quickly, security experts have warned that it could someday be misused to seriously disrupt the Internet.

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September 2nd, 2010 | Tags: bug, Cisco, internet shutdown, Pushdo, Pushdo/Cutwail | Category: Consumer Cyber Alert, Security News, Virus & Malware | Leave a comment

On September 1, New Yorkers will have a chance to peer inside the sleazy world of cybercrime when the “Norton Black Market Experience” rolls in to Times Square via a converted semi truck.

The event is free and open to the general public between 11am and 3pm. According to Symantec, visitors “will leave with a better understanding of the cybercriminal’s world, as well as options for protecting themselves online.”

Symantec originally devised the Black Market Experience as a one-time exhibit, but it proved so popular that it has taken the show on the road.

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September 1st, 2010 | Tags: Black Market, Black Market Experience, Cybercrime, Cybercriminals, symantec black market | Category: Security News | Leave a comment

The Philippines on Sunday ordered all government offices to tighten Internet security after its main information website was brought down by hackers.

“We are alerting all government agencies to review and improve security of their websites in view of the hacking of the website this afternoon,” presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma said.

“We are adopting best practices to lessen the vulnerability of our websites to hacking and other cyber crimes,” Coloma said.

The information agency website was inaccessible for several hours in the afternoon with the words “Hacked by 7z1″ appearing if searched on Google.

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August 31st, 2010 | Tags: Cyber Attack, Government Websites, Hackers, Vulnerabilities, website attack | Category: Consumer Cyber Alert, Exploits & Hacks, Security News | Leave a comment

Jordan on Sunday approved a temporary law on cyber crimes after amending it to appease the fury of journalists who said the legislation was a means to control local news websites.

The law had initially allowed the authorities to raid and search offices from which websites are published and to access computers without prior approval from public prosecutors.

But under the new amendments approved by the government, searching such offices requires court permission and enough evidence that these places are used to commit cyber crimes, Information Minister Ali Ayed said.

Journalists have complained that one of the articles of the law banned sending or posting data on the Internet or any information system that involves defamation or contempt or slander, without defining such crimes.

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August 31st, 2010 | Tags: cyber crimes, cyber law, cyber monitoring, Jordan cyber law, website crackdown | Category: Cyber Politics, Cyber Security, Internet Monitoring, Jordan, News From The Cyber Front, Security News | Leave a comment

Anyone who was ever concerned by the concept of hacking conventions such as Black Hat — which has evolved into a reputable venue for security defenders — should brace themselves: An event called MalCon is on the horizon, which will provide a fine venue for malware creators to hone their craft, as well as, theoretically, an opportunity for malware fighters to bolster their arsenal to fight malware.

The organizers of the MalCon, which will take place in Mumbai and Pune, India, have attempted to put a positive spin on the event, as noted by security guru Brian Krebs. According to the conference website, MalCon is “the worlds [sic] first platform bringing together Malware and Information Security Researchers from across the globe to share key research insights into building the next generation malwares.”
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August 31st, 2010 | Tags: Cyber Threat, MalCon, Malware, malware conference, online security | Category: Cyber Security, Security News, Virus & Malware | Leave a comment