Category: Cybercrime

Remote searches of suspect computers will form part of an EU plan to tackle hi-tech crime.The five-year action plan will take steps to combat the growth in cyber theft and the machines used to spread spam and other malicious programs.It will also encourage better sharing of data among European police forces to track down and prosecute criminals.Europol will co-ordinate the investigative work and also issue alerts about cyber crime sprees.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7758127.stm

A coroner has warned of the danger of buying medicine over the internet after a policewoman with Multiple Sclerosis died of an accidental overdose of drugs she purchased from a website.Pc Lynne Manklow, 44, was found dead at her home in Cheltenham, Glos, after taking Orphenadrine, a muscle relaxant intended for the relief of Parkinson’s Disease, which is only available on prescription in Britain.The officer, who had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2000, had paid £48.27 for a supply of the drug, which can act to lift the mood in people with Multiple Sclerosis, from a company based in Canada.
www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/3533433/Coroner-warns-of-dangers-of-internet-drugs-after-policewoman-overdoses.html

[AP] The mother of a girl who committed suicide at age 13 after being subjected to an Internet hoax says a woman’s conviction in the case shows that people who bully others online will face consequences.Lori Drew, 49, of O’Fallon, Mo., was convicted Wednesday in federal court in Los Angeles on misdemeanor charges of accessing computers without authorization in a landmark cyberbullying trial, though her lawyer said he still hopes a judge will dismiss the charges against her.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/28/AR2008112802200.html
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/29/victims-mother-takes-solace-in-conviction/

[news release] The Council of ministers of the European Union adopted today the Council’s strategy to reinforce the fight against cyber crime. The strategy proposes a series of operational measures, such as cyber patrols, joint investigation teams and remote searches to become part of the fight against cybercrime in the next five years. The strategy also introduces concrete steps for closer cooperation and information exchange between law enforcement authorities and the private sector.Cyber crime is a growing threat to our societies today. EU member states suffer daily thousands of attacks against their information systems. Viruses facilitating stealing information from personal computers, spam, identity theft, and child pornography are increasingly widespread. According to recent reports, images of sexually abused children available on-line quadrupled in the last five years and half of all internet crime involves the production, distribution and sale of child pornography.The European Commission has cooperated closely with the French Presidency and the Member States in the elaboration of a series of practical measures to fight cyber crime. The new strategy recommends reinforcing partnership between the police and the private sector by better knowledge-sharing on investigation methods and trends in cyber crime. It also encourages both parties to respond quickly to information requests, resort to remote searches, cyber patrols for online tracking of criminals and joint investigations across borders. The strategy also calls for the setting up of an alert platform in the short term, where reports on crime committed on the Internet, such as posting of illegal content, in EU member states would be pooled for cross-checking by Europol. The Commission earmarked 300,000 euro for Europol to implement the platform.Vice-President Jacques Barrot highlighted the importance of this strategy by saying “The strategy encourages the much needed operational cooperation and information exchange between the Member States. It gives a shared responsibility to the Commission, the Member States and other stakeholders to introduce the different measures. If the strategy is to make the fight against cyber crime more efficient, all stakeholders have to be fully committed to its implementation. We are ready to support them, also financially, in their efforts.”To find out more about Vice-President Jacques Barrot work please visit his website:
http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/barrot/welcome/default_en.htmThis news release was sourced from http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1827.

Two recent studies have shown the promise of using data from search engines to provide early warning of influenza outbreaks — and the pitfalls and limitations, as well. Privacy considerations aside, it is a technology that will need refinement if it is to be used by public health officials for early warning duties.One study, published by the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, examined the relationship between searches for influenza-related terms on the Yahoo search engine and the actual occurrence of influenza over a four-year period in the United States. The searches spiked one to three weeks in advance of a sharp rise in laboratory cultures testing positive for influenza and up to five weeks in advance of a rise in mortality due to influenza.
http://nytimes.com/2008/11/28/opinion/28fri3.html

The ‘malware’ strike, thought to be from inside Russia, hit combat zone computers and the U.S. Central Command overseeing Iraq and Afghanistan. The attack underscores concerns about computer warfare.Senior military leaders took the exceptional step of briefing President Bush this week on a severe and widespread electronic attack on Defense Department computers that may have originated in Russia — an incursion that posed unusual concern among commanders and raised potential implications for national security.Defense officials would not describe the extent of damage inflicted on military networks. But they said that the attack struck hard at networks within U.S. Central Command, the headquarters that oversees U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, and affected computers in combat zones. The attack also penetrated at least one highly protected classified network.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cyberattack28-2008nov28,0,6441140.story

Is lying about one’s identity on the Internet now a crime?The verdict on Wednesday in the MySpace cyberbullying case raised a variety of questions about the terms that users agree to when they log on to Web sites.
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While the Internet’s anonymity was used in this case as a cloak to bully Megan, other users say they have perfectly good reasons to construct false identities online, if only to help protect against the theft of personal information, for example.
http://nytimes.com/2008/11/28/us/28internet.html
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081128/BIZ04/811280356

Lord Paddy Ashdown has said that terrorism is being facilitated by a lack of oversight of the internet.Speaking to ZDNet UK at an Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) press event, Ashdown said that cybercrime and terrorism rush “into the vacuum of a lawless space” if governance of internet activity by countries is too weak.”Is the internet a lawless space? Of course,” said Ashdown. “Effectively, there are no laws, except in places like China. I’m a liberal, so I believe in the free flow of information, but there are issues that need to be addressed.”
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39564639,00.htm
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/internet/0,39044908,62048786,00.htm

The perennial tale about church fundraising is that it’s to rebuild the steeple. But one church in Lichfield, Staffordshire, faced a different fundraising problem: to pay a ?6,000 bill demanded for photographs used on its website. The case came to the attention of Gavin Drake, the communications director for the diocese’s 600 churches. In creating the church’s website, a volunteer had included a couple of images sourced from Getty, a large picture agency, without paying for them. A couple of months later, Getty sent the church a demand for ?6,000.

A Missouri woman who posed as a 16-year-old boy on MySpace, wooed and rejected a troubled teenage girl who later committed suicide was found guilty Wednesday of three misdemeanor charges, but no felonies, by a federal jury.According to published reports, the jury rejected felony charges of accessing a computer without authorization for Lori Drew, the 49-year-old mother from O’Fallon, Mo., who allegedly posed as a 16-year-old boy to harass a former friend of her daughter’s. The jury did, however, find Drew guilty of three lesser misdemeanor counts.The jurors could not reach a verdict on a count of conspiracy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/26/AR2008112600629.htmlVerdict in MySpace Suicide Case
A federal jury here convicted a Missouri woman of three misdemeanor charges of computer fraud for her involvement in creating a phony account on MySpace to trick a teenager, who later committed suicide.The defendant, Lori Drew, 49, faces up to three years in prison and $300,000 in fines, according to federal sentencing guidelines.The jury rejected felony charges against Ms. Drew, and was deadlocked on a conspiracy count. Judge George Wu declared a mistrial on that charge.
http://nytimes.com/2008/11/27/us/27myspace.htmlJury delivers mixed verdict in MySpace bullying trial
A federal jury delivered a mixed verdict today convicting a Missouri mother of misdemeanor charges in a nationally watched cyber-bullying case in which the woman was accused of using a fake MySpace account to torment a teenage girl who later committed suicide.The jurors, however, rejected more serious felony charges against Lori Drew, 49, who was involved in a hoax on 13-year-old Megan Meier. The panel deadlocked on a conspiracy count.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-myspace-trial-verdict27-2008nov27,0,4235859.story