German Government PCs Hacked
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China offers to help track down the Chinese hackers who broke into German computers.
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German police have long expressed interest in having surveillance tools that could crack Skype, but leaked documents seem to indicate that thanks to specially commissioned malware, they do indeed have ways of making your VoIP talk.
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German prosecutors have laid charges of computer sabotage, data manipulation and disruption of public systems against student Sven Jaschan who has admitted writing the Windows worm.
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The irony of the German government floating a proposal to deploy spyware to infect the computers of suspected criminals isn't lost on the security community, still furious over the "anti-hacking" law that has undermined legitimate security research in that country.
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A serious flaw in Google's desktop software could be used to wreak havoc on a victim's PC.
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(InfoWorld) - Germany's High Court has handed down a landmark decision banning police from installing spyware on computers of suspected criminals without their knowledge. The decision, announced Monday, is a blow to the plans of the German Interior Minister Wolfgang SchÃ¤uble to give the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) greater power to monitor terrorists and other criminals online, and peek inside their computers. Two other federal judges had differed over whether police should be able to hack into the computers of suspected criminals and install spyware. In February, one judge approved police hacking. But another barred the practice in November, resulting in an appeal by federal prosecutors. The High Court in Karlsruhe argued that searching computers is similar to searching homes, a practice in Germany that requires police to follow certain procedures, such as obtaining a search warrant and informing suspected offenders of a search. The judges also argued that hacking computers by the police is not permitted under Germany's strict phone-tapping laws and that legislation would be needed to enable covert surveillance. Last year, SchÃ¤uble persuaded the German pParliament to approve â¬132 million ($171 million) for his Program for Strengthening Domestic Security. As part of the program, the BKA would have been allowed to penetrate and monitor PCs of suspected offenders in Germany via the Internet. The program also calls for greater use of video cameras in public places, biometric systems and other new security technologies, as well as the establishment of an "Internet Monitoring and Analysis Office."
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Memory space on components such as graphics cards, DVD drives and batteries can be used by miscreants to load malicious code onto PCs.
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(InfoWorld) - For months, German Interior Minister Wolfgang SchÃ¤uble has been lobbying intensively forÂ tough security measures to fight terrorismÂ and cybercrime. Now he's putting his words into action. Law enforcement officials in Germany and Austria are now among the first to have electronic access to each other's fingerprint databases, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior said Monday. Since 2006, the two countries have shared their DNA databases as one of several measures agreed by some European Union nations under the Treaty of PrÃ¼m in 2005. The treaty, which has meanwhile been signed by several E.U. member states, gives police and other security agencies in different countries unprecedentedÂ access to a range of individuals' personal data. During its E.U. presidency, Germany is trying to muster enough support to turn the Treaty of PrÃ¼m into E.U. law. Support for tough security measures has grown in Germany and other E.U. member states that worry about their national security being increasingly threatened by international terrorism, organized crime and, increasingly, cybercrime. Recently, the Baltic nation ofÂ Estonia suffered several weeks of DDOSÂ (distributed denial-of-service) attacks against government and private-sector Web sites. That DDOS attack sent a warning signal to governments across Europe. On Monday at an IT security conference hosted by the German Interior Ministry, SchÃ¤uble referred to information technology and communications infrastructures as "the nerve strands of society" and called on everyone -- governments, businesses and consumers -- to give IT security a top priority. Protecting critical infrastructure, including communication and energy grids, from cyberattacks is a key area of focus during the two-day conference. SchÃ¤uble is also determined to give the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) greater power to monitor terrorists and criminals online by allowing the agency to peek inside their computers. In an interview with the Berliner Zeitung published on Saturday, the minister said he aims to complete draft legislation over the next few weeks to allow the BKA to hack into the PCs of suspected criminals. This year Germany's High Court handed down a landmark decisionÂ banning police from installing spywareÂ on computers of suspected criminals without their knowledge. The High Court in Karlsruhe argued that searching computers is similar to searching homes, a practice in Germany that requires police to follow certain procedures, such as obtaining a search warrant and informing suspected offenders of a search. The judges also argued that hacking computers by the police is not permitted under Germany's strict phone-tapping laws and that legislation would be needed to enable covert surveillance. In the interview, SchÃ¤uble said he would amend Germany's constitutional law to allow online surveillance if the country's leading courts required such an amendment. In February, Germany passed a law allowing security officials to create the largest and most comprehensive pool of personal data ever amassed in the country. The databases of nearly 40 different agencies, including BKA and the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), are now linked to allow authorities to run searches on suspected individuals and retrieve information within minutes. Â
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Thousands of credit card numbers and other personal data may have been compromised.
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Virus hijacks PCs and uses them to send short message spam to mobile phones.
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SAN FRANCISCO -    For ransom: your sensitive computer files. In the latest online scam, cybercrooks are breaking into the PCs of small businesses and individuals, locking up data and demanding money in return for freeing it.
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Sweden's military reports a security breach as an employee leaves a memory stick with secrets on a public computer.
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By Kelly Proctor, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.  Feb. 12--Computer users take note: Here comes another cyber glitch  threatening to confound your PC.
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Trojan spam scam nipped in the bud German police have arrested ten people suspected of running a phishing scam designed to raid the contents of online bank accounts that netted hundreds of thousands of euros.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - New legislation proposed by the German government aims to makeÂ computer hackingÂ a punishable crime. The draft law, announced Wednesday, defines hacking as penetrating a computer security system and gaining access to secure data, without necessarily stealing data. As part of the draft, groups that intentionally create, spread or purchase hacker tools designed for illegal purposes could be punished by law, the Federal Ministry of Justice said in a statement. OtherÂ punishable cybercrimesÂ include denial-of-service attacks and computer sabotage attack on individuals, which would extend the existing law that limited sabotage to businesses and public authorities. Offenders could face up to 10 years in prison for major offenses. Although Germany already has a comprehensive penal law against attacks on IT systems, the proposed revision aims to close any remaining loopholes, the ministry said. Some security experts warn, however, that "good" hackers, also known as "white hats" who work for security companies, could be restricted in their ability to help software makers and businesses as a result of the proposed law. If hackers can't share their tools with the public, "white hats will not be able to get them and use them internally for testing or external security consultants won't be able to do security testing," a hacker, known by the pseudonym van Hauser, wrote in an e-mail. "It's a win-lose law in favor for the bad guys." Van Hauser is president of The Hacker's Choice, a noncommercial group of security experts.
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In a crackdown on Internet child pornography, German police detected several servers running a copy of Tor, a software designed to anonymize Internet usage.
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Le Pen, Le Cracked A cyber crook has stolen sensitive data from Jean-Marie Le Pen, a far-right contender for president of France. The breach may kill his chances of being able to run for the office.â¦