A banking Trojan attack has led to the fraudulent withdrawal of more than $1m from online banking accounts maintained with a UK bank since the start of July, according to security researchers.
Web-based malware based on the infamous Zeus cybercrime toolkit is being used to steal money via the unnamed bank's online banking system. Researchers at the M86's Security Labs came across the attack after discovering the botnet's command & control centre, which is hosted in Moldova.
Victims were infected by a Zeus banking Trojan variant while browsing the net. The Trojan swiped the customer's online banking ID and hijacked their online banking sessions, reportedly only targeting victims who had substantial balances.
"It [the malware] checks the account balance and, if the account balance is bigger than £800 value, it issues a money transfer transaction," M86 reports.
Most such attacks include the use of phishing middlemen to obtain funds from compromised accounts and transfer them by untraceable wire transfer to the Eastern European masterminds behind the scam.
From 5 July, the cyber criminals have successfully stolen £675,000 ($1,077,000) and the attack is "still progressing", according to M86.
Early explanations of the attack leave a number of questions unanswered, such as the name of the bank targeted, the apparent use of a technique that dispenses with the use of phishing middlemen, and what steps have been taken to shut down the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/10/2010 10:37 ||
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"The Federal Trade Commission said today it had permanently killed the operations of a group that it said posed as domain name registrars and convinced thousands of US consumers, small businesses and non-profit organizations to pay bogus bills by leading them to believe they would lose their Web site addresses if they didn't. As with so many of these cases however, the defendants get off paying back very little compared to what they took. With today's settlement order, entered against defendants Isaac Benlolo, Kirk Mulveney, Pearl Keslassy, and 1646153 Ontario Inc., includes a suspended judgment of $4,261,876, the total amount of consumer injury caused by the illegal activities. Based on what the FTC called the inability of the settling defendants to pay, they will turn over $10,000 to satisfy the judgment."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/10/2010 10:17 ||
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[Arab News] An attempted burglary at a California supply store was thwarted when the manager threw hot coffee in the face of a masked intruder.
Chris Hegnes, manager of the Englund Marine and Industrial Supply, was going into work early Monday morning when he encountered a man in a mask charging at him with a hammer. Hegnes says he hurled his hot mocha at the man's face and ran for it. The man came after him for a few steps, then ran to a vehicle parked behind the store. Hegnes says the man apparently had been trying to break into a safe using the store's hardware tools. The man didn't get away with much, but damaged some tools. The sheriff's office is investigating.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/10/2010 00:00 ||
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August 9, 2010 1:56:17 PM EDT Ron Reid-Daly died this evening at about 19h30. He had been in a coma for three days and died peacefully and without pain. Glenda has been at the house caring for Ron for a week or so.
Born in South Africa, Reid-Daly entered military service in 1951 and served with the C (Rhodesia) Squadron of the British Special Air Service (SAS) in operations against insurgents in Malaya. Rising to the rank of Regimental Sergeant Major in the Rhodesian Light Infantry, he was later commissioned and achieved the rank of Captain. He retired from the Army in 1973.
In late 1973 he was persuaded by General Peter Walls, then chief of the Rhodesian Army, to return to active duty in order to form the Selous Scouts, an elite special forces unit to combat the growing threat posed by nationalist guerrillas. Drawing on his Malayan experiences, Lieutenant Colonel Reid-Daly built up a skilled and highly professional regiment from scratch. Although the Selous Scouts achieved many of their military objectives, their unorthodox methods created tensions within the military hierarchy. Reid-Daly had several brushes with the Rhodesian authorities.
In 1979 rumours surfaced in Salisbury that that the Scouts were poaching ivory along the Zambezi valley. These were never proved and the colonel, as a well-known conservationist, dismissed the allegations as ridiculous. In the process of defending himself against them Reid-Daly verbally attacked Major General John Hickman. For this he was charged with insubordination and sentenced with a reprimand. Disgusted, he resigned as the commander of the Scouts in August, but continue to fight a legal battle against the judgement, proclaiming his innocence. This continued even after Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, and only stopped after Reid-Daily moved to South Africa in 1982.
In South Africa, Reid-Daly became commander of the Transkei Defence Force, and later was the leader of the private security firm Security Services Transkei Pty Ltd.
As a newbie mod, I think that Wikipedia links are not encouraged. However, his story is of interest here, and I couldn't find a news source that had an article about this, so I posted it. I did find the following obituary about the other co-founder of the Selous Scouts from only a couple of weeks ago: Lieutenant-General Peter Walls
#2
Glad to have found it, Besoeker. And thank you for the post on a part of history that I know little about. Once again, I go away from Rantburg having learned something new. :-)
#3
The hard-guys are all leaving us. Soon I fear my father and the last of the Vietnam vets will be going as well, like the last of the WWI vets when I was a kid. They will all be hard shoes to fill.
#1
NEWS KERALA > HUMANS MUST MOVE TO SPACE IN 200 YEARS TO SURVIVE: SAYS HAWKING. Year 2200, roughly.
Given the relatively short timeline, methinks or suspects that STEPHEN HAWKING [+ Other?] believe that contamporary SOLAR-GLOBAL WARMING MODELS are NOT RELIABLE as per LT TEMP TRENDS, + that it may be worse than calculated, or PUBLICLY REVEALED???
#2
We're overdue for a "big one", JM - a space rock somewhere in the neighborhood of six-eight km in diameter. That's what Hawking was talking about. We're also in a race to see which can be reached first - population or food limit. Most of the rest of that "world clock" is based on computer models and is about as accurate as "90 percent of all statistics are simply made up, including this one".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/10/2010 23:44 Comments ||
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This is, of course, made up story - at least I think so....
There is a pic a the link.
New laws in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will require that every Blackberry user dress their phone a miniature burqa and face veil.
‘The Blackberry burqa means that people can still use their phones,’ said a Saudi government official, ‘but the tiny niqab that covers the screen will stop them from reading emails or accessing the Internet.’
The introduction of the burqa is intended to conceal the Blackberry from unwanted attention. With the veil in place only a tiny slit remains revealing just the time and date, thus preserving its modesty.
‘This is not about censorship or oppression,’ said UAE telecommunications regulator Mohammed al-Ghanem, ‘this is about preserving the essential purity of the Blackberry and protecting it from being corrupted.’
Some businessmen believe that making their phone wear a burqa can be very liberating. ‘It’s great,’ said one, ‘with the veil in place I am free to walk about with my Blackberry in public without the feeling that people are staring lustily at my multi-media application. It also covers my shame for not owning an iPhone.’
Some religious groups have welcomed the policy. ‘If Allah had meant us to freely access the Internet He would have given us web browsers in our heads,’ said a local imam, adding ‘There is absolutely no mention of instant messaging in the Koran and at no point did Muhammad, or any of his eleven wives, ever say LOL, ROFL or PMSL.’
If the Blackberry burqa is successful it may spread to other countries. However, experts say that dressing your phone in a burqa could result in poor reception, especially in France and Belgium.
The British government has yet to declare an official line on phone burqas although Immigration Minister Damian Green said that to ban them would be ‘very unBritish’. He went on to explain that, ‘the British thing to do, as always, is to grumble and tut.’
The Saudi government have promised that anyone who refuses to dress their Blackberry in a burqa will face harsh punishment. ‘I am not saying exactly what we will do,’ said their Minister for Justice, ‘but suffice to say that it isn’t so easy to text with your toes.’
Posted by: Fred ||
08/10/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
If I were a fight promoter, I would try to sign Track Palin (Sarah's son in the Army) to fight Levi Johnston in the Octagon. I think you could make lots of money with that fight on your MMA card.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Russian officials have declared a state of emergency in the southern city of Ozyorsk, where a major nuclear reprocessing plant is located, due to wildfires in the region.
The strategic city is located between the cities of Ekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk in the eastern part of European Russia.
There are currently at least 200 blazes raging over an area of 200,000 hectares sending 1,000,000 tons of toxic carbon monoxide into the air every day above the European part of Russia.
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/10/2010 00:00 ||
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Only one question.
Those wildfires, acccidental, or arson?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/10/2010 11:20 Comments ||
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Huh, reprocessing plant, is it? I think we now know why Iran wants to help with the fires.
Impromptu salvage rights!
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/10/2010 15:33 Comments ||
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VOICE OF AMERICA NEWS > EXTREME WEATHER EXPERIENCED WORLDWIDE [Global Warming = Dubya].
ARTIC = NOAA Deke Arndt claims that even iff World temperature trends were flat, the World will still experience extreme weather. The US-WORLD WILL BE IN SEROUS TROUBLE IFF GW = CLIMATE CHANGE INDUCES RUSSIA-STYLE NATIONWIDE FIRES TO BREAK OUT AT ONCE IN THE US, CHINA + OTHER MAJOR REGIONS [Food, $$$ Econ].
#4
IIRC MSM-NET > the US, NOT Russia, was the one that was supposedly domed doomed Doomed DOOMED DDDDOOOOOOOOOMMMEEEDDDD, they tells ya, as per the massive US West Coast fires [Natural + alleged Arson] a few years back.
WARD BOND in "THE SEARCHERS" > "DOOMED, DOOMED, YA KNOW - D-U-M-E-D - DOOMED"!
[Iran Press TV Latest] BP says responding to the Gulf spill has so far cost it $6.1 billion, adding that $3 billion more has been dedicated for compensation of losses endured by those affected by the disaster.
BP estimates that the disaster will eventually cost a total of about 32.2 billion dollars.
"The cost of the response to date amounts to approximately 6.1 billion dollars (4.6 billion euros)," the oil company said in an official statement on Monday, AFP reported.
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/10/2010 00:00 ||
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That's a single day's worth of production for the United States.
Meanwhile, exploration has been basically shut down (as well as workover of existing wells) in a region that produces 1/3 of that production, day after day, for the past several months, and is likely to continue to be shut down for the forseeable future.
#6
The same reason Kimmie-boy of North Korea (and most Dictators) insists that all Aid shipments be re-packaged so that it appears to be coming from Him and not the original contributors.
#7
why shouldn't he charge the 20 billion. Hell they created a huge oil spill in the gulf. I hope it cost them a hell of alot more because they don't even know the long term effects of this yet. They had money too make a big deal with Lybia and how many billions if not trillions have they made over the years? Screw BP
Posted by: chris ||
08/10/2010 18:34 Comments ||
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Government-controlled mortgage giant Freddie Mac is requesting $1.8 billion more in federal help after a larger second-quarter loss. Freddie Mac lost $6 billion, or $1.85 per share, from April through June, the firm announced Monday. Those losses include $1.3 billion the company is required to pay the Treasury Department, representing a 10 percent annual dividend.
"We recognize that high unemployment and other factors still pose very real challenges for the housing market," Freddie chief executive Charles Haldeman said in a statement. "With that in mind, we continue to focus on the quality of the new business we are adding to our book to be responsible stewards of taxpayer funds." Then his lips fell off..
During the same period last year, the company lost $840 million.
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/10/2010 00:00 ||
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#4
Opinion from Mish's blog: Problems Many, Solutions Nonexistent
Tide of Debt: Consumers are swimming against a tide of debt with no way to pay it back.
Demographics: Boomers are heading into retirement scared half to death because they did not save enough.
Jobs: There is no source of jobs
Wages: Global wage arbitrage
Attitude Changes: a secular shift in the attitudes of consumers towards housing and risk taking is underway.
The Fed is powerless to change attitudes.
Political leaders could do something to change attitudes for the better, but the current crop is interested in other things.
#8
FOXNEWS AM repors that the 2010 US CENSUS saved US$1.6BILYUHN by being UNDER-BUDGET > I'm guessin' the remaining US$0.20Bilyuhn stems from the newly announced disestablishment of US JFORCOM + other minor USGovt cuts.
FYI FOX showed footage of Amers jumping for joy at the Census savings news - I'm also guessing they didn't hear/learn about FREDDIE MAC, etc. yet.
#4
That's a shame. I hope the 'one other' is Stevens son. Nothing against the others who died, their passing is a tragedy, but for the Steven family to lose both Ted and his son. Would be heartbreaking to hear, especially since Ted's wife died in a plane crash that he survived decades ago.
Posted by: Charles ||
08/10/2010 22:20 Comments ||
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Microsoft has advised Hotmail users struggling to access their email accounts to surf via Google's Chrome browser in order to successfully connect to the recently overhauled service.
The software vendor finally rolled out its latest version of Hotmail to its 350 million users last week, but since then the company has faced plenty of complaints from disgruntled customers unhappy with the new interface.
Many have griped that emails have disappeared and that scripting errors in Hotmail prevent them from composing new messages.
Others cannot access their accounts at all, and the grumbles are continuing to mount up in the Hotmail forums.
Some users are furious at Microsoft for rolling out a buggy product without fully testing it first.
Microsoft, via the Hotmail forum, has been advising its customers to stop using Safari 3 and Firefox 2 in order to access its free webmail service.
The new Hotmail supports -- unsurprisingly -- various flavours of its own Internet Explorer browser, Firefox 3, Safari 4 and the stable version of Chrome on Windows.
Redmond said last week that its product group was looking into complaints from users, who were struggling to view messages. At the time it asked those affected by the Hotmail glitches to tell the firm what type of internet connection and ISP they were using.
In the meantime it recommended an interesting workaround: "Some customers have indicated that if they use Google Chrome to view their Hotmail account they no longer encounter this problem," said Microsoft.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/10/2010 10:32 ||
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"Some users are furious at Microsoft for rolling out a buggy product without fully testing it first."
Huh. Like Micromush has never done that before....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/10/2010 13:26 Comments ||
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Maybe while they're at it they should set up a gmail account.
Best-known VoIP provider Skype has filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission to allow it to make an initial public offering of its shares.
In 2009 eBay said Skpe was worth $2bn - which sounds like a lot until you remember that eBay paid $2.6bn for the company.
A prelimary prospectus will be available from Goldman Sachs but is not available yet.
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/10/2010 00:00 ||
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Following the expansion of wildfires in Russia, Iran's deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Reza Sheibani offers to help Moscow contain and extinguish the blaze.
In a meeting with Russian Ambassador to Tehran Alexander Sadovnikov, Sheibani conveyed the Iranian government's condolatory message the people and officials of Russia.
"Iran has considerable capability and good experience in containing natural and unexpected disasters and is ready to make use of them (its experience and capabilities) to resolve the existing crisis...," Sheibani was quoted as saying in a foreign ministry statement.
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#1
SINA.com > ]Heat Wave]HEAT IN RUSSIA UNPARALLELED FOR 1000 YEARS.
ARTIC > Russ Pert says HEAT WAVES = FIRES should not be intrepreted as [conclusive] evidence for = against GLOBAL WARMING/CLIMATE CHANGE, as the latter is "very nervous".
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Government-controlled mortgage giant Freddie Mac is requesting $1.8 billion more in federal help after a larger second-quarter loss. Freddie Mac lost $6 billion, or $1.85 per share, from April through June, the firm announced Monday. Those losses include $1.3 billion the company is required to pay the Treasury Department, representing a 10 percent annual dividend. 
Microsoft has advised Hotmail users struggling to access their email accounts to surf via Google's Chrome browser in order to successfully connect to the recently overhauled service.
