Elderly Amish Man Caught on Film With Prostitute, Blackmailed
When a 75-year-old Amish widower slept with a prostitute, he -- we feel certain -- felt pretty bad about it the next morning. As if that guilt weren't enough for the old man, the prostitute and her boyfriend demanded $67,000 from him, claiming that they had filmed the scene with wall-mounted cameras and would upload the recording to the Internet. The pair was later arrested and, we can only imagine, the Amish man abhorred technology more than ever.
Bank Robber Gets Away With the Help of Craiglist
In October, a bank robber -- wearing a safety vest, blue shirt, face mask and goggles -- eluded police with the help of Craiglist. Just outside the bank, while the robbery was in progress, stood a group of men who were responding to a Craiglist day labor opportunity. As the advertisement required, they were all wearing safety vests, blue shirts, face masks and goggles.
Nude New Zealander Arrested After Responding to Fake Sexy Text Message
Late in 2007, a Wellington, New Zealand man received a racy text message from two anonymous "ladies," giving him only an address and a request that he show up naked. Well, he indeed showed up naked... at the home of one appalled, unsuspecting New Zealander. Both the nude Romeo and the sadistic texter were arrested, though neither were prosecuted.
Fake Craiglist Ad Costs Man Most of What He Owns
Last Spring, a post appeared on an Oregon Craigslist board stating that the owner of a specific house was leaving all of his worldly possessions (still in said house) to whoever wanted them. When homeowner Robert Salisbury rushed home -- on a tip from a woman suspicious about the offer of a free horse -- he found his house being ransacked by 30 strangers. We suggest he take that horse and collect some vengeance Clint Eastwood-style.
17-Year-Old Jailed for Stealing Virtual 'Furniture'
When a 17-year-old Dutch boy hacked into several accounts on the Second Life-style site 'Habbo' in 2007, the the law got involved. The boy was discovered to have stolen $5,800 worth of virtual furniture and knick-knacks. Apparently, crime -- whether actual or virtual -- does not pay.
Phishers Going After Your Phones in New 'Vishing' Trend
Over the past year, sneaky spammers have begun to forsake the worn-out territory of e-mail in favor of cell phones' fertile frontier. The result? "Vishing." Get it? Voice mail phishing. It might be more ominous if it didn't sound like a James Bond villain saying, "Wishing."
Burglars Break Into Restaurant, Steal HDTV, Leave Money / Food Behind
Around Halloween of last year, a truckload of thieves drove into -- that's right, into -- a Pennsylvania Mexican restaurant, where they -- apparently uninterested in the cash register -- stole a mid-grade 47-inch HDTV and fled the scene. We've all heard about how this generation is lacking in ambition, but this generation's thieves, too?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jan said 5:24AM on 11-17-2008
Belgian banks have been using something similar for a couple of years now, except it isn't integrated on the card, we get a special box, which requires a challenge and response key after you insert the card. (it works with multiple card types, including visa).
My personal experience: it feels saver, but it is a lot of hastle typing over all the numbers.
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Matt said 10:37AM on 11-17-2008
In the UK bank, Barclays, this is called Chip N Pin. You have to carry a calculator sized card reader around that you put the card into, type in your pic and generate a random number to check your online account. This new type of card would be a much welcomed enhancement...
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Ryan said 3:55PM on 11-17-2008
If they used a variation of this, based on the RSA SecurID cards used in the IT world for passwords, it would be close to rock-solid. Nothing's perfect or ever will be, but using some sort of two-factor authentication like a SecurID card would be pretty close. Of course it would require you to carry a small key-fob, but I'd gladly do so if I thought it could help me keep my identity safe!
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Justin said 5:26PM on 11-17-2008
Similar technology has been used for computer security for many, many years, and determined hackers have, so far, been unable to break it. Look up "SecureID" and "DES cards".
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lyalc said 4:28PM on 11-21-2008
Euorpean banks using one time tokens are seeing numerous phishing ing attacks that break OTP by MITM methods, using the token value to conduct one or more transactions while showing the use various bogus screens.
OTP is broken, as always going to be trivially broken.
John said 8:23PM on 11-17-2008
I have, honest, 10 passwords at work. My home alarm, the code for my phone messages, a code for the cell, 5 or 6 on here, a code for the car radio if the battery dies, the atm code and I know I'm forgetting more.
I should write them down if I start to get forgetful, or hospitalized and need a friend to pay my bills, etc. I know they are necesary but there are so many. And on a closing note, everytime you turn around, a friends area code has changed.
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lyalc said 4:29PM on 11-21-2008
1. This is just a prototype from a small Australian start-up, not Visa
2. Visa is nothing mush to do with this.
3. This technology and concept has been prototyped and trialled over a decade ago. Nothing has made the economics justifiable.
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Brian said 8:51PM on 1-30-2009
This seems like a complicated expensive device to create one time passwords when non electronic methods like PassWindow do essentially the same thing.
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