Tag Archive for Crime

| December 6, 2012
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Tablet Info

iPad thefts from Cleveland Heights-University Heights middle school students prompt community soul searching

iPad thefts from Cleveland Heights-University Heights middle school students prompt community soul searchingCleveland.com reports that iPad thefts from middle school students in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights school district is causing an iPad re-think.

The school district gave 1,300 Apple (AAPL) iPad tablets to middle school students at the start of the school year. The report says students were permitted to take the iPads home as a continuing educational tool.

The experiment lasted less than three weeks because the students became targets for thieves. Between Sept. 26 and Oct. 13, a dozen middle school students had their iPads stolen while on their way to and from school, Cleveland Heights police chief Jeff Richardson said.

Since mid-October, the district has collected the tablets at the end of the school day and students no longer could take them home.

More than 130 people attended a meeting seeking answers about how to go ahead and whether crime will win out over education. The reporter writes that the meeting was meant as an information-gathering session. Police, principals, and other officials wanted to decide if the district could safely revive the “Take home iPad Plan” sometime in the near future.  The crowd reaction was mixed about how to proceed.

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Superintendent John Deasy’s $17.5M request for computer tablet funds nixed

Superintendent John Deasy's $17.5M request for computer tablet funds nixed

The Los Angles Daily News reports that the panel that oversees the spending of Los Angeles Unified’s bond revenue refused Superintendent John Deasy’s request for nearly $17.5 million to jump-start the purchase of computer tablets for every student. The Bond Oversight Committee voted 7-3 for the plan, but that was one vote short of the eight needed for passage, officials said.

The $17.5 million would have funded the first phase of his long-range technology program. The plan included the tablet pilot project at 14 secondary schools. Mr. Deasy said the tablets are needed for the district to start the new curriculum known as Common Core State Standards taking effect in 2014.

Ultimately, he wants to buy tablets for all 650,000 LAUSD students, a project estimated to cost upwards of $400 million.

Related article
  • LAUSD Superintendent Warns Of Shorter School Year Due To Budget Crisis (losangeles.cbslocal.com)
IDC Figures Show Samsung and ASUS Challenging Apple’s Grip on the Tablet Computing Market

http://www.stripersonline.com/t/628984/check-out-what-im-doing-tonightMIT’s Technology Review pointed out new data from IDC suggest that Apple’s dominance of the global tablet computer market may be giving way. Competing tablet makers, led by Samsung (005930), gained substantial ground during the third quarter of 2012.

Apple‘s (AAPL) market share dropped from 65 percent in the second quarter to just over 50% in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Samsung’s share doubled to 18%, and Amazon (AMZN) and ASUS (2357) each saw their share rise from under five percent to around nine percent.

2012 3Q Worldwide tablet shipments

As is clear from the graph above, TR concludes that it’s too early to tell how quickly the market is diversifying. Apple’s lag was at least partly due to rumors about its plans to release the iPad Mini, which led some consumers to hold off on buying a new iPad, according to IDC. Now that the Mini is out, analysts expect Apple to have a strong fourth quarter.

The iPad Mini’s $329 starting price, however, is well above that of many Google (GOOG) Android tablets, which is why IDC’s analysts believe there is “plenty of room for Android vendors to build upon the success they achieved in the third quarter.”

Android-powered smartphones are already more popular than Apple’s iPhone in the U.S. as well as in other countries, like China

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Tablet Makers Pursue Public Schools

Tablet Makers Pursue Public SchoolsSchools are a large and growing market for Apple’s iPad. Teachers claim that tablets help students with lessons, improve memory and language skills, and cause them to act more independently. The excitement among tablet makers is almost as great. Tablet makers like Apple are pursuing public schools for more sales.

MIT’s Technology Review brings us data from IDC which says global shipments of tablets will reach 177 million this year, and 11 million of them were purchased by businesses or government of those, IDC analyst Tom Mainelli says, the “vast majority” were sold to schools.

Mr. Mainelli thinks that within a few years all U.S. students will have some access to a tablet at school. With 55 million students in the country’s schools, that’s a lot of potential sales. The article says it’s not just a one-time product push: beyond selling tablets to schools and districts, tablet makers see a chance to set up future sales by establishing brand loyalty with young users. “All these guys see huge opportunities here,” he says.

The most successful tablet maker in the education market is Apple (AAPL). In its July 2012 quarterly report, the company said it sold one million iPads to schools. TR notes that Apple hasn’t reported education numbers since then, but it did unveil a smaller, cheaper model that it expects will also appeal to students and educators: the $329 iPad Mini.

Amazon (AMZN) also highlighted its interest in the education market with the debut of Whispercast, a service to manage its Kindle e-readers en masse. Jay Marine, vice president of product management for the Kindle, the company sees the education market as “a meaningful business opportunity.”

Smaller companies are making tablets aimed specifically at the education market. Two firms are CurriculumLoft, which makes the Kuno tablet, and Brainchild, which sells the Kineo.

Brainchild CEO Jeff Cameron claims his company’s $299 tablet, which runs on Google‘s (GOOG) Android software is better than mass-market devices because it was built for educational use. TR says that, unlike most tablets, the Kineo has a replaceable battery, resulting in a longer lifespan. Its touch screen is meant to withstand spills, and it has more physical buttons than an iPad.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| March 13, 2012
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Detroit Safest Online City Again

Detroit Safest Online City AgainNorton, the anti-virus arm of Symantec (SYMC) teamed up with research firm Sperling’s BestPlaces to rank US cities based on a number of cybercrime risks and they found Detroit the safest online city for 2012. I wrote about Detroit’s 2011 ranking here.

DetroitBert Sperling, lead researcher for the analysis said, “By looking at data from consumer lifestyle habits as well as cybercrime data provided by Symantec, … we’re able to provide a holistic view of the various factors that put a person at potential risk.”

The Huff Post reports that the study looked at the prevalence of Internet use in addition to the types of risks users face online. Consumer statistics include the number of PCs, use of smartphones, the use of social networks, e-commerce, and accessing potentially unsecured Wi-Fi hotspots. BestPlaces also looked at the following cybercrime data: bot-infected computers located within a specific city, attempted malware infections, spamming IP addresses found within a specific city, and web attacks originating within a specific city.

Wi=FiSymantec says Detroit had low scores in the number of Wi-Fi hotspots, potentially risky online consumer behavior, and PC expenditures. Other low-ranked cities include Tulsa and El Paso.

Users are at most risk for cybercrime in the following cities:

1. Washington
2. Seattle
3. San Francisco
4. Atlanta
5. Boston

Symantec“With the explosion of smartphones, tablets, and laptops in recent years, and the rise of apps and social networking sites, our online and offline lives are blending together in ways that we’ve never before experienced,” said Marian Merritt, Norton Internet Safety Advocate. “…this analysis highlights the potentially risky factors we face each time we go online. By taking a few simple precautions now, people can make sure they stay protected against online threats.”

Greg Donewar, manager of the National White Collar Crime Center told Huff Post, “… over the past year, we’ve seen a considerable increase in cybercrime attacks, and whether a person lives in the riskiest online city or the safest, consumers everywhere need to be aware of the inherent dangers of online activity.”

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Forbes says that cyber-crime is a $37 billion crime that affects 1 in 25 Americans. Take these steps to protect yourself online:

Create better passwords. Avoid passwords like password, 123456, qwerty, abc123, or monkey, these are the top most common passwords (I have been writing about weak passwords for since 2010). Forbes says your first line of protection against cybercrime is to make sure all of your passwords follow these rules of thumb:

  • At least eight characters
  • A mix of these four types of characters: upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers, and special characters
  • Not a name, slang word, or any word in the dictionary
  • Don’t keep the same password; change it every six months
  • Have uniquely different passwords (not just slight variations of the same password) for every account and site

Monitor your financial accounts. If you shop online, use online banking, or have any personal or financial information available online, you are at risk of finance-related crimes like identity theft and fraud which Huff Post says costs the average victim $631 in out-of-pocket costs. Forbes says that one of the easiest ways to protect yourself is to monitor your credit to detect any red flags early. They recommend users set up spending limit alerts on credit cards and checking accounts to keep tabs on your balances. Automatically monitoring for suspicious activity and fraudulent accounts helps catch costly identity theft and fraud immediately.

Lockdown your smartphone. If you use your smartphone to shop, spend, socialize, and surf, your phone’s sensitive information essentially becomes a one-stop shop for cybercriminals. Forbes says if stolen or exposed to thieves, your smartphone can compromise your personal and financial information anytime and anywhere. Here’s a quick five-minute checklist from Forbes on how to properly secure your mobile phone:

  • Password-protect your phone with a complex and unique password, and set your phone so it auto-locks and never saves any passwords.
  • Enable a service with remote tracking. You can also set your phone to automatically wipe your data if your phone password is inputted incorrectly several times.
  • Turn Bluetooth off if you’re not using it. Thieves can pair their Bluetooth device with yours and hack personal information.
  • Be careful on public Wi-Fi networks where thieves can remotely access your data undetected. Only connect your phone to secure networks.
  • Before downloading any apps to your phone, always do a quick search to make sure it comes from a legitimate site or publisher. Check user reviews on sites like appWatchdog for complaints.
Related articles
  • Why you should password-protect your smartphone (ctv.ca)

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| June 22, 2011
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Teachers Highly Susceptible To Phishing Attacks

Teachers Highly Susceptible To Phishing Attacks Internet Security Awareness Training (ISAT) firm KnowBe4 has released new cybercrime statistics that identify Education as one of the most Phish-prone™ industry sectors. Education is the second most susceptible sector to cybercrime ploys. DarkReading reports the percentage of companies in each sector that responded to the phishing emails are:

  • Travel – 25%
  • Education – 22.92%
  • Financial Services – 22.69%
  • Government Services – 21.23%
  • IT Services – 20.44%

KnowBe4 founder and CEO Stu Sjouwerman told DarkReading,  “Our cybercrime statistics should serve as a wake-up call … Not only are these businesses at risk for financial loss through a cyberheist, but their susceptibility to phishing tactics could compromise sensitive customer data such as credit card, bank account, and social security numbers.”

These findings are based on a recent phishing experiment KnowBe4 conducted among enterprises featured in the latest Inc. 500 and Inc. 5,000 listings.

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Having worked in K12 for a number of years, I saw lots of teachers and a few superintendents get caught by phishing traps, They would then complain to me why they and their organization has entered SPAM jail and then needed me to hit SORBS.net to get the mail flowing again.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| October 20, 2008
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Cybercrime Better Than Drugs

Cybercrime Better Than DrugsThe FBI reports that, for the first time, revenues from cybercrime have exceeded drug trafficking as the most lucrative illegal global business, estimated at reaping in more than $1 trillion annually in illegal profits.

According to an article, The New Face Of Cybercrime from ChannelWeb It didn’t happen overnight. According to the Q2 2008 Web Security Trends Report by Finjan, a San José, CA-based security company, these cybercrime organizations—some claiming up to tens of thousands of members—have all emerged over the past two years to create a viable shadow economy. “It’s a contemporary economy mediated by Internet workings. It just happens to be illegal,” said Peter Cassidy, secretary-general of the APWG, a nonprofit organization dedicated to counteracting cybercrime.

“What we’ve seen is really a deep stratification of electronic crime into a growing, prosperous and responsive economy, with a number of specialty organizations, syndication and deepening organization of peers, both within a vertical skillset and across the entire enterprise of electronic crime,” said Cassidy, “Increasingly, we see this is turning into big business.”

Just like a Mafia family, they’re organized into strict hierarchies. They’re headed by a criminal boss, who is seconded by an underboss, providing Trojans for attacks while acting as the command and control center of the operation. Spearheading the malware attacks against businesses and individuals are the campaign managers, who direct their drones in affiliation networks further down the chain of command to actively steal the data from users’ computers.

The stolen data—generally users’ credit cards and social security numbers—is often sold by cyber resellers, who specialize solely in buying and selling the stolen data.

“This is definitely an area of growing concern,” said Dave Marcus, security research and communications manager for McAfee. He continues, “Instead of accessing and stealing information, they’ll sell account information for a premium.” Marcus said that the resellers typically post the stolen information on Web sites, then it is offered for sale to hackers based on brand, location, and additional value-added features. Marcus said that one Web site discovered by McAfee Avert Labs offered stolen bank accounts for sale with much higher prices from U.S. financial institutions such as Citibank and Bank of America than for smaller credit unions and more obscure foreign banks. Criminals who want to use the information can then contact the resellers to negotiate a price.

Driven by the laws of supply and demand, the price of an average identity has dropped in recent years from $100 to somewhere between $10 and $20 apiece, with the commoditization of data such as credit card and bank account numbers with pins.

However, other information is even more valuable. Experts say that prime real estate for cybercriminals surrounding health-related data, internal corporate notes, and Outlook and FTP accounts that can provide access to intellectual property go for much higher prices on the black market. As a result, attackers will increasingly be targeting health and government organizations, as well as corporate intellectual property, security experts say.

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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