Group items tagged

The arrest of Megaupload's founders has led to other file storage sites taking action in an apparent attempt to protect themselves from legal action. The following is a link to a news story describing the disciplinary action taken against the founder of Megaupload: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16711416

How online storage works Online storage in websites such as Megaupload, upload.to and Rapidshare work using cloud storage. This is similar to the storage used in Gmail, Youtube and Facebook Essentially this is how it works: 1. User accesses websites and selects file he/she wants to upload 2. File is uploaded to the cloud storage server, which is located in the house cloud storage systems called data centers. 3. Usually the files are then copied to other servers around the world in case one of them goes down or needs repairing, this is known as redundancy. Without redundancy cloud storage cannot guarantee that the user will be ble to access his files. Servers are also powered by multiple power supplies in case one of them fails. 4. When the user wants to access the files he uploaded he may do so through a web-based interface. For more information on how cloud storage systems work http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cloud-computing/cloud-storage1.htm

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120121/16551717500/jonathan-coulton-destroys-rationale-behind-megaupload-seizure-with-single-tweet-follows-up-with-epic-blog-post.shtml In the article above Jonathon Coultron makes a good point. Although there might be a lot of illegal activity on MegaUpload such as: sharing DVDs and CDs, there are also a large group of people that use MegaUpload as a tool to legally upload data that they wish to share with others or keep a backup for themselves. Furthermore, I think his tweet says it all in regards to the millions of dollars the music and film industry will gain from the death of MegaUpload.

Criminal hackers have found a way round the latest generation of online banking security devices given out by banks, the BBC has learned.

I agree with Jorge. There are various ways in which hackers can obtain personal information by the internet. One way by which hackers can do this is by phishing. In this article, account holders are being tricked by the offer of training in a new "upgraded security system", meaning that account holders click on the link and their money is moved out of their account without them even noticing! This is a big problem, and as this article says "Online banking fraud losses totalled £16.9 million in the first six months of 2011, according to Financial Fraud Action UK" therefore in only 6 months, millions of pounds were gone! Phishing is increasing more and more, some day we can't even click a link because we're scared it could be something similar!

Here is a website which is explaining how China is trying to combat hi-tech spyware! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16357238

The concern is privacy.Apparently the FBI was able to acquire Kim DotCom's messages with other MegaUpload employers by means of spyware, which could access skype conversations stored on a local host. Even though the FBI had a warrant to search for information, this is still rather disconcerting. This software can easily be misused. The software is called CIPAV and it stands for Computer and Internet Protocol Address Verifier. This software is able to send "network-level messages" containing the target computer's IP address, Ethernet MAC address, environment variables, the last-visited Web site, and other registry-type information including the name of the registered owner of the computer and the operating system's serial number. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10222294-38.html

I agree with you Morten. The social and ethical issue here is privacy. In the article they specify when saying "Sources told CNET yesterday that Skype, the Internet phone service now owned by Microsoft, was not asked by the feds to turn over information and was not served with legal process" that Skype did not give permission to the FBI to access this information. Even though the Data Protection Act states that "Personal data shall be obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purposes, and shall not be further processed in any manner incompatible with that purpose or those purposes." it is still not appropriate to "hack" into Kim DotCom's messages. Here is a link with the rules for Data Protection Act. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/29/schedule/1 Privacy is coming to bits, the only way we can talk to people knowing that knowing is going to get hold o f that information is by face-to-face communication, and even by that way people can be hearing the conversation secretly. Where has privacy gone?

"Hacking group leader, identified as Hector Xavier Monsegur, revealed"

In what could be the largest data security breach to date, MasterCard International on Friday said information on more than 40 million credit cards may have been stolen.

WASHINGTON - An intruder gained access to a Defense Department computer server and compromised confidential health care insurance information for more than 14,000 people, the department said Friday.

Security Taxonomy

The federal government has made progress in securing its computer systems since last year, but it still only earned a D-plus from Congress for its overall performance in 2004.

"Twitter worm was unleashed by 17-year-old Australian"