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Japanese police confirms cybercrime growth trend
22 Feb 2007

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This Thursday, Japans National Police Agency (NPA) released its
annual cybercrime statistics for 2006, showing a massive 40%% increase in
the number of registered cases. In total there were 4,425 cybercrime
incidents logged and solved by police, up from 3,161 in 2005. Although
these figures are significant, growth levels have actually gone down
from last year, when the number of cybercrime incidents was boosted by
more than half.

EU calls on US for dialogue on data sharing
16 Feb 2007

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Data protection and security have long been two conflicting sides to one
coin. The recent security climate has introduced new challenges, and
there has been a lot of criticism both in Europe and the US regarding
the curtailing of privacy rights with growing data retention and
monitoring practices. In a recent statement on the occasion of Data
Protection Day, officially celebrated in Europe on 28 January, European
Commission vice-president Franco Frattini spoke of the challenges. "We
need to balance access to data for those protecting our security and
fighting crime with protecting people's privacy rights", he
claimed.

So far there has been no global agreement on what levels of data
monitoring should be considered as appropriate to both the security
climate and privacy rights. In fact, in past years and despite
strengthening...

Russian connection in Turkish cybercrime investigation
16 Feb 2007

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A large gang of phishers has been disbanded in Turkey following an
investigation by the authorities in the Turkish city of Izmir. A total
of 17 people have been arrested by the police in raids at several
addresses, but according to local authorities the roots of this crime
syndicate go much deeper and into Russia.

FBI still losing too many laptops
13 Feb 2007

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A new report by the US Department of Justice and the Office of the
Inspector General has highlighted the fact that the loss of computers
containing sensitive information still remains a problem at the FBI. The
organisation that is meant to protect the American public currently has
between three and four laptops lost or stolen each month, according to
audit data.

The issue of data protection has long been one of the biggest issues
concerning computer security in the modern connected world. Hackers,
viruses, Trojans, keyloggers and phishers are all seen to be after
peoples sensitive data that could be of financial benefit to
anyone who gets hold of it. However, it must not be forgotten that
sensitive data can be lost not only by electronic means, and some of the
biggest data loss incidents involved the theft of backup media or
laptops. For instance, the Department of Veterans Affairs computer and
storage loss incident last year affected more than 28 million former
servicemen and women.

The FBI has also been involved in data leaks, losing more than 500
laptops over the past seven years, some with sensitive information.
However, the new audit highlights the fact that the FBI has
significantly...

Arrests in Japan over massive spam campaign
19 Jan 2007

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,p>Japanese law enforcement authorities have taken down what they claim
to be a massive spam operation responsible for sending out more than
five billion junk emails over a two-month period in the summer of 2006.
A total of four men were arrested including Yoshimitsu Hirono, president
of large Japanese dating site Takumi Tsushin, based in Tokyo.

Dutch botmaster crew facing jail sentence
19 Jan 2007

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Two alleged cybercriminals are waiting to hear if they will have to go
to jail for their part in creating and running a 1.5-million-strong
botnet. Dutch authorities are hoping that the presiding judge at the
court in the southern city of Breda will send the two unnamed
individuals, who are 20 and 28 years old, to prison for a maximum of
three years.

Police arrested the two men in their homes in Loop op Zand and Rijswijk
back in 2005. In what has been the biggest cybercrime investigation in
the legal history of the Netherlands, the prosecution claim to have
proved both men created a massive network of bot computers. In order to
hijack the 1.5 million PCs they used a special worm known as
"Toxbot". Additionally, Dutch media have claimed that the
pair were involved with the Russian Internet mafia and helped to write a
Trojan called "Wayphisher" that was used to steal private
financial data from victims in Europe and US.

The prosecution service in the Netherlands has also alleged that the
criminal group carried out cyberblackmailing. It is claimed the men
threatened to carry out a Denial of Service attack on US advertising...

UK data sharing rules to be relaxed
16 Jan 2007

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Tony Blair, Britains outgoing Prime Minister, has officially
backed a new initiative that would allow government departments to share
personal data. The "perfectly sensible" move is being
presented as part of an optimisation drive that would improve services
in the public sector. According to the backers of this proposal current
rules that regulate data collection and sharing are extremely strict,
and in many cases the existing system could be streamlined. The
governments policy review presented this Monday at 10 Downing
Street claims "overzealous data sharing rules may be an obstacle to
improving public services".

Data mining disclosure law to be introduced in US
16 Jan 2007

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US privacy laws could soon be updated "for the 21st
Century", if the proposed Federal Agency Data Mining Reporting Act
2007 receives the required support. Democrat Senator Patrick Leahy, new
chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has proposed the bill last
week. This is the second time he introduces similar legislation
following an all-Democrat proposal made to Congress last term.

According to the latest version of the data-mining bill, federal
agencies will have to report to the public details of their data mining
programs that are in development or are in use. Senator Leahy has
already underlined his strong desire to see this piece of legislation
being adopted and is sure to make use of the Democrats hold on
the US parliament. The previous Republican Congress was reluctant to
promote more openness; particularly as the Republican government has
developed the use of electronic surveillance programs and new technology
in its fight against terrorism.

However, over the past years the government has also become embroiled in
several cases of supposed illegal wiretaps, leading to calls from
privacy rights campaigners for more transparency and accountability...

Data mining disclosure law to be introduced in US
16 Jan 2007

*****

US privacy laws could soon be updated "for the 21st
Century", if the proposed Federal Agency Data Mining Reporting Act
2007 receives the required support. Democrat Senator Patrick Leahy, new
chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has proposed the bill last
week. This is the second time he introduces similar legislation
following an all-Democrat proposal made to Congress last term.

According to the latest version of the data-mining bill, federal
agencies will have to report to the public details of their data mining
programs that are in development or are in use. Senator Leahy has
already underlined his strong desire to see this piece of legislation
being adopted and is sure to make use of the Democrats hold on
the US parliament. The previous Republican Congress was reluctant to
promote more openness; particularly as the Republican government has
developed the use of electronic surveillance programs and new technology
in its fight against terrorism.

However, over the past years the government has also become embroiled in
several cases of supposed illegal wiretaps, leading to calls from
privacy rights campaigners for more transparency and accountability...