Theft of 'e-mail' in the company of marketing 'online' Epsilon

The provider of marketing services, Epsilon has been a theft of millions of e-mail addresses, which has forced banks and companies in the U.S. and UK to alert customers of possible attacks 'online'. Several U.S. companies warned earlier this week to its customers who may be the target of attempted fraud on the 'e-mail' after stealing millions of addresses.

Among the companies affected are Hilton HHonours, American Express, BestBuy, Borders, Capital One, Citbank, Disney, The Home Shopping Network, JP Morgan Chase, Marriott Rewards, Ritz Carlton, TiVo, U.S. Bank, Verizon and Visa.
"The information obtained is limited to names and addresses of 'e-mail' from some of our credit card customers," reported this week Citigroup customers, who warned that such information may be used for attacks of 'phishing', which involves the mass sending fake emails to obtain confidential bank details.

Theft e mails

It also warned its customers of this possibility the bank JPMorgan Chase, which reminded his customers never enter their bank details by email and to be cautious with any 'e-mail' to request personal information, especially banking.
Even the British retailer Marks and Spencer has sent a warning to its customers in which they are warned of potential problems with email scams.

This series of warnings to users, there were a few days after the company Epsilon, which manages advertising on many U.S. firms email, informing them that someone had accessed their database on 30 March and was named of consumers and their email addresses.

Stole e mails in Epsilon company

Epsilon said the "unauthorized entry into the email system of Epsilon" has affected only 2% of its customers and this percentage is only a subset of customers that Epsilon provides email services.

From the security company Trend Micro also warned about the risk that the 'spear-phishing (phishing highly selective) involved.
According to Rik Ferguson, Director of Security Research and Communications, EMEA at Trend Micro, one wonders if the 'cyber' have been able to browse through the database and extract only that information which have been considered more valuable.

Congress and the Administration discusses possible cyber attacks

The U.S. government should take "extraordinary measures" in response to a computer attack that could affect critical computer networks, both public and private, said a senior official of the Department of Homeland Security.

The director of the National Cyber Security Center Phil Reitinger told Congress that working with government to determine if they need new presidential emergency powers to determine whether key industries such as power plants, electrical power and financial systems life might respond if a computer crisis.

A major Senate committee is proposing that the president has a more specific authority over how they might react these important industries.

For its part, independent Senator Joe Lieberman, who chairs the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, said that these powers should include the ability to require companies to install a security filter on their computers or block certain types traffic on the Internet.

U.S. officials are struggling to strengthen the security of the Internet, and federal computer networks are being reviewed and attacked million times a day by hackers and cyber terrorists, as well as criminals looking to steal sensitive information or destroying or at least affect vital operations of the industry.

Although there are few who doubt the seriousness of the threat, lawmakers are divided over the extent of the role government should play in these cases and what federal organizations should be responsible for addressing these risks.

In the midst of this debate are the leaders of some industries, who argue that companies can often do a better job than the federal government to protect their systems and ensure that their staff are well trained to confront the threats.

In prepared testimony before a hearing held Tuesday before the Committee on National Security, Reitinger said the president already has some emergency powers, so any adjustment should not exceed the existing law. The testimony was obtained by The Associated Press.

The law, Reitinger said, "recognizes that Americans expect their federal government provides, prevent and respond to cyber threats," adding that the clauses concerning presidential powers "recognize that the government could require the adoption of extraordinary measures to meet these responsibilities "

A computer attack from China blocks South Korean government site

One of the main sites of South Korea's government on Wednesday suffered a cyber attack from China which forced to suspend some services for hours, reported the South Korean Ministry of Interior.
Http://korea.go.kr site that offers information on services and public policy failures and delays suffered for about four hours by an attack known as distributed denial-of-Service (DDoS).

This type of computer sabotage against a server is performed through automatic orders executed en masse from multiple computers simultaneously, with the aim of the website is blocked.
According to South Korean agency Yonhap, the search was conducted after the attack has led to the conclusion that came from 120 servers in China.
Although no damage because the computer center of the South Korean government blocked access to the servers involved, the National Intelligence Agency is still investigating details of the origin and consequences of the attack.
The cyber assault has led the South Korean public to take extraordinary measures to prevent attacks, "cyber-terrorists," according to Yonhap.
In July last year, South Korea suffered a similar attack against several government websites, including the Office of the Presidency and the Ministry of Defence as well as against private Internet portals.

That attack coincided with others that were aimed at different websites U.S. state agencies, including the White House and the Pentagon, and sites like the New York Stock Exchange.

The National Intelligence Agency of South Korea said then that computer attacks were launched from 16 countries, with the possible involvement of North Korea.

New Website to internet calls wisdom to prevent theft

As more people reveal his whereabouts from social networks, there has been a site for surfers to remember that if everyone disclosed the place where they are or one in which they are not be exposed to a crime.

The site name says it all: "Please Rob Me" .

Released last week, Please Rob Me is exceptionally easy. Almost everything it does is display information posted on Twitter as a service to share location information, Foursquare. Rob Me Please put this information in a long, chronological list, referred to as "empty homes recently.

Please Rob Me integrates its list to take that Twitter offered information freely to many sites to show the stark message that social network. But the same warning could Please Rob Me with data flowing in dozens of places.

People do not care about sharing all sorts of personal details on social networks like Facebook. And now, people turn excited to location-based Web sites, as Foursquare, Gowalla or Loopt, which allow you to use the cell phone to alert friends about where to find someone.

Some people choose to show your location only friends with permission. But many put this specific and updated information on public profiles Twitter, anyone can see.

This phenomenon is what has motivated the creators Rob Please Me, "one of them, Boy Van Amstel 25. In a telephone interview, Van Amstel said the technology has become so easy to use that people share too much information online without even noticing.

Van Amstel and co-founders want people to think twice before risking.

In order to clarify the risks, Please Rob Me page shows the image of a thief. Below, indicates that the site "lists all the empty houses out there."

Actually, shows no empty houses. Not even reveals the homes of the absentees. Instead, the photos are from users of Twitter, user names, how long ago "went home" (which is determined when the information provided Foursquare) and where they went, along with a link to your destination on the Web site of Foursquare.

Propose a national safety net in the U.S. broadband

Federal regulators recommend that Congress enact a program of grants to finance a national wireless broadband that allows police, firefighters and other emergency workers communicate.

The Federal Communications Commission proposed 16,000 to 18,000 million dollars in grants over ten years. Julius Genachowski its director said Thursday that the proposal would form part of the national broadband plan of the agency. That plan, which must submit to Congress next month, will propose the means to carry high-speed connections to the Internet to all Americans.

The proposed public safety network would use the wireless spectrum that was freed when TV broadcasts last year went from analogue to digital.

Intel faced cyber attack while Google

Intel Corp. has revealed that White was a "sophisticated" cyber attack this year while a surveillance against Google Inc.

Intel revealed the attack in a report presented Monday night against the regulators. This does not necessarily mean that Intel has been infiltrated or the attackers were the same as those of Google.
Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said Tuesday that the attack on Intel was not as wide as that hit Google. He added that Intel has not noticed that some information has been stolen protected by intellectual property laws.

Intel, like other major corporations, facing constant attacks on their networks. Mulloy said the company was just pointing out that there was some connection in terms of the period in which attacks occurred Google as part of a report with information to investors about the risks of the company.
The revelation comes along with increased fears that there is a state-supported espionage and sent to corporate computer networks. Google disclosed last month that its network was attacked from China and that the intruders stole proprietary information.

After that attack, Google warned that it could leave China.

Google said that at least 20 other companies came under attack, but those companies were not identified. Software makers Adobe Systems Inc. and Rackspace Inc., a service of "web hosting" (Internet hosting services), have acknowledged that they were attacked.
Intel is the world's largest manufacturer of microprocessors, the brains of personal computers and servers, with almost 80% of global market control of these chips.

Spies and hackers exploit a virtual world without rules

The best weapon against online thieves, spies and vandals who threaten global enterprises and security would be an international regulation of cyberspace.

Fortunately for them, such cooperation does not yet exist.

Better yet, from the perspective of a hacker, that goal is not a priority for the international community, despite protests by piracy, censorship and cyberspace disputes that star in China and Iran against the U.S. company Google .
The countries are very parochial when it comes to thinking about their safety online to collaborate on the development of a computerized global regulation was heard last week at the security conference of the EastWest Institute.

The policy statements of governments around the world are dominated by the need to increase the national cyber defenses. As a result, cybercriminals are benefiting too.
"Countries are in denial," said the Indian cyber law expert Pavan Duggal told Reuters, noting that national legislation had limited use in protecting users of a tool of communication without borders.
"Maybe a clash of great consequence to wake people from their complacency, something equivalent to 11 September in cyberspace," he said, referring to the coordinated attacks in the United States in 2001.

With a quarter of humanity connected to the Internet, cybercrime is a growing danger for the world economy.
The FBI determined that the losses due to Internet crime in the U.S. totaled $ 264 million in 2008, compared with $ 18 million loss for the same reason in 2001: That's probably only a fraction of the losses caused to businesses and government departments.
The threat extends to many sectors, including the control systems of factories, utilities and oil refining, since many of them are linked to the Internet for convenience and productivity.

A priority for regulators is to find ways to track down criminals across borders and will not go unpunished for their crimes, a difficult task when criminals can use proxy servers to remain anonymous.

"We can not postpone the debate until we are in the midst of a catastrophic cyber attack," said former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff U.S. at the conference.

"We must formulate an international strategy and respond to cyber attacks that parallel the traditional laws governing land, sea and air," he added.

Security experts say the ability to conduct cyber attacks massive disaster is the preserve of some governments, beyond the ability of extremist groups like Al Qaeda fighters.

But you can not assume that international networks of organized crime, who have long practiced the massive online fraud and theft, are not developing an interest in getting this skill.

"Cybercrime is a very sophisticated offense with a sophisticated actors and multinational efforts are needed to ensure that they can enforce the law," said chairman Peter Altabef Dell Services, told Reuters.

James Stikeleather, Dell Chief Technology Services, told Reuters that track criminals across borders could pose legal problems for the drafters of multilateral regulation.

Giving an example, said more firms added technology needed to enable researchers attribute a crime, privacy and anonymity of users is reduced.

"Probably the sticking point of governments will be 'Where is the appropriate level of charges against the anonymity or privacy for what people are doing (online)'" he said.

Datuk Mohamed Noor Amin, chairman of the International Partnership against cyber threats, affiliated to the UN, said the failure to regulate could perpetuate the "failed states" cyber.

He cited the poor countries where customers can purchase unregistered SIM cards with wireless Internet capability, enabling them to commit online crimes such as identity theft people in rich countries without fear of being tracked.

He noted that it is in the interest of rich countries help the poorest developing the ability to track this type of crime because its citizens are the target.

"Governments tend to see only their own interests. But really work is its own interest," he said.

"People think the internet is an integral part of each country. They do not focus on cyber security and is playing with fire," he added.