Computer Crime Threats During The Holidays

If you ever receive Christmas e-cards (electronic greeting cards) then be certain that you know where it is coming from. Sometimes it is hard to tell whether or not these are from friendly sources.

Kathy Tyson, a real estate agent from Tennessee, had 3 e-cards waiting in her inbox shortly after Thanksgiving. These cards, however, were not from friends that she knew.

"By the time I got the second one, it was pretty clear that these were just spam," Kathy mentioned. "I can't prove that they were sent by bad people, but they definitely weren't friendly sources. I just deleted them."

If you ever come across a scenario similar to this one, then be sure to just delete the electronic greeting cards. E-cards can potentially infect your computer with viruses and cause you a lot of stress. These electronic threats are nothing new, but they have become more common in recent years and computer crime is always an issue that should be taken seriously.

The best way to protect yourself is to always have anti-virus protection software on your computer, only accept e-mail's from people that you know, and scan e-mail messages for viruses if your mail client allows it.

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New Zealand Computer Crime King Caught

Police in New Zealand finally caught the eighteen-year-old male who was behind a lot of recent criminal activity involving computer fraud. He is now working with authorities to help with various investigations.

This young man, who had the alias of "AKILL," was responsible for the loss of more than 26 million dollars in New Zealand currency as a result of computer crime.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation claimed that AKILL was the man behind a vicious "botnet" that had over a million computers infected with a serious virus. The virus allowed AKILL to gain access to private data and records on countless machines. AKILL is also being accused of causing a serious server crash that recently happened at the University of Pennsylvania.

Electronic Crime Lab Manager Maarten Kleinjtes from the New Zealand Police mentioned that AKILL created a program that was being sold to other computer criminals who wished to cause electronic havoc around the world.

"He hires his services out to others, who make use of that botnet," Kleinjtes mentioned to Radio New Zealand.

"If another cyber criminal wants to do an attack – in this case on the Pennsylvania University computers – then the botherder instructs all the machines that have been infected...to all at the same time attack these computers in Pennsylvania."

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Local Law Enforcement Joins Forces With FBI To Attack Computer Crime

A new partnership with the FBI and several local police departments will give Bay City police officers the opportunity to become more "self-sufficient," according to Chief of Police Michael J. Cecchini.

Earlier this week, the Bay City Commission gave the green light for Cecchini to take out an agreement with the Federal Bureau of Investigation that also joins forces with the Mid-Michigan Area Computer Crime Task Force.

Being partners with the Computer Crime group, Bay City will allow the task force to use 1 sworn police officer on a full-time basis for the next 2 years. The FBI will give the task force an unmarked vehicle, a mobile phone and finance all of the required training and travel expenses for the officer.

The goal of this operation is to have a well-trained officer working for the Bay City Police who will give the agency the ability to take on computer crimes, according to Cecchini. Computer crimes usually include national security threats, fraud, computer scams and child pornography.

"Instead of having to send these types of investigations out, I can have that done in-house," he mentioned. "It makes us more self-sufficient."

The police department in Bay City will also be represented in the computer crime task force's oversight committee.

"It's collaboration," stated Commissioner Charles M. Brunner of the 9th Ward. "Often times we think of collaboration as what we can put together with surrounding townships. In this case, it's collaboration with federal agencies. It's going to allow us to do great things."

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$10,000 Donated By Chrysler Foundation to Help Prevent Computer Crime

The computer crime team of the Macomb County Sheriff's Department can now be more effective when investigating Internet predators, as well as locating online criminals since the Chrysler foundation recently donated 10,000 dollars to their unit known as the Macomb Area Computer Crimes Enforcement team.

"This is quite a substantial donation -- one of the largest single donations we've ever gotten," Mark Hackel, the Macomb County Sheriff stated.

The donation will buy a Forensic Recovery Evidentiary Device, also known as FRED, according to the Sheriff. The MACE team is already equipped with one of these machines, and they can now acquire one more.

"It's a computer that enables us to take information off other computers' hard drives," Hackel mentioned. "That's a long, tedious process, and having a second system will help expedite these investigations."

This generous donation is the first that the Chrysler Foundation has ever given to the Macomb Sheriff's Office, according to Brian Glowiak, the vice-president of the foundation.

"Our mission is to help improve the quality of life where our employees and neighbors live," Glowiak said. "This is something that will help people be safe from things like computer fraud and sexual predators."

The sheriff mentioned that his department's computer crime team has expanded greatly during recent years.

"At one time we had to send computers to Oakland County to be investigated," Hackel mentioned. "They had a backlog of cases up to six months, so it made sense for Macomb County to have its own computer unit."

"The online sexual predators are the cases the media pays the most attention to, but the two biggest concerns we have with computer crimes are identity theft and fraud," stated Hackel. "Those are among our biggest problems."