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NEWS: VIDEO: Get Safe Online Week 2009 begins

Duncan Geere — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:06:19 +0000

Non-profit warns of the dangers of becoming a mule

Get out your bunting - Get Safe Online week 2009 has officially begun. Get Safe Online is an initiative between the government, the Serious Organised Crime Agency and various private sector partners which aims to educate individuals and small businesses on how to keep safe online.

The scheme has been running for 5 years or so and is headquartered at GetSafeOnline.org. In the past, the focus has been on topics like identity theft and phishing, but this year the main thrust has been to educate people about the dangers of becoming a "mule".

As explained in the video above, a "mule" is a person whose bank account is used to launder money. You sign up (usually through a job ad) with your bank details, you receive cash, and then forward it on to other people via wire transfer. They want you because your account has been clean for years, you have good credit history, and as a result you're less likely to get caught.

If you are caught, though, you're implicated in a web of crime, liable for all those transfers, likely in lots of debt (because the cash that appeared in your account is confiscated) and your credit history will be ruined. Not a good idea.

So next time you spot one of those appealing-looking job ads, or someone contacts you out-of-the-blue with a job offer for a vague-looking company, it's probably best to ignore it. Be safe out there.

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Tags: Software Online Websites Security Malware Viruses And Malware Get Safe Online Video

VIDEO: Get Safe Online Week 2009 begins originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:06:19 +0000

NEWS: iPhones get jailbreak security warning

Duncan Geere — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:44:06 +0000

5-euro extortion by Dutch hacker

A number of Dutch iPhone users who had jailbroken their handsets came in for a shock recently, after a hacker was able to target them and attempt to extort 5 euros for instructions on how to "secure" the phone.

The hacker used port scanning to identify phones running on the T-Mobile network in the Netherlands that had SSH running. Most jailbroken handsets enable SSH so that a user can login and run terminal commands, but many people don't bother to change the default root password, leaving their phones vulnerable to attack.

The hacker posted a message on the handset, reading: "Important Warning: You iPhone's been hacked because it's really insecure! Please visit doiop.com/iHacked and secure your iPhone right now! Right now, I can access all your files. This message won't disappear until your iPhone's secure".

Visiting that site asks the user to send 5 euros to a PayPal account. Upon receipt, the hacker then promises to send out instructions on how to remove the hack, which Ars Technica reckons would most likely just be a factory reset of the phone.

So if you have a jailbroken iPhone, make sure you secure it by changing the default root password. If you're not sure how to do that, then a quick Google should sort you out. You can also deactivate SSH when you're not using it. The lesson, though, is to not trust sensitive information to a device that's running code you don't 100% trust.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones iPhone Security

iPhones get jailbreak security warning originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:44:06 +0000

NEWS: VIDEO: BlueWatchDog gadget alarm launched

Duncan Geere — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:32:35 +0100

Keep an eye on your valuables

A company called Secu4 has launched an alarm system that aims to prevent loss or theft of your property. It's about the size of a credit card and maintains a connection with your phone at all times.

You can set a range of 1 to 30 metres, if the distance between your phone and your bag, or whatever, is crossed, then the user gets an alert on their phone and a 100dB alarm is triggered on the device.

You can recharge the batteries by USB cable, or with a USB travel charger. There's a video of the device in action above, complete with charmingly halting English from the company's CEO Ralph Rimet.

The device is available now from MindYourIT, and it costs ?50. It won't work with every single phone, but you can check if yours will work by having a look at the list on secu4.com.