Linux Privacy - Page 46 - Results from #900

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Reducing Spam

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This is a short but pithy CERT Security Tip, which you may want to consider forwarding to your end-users, or friends and relatives to complain that they don't know what to do about their spam problem. It is a collection of common-sense best practices for reducing the volume of spam clogging up your computers and network, from a user standpoint. . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Apr 23, 2004

Destructive Influence

It's time for us to accept that we live in an environment with a great many dangers lurking in it, dangers that we can lessen as long as we create a policy that everyone in our organization can understand and actually use, as long as we discipline ourselves to delete the stuff we just don't need, and as long as we remember to look both ways before crossing the railroad tracks - or the lawyers. . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Apr 21, 2004

Study: Lots Of Private Data Found On Used Hard Disks

Previously-owned hard disks are a prime source of patient records and other supposedly private information that falls under regulatory protection, according to a study commissioned by O&O Software. . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Apr 19, 2004

Google Challenges Microsoft Monopoly

Another obstacle to Google's ascendancy is the company's own privacy and usage policies: "All this assumes that people will trust Google with their data, of course. That's yet to be proven," Sullivan said. Even though the Gmail is not yet available, "consumer watchdogs are attacking it as a creepy invasion of privacy that threatens to set a troubling precedent," the AP wrote. Critics are pressuring Google to "drop its plans to electronically scan e-mail content so it can distribute relevant ads alongside incoming messages." Another policy being criticized permits Google to retain copies of people's e-mails even after the users' close their accounts. . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Apr 13, 2004

Arrests key win for NSA hackers

You may have been suspecting that your email is being monitored. Now we have proof that it is. It is possible that, as this becomes more widely known, there will be an increased inpetus for everyone to encrypt their email and/or VoIP communications. . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Apr 07, 2004

Europe rebuffs US flight info data grab

The European Parliament has voted to stop the United States from collecting passenger data on EU citizens. The US Department of Homeland Security had sought access to the flight data, based on PNR (Passenger Name Records) but also including the passenger's email address, and a compromise was reached in January, although details only leaked out earlier this year. Under the 1995 Privacy Directive, the Commission is required to "assess the level of data protection afforded by a third country in the light of all the circumstances surrounding a data transfer operation or set of data transfer operations". The MEPs resolution adopted by Parliament in a 229-202 vote, MEPs judged the level of data protection to be "inadequate". . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Apr 01, 2004

Civil liberties groups unite for RFID protest

Cross-border sharing of biometric data could infringe human rights, warns an international coalition of civil liberties groups. . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Mar 31, 2004

AOL raffles spammer's seized Porsche

Just a cute story for those who hate spam. . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Mar 30, 2004

Kazaa and co 'not cause of music biz woes', say Profs

To many of us, P2P has become a tremendous can of worms. On one hand, there is the whole issue of intellectual property and copyright law. On the other hand, the tactics employed by groups like the RCAA and the MPAA bring up serious privacy concerns. Finally, from a security standpoint, P2P networks have become a major vector of virii and trojans, as well as a (semi-controllable) bandwidth issue. Indeed, some trojans are used by the RCAA/MPAA and their sympathisers to find and prosecute downloaders -- and their legal teams are dangerous to ISPs and large network administrators. This new research, however, puts the issue into a new context, and if its implications are understood, will change the terms of the debate. What if, after all the money and litigation spent and all the badwill generated, it turns out that filesharing is not causing a decline in CD sales, after all? . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Mar 30, 2004

Interior Dept. back online as judge mulls site security

Our Federal Government at work!The U.S. Interior Department was back online Thursday after an appeals court said it could connect to the Internet while the court considers whether payments owed to American Indians are vulnerable to hackers. Interior Department employees had been unable to use e-mail, and most of the department's Web sites had been offline after a federal judge concluded on March 15 that the agency had not fixed security holes that threaten Indian trust-fund payments. . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Mar 26, 2004

Would-be whistleblower indicted for keyboard tap

LS Commentary: It looks like Larry Ropp really was trying to put an end to a very noxious, illegal practice on the part of his employer, an auto insurance company. Certainly, it would appear that his intentions were good, and people may wonder why he's indicted for it. But the FBI could put a keyboard logger on you only under very defined circumstances, and a warrant is almost always required. These rules are in place to protect all of us; we simply cannot do normal business without the expectation of a degree of default privacy. To allow individuals to violate the privacy of others, even for causes they consider just, would make a mockery of the protections provided by law. There was nothing about this case that prevented the employer from taking this matter to the authorities and allowing them to obtain a warrant. They still might have used his services to plant the logger, but then, at least, it would have been sanctioned by law. . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Mar 26, 2004

When Gaming is a Gamble

As a computer security expert, you are hired by an offshore casino in the Cayman Islands to develop a security and authentication technology. Your client is a licensed Cayman casino that has been operating for over 30 years, and wants to make a foray into online gaming. You perform a standard penetration test, a security assessment, an architecture and code review, help establish the SSL and authentication protocols, and help with firewall implementation and monitoring -- you know: the full suite of security services. You test the beta site and its configuration, and give your stamp of approval. With check in hand, you return to America and days, weeks or months later, the site goes active. A few weeks after that, you are visited by an FBI agent with a federal grand jury subpoena seeking records relating to your security work. Weeks after that, a knock on the door announces the arrival of deputy U.S. Marshals with a warrant for your arrest for violation of 18 U.S.C. 1084 and 18 U.S.C. 2. . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Mar 24, 2004

Report: Phishing attacks on the rise

Despite a handful of successful criminal prosecutions and an increase in public awareness, February saw a marked increase in the number of new variations of the spam-borne swindle called "phishing," according to a report from an industry group released Friday. The Anti-Phishing Working Group charted 282 unique attacks last month, a 60 percent increase above the 176 attacks spotting in January, the group says. "The number of attacks is growing, and the rate of increase is growing," says Dan Maier, director of marketing for the group. . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Mar 24, 2004

Privacy Projects Die Quietly As Government Pushes Ahead With Data-Gathering Research

Two cutting-edge computer projects designed to preserve the privacy of Americans were quietly killed while Congress was restricting Pentagon data-gathering research in a widely publicized effort to protect innocent citizens from futuristic anti-terrorism tools. As a result, the government is quietly pressing ahead with research into high-powered computer data-mining technology without the two most advanced privacy protections developed to police those terror-fighting tools. . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Mar 15, 2004

Internet banking 'no longer safe'

ONLINE banking in Australia was fraught with danger and "manifestly not suitable" for Internet transactions via the home computer, says leading Internet security expert, Professor Bill Caelli, AO. Professor Caelli, who recently briefed US policy advisers on Internet security, yesterday warned people to stop using home computers for personal banking or "any other sort of secure transaction". "A home PC was never designed for home banking," said Professor Caelli, who heads QUT's School of Software Engineering and Data Communications. "Do not use it, it's no longer safe." . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Mar 09, 2004

Court: DeCSS ban violated free speech

A California appeals court on Friday reversed a 4-year-old order barring the publication of a DVD-cracking tool on the Internet, finding the injunction violated the defendant's free speech rights. . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Feb 28, 2004

FBI Shutters Web Host

This is a scary, but true, story about how heavy handed the FBI is willing to be to a data center. Did you know that they can confiscate all of your servers on the suspicion that, while you did nothing wrong, you are inadvertently hosting a hacker? The FBI was simply impatient with the pace of the investigation on-site, so they took all of the servers to their own labs. People who fear the coming of Big Brother should, perhaps, ask themselves if he's here now. . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Feb 24, 2004

Privoxy

Privoxy version 3.0.3 was today released. Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for protecting privacy, modifying web page content, managing cookies, controlling access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious Internet junk. . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Feb 05, 2004

The Giant Wooden Horse Did It!

In October, 2002 Julian Green was arrested in Devon, England after police searched his home PC and found examples of child pornography. ISP had logs identified Green as the person responsible for the downloads, and the existence of the child porn on his PC seemed to be all the corroboration the constable would have needed to obtain a conviction. However, a defense forensic expert also found evidence that there were Trojans planted on Green's computer that were designed to piggyback his browser, and log into porn sites. The Trojans probably were downloaded as e-mail attachments -- made all the more likely by the fact that Green had a teenage son. Unable to definitively prove that Green knowingly and intentionally downloaded the files, the prosecution dismissed the charges. . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Jan 21, 2004

Hoaxes befall banks in England, Singapore

The Bank of England said Tuesday that it had intercepted more than 100,000 fraudulent e-mails masquerading as computer security software issued by the central bank. . . .

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Dec 31, 2003

Linux Privacy - Page 46

Navigating the Tails 6.8 Update: What It Means for Security-Minded Users

Google Chooses Passkeys Over Passwords: Examining the Security Benefits for Linux Users

Tails 6.6 Released: Unpacking Key Features & Updates