Hi all.
Because of time pressures and publishing blogs and articles elsewhere, I won’t be updating this site for the time being.
kind regards
David
One of the most unusual spin offs from the scandal surrounding the electronic spying controversy involving the US National Security Agency and GCHQ is the re-emergence of a file-sharing protocol that has laboured under the stigma of piracy for many years.
It is suggested that BitTorrent is relaunching and rebranding itself as a bastion of secure electronic transference and storage of data for individuals, companies and major public entities.
It has been a while since I last updated this blog properly. I have given it a slight overhaul and a new logo and I’ll start updating it more often with blogs and articles so please do keep checking back.
Thanks
David
The notorious Megaupload.com was shut down by prosecutors in Virginia early in 2012 and the service’s founders were then charged with violating piracy laws, after it was alleged that the site had cost record labels and film studios more than $500 million in lost revenue (quite how these figures are quantified is never very clear).
Man jailed for posting “despicable” comments about April Jones and Madeleine McCann
Matthew Woods, 19, from Chorley, Lancashire, posted “despicable” and derogatory comments about April Jones and Madeleine McCann on Facebook. He was arrested and charged under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003.
The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) requires that when public authorities use covert techniques to obtain private information about someone, they must do so in a way that is necessary, proportionate, and compatible with human rights. The Act has in the past been regarded by some as harsh and overused, for example by local authorities to check on fly tippers.
However the recent case of R –v- Padellec 2012 [2012] EWCA Crim 1956 highlights just one of the wide ranging implications of the Act with regards to cyber crime and that the Act may in fact be prone to manipulation.
As the business of mobile malware evolves, cyber criminals are targeting mobile phones in an effort to steal cash from victims.
Mobile security firm Lookout has reported that within nine months, incidents of viruses stealing money have risen from 29% of mobile malware to 62%.
678,000 Windows PCs have been infected as a result of the Gameover ZeuS bank-theft botnet. It has been attributed to cybercrime gangs in Eastern Europe and this particular botnet is thought to have complex defensive features which will make it very difficult for the authorities to completely defeat it.
The term “cyberwarfare” refers to politically motivated hacking in order to conduct espionage and sabotage. It is well established that the use of computers to manipulate markets, organisations and governments has been occurring now for decades and evidence of cyberwarfare is apparent from as early as the 1970s in the form of “worm” attacks which have taken the form of extremely invasive viruses over time.
Paul McLoughlin has been handed a suspended 12 month sentence under computer misuse legislation, as the result of what investigators say was an attempt to boost gamer status. The software, called “Istealer”, was injected into numerous programs, including the game Prototype, so that McLoughlin could then play those game without being charged.
David Cook - CyberSolicitor 