Romanian Jailed For ATM Skimming Scheme

A Romanian man serving a five-year jail sentence in Romania for his involvement in an ATM skimming scheme, has developed a device designed to protect ATMs from such attacks.

33-year-old Valentin Boanta who is being detained in a prison from Vaslui, Romania, after he was convicted on charges of bank card fraud in 2009, developed what he calls the SRS (Secure Revolving System) which changes the way ATM machines read bank cards to prevent the operation of skimming devices that criminals hide inside ATMs.
“When I got caught I became happy. This liberation opened the way to working for the good side,” Boanta said.

“Crime was like a drug for me. After I was caught, I was happy I escaped from this adrenaline addiction,” Boanta said. Boanta began working on SRS during his trial. SRS, Boanta says, can be installed into any ATM.
ATM skimmers work by installing a second, concealed card reader over the one that’s built into the ATM. When an unsuspecting bank customer inserts a card into the slot, the card’s magnetic stripe first runs past the read head of the skimmer, allowing it to copy all of the card’s data. The transaction then proceeds as normal and the ATM returns the card to the customer, who is none the wiser.

“I’ve seen many different ATMs, they have ageing designs so they are prone to vulnerability, they are a very weak side of the banking industry,” said Boanta in a workshop. “Every ATM can be penetrated through a skimming crime. My security solution, SRS, makes an ATM unbreachable.”

Romania has a deep well of technical expertise stemming from the time of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who backed computer research and technical education. Romanian hackers stole about $1 billion from U.S. accounts in 2012, according to the U.S. embassy in Bucharest

Source: thehackernews.com

Google+ Games Going, Going Gone !

As announced on May 15, 2013, games inside plus.google.com will be retired on June 30, 2013. If you would like to continue playing a particular game, contact the game’s developer to find out if there’s a new destination site for the game. Some of the game pages on plus.google.com/games have a link to an alternative site where you can continue to play the game.

What about payments I’ve made in the game?

Some games will be migrating data to an alternative destination site where you can continue to use your unused payments. Other games are offering a grace period in which you can use any available credits before the game is shutdown. Contact the game developer for further information.

• 50Cubes
• Digital Chocolate
• Game Insight
• Gameloft
• Glu Mobile
• Halfbrick
• Happy Elements
• JamRT
• Kabam
• King
• Playrium
• Playrix
• Playtika
• Rovio
• Spry Fox
• Vostu
• Zynga

What is Google Play game services?

Google Play game services is a cross-platform game service and SDK on Android, iOS, and the web, enabling a rich set of in-game user experiences for cross screen gaming. Games that use game services can bring you many great experiences, including:

• Achievements: record and celebrate your greatest gaming accomplishments.
• Social & Public Leaderboards: Google+ powered leaderboards report your in-game scores between friends and across the world.
• Cloud save: games automatically store your game saves, progress and preferences for Android, iOS, and web.
• Real-time multi-player: connect up to 4 players simultaneously for cooperative and competitive game play on Android.

To find great titles using Play game services, visit the Google Play Store.

Backtrack Kali Tutorial – Exploit MS08-067 Vulnerability using Metasploit

This tutorial is for demonstration purposes only – Please use this knowledge responsibly

This video will show you how to create a reverse SSH connection to a server/workstation

This exploit is taking advantage of vulnerability MS08-067 using Metasploit on Kali.
This is a Kali VM attacking a Microsoft 2008 server (this will also work on any machine without the patch)

The moral of this is to update your system

http://www.kali.org

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/958644

Caintech.co.uk – Here comes Kali

Affected Software

Operating System

Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4

Windows XP Service Pack 2

Windows XP Service Pack 3

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2

Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition

Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Service Pack 2

Windows Server 2003 with SP1 for Itanium-based Systems

Windows Server 2003 with SP2 for Itanium-based Systems

Windows Vista and Windows Vista Service Pack 1

Windows Vista x64 Edition and Windows Vista x64 Edition Service Pack 1

Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems

Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems

Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems

Government Forces Benefits Claimants to use Windows XP and IE6

THE UK GOVERNMENT has shown it’s at the forefront of modern technology and online services with its latest form for claiming benefits online.

Those who want to claim Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance or Overseas State Pension can simply visit the Gov.UK website, where they are then pointed to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) website to fill out a form online.

So far, so impressive, in that the government is allowing citizens to apply for benefits over the web, rather than having to fill out forms and send them in via the post or visit offices in person.

However, it seems that many of those claimants could fall at the first hurdle due to some rather outdated stipulations about the computer systems supported by the DWP.

“This service doesn’t work with some modern browsers and operating systems,” the DWP notes. “We are considering how best to provide this service in future. You may want to claim in another way.”

That is putting it mildly. Normally, we’d take the time to go through these system requirements and highlight only the most interesting points, but in this case we’ve decided to make an exception and post them here in their full glory, as we couldn’t word them better than the DWP.

“The service does not work properly with Macs or other Unix-based systems even though you may be able to input information.

“You are likely to have problems if you use Internet Explorer 7, 8, 9 and 10, Windows Vista or a smartphone. Clearing temporary internet files may help but you may wish to claim in another way.

“There is also a high risk that if you use browsers not listed below, including Chrome, Safari or Firefox, the service will not display all the questions you need to answer. This is likely to prevent you from successfully completing or submitting the form. You may wish to claim in another way.”

And now on to the much more restricted list of what your computer needs to be running if you actually want to claim a benefit online.

“The service was designed to work with the following operating systems and browsers. Many of these are no longer available:

• Microsoft Windows 98: Internet Explorer versions 5.0.1, 5.5 and 6.0, Netscape 7.2
• Microsoft Windows ME: Internet Explorer version 5.5 and 6.0, Netscape 7.2
• Microsoft Windows 2000: Internet Explorer version 5.0.1, 5.5 and 6.0, Netscape 7.2, Firefox 1.0.3, Mozilla 1.7.7
• Microsoft Windows XP: Internet Explorer 6.0, Netscape 7.2, Firefox 1.0.3, Mozilla 1.7.7.”

For the few of you out there wanting to claim benefits online who manage to dig out some old Windows machine from a basement or loft running an old enough version of IE or Firefox, there are further obstacles to getting any money out of the government.

“This service is not available on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 1.00am to 1.30am because of essential maintenance work. We apologise for any inconvenience,” warns the DWP.

Perhaps that’s when their hamsters change shifts – you know, the ones that run inside wheels keeping government IT systems up and running.

We often speculate here at The INQUIRER that the government favours proprietary systems, and doesn’t do enough to open up bid tenders to smaller suppliers and open source outfits. On the basis of the above evidence, we’re concerned that the government is taking its mission to extremes.

Bold Predictions About The Internet From 1982

Here’s a fun New York Times article from 1982 making some uncannily accurate predictions about the future of information technology (via @modeledbehavior):

The report suggests that one-way and two-way home information systems, called teletext and videotex, will penetrate deeply into daily life, with an effect on society as profound as those of the automobile and commercial television earlier in this century.

We don’t call it “videotex,” but this sounds about right. The National Science Foundation report in question also made some surprisingly solid predictions about the Internet’s broader societal and economic impact:

– Individuals may be able to use videotex systems to create their own newspapers, design their own curricula, and compile their own consumer guides.

– Home-based shopping will permit consumers to control manufacturing directly, ordering exactly what they need for “production on demand.”

– There will be a shift away from conventional workplace and school socialization. Friends, peer groups and alliances will be determined electronically, creating classes of people based on interests and skills rather than age and social class.

– The blurring of lines between home and work, the report stated, will raise difficult issues, such as working hours.

Of course, it also made some odd forecasts that are hard to assess now:

– The “extended family” might be recreated if the elderly can support themselves through electronic homework, making them more desirable to have around.

It also made some predictions that haven’t panned out at all. So far, at least, the Internet hasn’t upended the logic of the two-party system — instead, it arguably helped strengthen some major-party candidates and led to interesting power struggles within the parties:

The study also predicted a much greater diversity in the American political power structure. ”Videotex might mean the end of the two-party system, as networks of voters band together to support a variety of slates – maybe hundreds of them,” it said.

Not a bad job by the NSF overall. And those sorts of predictions from the past are always worth keeping in mind when thinking about current discussions about the future of technology.

Case in point: Recently, Northwestern economist Robert Gordon has been arguing that the digital revolution hasn’t been nearly as revolutionary as, say, the advent of electrification or automobiles. That provoked a response from Matt Yglesias, who argued that the Internet has already upended a variety of smaller sectors — like journalism and retail. If digital technology could ever upend health care, education, or housing, that could be truly transformation. We just haven’t seen it yet. (Arguably, digital technologies are already upending the transportation sector and enabling young people to drive less.)

Who’s right? Well, it’s difficult to say. But looking back at those past NSF predictions, it’s worth noting that experts often underestimated the rate of change — the report predicted that just 40 percent of Americans would have access to “two-way videotex service” by 2000 — and also underestimated how resilient existing institutions could be in the face of technological pressures, such as major political parties or work offices.

Further reading: Have we reached the end of economic growth?

Nintendo Say ‘U Are A Failure’

Wii U is seriously struggling Nintendo’s own figures show; just 300,000 consoles sold in last three months

Nintendo sold just 300,000 Wii Us in the first three months of the year.

The company revealed the number as it posted its financials for the last three months of its 2012 financial year.

Sales for the year hit ¥635.42bn (£4.2bn). That was 5.2 per cent lower than the company forecast. Analysts had predicted that the company would miss its targets.

However, it completely missed its net income prediction by almost 50 per cent. It had forecast a net income of ¥14bn (£920bn) for the 12 months ending March 2013, but made ¥7.1bn (£420.8m)

Nintendo blamed “weaker than expected sales” of both the 3DS and Wii U. It also said the currency markets had had an impact.

As a result, Nintendo made a loss of ¥43.2bn (£284m). That was down however on last year’s loss of ¥60.86bn (£403m).

However, it is the low sales figures for the Wii U that are grabbing the headlines.

The console has sold just 3.45m units since it was launched at the end of November.

In contrast to the Wii U, the Wii sold 2.65m units during the same point after launch (Jan – Mar 07 vs Jan – Mar 13). At the time, Nintendo simply couldn’t keep up with demand and the console was often sold out, with large waiting lists at retailers.

That statistic is made even more damning when you realise the Wii – despite being six year older than the Wii U – still managed to outsell its successor during the same three months.

According to Nintendo’s own figures, the 3.98m Wiis were sold since its new console launched. That’s 53,000 more Wiis sold than Wii Us.

Nintendo has said that it believes that when major software titles begin shipping later this year, sales will pick up.

However, with such low sales, it is feasible retailers may start scaling back the number of shelves they dedicate to the Wii U. If that starts happening before those games arrive, then the console will be in real trouble.

Google Reportedly in Negotiations to Buy WhatsApp Messenger

An “inside source” has told Digital Trends that Google and WhatsApp are close to making a deal. The source says that Google want to buy the very successful WhatsApp multi-platform messaging service but the WhatsApp team are “playing hardball” and trying to squeeze more cash out of the Mountain View search giant.

WhatsApp is available for all the major, and minor, mobile platforms including Android, iOS, Windows Phone and BlackBerry. If Google could acquire it then build it into its existing services to unify its messaging options it could achieve a big user boost. WhatsApp is extremely popular; it’s the most popular mobile app in over 100 countries and on New Year’s Eve 2012 a record 18 billion WhatsApp messages were sent and received by users.

Will Google make it free but ad sponsored?

WhatsApp’s monetization scheme is different to Google’s ads and sponsored search approach. The popular messaging app is currently supported by a $0.99 yearly fee and also generates revenue through partnerships with mobile telcos who offer WhatsApp usage add-ons to mobile tariffs. It will be interesting to see if a Google acquisition would change this model drastically.

Facebook has recently initiated a push into mobile with Facebook Home. Mr Zuckerberg also realises the importance of messaging to engage users and the Chat Heads application is probably the most important part of the launcher/suite after the Facebook Cover Feed home screen itself. Incidentally both Facebook and Google have reportedly approached WhatsApp before, late in 2012.

Google has been rumoured to be getting ready to launch a messaging service called Babel to tie together all its communications services into a unified hub. Could a WhatsApp acquisition and integration be an almost off-the-peg solution with the advantage of a huge existing user base? We should find out more about these plans by the time Google I/O takes place in May or earlier if the deal is sealed.