New York: A bloodless bank heist that netted more than $45 million has left even cybercrime experts impressed by the technical sophistication, if not the virtue, of the con artists who pulled off a remarkable internationally organized attack.
"It was pretty ingenious," Pace University computer science professor Darren Hayes said Friday.
On the creative side of the heist, a small team of highly skilled hackers penetrated bank systems, erased withdrawal limits on prepaid debit cards and stole account numbers. On the crude end, criminals used handheld devices to change the information on the magnetic strips of old hotel key cards, used credit cards and depleted debit cards.
Seven people were arrested in the US, accused of operating the New York cell of what prosecutors said was a network that carried out thefts at ATMs in 27 countries from Canada to Russia. Law enforcement agencies from more than a dozen nations were involved in the investigation, which was being led by the Secret Service....
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11:30 AM, May 11, 2013
New York: In one of the biggest ever bank heists, a global cyber crime ring stole $45 million from two Middle Eastern banks by hacking into credit card processing firms and withdrawing money from ATMs in 27 countries, US prosecutors said on Thursday. The US Justice Department accused eight men of allegedly forming the New York-based cell of the organisation, and said seven of them have been arrested. The eighth,...
02:36 PM, May 10, 2013
New Delhi: It's been a few days since the worst denial-of-service attack in the internet's three-decade history. A 300-gigabit-per-second torrent of traffic flooded the networks of Spamhaus, and the Internet's major switches in London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt. It was like a million cars trying to get on to Mumbai's Sealink at the same time. Some called it the attack that "almost broke the Internet". Can the Internet really be brought...
01:29 PM, Mar 31, 2013
London: British Police closed their three-year investigation into the theft of hundreds of climate science emails published to the Web, on Wednesday saying there was no hope of finding suspects. The theft, dubbed "Climategate" by some, caught researchers at the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit discussing ways to dodge right-to-know requests, keep opponents' research out of peer-reviewed journals, and destroy data. The unguarded and occasionally unprofessional messages dented...
03:04 AM, Jul 19, 2012
Washington: Microsoft Corp claimed a victory in efforts to combat online banking fraud, saying it had confiscated several servers used to steal login names and passwords, disrupting some of the world's most sophisticated cybercrime rings. The software maker said on Monday that its cybercrime investigation group also took legal and technical actions to fight notorious criminals who infect computers with a prevalent malicious software known as Zeus. By recruiting computers...
11:13 AM, Mar 27, 2012
Tehran: Iranian authorities blocked a website hours after it was launched by the US State Department to be a "virtual embassy" reaching out to people in the Islamic Republic. "In accordance with the cybercrime law, access to this website is not possible," read a notice to anyone inside Iran trying to visit iran.usembassy.gov. The semi-official Fars news agency commented on the blocking of the US website, saying, "A decisive reaction...
10:06 AM, Dec 08, 2011
New Delhi: The government today said 386 'phishing' incidents were reported to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) between January and October this year. "There have been incidents reported to CERT-In by law enforcement agencies on the hacking of email accounts and posting of objectionable content, including videos, on the internet, especially on social networking websites, damaging the reputation of individuals," Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin...
04:07 PM, Nov 25, 2011
Bangalore: A study by Symantec Corp, the maker of Norton computer security software, estimates the cost of global cybercrimes at $114 billion annually. The Norton Cybercrime Report 2011 said 431 million adults were victims globally in the past year, with costs of cybercrime surpassing the combined global black market in marijuana, cocaine and heroin. "Over the past 12 months, three times as many adults surveyed have suffered from online crime...
04:30 PM, Sep 08, 2011
Washington: US and Romanian police have arrested more than 100 people in a year-long effort to stop Internet fraud schemes that have cost Americans more than $100 million, the US Justice Department said on Friday. Romanian police carried out 117 raids on Friday, the Justice Department said. They arrested 90 people in sweeps in nine cities, the BBC reported. The schemes worked like this: Romanians posing as US citizens would...
12:22 PM, Jul 16, 2011
New York: Here is a timeline of some attacks claimed by hacking group LulzSec since early May. The group knocks websites offline by overwhelming them with Internet traffic in what are known as denial of service attacks. LulzSec also uses a variety of hacking attacks to break into computer networks and steal data. May 7 - Fox's "X Factor" contestant database breached May 10 - Fox.com sales database hacked and...
12:55 PM, Jun 23, 2011
London: The rogue hackers behind brazen cyber attacks are clever online technicians but have a critical human frailty - petulant personalities prone to infighting that may spell disaster for their raids on spies, banks and companies. At least that's the hope among state cyber sleuths racing to track down the Lulz Security (LulzSec) hackers responsible for a wave of attacks on Western governments and multinational companies. Britain arrested a 19-year-old...
12:52 PM, Jun 23, 2011
Canberra: Australia's government unveiled legislation on Wednesday to crack down on cybercrime in the wake of recent cyber attacks on multinational companies and institutions, from Google to the International Monetary Fund and the US Senate. Cybercrime was a growing threat to individuals, businesses and governments, Attorney-General Robert McClelland said, with the country's giant resource industry having warned recently of near-daily hacking attempts from offshore. "The increasing cyber threat means that...
02:19 PM, Jun 22, 2011
New Delhi: Cybercriminals are like terrorists. They prefer to target the most high profile and frequented places. And Facebook is the currently the hottest and happening destination in the online world. While Facebook on its part is implementing new security measures to keep you safe online, the real responsibility lies with the user. Here are some tips to keep your Facebooking experience safe: 1. Be a sceptic. Doubt the authenticity...
04:07 PM, May 16, 2011
New Delhi: Cyber crooks are on the prowl this financial year closing and are using phishing attacks and hoax-alerts to gain access to account details of individuals who have filed their Income Tax returns online, warn experts. "It is the season of income tax returns. Many people file them online. Cyber criminals use this time to launch phishing attacks through emails as many people are not aware of these things,"...
12:13 PM, Mar 22, 2011
New Delhi: The BJP today charged Congress with indulging in "cyber crime" over the issue of "theft" of its online identity and demanded a reply to the legal notice issued to the party more than a week ago. "The Bharatiya Janata Party suspects that the Congress party has covertly negotiated with a cyber squatter and used his site bjp.com to first spread malicious content affecting the BJP. "In the recent...
06:14 PM, Oct 05, 2010
According to a Symantec report, fake security software pose greatest threat to computer users in 2009. ...
04:23 PM, Apr 20, 2010
