UGN Info Manager UGN Info Manager
The latest online crime wave has pushed the U.S. House to a near unanimous rally (395 Ayes, 1 Nays) against internet criminals -- passing H.R. 744 I-SPY bill. The bill is now in Senate and needs your support to get it made into law.
The Internet Spyware (I-SPY) Prevention Act of 2005, introduced by Bob Goodlatte (R VA) addresses the most egregious activities that are conducted via spyware and makes those activities criminal offenses. The legislation also authorizes $10 million to the Department of Justice to combat spyware, pharming and phishing scams. (See article later on "Pharming")
The Can-Spam Act passed last year has been, for all general purposes, ineffective because there's been no enforcement. At the urging of so many constituents, Goodlatte's H.R. 744 actually becomes the first ever to actually fund the law's enforcement. (See: Goodlatte "I-SPY")
We urge you to get out and contact your senator to support and pass H.R. 744. For details, and links to your legislative representation go to: www.user-groups.net/safenet/
Last Tuesday night Fred Showker presented "Child Internet Safety" as part of Congressman Robert Goodlatte's "Internet Safety" road tour of Virginia. Goodlatte presented H.R. 744, Phishing and Pharming information for consumers. Over the next two months the tour will visit other key cities, including Roanoke and Richmond, VA to build support for the latest online crime fighting legislation.
Tonight, (Monday, July 11) Showker appears at the Virginia Macintosh Users' Group (Vmug) in Reston, VA to present a program on Phishing and Pharming. See Showker's "Child Safety Links" among others at: www.user-groups.net/safenet/
Last week, Google announce new software for watching movies on line. It only took about a week for someone to break the code. (Fellow known as DVD Jon, who previously posted info about how to view DVDs in Linux.) Read the full story at: news.yahoo.com
It is hard to believe, but there actually is a company willing to take on Apple. They have introduced a MP4 player called an Ipod. (Note the capitalization - don't think that will appease Apple's lawyers.) Read more...
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, radio station KYCY-AM 1550 is now broadcasting Podcasts as its full time format. "They are calling it KYOURRADIO.com, Open Source Radio." The Chronicle itself has a number of Podcasts available. ... see the full story...
Streamload.com is a web site for streaming digital video for FREE. Still don't understand how they can afford to do this, but it is an interesting concept and perhaps UGs could take advantage of it. Read more...
SuperDuper is new software for making backups of your Mac had drive. A trial version is available for Download See it at: http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html www.shirt-pocket.com
Alume System who a little while back acquired Aladdin Systems has now it self been acquired. Don't see how they can't make money off Stuffit, but apparently no one is making enough off it to stay independent. Smith has been around for a long time in the telecommunications market, but it looks like they want to branch out. After all, there isn't much call for modem software any more. They did announce Stuffit for Wireless upon the acquisition. Read the press release at: www.smithmicro.com
If so, you will win 10 iPods and 15,000 songs! Lots of other prizes as each 100,000 song benchmark is reached. Read all about it at: www.apple.com
Yummy Software has announce a new version of Yummy FTP for Mac OS X. There is a 7 day trial version available for download. The full version is $25 although there is volume discounting. Get it at: yummysoftware.com
(Please reprint in your newsletter)
We're been warning you about Phishing for two years now and while it's impossible to warn everyone, we all should do the best we can. Now, a new plague is on the horizon -- Pharming.
All along Mac users have been smug in the belief that online crime really can't seep into the Mac. Phishing changed the game and became the number one threat to all computer users because the user would voluntarily click a link in an email. These 'Phishing' spam emails then take the unwary user to an erroneous web site which extorts their ID, password, bank account numbers or other sensitive financial data like.
"Pharming" is the newest threat (pronounced: "farming") where criminal web sites hijack real web sites and fool the user into entering sensitive data such as a password or credit card number. The malicious web site can impersonate the legitimate web site so well, the trusting user enters the info.
How Pharming works:
Criminal programmers hack the vulnerability in DNS servers, redirecting traffic from that website to their own bogus web site. The criminal does not have to rely on having the user click a link in an email or spam. Even if the user correctly enters a URL (web address) into a browser's address bar, they are still redirected to the Pharming site where criminal can then easily "phish" or steal the computer user's passwords, PIN number or account number.
* In March, VeriSign, one of the largest ecommerce validators on the web, detected a 300 percent increased in DNS server probes that indicated there was a direct attack against DNS servers to prep the servers for pharming.
* Secure e-mail provider Hushmail was caught by an attack on 24th of April 2005 when the attacker actually called the domain registrar and gained enough information to redirect users to a defaced webpage. Hundreds of other examples have been registered: a German teenager hijacked the eBay.de domain name, and earlier this year a large New York ISP, Panix, was hijacked to a site in Australia.
How can you protect yourself?
Make sure the site is pharming-conscious (PC). Watch carefully for a "HTTPS" web protocol on the site's login page. (Keep your eye on the "Address" field of your browser. Make sure the link is accurate and preceded by "https:") Generally, Pharming sites impersonating a legitimate sites will not use https:// protocol. You will receive a message from the browser indicating that the web site's "certificate" does not match the address being visited. If you get such a message do NOT click "Yes".
Pharming is a devious criminal scheme. Information gained can be used to purchase merchandise, clean out bank accounts or open new ones, and commit other identity theft crimes. The information gained can even be sold to other criminal groups and used again and again. Since Pharming is so technically sophisticated, it is virtually impossible to detect or prevent. Since it is almost impossible to measure, we have no idea how prevalent it has become. Experts agree, pharming poses one of the most insidious threats in the online criminal's arsenal.
See:
Is Someone "Phishing" for Your Information?, or [PDF]
How Not to Get Hooked by a 'Phishing' Scam, or [PDF
Spyware, or [PDF]
See: FTC Internet Crime Alerts
It seem like an uncomprehensible statement, but look closely and you may realize it could be true. Now the only question is: what do we plan to do about it? This month's 60 Second Window looks at online crime... www.60-seconds.com
Slingbox is a personal video recorder that can work with any XP machine. But soon it will be available for Mac OS X as well. Read about it at: www.macsimumnews.com
"Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us."
- Stephen R. Covey
"There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up."
- John Andrew Holmes
Have a great week... (See last week)
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