Pablo Lopez reports: A jury took less than three hours to convict a Fresno man making fake identification cards and masterminding a scheme in which credit card information was unlawfully obtained from unsuspecting restaurant customers. Brett Ronald Matteson Jr., 38, wiped tears from his eyes when the 105-count verdict was announced today in Fresno County…
Author: Dissent
AU: Privacy Commissioner delays zombie code
Ben Grubb reports: The finishing touches to an e-security code of conduct which will prevent compromised computers, also called “zombies”, from accessing the internet is being delayed following concerns flagged by the Privacy Commissioner. It aims to make formal existing voluntary security arrangements that internet service providers (ISPs) currently follow under a scheme run by…
A hacked Twitter account may cost as much as $1,000
Researchers at Kaspersky Lab report that hacked accounts of Twitter and other services are being sold online for hundreds of dollars. Big revenues made on stolen data make hacking programs and viruses very popular among cyber criminals. According to Kaspersky Researcher Dmitry Bestuzhev there were Gmail accounts for sale on Russian hacker forums, (asking price…
Police break scary ATM skimming ring in Greater Boston
Robert Sears of Gatehouse News Service reports: QUINCY, Mass. — Police say they’ve made the first dent in a sophisticated scheme to drain people’s bank accounts. The Bulgarian native arrested in Quincy and charged with trying to use a forged ATM card at a Citizens Bank on Hancock Street is part of a much larger…
NY: Police Investigating Laptop Theft, Security Breach of 1,400 Columbia Affiliates
From BWOG, Columbia University’s undergraduate magazine: Three laptops containing the personal information of 1,400 Columbia affiliates were stolen Monday from university offices, administration sources tell Bwog. Though details of the thefts are not yet being released, university officials confirm that Social Security numbers are among the sensitive data contained on the laptops. The computers were…
VA: Gift Card Re-encoder sentenced to 13 years
Jerry A. Diggs, 31, of Middletown, Delaware, was sentenced Wednesday to 132 months on a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a consecutive 24 months on a charge of aggravated identity theft, followed by three years of supervised release and the requirement of restitution in the amount of $230,644.56 to over one hundred victims….