fraud

Pirate Bay co-founder charged with alleged hacking and fraud

Intrigue and suspense movie thrillers are made from stuff like the story of Gottfrid Svartholm Warg. And for Warg, it seems like his story may be coming to an end.

The Pirate Bay co-founder was charged today with conspiracy to hack into several Swedish agencies and allegedly attempting to make an illegal online money transfer out of a local bank, according to Swedish news site The Local.

"A large amount of data from companies and agencies was taken during the hack, including a large amount of personal data, such as personal identity numbers (personnummer) of people with protected identities,&… Read more

'Aaron's Law' rewrite backfires, reformers now on defensive

For years, criminal defense attorneys, academics, and civil libertarians have warned that an anti-hacking law, originally designed to protect NORAD's computers, needs to be reformed. Federal prosecutors have used the law to prosecute the late Aaron Swartz and a Missouri woman accused of lying on her MySpace profile.

Now a key U.S. House of Representatives committee finally is rewriting the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. But instead of fixing the law's vagueness problems, or reducing its penalties, draft legislation backed by the Justice Department would make it even more Draconian.

It's a bitter setback to the … Read more

AT&T 'hacker' and Internet troll sentenced to over three years

In the latest criminal prosecution to alarm Internet activists, a security researcher who accessed a non-password protected portion of AT&T's Web site was sentenced today to 41 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

Andrew Auernheimer, who goes by the nickname "Weev" and was convicted by a federal jury last year of hacking, was sentenced today by a federal judge in Newark, N.J. "No matter what the outcome, I will not be broken," Auernheimer said this morning after hosting an all-night party in Newark and making an unsuccessful appearance on … Read more

From 'WarGames' to Aaron Swartz: How U.S. anti-hacking law went astray

Aaron Swartz, the Internet activist who committed suicide while facing the possibility of a felony criminal conviction, was prosecuted under a law that was never intended to cover what he was accused of doing.

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1984 dealt only with bank and defense-related intrusions. But over the years, thanks to constant pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice, the scope of the law slowly crept outward.

So by the time Swartz was arrested in 2011, the tough federal statute meant to protect our national defense secrets covered everything from Bradley Manning's offenses to … Read more

HP's Autonomy acquisition probed by U.K. regulators

Hewlett-Packard has a way of quietly announcing its dealings with Autonomy in its annual and quarterly regulatory filings.

In its quarterly report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today, the company announced that the U.K. Serious Fraud Office has launched an investigation into the alleged irregularities of HP's acquisition of Autonomy.

Here's what HP wrote in its filing:

As a result of the findings of an ongoing investigation, HP has provided information to the U.K. Serious Fraud Office, the U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC related to the accounting improprieties, disclosure failures … Read more

Attorney General Eric Holder defends Aaron Swartz case

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder defended the criminal case against the late activist Aaron Swartz today, saying the penalties sought represented a "good use of prosecutorial discretion."

In an appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Holder denied that Justice Department prosecutors engaged in any wrongdoing, arguing that Swartz could have avoided a lengthy prison sentence if he had simply accepted a guilty plea of up to six months.

Swartz committed suicide on January 11 in New York. His family and friends have blamed prosecutors for filing 13 felony charges -- meaning years or decades in prison if … Read more

Identity fraud in U.S. is on the rise, report

While cyberattacks and hacking seem to be constantly making headlines these days, identity fraud is also on the rise.

A new report by Javelin Strategy and Research shows that identity fraud has increased for the last three years in a row -- affecting more than 5 percent of U.S. adults. In 2012, 12.6 million people were identity victims.

According to Javelin, identity fraud is up 4.9 percent from 2011 and 4.35 percent from 2010. The firm said that scammers are increasingly gaining access to people's personal information and accounts through data breaches and malware attacks.… Read more

Swartz didn't face prison until feds took over case, report says

State prosecutors who investigated the late Aaron Swartz had planned to let him off with a stern warning, but federal prosecutor Carmen Ortiz took over and chose to make an example of the Internet activist, according to a report in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.

Middlesex County's district attorney had planned no jail time, "with Swartz duly admonished and then returned to civil society to continue his pioneering electronic work in a less legally questionable manner," the report (alternate link) said. "Tragedy intervened when Ortiz's office took over the case to send 'a message.'"

The report … Read more

Aaron Swartz's public memorial service planned for Saturday

The loved ones of Internet activist Aaron Swartz are holding a memorial service Saturday in New York City "to celebrate his life and remember their beloved friend, sibling, child, and partner," according to a press release.

Swartz's suicide last week spurred criticism over the U.S. prosecutor's handling of his computer fraud case, with critics accusing the feds of unfairly trying to make an example of the 26-year-old hacker.

Swartz was accused of stealing 4 million documents from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Jstor, an archive of scientific journals and academic papers. The authorities claimed … Read more