Survey: ID theft hard to shake off

One in four Americans who fall victim to identity theft find it a struggle to clear their name, according to a recent survey.

Focusing on Firewalls or internal Policies and employee behaviour?

Surveys show that 60 percent of security breaches are internal, but 70 percent of people are worried about hackers on the outside. Some companies even spend 90 percent of their security efforts only on firewalls. However, time and money should be used more effectively to protect the host as well as the network perimeter.

The dangerof Cyberattacks and recommended tips

The new CSO Magazine Security Sensor™ survey of 389 chief security officers (CSOs) and senior security executives reveals the majority of security chiefs believe taking the right precautions will protect the average consumer from becoming a victim of identity theft

Attackers lurk on photo sites, firm warns

Cybercriminals are increasingly using blog sites and other free online services to spread malicious code, Websense has warned.

FDIC to banks: Watch out for spyware

The FDIC on Friday urged banks to enhance their protections against spyware, to limit the risk that customers' personal data may be stolen.

Lost a BlackBerry? Data Could Open A Security Breach

The ability to carry vast amounts of data in small but easily misplaced items such as computer memory sticks and mobile e-mail devices has transformed the way Americans work, but it has also increased the risk that a forgotten BlackBerry or lost cell phone could amount to a major security breach.

UK considers forcing ISPs to disclose blocking practices

ISPs may be forced to reveal whether or not they are blocking paedophilic Web sites

In Canada: Cache a page, go to jail?

A bill before Canada's Parliament could make it illegal for search engines to cache Web pages, critics say, opening the door to unwarranted lawsuits and potentially hindering public access to information.

Microsoft in $720K piracy win

MICROSFT has won settlements totalling $720,000 from a Queensland reseller and its former directors over the use of illegal copies of Microsoft software.

Sarbanes-Oxley could threaten security

The multimillion-dollar cost of complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is diverting spending away from protecting against other security threats, according to a new report.

How Can We Stop Phishing and Pharming Scams?

Both types of scams lead unsuspecting customers to give up valuable personal and financial information. Phishing e-mails entice users to a fake website where they enter personal data. Pharming pop-up boxes appear at reputable websites and hijack the user, who enters financial data at an illegitimate URL. U.S. companies lose more than $2 billion annually as their clients fall victim, and they’ve finally started implementing a number of countermeasures.

Pulling Threads on E-Crime

The "E-Crime Watch Survey," now in its second year, points out the need for more companies to measure and report the impact of computer-related crimes

Visa, Amex cut ties with card processor over security breach

Visa USA Inc. and American Express Co. are cutting ties with the payment-processing company that left 40 million credit and debit card accounts vulnerable to hackers in one of the biggest breaches of consumer data security.

eBay tightens rules for sellers

eBay has tightened rules governing credit card acceptance and clarified its prohibition of a type of fraud known as shill bidding.

Time for lawmakers to act on Grokster?

Does Congress need to lay down new laws after last month's landmark Supreme Court decision on file swapping? Depends on whom you ask.

Copyright - Both Web Site and ISP Deemed Liable

Providing hyperlinks to third party sites where users may download infringing copies of sound recordings is itself a form of copyright infringement , the Federal Court of Australia ruled July 14 (Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd. v. Cooper, Fed. Ct. Austl., [2005] FCA 972, 7/14/05). The ruling marks the first time that an Australian court has imputed liability against a Web site for linking to infringing content. In another first, the court also ruled that the Internet service provider that hosted the site is likewise liable for infringement, as are its individual employees.
The FCA ruled that Stephen Cooper, the owner of the site mp3s4free.net, had authorized copyright infringement, even though music files were not downloaded on or saved to Cooper's site or the host server of Cooper's website. Cooper's ISP, E-Talk Communications Pty Ltd. trading as Com-Cen Internet Services, was also find liable. A director and a staff member of the ISP were also found to have authorized copyright breaches. The ISP hosted Cooper's site in exchange for free advertising. The case alleging breaches of Australia's Copyright Act 1968 was initiated by six Australian music companies and 25 foreign corporations holding copyright in sound recordings.
Michael Williams, partner in the law firm Gilbert and Tobin and counsel for the music company plaintiffs, told BNA that the case was "the first test" of how digital copyright provisions inserted into the Copyright Act in 2000 applied to Internet activity. "This decision follows American decisions that have held hyperlinking to infringe copyright."

Full text of decision is available at the Australasian Legal Information Institute, http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/federal_ct/2005/972.html

Firefox marketing site hacked

SpreadFirefox.com, the community marketing Web site for the open-source Firefox Web browser, was hacked earlier this week, potentially exposing user data.

Online private eyes draw privacy complaints

Want to find a long-lost college buddy? Think your husband or wife is cheating on you? Numerous Web sites make being a private investigator as easy as double clicking.

Vodafone Blocks VoIP

Vodafone Germany is dramatically increasing the amount of mobile data users can send and receive, says Arne Hess, in a post. Bad news: Vodafone is blocking independent VoIP providers. Hess notes: "I have no idea yet how they do it in detail, but I can imagine they've started to block typical VoIP ports."

Phishing concerns to delay non-English domain names

Concerns about ``phishing'' e-mail scams will likely delay the expansion of domain names beyond non-English characters, the chairman of the Internet's key oversight agency said Friday.

Dutch judge protects privacy of file swappers

Brein, a Dutch organization representing 52 media and entertainment companies, had acquired unique computer identification numbers, so-called IP addresses, of file swappers and requested personal details behind these IP addresses from five large Internet service providers.

Arbitrator sides with Google in 'typosquatting' dispute

An Internet arbitrator has awarded Google Inc. the rights to several Web site addresses that relied on typographical errors to exploit the online search engine's popularity so computer viruses and other malicious software could be unleashed on unsuspecting visitors.

Report: Computer hijacking on the rise

Personal computers that play unwitting host to "zombie" code are proliferating at a startling pace, according to a new report.

New .mobi suffix points to wireless Web sites

Consumers will soon be able to recognize Web sites specially designed for use by mobile phones by the new .mobi suffix, which will be introduced alongside the popular .com and other top-level domain names.

Giving New Meaning to 'Spyware'

Recognizing that one person's search toolbar is another's spyware, a coalition of consumer groups, ISPs and software companies announced on Tuesday that it has finally come up with a mutually agreeable definition for the internet plague.

UK lobbies for data rentention

Charles Clarke wants email and phone records kept for up to three years to aid police investigations, but critics have claimed the scheme is expensive and unwieldy

Internet banking 'still risky'

The Australian banking sector has for sometime now obtained a substantial reward in migrating their business operations to the internet, but this migration has in some extent been at the expense of the consumer...

Hague Delegates Sign Choice of Courts - Convention With Implications for Clickwraps

Delegates from 64 countries at the Hague Conference on Private International Law signed an agreement June 30 that could have broad implications for which country's courts hear international business disputes--including those dealing with clickwrap agreements.
The convention, if and when it is adopted by member states, will enforce the jurisdiction and choice of courts to which the contracting international businesses have agreed. The 13-page document is narrower and shorter than expected, some attendees told BNA. Nonetheless, its application is broad. Despite lobbying by Internet service providers to exclude clickwraps and other non-negotiated contracts (10 ECLR 501 , 5/18/05), those efforts did not prevail. Ultimately, the software and insurance industries got what they wanted: the inclusion of clickwrap contracts in the convention.

Will Individuals Be Covered When They Click? The largest exclusion was consumers. A consumer in the convention is defined as "a natural person acting primarily for personal, family or household purposes." But some worry that this definition could leave out a whole range of people who might not consider themselves a "business" and who might be caught off guard by the convention's rules, such as a teacher who downloads a program.
Others worry that the convention's inclusion of clickwrap agreements will make it harder to contest seemingly unfair demands to litigate in a far away forum.
"If a lot of your business is done through contracting, and you're concerned about the inherent difficulty in litigating pursuant to clickwrap, this convention won't give you much comfort," said Miriam M. Nisbet, legislative counsel for the American Library Association, and a delegate to the convention. "This convention will make it more difficult for you to argue that it's not fair for you to be in a particular court."

American-Style Patents Won't Cross the Pond to EU

The European Parliament overwhelmingly rejected the European Union's controversial IT patenting proposal on Wednesday, but what will that decision mean for business and open-source?

No more phone spam, says mobile industry

Leaders in the South African mobile services arena have signed a mobile service code of conduct designed to protect consumers from phone spam and hidden charges.

Gartner Outlines Top Security Threats

More than one-third of the respondents in the Gartner survey said the need to comply with new regulatory requirements, such as those mandated in the United States by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, was the largest factor in determining spending priorities on I.T. security.

E-Commerce Hammered by Recent Hacks

Headlines highlighting misplaced data files and unauthorized access to sensitive personal information by Internet criminals are having a negative impact on consumer confidence in online commerce, according to recent research conducted by Gartner

Taking Chances with Open-Source Software

The increasing use of open-source code in commercial settings introduces new risks related to practical matters rather than to licensing.

Be smart about mitigating open-source IP risks

Many companies that have had problems with licensing and copyright infringement issues. Is there a recurring theme in these conversations?

Sony battles PSP games piracy

Hackers have cracked piracy protections on Sony's PlayStation Portable in the US, in the latest chapter in the company's battle to block unauthorised game use.

UK man convicted for modifying Xbox

A 22-year-old unnamed man has become the first person in the UK to be convicted for modifying a video games console.

Charter group awaits DTI code

The ICT empowerment charter working group is awaiting this week's release of the DTI's Code of Good Practice before finalising the draft charter.

IT, business strategy should merge

The ITWeb 2005 IT Governance Survey found that the majority of respondents view regulatory compliance as the main motivation for implementing an IT governance process