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PATH: BS | Privacy

Online Banks' Poor Web Design Compromises Customers' Security Posted by Pile (7789 views) [E-Mail link]
The "net-smart" consumer knows better than to fall for phishing scams where dubious people try to con you into submitting personal information into a mysterious web form, but now thanks vulnerabilities and poor design in many online banks' web sites themselves, crooks can use the bank's web site, such as Charter One to display the illegal activity within a frame from their own web site! To add insult to injury, Netcraft reports that most banks are among the slowest entities to fix these types of problems.
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Java Flaw Exposes Firefox Users to IE Vulnerabilities Posted by Pile (9128 views) [E-Mail link]
In an ironic technological twist, users who have switched from IE to Firefox for their browser may find they can still be infected by rogue Java programs that can spawn an instance of Internet Explorer to download a malicious program. However, the user will still need to approve via a dialogue box, the execution of the Java applet. In this day and age, I still don't understand why anybody would want to use Java. Most users should be highly suspicious of any Java application which needs any special permissions on your system to run.
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AOL's Chat Client: No Privacy + Total Exploitation Posted by Pile (5353 views) [E-Mail link]
AOL has posted new terms of service for AIM (AOL Instant Messenger), that includes the right for AOL to use anything and everything you send through AIM in any way they see fit, without informing you. A sample passage: '...by posting Content on an AIM Product, you grant AOL, its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, agents and licensees the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote this Content in any medium. You waive any right to privacy. UPDATE: Due to pressure from the online community AOL is softening its terms of service.
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Latest T-Mobile Bad Security Victim: Fred Durst Posted by Pile (5369 views) [E-Mail link]	[Technology]
Last week it was Paris Hilton; this week it's Fred Durst, who has had his phone account cracked and those who have done it have posted a video he took of him having sex. Looks like he gets another 15 minutes...
READ MORE \| 2 comments since 2005-02-27 03:51:34 \| Comment on this Article

The White House's Search Exclusions Posted by Pile (8306 views) [E-Mail link]
After examining log files and seeing the routine request for robots.txt, I decided to snoop around and see what other sites have in their robots.txt file. For those of you who don't know, this is a file that tells the search engines what to look at, or more often than not, what parts of their web site they don't want people to come across from sites like Google. What's interesting is that the Bush White House has one of the largest robots.txt I've ever seen, with tons of demands that web site content not be indexed, and most of it having to do with "Iraq". Is this more of the Bush brand of Freedom(tm) we're expecting? Is the administration not wanting any of their rhetoric archived on the Internet for future examination?
READ MORE \| 4 comments since 2005-09-29 13:37:14 \| Comment on this Article

Spyware Distributor Demands Websites Stop Calling Them Spyware Posted by Pile (4786 views) [E-Mail link]
A company called iDownload distributes what many in the industry call spyware, an invasive, "evil" toolbar plug-in for browsers that usurps control from the user. The product in question is called the iSearch Toolbar. ABC News particluarly despised the insideous "utility". However in an amusing twist, the company has been sending cease and desist-type letters from iDownload's law firm calling into question the legality of their products being labelled spyware.
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Paris Hilton's Phone Account Hacked (again) Posted by Pile (6713 views) [E-Mail link]
This might come as a shock to many, but Paris Hilton isn't the smartest cookie in the jar, yet she has an impressive array of friends, all of whom have repeatedly had to endure problems when it comes to maintaining the integrity of their personal phone numbers when this blonde bimbo gets her plethora of PIMs hacked and broken into. The latest scandal reveals an array of naked self-portraits from her new camera phone, personal notes and a hefty list of private phone numbers of the rich and famous. Actually, what's sad about this, is that this is not really Paris Hilton's fault. I wonder if the FBI will look into the bad security that T-Mobile and Sidekick seem to have? UPDATE: Now includes a story on how her account was hacked.. this is classic.
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T-Mobile's servers/subscribers compromised for more than a year Posted by Pile (6556 views) [E-Mail link]
UPDATE: More than a year later, it appears T-Mobile still has serious security problems. A sophisticated computer hacker had access to servers at wireless giant T-Mobile for at least a year, which he used to monitor U.S. Secret Service e-mail, obtain customers' passwords and Social Security numbers, and download candid photos taken by Sidekick users. The hacker had access to T-Mobile's 16+ million customers' information and was involved in efforts to sell the information online. T-Mobile has been backpedaling on details over the security breach.
READ MORE \| 2 comments since 2005-01-20 20:03:17 \| Comment on this Article

Identity Theft Crook Gets 14 Years Posted by Pile (5633 views) [E-Mail link]	[Get-Rich-Quick]
Philip Cummings, 35, believed to be the ringleader of the largest identity theft effort to date, used his job as a computer helpdesk employee at Teledata Communications, and a stolen password from Ford Motor Credit, to pilfer personal information from more than 30,000 unwitting customers. Supposedly the losses are estimated to be between $50M-$100M. In New York, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
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Microsoft finally abandons their goofy passport scheme Posted by Pile (8352 views) [E-Mail link]
Remember Passport? This was one of the many "world changing" schemes Microsoft wanted to push. In this case, the big mega-corporation suggested that you, the gullible consumer, entrust all your personal information, credit cards, passwords, etc., to Microsoft, accessible with a single password. For some strange reason, nobody other than a small number of stupid/coerced corporations and vendors actually embraced this wholly boneheaded idea. Then of course, the whole scheme was cracked and shown to be insecure. And now, for some strange reason, Microsoft is giving up on foisting this crazy idea on users. When a company can't keep their own products secure, it's a bad idea to promote equally incomplete personal privacy schemes. This idea apparently didn't even get past the red states!
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Top 10 New Years Resolutions to Protect Your Privacy Posted by Pile (10183 views) [E-Mail link]
Want to have a safer, more private and secure 2005? The Electronic Privacy Information Center has published a nice top 10 list of things you should/should not do.
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Lexmark printers silently spy on you Posted by Pile (6070 views) [E-Mail link]
I bet you didn't know that hooking up a printer to your computer would violate your privacy? Computer techs are up in arms about some new software for Lexmark printers which secretly gathers information on usage and reports the data back to an Internet address owned by Lexmark.
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