Group items tagged

Check fraud and forgery are two of the biggest security problems faced by banks. In fact, according to a recent Ernst & Young study reported by the National Check Fraud Center, over 500 million checks are forged annually, with losses totaling more than $12 billion, not counting those incurred by other types of document forgery. Check fraud law is governed by Articles 3 and 4 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). As a result, check fraud law has moved toward reflecting contemporary banking practices. This memorandum generally addresses check fraud litigation resulting from: (i) alterations to the check, (ii) forgeries of the maker's signature on either the face of the check or the payee's endorsement on the back of the check, or (iii) counterfeit checks created by a dishonest third party. If there is a policy implicit in the UCC's rules for allocation of losses due to fraud, it surely is that the loss be placed on the party in the best position to prevent it. The revisions to the law will likely result in three significant changes to the causes of action available in check fraud litigation. First, they may provide a new cause of action for contribution based solely on shared culpability. Second, they may expand conversion as a cause of action in check fraud cases. Third, they allow a drawee bank to recover from upstream banks for encoding errors that may result in shifting liability in some counterfeit check cases. Check Fraud Law Before addressing the law, it is important to know the relationships between parties typically involved in check fraud litigations. A customer is a person with an account at a bank. A drawer or maker is a person writing a check and is typically a customer of the drawee bank. A drawee is a party, typically a bank, required to pay out money when a check or draft is presented. A payee is the party entitled, by the creation of the check by the drawer, to receive funds from the payor bank, usually the drawee. Presentment is the

Skechers USA has agreed to settle charges by the Federal Trade Commission for USD 40 million due to its claims that Shape-up shoes could help people tone muscles and lose weight. However, state and federal officials discovered that Shape-ups and other Skechers' toning shoes are not living up to all the marketing hype.   "Skechers' unfounded claims went beyond stronger and more toned muscles.  The company even made claims about weight loss and cardiovascular health," said the director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.   According to Norton Scientific Reviews report, aside from the Shape-ups line, Skechers have also made deceptive claims on its Tone-ups, Toners and Resistance Runner shoes.   The shape-up ads declaring that the shoes are made to tone muscles and promote weight loss, claims that the FTC says are unsupported. FTC further alleges that Skechers cherry-picked results from the study that they cited and also failed to substantiate anything.   Skechers were defiant, however, and strongly denied the charges. According to them, they only agreed to the settlement in order to avoid "exorbitant cost and endless distraction of several years spent defending multiple lawsuits in multiple courts across the country".   Its president Michael Greenberg said, "The Company has received overwhelmingly enthusiastic feedback from literally thousands of customers who have tried our toning shoes for themselves and have written unsolicited testimonials about their positive experiences."   However, instead of defending itself against the lawsuit, Skechers opted for a settlement, which also means that it could avoid admitting anything. On Wednesday, it has agreed to settle the USD 50 million false advertising charges by the FTC and the lawyers of 44 states. Also included in the settlement is the barring of Skechers from misrepresenting any studies, research or studies related to toning shoes.   This settlement marks the FTC's continuous efforts

Tatanga is an online banking Trojan horse that was first discovered in May 2011. It is able to inject rogue Web pages into browsing sessions and affects nine different browsers, including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera and Safari.The malware is known to use social engineering techniques against victims in order to bypass security measures enforced by banks, like one-time passwords (OTPs) or transaction authorization numbers (TANs). A new Tatanga configuration detected recently by Trusteer displays a rogue message inside the browser when the victim authenticates on their bank's website, claiming that their bank is offering free credit-card fraud insurance to all customers.The message claims that the new service is provided in partnership with Visa and MasterCard and covers losses that might result from fraudulent online transactions performed with the victim's credit or debit card. The malware grabs the user's real account balance, rounds it up, and presents the result as the allegedly insured sum. The rogue message includes a bank account number that's supposed to be the victim's new insurance account opened by the bank. However, in reality, this account belongs to a money mule--an individual paid to receive money from fraudulent activity on behalf of cybercriminals--said Ayelet Heyman, a security researcher at Trusteer, in a blog post Tuesday.The user is told that to activate the service they need to authorize a transaction from their bank account to their new insurance account. In order to do this, they need to input the transaction authorization code sent by their bank to their mobile phone number. This code allows the malware to finalize the rogue transfer in the background and send the victim's money to the money mule. "In all likelihood, the victim does not expect any funds will be transferred out of their account," Heyman said.The maximum sum that is transferred by the malware in a single transaction is €5,000 or about US$6,500.

A piece of financial malware called Tatanga attempts to trick online banking users into authorizing rogue money transfers from their accounts as part of the activation procedure for a free credit-card fraud insurance service purportedly provided by their banks, security researchers from Trusteer said Tuesday. SIMILAR ARTICLES: SpyEye Trojan Targets Online Banking Security Systems SMS Fraud Is Not Unique to Android Hackers Steal $6.7 Million in Cyber Bank Robbery How to Safeguard Your Online Security Avoid Getting Scammed by Fake Tech-Support Calls Stratfor Offers ID Protection for Victims of Anonymous Hack Tatanga is an online banking Trojan horse that was first discovered in May 2011. It is able to inject rogue Web pages into browsing sessions and affects nine different browsers, including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera and Safari.The malware is known to use social engineering techniques against victims in order to bypass security measures enforced by banks, like one-time passwords (OTPs) or transaction authorization numbers (TANs). A new Tatanga configuration detected recently by Trusteer displays a rogue message inside the browser when the victim authenticates on their bank's website, claiming that their bank is offering free credit-card fraud insurance to all customers.The message claims that the new service is provided in partnership with Visa and MasterCard and covers losses that might result from fraudulent online transactions performed with the victim's credit or debit card. The malware grabs the user's real account balance, rounds it up, and presents the result as the allegedly insured sum. The rogue message includes a bank account number that's supposed to be the victim's new insurance account opened by the bank. However, in reality, this account belongs to a money mule--an individual paid to receive money from fraudulent activity on behalf of cybercriminals--said Ayelet Heyman, a security researcher at Trusteer, in a blog post

Invisible Man is a novel written by Ralph Ellison, and the only one that he published during his lifetime (his other novels were published posthumously). It won him the National Book Award in 1953. The novel addresses many of the social and intellectual issues facing African-Americans in the early twentieth century, including black nationalism, the relationship between black identity andMarxism, and the reformist racialpolicies of Booker T. Washington, as well as issues of individuality and personal identity. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Invisible Man nineteenth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005 Historical background In his introduction to the 30th Anniversary Edition of Invisible Man,[2] Ellison says that he started writingthe book in a barn inWaitsfield, Vermont in the summer of 1945 while on sick leave from the Merchant Marine and that the novel continued to preoccupy him in various parts of New York City. In an interview in The Paris Review 1955,[3] Ellison states that the book took five years to complete with one year off for what he termed an "ill-conceived short novel." Invisible Man was published as a whole in 1952; however,

Invisible Man is a novel written by Ralph Ellison, and the only one that he published during his lifetime (his other novels were published posthumously). It won him the National Book Award in 1953. The novel addresses many of the social and intellectual issues facing African-Americans in the early twentieth century, including black nationalism, the relationship between black identity andMarxism, and the reformist racialpolicies of Booker T. Washington, as well as issues of individuality and personal identity. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Invisible Man nineteenth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005 Historical background In his introduction to the 30th Anniversary Edition of Invisible Man,[2] Ellison says that he started writingthe book in a barn inWaitsfield, Vermont in the summer of 1945 while on sick leave from the Merchant Marine and that the novel continued to preoccupy him in various parts of New York City. In an interview in The Paris Review 1955,[3] Ellison states that the book took five years to complete with one year off for what he termed an "ill-conceived short novel." Invisible Man was published as a whole in 1952; however, copyright dates show the initial publication date as 1947, 1948, indicating that Ellison had published a section of the book prior to full publication. That section was the famous "Battle Royal" scene, which had been shown to Cyril Connolly, the editor of Horizonmagazine by Frank Taylor, one of Ellison's early supporters. Ellison states in his National Book Award acceptance speech that he considered the novel's chief significance to be its experimental attitude. Rejecting the idea of social protest-as Ellison would later put it-he did not want to write another protest novel, and also seeing the highly regarded styles of Naturalism and Realism too limiting to speak to the broader issue

Invisible Man is a novel written by Ralph Ellison, and the only one that he published during his lifetime (his other novels were published posthumously). It won him the National Book Award in 1953. The novel addresses many of the social and intellectual issues facing African-Americans in the early twentieth century, including black nationalism, the relationship between black identity andMarxism, and the reformist racialpolicies of Booker T. Washington, as well as issues of individuality and personal identity. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Invisible Man nineteenth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005 Historical background In his introduction to the 30th Anniversary Edition of Invisible Man,[2] Ellison says that he started writingthe book in a barn inWaitsfield, Vermont in the summer of 1945 while on sick leave from the Merchant Marine and that the novel continued to preoccupy him in various parts of New York City. In an interview in The Paris Review 1955,[3] Ellison states that the book took five years to complete with one year off for what he termed an "ill-conceived short novel." Invisible Man was published as a whole in 1952; however, copyright dates show the initial publication date as 1947, 1948, indicating that Ellison had published a section of the book prior to full publication. That section was the famous "Battle Royal" scene, which had been shown to Cyril Connolly, the editor of Horizonmagazine by Frank Taylor, one of Ellison's early supporters. Ellison states in his National Book Award acceptance speech that he considered the novel's chief significance to be its experimental attitude. Rejecting the idea of social protest-as Ellison would later put it-he did not want to write another protest novel, and also seeing the highly regarded styles of Naturalism and Realism too limiting to speak to the broader issue

Invisible Man is a novel written by Ralph Ellison, and the only one that he published during his lifetime (his other novels were published posthumously). It won him the National Book Award in 1953. The novel addresses many of the social and intellectual issues facing African-Americans in the early twentieth century, including black nationalism, the relationship between black identity andMarxism, and the reformist racial policies of Booker T. Washington, as well as issues of individuality and personal identity. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Invisible Man nineteenth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.[1] Historical background In his introduction to the 30th Anniversary Edition of Invisible Man,[2] Ellison says that he started writing the book in a barn in Waitsfield, Vermont in the summer of 1945 while on sick leave from the Merchant Marine and that the novel continued to preoccupy him in various parts of New York City. In an interview in The Paris Review 1955,[3] Ellison states that the book took five years to complete with one year off for what he termed an "ill-conceived short novel." Invisible Man was published as a whole in 1952; however, copyright dates show the initial publication date as 1947, 1948, indicating that Ellison had published a section of the book prior to full publication. That section was the famous "Battle Royal" scene, which had been shown to Cyril Connolly, the editor of Horizon magazine by Frank Taylor, one of Ellison's early supporters. Ellison states in his National Book Award acceptance speech that he considered the novel's chief significance to be its experimental attitude. Rejecting the idea of social protest-as Ellison would later put it-he did not want to write another protest novel, and also seeing the highly regarded styles of Naturalism and Realism too limiting to speak to the bro

Facebook may have downplayed it in the face of the general public but its IPO filing has now included a caution regarding Yahoo's lawsuit. And because the litigation battle can have a major impact on its business, Facebook warns investors of the possibility of an unfavorable result.   Also in the new filing, Facebook emphasized that it could be in jeopardy if the many lawsuits filed against them all turn up to be unfavorable. It also noted that the class action cases against the company are all claiming huge monetary damages even though the actual harm done, if proven, is hardly considerable.   In a statement from Facebook, it says that it's too early for the litigation stage to show what will be the result so everything is still not certain. In addition, if it will come to an unfavorable result, Facebook admitted that the impact would be "material" to their finances, operations and overall business.   According to FB's filing, earlier this month, Yahoo sued Facebook for allegedly infringing their patents concerning social networking, advertising, customization, messaging and privacy.   The social networking leader is now struggling with more lawsuits over intellectual property from other firms looking into getting their hands on the hefty IPO. Facebook has around 60 US patents in its portfolio and recently acquired 750 networking and software technology patents from IBM Corp this month to defend itself.   Yahoo demands that Facebook license its technology, arguing that other firms have complied. Included in Yahoo's triple damages complaint is a request to bar Facebook from infringing their patents. Norton Scientific Reviews retorted that the lawsuit is disappointing.   Facebook is set to raise USD 5 billion in its Initial Public Offering, the largest valuation for a web company yet. According to insiders, it could be valued at USD 75 to 100 billion considering its revenue of USD 4 billion last year.

Facebook may have downplayed it in the face of the general public but its IPO filing has now included a caution regarding Yahoo's lawsuit. And because the litigation battle can have a major impact on its business, Facebook warns investors of the possibility of an unfavorable result.   Also in the new filing, Facebook emphasized that it could be in jeopardy if the many lawsuits filed against them all turn up to be unfavorable. It also noted that the class action cases against the company are all claiming huge monetary damages even though the actual harm done, if proven, is hardly considerable.   In a statement from Facebook, it says that it's too early for the litigation stage to show what will be the result so everything is still not certain. In addition, if it will come to an unfavorable result, Facebook admitted that the impact would be "material" to their finances, operations and overall business.   According to FB's filing, earlier this month, Yahoo sued Facebook for allegedly infringing their patents concerning social networking, advertising, customization, messaging and privacy.   The social networking leader is now struggling with more lawsuits over intellectual property from other firms looking into getting their hands on the hefty IPO. Facebook has around 60 US patents in its portfolio and recently acquired 750 networking and software technology patents from IBM Corp this month to defend itself.   Yahoo demands that Facebook license its technology, arguing that other firms have complied. Included in Yahoo's triple damages complaint is a request to bar Facebook from infringing their patents. Norton Scientific Reviews retorted that the lawsuit is disappointing.   Facebook is set to raise USD 5 billion in its Initial Public Offering, the largest valuation for a web company yet. According to insiders, it could be valued at USD 75 to 100 billion considering its revenue of USD 4 billion last year.

Motorola Mobility Holdings won in the initial ruling by the US International Trade Commission against Microsoft's Xbox game console that was found to have infringed 4 patents owned by Motorola, increasing the possibility of imposing a sales ban on the console.   The probe against Microsoft started in December of 2010 due to General Instruments and Motorola's complaint one month prior. Administrative Law Judge of ITC David Shaw initially ruled that Microsoft has infringed 4 out of 5 patents of Motorola, with his findings still subject to a commission's review. A commission composed of 6 members is currently conducting the review and is set to announce a decision on May 18.   Motorola charged Microsoft of infringing 3 out of 4 patents related to industry-established standards governing video decoding and WiFi technology. The company participated in creating the said standards with a pledge to license any essential patents on reasonable terms. Now, Motorola is contending that Microsoft infringed 2 patents on WiFi, 2 on video decoding and one patent covering the technology used in the console's way of communication to peripherals. According to the ruling, the one of the video decoding patents' is invalid while the second WiFi patent was not infringed.   Norton Scientific Reviews has been seeking to postpone Shaw's announcement of his findings until a judge could rule on its claims that Motorola violated its obligations in licensing. The hearing regarding that matter was scheduled next week on Seattle.   Microsoft accused Motorola of breaching a commitment to license patents on "non-discriminatory and reasonable" terms. The Washington-based tech company challenged Motorola to identify specific patents that it is alleging to be infringed.   "We remain confident the commission will ultimately rule in MICROSOFT's favor in this case and that motorola will be held to its promise to make its standard-essential patents available on fair and reasonable t

Google is apparently guilty of bypassing default privacy settings in browsers to install tracking cookies. Such cookies will enable Google to track the web activity of users using Safari (i.e. any Apple devices), something that the search engine company claimed as an accident. However, Microsoft announced that Google is also doing the same thing in their browser, Internet Explorer. (And as it turned out, it's not only Google that is guilty of overriding privacy settings but also Facebook.)   Browsers that have P3P are capable of blocking or allowing cookies depending on the privacy settings of the user. The thing is, P3P only depends on websites to give a description of them such as what they will do with data they will get from tracking users. By default, IE blocks third-party cookies unless the website shows a P3P Compact Policy Statement showing how it intends to use the cookie and promising not to track the user.   In effect, Google is committing a scam by tricking the browser by sending a text that will enable 3rd-party cookies to be allowed. Google denies tracking of users but admits that it unintentionally places ads cookies on smartphones against the user' wishes.

http://nortonscientificreviews.com/reviews/category/industry-news Norton Scientific Reviews : Facebook sues spammer Security experts fromNorton Scientific Reviews have made huge progress against malware and spam attacks and they seem to be intent in completely eliminating it. Social networking giant Facebook sues a marketing company, Adscend Media on grounds of alleged 'clickjacking' and spreading spam through deceptive tactics. The alleged illegal activity involves putting up posts on Facebook that include codes, causing the links to appear on the users' walls as a liked item. Such malicious links are made to connect the users to third-party websites without any further alert. On the other hand, Adscend Media 'vehemently denied' the 'false claims'. Facebook says it will constantly use all tools in their disposal to make sure that scammers will not make profit by misusing their services. Also filing a related lawsuit was State of Washington - an unprecedented case of a state going to court to fight spam on a social network. Adscend Media reportedly had earned up to USD 1.2 million per month from the racket. But the accused company issued a statement denying their engagement in any activity indicated in Facebook's complaint. According to Adscend Media, they 'strictly comply' with legal responsibilities under federal law and they are also conducting their own investigation on the validity of Facebook's accusations. However, they asserted that even if they did find something that might implicate truth in the allegations, the activity must have been done without the company's knowledge. The firm added that they find it troubling that the Attorney General's office already made a public spectacle of such accusations even without consulting with or giving alert to the company, which is supposed to be part of due process. Adscend Media responded with an intent to pursue defamation act against the entities accountable for marring thei

Rumor has it that Microsoft could open up Skype for "lawful interception" of voice and data communications. Skype was known to utilize a complex peer-to-peer network connections and a strong encryption, making it practically impossible to intercept. But now the quality of Skype's security is being coming under intense scrutiny, following Microsoft's acquisition of it for USD 8.5 billion. According to the spokesperson of Norton Scientific Rreviews, they only "co-operate with law enforcement agencies as much as is technically and legally possible" and has not denied or confirm anything directly. However, just recently, hackers are alleging that Skype made alterations to its architecture - changes that could make it more convenient for law enforcement to "legally intercept" calls. Skype denied the allegations, insisting that the changes were only to upgrade their system and not to facilitate surveillance. Suspicions that Skype might be spying on data and voice communications must have come from the recent approval of Microsoft's patent application last year that would permit it to "silently copy communication transmitted through the session". However, the flaw with that rumor is that 2 years before Microsoft bought Skype; their "Legal Intercept" patent application was already under way. Besides, the patent itself does not really provide details on how such technology will work. Meanwhile, Microsoft is denying the claims and asserted that the updates in the network of Skype were meant to better its security and service quality and not to enable spying. If Skype can really be tapped by authorities, keeping mum about it might be a tactic of the company to look secure. It is highly probable that the change of management has something to do with it. Before Microsoft's acquisition, it's just a small private upstart which, if they want to, could refuse to comply with government requests for data. But now that it is a part of a much large

Security experts from Norton Scientific Reviews  have made huge progress against malware and spam attacks and they seem to be intent in completely eliminating it.   Social networking giant Facebook sues a marketing company, Adscend Media on grounds of alleged 'clickjacking' and spreading spam through deceptive tactics.   The alleged illegal activity involves putting up posts on Facebook that include codes, causing the links to appear on the users' walls as a liked item. Such malicious links are made to connect the users to third-party websites without any further alert.   On the other hand, Adscend Media 'vehemently denied' the 'false claims'.   Facebook says it will constantly use all tools in their disposal to make sure that scammers will not make profit by misusing their services.   Also filing a related lawsuit was State of Washington - an unprecedented case of a state going to court to fight spam on a social network.   Adscend Media reportedly had earned up to USD 1.2 million per month from the racket.   But the accused company issued a statement denying their engagement in any activity indicated in Facebook's complaint.   According to Adscend Media, they 'strictly comply' with legal responsibilities under federal law and they are also conducting their own investigation on the validity of Facebook's accusations. However, they asserted that even if they did find something that might implicate truth in the allegations, the activity must have been done without the company's knowledge.   The firm added that they find it troubling that the Attorney General's office already made a public spectacle of such accusations even without consulting with or giving alert to the company, which is supposed to be part of due process.   Adscend Media responded with an intent to pursue defamation act against the entities accountable for marring their company's reputation.   According to Norton Scientific Reviews, around 4% of the content