Mary Kincy Benefield reports: Aaron Janus of Russellville completed a Western Union transaction in 2007. The Boston Mountain Copper Company — which receives its mail at a post office box — contracted with Entergy for its electricity in August 2004. And the fee to send an international money order from the Four Seasons Market in…
Author: Dissent
Soapblox hacked, quits, tries to re-start
Slightly OT, but a reader alerted me to this: On January 6, SoapBlox, a blogging community for mostly political bloggers, posted the following: SoapBlox is Dead It was a good ride, but it’s over. Thanks for all the fish. All these hackers messing with our stuff, and we here at SoapBlox have no clue what…
Weak Password Brings ‘Happiness’ to Twitter Hacker
Kim Zetter reports: An 18-year-old hacker with a history of celebrity pranks has admitted to Monday’s hijacking of multiple high-profile Twitter accounts, including President-Elect Barack Obama’s, and the official feed for Fox News. The hacker, who goes by the handle GMZ, told Threat Level on Tuesday he gained entry to Twitter’s administrative control panel by…
OH: ‘Joe the Plumber’ bill OK’d by Strickland
William Hershey reports: Gov. Ted Strickland has signed legislation aimed at ending “Joe the Plumber”-style government snooping. Substitute House Bill 648, sponsored by Rep. Shannon Jones, R-Springboro, creates civil and criminal penalties for violating rules regarding access to personal information on state databases. Read more in The Western Star
Holy ID theft! Victim is bishop of Brooklyn
Alison Gendar and William Sherman report: Thieves stooped to a new low over the Christmas holiday, swiping the identity of Brooklyn’s Catholic bishop in an attempted credit card scam. The crooks learned Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio’s Social Security number and birth date and used the information to apply for credit cards, Diocese of Brooklyn spokesman the…
Breach analyses
Edward D. Murphy has an article about the recent Maine breach study in the Portland Press Herald, here. And over on Chronicles of Dissent, I analyze and comment on some of ITRC’s 2008 statistics and year-end roundup here and here.