An Australian video gamer has stolen thousands of dollars from a bank inside an online game and converted them into real-world money.

The bank heist happened in Eve Online, where players mine in-game resources to build colonies and space ships in a futuristic space-themed online world. The game has hundreds of thousands of players who pay for access to the world. An in-game economy, complete with its own currency known as interstellar kredits, has emerged to enable trading transactions within the game. Numerous banks have even sprung up.

The gamer, a 27-year old Australian, was an executive with EBank, one of the larger player-run banks within the game, with thousands of depositors. He used the online name of Ricdic.

"Basically this character was one of the people that [had] been running EBank for a while," Ned Coker of CCP, the real-world Icelandic company that developed the game, told Reuters News Agency. "He took a bunch of (virtual) money out of the bank, and traded it away for real money."

The player made off with about 200 billion interstellar credits, CCP says, and traded the currency to players who preferred to purchase credits (as opposed to earning them by accomplishing tasks in the game) for the equivalent of about $5,800 Canadian.

The heist represents about 8 per cent of the total deposits EBank holds, CCP says.

Cash used to pay medical expenses

In an interview with Reuters, Ricdic said an email from a black market website that traded online money for real cash popped up on his screen, prompting him to exchange the virtual cash for real money to cover a deposit on his house and expenses related to his son's medical problems.

"I saw that as an avenue that could be taken, and I decided to skim off the top, you could say, to overcome real-life (difficulties)," he told Reuters.

News of the theft quickly spread within the game, prompting runs on the bank where players withdrew their credits to safeguard them against the apparent security breach.

The Eve world is one where piracy, racketeering and ransom are permitted within the game, so ironically, had the player merely robbed the bank within the game he would have escaped punishment. But exchanging in-game credits for real-world currency breaks the rules of the game, so Ricdic has his account frozen by the game's developers.

'If I had to do it again, I probably would've chosen the same path.'- Eve Online player Ricdic

Asked if he regretted his action, Ricdic expressed remorse for letting down fellow EBank staffers, whom he considered friends.

"I'm not proud of it at all, that's why I didn't brag about it," he told Reuters. "But you know, if I had to do it again, I probably would've chosen the same path based on the same situation."

Shadowy financial transactions are nothing new to the online gaming world. Several websites have sprung up to facilitate trading of real-world dollars for online currencies in a variety of games, but the practice is fraught with peril due to anonymity and lack of accountability.

The practice is so prevalent that the Chinese Ministry of Commerce moved on Friday to ban the trade of real-world money for online currencies. It's been estimated that so-called "credit factories" - where Asia-based players accumulate in-game credits and sell them to users in the real economy - is worth more as much as $1-billion (U.S.) annually.

"Virtual currency ... will only be allowed to trade in virtual goods and services provided by its issuer, not real goods and services," the ministry said in a release.

In 2004, Indiana University professor Edward Castronova published the seminal work on online economies, in which he found that players in a game called EverQuest had an average "minimum wage" of $3.42 per hour, giving the world a per-capita gross domestic product greater than that of Russia, with a currency of greater value than the Japanese yen.

MONTREAL - Bell (TSX:BCE) and Telus (TSX:T) customers should have a greater choice of mobile phones, possibly Apple's iPhone, and better prices when the wireless companies roll out next-generation networks in early next year, analysts say.

The move will put both Bell and Telus in a better competitive situation against Rogers Wireless (TSX:RCI.B), analysts said Tuesday.

"Levelling the playing field is what this is all about," said analyst Nick Agostino of Research Capital Corporation.

"The benefit is definitely going to be for the consumer for a change."

Bell and Telus are building an HSPA network which is becoming the main platform for wireless carriers worldwide and is the same kind of network that Rogers has.

The networks are slated to be in place for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

Rogers has had the advantage because of its network, Agostino said.

"They have been able to get all of the latest and greatest devices first."

Rogers currently has the only network in Canada capable of running Apple's iPhone.

Rogers wouldn't comment Tuesday on the length of its agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone to Canadian consumers.

Agostino said with Rogers, Bell and Telus all having the same type of network that should lower prices for data plans that allow consumers to do such things as stream video and prices for the devices themselves. It could also lower contracts to two years from three for some mobile phones, he added.

It has been reported that the iPhone will be coming to Bell and Telus when their new networks are completed.

Telus spokesman Jim Johannsson wouldn't comment on the rumour, but said the new network opens up potentially more mobile phones for consumers when its up and running early next year.

"It's a faster network for consumers who have advanced smartphones or feature phones that have web browsing capabilities," he said.

Bell Mobility also wouldn't comment on whether it would be offering the iPhone in the future.

The new networks also put both Bell and Telus on the path to a more advanced and faster network called LTE, or Long-Term Evolution, that is also expected to eventually become the dominant global standard for wireless carriers.

IDC Canada analyst Kevin Restivo said if the iPhone is eventually sold by Bell and Telus, that would change the landscape for BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (TSX:RIM).

"All of a sudden, RIM's got just a much stronger competitor on its hands when it comes to the consumer segment, in which RIM is already in a fierce battle," Restivo said from Toronto.

RIM and Apple were No. 1 and 2 respectively in North America for smartphone shipments, IDC says.

Restivo said if Bell and Telus eventually sell the iPhone, that's a big opportunity for their customers to upgrade to that touchscreen phone.

More than half of the wireless subscribers in Canada are on those two networks, he said of Bell and Telus.

"It gives those customers one more reason to stay," Restivo said.

Even if the iPhone doesn't come to Bell and Telus, there will be "another hot device," he said.

Rogers said Thursday that in the second half of 2008, it sold about 385,000 3G iPhones. Since the recent launch of the new iPhone 3GS, Rogers and Fido have sold "tens of thousands units," the carrier said.

Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved

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If you think you are infected you should run an online virus scan.

 http://housecall.antivirus.com

 

 

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The dreaded Conficker computer worm is stirring. Security experts say the worm's authors appear to be trying to build a big moneymaker, but not a cyber weapon of mass destruction as many people feared.

As many as 12 million computers have been infected by Conficker. Security firm Trend Micro says some of the machines have been updated over the past few days with fake antivirus software - the first attempt by Conficker's authors to profit from their massive "botnet."

Criminals use bogus security software to extort money. Victims are told their computers are infected, and can be fixed only by paying for a clean-up that never happens.

Conficker gets on computers through a hole Microsoft patched in October. PCs set up for automatic Windows updates should be clean.

A cyber Trojan worm is expected to hit millions of computers on April 1, and authorities aren't treating it like an April Fool's joke.

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) has issued a warning about the latest version of the Conficker worm, which could potentially have infected any computers running a Microsoft operating system.

CIRA, which manages Canada's dot-ca (.ca) domain name registry, says that the worm will force infected computers to connect randomly to about 50,000 web URLs a day beginning April 1.

But what could happen when those computers reach those websites is anyone's guess. Files on the websites could instruct the worm to do anything from steal passwords or banking information, to delete a person's hard drive to simply sending spam messages.

Experts say that anywhere from three to 12 million computers may be infected.

TV's technology expert Kris Abel said that most users with up-to-date anti-virus software should be fine and the biggest threat is towards computers that have been inactive for the last six months or so.

"These computers that have been infected . . . can be potentially organized . . . and be remotely controlled as one big organization force," Abel said. "Now typically this is done to use these computers to harvest credit card information . . . but we are not quite sure what the intentions will be on April 1."

Christopher Davis, the CEO of Defence Intelligence, an Ottawa-based information security firm, told CTV Newsnet that he believes the worm is "far from a hoax."

"It's one of the biggest bot-nets we've ever seen," he said.

Davis recommended that Canadian computer users make sure their Microsoft Windows update is working and that their anti-virus software is up to date.

He said that on April 1, when the worm goes live, the average user wouldn't notice it operating on their computer as it will run hidden.

says it is registering and isolating unregistered dot-ca domain names that are expected to be generated by the Conficker worm.

Abel says that there are tools online that will search and destroy the worm if you think your computer is infected.

Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/12/nsa_offers_billions_for_skype_pwnage/ 

Business model for P2P firm at last?

By Lewis Page

Posted in Government, 12th February 2009 11:32 GMT

Counter Terror Expo News of a possible viable business model for P2P VoIP network Skype emerged today, at the Counter Terror Expo in London. An industry source disclosed that America's supersecret National Security Agency (NSA) is offering "billions" to any firm which can offer reliable eavesdropping on Skype IM and voice traffic.

The spybiz exec, who preferred to remain anonymous, confirmed that Skype continues to be a major problem for government listening agencies, spooks and police. This was already thought to be the case, following requests from German authorities for special intercept/bugging powers to help them deal with Skype-loving malefactors. Britain's GCHQ has also stated that it has severe problems intercepting VoIP and internet communication in general.

Skype in particular is a serious problem for spooks and cops. Being P2P, the network can't be accessed by the company providing it and the authorities can't gain access by that route. The company won't disclose details of its encryption, either, and isn't required to as it is Europe based. This lack of openness prompts many security pros to rubbish Skype on "security through obscurity" grounds: but nonetheless it remains a popular choice with those who think they might find themselves under surveillance. Rumour suggests that America's NSA may be able to break Skype encryption - assuming they have access to a given call or message - but nobody else.

The NSA may be able to do that: but it seems that if so, this uses up too much of the agency's resources at present.

"They are saying to the industry, you get us into Skype and we will make you a very rich company," said the industry source, adding that the obscure encryption used by the P2Pware is believed to change frequently as part of software updates.

The spyware kingpin suggested that Skype is deliberately seeking to frustrate national listening agencies, which seems an odd thing to do - Skype has difficulties enough getting revenues out of its vast user base at any time, and a paid secure-voice system for subversives doesn't seem like a money-spinner.

But corporate parent eBay, having had to write down $1.4bn already following its $2.6bn purchase of Skype back in the bubble-2.0 days of 2005, might see an opportunity here. A billion or two from the NSA for a backdoor into Skype might make the acquisition seem like a sensible idea.

We asked the NSA for comment, particularly on the idea of simply buying a way into Skype, but hadn't yet received a response as of publication. ®

By Scott M. Fulton, III, BetaNews

November 24, 2008, 6:49 PM

The public comments period has officially ended for the NTIA's consideration of requiring domain name servers within the Internet's root zone to, at long last, encrypt their communications. Could there really be any opposition?

For well over a decade, the Internet has had available to it a security measure called DNSSEC, that would enable DNS hosts to request that communications between each other be encrypted, using public key cryptography. That way, all DNS messages could be traced back to a verifiable source, conceivably thwarting any possibility of a cache poisoning nightmare on the order of the one that security research Dan Kaminsky warned about last summer.

As with all major upgrades to a platform infrastructure, the big problem is rolling out changes in a way that's downwardly compatible with the older system. With a security upgrade, that's a problem because in any situation where security is an option, admins may choose the easiest system to control, and malicious users will always exploit the insecure option.

But last month, Microsoft revealed it planned to support DNSSEC with its next versions of Windows, including Windows 7. That could be a major boost for the long-standing security option's chances of being integrated into the infrastructure of the Internet, now that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration is considering public comments with respect to a proposal to implement DNSSEC at the root zone of the Internet.

"Over the years, a number of vulnerabilities have been identified in the DNS protocol that threaten the accuracy and integrity of the DNS data and undermine the trustworthiness of the system," reads an NTIA statement last month. "In particular, due to technical advances, vulnerabilities in the existing DNS have recently become easier to exploit. Malicious parties may use these vulnerabilities to distribute false DNS information, and to improperly re-direct Internet users. DNSSEC was developed to mitigate these vulnerabilities. Accordingly, the Department is exploring the deployment of DNSSEC at the top level of the DNS hierarchy, known as the root zone."

DNSSEC is not a particularly complex system. If you understand public key cryptography, you know that an unshared private key is used to encrypt communications between entities, but a public key that is a mathematical function of the private one, can decrypt them. The fact that it decrypts them serves as proof that the holder of the private key must have authored the communication, so the public key is shared with everyone. DNSSEC enables a DNS host to request a public key from a DNS server -- something the typical DNS server does not provide.

Conceivably, DNSSEC's biggest potential boon has been its ability to harden the security of IPsec, the encryption of all IP packets between server and client...which typically takes place after their DNS names have been resolved. Microsoft has supported IPsec for some time, and has embraced it with the latest Windows Server 2008. But for IP hosts to make use of it, they have to use some makeshift protocol for exchanging their public keys with each other -- a process that, frankly, looks a little obvious to anyone who happens to be sniffing for such transactions. If DNSSEC were in place, those public keys would be returned by the DNS servers instead, enabling hosts to use IPsec with one another without the unsightly social miscues.

Jotti's malware scan is a free online scan service, utilizing various anti-virus programs to diagnose single files.

Found this website recently and it allows you to upload a single file and have it tested against multiply virus scan programs. If you download a sketchy file and you want have a bit more confidence in if it is clean or not, this is an excellent resource.

Note! Never trust any antivirus 100%. If the file seems sketchy, don't download it, or atleast run it in a sandboxed environment.

Visit the website: http://virusscan.jotti.org/

 Antivirus programs that it tests against are:

A-Squared
AntiVir
ArcaVir
Avast
AVG Antivirus 
BitDefender 
ClamAV
CPsecure 
Dr.Web F-Prot
Antivirus
F-Secure Anti-Virus 
G DATA 
Ikarus
Kaspersky Anti-Virus 
NOD32 
Norman Virus Control 
Panda Antivirus 
Sophos Antivirus 
VirusBuster 
VBA32 

The Joomla Project is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Joomla 1.5.7 [Wovusani]. This is a security release and contains a number of bug fixes, improvements as well as security fixes. It is strongly recommended that users immediately upgrade. It has been nearly four weeks since Joomla 1.5.6 was released on August 12, 2008. The Development Working Group's goal is to continue to provide regular, frequent updates to the Joomla community.

Illuminating the Black Art of Security. SecTor brings the world's brightest (and darkest) minds together to identify, discuss, dissect and debate the latest digital threats facing corporations today. Unique to central Canada, SecTor provides an unmatched opportunity for IT Professionals to collaborate with their peers and learn from their mentors. Held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in downtown Toronto, SecTor runs two full days, October 7th and 8th. The event features Keynotes from North America's most respected and trusted experts. Speakers are true security professionals with depth of understanding on topics that matter. SecTor is a must attend event for every IT Professional.

http://www.sector.ca/default.htm