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The latest ways in which your computer is vulnerable to attack
A hacker using a computer represents online theft and Internet crime.
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The security firm Sophos released its annual Security Threat Report this morning. It reveals a major push by the bad guys (and I'm just going to go ahead and call them the bad guys) to gain access to accounts and computers through social networks.
Sophos's Chet Wisniewski is a frequent guest on our show and today he tells us about the Koobface worm. The name is a play on "Facebook". It's a worm that can infiltrate your account and then pose as you, sending messages to your friends, even going on the instant message service. Often it hits people up for money through a fake emergency. Guess where the money goes.
Chet says the mobile phone space is new enough that people are less likely to spot a scam on a tiny screen than they would be on a regular computer. He says the best way to protect yourself, as always, is through common sense. How could you have WON a lottery in Ghana if you never ENTERED a lottery in Ghana?
Also in this show, we hear from Susan Crawford of Cardozo Law School about the strings attached to Comcast's newly approved purchase of NBC Universal.
Plus, a new innovation in video games lets you smell along as you play. Smellable video games. You heard me.
It's pretty disgusting how we've given up on fighting crime and crooks. You've probably heard that 60-90% of all emails are spam/viruses/malware but who's trying to stop it? Certainly not the ISPs or companies providing equipment for the Internet backbone, as they would go broke it we stopped it - which could be easily done by simply charging a penny per email so sending 50 million emails a day would no longer be cost effective. But no, it would cost Cisco, IBM, Verizon, AT&T and every other company involved in the Internet $billions.
The other issue I have is the disinterest in fighting other electronic crime issues. I recently had two fraudulent charges on my credit card by someone who had gotten my info (probably a waiter at a restaurant) and cloned my card (the 3rd time in 18 months!), presented it to a Target store for two large purchases. Neither Target, my credit card company nor the local police had any interest in pursuing it even though I had traced down video of the transaction. The police said they get thousands of these crimes per month and have no time to go after them.
It's sad......
