Amid the global downturn in the economy, cybercrminals appear to be winning in the war against law enforcement. That's the sobering conclusion drawn by a panel of experts in a report from McAfee.
Judge's Jokes Sent via E-mail Called Raunchy
Alex Kozinski, one of the highest ranking and most intellectually respected federal judges, has periodically distributed jokes to a group of friends and associates, including his law clerks, colleagues on the federal bench, prominent attorneys and journalists. The jokes he sent ranged from silly to politically oriented to raunchy.
Early Version of Windows 7 Posted Online Again
The pre-beta version of Windows 7 that Microsoft handed out at two major conferences this fall was uploaded to BitTorrent sites almost immediately -- enabling almost anyone with a little tech savvy to begin kicking the tires early. Now, it's happened again, despite Microsoft's vaunted tight-lipped policies regarding unreleased products.
British ISPs Restore Access to Wikipedia
Wikipedia functionality has returned for Brits after the country's Internet watchdog reversed its decision to prevent users in that country from visiting a Wikipedia page containing an image of a naked child. The Internet Watch Foundation had taken exception with a page dedicated to a 1976 album by rock band The Scorpions.
Obama Urged to Create Cybersecurity Post
A bipartisan commission of computer security experts are recommending that President-elect Barack Obama set up a high-level post to tackle cyber security, consider new regulations to combat cyber crime and shore up the security of the nation's most sensitive computer networks. The proposals from the Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency follow a series of cyber security breaches at some of nation's most sensitive computer systems.
Court Limits RemoteSpy Keylogger Spyware
A U.S. District Court refused to impose an outright ban on the sale of RemoteSpy keylogger spyware, but the court has barred its parent company from marketing the product for deceptive purposes while it considers a complaint from the FTC that the software may violate the FTC Act.
British ISPs Filter Wikipedia After Blacklist
Internet service providers in the U.K. have begun filtering access to Wikipedia after the site was added to the Internet Watch Foundation's blacklist.
Cuba Blocks Blogger from Cyber-Workshop
Police have prohibited Cuba's most prominent blogger from attending an independent cyber-workshop and warned that her activities ran afoul of the law, her husband said. Yoani Sánchez and husband and fellow blogger Reynaldo Escobar were summoned separately Wednesday to a police station near their apartment in Havana's Vedado district and reprimanded, Escobar said in a telephone interview.
Vietnam Preparing to Put Limits on Blogs
Officials at the Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications appear to be losing patience with bloggers. They say they are preparing new rules that would restrict blogs to personal matters -- meaning no politics.
"Small Percentage" of Facebook Users Hit by Virus
Facebook's 120 million users are being targeted by a virus dubbed "Koobface" that uses the social network's messaging system to infect PCs, then tries to gather sensitive information such as credit card numbers. It is the latest attack by hackers increasingly looking to prey on users of social networking sites.
Google to Limit Sexual Content on YouTube
Google announced new rules to better control sexually suggestive content on its popular video-sharing site, YouTube. Only users claiming to be adults will be able to view sexually themed content, and such content will be banned from the site's most popular pages.
Mozilla to Drop Anti-Phishing Feature from Firefox
Mozilla will drop anti-phishing protection from the final version of Firefox 2.0 at Google 's request when Mozilla updates the browser later this month, a company executive confirmed. When Mozilla rolls out Firefox 2.0.0.19, the browser will be missing the anti-phishing feature that the aging browser has sported since it debuted in 2006, said Mike Beltzner, director of Firefox.
IT Workers Worried About Cyber-Crooks on Social Sites
Social-networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace are being targeted so often by cybercrooks and other mischief-makers that half of the information-technology specialists surveyed recently by Intel expressed concern about workers under 30, who disproportionately use such sites.
Hackers Redirect CheckFree's Website to Ukraine Server
Hackers hijacked the Web site CheckFree.com, one of the largest online bill payment companies, redirecting an unknown number of visitors to a Web address that tried to install malicious software on visitors' computers, the company said. The attack, first reported by The Register, a security news Web site, began in the early morning hours of Dec. 2, when Checkfree's home page and the customer login page were redirected to a server in the Ukraine.
Net Neutrality Advocates Seek Obama's Support
With a new administration waiting in the wings, Net neutrality advocates believe they have turned a corner in their fight for an open Internet. The Open Internet Coalition, an umbrella group representing trade associations, nonprofits and technology companies, is calling on President-elect Obama's transition team to take several steps to ensure that the principles of unfettered Internet access permeate all levels of the federal government.
FCC to Consider Auction Plan with Free Internet
U.S. communications regulators will consider a controversial spectrum auction plan for free Internet and new rules governing disputes between cable operators and programmers at their December meeting, the agency's chairman said. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is proposing that the agency auction off some airwaves, with a mandate that 25 percent be set aside for free Internet.
Croatian Police Apologize for Detaining Web Activist
Croatia's police officials apologized for detaining a local web activist who had put up posters calling for an anti-government rally, but denied any political motivation for their act. The man was part of a group on Facebook, the online social networking site, which called an anti-government rally in several towns, including the capital Zagreb.
Apple Accused of Unfairly Blocking iPhone Music
Apple might be unfairly blocking rival software makers who want to sell music for its iPhone, according to some rivals and a technology rights group. The iTunes store accounts for four out of five songs sold on the Internet in the United States and is becoming more important as CDs fade.
Firefox Extension Allows Illegal Movie Downloads
A new Firefox extension called Pirates of the Amazon lets users download movies, games, TV shows and MP3s free of charge by cross referencing Amazon's product pages with torrent files from the Pirate Bay. If the content can be found on the Pirate Bay's search index it shows up as a "Download 4 Free" link on the top of the Amazon product page.
Craigslist User Charged Under Criminal Libel Law
A Colorado man accused of posting comments about his ex-girlfriend on the Web site Craigslist has been charged under a rarely used criminal libel law. J.P. Weichel faces up to 18 months in prison if convicted for unflattering statements he allegedly posted in Craigslist's "rants and raves" section.
