Internet Security and Programming

Web Fraud 2.0: Faking Your Internet Address

first — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:13:21 +0000

One of the casualties from the unplugging of McColo Corp. is fraudcrew.com, a Web service that offered paying customers the ability to hide their identities online by routing their traffic through computers controlled by others. Fraudcrew, which has not been charged with any crime, offered subscribers a point-and-click way to mask the source of their Internet connections, so that Web sites could not tell the true location of visitors using the service. The site was advertised heavily on Russian online forums catering to computer hacking and identity theft. There are a number of services like those offered by Fraudcrew (Security Fix profiled another one earlier this year) that not only aid in hiding one’s identity online, but could also defeat security measures put in place by financial institutions. Many online banks will check to see whether the customer’s Internet address is coming from a location already associated with the customer’s

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US Army bans USB devices to contain worm

theregister — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:48:23 +0000

Unfriendly fire
The US Army has reportedly suspended the use of USB and removable media devices after a worm began spreading across its network.…

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Computer virus quarantines London Hospital for second day

theregister — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:02:58 +0000

Plucky Brits shrug off Mytob network blitz
IT staff at three major London hospitals have spent a second day struggling to restore IT systems following a major computer virus outbreak.…

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Lame Mac Trojan limps into view

theregister — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:59:19 +0000

Malware targets grumble-flick fans
Security researchers have uncovered a rare example of a Trojan that affects Mac PCs.…

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‘Network Identity Theft’ Politely Avenged

first — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:27:50 +0000

A massive swath of some 65,536 unique Internet addresses that appear to have been swiped from early Internet pioneers by a convicted spammer has been reclaimed by Internet regulators, Security Fix has learned. In April, Security Fix reported that a huge block of Internet addresses once assigned to San Francisco Bay Packet Radio — an organization that was involved way back in the 1970s in testing the predecessor to the global commercial Internet that we all use today — was being used to send e-mail for a company called MediaBreakaway. That company’s chief executive is Scott Richter — a self-avowed “spam king” who has been sued by a number of the Internet’s biggest players — including Microsoft and Myspace — for sending spam. When I was first presented with this information, I put the relevant questions to the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) — one of five regional Internet

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