information

According to a recent report, extremely sensitive government data has appeared on peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks. The information is reported to include the precise locations of American nuclear silos and FBI surveillance photos. News of ... the leak came at the recent House Government Oversight ... (view more)

Researchers at security firm Inverse Path plan to demonstrate how standard power sockets (used in a home, for instance) can be used to eavesdrop on what is being typed onto a computer keyboard. They plan to make a presentation at the Black Hat ... Security conference taking place in Las Vegas from July 25-30 this year. The researchers found that poor electrical shielding on some keyboard cables can result in data being leaked into power circuits. Analyzing such information allowed the researchers to see what was being typed on a keyboard. So far, demonstrations of the attacks have worked at ... (view more)

Microsoft has expressed interest in further developing two-dimensional barcodes as part of their future corporate outlook. Two-dimensional barcodes are also called QR (quick response) codes and work like the ones found on product packaging. However, ... two-dimensional barcodes have the ability to store more data, including website information and email addresses. Scan with Your Cellphone Camera The whole process of using 2D barcodes is quite futuristic. People scan the barcode using their cellphone camera, which activates the phone's browser and directs them to a designated website linked to ... (view more)

When you can't get any states to participate in your flawed National ID scheme, what do you do? If you're the U.S. government, you change its name and try again. With the death of the REAL ID Act comes a replacement bill that poses many of the same ... threats, including what the Campaign for Liberty refers to as a federal grab for personal information. Now the act has been renamed and referred to as an enhanced or higher security driver's license. In reality, however, the only way to resolve the problem is to repeal it, not rename it. (Source: campaignforliberty.com ) After 9/11, the government ... (view more)

The company responsible for creating a database containing thousands of identities collected at U.S. airports has shut down. And so, the question remains: what happens to your personal information when a government-sponsored National ID scheme like ... 'Clear' suddenly shuts down? The fate of more than a quarter million people whose fingerprints, social security numbers, home addresses and other revealing personal information allegedly designed to help hasten traveler clearances at airports is hanging on that question, and even the government doesn't know the answer. (Source: yahoo.com ) Who ... (view more)

According to reports, the National Security Agency (NSA) has been busted once again for illegal surveillance. Worse yet, it seems the NSA has moved beyond wiretapping land lines to the wireless phone industry, too. (Source: nytimes ) Legal experts ... suggest that collaboration between the wireless phone industry and the NSA runs far deeper than originally thought. There are over 3,000 wireless companies operating in the U.S.; furthermore, the majority of industry-aided snooping is quietly handled by companies that most consumers have never heard of. (Source: cnet.com ) Major Networks Sold Data ... (view more)

Hackers have reportedly infiltrated restricted computer databases at the University of California Berkeley, putting the private data of 160,000 students, alumni, and others at risk. According to UC Berkeley, computer administrators determined that ... electronic databases in University Health Services had been breached by overseas criminals on April 21, 2009. UHS electronic medical records, including details of patients' diagnoses, treatments and therapies were not affected in this breach because they're stored on a separate system. (Source: http://datatheft.berkeley.edu ) Social Security Numbers ... (view more)

Google has introduced a new feature called 'Google Profile', which lets users control how their information appears when someone else searches for that person's name via Google's products (such as the Google Search Engine). Using Google Profile, it ... is possible to create a personal page that links to your blog or other profiles and keep family and friends up to date with your contact information and pictures. (Source: google.com) Control Over What Others See According to Google, a profile is simply how you present yourself on Google products to other Google users. You control how you appear on ... (view more)

The British Home Secretary has reportedly scrapped plans for a super database , but still wants communications firms to record and organize all emails, phone calls, Internet use and visits to social networking sites for security purposes as part of ... a modernization in UK police surveillance tactics. Instead of a super database, communications companies from Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to mobile phone networks are being asked to extend the range of information they currently hold on their customers and organize it so it can be used to investigate crime and terrorism. CSPs Asked to Record ... (view more)

Cybercrime (or "computer crime") consists of specific crimes dealing with computers and networks (such as hacking) and the facilitation of traditional crime through the use of computers and technology infrastructure. (Source: gc.ca ) Although the ... terms computer crime and cybercrime are more properly restricted to describing criminal activity in which the computer or network is a necessary part of the crime, these terms are also sometimes used to include traditional crimes, such as fraud, theft, blackmail, forgery, and embezzlement, in which computers or networks are used. Types of ... (view more)