CYBER CRIMES — THE HEADLINES

 2002/2/05 

Feds streamline process for battling identity theft

 2001/11/30 

European ministers approve cybercrime convention

 2001/10/04 

EBay users hit by alleged fraud ring

 2001/9/27 

Int'l developments on cybercrime and terrorism

 2001/9/17 

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CYBER CRIMES — THE LINKS

• National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC)

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CYBER CRIMES — THE NEWS

2002/2/05

15:11 +0100

Feds streamline process for battling identity theft

[Cyber Crimes] A new tool for victims of identity theft may help them limit the damage when criminals try to run amok with their financial and personal information. The Federal Trade Commission, working with financial companies and consumer groups, has developed an ID Theft Affidavit, a single form that simplifies the process of disputing fraudulent debts and new accounts opened by an identity thief, the Nando Times reports.

"Victims were complaining about all the different types of affidavits that they were filling out, one for each and every fraudulent account," said Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a San Diego-based consumer group that contributed to the project. Givens said some identity thieves open dozens of accounts, creating an enormous burden for victims to clean up the mess. FTC Chairman Timothy J. Muris is expected to formally announce the affidavit later today. The affidavit itself will become available on the agency's Web site ftc.gov.

The seven-page affidavit is accepted or endorsed by many companies including Bank of America and Sears, Roebuck and by the three major credit-reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Since some companies may require additional documents, the affidavit says victims should contact them first before sending the single form. Givens said consumer groups are not completely happy with the form because it says some companies may require the affidavit to be notarized, adding another expense for victims. "Victims should not have to spend money out of their pocket to recover from this crime," she said.

It cost the average victim more than $1,000 to cope with the damage from identity theft, according to the FTC. The agency said last month that identity theft accounted for more than 40 percent of the 200,000 consumer-fraud complaints it collected in 2001. Consumer groups estimate that as many as 750,000 people a year may be victimized by identity theft. To avoid becoming a victim, privacy advocates advise consumers to look at their credit reports twice a year, shred personal documents before throwing them away and cleanse wallets of old receipts and printed Social Security numbers. // c.f. intern.de :: [dre].

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2001/11/30

14:23 +0100

European ministers approve cybercrime convention

[Cyber Crimes] European ministers approved the long-awaited Convention on Cybercrime on 23 November in Budapest, Hungary. Among other things, the convention will outlaw the dissemination of child pornography on the internet, as well as the propagation of racist and xenophobic ideas, the New Scientist resummées.

The convention should also bring an end to the confusion surrounding complex legal issues concerning jurisdiction. It will allow the extradition of suspected cyber criminals, for example. "It will certainly give security agencies what they want—but without regard to data protection," says Yaman Akdeniz, director of Cyber-Rights and Cyber-Liberties UK (cyber-rights.org).

The problem with the convention lies not with what it outlaws, but with the procedural powers it will give to security agencies, say critics. For example, it will allow countries to exchange information without considering data protection. "My concern is this will lead to an Orwellian nightmare," says Akdeniz.

The approval comes at the same time as reports that US President Bush has written to the current EU president, Guy Verhofstadt, asking that the current European data protection directive be strengthened in wake of the terrorist attacks in the US.

According to the European Voice newspaper, Bush has requested that provisions be made to allow for electronic data surveillance during criminal investigations. // c.f. infowar.de :: [dre].

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2001/10/04

10:10 +0100

EBay users hit by alleged fraud ring

[Cyber Crimes] More than half a dozen eBay users last week alerted the online auction company to an identity theft and a series of fraudulent auctions allegedly stemming from Ukraine. However, the victims of the scam are accusing eBay of being slow to respond because of its 30-day waiting policy for accepting fraud complaints online, ComputerWorld reports.

Tim Bass, CEO of security consulting firm The Silk Road Group Ltd. in Centerville, Va., and a longtime member of the Internet security community, first noticed that there was a problem after he won an auction for a Sony Picture Book, a combination laptop and digital camera. Bass' suspicions were raised after a good Samaritan online user in Germany notified him that the alleged seller claimed to live in Quebec, used a Russian e-mail account and requested that the funds be transferred via Western Union to the Ukraine.

Fortunately for Bass, he never sent the $1,150 for the Sony system. However, he soon received e-mails from several other eBay users who claimed to have been the targets of the same individual.

Among them was Brian Murphy, an auction seller who discovered that his identity as a reliable seller on e-Bay had been stolen. Murphy and other victims of the scam believe that a Ukrainian cybercriminal, or criminals, stole Murphy's eBay account information and used it to run nine auctions worth thousands of dollars. Bass, Murphy and at least half a dozen other users have since contacted eBay but claim that the company has dragged its feet on the investigation. They have also notified the FBI.

"I contacted eBay immediately, but eBay has been slow and worthless [in] helping me," wrote Murphy on Sept. 29 in an e-mail to the other eBay users swindled in the scam. Murphy, who has a rating of "excellent" for reliability among eBay users, first notified the company of the theft of his account on Sept. 18. However, the auctions still started the next day, and "eBay paid no attention to this, despite my e-mails every day. They are impossible to reach other than slow, indirect e-mail." // c.f. SecuritySpace :: [dre].

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2001/9/27

10:26 +0100

Int'l developments on cybercrime and terrorism

[Cyber Crimes] On September 19, the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime was approved by the Committee of Minister's Deputies. It will be presented to the Committee of Ministers for formal adoption in November. The Treaty will then be open for signature by the 43 member states of the Council of Europe and other countries, such as the United States, Canada and Australia, that contributed to the drafting process. It will come into force as soon as five countries, including three of the member states, have ratified it.

The Convention is the first int'l treaty to address crimes committed in "Cyberspace" including breach of copyright, computer-related fraud, child pornography and hacking. The convention requires signatory countries to ensure that their laws meet uniform standards relating to a wide range of investigative powers, including electronic surveillance and access to user records maintained by communications operators. During its negotiation, the Convention was strongly criticized by the Global Internet Liberty Campaign, a coalition of international privacy, security and civil liberties organizations, and the European Privacy Commissioners as disproportionately weighted in favor of law enforcement interests.

In response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the Council of Europe is also considering new anti-terrorist proposals. On September 21 a special meeting of the Committee of Ministers was held to discuss this issue and a request for "an urgent debate on democracies facing terrorism" has been presented to the Parliamentary Assembly.

Terrorism is also high on the agenda at the European Union. On September 20, the European Commission presented two important policy initiatives: a "Framework Decision on combating terrorism" and a "Framework Decision on an EU Arrest Warrant" to a special meeting of the European Justice and Home Affairs Ministers in Brussels.

The main objective of these initiatives is to increase co-operation between police and intelligence services through the Europol network, to agree on a common definition of terrorism, to harmonize penalties and sanctions for terrorist acts to abolish formal extradition procedures among EU states and to introduce a common arrest warrant to cover all forms of crime, not just terrorism.

The EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministers approved the more than 30 measures contained in these documents and stressed the need for speed in their implementation. They vowed to secure agreement and support from their national governments by December. // c.f. EPIC :: [dre].

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2001/9/17

13:44 +0100

Check before you donate!

[Cyber Crimes] Not only Americans are giving people, especially in times of crises. Sadly, there are those that seek to prey on this, there have been multiple reports to AntiOnline and various mailing lists of people sending out spam with links to paypal and other such services, that are not in any way affiliated with a disaster relief organization.

We want to urge each of you not to donate to relief funds via links that you receive from e-mails. AntiOnline is working on tracking down the identity of many of these individuals, and they turn them over to the appropriate agencies once they have completed their work.

So please, if you wish to donate to the relief fund online, please do so at the American Red Cross' Official Online Disaster Relief Fund site at redcross.org/donate. For your convenience, we have added a linking button on the top our home page. // c.f. AntiOnline :: [dre].

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