UK gov clarifies hacker tool ban
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Consultants in frame? Definitely Maybe The UK government has published guidelines for the application of a law that makes it illegal to create or distribute so-called "hacking tools".â¦
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(InfoWorld) - The U.K.'s financial services regulator has levied a heavy fine against the nation's largest building society over a stolen laptop containing confidential customer information. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) fined Nationwide Building Society Â£980,000 ($1.9 million) for "failing to have effective systems and controls to manage its information security risks," the regulator said in a statement. Nationwide, which has about 11 million customers, did not realize the laptop contained customer information and waited three weeks before starting an investigation, the FSA said. The laptop was stolen from an employee's home during a burglary in August 2006, Nationwide said in a statement. The building society believes the thief was after the laptop itself rather than the information on its hard drive. The data was for marketing purposes and did not contain any PIN numbers, passwords, or account balance information, Nationwide said. Nationwide informed its customers of the problem and no losses were reported, it said. It also commissioned a review of its information security, the FSA said. (A building society is a type of cooperative financial institution, similar to a credit union in the U.S.)
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Publishing software flaws now an offence? The new Police and Justice Act, published today, could criminalise legitimate IT security activity. There are fears among security experts that changes it makes to the Computer Misuse Act will make it illegal to distribute some vital tools.â¦
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Crackers Updates to Germany's computer crime laws banning so-called "hacking tools" have been criticised as ill-considered and counterproductive.â¦
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Civil servant finally leaks data correctly - to us... The Register has received the email sent out to all staff at the Medical Research Council passing on instructions from the Cabinet Office that the ban on taking laptops out of the office could apply to mobile phones too.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - The U.K.'s trial of e-voting and e-counting technologies during last month's local elections resulted in crashed computers and technicians scratching their heads while posing new concerns about the systems' security and reliability, a new report has concluded. In one area of England, a manual recount performed after e-counting equipment was abandoned because of delays turned up a raft of uncounted votes, said Jason Kitcat, e-voting coordinator for the Open Rights Group, which deployed observers to polling sites in England and Scotland. The group, which has been critical of e-voting and e-counting, has submitted its 64-page report to the U.K. Electoral Commission, which will publish its own report on the trials on Aug. 3. The Department for Constitutional Affairs, which oversaw the pilot programs, said it welcomed the role of observers but would reserve comment until the Electoral Commission publishes its report. The Electoral Commission also did not comment. The U.K., which embarked on a voting modernization program in 2000, held trials in 13 administrative areas in England. Scotland replaced manual counting with e-counting technologies for the first time. The government has backed e-voting technologies, including postal voting and Internet voting, to increase voter participation. Open Rights Group volunteers watched how polling stations conducted e-voting, but much of the process was opaque due to the nature of how e-voting machines work, Kitcat said. The majority of polling stations experienced technical problems, ranging from laptop problems to unreliable electronic registers, the report said. Employees of vendors whose equipment was deployed refused to interact with observers, Kitcat said. "No one would really say what was going on," Kitcat said. "It was all so mysterious." However, observers did identify potential security problems. The report includes photographs of PC workstations and hubs with open ports, a possible security risk. "Network hubs were left on the floor with power and network connections loose," the report said. "In one case in Edinburgh, a hub was observed in easy reach of attendees, with ports free lying beneath a table providing an opportunity for unauthorized access to the e-counting system's network." E-counting scanners proved finicky due to incorrect paper sizes, scanner sensitivity and trouble in handling low-quality perforations on ballots. The most curious error in e-counting occurred in a ward in Breckland, England, where voters were give two ballots: one each for district council and parish elections. Officials tried an electronic count, but came up with far fewer district ballots than parish ballots when the two counts should be roughly the same, Kitcat said. A manual recount turned up about 56 percent more district council ballots. "We haven't been given an explanation by the election official or suppliers," Kitcat said. In Scotland, observers noted that election officials could log into the e-counting software merely by scanning a bar code on their identification badges, which the Open Rights Group cited as another security concern. Some election officials were positive about using new election technologies, but "the lack of general technical understanding and knowledge about the e-counting and e-voting systems across election staff was perturbing," the report said. Â
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Company says breach last week by hackers likely had no impact on customers, but it continues to investigate the incident.
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EU offers help for parents who are confused by the wide range of software that claims to make cyberspace safer for children.
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(InfoWorld) - Hackers may want to avoid Germany, after the approval of a law that makes their activity a punishable crime. The legislation, which theÂ German government proposedÂ earlier last year and approved Friday with no changes, aims to crack down on the sharp rise in computer attacks in the public and private sectors. Although Germany already has a comprehensive penal law against attacks on IT systems, the new legislation looks to close any remaining loopholes. It defines hacking as penetrating a computer security system and gaining access to secure data, without necessarily stealing data. Offenders are defined as any individual or group that intentionally creates, spreads or purchases hacker tools designed for illegal purposes. They could face up to 10 years in prison for major offenses. Other punishable cybercrimes include DOS (denial-of-service) attacks and computer sabotage attacks on individuals, which would extend the existing law that limited sabotage to businesses and public authorities. The new law, however, has drawn criticism by several groups, including the hacker club Chaos Computer Club e.V., which points to the work of "good" hackers, also known as "white hats," who work for security companies. These computer experts, the club argues, could be restricted in their ability to help software makers develop secure products and businesses to deploy them. That opinion is shared by some hackers as well. In an e-mail, a hacker, known by the pseudonym van Hauser, wrote that if hackers are unable to 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. "It's a win-lose law in favor for the bad guys," he wrote. Chaos Computer Club also warns that the law could make it much easier for the German government to allow law enforcement officials to install spyware on computers of suspected criminals without their knowledge. The club is concerned about the ability of consumers and businesses to protect their systems from government spyware without support from the hacker community. In February, the country's High Court handed down a landmark decisionÂ banning police from installing spyware, delivering a blow to the plans of the German Interior Minister Wolfgang SchÃ¤uble to give the Federal Criminal Police Office greater power to monitor terrorists and other criminals online, and peek inside their computers. But SchÃ¤uble is seeking ways ever since to have the court revise its decision. Â
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Pulling the plug Cut-rate internet host UK2.net has become the subject of a hacking attack, leaving customers temporarily unable to access their email.â¦
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InfoWorld - A new hacking method is causing concern for the lengths it goes to avoid detection by security software and researchers.
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Threatens Data Protection Act? The government has set out its "vision" for helping the disadvantaged of British society by sharing intelligence about them across the public sector.â¦
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It only takes 20 minutes on the Internet for an unprotected computer running Microsoft Windows to be taken over by a hacker. Any personal or financial information stored
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Chinese computer hackers are infiltrating British government networks, giving them access to secret information, according to media reports on Thursday.
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The Asbo is a control order usually banning offenders from frequenting certain places or carrying out particular activities. But now one has been issued to curb Internet activity
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The software maker has acknowledged it was wrong when it told users certain file formats were insecure.
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Either stupid or ignorant, fumes security researcher A leading security expert has criticised the UK government for ignoring recommendations on tackling cybercrime from peers.â¦