Technology

A U.K. 17-year-old risked life and limb by removing a fake fascia of an ATM machine. The nearby crooks gave chase and the hero, Luke Bridges, had to run for his life.

So what was the reward for this daring-do? A pocket calculator...

Maybe that would have been a cool gift in 1978, but I'm guessing it only cost the bank around a dollar and looks like one of those free giveaway items.

The bank, NatWest, reiterated in a statement that no one should risk removing one of these devices:

"We would never encourage anyone to put their safety at risk by attempting to remove any such device. We advise anyone who notices anything unusual about a cash machine to report it to the bank or the police immediately."

Probably good advice. In any case, the story gives you a good look at what these PIN skimming devices look like. Pay close attention to the machine whenever you go to use an ATM.

Read the whole story...

F-Secure, a Finnish security company has been able to crack the code the Sober worm was using to update infected machines with new variants.

Here's how the worm works:

- a computer is infected with the worm.

- on a certain date the infected computer tries to "phone home" to receive new code from the worm creator.

- all infected computers able to reach the proper web address are infected with an updated variant of the worm.

Mikko Hyppönen, Chief Researcher at F-Secure described it this way:

"Sober has been using an algorithm to create pseudorandom URLs which will change based on dates. Ninety nine percent of the URLs simply don't exist ... however, the virus author can precalculate the URL for any date, and when he wants to run something on all the infected machines, he just registers the right URL, uploads his program and BANG! It's run globally on hundreds of thousands of machines"

If the security experts could determine the web address the worm was looking for it could be blocked and the worm would be deprived of new code. The problem is the virus and worm creators are a devious and crafty bunch and they don't make it easy to deconstruct what they're doing. Not crafty enough for F-Secure, evidently.

Read how F-Secure cracked the code and the list of potential download sites for new code.

Just to get an idea of how wonderful these worm creators are, here's a quote from F-Secure's blog:

Last thing: Several earlier Sober variants (most notably Sober.Q) have been sending out Neo-Nazi propaganda messages. According to iDefense, the activation date of January 5th is an anniversary date for the Nazi party.

Great. Neo-Nazi worm authors. What did Indiana Jones have to say on the subject? "Nazis. I hate these guys."

Do you buy a lot of stuff on internet auctions like eBay? I've bought a few inexpensive things, but I wouldn't consider buying an expensive item from someone I've never seen before.

Auction fraud does occur on eBay and Yahoo Auctions, just ask Darren Barringer. Darren paid for a laptop on eBay in June 2002, but received a Montreal phone book in his FedEx package instead. That made him upset and curious. So he decided to look through other auctions to see if he could pick out the fraudulent ones. Here's what he found as possible signs of a fraudulent listing:

* Low priced high-ticket items, like high-definition TVs, laptops, or jewelry — especially if there are multiple items for sale.
* Brand-new sellers with no sales history.
* Sellers requesting wire transfers for payment, or payment in foreign currencies.
* Auctions that begin and end over a weekend, since eBay customer support is light during those days.
* Seller telephone numbers or addresses that can't be verified.

I'll be creating some additional information about internet fraud, and auction fraud specifically in the coming weeks. Until then, please be careful when clicking the "Buy" button.

CardCops.com is a somewhat controversial company that fights credit fraud by exposing and publicizing web site hacks and online fraud techniques. The controversy comes up because some are worried that they show potential crackers and hackers too much detail about how to do their dirty work.

Maybe they do go too far, but they've recently released an intriguing free service just for consumers. They allow anyone to type in their credit card number to match it against a database of 100,000 credit cards that have been compromised by thieves. Type in your credit card number? Huh? Is it safe? Are you crazy?

CardCops have been around since the late '90s and work closely with law enforcement organizations like the U.S. Secret Service. Here's a quote from Dan Clements, founder of CardCops, "We're creating a situation where Joe Consumer can check his card on the Internet to see if it's been possibly abused."

Should you try this out? CardCaps is a legitimate organization and I trust their security measures, but you should make your own judgement. Even if you decide to try it, you might have to wait a while — their servers were maxed out from all the people trying out the service.

Go to the CardCops web site