2012 September | Privacy PC

From White Hat to Black 4: ATM Fraud and Point of Sale Hacks

Posted by david b. on September 30, 2012

Kevin Poulsen highlights new crime areas Max Vision and his partner got into: ATM fraud based on CVV system vulnerability, restaurant hacks, and running a carder forum of their own. So things changed – I almost forgot this. At the same time that Max was doing this, one of the people that were infected...

From White Hat to Black 3: The Carder Forums

Posted by david b. on September 28, 2012

This part of Kevin Poulsen’s talk narrates about a very crafty strategy that Max Vision and his companion Chris Aragon adopted to get hold of stolen credit card data from carder forum users, and monetize it with remarkable efficiency. Chris’ money was running out. So Max did the logical thing and he...

From White Hat to Black 2: The Robin Hood Hacker

Posted by david b. on September 27, 2012

Kevin Poulsen now gives an insight about the way Max Vision went distinctly black hat under the pressure of circumstances after completing his jail sentence. The Robin Hood Hacker Getting into Taft turned out to be a very important development, because before – he was kind of a misguided naive white hat,...

From White Hat to Black – The Curious Case of Cybercrime Kingpin Max Vision

Posted by david b. on September 26, 2012

Kevin Poulsen, former hacker and currently Senior Editor at Wired.com, gives a captivating talk at RSA Conference on the intricate story of the cyber criminal named Max Ray Vision (Max Butler) who ended up going from white hat to black hat. Thanks for coming, everybody. So, as you’ve heard, I’m a...

VIPRE Antivirus 2014 review

Posted by David Balaban on September 25, 2012

$39.99 VIPRE Antivirus 2014 makes inherently complex protection easily manageable. Usability: Features: Efficiency: Support: Overall: Download GFI Software, the owner of the VIPRE brand which was originally introduced to the security world by Sunbelt Software, appears to...

Where Are We and Where Are We Going 6: Case Flame

Posted by david b. on September 24, 2012

At the end of the keynote, Mikko Hypponen presents his in-depth research into the Flame case, specifying the mechanisms and techniques applied by the virus. I wanted to find some image about flame or fire, or something that would nicely fit into all the talk, and the best image I could find was this....

Where Are We and Where Are We Going 5: Governmental Attacks and Backstage Stuxnet Facts

Posted by david b. on September 22, 2012

Shifting the focus of the talk towards governmental attacks, Mikko Hypponen pays particular attention to the situation around Iran, and provides some really interesting facts about the notorious Stuxnet worm. Let’s speak about governmental attacks. Now, like I said in the beginning, it’s quite...

east-tec Eraser review

Posted by David Balaban on September 21, 2012

$29.95 East-Tec Eraser 2014 ensures identity protection with immaculate efficiency by irreversibly deleting sensitive material. Usability: Features: Efficiency: Support: Overall: Download The tangible shift in computing which is steadily acquiring the properties of an...

Where Are We and Where Are We Going 4: GPCode, Police and Banking Trojans

Posted by david b. on September 20, 2012

Mikko Hypponen’s “Hack In Paris” keynote continues with further analysis of ransom Trojans, ranging from the flagrantly manifested GPCode to the craftier fake Copyright and Police alerts; and provides an overview of banking Trojans industry. So you get hit by Blackhole, your Windows computer is...

Where Are We and Where Are We Going 3: Ransom Trojans

Posted by david b. on September 19, 2012

Security guru Mikko Hypponen dwells here on ransom Trojans distribution scheme from an attacker’s perspective, and specifies the susceptibility of applications and browsers in the context of such attacks. One problem in particular, which has been growing just over the last months are ransom Trojans. And...

Where Are We and Where Are We Going 2: Classifying the Attackers

Posted by david b. on September 19, 2012

Moving on with the keynote, Mikko Hypponen singles out three major groups of cyber attackers, and elaborates in detail on money-motivated criminals proper. And I strongly believe that if we want to have any hope at all in defending against these attacks, we first have to understand the enemy, or the...

Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Complete review

Posted by David Balaban on September 18, 2012

$59.99 Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Complete is innovative, fast and effective enough to rely on. Usability: Features: Efficiency: Support: Overall: Download Software versatility being an undoubted win-win attribute, Webroot Inc. took a bold move to embrace a...

Mikko Hypponen: Where Are We and Where Are We Going?

Posted by david b. on September 17, 2012

Taking the floor at Hack In Paris 2012 event, F-Secure’s CRO Mikko Hypponen depicts the global threatscape and speaks in detail about known groups of attackers. My name is Mikko Hypponen, and we will be speaking about the big picture, speaking about why we are still having all these problems, how come we...

Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border 6: Questions and Answers

Posted by david b. on September 15, 2012

This is the final Q&A part of the presentation by EFF’s Marcia Hofmann and Seth Schoen, where additional issues are raised, such as peculiarities of border inspection by different ports of entry, as well as Cloud and social network access requests from border agents. Marcia Hofmann speaking: I think...

Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border 5: Device-Specific Data Protection

Posted by david b. on September 14, 2012

This section encompasses considerations on whether there are decent alternatives to full disk encryption for protecting data in a border scenario; findings about data deletion beyond recovery; and data protection on devices other than PCs. Precautions against Border Searches Now, I’m traveling from the...

Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border 4: Data Encryption

Posted by david b. on September 13, 2012

The speakers now get to some technical and legal aspects of dealing with the password issue and data encryption when crossing the border, and provide tips applicable to the situation where you stick to the tactic of actually not knowing or refusing to turn over the password during your trip. Creating a...

Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border 3: Choosing a Strategy

Posted by david b. on September 12, 2012

EFF’s Marcia Hofmann and Seth Schoen focus on data privacy-related tactics and precautions one should take when planning to cross the United States border. Personal Background and Circumstances One thing that we realized was that there really isn’t one strategy that everybody should adopt for protecting...

Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border 2: Agencies and Policies

Posted by david b. on September 11, 2012

The primary spotlight in this part of the presentation is the hierarchy and authority of U.S. agencies associated with providing security at the border. U.S. Border Agencies So let’s talk a little bit about what we know about agency policies and procedures for performing searches at the border. I think a...

Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border: “Reasonable” Searches and Seizures

Posted by david b. on September 10, 2012

Electronic Frontier Foundation representatives Marcia Hofmann and Seth Shoen participate in Black Hat Europe 2012 Conference to present their white paper on guidelines for maintaining digital privacy when crossing the U.S. border. My name is Marcia Hofmann, I am a Senior Staff Attorney at the Electronic...

Layers of Security 4: Fighting Terror by Refusing to Be Terrorized

Posted by david b. on September 8, 2012

In the final part of the interview, Bruce Schneier gets to some conclusions on whether the cost of current security policies is worth the benefit, speaks on the war metaphor effect, and where the sensible line should be drawn in fighting terrorism. – Now, Bruce, you’ve just pointed something out and...

Layers of Security 3: Are We on the Right Track?

Posted by david b. on September 7, 2012

Bruce Schneier outlines the things in airplane security that he deems the right ones to focus on, and explains some downsides of the current state of affairs. – Tell me a bit more about security. If, in your opinion, what we need to do is spend more of the money we currently spend on screening at...

Layers of Security 2: The World after 9/11

Posted by david b. on September 6, 2012

Bruce Schneier now looks into the scope of terrorism threats in the last decade and further elaborates on the way airport security changed after the 9/11 attack. – So you see you are not alone, I think, in security analysts saying: “Hey, we don’t need to spend so much money on this stuff, and...

Bruce Schneier: Layers of Security

Posted by david b. on September 5, 2012

Bruce Schneier, the well-known American cryptographer and security specialist, gives an interview to Radio New Zealand’s Bryan Crump during his visit to the country, discussing real-world security issues and whether anti-terror measures done by the authorities worldwide are as effective as...

AVG Mobilation Anti-Virus review

Posted by David Balaban on September 4, 2012

$9.97 AVG Mobilation Anti-Virus is an easy-to-use solution that keeps your Android smartphone and your identity duly protected at all times. Usability: Features: Efficiency: Support: Overall: Download Walking into mobile platforms is a trend all major security software...

Apple vs. Google 6: Google Web Security Issues

Posted by david b. on September 4, 2012

Final part of Felix Lindner’s presentation at Black Hat Europe 2012 sheds light on the way session cookies and third-party Cloud providers can be used for gaining access to one’s Google account, and contains a brief summary of the talk. And then, of course there are web security issues. This is an issue...

Apple vs. Google 5: Chrome Browser Extensions and Google Apps

Posted by david b. on September 3, 2012

Looking further into Google client platform specificity, FX provides all-round analysis of Chrome extensions and touches upon user data security in the Cloud. Google Web Store And then you have the Web Store. The Web Store is downloadable web apps, it’s all JavaScript – the same procedure as with all...

Apple vs. Google 4: Chromebook Security and Integrity Protection

Posted by david b. on September 1, 2012

This section presents a thorough insight into Google Chromebook’s key features and details of security and integrity protection architecture of this device. Now, for the old-school people like I am, that want to kill everyone who comes even close with a finger to the screen, Google makes the Chromebook....