crime

Along with being home to Silicon Valley, California is also an epicenter of cybercrime.

That led California Attorney General Kamala Harris to announce today the creation of a new state Justice Department unit to combat crimes that enlist technology.

The eCrime unit aims to "make sure that vulnerable populations are safe, that consumers are safe, and that we allow good behavior to occur," Harris said at a news conference in San Jose, Calif (see video of news conference below). "But where there are predators and predatory practices, we want to ensure we have the skills and technology … Read more

Engineers at Mountain View, Calif.-based SST have come up with technology that uses acoustic sensors to help police pinpoint the exactly location of a gunshot as soon has it goes off.

SmartPlanet visited the San Francisco Police Department to see SST's gunfire-detection software in action.

This video first appeared at SmartPlanet under the headline "Acoustics technology alerts police of gun violence."

After a Santa Clara University undergraduate tweeted that he had unexpectedly been questioned by FBI agents, the school itself acknowledged that it has asked the feds to investigate how an intruder electronically altered a few dozen grades.

Mark Loiseau, 25, a senior electrical engineering student, received an unpleasant surprise this morning: three FBI agents showed up at his off-campus apartment wanting to have a friendly chat with him.

FBI agent Jeffrey Miller and his colleagues had complete dossiers on him and his friends, Loiseau told CNET this afternoon. "They had all my grades. They had pictures of me." … Read more

High-end gaming-peripheral-maker Razer sends word of an office break-in that occurred the weekend of November 4.

Gone missing: two prototypes of its Razer Blade high-end gaming laptops.

The following came from Razer's PR representative:

Over the weekend of 11/4/11, we had a break-in at one of our Razer offices. Two Razer Blade prototypes were stolen from our Bay Area R&D lab.

As you can imagine, the return of these prototype units is very important to the company. We have already reported this to the authorities who are working closely with us on this matter.… Read more

You're responsible for securing the private information you store on your computer or transmit over the Internet. But what about your personal data that's in the hands of some organization you've trusted with it?

From the IRS to your local florist, your private information is widely shared. And every day some organization loses sensitive data about its clients or customers--whether due to a hack attack or (more likely) from the loss or theft of a computer or storage device.

Here are three recent examples from the Open Security Foundation's Data Loss Database:

As you're probably painfully aware, your ability to get a cab typically is inversely proportionate to how badly you need one. Rush hour, rain, important business meetings, and flights are all key indicators that you will be left cold and shivering on a dark and damp street corner while every passing cab gives you the virtual finger.

But the good engineers and data geeks at private car network Uber have turned to math to scientifically figure out the best way to predict car hire demand so they can make sure you'll be able to find a Town Car … Read more

Somebody breaks into your e-mail account and sends phishing spam from your address to everyone in your contacts list. Somebody else steals your online bank ID and password and cleans out all the money in your accounts. And another crook swipes your Social Security number and opens credit card, cell phone, and other accounts in your name.

All three of these crimes fall under the umbrella of identity theft. Reports of declines in identity-theft incidents from such security research firms as Javelin Strategy & Research and government agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC's consumer-complaint statistics for 2010--pdf), … Read more

Federal law enforcement officials have charged 72 people for their alleged involvement in an online child pornography ring, the Department of Justice announced today.

Fifty-two of the people charged have already been arrested as part of the investigation, called Operation Delego, which the Justice Department launched in December 2009. So far, 13 of those 52 people have pleaded guilty and will serve terms ranging from 20 to 30 years in prison, the DOJ said. They will also face a lifetime of supervised release.

The individuals charged were allegedly members of Dreamboard, a private message board of more than 500 people … Read more

I know that when you hear this story, some of you will ask yourselves: "Why didn't he do it on Google+?"

Still, these troubling events occurred on Facebook, currently the most stickily social network. There, Facebooker Ruben J. Burgos allegedly decided to test the power of the network, as well as the intelligence and irritability of the police.

According to the New York Daily News, Burgos allegedly thought it might be fun to post this on his Facebook page: "Catch me if you can. I'm in Brooklyn."

It seems that Burgos has a place … Read more