Crooks
Latest
Malware targeting gamers gets some mainstream spotlight
Those vicious and despicable malware authors are targeting gamers, according to BBC. I know, big whoop, right? The news article reports on something many World of Warcraft players have known for years -- that viruses, phishing sites, trojans, and all those dirty tech terms have us gamers smack in the middle of their digital crosshairs. The findings are a result from a study by Microsoft, which tracked the exceptional growth of a family of worms called Taterf. The programs have been around for some time now, snooping around players' computers for login details to various games with in-game currency. World of Warcraft players are juicy targets because of the remarkably large player base and existence of the gold-buying industry which Blizzard has actively warned and fought against. While the findings are nothing new, they only serve to confirm our fears about the growing threats to our accounts. WoW.com has been big about account security for awhile, and it's nice to see the mainstream media begin to show some attention to the matter.
A different kind of desktop publishing
We all know Macs pretty much created desktop publishing in 1985 with the original Mac and the Laserwriter Printer. Now it seems, Macs are preferred by some criminals doing desktop counterfeiting. An article in the Vancouver Sun today recounts how the largest bogus money lab in British Columbia history was busted. The Mounties found almost $100,000 dollars in fake US bills, and $130,000 worth of Canadian bills.Of course everything was seized, including the computers being used by the crooks, which looks like at least one iMac. The photo also appears to include a couple of scanners, and a laser printer. Well, I guess the counterfeiters would be among those who agree that Macs 'just work', even though sometimes you get caught.Thanks to Anton for tipping us to this story.
UK police claim thieves are sniffing for laptops with Bluetooth phones
No disrespect towards the fine police of the United Kingdom or their Sherlock Holmsian skills, but we're mighty skeptical of a recent warning by the Cambridgeshire division that thieves are using their cellphones to locate and steal Bluetooth-enabled laptops from the "boots" of cars. So far all of the evidence concerning this new high-tech modus operandi seems to be anecdotal, as police in Royston are also claiming that a recent a spate of laptop thefts can be attributed to Bluetooth-sniffing crooks, but neither department is reporting how they came to these conclusions. Still, it's probably not a bad idea to shutdown your machine instead of putting it sleep when storing it in the car, toggle your Bluetooth setting to "undiscoverable," or just bring the damn thing along if you're going to be away from your ride for awhile.[Via The Raw Feed]
