Social Media : Change Your Twitter Password Now

According to Twitter, it was hacked and 250K accounts were affected, so they received emails from the company to change their password. This is not the first time this has happened, but this time it was a real hack, rather than a blend of real hacks and “false alarm” blast of emails like last time.

Way to start off our weekends, Twitter. Who knows if you’ll even get the email from Twitter about it, I know that I filter all of those things out. You can read all of the details about the hack and the company response here.

I find it really confusing when anything like this happens, because it feels like companies try to diminish the perception of the impact of the situation. Fact of the matter is, its users are seeing sad tweets from their friends about how they got hacked. I even had one person tell me that they felt like they weren’t cool enough because they didn’t get hacked.

Instead, or in addition to, just go change your password. We’re all cool enough to get hacked. The number, 250K affected, seems a bit too tidy to me, and I’m not saying that Twitter is lying, I’m just saying that it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Twitter also suggests this course of action, which is way too much for most people’s brains to process on a Friday:

We also echo the advisory from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and security experts to encourage users to disable Java on their computers in their browsers.

Sure, OK.

Happy Tweeting (Maybe)! While you’re at it, change all of your passwords for everything. It’s a good thing to do once in a while, especially if you use the same one for every single site you log into.

Credit : Tech Crunch

Security Loophole In Facebook’s Camera App Allowed Hackers To Hijack Accounts Over WiFi

PSA to all Facebook Camera users on iOS: If you haven’t update you app in the past few days, update it now. The older version of the app, pre-1.1.2 and released before December 21, has a security loophole. When used over WiFi networks, malicious hackers can tap the network and hijack Camera users’ accounts, picking up information like email addresses and passwords in the process.
The white-hat hacker who ID’d the problem is Mohamed Ramadan, an Egypt-based security researcher and trainer with Attack-Secure who has also found and reported vulnerabilities for Apple, Google, and Etsy — which apparently also had the same loophole in its iOS app. Ramadan tells us that the issue lied in the Camera app’s Secure Sockets Layer certification, which was too open.
As he puts it, “The problem is the app accepts any SSL certification from any source, even evil SSL certifications and this enables any attacker to perform Man in The Middle Attack against anyone uses Facebook Camera App for IPhone. This means that the application doesn’t warn the user if someone in the same [WiFi network] trying to hijack his Facebook account.”
Testing his theory by using a proxy to listen in on a WiFi network, he was able to type in his username and password into the Camera app, and then see that information appear via the proxy.
Ramadan notes that he’s tested all Facebook apps and the rest appear to protect from this similar vulnerability. 

 

Credit : Tech Crunch

Intimate photos and videos being stolen for porn sites

 

There's a warning about the risks of posting sexually explicit content online because it could be stolen and copied onto hardcore porn websites.

Newsbeat has seen exclusive figures which show 88% of 12,000 sexual self-generated photos and video found by The Internet Watch Foundation had been stolen and posted on porn websites.
Some of the images and videos were taken from social networking pages.

The Internet Watch Foundation

• The Foundation spent 47 working hours on the research
• A total of 12,224 images and videos were logged
• The content was on 68 discrete websites
• 7,147 were images
• 5,077 were videos
• 5,001 were both image and video
• Of the 12,224 images/videos, 10,776 were on porn websites
• 88% of content was taken from the original source site

The foundation monitors online child abuse.
They say it is virtually impossible to make anything disappear from the internet once it is uploaded.
After 47 hours of logging, the charity found more than 12,000 sexually explicit images and videos of people they estimated to be aged between 13 and 20 years old.
Theses were across 68 different websites, including social networking sites.
They traced the paths of the footage and images and discovered nearly 90% of them had been stolen and used elsewhere.
Earlier this year, X Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos took to YouTube to confirm rumours that online footage of someone performing an intimate act with her ex-boyfriend was her.
After suing a number of companies and her ex-boyfriend, her lawyer says it is "very difficult" to find it on the internet.
Footage online Jonathan Coad says it costs a lot to take out legal action but there are things people can do.
He advises getting in contact with the hosts of the websites your footage or image is featured on.

He said: "Say, 'This is intimate footage of me, I didn't give consent to it being up there, it's a breach of my rights, please take it down,' and hopefully they should do that."
Mr Coad also had advice for those who posted images and footage online without the consent of those featured in them.
"If you post a series of stills or footage, ie more than one, then you could fall within the protection of harassment act," he advised. "That means it's also a potential criminal offence.
"I think the increase in this being done has started to mean police are taking it a little more seriously than they used to."
There is still ongoing legal action over the Tulisa footage.

Advice on keeping your content secure
Facebook	Tighten up your privacy settings so only certain people, rather than the public, can see your images, videos and posts. You can do this with the inline audience selector drop-down box, which appears on the bottom right when you post anything. You can limit viewing rights to friends, groups, certain people, or just yourself.
Twitter	Think carefully about what you post as your content can easily be retweeted. However, you can delete a tweet if you change your mind by clicking the cross icon. You can also protect your tweets in Account Settings. This means you get to approve every one of your followers - that way only approved people can see any photos you post. It's also possible to block users if you're worried about certain followers.
External website has your picture/video	You can contact the site's owners and ask them to take it down, saying you don't consent to it being there, or that you own the copyright - if you took it yourself. Do this quickly in case others make copies and it spreads. If the site refuses or ignores you, you may be able to take legal action but this is usually expensive.

Unfixed Skype Bug Reveals Users' Locations, Downloads

Microsoft admits that months after the discovery it is still working to fix a Skype vulnerability that could reveal a user’s location and download habits. As of Jan. 12, the vulnerability remained and Microsoft, which owns Skype, offered no timetable for a fix.

‘We are developing a solution to this issue in peer-to-peer networks,” says Dave Forstrom, director at
Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Group.
‘Our highest priority is protecting our customers and we continue to monitor the security landscape.’
The flaw, which was discovered last year and has been public knowledge since October, “could potentially disclose the identities, locations and even digital files of the hundreds of millions of users of these systems,” according to a team of researchers from the United States, France and Germany.
Basically, Skype will reveal the IP address of a called party before the call is connected, allowing the data to be used to identify the user. Commercial geo-location services can then place the user’s location on a map and BitTorrent will reveal downloads, as will other sites.
The research teams says a ‘sophisticated high school-age hacker’ might use the IP addresses revealed by Skype to track users and some of their habits.
Skype is reportedly the world’s largest provider of international calling services, with 170 million regular users who together place an estimated 20 percent of all international telephone calls.
To demonstrate the potential severity of these security vulnerabilities, the researchers tracked the Skype accounts of about 20 volunteers as well as 10,000 random users over a two-week period, using techniques that neither harmed nor disrupted the service, utilized any requests for which the service was not designed nor interfered with users. User data was anonymized for protection.

What Can Skype Users Do?
Not much, although Keith Ross, the NYU-Poly professor who led the research, told The New York Times that not using your real name or something like it as your Skype user name offers some protection to being tracked, since it makes it harder to link the IP address to a specific person.
He also suggested users leave Skype turned off except when they are placing or receiving a call. This, however, would make Skype much less useful as a telephone replacement for many of its users.

Bogus Speeding Ticket Email Carries Virus

State police in New York are warning about a virus-laden email that appears to be a notice of a speeding ticket.
They say the bogus email is likely to have “Uniform Traffic Ticket” in the subject line and an attached zip file described as a ticket from the Department of Motor Vehicles that can be filled out and mailed to a local court.
Opening that attachment can infect the user’s computer. State police Sgt. Kern Svoboda says reports of the email have been coming in from across the country, starting overnight Wednesday. He says investigators with the Computer Crime Unit haven’t yet identified the type of infection carried by the email.
The email and its attachment shouldn’t be opened. If they are, update and run anti-virus software.

Hotmail adds 'My friend's been hacked!' feature to finger phishers

Hotmail's spent the past few years playing catch up with the competition, but for the most part, it hasn't done anything particularly groundbreaking with its services. Earth shattering might not be the appropriate descriptor for its latest addition, but Hotmail's added a helpful new feature to distinguish plain old spam from the kind that comes form a trusted source. Now, when you get an email from a friend that smells of something sea dwelling -- say a plea for some extra scratch from abroad -- you can select "My friend's been hacked!" from the "Mark as" menu, alerting the powers that be that your friend's account has been hacked. When you mark a missive as junk, you can likewise click a box that reads: "I think this person was hacked!" Once that's done, the spammers are kicked to the curb, and your friend is put through an "account recovery flow" the next time they attempt to log in. On the prevention front, Hotmail will soon roll out a new service that blocks users from selecting common passwords. It might not be enough to coax us over, but maybe this time the other guys could learn a few lessons.

Gaming : Sega's online Pass hacked, 1.3 million user passwords stolen

Let's bid a bitter welcome to Sega, the latest entrant to the newly founded club of hacked online communities. Sega Pass, the company's web portal, suffered a breach of its defenses on Thursday, which has now been identified to have affected a whopping 1.29 million users. Usernames, real names, birth dates, passwords, email addresses, pretty much everything has been snatched up by the malicious data thieves, with the important exception of credit / debit card numbers. We'd still advise anyone affected to keep a watchful eye on his or her banking transactions -- immediately after changing that compromised password, of course. In the meantime, Sega's keeping the Pass service offline while it rectifies the vulnerability; it'll be able to call on an unexpected ally in its search for the perpetrators in the form of LulzSec, a hacker group that boasted proudly about infiltrating Sony's network, but which has much more benevolent intentions with respect to Sega.

Tech : Hacked and Hijacked: What to Do if Your PC Gets Hacked

Symptoms:

There are a range of telltale signs that your PC has been infiltrated by a binary ne'er-do-well, but, counterintuitively, the worst case scenario is when there are no obvious symptoms at all. For starters, you may have an infection if your PC or Internet throughput has become consistently sluggish, and a restart doesn't cure it. Frequent, random pop-up windows with ads or system warnings are almost always clues to an infection. And, if you've discovered that your login credentials for any website have been hijacked -- whether for e-mail, banking or Facebook -- there's a possibility that malware is on your PC.

Diagnosis:

You're doubtless familiar with at least a few of the ever-multiplying terms for the nasties that can frustrate and even destroy your PC, such as viruses, Trojans, worms, malware, adware, spyware and rootkits. Depending on what bug your computer has caught, the ailment may just be an annoying hindrance, like those viruses that reset your browser home page or spew Viagra pop-up ads. Some varieties, however, are legitimately dangerous. Some can suck up all of the personal info from your PC and send it off to a remote hacker. Others can record your keystrokes in order to steal the password to any site. Still others can take complete control of your PC -- using it to send out spam e-mails by the millions, to host porn or illegal software, or even to attack corporations and governments. Botnets -- networks of thousands or even millions of hacked PCs that have been turned into "zombie" armies under the control of an individual or group -- are actively used by organized crime these days. It's serious stuff.

Side note: At the risk of starting a commenter flame war, currently all of these ills -- and by that we mean 99.999999-percent, in real-world circumstances -- only affect Windows users. So, if you are a Mac or Linux user who hasn't shut off your firewall or installed sketchy pirated software, any computer issues you have are almost definitely software- or hardware-related. We're sure some day soon you'll have to worry about this stuff, and a few instances of malware on OSX have crept up, but it's currently a non-issue. You'd certainly be smart to run anti-virus software, but the odds your OS X or Linux box have been infected with something are extremely low to non-existent. (Flame on!)

If you're a Windows user and have ruled out software and hardware issues, it's safe to assume you've been infected with something. Congratulations! Figuring out what it is, or they are, can be as simple as running a garden variety anti-virus program. For especially devious bugs, though, you may need more specialized care. In some cases, it may end up being more time- and cost-efficient to call it a day, erase your hard drive altogether, and reinstall the OS -- after backing up all of your important files and media to an external hard drive first!

Causes:

Hopping online without having a secure, "hardened" PC is the equivalent of walking down a dark alley with wads of Benjies hanging out of your pockets. An old but intriguing study by the SANS institute documented how a bare Windows XP system would be compromised in under 20 minutes simply by being plugged into the 'Net. The good news is that Microsoft has made great strides with security since then, and Windows 7 in particular is notably robust out-of-the-box (and technically even more secure than Apple's vaunted OSX, by some accounts). Yet, for some reason, a healthy plurality of Windows users still use XP (about 40-percent). Plus, while there have been a million security patches in the intervening years, a lot of users just don't bother to install updates, much less upgrade their operating system.

As a result, even basic Web surfing on an older, unmaintained PC is enough to get socked by so-called drive-by infections (whereby simply visiting sites that have been hijacked can install malware on your PC). Downloading torrents and cracked software are also surefire ways to put your PC at risk. Simply visiting torrent sites (and porn sites) can be just as disastrous. Flash drives are especially popular in corporate and government espionage, and an exceedingly common way for malware to be spread. But, by far the most prevalent way to hose your PC is by clicking on links in places you shouldn't: spam e-mails, pop-up windows, and unsolicited messages on Skype and instant messaging applications.

With older Windows systems, users often sign into their PCs as administrators. If a user does so, and he is duped into accidentally installing malware, the bug is able to burrow deep into the PC. Newer versions of Windows require users to enter the administrator password every time they want to install something that can affect the system (instead of just their account).

Treatment:

1. As always, back up all your most important files, applications and data to an external hard drive, lest you lose it all if your PC dies on you. You should do this regularly anyway, but definitely do it now.
2. Check and make sure a firewall is installed and running. (Click here to see how depending on your Windows Version.)
3. Install all the Windows security patches you may have neglected in the past; if you're a novice user with generally basic needs, we'd recommend allowing automatic updates directly from Microsoft, though advanced users may prefer to do so manually. (Click here for info on how to enable automatic updates.)
4. Update and run an anti-virus program. (Remember the one you quit updating when the free trial ran out?) Either pay up, or install a free version of anti-virus/malware software, such as Microsoft's own Security Essentials 1.0 or Ad-aware Free Internet Security (which we prefer). Update them, run them, and run them again. It may take a while depending on how big your hard drive is and how slowly your PC runs.
5. If things still aren't hunky-dory, you'll need to try a hybrid approach. Install and run an alternate security application, such as Spybot Seach and Destroy (free) or pony up for Spyware Doctor 2011 ($30), Norton Anti-Virus 2011 ($40) or Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2011 ($40); we're partial to Spyware Doc as it gets top marks from testing labs, but it's still possible for any one of these programs to clean up stuff others can't, and vice versa. Be warned that you'll likely have to uninstall or disable security software before installing and running new ones or they'll cause trouble; check the specifications of whatever program you use first before attempting to install another.
6. Some malware is smart enough to prevent you from doing any of the above, or will have hacked up your system so thoroughly that you'll need to download anti-virus software to a separate PC, put it on a flash drive and then plug it into the infected PC and attempt to install and run it. If that doesn't work, trying rebooting your PC into safe mode (by hitting F8 until you see the Safe Mode screen after hitting restart). And if that fails you may need to boot from a system CD that came with your PC, and then install and run the downloaded software.
7. It's still possible that newer rootkits and malware can evade detection or removal from even top-shelf security programs, in which case you'll need pro help. We're fans of the Tech Support Guy forums, where kind-hearted experts diagnose and try to cure intractably sick machines for free. But the process isn't for the faint-hearted, and is best left to the technically inclined. It's worth a shot, though; otherwise it's up to you to find a reliable and trustworthy professional -- and again, make sure you've backed up everything before handing your PC over to anyone.
8. If you haven't already, create an administrator account on your PC. Then, create another account for you (or several for family members) that requires you to log out and use the administrative password whenever you want to install software. (Click here for directions.) These maneuvers will go a long way in keeping malware and crapware off your PC.

Check Where You're Logged Into Gmail

Gmail has a neat little feature that lets you check where your account is logged in and see all of its recent activity. All the way at the bottom of the screen (in very tiny text) you'll find a notification of where your account is currently logged in. Click on the 'Details' link and you'll get a full list of where your account is being accessed from, whether it's via a browser or mobile device, the country of origin and an IP address. You can even check a recent history of when, where and how the account was accessed. And, of course, you can sign out of other sessions. This is handy in case you forget to sign out from a public PC or a friend's computer, and serves as a good alert if someone hacks your account.

Attack on BMW Seller Shows Hazards of E-Commerce, Police Say

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Since its beginnings, the Internet has been praised as an easy way to bring buyers and sellers together, for inexpensive household trinkets, high-end diamonds or even $46,000 sports cars. But with this convenience have come dangers — as demonstrated when Akeem Ajimotokan was found Wednesday, stabbed and stuffed in the trunk of his BMW M3 coupe.

A stolen BMW, impounded for evidence, at the 34th precinct compound in Manhattan. After a crash, the car’s owner was found, stabbed but alive, in its trunk.

N.Y.P.D.

Barion A. Blake is sought by the police in connection with the theft of a luxury car advertised on the Internet and the stabbing of its owner.

Mr. Ajimotokan had put his car for sale online. But he also, in a sense, was telling the world: Come and get it. Investigators say an ex-convict named Barion A. Blake did just that.

“This is expected to happen more and more, because of the anonymity of the Internet,” said Michael A. L. Balboni, who was a top public safety aide to two governors. “When you think about it, it gives the bad guys the opportunity to case the joint without having to do anything. They can sit home and basically do surveillance on who’s got what to sell. And there is no vetting that you can do, or that is done.”

Put another way, by Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly: “The Internet is just a miraculous development in our lives, but it certainly has great potential to be misused for crime.”

It was unclear if Mr. Ajimotokan, 33, had sold a car over the Internet before.

His sister-in-law, Alice Ajim, 40, reached by telephone at her home in Texas, said that Mr. Ajimotokan, a lawyer working in the procurement office of Columbia University, had been born in Nigeria, and that she and her husband, Ayo Ajim, were preparing for a flight to New York.

“My husband saw him 10 days ago,” Ms. Ajim said. “He is a family-loving man, very conscientious, loved everyone, happy-go-lucky, and very friendly.”

On Friday, Mr. Ajimotokan was in critical condition in the intensive care unit at Harlem Hospital, Sylvia White, a spokeswoman, said. Mr. Kelly said that he was on a ventilator and that detectives had yet to speak to him.

Investigators say they believe that Mr. Blake went to Mr. Ajimotokan’s home in New Jersey on Tuesday, after reaching him at the phone number listed with his advertisement on Cars.com, possibly posing as a buyer. “There were, at least, discussions about a sale,” Mr. Kelly said.

At some point, investigators suspect, Mr. Blake assaulted Mr. Ajimotokan and stole the car, though in what order is unclear.

At 3 a.m. Wednesday, a Nassau County police officer saw the BMW on the side of Jericho Turnpike with a man, believed to be Mr. Blake, outside, apparently changing the license plate, and another, unidentified man inside. The BMW sped away.

Investigators say they believe that Mr. Blake then went to his apartment on Tenth Avenue in Manhattan and told his wife, “ ‘I did something that could send me back to prison,’ ” said a law enforcement official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation.

At 9:10 a.m. Wednesday, the BMW crashed into a yellow cab in Inwood, in Upper Manhattan, and the driver, who the police say they believe was Mr. Blake, fled. Mr. Ajimotokan, badly wounded and with one ear nearly severed, was found in the trunk, where he is believed to have been confined through much of the frigid night.

Mr. Blake’s image was later picked out in a photo array as that of the man at the scene of the accident. His name was also on a bill of sale found in the BMW. As of Friday night, he remained at large.

Of course, Mr. Ajimotokan is not the first seller of something expensive to come to harm: Beginning long before the Internet, those using the want ads have sometimes met with bad luck. But the Internet has increased the potential hazards of such encounters.

As Vernon J. Geberth, a former Bronx homicide commander, wrote in his textbook “Practical Homicide Investigation,” which is used to train detectives in hundreds of police departments: “The Internet has provided criminals and those with bad intentions a whole new arena to play in.” And it is an arena, he wrote, in which “law enforcement has yet to gain an upper hand.”

The landscape of online offenders is broad. Among them, Mr. Balboni said, are people sending nasty anonymous e-mails, hackers, terrorists and “some guy on Craigslist trying to rip you off.”

In the case of the attempted car bombing in Times Square in May, the sport utility vehicle used as a delivery device had been bought over the Internet. Its seller told investigators that she had sold the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder to a man — identified as Faisal Shahzad — who had answered her online advertisements, met her in a supermarket parking lot, bargained the price down and paid with $100 bills.

“It’s not ‘black market’ but rather a ‘back-door-market,’ ” said Mr. Balboni, who introduced legislation on cyber-security more than five years ago when he was a state senator. “And that provides a lot less transparency as to who is the buyer and who is the seller. This definitely creates the potential for people who want to do bad things to people, to have access to people they might otherwise not have any other idea exist.”

Mr. Kelly urged anyone using social networks or “one of these trading networks” to use care, and common sense, particularly when making a deal involving a “significant amount of money.”

He said people should vet potential buyers, even if it slowed the process.

Mr. Geberth suggested having meetings with such strangers only “in a public place, with people around as witnesses.” Also, he advised taking a friend along.

Mr. Kelly said any Internet transaction called for “a sort of special vetting, an examination, to the best you can, of who you’re dealing with.”

‘There’s an awful lot of hucksterism going on, on the Internet, as it grows and expands, as social networks grow and expand,” he added.

“There’s a tremendous potential for misuse, so we all have to sort of take a deep breath and step back from transactions that are going to significantly impact on your life.”

Go change your Amazon password right now

Amazon has become the de facto vendor for just about everything in my life. As such, they have all my address and the information for 15 of the 17 or so credit cards I own. If they had a major security breach with their password protection, that would be a big, big problem.

Well, crap. Turns out they do, and it’s embarrassingly and awkwardly simple to bypass.

For some reason, Amazon is only concerned with the first eight digits of your password. That’s right. Your password could be “spaceballsluggage1234″ and none of that would matter. If a hacker tried to get into your account, they could use “spaceballsiscriminallyunderrated” or “spacebalpoopypantsmcfarter.” Or just “spacebal11.”

Amazon would accept any of those answers and let someone log into your account.

If you’ve used Amazon at all, you know that this is a full-blown nightmare because a) they have tons of credit card information, b) you can buy basically whatever you want on Amazon, so if someone gets a hold of your account, you’re screwed and c) you’re probably as worried about passwords as everyone else on the planet, so it’s the same phrase, etc., as you use on your bank account.

The good news is that you can stop worrying about this simply by cruising over to Amazon and changing your password. Once you do that, even if your account was old enough to be vulnerable, it won’t be anymore.

Social Network :Facebook Boosts Security With Friend Identification and HTTPS Encryption

This couldn't have been planned any better. The morning after Zuckerberg's fan page was hacked, Facebook announced a pair of new security features to keep hackers at bay. The site can now be accessed entirely over an encrypted HTTPS connection. In addition, Facebook has introduced a "social authentication" feature that asks you to identify friends in photos, instead of making you struggle to decipher a captcha when extra authentication is required.

Lil Wayne's Twitter Account Hacked and Reclaimed

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Lil Wayne has been Twitter hacked. The Young Money leader, who typically keeps his presence on the social networking site to a minimum, suddenly started posting dozens of bizarre and uncharacteristic messages Sunday afternoon (Jan. 16) to more than a million followers. It quickly became clear that Weezy wasn't behind the errant tweets, but that didn't stop the hacker from doing some damage.

After his Twitter handle changed from "LilTunechi" to "LilChineTu," the perpetrator poked some fun at Wayne's peers, replying to Soulja Boy and making reference to the poor sales of his latest album 'The DeAndre Way.' "I sent a donations to your paypal, check it, I heard you got 13,000 sales lil homie, i feel bad for you! #DamnSoulja," wrote the hacker.

He also set his sights on other rappers including 50 Cent, Fat Joe and Game, sending comedic messages about past collaborations. "@thegame you still owe me money for that My Life joint, how your family crip but you blood," he wrote, then moving on to Fat Joe. "@JOEYCRACKTS you fat ass nigga it on when i see you Why."

The tweets got a little too serious, going so far as to claim that Wayne was sexually abused in prison. "The real reason I made 6'7 is cuz that's how tall the nigga in rikers was that raped me," tweeted the impersonator, also making reference to a romantic relationship between him and Cash Money kingpin Baby. "I went an entire year with kissing baby #withdrawls."

After hours of Twitter hijinks, Lil Wayne finally reclaimed the account, canceling the old profile and launching a new one under the handle "LilTunechi_YM."

Rides - 2.2 Million E-Mail Addresses and VINs Stolen From Honda

Honda has begun to reach out to the 2.2 million customers who have had their names, e-mail addresses and vehicle identification numbers (VINs) poached by hackers that infiltrated the car company's database. Honda's luxury brand Acura also had its systems hacked, but only e-mail addresses were stolen. The cause for concern here is obvious. With names, e-mails and VINs in hand, it would be easy for crooks to craft targeted, scam e-mails that lull a victim into a sense of security by reassuringly repeating the customer's VIN. Honda said the information was stolen from a third party that it hired to send out e-mails to new customers, but it isn't attempting to avoid responsibility for cleaning up the mess. The company has contacted those who have been affected, and has posted a FAQ on its site, detailing how to protect your account and avoid being taken in by scammers.

Still, with the almost five million e-mail addresses harvested from Honda and Acura combined, spammers will have a massive new e-mail list to work with at the very least.

Hotmail's Mysterious Disappearing E-Mails Returning to Users' Inboxes

Many Hotmail users across the world reported over the weekend that their e-mails had been mysteriously deleted. Over the past couple of days, Microsoft's official forums were filled with complaints from users claiming that their inboxes and all of their folders had been emptied, with some suspecting that their accounts had been hacked. Microsoft's Hotmail technical team has acknowledged that it's aware of the issue, and that it's working to restore access for those affected. A Microsoft spokeswoman, however, told the BBC that the problem was not widespread.

China Declares Skype Illegal

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After having already banned Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, the Chinese government has now decided to outlaw Skype, as well. The move, announced in the People's Daily, means that all Internet phone services will now be considered illegal within the country, except for those offered by two state-operated telecom companies -- China Unicom and China Telecom.

In 2007, Skype launched a joint venture with Hong Kong-based Tom Group, which has largely acceded to the Communist Party's demands. Earlier this year, for example, the company cut ties with Google over the search engine's ongoing battles with the People's Republic. Skype China, meanwhile, came under criticism for helping the Chinese government keep an eye out for taboo words or phrases like 'Falun Gong,' or 'Tibet.'

The new regulation will reportedly ban all calls made from computers to land lines, but it may still be legal for users to make computer-to-computer calls. The Chinese ministry of Industry and Information Technology has not yet announced when the ban will go into effect, and Skype declined to comment on "speculation" that its service would be blocked on the mainland anytime soon. "Users in China currently can access Skype via Tom Online, our partner," a company spokeswoman affirmed.

It's no secret that the Chinese government maintains tight control over the flow of information within its country, but experts say that its most recent move is intended primarily to protect state-run companies, and to curb Skype's growth. "If the ministry hadn't made this announcement, I think Skype would have offered its services in a very large scale," said Wang Yuquan, a Beijing-based consultant at Frost and Sullivan. "Now, with the announcement, it can't."

Others, however, aren't convinced that China will be able to completely root out competing online phone services. Kan Kaili, a professor at Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications, told the Telegraph that a comprehensive Skype shut-down is "very unlikely." Even if the government did manage to wipe out the service, Kaili argued, consumers could always turn to similar services, like Gmail Talk, or MSN.

"The children of Chinese government officials, who are studying abroad, use these services to call home, so I do not think anyone is going to cut the lines," Kaili said. "Even if they take a strict approach, such as getting local operators to block the broadband services of people who use Skype, people will still find a way around it."

Skype Struggles to Restore Its Service and Reputation

The cause of Skype’s massive outage on Wednesday that blocked millions of users from making Internet telephone calls is still unclear, according to Tony Bates, Skype’s chief executive.

“We’re still digging into what caused the initial trigger,” said Mr. Bates in an interview Thursday afternoon. Whatever the trouble was, however, it prevented a large number of Windows users from making calls, raising ire across the globe and tarnishing Skype’s image as an important telecommunications company of the digital age.

Skype’s collapse started Wednesday morning. Although the company assured users it would restore service in a few hours, the problems continued through Thursday. “It took a little longer than the initial estimates from the team,” Mr. Bates said. As of around 3 p.m. E.D.T. Thursday, Mr. Bates said that Skype had 17.6 million to 20 million users simultaneously online, or around 90 to 95 percent of normal. Some users may still be having difficulties making calls, he acknowledged, but said that, if so, it is because the company is trying to restore service in a controlled manner.

Skype’s problems are with what are called “supernodes,” computers among its network of 124 million users that serve as phone directories and help connect calls. For unknown reasons, they were taken offline, leaving the network in chaos. Mr. Bates declined to reveal how many supernodes exist. Skype’s users are not told whether they host a supernode.

So given the troubles with supernodes, is Skype rethinking its reliance on them? Mr. Bates said they are fundamental to how Skype operates. In any case, Skype technicians are creating new nodes on internal servers by displacing server space normally dedicated to Skype’s instant messaging and group video conferencing. As a result, those services may not be restored to normal for a few days.

Skype’s business, which depends on users paying to make calls to landline or mobile phones, will be impacted because it calls into question its reliability. Mr. Bates, who joined the company last month, is trying to find other sources of revenue like corporate phone service and mobile phones. Corporate customers, even more than consumers, need a phone system that always works.

“It’s hard to assess what if any impact there will be,” he said. Later on Thursday, he said that Skype will announce details of a plan to compensate paying customers for the loss of service.

In August, Skype filed for an initial public offering, which is likely to take place next year. Bates declined to give any updates on the proposed offering. However, the outage should not have a material impact on the company’s finances, Mr. Bates said.

IE Bug Gives Hackers Control Over Your PC, Microsoft Offers Band-Aid

Microsoft has discovered a new vulnerability in its Internet Explorer browser, which could allow hackers to take control over unprotected PCs. The new bug, which was discovered in all versions of the browser, exposes Explorer's memory management system. If exploited, the vulnerability could allow hackers and cybercriminals to inject their own malicious code into a given computer and seize control of it. Microsoft says the code required to exploit the hole has already been published, but it appears that no high-tech criminals are currently using it.

Microsoft had previously issued browser updates to improve memory management and security, but researchers discovered that the updated systems are not always used when older parts of Windows are used. In a statement, the company said it was "investigating" the bug, and recommended that customers use the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit to protect themselves, until a permanent fix is installed.

"As vulnerabilities go, this kind is the most serious as it allows remote execution of code," said Rik Ferguson, a senior security analyst at Trend Micro. "This means the attacker can run programs, such as malware, directly on the victim's computer." Ferguson added that the recently discovered bug was "highly reminiscent" of a vulnerability that prompted several national governments to warn consumers against using the browser, two years ago.

Skype outage causing a global disconnect?

We've heard your cries, we've read your tips, and we've even suffered a similar fate ourselves... Skype downtime. According to the official Twitter feed, its engineers are working non-stop. Estimated time of recovery? Nein. Let us know if you're having (Skype-related) issues of your own!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

@Skype (Twitter)

FCC Passes Net Neutrality Regulations, Julius Genachowski Defends Decision

As expected, the FCC has voted in favor of a new set of highly controversial Net neutrality regulations. In a tweet, the New York Times' Brian Stelter confirmed: "Not a surprise: by a vote of 3-2, the F.C.C. supports a new framework for 'Net neutrality.' Framework has still not been made public."

Earlier, Stelter obtained a statement that chairman Julius Genachowski is expected to deliver later today, in which he defends the measures. "As we stand here now, the freedom and openness of the Internet are unprotected," the statement reads. "No rules on the books to protect basic Internet values. No process for monitoring Internet openness as technology and business models evolve. No recourse for innovators, consumers, or speakers harmed by improper practices... That will change once we vote to approve this strong and balanced order." You can find the full statement here.

The issue, however, seems far from resolved, and political backlash appears imminent. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell wasted no time in condemning the decision, which he described as "a first step in controlling how Americans use the Internet by establishing federal regulations on its use." Speaking on the Senate floor, McConnell later promised that the new Congress would seize upon the opportunity to "push back against new rules and regulations.