In Wednesday's edition of the Daily Debrief, CNET security expert Robert Vamosi and I discuss the latest exchange of cyberattacks between warring countries Russia and Georgia. It's been concluded that the initial attacks on the Georgian president's Web site were not the work of another government or sanctioned agency, but rather, amateurs whose country or origin is still unknown. Regardless, the Web site of a Russian newspaper has since come under attack in retaliation, most likely at the hands of the Georgians.
As Vamosi points out, there've been a handful of such attacks over the last decade: during the Kosovo conflict in the late '90s, between Russia and other former Soviet nations, and even during the 2002 Winter Olympics. Vamosi is also quick to mention that the United States, among other countries, is starting to develop contingency plans if a cyberattack were to happen on our soil, or rather, on any U.S. domains.
It's the latest iteration of white collar crime. And it's expensive, destructive, and a serious nuisance for victims. I'm talking about credit and debit card theft via wireless networks. Recently, a multinational group of 11 was charged with stealing more than 41 million credit and debit card numbers.
The crime plays upon the vulnerability of a retailer's wireless networks. In a technique dubbed "war-driving," criminals cruise by stores, looking for holes in the security system so they can extract all the vital credit and debit card information. Once obtained, the numbers could be reprinted onto actual physical cards to be sold off on the black market. I'm oversimplifying the process by a few steps, but nonetheless, it highlights the ease--and also the sophistication--of these hackers in search of victims.
In Wednesday's edition of the Daily Debrief, I sit down with CNET News Editor-in-chief Dan Farber to discuss the attack and the long way technology has to go before it can provide the necessary safeguards for consumers. You needn't turn to all cash and cut up your credit and debit cards just yet, he advises.
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