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Google to strengthen Calendar privacy warnings

Published 16:32:35 26.04.2007 Google Inc. is working on making privacy warnings around its Calendar application stronger amid concerns that some users of the service may unintentionally be exposing more information than they mean to.
The Web-based calendar was launched last year. Similar to other desktop calendar applications, it allows users to store event information, contacts and other data. The information is kept online by Google and can be accessed over the Net from anywhere. Users have the choice of making their calendar entries private -- the default choice -- or allowing public searches of the information. The idea is to give users an easy-to-use tool for discovering and sharing event information with others, according to Greg Badros, engineering director of Google. "We wanted to make the settings as easy as possible to make a calendar public," Badros said. It is currently used by "millions" of users worldwide, a spokeswoman said. More info can be found at :Sourcehttp://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9017259

Student loan companies illegally use US database

Published 21:36:44 24.04.2007
The US government has temporarily barred college loan firms accessing a database containing personal and financial details of nearly 60 million people after a Washington Post article reported it was being used illegally. The paper revealed that some lending companies with access to the National Student Loan Data System repeatedly searched it in ways that violate federal privacy laws.
Students' Social Security numbers, birth dates, phone numbers, email and financial records were contained within the database records. The Department of Education allows lenders to search the database only if they have a student's permission or a financial relationship with the student, the Washington Post reports. More info can be found at :Sourcehttp://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/19/student_loan_access_us_database/

Trojan Horse Uses Virginia Tragedy as Bait

Published 21:47:08 24.04.2007
Spammers and hackers are using the slayings at Virginia Tech as a gory lure to infect computers with malicious software, security experts noted Thursday. While the video made by gunman Cho Seung-hui prior to the killing of 33 people on Monday was widely posted on news Web sites and YouTube.com, spam e-mails were intercepted Wednesday night purporting to link to the footage on a Brazilian Web site, said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant, at security vendor Sophos PLC.
If clicked, the link caused a computer to automatically download a malicious screensaver, called TERROR_EM_VIRGINIA.scr by Sophos, which installs a Trojan horse program that collects banking details, Cluley said. More info can be found at :Sourcehttp://www.pcworld.com/article/id,130976-c,trojanhorses/article.html

Botworms exploit Windows DNS bug

Published 15:01:45 19.04.2007 Security researchers late yesterday spotted botworms exploiting a zero-day bug in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows DNS Server Service, confirming suspicions earlier in the day that hackers were sniffing out vulnerable systems. McAfee Inc.'s Avert Labs was the first to report that a new Nirbot variant -- the worm also goes by the name Rinbot -- was trying to exploit the DNS vulnerability in the wild. In a blog entry yesterday afternoon, virus research manager Craig Schmugar said the botworm was an "internet relay chat [IRC] controlled backdoor, which provides an attacker with unauthorized remote access to the compromised computer." Later Monday, McAfee announced it had found a second Nirbot/Rinbot variant exploiting the bug. More info can be found at : Sourcehttp://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9016820&source=rss_topic17

Hackers the only winners in credit ripoff

Published 16:25:58 26.04.2007
The numbers are out on the largest data security breach in history, and they're not pretty. U.S.-based TJX Companies, Inc., which owns Winners, Homesense and TJ Maxx, managed to expose at least 45.7 million credit card numbers, as well as other personal data of customers, to a sustained, multi-year hacker attack.
Every time an outraged shopper is interviewed in front of a Winners store, the company pays for its carelessness in the court of public opinion. But is that enough? Maybe not. In fact, perhaps someday you, Mr. or Ms. Winners shopper, will be getting a cheque in the mail. Read on. TJX admitted recently in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it "learned of suspicious software on our computer systems" on Dec. 18, 2006. More info can be found at :Sourcehttp://www.businessedge.ca/article.cfm/newsID/15188.cfm

Privacy Group Objects To DoubleClick Deal

Published 16:52:12 26.04.2007
Google's proposed $3.1 billion purchase of online ad firm DoubleClick would merge two powerful digital data gatherers that track people's online activities, raising serious privacy concerns that the Federal Trade Commission should investigate, consumer advocates allege in a complaint to be filed with the FTC today. The deal would create a firm with access to more information about consumers' Internet activities than any other company in the world, the Electronic Privacy Information Center said in its complaint. "Google will operate with virtually no legal obligation to ensure the privacy, security and accuracy of the personal data that it collects. At this time, there is simply no consumer privacy issue more pressing for the commission to consider than Google's plan to combine the search histories and Web site visit records of Internet users," the complaint says. More info can be found at :Sourcehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/19/AR2007041902647.htmlLast update16:52:12 26.04.2007