December 19, 2011
CNBC's Scott Cohn reports on more than $1.5B in losses as a result of Utah ponzi schemes.
Link ~ Utah: Welcome to Ponziland! - CNBC
Friday, December 23, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Cyber attacks could wreck world oil supply
December 08, 2011
Cyber attacks could wreck world oil supply
Doha, Hackers are bombarding the world's computer controlled energy sector, conducting industrial espionage and threatening potential global havoc through oil supply disruption.
Oil company executives warned that attacks were becoming more frequent and more carefully planned.
"If anybody gets into the area where you can control opening and closing of valves, or release valves, you can imagine what happens," said Ludolf Luehmann, an IT manager at Shell Europe's biggest company .
"It will cost lives and it will cost production, it will cost money, cause fires and cause loss of containment, environmental damage - huge, huge damage," he told the World Petroleum Congress in Doha.
Continues @ read more ..
Cyber attacks could wreck world oil supply
Doha, Hackers are bombarding the world's computer controlled energy sector, conducting industrial espionage and threatening potential global havoc through oil supply disruption.
Oil company executives warned that attacks were becoming more frequent and more carefully planned.
"If anybody gets into the area where you can control opening and closing of valves, or release valves, you can imagine what happens," said Ludolf Luehmann, an IT manager at Shell Europe's biggest company .
"It will cost lives and it will cost production, it will cost money, cause fires and cause loss of containment, environmental damage - huge, huge damage," he told the World Petroleum Congress in Doha.
Continues @ read more ..
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Cyber Security Bill Approved by House Panel
December 1, 2011
Cyber Security bill approved by House panel
A bill to let U.S. spy agencies share intelligence on cyber threats with private companies was backed by a House of Representatives intelligence panel on Thursday.
In a 17-1 vote, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence approved the legislation that would expand a pilot Pentagon program for sharing classified and sensitive threat information with defense contractors and their Internet service providers.
Under the measure, a longer list of companies would be eligible for access to classified data from the National Security Agency and other agencies.
The bill was amended to expand privacy protections for data that companies give the government, including, potentially, data that Internet providers give about their customers. That data could be used only for cyber or national security, according to the amendment.
Some critics have worried that this type of sharing arrangement amounts to government surveillance of private data.
The government would also be barred from searching collected data except to secure cyber networks from attack.
Cyber Security bill approved by House panel
A bill to let U.S. spy agencies share intelligence on cyber threats with private companies was backed by a House of Representatives intelligence panel on Thursday.
In a 17-1 vote, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence approved the legislation that would expand a pilot Pentagon program for sharing classified and sensitive threat information with defense contractors and their Internet service providers.
Under the measure, a longer list of companies would be eligible for access to classified data from the National Security Agency and other agencies.
The bill was amended to expand privacy protections for data that companies give the government, including, potentially, data that Internet providers give about their customers. That data could be used only for cyber or national security, according to the amendment.
Some critics have worried that this type of sharing arrangement amounts to government surveillance of private data.
The government would also be barred from searching collected data except to secure cyber networks from attack.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Social Engineering and Financial Fraud Committed Over The Internet ~ What To Look For ...
Social engineering (security)
Social engineering is commonly understood to mean the art of manipulating, Psychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics.
By advancing the interests of the manipulator, often at the other's expense, such methods could be considered exploitative, abusive, devious, and deceptive. people into performing actions or divulging confidential information.
The people who need to hide their crimes say it is similar to a confidence trick or simple fraud, the term typically applies to trickery or deception for the purpose of information gathering, fraud, or computer system access; in most cases the attacker never comes face-to-face with the global criminals/victims.
Accusers say "Social engineering" as an act of psychological manipulation was popularized by hacker-turned-consultant Kevin Mitnick. Global criminals name the term as associated with the social sciences, but its usage has caught on among computer professionals
Social engineering techniques and terms
All social engineering techniques are based on specific attributes of human decision-making known as cognitive biases. These biases, sometimes called "bugs in the human hardware," are exploited in various combinations to create attack techniques, some of which are listed here:
Pretexting
Pretexting is the act of creating and using an invented scenario (the pretext) to engage a targeted victim in a manner that increases the chance the victim will divulge information or perform actions that would be unlikely in ordinary circumstances.
Continues ..
Social engineering is commonly understood to mean the art of manipulating, Psychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics.
By advancing the interests of the manipulator, often at the other's expense, such methods could be considered exploitative, abusive, devious, and deceptive. people into performing actions or divulging confidential information.
The people who need to hide their crimes say it is similar to a confidence trick or simple fraud, the term typically applies to trickery or deception for the purpose of information gathering, fraud, or computer system access; in most cases the attacker never comes face-to-face with the global criminals/victims.
Accusers say "Social engineering" as an act of psychological manipulation was popularized by hacker-turned-consultant Kevin Mitnick. Global criminals name the term as associated with the social sciences, but its usage has caught on among computer professionals
Social engineering techniques and terms
All social engineering techniques are based on specific attributes of human decision-making known as cognitive biases. These biases, sometimes called "bugs in the human hardware," are exploited in various combinations to create attack techniques, some of which are listed here:
Pretexting
Pretexting is the act of creating and using an invented scenario (the pretext) to engage a targeted victim in a manner that increases the chance the victim will divulge information or perform actions that would be unlikely in ordinary circumstances.
Continues ..
Who's Who ...
Iraqi dinar Money.com .. source for hundreds of dinar sites .. who are they? who owns them? Dinar Dealers .. A lucrative business .. find out more ... go to the Link
Also read .. Pharming – Redirecting website traffic to bogus sites
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Understanding Cyber Warfare. From Cyber Warfare to Cyber Resistance
November 27, 2011
Understanding Cyber Warfare. From Cyber Warfare to Cyber Resistance
Instruments of warfare have evolved. Gone are the days of battle-axes, machetes, swords, and men charging in strategic formation or lying in trenches awaiting their foe. Instead, guns, bombs, chemical and biological agents, unmanned aircraft and assault vehicles are used as instruments of war. A more significant change from the past has been the robotic nature of the way conflict is waged, supposedly making more “humane” an inhumane act.
The changes witnessed of course parallel technological advances within society, resulting in even more wars and conflicts being waged from behind a computer screen, in a command center, and by remote control. Likewise, the ways in which resistance is carried out will parallel the technological changes and evolving nature of warfare.
The rise of cyber warfare and resistance shed light on where we are heading, with both state and non-state actors on almost equal footing in the knowledge of and potential use for viruses, worms and Trojans. Arguably, some actors operating in the realm of cyber resistance are more advanced in knowledge than the states they are battling. Is Cyber Resistance a weapon for checking the traditional and conventional military power of the state? Will it be the key for checking Israel and its inhumane and disproportionate use of force and weaponry against Palestinians?
Continues ..
Understanding Cyber Warfare. From Cyber Warfare to Cyber Resistance
Instruments of warfare have evolved. Gone are the days of battle-axes, machetes, swords, and men charging in strategic formation or lying in trenches awaiting their foe. Instead, guns, bombs, chemical and biological agents, unmanned aircraft and assault vehicles are used as instruments of war. A more significant change from the past has been the robotic nature of the way conflict is waged, supposedly making more “humane” an inhumane act.
The changes witnessed of course parallel technological advances within society, resulting in even more wars and conflicts being waged from behind a computer screen, in a command center, and by remote control. Likewise, the ways in which resistance is carried out will parallel the technological changes and evolving nature of warfare.
The rise of cyber warfare and resistance shed light on where we are heading, with both state and non-state actors on almost equal footing in the knowledge of and potential use for viruses, worms and Trojans. Arguably, some actors operating in the realm of cyber resistance are more advanced in knowledge than the states they are battling. Is Cyber Resistance a weapon for checking the traditional and conventional military power of the state? Will it be the key for checking Israel and its inhumane and disproportionate use of force and weaponry against Palestinians?
Continues ..
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Forex: Risky Business? .. COMMISSION ADVISORY BEWARE OF FOREIGN CURRENCY TRADING FRAUDS ...
COMMISSION ADVISORY BEWARE OF FOREIGN CURRENCY TRADING FRAUDS
Forex: Risky Business?
Recently, there has been a rise in Forex transactions. Forex trading can involve a high degree of risk and may be more suitable for market professionals rather than the average retail investor. Forex, stands for foreign exchange trading. It usually means the right to buy or sell a certain amount of foreign currency at a fixed price in US dollars. In order words, you are betting on the way exchange rates will change.
Check To See If Brokers And Firms Are Licensed
Brokers and firms that trade Forex must be licensed with the National Futures Association (NFA). To check if the broker or firm that you are working with is licensed, please visit the National Futures Association BASIC Search. Forex may be traded on an exchange that is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) or off-exchange.
To find out whether firms or counterparties with whom you plan to trade are registered or regulated institutions or entities that are outside the CFTC's jurisdiction, you can check the lists of regulated institutions on the following websites. Some institutions outside the CFTC's jurisdiction do not appear on any of these lists or in other readily-available places:
Federal Reserve Board (www.federalreserve.gov)
Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (www.ffiec.gov)
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (www.fdic.gov)
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov)
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (www.occ.treas.gov)
Office of Thrift Supervision (www.ots.treas.gov)
National Credit Union Association (www.ncua.gov)
National Association of Securities Dealers Regulation, Inc. (www.nasdr.com)
All U.S. Government web sites can be located through links at www.firstgov.gov
Your state Attorney General's office and state banking, insurance and securities regulators (which often have their own web sites).
read more @ link
Forex: Risky Business?
Recently, there has been a rise in Forex transactions. Forex trading can involve a high degree of risk and may be more suitable for market professionals rather than the average retail investor. Forex, stands for foreign exchange trading. It usually means the right to buy or sell a certain amount of foreign currency at a fixed price in US dollars. In order words, you are betting on the way exchange rates will change.
Check To See If Brokers And Firms Are Licensed
Brokers and firms that trade Forex must be licensed with the National Futures Association (NFA). To check if the broker or firm that you are working with is licensed, please visit the National Futures Association BASIC Search. Forex may be traded on an exchange that is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) or off-exchange.
To find out whether firms or counterparties with whom you plan to trade are registered or regulated institutions or entities that are outside the CFTC's jurisdiction, you can check the lists of regulated institutions on the following websites. Some institutions outside the CFTC's jurisdiction do not appear on any of these lists or in other readily-available places:
Federal Reserve Board (www.federalreserve.gov)
Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (www.ffiec.gov)
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (www.fdic.gov)
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov)
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (www.occ.treas.gov)
Office of Thrift Supervision (www.ots.treas.gov)
National Credit Union Association (www.ncua.gov)
National Association of Securities Dealers Regulation, Inc. (www.nasdr.com)
All U.S. Government web sites can be located through links at www.firstgov.gov
Your state Attorney General's office and state banking, insurance and securities regulators (which often have their own web sites).
read more @ link