Cybercrime

It's a fact that might not bring a lot of comfort to consumers and businesses, but it's true: The methods for protecting e-commerce transactions haven't changed a great deal since online shopping became a viable option in the early '90s. SSL and TSL encryption are the protocols that slap on that lit...

It's tax time again, and the online scammers are crawling out of the woodwork. Their goals are to intercept personal information about taxpayers nationwide, and in some ways, they may be benefiting from the IRS' push for people to electronically file their returns. Some scammers are "phishing" taxpa...

Everyone knows cyber-crime is a cat and mouse game, usually involving a bit of social engineering to trick unsuspecting computer users into clicking a link, installing some software or providing valuable information. The latest trick in crooks' bags: "recession malware." This is a new generation of ...

In a time of economic crisis, there tends to be an increase in the number of people that turn to criminal activity. Although petty crime is usually one area that shows a significant upswing, an additional form of criminal activity on the rise is fraud. Before you can stop fraud, you need to know how...

Massive credit card payment processor Heartland Payment Systems disclosed Tuesday that a security breach within its processing system some time in 2008 resulted in the potential exposure of millions of credit card and debit card numbers. No cardholder Social Security numbers, addresses or telephone ...

Until recently, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act -- covering a myriad of activities related to hacking and intellectual property theft -- was just one of many questionable federal laws on the books. Then came the case of Lori Drew. Drew was widely vilified for provoking a young girl into committing ...

The old adage about a sucker being born every minute is no less true among respondents to spam. Dishonest people have always been trying to make a fast buck by duping others into confidence scams, and the Web has give those people an easy way to communicate with more potential marks. However, modern...

Regular viewers of "60 Minutes" may not have been aware of a major scandal in the online gambling industry before Sunday night's broadcast, but Internet poker enthusiasts already knew the score and were waiting for reporters to show their cards. The report, a joint effort involving CBS's Steve Kroft...

Today we have the advantage of staying connected wherever we are, which gives us the convenience of completing our holiday shopping from home or our working space at any time of day. This convenience, however, comes with a price, which can sometimes present itself literally. Cybercrime is prevalent ...

Credit card fraudsters beware: Victrio might be tracking you. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company recently released a new system aimed at identifying, analyzing and storing the voiceprints of identity thieves. "We're building a nationwide database of bad guys' voiceprints," Victrio's founder and...

Just one day after notifying an Internet registrar notorious for allowing massive spamming that it would terminate its registrar accreditation, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has given the registrar a temporary stay of execution. ICANN sent a letter to EstDomains on Tuesday,...

Caution: Just because your company has a payment card industry compliance certificate, don't assume your data is perfectly safe and secure. You can still suffer a breach. That's the lesson recently learned by retail clothing company Forever 21. Company officials posted a notice on their Web site las...

October is the expected release date for the next version of the PCI Data Security Standard, 1.2. Since the PCI Standard's creation -- to serve as a guideline to help organizations that process card payments, prevent credit card fraud, hacking and various other security vulnerabilities and threats -...

The Payment Card Industry regulation changes that take affect Oct. 1 will mean some additional work by IT departments -- and some new spending. But the PCI Data Security Standard version 1.2 will allow the Payment Card Industry a phase-in period to meet the new rules, according to two security firms...

Heading the company with perhaps the most recognized acronym in the information security field and following in the footsteps of lightning-rod figure Phil Zimmerman must have both its charms and its challenges. PGP CEO Phil Dunkelberger, however, ranges far and wide in his reflections on how data --...