fbi

The customer database of Express Scripts, a company used by employer health care services to provide prescription medicine by mail, has been breached. In a twist, the company said it learned of the breach in "a letter from an unknown person or persons trying to extort money from the company."

The company posted details on its Web site Thursday. The letter, received in October, threatened to reveal millions of customer records--including Social Security numbers, addresses, dates of birth, and in some cases, prescription information--on the Internet if the extortion demands were not paid. The company did not disclose … Read more

Last summer, Sen. Barack Obama's presidential-campaign computers came under cyberattack from an "unknown entity." His machines weren't alone; John McCain's computers were also attacked, according to a report appearing Wednesday on the site of Newsweek magazine.

The Obama attack was initially thought to be a piece of malware downloaded from a phishing site. Newsweek reports that "the next day, both the FBI and the Secret Service came to the campaign with an ominous warning: 'You have a problem way bigger than what you understand,' an agent told them. 'You have been compromised, and a … Read more

Anything that nerdy had to come from Tom. And it did. Rafe Needleman joins the cast today to discuss waiting for Windows 7 (Steve Ballmer says it's OK), the fury over FireWire being omitted from the MacBooks reaches a fever pitch--so much so that Steve Jobs himself sends an e-mail in response. His response? A fairly typical, "Sorry, suckers. Upgrade."

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Ballmer: It’s OK to wait for Windows 7 http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10067641-92.html

Microsoft Considers “Instant On” Windows http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/16/1710207… Read more

WASHINGTON--The threat of cybersecurity attacks are on the rise from organized crime, terrorists, and foreign governments, an FBI official warned on Wednesday.

There are a "couple dozen" countries interested in breaching U.S. networks, said Shawn Henry, assistant director of the FBI cyber division, though he declined to list any specific countries.

The attempted attacks on U.S. networks are "increasingly sophisticated" and "the amount of information that has been stolen is significant," Henry said.

In particular, the use of botnets continues to increase, he said, while companies have lost tens of millions of … Read more

A notorious Internet underground site that ceased operation last week has turned out to have been used since 2006 by the FBI as part of an elaborate sting operation.

DarkMarket was an online forum for "carders", those who buy and sell stolen identities and credit card information online. The site was recently made public with the arrest of "Chao," a Turkish criminal who allegedly stole personal information from devices mounted over the card slots and keypads of ATMs.

In a story on Monday, Wired revealed DarkMarket's primary operator "Master Splynter" to be J. … Read more

In the aftermath of another vicious sell-off on Wall Street, CNET's Kara Tsuboi sits down with reporter Ina Fried to discuss what the tech sector is up against.

Republican party operatives in Missouri report the theft of a laptop containing privileged information. The laptop contained "information you'd expect the coordinator for a GOP national campaign to have," such as information on areas to target for support, said Tina Hervey, communications director for the Missouri Republican party.

Also in this podcast, Delta allows for in-cabin Web surfing. But some passengers have been browsing to sites where, um, … Read more

WASHINGTON--The FBI's chief information officer announced his resignation Wednesday, nearly five years after inheriting an information technology program fraught with disaster and dramatically turning it around.

"In 2004, everyone was asking when the FBI would join the 21st century," said CIO Zalmai Azmi. "Today I can tell you that we are in the 21st century and continue to move forward."

When Azmi joined the FBI as the acting CIO, the bureau was scheduled to roll out Virtual Case File, a software program meant to replace its archaic, paper-based criminal tracking system. Instead, the system was … Read more

On Wednesday, the FBI and its partner, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), warned against a new e-mail campaign being used by the creators of the Storm Worm botnet.

The e-mail uses the the phrase "F.B.I. vs. Facebook" in its subject line and contains a link to view an article about the FBI and Facebook, a popular social networking website. Clicking on the link downloads malicious software onto the victim's computer.

"The spammers spreading this virus are preying on Internet users and making their computers an unwitting part of criminal botnet activity," said … Read more

On Tuesday, the FBI announced the indictment of a former technology director accused of hacking into the system at a Houston organ bank and deleting patient files.

The indictment alleges that Danielle Duann, 50, illegally accessed and damaged LifeGift Organ Donation Center's database in November 2005, shortly after she was fired as director of information technology for the company. She is alleged to have deleted organ donation database records and accounting invoice files from the network. LifeGift said that all of the records were restored from a backup and that no patients were put into jeopardy.

At the time … Read more