Cyber Espionage Report Released

The Information Warfare Monitor -which is comprised of Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto and the SecDev Group- and the Shadowserver Foundation just released "Shadows in the Cloud: An investigation into cyber espionage 2.0.". Rafal Rohozinski, a senior research advisor at the Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto puts it: "Cyber espionage has gone industrial. We are witnessing cloud-based techniques and tradecraft from cybercrime being repurposed to target government systems and computers belonging to officials entrusted with state or commercial secrets. Whether the attackers are working for state agencies, or freelancing and selling stolen data or tradecraft on the global graymarket - this report is a clear wake-up call that the threat of advanced persistent threats is very real and requires measured international action. " Are we going to see governments to take precautions against cyber threats? Will see.

Cybercrime costs $559M

Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported that cybercrime caused US$559 million loss in 2009. Read more, here.

Wiseguy Ticket Versus Ticketmaster

Federal Court in NJ put forward an indictment to charge four people associated with Wiseguy Ticket to use sophisticated computer programs to purchase blocks of good tickets from Ticketmaster by violating Ticketmaster's rule on the maximum number of tickets one can purchase for an event through Ticketmaster. The alleged criminals found out a way to bypass measures put in place by Ticketmaster to ensure that only a certain number of tickets can be purchase by each individual. While prosecutors came up with a convincing case, since the guys paid the full price for those tickets, it is still not clear if what happened is a crime or not, according to a NYTimes article.

New Record (!): The biggest incidence of stolen credit card

This time around, 130 million credit card information is stolen by an American and two unnamed foreign hackers, according to FT. The biggest incidence before this was the TJX case where 45 million credit card info was stolen in 2006. What would be the next? 200 million?

Wallet of the future

Your cellphone will be your wallet in the future, CNN reports. That means that we will see a lot of viruses and worms targeting cellphones in the near future. Be aware and ready.

Eying on the Twitter

Cyber criminals target Twitter as Twitter has been increasing popular. It is no surprise to many security experts that these criminals always look for new avenues to explore. This time around, the target is Twitter. Let's wait and see what would be the next target. Here is the CNN report on Twitter.

Malicious Code Threats

Malicious codes have been causing one of the most significant security challenges for the users of the Internet since its inception. Every year, security practitioners are amazed by the cheer volume of the new security threatening activities. 2008 was no different. The Symantec Internet Security Threat Report indicated that they created 1,656,227 new malicious code signatures 2008, accounting for a 165 percent increase over 2007. While there are many reasons why we see so many new threats, Symantec attributed the explosive growth to the professionalism of malicious code development, which is fueled by the demand for goods and services that facilitate online fraud.

High School student causes cancellation of the graduation ceremony

It is reported that a high school student in Ohio has stolen tests by hacking into the school's computer system. Apparently, half the seniors cheated or knew of the cheating and didn't report it, according to district officer. The Centerburg school board canceled the traditional ceremony due to cheating scandal just discovered. At the end, all seniors except the hacker did get their diplomas. It is a really "good" message to give: "you can cheat but don't hack" !!! More on this.

Do aerial images threaten the national security?

Some critics argue that aerial images online endanger national security. What do you think? Here is their argument.

Obama on Information Security

President B. H. Obama has created a position to oversee a new comprehensive approach to securing America's digital infrastructure. It seems that cybersecurity is one of the USA's top priorities now. More on this. Some people were impressed. Despite the effort, some experts argue that the new game plan lacks specifics and might deliver expectations. More on this. If you are interested in, you can read the White House report on information security here.