Zero Day Threat: The Shocking Truth of How Banks and Credit Bureaus Help Cyber Crooks Steal Your Money and Identity has just been awarded the  prestigious Excellence in Financial Journalism Award for general audience books from the New York State Society of Certified Public Accounts.  Thanks goes out to all our security, tech, law enforcement, financial services industry, legal and other contacts and sources  who have so graciously helped us with guidance and expertise. We couldn’t have done it without you.

2008

Aug. 20: The Gimmiv Trojan, which exploited the vulnerability Conficker capitalises on, is first spotted running in a virtual machine on a server in South Korea. Experts speculate this was a a test run prior to it being released in the wild. (Source: BBC)

Sept. Chinese malware brokers are spotted selling a $37 tool kit that allows anyone to exploit this newly-discovered security hole in a component of Windows, called RPC-DCOM, which enables file and print sharing. RPC-DCOM is built into all PCs of Windows XP vintage and earlier, some 800 million machines worldwide

Sept. 29: Gimmiv first seen in the wild infecting a PC in Hanoi, Vietnam. Over the next few weeks it manages to infect 200 more machines in 23 nations - most of which were in Malaysia. Mistakes in the way it is coded limit its ability to spread. (Source: BBC)….More at LastWatchdog.com

The sudden resignation  of Rod A. Beckstrom, the Department of Homeland Security’s senior  official tasked with unifying the federal government’s cybersecurity intiatives, bodes ill for a new age of transparency and collaborative problem-solving in government. Beckstrom was unable to maneuver around, much less partner with, the powerful National Security Agency (NSA).

In this stunningly frank March 5th resignation letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, Beckstrom, Director of the National …More at LastWatchdog.com

Visa has issued a statement waffling about what …More at LastWatchdog.com

Banking trojans are inundating the Internet.

These malicious programs lay in wait on your hard drive for an opportune moment to crack your online banking account — usually just as you log on. You can get them by clicking on a viral link to a greeting card or video that arrives in e-mail spam. Or by clicking to a web page that’s been corrupted by hackers.

…more at LastWatchdog.com

…more at LastWatchdog.com

–Byron Acohido

The proposal comes in a report titled, The Perfect Storm: Why the New Administration Cannot Ignore Identity Theft, by Adam Levin, Chairman and Co-Founder of Identity Theft 911. Experts cited in the report include Jay Foley, co-founder of the Identity Theft Resource Center, Pam Dixon founder of World Privacy Forum, and Chris Hoofnagle, of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology.

At first blush, this comes off as a radical idea, certain to slam into a brick wall of special-interest inertia. However, it does mesh with Obama’s efforts — which are already ramping up –  to establish a new age of transparency designed to undergird the public good.

What’s more, with data theft and Internet-enabled financial scams spiraling out of control – and rapidly  eroding consumers’ trust in the Internet — this is, in fact, a very rationale notion. It would seem to deserve the same level of  discussion that resulted in naming of the Top 25 programming flaws.

Levin

“Simply because a small percentage of consumers who are on compromised databases actually suffer a personal incident within a short period of time doesn’t mean that they don’t face continuing risk,” says Levin “Identities are evergreen and real currency.”

Levin suggests designating the Federal Trade Commission as the principal information vehicle and omnibus regulatory authority. He wants to see passage of a national data breach notification and disclosure law “with teeth.” And more funding for the FTC.

Highlights of the report include calls for the Obama administration to:

• Derail efforts by the Big Three credit bureaus to water down state laws that require companies to notifiy consumers when their data gets stolen and allow them to easily freeze their credit records.
• Compel federal agencies to handle sensitive citizens’ data more securely.
• Pool law enforcement crime data  “in order to provide a more timely and complete snapshot of the identity theft problem”

“There is no shortage of ideas as to how we may assert greater control over the identity theft pandemic,” the report concludes. “Now it’s up to the new president, as a great listener and mediator, to bring all voices to the table.”

–Byron Acohido