banking

Report: Stolen data sold over online black market

Cybercriminals buy and sell stolen information using a vast network of online stores, forums, and even social-networking accounts, according to a report released yesterday by PandaLabs.

Posing as a cybercriminal to gain access to this online black market, PandaLabs researchers uncovered a world where the bad guys work together to buy and sell stolen bank account information, credit card numbers, passwords, and other products. Much of this illegal enterprise is done through online stores and forums, but PandaLabs found criminals using Facebook and Twitter accounts to set up shop as well.

Though this black market is relatively open, the security … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1374: Zuckerberg pokes China (podcast)

On today's show, we get a brief appearance of Brian After Dentist, but it's not as fun as we hoped, because the poor guy was actually in pain. So, Donald and I soldier on, discussing how Google TV is probably just plain done for, Net neutrality is under attack from all sides, and how college may be useless for entrepreneurs but it's a crucial nerd breeding ground. Plus, in the future, we'll pay for everything in Jobses. Depressing. --Molly

Bank of America cuts off WikiLeaks

Bank of America has added its name to a list of several financial institutions that have refused to process payments for WikiLeaks as the site reportedly readies a document release that targets the banking giant.

"This decision is based upon our reasonable belief that WikiLeaks may be engaged in activities that are, among other things, inconsistent with our internal policies for processing payments," the bank announced late yesterday.

The announcement comes on the heels of similar moves made by MasterCard, Visa, and PayPal earlier this month, which have limited WikiLeaks' ability to raise funds to support its Web … Read more

Cash is dead, says Dwolla

Dwolla is a relatively new online payment system that's designed to hit PayPal where it hurts: the transaction fees.

PayPal transactions, as well as credit-card payments, incur fees based on a percentage of the transaction amount in addition to a transaction fee. Dwolla transactions cost 25 cents each.

The whole idea is to move cash cheaply--for businesses and for consumers. Dwolla founder Ben Milne says his retail payment kiosk is cheap, too. It's virtual, relying on Web-connected point-of-sale systems on one side and consumers with smartphones on the other. A consumer selects the store he or she wants to pay and enters the amount on the smartphone app; the register clerk can see a payment come in and close the transaction. In the future, Dwolla's mobile app, which is currently very bare-bones, will get location awareness so it will know what store you're in when you go to use the system to send a payment.

But Dwolla is about more than saving consumers and retailers money on fees, Milne says. It's also closely tied in to social networks, today's de facto address books. From the Dwolla site, you can pay anyone in your Facebook or Twitter circle. All you have to do is start typing in their online name to find them.

With Paypal, you can pay people if you know their e-mail address. Back in 1999, the company that eventually became PayPal had a strong person-to-person angle, except instead of relying on smartphones and the Web, the original PayPal made it possible for Palm Pilot users to "beam" money to each other over their devices' infrared links.

Can Dwolla become the next PayPal--the scrappy payment company that's more convenient, more personal, and cheaper to use than the big guys (debit cards, credit cards, and PayPal itself)? And, more importantly, when you're dealing with a service that connects to your bank account, is scrappy what you want?

Angry Birds' Bad Piggy Bank affords in-game buys

Angry Birds for Android will soon let you pay to get rid of ads, with the currently undisclosed fee charged directly to your phone bill rather than via Google Checkout. The hugely popular game's Finnish developer, Rovio, wants other Android app makers to use its new system too.

Bad Piggy Bank--which will launch in Finland first, and globally next year--will also let players download the Mighty Eagle cheat. As TechCrunch reports, Rovio's Peter Vesterbacka said the company was "not picking on Android particularly, but I think that the payment method up to now has been less than … Read more

Firm finds security holes in mobile bank apps

A security firm disclosed holes today in mobile apps from Bank of America, USAA, Chase, Wells Fargo and TD Ameritrade, prompting a scramble by most of the companies to update the apps.

"Since Monday (11/01/2010), we have been communicating and coordinating with the financial institutions to eliminate the flaws," research firm viaForensics wrote in a post on its site. "The findings we published reflect testing completed on 11/03/2010. Since that time, several of the institutions have released new versions and we will post updated findings shortly."

The company had reported its findings … Read more

Zillionaire: The cutting-edge piggy bank

Zillionz is a toy line that's meant to teach kids how to keep track of their money. It features toys like cash registers, digital piggy banks, and electric coin jars, all of which use kids' real money to help them manage their personal finances and save up. It's kind of a cool idea, even if the private plastic ATM is a little weird.

The latest edition to the lineup is the Zillionaire, a personal-savings machine. It's like a trio of savings jars, each one assigned to a different child or fund, like "new bike," "… Read more

Dozens charged in use of Zeus Trojan to steal $3 million

The FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office in southern New York announced charges today against 37 people accused of being part of an international crime ring that stole $3 million from bank accounts by infecting computers with the Zeus Trojan and other malware.

Between federal and state charges, more than 60 people total are being charged in the operation, officials said.

Ten people were arrested today by federal and New York law enforcement officers and another 10 were previously arrested in the U.S. as part of a coordinated takedown, authorities said. Seventeen people are still being sought … Read more

Zeus banking Trojan targets mobile phones too

The Zeus banking Trojan, which targets Windows-based computers, is now being used to target victims' mobile phones too, according to several researchers.

Fortinet said today that it had uncovered new mobile malware dubbed SymbOS/Zitmo, which stands for Zeus in the Mobile, that is most likely designed to intercept confirmation text messages that banks send to customers for online banking. This could allow criminals to thwart banks' two-factor SMS authentication and approve transactions without the victim knowing it.

Zeus typically compromises a computer, either by luring the victim to click on a malicious link in an e-mail or luring the … Read more

Teller accused of texting robber during bank heist

Technology is such an enabler. Even when it comes, allegedly, to robbing a bank.

For police in Arlington, Texas, believe they have rumbled an inside job of a bank robbery by stumbling on the cell phone of one of the bank's tellers.

Recently, there was a serious robbery at the Texas Credit Union in Arlington. It happened after closing time, when the robber allegedly emerged from the bathroom in order to relieve the bank of $183,000.

According to NBC Dallas Fort Worth, police happened upon the alleged robber Tyce Von Franklin shortly after the heist, when he was … Read more