Industry News

The New York Times: Larger Prey Are Targets of Phishing
Apr  2008
An e-mail scam aimed squarely at the nation’s top executives is raising new alarms about the ease with which people and companies can be deceived by online criminals. Thousands of high-ranking executives across the country have been receiving e-mail messages this week that appear to be official subpoenas from the United States District Court in San Diego.

InformationWeek: For Sale: Passwords To Fortune 500's Servers
Feb  2008
More than 8,700 FTP login names and passwords, some of which grant access to Fortune 500 servers, are being sold online through a sort of eBay (NSDQ: EBAY) for stolen data, a security company revealed this week. "There is a whole industry of buying and selling all these stolen credentials," said Ben-Itzhak

CNN: Cyberthieves go phishing to rob banks
Feb  2008
Notorious 20th-century bank robber Willie Sutton said famously, "I rob banks because that's where the money is." Of the top 20 companies targeted by phishing in 2007, the report says, 19 are in the banking industry.

Bank Systems and Technology: Phishing for Bank Accounts Reels in Big Bucks
Sep  2007
According to the security vendor, bank account details bait the biggest rewards, at up to $400. IDG News Service also reported that: Credit card details sell for between 50 cents and $5, e-mail passwords for $1 to $350 each, and e-mail addresses from $2 to $4 per megabyte.

ITNews: Cyber-threats outpace security measures, says McAfee CEO
Sep  2007
Citing recent highly publicized corporate data breaches that have beset major companies like Ameritrade, Citigroup, and Bank of America, DeWalt said that cyber-crime has become a US$105 billion business that now surpasses the value of the illegal drug trade worldwide.

Ars Technica: Security study pokes holes in advanced authentication claims
Jun  2007
Although they've been touted by banks as a security improvement over simple password protection, there's study data to indicate that image authentication systems aren't as useful or effective as some think. Even when presented with clear evidence that the image authentication system was not functioning and hence could have been compromised, the vast majority of users (97 percent) chose to enter their login information and proceed.

MSNBC: In an instant, Retirement savings vanish
Jan  2007
One moment Dave DeSmidt had $179,000 in his 401(k) retirement account, the next he had nothing. In an instant, 25 years of savings had disappeared.

WashingtonPost: Citibank Phish Spoofs 2-Factor Authentication
Jul  2006
Security experts have long touted the need for financial Web sites to move beyond mere passwords and implement so-called "two-factor authentication" -- These methods work, however, only so long as the bad guys don't fake those as well.