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Report: Russian gang linked to big Citibank hack

December 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment

U.S. authorities are investigating the theft of an estimated tens of millions of dollars from Citibank by hackers partly using Russian software tailored for the attack, according to a news report.

The security breach at the major U.S. bank was detected mid-year based on traffic from Internet addresses formerly used by the Russian Business Network gang, The Wall Street Journal said Tuesday, citing unnamed government sources. The Russian Business Network is a well-known group linked to malicious software, hacking, child pornography and spam. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing the case, the report said.

It was not known whether the money had been recovered and a Citibank representative said the company had not had any system breach or losses, according to the report.

via Report: Russian gang linked to big Citibank hack.

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-20

December 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment
  • @eMagSol I think you are a victim of spambots, many of which are targeting blogs. in reply to eMagSol #
  • To expand references & links to their sites. RT @eMagSol: @globaledd but what purpose does it serve? i'm so confused! must have reasons! #
  • RT @mix3travel: Was Secret TSA Screening Manual Posted By a Temp? – ABC News http://bit.ly/6LO5Ww #
  • Examining a Move to Change Securities Litigation – http://nyti.ms/6cnqNd #
  • Yes! RT @eMagSol: did anyone else's timeline freeze for a couple of minutes? #
  • RT @IntegreonEDD: RT @jfehrman Interoperability: The Other Side of Our Settlement w/ European Commission http://tinyurl.com/yj969eo #
  • RT @IntegreonEDD: RT @econwriter5 WSJ: How to Write an Operations Manual http://tinyurl.com/ycx9gsg (standardsand procedures for business) #

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The End of Corruption? Opinion – The Korea Times

December 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The United States looked unrealistic, and perhaps even eccentric when the U.S. Congress passed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act FCPA in 1977, making it illegal for publicly held companies to bribe foreign officials.

Many U.S. firms complained about this law, arguing that in many countries the payment of bribes was commonplace and tax deductible.

They also claimed that the law hindered their efforts to compete internationally against companies from countries that had no such anti-bribery laws.

Research at the time supported this claim by indicating that in the years after the anti-bribery legislation was enacted, U.S. business activity declined precipitously in those countries in which government officials routinely received bribes.

Since then, the issue of bribery has taken on new momentum. Thirty-eight countries, eight more than its membership of 30 nations are now subscribing to the OECD rules which prohibit the bribery of public officials, among them South Korea, Japan, Mexico, South Africa and Argentina.

Large companies such as Siemens have been taken to court and punished for paying bribes. Increasingly, companies state that the anti-bribery drive now gives them a clear rationale to say “no” when bribes are requested. The progress is good. Several questions remain though: Should rules across borders be the same, particularly when it comes to the allocation of expenses and the treatment of family members, or should there be an acknowledged role for cultural differences? Current estimates of bribery levels range between 5 and 20 percent of international contracts. What is a realistic level of how low we can expect to drive this pernicious waste.

via The End of Corruption?.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Computer Generated Evidence | Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer

December 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The case referred to is: State v. Rivas, 121 Ohio St.3d 469, 2009-Ohio-1354. Case No. 2007-1611. Decided March 31, 2009. Majority opinion written by Justice Terrence O’Donnell.

By Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer

On January 3, 2005, Detective Alonzo Wilson, a member of the Xenia Police Division’s Internet Child-Protection Unit, logged onto an Internet chat service posing as a 14-year-old female named Molly. A man named Jose Rivas – using the screen name JRivas123 – contacted “Molly” asking for her age, gender, and photograph.

The two carried on an online conversation, and eventually Wilson e-mailed Rivas a teenage photo of a Xenia police detective. Rivas e-mailed Molly an explicit photo which, he claimed, was of him. He then propositioned her and offered her $200 to engage in sexual activity with him. Rivas eventually arranged to meet Molly at a hotel. After police observed Rivas checking in, Wilson arrested him.

Prior to trial, Rivas filed a motion to preserve the state’s electronic evidence and he sought a mirror image of the hard drive of the state’s computer used by Wilson to communicate with him. The trial court ordered the state to allow Rivas to inspect the computer, but the prosecution refused to allow the defense to retrieve a mirror image of the hard drive, citing “security reasons.” The prosecution did provide a transcript of the conversations and a compact disc containing an electronic copy of the online communications.

Rivas then filed a motion to suppress the computer-generated evidence and to compel the state to provide a mirror image of the computer hard drive. But the trial court denied the motion, concluding that Criminal Rule 16 – one of the rules that govern the proceedings of a trial – did not require the state to produce an exact copy of its computer hard drive “in the absence of allegations and some evidence that what has been provided is not accurate.”

[continued] Judge James Kimblers Blog: Computer Evidence.

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Federal Trade Commission Picks Intel As Target for Separate Section 5 Claim Beyond the Sherman Act

December 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

After a lengthy investigation, on December 16, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an administrative complaint against Intel Corporation (Intel) alleging that it has engaged in anticompetitive and unfair conduct in order to maintain a superior position in several markets. The FTC action is particularly notable because the Commission is attempting to invoke authority under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) recognized by the Supreme Court in 1972 to pursue arguably anticompetitive conduct that does not violate the Sherman Act. Only time will tell how successful the Section 5 revival will be, but companies should be aware of the FTC’s current willingness to exercise its full authority under the broader Section 5 and reach conduct that the Sherman Act would permit.

via JD Supra: Legal Articles – Antitrust and Federal Regulation Alert: Federal Trade Commission Picks Intel As Target for Separate Section 5 Claim Beyond the Sherman Act.

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Paris Court Convicts Google in Book Case – WSJ.com

December 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

A French court found Google Inc. guilty of copyright infringement for scanning books and publishing extracts online without a French publisher’s consent, a ruling that could hinder the U.S search company's ongoing drive to create a giant global online library.

In a Friday ruling that Google said it would appeal, the court ordered the U.S. company to pay €300,000 ($501,000) to French publisher La Martinière and to remove online extracts of the publisher’s books.

The ruling, which is the first of its kind in France and applies only to this country, could set a legal precedent for any future copyright infringement cases by French publishers, said Valerie Barthez, head of the legal department at the French publishers’ association Société des Gens de Lettres de France, which was one of the plaintiffs in the case.

Google has been working for several years to make a vast array of books available online through its search engine. Since 2004 the search engine company has been working with libraries throughout the U.S. in order to digitize millions of books. Google has also signed 9000 partnerships with several European publishers that have agreed to have extracts from their books put online, a spokeswoman for Google said.

via Paris Court Convicts Google in Book Case – WSJ.com.

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The New Exchange 2010 Dumpster

December 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

In my previous blog I exposed the naked truth about Exchange deleted items and how easy it is to destroy potential email records.

Microsoft must have listened because the new version Exchange 2010 includes substantial improvements to the “dumpster” and deleted item behavior and closed the potential “leak” for eDiscovery.

The new Exchange 2010 dumpster is a complete new design.  Here is a link if you want the complete story.

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/09/25/452632.aspx

The new Exchange 2010 dumpster features that are key for legal discovery are:

-          The new dumpster now includes all deleted items from the mailbox including email, calendars, contacts, and more.  The old dumpster only included email.

-          The new dumpster is indexed so it can be searched using the new multi-mailbox search tool in Exchange 2010. The old dumpster was not indexed and could not be searched.

-          The new dumpster has been extended with new Purges and Versions folders.  Users can no longer bypass the dumpster behavior with a manual purge.

The Purges folder keeps items that users purge from the dumpster and keeps them for the length of the dumpster retention period.

The Versions folders keeps a copy-on-write snapshot of email that users modify.

The new Exchange 2010 dumpster still operates with a retention period (14 day default) or custom.  The new dumpster features are a welcome addition to Exchange.

By capturing all deleted items and by preventing users from purging email, it closes all of the  major “leaks” for email discovery and compliance.

via The New Exchange 2010 Dumpster | Email Archiving & Storage Management Experts.

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EU Data Protection Meets U.S. Discovery

December 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

As a result of an increase in U.S. lawsuits requiring the transfer of personal data from France to the United States, the French Data Protection Agency CNIL published a recommendation in August 2009, which is designed to offer guidance on data transfers in connection with U.S. civil discovery proceedings.[FOOTNOTE 1] The CNILs recommendation expands on the guidelines adopted by the body of European data protection agencies the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party in February 2009.[FOOTNOTE 2]

EU member states increasingly enforce their data protection laws. For instance, in 2008, the Spanish data protection agency imposed fines amounting in total to €22.6 million. In France and other EU countries, companies are under pressure to comply with U.S. discovery requests, which frequently call for the production of personal data about employees, clients, or customers. The CNILs recommendation reflects a tension between a companys obligation to respond to U.S. discovery requests and its obligation to comply with EU data protection laws. Because data protection laws pursue a legitimate interest and are increasingly enforced in Europe, courts and litigants in the U.S. should take them into account when ordering discovery abroad.

CNIL RECOMMENDATION

The CNIL acknowledges that the parties to a U.S. lawsuit have a legitimate need for documents, and that European and French data protection laws do not prohibit the transfer of personal data to the U.S. for litigation purposes. Such transfers, however, should be subject to certain requirements to comply with data protection laws.

[continued] Law.com – EU Data Protection Meets U.S. Discovery.

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Western District of Oklahoma Adopts Best Practices for Electronic Discovery in Criminal Cases : Electronic Discovery Law

December 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

If you needed more proof that electronic discovery is not just for civil cases, the Western District of Oklahoma has adopted “Best Practices for Electronic Discovery of Documentary Materials in Criminal Cases.”  Adopted on August 20th, these Best Practices recognize the lack of guidance in Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16 or in U.S.C. § 3500 regarding the production of discovery materials in electronic from and are intended to “summarize proposed electronic discovery practices.”

Included in the Best Practices are requirements that counsel for the parties shall, by a time proscribed, address issues including the volume of discovery, the litigation capabilities of counsel, and timeframes for production, among other things.  Additional requirements include the production of electronically stored information in .PDF format, the production of an index identifying the “source and/or nature of the materials” produced, and mandatory good-faith discussions of possible cost-sharing measures when handling voluminous discovery.

via Western District of Oklahoma Adopts Best Practices for Electronic Discovery in Criminal Cases : Electronic Discovery Law.

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Transliteration goes global

December 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Most of us use a keyboard to enter text; it’s one of the most basic activities we perform on a computer. However even this simple activity can be cumbersome in many parts of the world. If you’ve ever tried to type in a non-Roman script using a Roman keyboard, you know that it can be difficult to do. Many of us at Google’s Bangalore office experienced this problem firsthand. Roman keyboards are the norm in India, making it difficult to type in Indian languages. We decided to tackle this problem by making it very easy to type phonetically using Roman characters and we launched this service as Google Transliteration.

Using Google Transliteration you can convert Roman characters to their phonetic equivalent in your language. Note that this is not the same as translation — it’s the sound of the words that are converted from one alphabet to the other.

via Official Google Blog: Transliteration goes global.

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