A reader sent along this item from CoinWeek, noting the interesting references to tampering with AmEx security: U.S. Postal Service inspectors are investigating the fraudulent use of stolen American Express credit cards to purchase apparently tens of thousands of dollars of gold coins. “The orders are placed by phone, often for $10,000 to $20,000 worth…
Author: Dissent
Spitler pleads guilty to his part in hacking 120,000 iPad accounts
Jerry DeMarco reports: A computer hacker who helped write the malicious code behind a breach of AT&T’s computer servers admitted today that he conspired with another Internet “troll” to hack into the servers, steal information from “the most exclusive list of [iPad subscribers] on the planet,” and then boast about it online. In pleading guilty…
IMS v. Sorrell: Pharmaceutical Speech Protected by Court – Opinion Analysis
Law prof Ruthann Robson comments on the Supreme Court’s decision in IMS v. Sorrell: As expected from the oral argument in April, the Court’s opinion today in IMS v. Sorrell finds Vermont’s statute prohibiting the practices that allow pharmaceutical detailing to be unconstitutional. The opinions can be said to answer this query: When is a commercial speech regulation…
Supreme Court strikes down Vermont's prescription data-mining law
Well, a lot of erudite lawyers saw this one coming, but it’s still disappointing that Vermont’s data-mining law has been struck down. Howard Bashman announced the bad news: Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court in Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc., No. 10-779. Justice Breyer issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Ginsburg and Kagan joined. You…
Ukraine says breaks up global hacker ring, banks targeted
Olzhas Auyezov reports: Ukraine’s state security service on Thursday said it had broken up an international hacking ring that infiltrated foreign banks’ computer networks and stole $72 million. The hacker group, organised and led by Ukrainians, used a computer virus to access bank accounts abroad, the SBU security agency said. Read more from Reuters Canada.
Travelodge hacked, investigating
John Oates reports: Travelodge is investigating its IT systems to discover how customer email addresses have gone astray. The Reg was contacted this morning by a reader who was receiving spam emails to a unique email address he had only given to Travelodge. Several other customers have blogged of similar experiences, here’s Shepy’s post on the apparent…