Technology

Prosecutors call it the biggest identity theft bust in US history. On Friday, 111 bank tellers, retail workers, waiters and alleged criminals were charged with running a credit-card-stealing organization that stole more than US$13 million in less than a year-and-a-half.

This is by far the largest — and certainly among the most sophisticated — identity theft/credit card fraud cases that law enforcement has come across, the Queens County District Attorney’s office said in a statement announcing the arrests.

The credit card numbers came from far and wide: from skimming operations in the US, where restaurant employees or retail cashiers were paid to steal credit card data from customers; from carder forums on the Internet; and also from shady overseas suppliers in countries such as Russia, China and Libya — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Google has finally added SQL to its cloud platform offering, Apps Engine. Until now, developers had to use the Datastore service, which provides a vendor lock-in threat and isn’t supported by most existing software and libraries. The SQL service should definitely improve Apps Engine adoption. It is currently in limited preview mode — via Slashdot

An arms race is underway on the internet and the cyber criminals are way out in front, a national police symposium has been told.

Identity theft and internet attacks on our bank accounts are part of the modern existence, but one expert is more concerned about highly sophisticated attacks against big business.

Graham Ingram is the general manager of AusCERT, the Australian Computer Emergency Response Team, a private group housed at the University of Queensland.

He told Wednesday’s session of the National Identity and Hi-Tech Crime Symposium on the Gold Coast that attacks are now being launched very successfully against the internet infrastructure of big corporations and government agencies — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Apple co-founder and Chairman Steve Jobs died today, Apple said. He was 56.

Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives, Apple said in a statement. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.

Jobs had been suffering from various health issues following the seven-year anniversary of his surgery for a rare form of pancreatic cancer in August 2004. Apple announced in January that he would be taking an indeterminate medical leave of absence, with Jobs then stepping down from his role as CEO in late August.

Jobs had undergone a liver transplant in April 2009 during an earlier planned six-month leave of absence. He returned to work for a year and a half before his health forced him to take more time off. He told his employees in August, I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Data processing backlogs at some government birth, deaths and marriages registries have left the door open for fraudsters to assume the identities of dead Australians.

The ability of a person involved in immigration fraud, tax evasion, social security rorts and even terrorism to obtain a legitimate birth certificate by using a dead person’s identity is still possible at these registries.

Sources told The Australian that registries were tight-lipped about revealing cases where identity thieves had taken advantage of antiquated recording systems. But some cases do make it into the public sphere, thanks to the courts. In August a Sydney court heard the case of a couple who trawled graveyards in Queensland, Victoria and the ACT to steal the identities of deceased children.

These names in turn were used to create false Medicare cards, birth certificates, drivers’ licences, bank accounts and credit cards. Forged documentation and identities were sold to criminals, including members of the Lone Wolf bikie gang, so they could apply for passports — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Firefox: The newest update to Firefox just launched today with a slew of new features, but one of those happens to include a shortened URL bar. Thankfully, reader David has a simple solution.

1. In Firefox’s URL bar, type in: about:config and agree to the pop-up message.
2. Search for: browser.urlbar.trimURLs.
3. Double-click or right-click and select toggle to change the value to false.

Now you’ll get the full HTTPS or HTTP in the URL so you won’t be confused on whether you’re viewing a secure site.

Parents who think their tearaway hacking kiddies are seeing all sorts of things they shouldn’t online are buying into some of the top myths about children on the web, according to a new report.

EU Kids Online, a research project based at the London School of Economics and Political Science, talked to kids across Europe about their online habits and discovered that they are both more and less clued up than their parents reckon — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Fast-growing blogging platform Tumblr has closed an investment round that attracted new venture capitalists and brought in $85 million.

The investment round was led by Greylock Partners and Insight Venture Partners. The Chernin Group and Richard Branson also invested in the New York blogging company for the first time. Spark Capital, Union Square Ventures and Sequoia Capital also made new investments — via redwolf.newsvine.com

A security firm revealed today that mysql.com, the central repository for widely-used Web database software, was hacked and booby-trapped to serve visitors with malicious software. The disclosure caught my eye because just a few days ago I saw evidence that administrative access to mysql.com was being sold in the hacker underground for just $3,000.

Web security firm Armorize stated in its blog that mysql.com was poisoned with a script that invisibly redirects visitors to a Web site that uses the BlackHole exploit pack, an automated exploit toolkit that probes visiting browsers for a variety of known security holes — via redwolf.newsvine.com