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Tech policy only looks like it’s stuck on repeat. Another high-skilled immigration push, promises of bolstered cybersecurity laws and challenges to Google search policies all bring head-scratching familiarity as policymakers unleash this year’s agenda. The difference now is timing, as issues once brushed aside are catapulting into national...

Internet Reviews Abney Associates Blog Articles The US Federal Trade Commission has carried out a huge international crackdown on a number of "tech support" scams being run out of India which have conned people in the UK, US, Canada and elsewhere out of millions of pounds since 2008. As explained by the Guardian in 2010, the scams used "boiler room" tactics, dialling through phone books for English-speaking countries. People who answered the phone were told the call came from Microsoft or their internet service provider, and that the person's computer was "reporting viruses". The caller would then perform an unnecessary "fix" on the computer and charge the person for it - and sometimes sign them up to multi-year "support" contracts. The cost could run to hundreds of pounds. People in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were targeted because they, like the people carrying out the scam, are English-speaking. The Guardian understands that the scam was worth millions of pounds a year to the organised gangs carrying it out. At the FTC's request in six cases, a federal district judge froze the US assets of 17 people and 14 companies that have been accused of taking part in the operations. The FTC has also shut down 80 internet domain names and 130 phone numbers used in the US to carry out the scams. The FTC is seeking an end to the scams, and repayments for people who were conned out of money. Though the FTC said it could not put a figure on how many people had been scammed, or how much they had lost, Microsoft - which has been working with the commission for the past two years to try to catch the criminals - provided data on more than a thousand people who had been scammed, whose losses averaged $875 each. Microsoft has repeatedly pointed out that it would not call people about any problems with their computers. In some cases, the scammers would try to sell antivirus software from reputable companies, and in some cases would install new copies of Windows

Scams are all over Facebook. There are stories telling users that Facebook will end on a certain date, miracle diet pills, celebrity sex tapes, and other shady posts. With a little vigilance, though, users can make sure that they're not continuing the chain. Miranda Perry, staff writer for Scambook, spoke with AllFacebook about ways that people can make sure that they're not giving away information to scammers or spamming their friends' News Feeds with malicious links. Scambook is a complaint-resolution platform where customers can air their grievances and let others know about unscrupulous business practices and identity theft. The company also informs people of scams on social media, using its blog to write about the newest hoaxes that are going viral on Facebook. Perry shared with AllFacebook some ways that users can protect themselves (and their friends) from Facebook scams. Consider The Source One of the most common Facebook scams involves links that either infect computers with malware or automatically share content to users' Timelines. Perry said that by taking a couple of extra seconds to examine not only suspicious links, but the people who shared them, people can protect themselves. For instance, if a fitness buff friend shares a link showing how she's lost 30 pounds by using a weird old trick, or if a pastor shares a link purportedly showing Rihanna's sex tape, odds are extremely high that it's a scam. Perry said red flags should go up whenever someone shares something to Facebook that seems atypical of their nature. If users truly aren't sure, Perry recommends calling or contacting that person offline to see if their account has been compromised: The No. 1 step is just to look at the source and avoid clicking on links or sharing anything on Facebook that seems suspicious. For instance, if you know that your friend is a super-skinny athlete, they are probably not going to be telling you that they've just used weight loss pills. If t

latest abney and associates technology news Google's Eric Schmidt Invests in Obama's Big Data Brains During the 2012 campaign, Barack Obama's reelection team had an underappreciated asset: Google's (GOOG) executive chairman, Eric Schmidt. He helped recruit talent, choose technology, and coach the campaign manager, Jim Messina, on the finer points of leading a large organization. "On election night he was in our boiler room in Chicago," says David Plouffe, then a senior White House adviser. Schmidt had a particular affinity for a group of engineers and statisticians tucked away beneath a disco ball in a darkened corner of the office known as "the Cave." The data analytics team, led by 30-year-old Dan Wagner, is credited with producing Obama's surprising 5 million-vote margin of victory. For all its acclaim, the analytics team's main achievement is often misunderstood as "microtargeting" or some variant on wooing voters. This reverses the relationship between campaign and voter at the heart of Wagner's method. Recent campaigns have employed a top-down approach to identify what they thought were vital demographic groups such as "soccer moms." Wagner's team pursued a bottom-up strategy of unifying vast commercial and political databases to understand the proclivities of individual voters likely to support Obama or be open to his message, and then sought to persuade them through personalized contact via Facebook (FB), e-mail, or a knock on the door. "I think of them as people scientists,'' says Schmidt. "They apply scientific techniques to how people will behave when confronted with a choice or a question." Obama's rout of Mitt Romney was a lesson in how this insight can translate into political strength. Traditional marketing has the same inherent limitation as traditional campaigning: It's impossible to appeal to everybody, even among the groups likeliest to favor a product. "Budweiser might target football fans with an ad s

http://www.macaubusinessdaily.com/Society/Experts-issue-warnings-about-internet-security Macau er sårbare over for cyberkriminalitet på grund af mængden af turister og sprede Wi-Fi-dækning, information teknologieksperter mener, og de advarer det brugere til at være ekstra forsigtig om internetsikkerhed. "Du har mere end 25 millioner mennesker besøger Macau årligt og du kan ikke kontrollere alle denne menneskelige trafik," fortalte Universitet af Insubria lov Foredragsholder Giuseppe Vaciago Business Daily i går. "Halvfems procent af disse mennesker er lommepenge og lave transaktioner via internettet, så der er et stort problem med sikkerhedsspørgsmål som hvidvaskning af penge eller svig." Hr. Vaciago og FN 's interregionale kriminalitet og retfærdighed Research Institute project officer Francesca Bosco gennemfører en fem-dages cyberkriminalitet seminar, som begyndte her på mandag. "Jeg er ganske optimistisk over Macaus juridiske instrumenter, som den personlige databeskyttelseslovgivning og ekspertise i forbindelse med det," sagde hr. Vaciago. "Men åbne Wi-Fi kan være et følsomt punkt, især i hoteller," sagde han. "Folk kan nemt glemme sikkerhedsprincipper, åbne Wi-Fi og forbinde med banker til at foretage betalinger, som vil udsætte dem for en masse af mulige risici." Geoffroy Thonon, principal konsulent i Macao Computer Emergency Response Team koordinering centrum, fortalte Business Daily, phishing websites havde været det største problem for organisationer og enkeltpersoner her. Phishing er et forsøg på at erhverve oplysninger af forklædt som en troværdig hjemmeside. "Bankkunder er målrettet," sagde hr. Thonon. "Der er et phishing-websted siger, venligst log ind eller du vil længere kunne få adgang til webstedet, hvor, ja, navnet på den bruger og password få hacket. Dette er sket ganske ofte."

Source: http://www.itworldcanada.com/news/u-s-agency-kills-hardware-over-routine-malware-warning/147365 The U.S. Economic Development Administration destroyed $170,000 in computers, keyboards, printers and mice over a routine malware infection. A lack of funding prevented the agency from throwing out its remaining $3 million in IT inventory An almost farcical series of miscommunications led to the destruction of $170,000 worth of IT gear by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration over a routine malware warning, and it was only a lack of budget that stopped the agency from throwing out another $3 million in hardware. The comedy of errors not only points up a lack of communication between agencies, but also a fundamental misunderstanding of technology. RELATED CONTENT Phising, E-mail en Internet oplichting: http://www.wattpad.com/12260034-abney-and-associates-hong-kong-shares-trim-strong#.UdrHpvlgdhw The upcoming cyber-security threat cycle: http://abneyandassociates.tumblr.com/ The timeline of the fiasco runs something like this: * In December 2011, the Department of Homeland Security (those guys who told the entire North American population to disable Java on its computers) warns the Commerce Department of a potential compromise of its systems. * The Commerce Department identifies the potentially compromised computers as belonging to the Economic Development Administration. Its warning to the EDA names accidentally names 146 systems as being compromised, when in fact, the number is only two. * A follow-up warning tells the EDA that only two systems are compromised, but in classic CYA fashion, does not clearly point out that the first warning was erroneous. * The EDA treats the follow-up as a confirmation of the first warning and proceeds on the understanding that 146 systems are compromised. The EDA commissions a forensic analysis of the two systems identified by Commerce and confirms that they are infected with malware. * Comm