Design 21: Social Design Network

Internet Reviews Abney Associates Blog Articles The US Federal Trade Commission has carried out a huge international crackdown on a number of "tech support" scams being run out of India which have conned people in the UK, US, Canada and elsewhere out of millions of pounds since 2008. As explained by the Guardian in 2010, the scams used "boiler room" tactics, dialling through phone books for English-speaking countries. People who answered the phone were told the call came from Microsoft or their internet service provider, and that the person's computer was "reporting viruses". The caller would then perform an unnecessary "fix" on the computer and charge the person for it – and sometimes sign them up to multi-year "support" contracts. The cost could run to hundreds of pounds. People in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were targeted because they, like the people carrying out the scam, are English-speaking. The Guardian understands that the scam was worth millions of pounds a year to the organised gangs carrying it out. At the FTC's request in six cases, a federal district judge froze the US assets of 17 people and 14 companies that have been accused of taking part in the operations. The FTC has also shut down 80 internet domain names and 130 phone numbers used in the US to carry out the scams. The FTC is seeking an end to the scams, and repayments for people who were conned out of money. Though the FTC said it could ...

Abney And Associates Technology News Blog WASHINGTON-USAs militære er øke budsjettet for cyber-krigføring og utvide sin offensive evner, inkludert muligheten til å avslutte sine kommando-systemer i tilfelle krig, eller blind fiendens radar i henhold til to defense tjenestemenn. I 2014 forsvarsbudsjettet lansert forrige uke, steg bevilget for cyber-operasjoner til $4.7 milliarder, opp fra $3,9 milliarder. Mye av de ekstra pengene går inn i utviklingen av offensive evner, vanligvis referert til som nettverk for dataangrep, ifølge budsjett dokumenter. Tjenestemenn sier dette er evner-inkludert rettet mot militære datanettverk — at en sjef må kanskje i en konflikt, og ville bli brukt kun i henhold til loven om væpnet konflikt. Utvidelsen er en anerkjennelse av at cyberkrig vil trolig være minst en del av fremtidig konflikt. De siste årene, har Pentagon brukt hundrevis av millioner av dollar på å bygge cyber-evner, en innsats som har fått haster som Kina, Russland, Nord-Korea og andre nasjoner har brukt cyberspace å angripe motstandere eller stjele hemmeligheter. "Når du ser på det strategiske landskapet fra vårt perspektiv, det blir verre," vitnet Army gen Keith Alexander, leder av Cyber Command, nylig til Kongressen. Amerikanske tjenestemenn sier de har en rekke sofistikerte cyber-angrep funksjoner bør de være nødvendig av sjefer i en konflikt. Ferdighetene er forgjengelig og krever konstant honing, sa defense tjenestemenn. "Fra alt jeg sa, vi er så god som noen o...

http://www.luuux.com/technology/abney-and-associates-cybercrime-be-wary-public-wi-fi-while-vacation Abney and Associates MONTREAL - Travellers should be wary of cyber threats on vacation as they access free wireless networks with their smartphones, tablets or laptops, says software security company Symantec Corp. Canadians travelling for March break and into the summer season shouldn't be doing things like pulling up their bank accounts on Wi-Fi networks, said Symantec Canada's Lynn Hargrove. "What people don't realize is that there's no security on those Wi-Fi networks for the most part," she said. "It's a great way to keep in touch while you're on vacation, but there are some inherent risks that come with it that people just aren't thinking about." Symantec has found that two in 10 Canadians pull up their bank accounts on free Wi-Fi networks in Canada. Young men are most at risk for cybercrime because they are "fearless" and access risky Internet sites, said Hargrove, director of consumer solutions, from Toronto. According to Symantec's 2012 Norton Cybercrime report, travellers are often victimized through their mobile devices while abroad, often by text messages. "We're seeing a lot of fraudulent texts asking you to click on a link or go and dial a number to retrieve a voice mail," Hargrove said. And the wealth of information stored on a smartphone - pictures, texts, emails, contact lists, work documents, banking information - can be...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2287138/Public-schoolboy-hacker-masterminded-15m-fraud-jails-IT-class--hacks-prisons-system.html?ito=feeds-newsxml Abney Associates Nicholas Webber, 21, was jailed for five years for running a criminal website He started his criminal career at £24,000-a-year Bradfield College Prison IT Teacher Michael Fox was made redundant after the incident Fox protests he had no idea Webber was a hacker One of Britain’s most notorious cyber criminals hacked into a prison computer system from inside jail – after he was allowed to join an IT class. Nicholas Webber, 21, jailed for five years in 2011 for masterminding a multi-million-pound internet crime site, triggered the security scare during a lesson. It is understood his actions caused ‘major panic’ but it is not clear what, if anything, he managed to access. The prison, HMP Isis in South London, blamed his teacher, Michael Fox, who was employed by Kensington and Chelsea College. He was banned from the prison but the college cleared him of committing any security breaches at a disciplinary hearing last March. However, he was made redundant when no alternative work could be found for him. More... Pictured with piles of cash: The public schoolboy jailed for five years for masterminding £18m internet scam Computer hacker, 21, jailed for masterminding £27 MILLION fraud in his bedroom taking credit card details from unsuspecting internet users On Friday, Mr Fox, from Bromley, Kent, began a claim for u...

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hkedition/2013-01/10/content_16100614.htm Abney and Associates More than 90 highprofile speakers from the government, business and financial sectors willshare their insights on major Asian economic issues at the 6th Asian Financial Forum (AFF) tobe held in Hong Kong on Jan 14 and 15. Themed "Asia: Shaping the Next Global Landscape," this year's forum will focus on Asia's fast-expanding role in the global economy. Topics such as the Asia's role in global economic development, the need for a new financialinfrastructure, opportunities in China and yuan internationalization will be discussed during thetwo-day financial summit. The gathering, the sixth such event organized by the Hong Kong Special Administrative RegionGovernment and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), will take place at theHong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Some 2,000 business industry players and government leaders from 32 countries and regionsattended last year's forum. China Daily is a media sponsor of the AFF. Against the backdrop of the United States having averted a "fiscal cliff" while still struggling withits debt ceiling, and European countries remaining mired in their sovereign debt crisis, theemerging Asia has become the main force to drive global economic growth and the focus of theglobal market. "Although there're still a lot of uncertainties in the global economy, I'm cautiously optimistictowards the overall economic growth i...