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Security

Submission + - LulzSec Carries The Deceptive Duo Torch (techzwn.com)

Submitted by jjp9999
jjp9999 writes: The campaign of cyberattacks launched by hacker group LulzSec is accomplishing what The Deceptive Duo was trying to do. The group was wreaking havoc on government websites in 2002, defacing and stealing vital information from critical sources including the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command and the Office of Secretary Defense. Their goal, however, was to force the government to close vulnerabilities before a malicious hacker got to them. In their statement today, LulzSec noted a similar effect to their attacks, pointing out that while they are making a lot of enemies, they are simply doing what countless hackers have already done, but making it public. In the process, they are exposing a system riddled with vulnerabilities.
Canada

Submission + - US Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Crosses Border (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by
davegravy
davegravy writes: "While many Canadians believe themselves to be insulated from copyright infringement lawsuits originating in the US, a recent ruling made by a U.S District Court asserts otherwise.

Alan Phillips of Calgary, Alberta, upon defaulting due to absence at the trial, was ordered to pay $63,867 for uploading several adult films to BitTorrent tracker GayTorrent, according to the Torrentfreak article."

Comment Re:Obvious (Score 2) 462

by Minion of Eris (#36457036) Attached to: Re: the U.S. 2012 election campaign, I am:
"One of the most controversial events in Australian political history was the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor Government by Australia's Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, in November 1975" - http://whitlamdismissal.com/issues/out-of-empire.shtml As far as I know this was the last time a GG of a commonwealth country actually used their power.

Submission + - WSJ and Al-Jazeera Lure Whistleblowers (eff.org)

Submitted by jjoelc
jjoelc writes: The success of Wikileaks in obtaining and releasing information has inspired mainstream media outlets to develop proprietary copycat sites. Al-Jazeera got into the act first, launching the Al-Jazeera Transparency Unit (AJTU), and On May 5, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), a subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co., Inc., launched its own site, SafeHouse. According to the EFF though, both sites offer "false Promises" of anonymity.

Comment Just a minute.... (Score 1) 1

by Minion of Eris (#36426746) Attached to: Spain arrests Anonymous suspects
I thought that the media was on the side of the protests in Egypt and Tunisia and Libya. It's OK if it's somewhere else, but lets not have activists at home? Seems a little bit two faced, doesn't it? and from TFA; "As well as attacking sites that it perceives as not supporting WikiLeaks" - uhmmm, not quite. They attacked sites that used rubbish excuses to bow to political powers-that-be to remove key financial underpinnings from WikiLeaks in an attempt to break them. I am not saying I support LOIC and DOS attacks - to paraphrase Cory Doctorow - they are like gluing the lock of a furrier, an anonymous act of protest that is an annoyance, but does not have the moral integrity of a sit-in.
Government

Submission + - Spain arrests Anonymous suspects (bbc.co.uk) 1

Submitted by arisvega
arisvega writes: Three suspected members of the Anonymous hacking group have been arrested in Spain, said to have been involved in co-ordinating the group's activity in that country.
Anonymous has claimed responsibility for attacks on Sony, Spanish banks and co-ordinated action in defence of whistle-blowing site Wikileaks.

A statement from the Spanish national police force said that a computer seized in the home of one person it arrested was used in the hacks, and it involved Spanish cyber police combing through millions of lines of chat logs to identify who was behind the group's activities.

Some of the attacks made by Anonymous members used a web-based tool called Loic to bombard target sites with data. The websites of PayPal, Mastercard and Amazon were all targeted using this tool.

It seems that Loic did a poor job of hiding the identity of the people using it. It is believed that some police forces have already moved against the group based on this information.
Spam

Submission + - 3 banks process 95% of spam transactions (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: A group of researchers from the University of California-San Diego, the University of California-Berkeley, and the Budapest University of Technology and Economics sifted through over one billion spam URLs, and continued clicking on each page until they were prompted to buy a product. Their findings? Only 45 advertising affiliates were responsible for all the trash. They then made 120 purchases; the credit companies OK'd 76 transactions. The spammers then processed 56 of the orders and sent out products for 49 of them. Approximately 14 percent of spam transactions result in paying money for nothing? One very interesting tidbit; just three banks were responsible for 95 percent of all the authorized transactions. Azerigazbank in Azerbaijan, St Kitts & Nevis Anguilla National Bank in St Kitts &Nevis, and DnB Nord in Latvia were revealed as the primary money-men behind the spam scene.

Comment Yes and NO!!! (Score 1) 4

by Minion of Eris (#36303114) Attached to: Professional IT?
Certifications already exist, but licensing would be a horror. There are too many OS's, Apps, incompatible brands of hardware to try to examine and license folks. Being a good SQL Admin does not make one a Cold Fusion Programmer, let alone a decent hardware tech. Let there be Certs for the specialties, and caveat emptor.
IT

Submission + - Professional IT? (acm.org) 4

Submitted by
magraths
magraths writes: "Last weekend, I met an insurance broker during a school sporting event. When he learned that I work in IT, he wanted to know if I could be available to fix his computer problems (who hasn't had this happen, eh?) Apparently the $160 an hour his current IT support provider charges seems to high for him, though they are responsive and competent when called. Of course, his work is completely dependent om computers — his desk is a miniature flightdeck of dashboards and trading systems. I gently pointed out to him what would happen if his computers were down, and that he needs to think more maturely about cost versus value.

Then I read the Denning and Frailey article in this month's Communications of the ACM, regarding the state of computing as a profession and it all just clicked. In short, we are not very mature at all, having no real organised body or knowledge, no generally accepted community of practices, no accepted conventions, standards or even common terminology. As a result, society at large is not able to recognise and differentiate between skilled professionals and amateurs.

So, is this a self-inflicted problem and do we need to begin licensing and accrediating IT professionals, much like the legal and medical professions do?"
Transportation

Submission + - Why The Chevy Volt Encourages The Use Of Gasoline (greencarreports.com) 3

Submitted by thecarchik
thecarchik writes: The 2011 Chevrolet Volt may be an extended-range electric car--or a plug-in hybrid, take your pick--but it's designed to promote the use of gasoline.

In the case of owners who have short daily commutes and plug in their cars regularly to recharge at night, the Volt’s 25-to-40-mile range may be all they need each day.
That could lead to cases when the car’s Driver Information Center would actually prompt the driver to give the car permission to start its gasoline engine

Submission + - More Domains Seized by ICE (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Yesterday and without warning, US authorities resumed "Operation In Our Sites" seizing several domain names associated with copyright infringement and counterfeiting. Today, yet more domains were added to the growing list. TorrentFreak caught up with one site owner who told us that while they were taken by surprise by a "pointless" seizure, they'll soon be back.

As indicated in our exclusive report yesterday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have resumed "Operation In Our Sites", the domain name seizing initiative designed to crack down on copyright infringement.

Following on from the most recent set of seizures in February, yesterday's action represents the fourth phase of the operation. The following six domains were taken:

* Re1ease.net
* Watchnewfilms.com
* Dvdcollectionsale.com
* Dvdscollection.com
* Dvdsetsonline.com
* Newstylerolex.com

Today the list has grown again to include the following:

* mygolfaccessory.com
* overbestmall.com

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