MacBook Spying Case | Image Source : Appleinsider.com

FBI investigates, federal prosecutors subpoena documents in MacBook spying case, say reports.

The parents of a Pennsylvania high school student have asked a federal judge to bar school district personnel from switching on cameras in school-issued MacBook laptops, calling the security feature “peeping tom technology.”

In their motion Friday, Michael and Holly Robbins of Penn Valley, Pa., asked U.S. District Court Judge Jan DuBois to issue a restraining order preventing the district from remotely activating the webcams on student notebooks. They also requested that the judge block the district from recalling the laptops from students, saying that they believe school officials will then wipe the MacBooks’ hard drives to delete evidence of any camera activation.

“There can be no assurances that the School District will disable the use of the remote webcam or, once deactivated, make an internal decision to reactive the webcam,” the motion argued.

Elsewhere in the motion, the Robbins labeled the camera functionality “peeping tom technology,” and disputed the district’s account that cameras had been activated only when a notebook was reported lost or stolen. “[Blake Robbins] was at home using a school issued laptop that was neither reported lost nor stolen when his image was captured by Defendants without his or his parents’ permission and while he was at home,” the motion said. Read more ……

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Identity Theft | Image Source : Hiteidtheft.com

A new study shows that banks, not consumer victims, are increasingly feeling the pain of digital fraud.

Identity theft often feels less like a random act of fraud than a personal breach of a victim’s secrets. But while consumers feel the sting from having their private data stolen, it’s their banks that are increasingly picking up the bill.

That’s one finding from an identity theft study released Wednesday by fraud analysis firm Javelin Research. The study, which surveyed around 5,000 Americans last year about their experiences with identity theft, calculated that ID fraud had cost around $54 billion in 2009, a significant jump from the $48 billion it estimated for 2008. That higher cost was driven by a greater number of fraud incidents that affected 11.2 million consumers in 2009, compared with 9.9 million in 2008.

That means financial services are absorbing a much larger chunk of fraud losses, says Javelin president James Van Dyke. “Businesses are really stepping up,” he says. “Even as the cost of fraud mitigation becomes higher, they’re bringing the out-of-pocket expense for victims closer and closer to zero.”

And why are banks willing to cover a larger percentage of those fraud costs? Van Dyke posits that the firms are dealing with consumers’ increasing impatience regarding data security issues and the growing problem of losing customers after fraud incidents. In about one out of five cases, according to Javelin’s research, a victim of identity theft switches banks. “Acquiring a new customer can costs hundreds of dollars, and banks are becoming more and more sensitive to the cost of losing that relationship,” he says . Read more ……

Identity theft is a term used that is to refer to fraud that involves someone pretending to be someone else in order to steal money or get other benefits. The term dates to 1964[1] and is actually a misnomer, since it is not inherently possible to steal an identity, only to use it. The person whose identity is used can suffer various consequences when he or she is held responsible for the perpetrator’s actions. In many countries specific laws make it a crime to use another person’s identity for personal gain.Identity theft is somewhat different from identity fraud. However, the terms are often used interchangeably. Identity fraud is the result of identity theft. Someone can steal or appropriate someone’s identifying information without actually committing identity fraud. The best example of this is when a data breach occurs. There has been very little evidence to link ID fraud to data breaches. Source : Wikipedia

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Google China Hacking | Image Source : technology.timesonline.co.uk

A coordinated hacking campaign targeting Google, Adobe Systems and more than 30 other companies raises serious concerns, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday.

In a statement released late Tuesday night, Clinton said that the U.S. government is taking the attack — which Google said came from China — very seriously. “We have been briefed by Google on these allegations, which raise very serious concerns and questions,” she said. “We look to the Chinese government for an explanation.”

Sources familiar with the situation say that more than 30 U.S. companies, including Adobe Systems, were hit by this targeted attack, which Google first discovered in mid-December. Using an attack that exploited an unpatched bug in widely used software, the attackers were able to gain footholds in these companies and siphon out valuable intellectual property.

In Google’s case the attackers also gained access information about the e-mail accounts of Chinese dissidents.

Google apparently feels strongly that China is behind the attack because the company said Tuesday that the event helped convince the company that it “should review the feasibility of our business operations in China.”

The company now says it will no longer censor search results on Google.cn, a move that could put it out of business in China.

Google’s competitor, Yahoo, also condemned the attacks. “We stand aligned with Google that these kinds of attacks are deeply disturbing and strongly believe that the violation of user privacy is something that we as internet pioneers must all oppose,” the company said in a statement.

A company spokeswoman declined to say whether or not Yahoo had been hit by the attack as well.

Yahoo doesn’t directly do business in China. It sold its Yahoo! China business to Alibaba.com in 2005, but it is a major shareholder in that company. Read more ……

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Body Scanners | Image Source : Privacylover.com

The full-body scanning technology being adopted and discussed since the attempt to take down a passenger plane on Christmas Day isn’t a “magic machine” that will solve aviation security issues, experts say.

“Regardless of the sophistication of the piece of technology, if you can collect the information on how it works and what its technical parameters are, then that machine is not going to deter a [sophisticated] terrorist operation,” said Dr. Richard Bloom, director of terrorism, intelligence and security studies at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Full-body screening and other security measures are more effective in detecting threats from an increasing number of unsophisticated, mentally troubled suspects acting alone, he said. The technology is “only a piece” of aviation security.

Security technologist Bruce Schneier believes that the body scanning machines are a waste of money. Investigation and intelligence gathering is where the money would make a difference, he said.

“Stop trying to guess. You take away guns and bombs, the terrorists use box cutters. You take away box cutters, they put explosives in their shoes. You screen shoes, they use liquids. You take away liquids, they strap explosives to their body. You use full-body scanners, they’re going to do something else,” said Schneier, who is the author of a number of security-related books, including “Beyond Fear.”

“In general, the odds are really stacked in the terrorists’ favor … because they only have to be successful one time and the government has to be successful all the time.” Read more ……

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Source : Forbes.com

As the world’s biggest file-sharing sites clean up or shut down, all eyes are on Isohunt.

The world of peer-to-peer piracy is in turmoil. In April, copyright-flouting icon the Pirate Bay was ordered by a Swedish court to shut down its file-sharing service, and last week the second largest file-sharing destination, Mininova, announced that it would comply with a court order to remove all of its copyright-infringing files.

That leaves Isohunt, a peer-to-peer file-sharing search engine with 30 million unique monthly visitors and 10 million daily searches, as the biggest remaining magnet for the Web’s pirate population. It’s also attracting the same legal troubles: The Vancouver-based site is being sued by both the Motion Picture Association of American and the Canadian Recording Industry Association.

But Isohunt founder Gary Fung argues that his site won’t be the next to fall under the legal guillotine. Isohunt, he argues, uses a different model: Unlike Mininova or the Pirate Bay, the site functions as a search engine for the “torrent” files that map connections in peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, rather than a host of those files or a forum for downloaders. Read more ……

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Digital Citizenship Today

Digitally delivered content is part of the fabric of students’ lives today. There is enormous access to content, yet it typically comes with many different underlying usage rights that few understand. Very few students are exposed in a positive way to how they can properly manage and use digital or commercial content – whether their own or others’; whether music, movies, art, software, or other creative material; and whether free, licensed, purchased, or subscribed.

The Digital Citizenship and Creative Content Curriculum program was developed to create awareness around the issue of creative content and to foster a better understanding of the rights connected with it. Ultimately, its goals are to instill in students an appreciation of the value that creative content has for the creator, and to establish a personal respect for creative rights in a way that changes their behaviors and perceptions about digitally delivered content.

Creative rights and the materials they protect are an important part of our culture. It’s crucial that students understand the options for managing content and respect the wishes of others regarding creative content — at a personal level that is meaningful to their everyday lives. Students interact online with music, movies, software, images, and other digital content every day.

Are they aware that these works are protected and that some of their uses may not be consistent with the creator’s wishes? Students themselves are often creators. Do they understand how creative rights are relevant to them? Where can they go to get information about appropriate online behaviors to help them make the right decisions for themselves and as citizens in a digital world? Download the full article 1 or Article 2

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Users currently can set Gmail to encrypt their session data by default, to protect it from being sniffed over the network.

However, Google does not offer the ability to encrypt potentially sensitive data created in other Google apps such as Docs or Calendar by default, which means the communications could be stolen or snooped on by someone using a packet sniffer on public internet connections, such as open wireless networks, according to the letter addressed to Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and signed by 38 experts in the security industry.

Granted, users of other free email services, social networks, and many other sites are vulnerable to data theft and account hijacking, the letter notes. But Google is in a position to set a standard for others to follow, it says.

Google should enable HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure), a technology used by banks and e-commerce sites, by default for Gmail, Docs and Calendar, or at least do more to educate users about the privacy risks and make it easy to turn on the HTTPS by default, the letter urges.

Not only do many people not understand the privacy risks in using unencrypted services, but they don’t know they have the HTTPS default option, and finding the settings to change is not that easy, the letter says. Users can access Gmail, Docs, Calendar and other apps via HTTPS simply by changing the ‘http://’ in the URL address to ‘https://’, but many don’t know about that option, either.

“As a market leader in providing cloud services, Google has an opportunity to engage in genuine privacy and security leadership, and to set a standard for the industry,” the letter said. “If Google believes that encryption and protection from hackers is a choice that should be left up to users, the company must do a better job of informing them of the risks so that they are equipped to make this choice.”  Read more ……