New York Firm Faces Bankruptcy Following Cyber Attack

Instances of criminals using cyberspace to carry out monetary theft has been steadily increasing in recent years, with dire consequences for victims. Little & King LLC, a New York based marketing firm, faces bankruptcy after a computer virus infection allowed cyber criminals to drain the organizations bank account to the tune of $164,000.

The firm’s account was drained over a weekend. When the fraud was noticed by the firm, it…

Cyber Needs Different Considerations Mr. Franken

Late last year, President Obama signed into law the Franken Amendment, which is an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill. It took effect last Tuesday and received both praise and derision from interested parties.

The initial impetus behind the Franken Amendment was a result of the alleged rape by fellow contracting employees…

Cyber Criminals Exploit Olympics

Cyber criminals often utilize the latest popular search trends in an effort to spread malware. This has most recently been seen with the Olympic Games. Cyber criminals have used Twitter and search engine optimization (SEO) tactics to promote fake videos with malware that purport to be of the Olympics.

Following the death of luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, search results for “Olympic luge crash video” yielded malware infested results at the top…

Researchers Find Massive Botnet

Security researchers with NetWitness Corp. have discovered a massive botnet which includes at least 75,000 infected computers at 2,500 companies and government agencies throughout the world. The Kneber botnet has been used by cyber criminals to acquire login credentials for email systems, financial and social networking sites.

The Kneber botnet is named after the username that has linked the infected computers into a botnet. The data uncovered by NetWitness included…

The Economic Consequences of Cyber Attacks: An Interview with Scott Borg

The threats emanating from cyberspace are becoming consistent features in the news. Earlier this year, Google revealed it and dozens of other companies had come under cyber attack. Cyber criminals have stolen millions of dollars and the intellectual property of America’s leading…

Highly Sensitive Info Available via P2P

Peer-to-peer networks can be useful to increase the rate and volume of information exchange. However, this also has its drawbacks as two security researchers demonstrated at the ShmooCon conference over the weekend.

Larry Pesce and Mick Douglas took a look at the information individuals send via P2P applications and found even the most sensitive information could be shared.

The two researchers were able to intercept highly personal data that could…

Security Agencies Seek to Read Criminals’ Poker Face

Money laundering is an art used by arms dealers, drug dealers and other criminals. It takes “dirty money” (obtained through illegal means) and “cleans” it, making it appear to be legitimately earned. In the past, coin-operated businesses (like laundromats) were used. Now criminals have moved into cyberspace, using online gambling websites.

Security agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Serious Organized Crime Agency are investigating more than 20…

Need a Job? Cyber Criminals are Hiring…

Everyone agrees the present job market is tough as unemployment in the United States is in the double digits. Well, cyber criminals are stepping into the gap, seeking to hire individuals willing to infect computers with malware, according to an article on RedOrbit.com.

Two cyber criminal organizations that have previously been involved with credit card and banking thefts are…

The Sophisticated Hacker

Earlier, The New New Internet reported that cyber criminals used legitimate company names and logos in an attempt to recruit ‘money mules.’ Hackers are launching increasingly sophisticated attacks against social networking users but utilizing profiling and geolocation, according to researchers at the Kaspersky Lab.

As users have become more wary of widespread spam and phishing attacks, hackers have begun to put a little more time and effort into…

Texaco Looking for Money Mules?

While cyber criminals often create false companies to recruit ‘money mules,’ or individuals to move stolen funds for them, sometimes they choose to use established companies instead. Often the recruited money mules do not even understand that they are participating in cyber crime.

According to researchers at F-Secure, a recent ad used to recruit money mules purports to be from Texaco, an oil company. The ad offers prospective ‘employees’…