fbi

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is going ahead with a $1 billion program that will help it find persons of interest more rapidly. Between now and 2014 the money will be used to upgrade the FBI's facial recognition system and national ... fingerprint database. Officially, the upgrading program is called "Next Generation Identification" (NGI). The idea has been percolating for at least two years. In 2010, FBI representative Richard Vorder Bruegge first discussed the bureau's desire to use facial recognition technology to "identify subjects in public datasets." Bruegge ... (view more)

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) plans to join the twenty-first century by using computer systems rather than paper to manage its cases. The change may improve detection rates by making it easier to cross-reference data between cases. ... The new computer system, called Sentinel, will also allow FBI agents to make notes on cases via dedicated software. A demonstration for reporters showed that Sentinel contains elements reminiscent of consumer software, such as web browsers, Microsoft Outlook, and tax preparation software. (Source: wsj.com ) FBI personnel have been using Sentinel ... (view more)

With their FBI-supplied lifeline severed, early Monday morning tens of thousands of computers still infected with dangerous DNS Changer virus lost their ability to surf the Internet. However, it appears that a flurry of media reports warning ... computer users about the potential problem has prevented the shut-down from having a significant impact. DNS Changer was a virus that spread across the Internet back in 2009. Originating in eastern Europe, an FBI investigation resulted in the operation's termination in 2011. The servers involved were seized. However, the FBI voluntarily refrained from ... (view more)

People whose computers are infected with the ' DNS Changer ' virus will lose access to the Internet on Monday, July 9, 2012, unless they take steps to remedy the situation. Right now the Federal Bureau of Investigation is wrapping up an operation ... designed to help such victims maintain their online connections. DNS Changer is named after the domain name system that helps translate website addresses (such as www.infopackets.com ) into a string of numbers known as an IP address, which is the way computers actually identify the machine where a particular website is physically stored. 'DNS Changer ... (view more)

The case against Megaupload.com, the Hong Kong-based file-hosting website accused of providing illegal access to copyright-protected media files, has now been dealt a critical blow. A New Zealand judge has ruled that the search warrants used by ... police in that country to raid the home of Megaupload's leading members were illegal. Megaupload sites were shut down in January by the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) after the owners were indicted on charges of copyright infringement. At the heart of the scandal was Kim Dotcom, a.k.a. Kim Schmitz, a German national and current New Zealand ... (view more)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is reportedly pushing for a change in the U.S. law related to wiretapping. If passed, the changes would allow government monitoring of Facebook, Skype, and some email services. The idea is to change the ... Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), which currently doesn't give investigators the right to monitor and intercept communications. Instead, the law forces telecommunications providers to set up their services in a way that makes such monitoring and intercepting technologically possible. Email, VoIP, Social Media to be Monitored? ... (view more)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says that computers infected with a particular type of malware could lose their Internet connections this coming summer. Fortunately, there appears to be relatively simple solution for the problem. According ... to the FBI, computers infected with the malware called "DNSChanger," which first emerged in 2007 and which has since infected millions of computers worldwide, could go offline in July, 2012, until repaired. Cybercriminals Have Re-Routed Internet Traffic Normally, when a computer user enters a web address into their browser, their computer ... (view more)

If you've developed an application capable of spying on users of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would probably like to have a chat with you. But don't worry -- it would appear they're more ... likely to use your app than putting you in prison for it. In a recent post on the site FedBizOpps.gov, the FBI's Strategic Information and Operations Center (SIOC) openly admits it's looking for an app that will allow the investigative organization to go behind the scenes in social media sites and news networks. According to the post, the much-wanted ... (view more)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has made two announcements about successful operations against online bandits. The first is a near-complete takedown of a widespread virus, while the second is a series of arrests and seizures relating to ... two separate cybercrime gangs responsible for scareware scams. The virus in question had allowed criminals to set up a botnet . In short, a botnet is a large network of virus-infected PCs which is remotely controlled by one or a few individuals. The infected PCs are typically used to attack websites, send spam (unsolicited bulk email) to users around ... (view more)

For many of us in the tech world, security is of absolute importance. We invest in anti-virus and anti-spyware software, use cryptic passwords, and look over our shoulder whenever entering log-in names. Few of us would expect that none of these ... measures could protect us from one foe: the FBI. How many of us support the U.S. government's Patriot Act, a measure instituted by the Bush administration not long after the September 11th attacks? Many simply don't realize what the Patriot Act includes; although Michael Moore touched on it in his controversial documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, the act ... (view more)