Information Policy

Cybercrime 'scareware' investigation brings Belarusian to Seattle

A 35-year-old citizen of Belarus was to appear in U.S. District Court in Seattle Friday (Jan. 22)  following his arrest last year in Vienna, Austria, and extradition to the Western District of Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes.

Alexander Mihailovski was indicted in August 2012 for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, accessing a protected computer in furtherance of fraud, and intentional damage to a protected computer, according to a federal news release.

Mihailovski was to appear initially before U.S. Magistrate Judge John L. Weinberg.

Continue reading "Cybercrime 'scareware' investigation brings Belarusian to Seattle" »

The impending move to a single gateway Internet access system in Thailand isn't going as smoothly as the local government may have hoped, with things taking a dramatic turn when Anonymous launched a series of DDoS attacks on the country's main telecom company and even managed to steal sensitive information.

At the start of the month, we reported on an out-of-the-ordinary DDoS attack that hit several Thai government websites. Apparently, following mass calls to action on social media, the people of Thailand all loaded and pressed F5 (refresh) on the websites of the Thai government (thaigov.go.th) and of the country’s Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) (mict.go.th).

Continue reading "Anonymous Hacks Thai Telecom Firm to Protest Internet Censorship Plans" »

As our societies become ever more digitised, the online environment also becomes an increasingly tempting target for criminals and terrorists.

With more personal information stored digitally all the time, cybercrime is now a highly organised industry that is, in effect, also a global 'rent a hacker' black market. It offers massive profits to those who make a living from undermining the personal security and privacy of others.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The criminal complaint filed against Arafat Nagi alleges he used social media, primarily Twitter, to promote and support ISIS. Social media has become a powerful tool for members of the terror group to reach people around the world, and it's also changing how law enforcement goes after potential terrorists.

The irony of Hacking Team—an Italian company that sells surveillance software—being hacked (or as Wired put it, “disemboweled”) is delicious, especially given Hacking Team’s denials it sold to governments with notorious human rights records. Hacking Team still insists it broke no laws and has behaved ethically. Whether Hacking Team survives remains to be seen, but this episode’s importance extends beyond one company. What the hack revealed touches on important policy issues

Source: http://blogs.cfr.org/cyber/2015/07/08/the-policy-implications-of-hacking-the-hacking-team/

Anonymous Hacks Thai Telecom Firm to Protest Internet Censorship Plans

The impending move to a single gateway Internet access system in Thailand isn't going as smoothly as the local government may have hoped, with things taking a dramatic turn when Anonymous launched a series of DDoS attacks on the country's main telecom company and even managed to steal sensitive information.

At the start of the month, we reported on an out-of-the-ordinary DDoS attack that hit several Thai government websites. Apparently, following mass calls to action on social media, the people of Thailand all loaded and pressed F5 (refresh) on the websites of the Thai government (thaigov.go.th) and of the country’s Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) (mict.go.th).

Continue reading "Anonymous Hacks Thai Telecom Firm to Protest Internet Censorship Plans" »

As our societies become ever more digitised, the online environment also becomes an increasingly tempting target for criminals and terrorists.

With more personal information stored digitally all the time, cybercrime is now a highly organised industry that is, in effect, also a global 'rent a hacker' black market. It offers massive profits to those who make a living from undermining the personal security and privacy of others.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The criminal complaint filed against Arafat Nagi alleges he used social media, primarily Twitter, to promote and support ISIS. Social media has become a powerful tool for members of the terror group to reach people around the world, and it's also changing how law enforcement goes after potential terrorists.

The irony of Hacking Team—an Italian company that sells surveillance software—being hacked (or as Wired put it, “disemboweled”) is delicious, especially given Hacking Team’s denials it sold to governments with notorious human rights records. Hacking Team still insists it broke no laws and has behaved ethically. Whether Hacking Team survives remains to be seen, but this episode’s importance extends beyond one company. What the hack revealed touches on important policy issues

Source: http://blogs.cfr.org/cyber/2015/07/08/the-policy-implications-of-hacking-the-hacking-team/

Guarding against online risk: the battle against cybercrime

As our societies become ever more digitised, the online environment also becomes an increasingly tempting target for criminals and terrorists.

With more personal information stored digitally all the time, cybercrime is now a highly organised industry that is, in effect, also a global 'rent a hacker' black market. It offers massive profits to those who make a living from undermining the personal security and privacy of others.

ISIS Turns to Social Media Recruitment

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The criminal complaint filed against Arafat Nagi alleges he used social media, primarily Twitter, to promote and support ISIS. Social media has become a powerful tool for members of the terror group to reach people around the world, and it's also changing how law enforcement goes after potential terrorists.

The Policy Implications of Hacking the Hacking Team

The irony of Hacking Team—an Italian company that sells surveillance software—being hacked (or as Wired put it, “disemboweled”) is delicious, especially given Hacking Team’s denials it sold to governments with notorious human rights records. Hacking Team still insists it broke no laws and has behaved ethically. Whether Hacking Team survives remains to be seen, but this episode’s importance extends beyond one company. What the hack revealed touches on important policy issues

Source: http://blogs.cfr.org/cyber/2015/07/08/the-policy-implications-of-hacking-the-hacking-team/