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In mid-March, Brazilian police arrested the suspected leader of a phishing gang that stole an estimated $37 million from online banking accounts in the last three years. Considered one of Brazil's biggest gangs of online con artists, Paulo de Almeida's mob sent out over three million Trojan-laden emails per day, targeting customers of Brazil's online banking websites and tricking them into divulging personal information. For details, see http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/21/brazil_phishing_arrest/
59,000 California State University students, former students, prospective students, and faculty were recently notified that their personal information, including Social Security numbers, may be in the hands of hackers. As of March 21, officials were not yet certain that hackers had used the sensitive information, only that they had gained access to it. For details, see http://www.newsbits.net/2005/20050322.htm
A recent security audit of IRS employees and managers found that more than one-third could still be duped into giving out their network ID and password to callers posing as IT technicians. The ruse was not an actual hack attack, as the callers were Treasury Department inspectors gathering data for a security report. For details, see http://www.securityfocus.com/news/10708
Some financial institutions are turning to anti-phishing services for help in combatting email scams committed in their name. For details, see the Washington Post article, "New Industry Helping Banks Fight Back," at http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A6367-2005Mar4?language=3Dprinter
In March, scammers who profited from stealing sensitive personal data from ChoicePoint Services were sentenced to spend time in federal prison. Adedayo Benson and his sister Bibiana were convicted of posing as a real estate agents to open accounts with several public records database firms, including ChoicePoint, and using the data they accessed to commit ID fraud. For details, see http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/infotheft/2005-03-08-choicepoint-conviction_x.htm
Questions are also being raised about the quality of some of ChoicePoint's data files. People are coming forward who have discovered gross errors in their files—everything from fictional criminal histories, purchases, and relationships to (the ultimate error) reputed deaths. See http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7118767/
Three men who made millions of dollars' worth of copyrighted software freely available for copying on the Internet say they did it simply for sport. For details, see http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7128957/
An Arizona student is the first person in that state to be convicted of intellectual property violations for illegally downloading music and films from P2P networks. In exchange for pleading guilty, he was fined $5400 and sentenced to three years' probation and 200 hours of community service. For details, see http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/08/arizona_p2p_boy/
119 applicants to Harvard Business School couldn't resist following a hacker's instructions to peek into the school's admission site to view the status of their applications, and as a result their applications are being thrown out. The hacker's tip was posted on a BusinessWeek online message board. For details, see http://www.securityfocus.com/news/10634
Researchers for Wireless Services Corporation report that spammers are targeting mobile phones with increasing frequency. According to their report, almost half of all mobile phone text messages received in the U.S. are now spam. For details, see http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=30806
So-called "directory harvest attacks" (DHAs) against company email servers are the latest tactic used by spammers. In an attempt to find valid email addresses associated with an email server and add them to a spam database, DHAs often send a message to all possible alphanumeric combinations. The result is similar to a denial-of-service attack, and can go undetected by routine spam filters. For details, see http://www.vnunet.com/news/1160987
Six men with ties to the notorious Gambino family have pled guilty to consumer fraud in phone and e-commerce schemes that netted $650 million. For details, see http://www.crime-research.org/news/16.02.2005/965/4
The names, Social Security numbers, and contact information for 45,000 current and former Science Applications International shareholders fell into the hands of thieves during a burglary in January. For details, see http://www.securityfocus.com/news/10419