Russian mobile malware makers numerous and highly organized, says security firm

malware

Devin Coldewey NBC News

7 hours ago

Lookout

The organizations make setting up a malware-serving website like signing up for an email or online game.

Mobile security software company Lookout was hot on the trail of a set of Russian malware distributors ? and was surprised to find that the biggest groups responsible were as neatly and effectively organized as a small tech business.

Don't get paranoid just yet: Lookout explained to NBC News in an email that this type of fraud isn't nearly as common here: "It appears that they've cut back on targeting [Western] countries because they're having more success in Russia and the Eastern block. In the past we've even seen SMS fraud targeting the U.S. and western Europe," they wrote.

The way it works is this: an unscrupulous or merely curious Android user searches for free games or apps on his or her phone, and follows a resulting link to a legitimate-looking landing page. After agreeing (often without knowing it) to a terms of service, they are served up a malware application that scams money by fraudulently sending premium SMS messages ? special texts used to purchase ringtones or sign up for a service.

Thousands of Twitter accounts and fake websites are set up to lure unwitting users, but when Lookout followed the thread a bit further, they found that many led back to a few surprisingly professional-looking organizations.

Lookout

An example of a "landing page" users would be sent to (and redirected from).

From their official websites, productivity contests, and easy-to -use tools, at first glance one might guess these malware operators were legitimate software developers or advertisers. And in effect, that's exactly what these malware HQs are: small startups raking in cash thanks to the booming mobile sector. It just happens that the business they make their money through is fraud.

Affiliates sign up for the site as if they were joining a forum or freelance contractor website. A user-friendly, step-by-step process helps them create fake webpages, design and submit malware-toting apps, and makes the latest virus-scan-avoidance software available.

Meanwhile, the malware makers register dozens or hundreds of fake accounts on Twitter and other networks ? out of almost a quarter-million accounts analyzed by Lookout, over 50,000 were puppet accounts linking to malware.

Just 10 of these malware HQ organizations account for 60 percent of the SMS fraud Lookout tracked in Russia. Such scams don't usually affect the U.S. or western Europe, but it's not unheard of.

Twitter shuts down such accounts when it finds them, and malicious apps are removed from Google's Play Store whenever detected, but are these big organizations being raided or shut down now that they've been outed??

"We generally don't comment on ongoing investigations like this one," wrote Lookout. "However, in past investigations that are now closed, we have contacted authorities."

Even so, it's little comfort when the groups out there are so well-organized and well-staffed. Your best bet is to stick to well-known websites and only download apps from stores you trust. The problem may not be going away just yet, but consumers can avoid it ? with a little discretion.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663301/s/2f7d7c5c/sc/21/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Crussian0Emobile0Emalware0Emakers0Enumerous0Ehighly0Eorganized0Esays0Esecurity0Efirm0E6C10A824611/story01.htm

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Time Warner Cable blacks out CBS stations

43 minutes ago

CBS

After fee negotiations failed between Time Warner Cable and CBS, the cable provider on Friday blacked out the network for customers in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Boston, Detroit and other markets at 5 p.m. ET.

"We agreed to an extension on Tuesday morning with the expectation that we would engage in a meaningful negotiation with CBS. Since then, CBS has refused to have a productive discussion," the company said in a statement. "It's become clear that no matter how much time we give them, they're not willing to come to reasonable terms. We thank our customers for their patience and support as we continue to fight hard to keep their prices down."

CBS claims in its own statement that Time Warner Cable "has conducted negotiations in a combative and non-productive spirit, indulging in pointless brinksmanship and distorted public positioning ? such as the fictional and ridiculous 600 percent increase CBS supposedly demanded ? while maintaining antiquated positions no longer held by any other programming distributor in the business."

The network insists it wants only "fair compensation for the most-watched television network with the most popular content in the world."?

"Big Brother" and "Under the Dome" are two of the network's big summer hits that TWC subscribers in the affected cities will not be able to to watch during the blackout. The network is also home to megahits "The Big Bang Theory," "NCIS," "Two and a Half Men" and more.?

Showtime, which is also owned by CBS, is blacked out as well.

The premium cable network said in a statement that Time Warner Cable's move was "completely unnecessary" and "totally punitive to our subscribers." Showtime also noted that it had agreed to allow the cable provider to continue carrying the premium network while negotiations were ongoing, and is "deeply disappointed" by the decision.

On Demand content from CBS will also be unavailable during the blackout.?

CBS said in its statement that it hopes the blackout will be short-lived, but it is unclear how long it will last.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/entertainment/time-warner-cable-blacks-out-cbs-stations-6C10833602

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Israel the enemy, says Hezbollah leader amid Syria outcry

In a rare public appearance Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah urged Arabs and Muslims to stay focused on opposing Israel despite bitter disagreements about the Syrian war.

His Shiite followers would not bend in the face of rising anti-Shiite sentiment among those who oppose his support for the Syrian government he said.

He also invoked the Palestinian cause to shore up his party's legitimacy inside Lebanon. The half-hour appearance, at a campus in southern Beirut, was the first time in nearly nine years that Sheikh Nasrallah had delivered a speech in public.

A day earlier, Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman for the first time urged the Lebanese state to rein in the ability of Hezbollah to act as an independent military organisation, a right it claims on the grounds that it is the only group able to defend Lebanon from Israel.

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Hezbollah's rivals say it has forfeited that right by unilaterally sending fighters not to Israel but to Syria to battle an uprising that many Lebanese support. While the government lacks the ability to challenge Hezbollah militarily, the controversy has threatened Hezbollah's political dominance, which helped to bring down the government and left the state paralysed under a caretaker prime minister.

Sheikh Nasrallah made his sharpest and most direct comments on the rising sectarian tone of the conflicts in and over Syria.

He has long said Hezbollah is fighting in Syria not to defend Shiite interests, but to fend off an extremist rebel movement. But in his latest speech he said to cheering: ''Many times I speak as a nationalist, as a Muslim, but I'm going to speak as a Shiite.'' He criticised the increasing attacks on Shiites in Iraq and Pakistan and the extreme anti-Shiite statements that have become common in some areas of the Syrian insurgency, a mostly Sunni movement.

New York Times

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Apple will Expire 20GB Free iCloud Storage for MobileMe Users on September 30

Apple has posted a notification on iCloud support that the complimentary iCloud storage plan for former MobileMe users will expire on September 30, 2013. Apple has launched iCloud in 2011 as...

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Apple will Expire 20GB Free iCloud Storage for MobileMe Users on September 30

Apple has posted a notification on iCloud support that the complimentary iCloud storage plan for former MobileMe users will expire on September 30, 2013. Apple has launched iCloud in 2011 as replacement of MobileMe. Apple offered free 20GB iCloud storage for those MobileMe members that moved to iCloud between October 12, 2011, and August 1, 2012.

But this free complimentary iCloud storage plan is going to expire on 30th September. And this plan will automatically shifts to free 5 GB storage plan after the said date. Apple also warns that if the MobileMe users will exceed free 5GB limit after 30th Sep, many iCloud features will temporarily stop working. To use more space, they have to pay now. For more iCloud storage, users have to pay annual fee of $20 for 10GB, $40 for 20GB and $100 for 50GB. All these storage plans include many features iCloud Mail, Documents in the Cloud and iCloud Backup features.

MacRumors have posted the following email notification sent to a former MobileMe user by the iCloud team:

"As a thank you for being a former MobileMe member, you received a 20 GB complimentary storage upgrade when you moved to iCloud. Your upgrade expires on September 30, 2013.

When it expires, your iCloud storage will be automatically adjusted to the free 5 GB plan. Note that you are currently using 5.47 GB of storage. If you exceed your storage plan on September 30, 2013, iCloud Backup, Documents in the Cloud, and iCloud Mail will temporarily stop working.

To continue using these iCloud features without interruption, reduce the amount of iCloud storage you are using or purchase a storage plan by September 30, 2013.

For more information, see this article."

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Ark. AG: Schools can't arm teachers, staff

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) ? Arkansas school districts can't use a little-known state law to employ teachers and staff as guards who can carry guns on campus, the state's attorney general said Thursday in an opinion that likely ends a district's plan to arm more than 20 employees when school starts later this year.

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, a Democrat, wrote in a legal opinion issued by his office that a state board that licenses private security agencies didn't have the authority to allow districts to employ their teachers and staff as security guards. A state lawmaker requested the opinion a day after The Associated Press reported on a plan by the Clarksville School District in western Arkansas to use more than 20 teachers and staff as volunteer security guards armed with concealed 9 mm handguns.

"Simply put, the code in my opinion does not authorize either licensing a school district as a guard company or classifying it as a private business authorized to employ its own teachers as armed guards," McDaniel wrote.

David Hopkins, Clarksville's superintendent, said he had spoken with McDaniel earlier Thursday about the opinion. Hopkins said he was still reviewing the opinion but that "it sounds like he's saying that we can't do the program."

"Obviously we're going to comply with the law. We're not going to break the law," said Hopkins, who had appeared on NBC's "Today" show Thursday morning to tout the program. "We wanted to provide the training and give the sense of a secure place for our parents and students. I tell you, this has really thrown a monkey wrench into it."

The idea of arming schoolhouses against gunmen was hotly debated across the country after the school shooting in Connecticut last December that left 20 children and six teachers dead. The National Rifle Association declared it the best response to serious threats. But even in the most conservative states, most proposals faltered in the face of resistance from educators or warnings from insurance companies that schools would face higher premiums.

Participants in Clarksville's program are given a one-time $1,100 stipend to purchase a handgun and holster. Hopkins said the district is paying about $50,000 for ammunition and for training by Nighthawk Custom Training Academy, a private training facility in northwest Arkansas.

The 53-hour training program included roleplaying drills of school shootings, with teachers and staff using "airsoft" pellet guns, with students wearing protective facemasks and jackets.

The Lake Hamilton School District has been using the same law for years to train a handful of administrators as security guards, but the guns are locked away and not carried by the administrators during the school day.

Lake Hamilton Superintendent Steve Anderson said he was talking with local prosecutors, school attorneys and other officials about how to proceed. Anderson said the district has had its license for 25 years.

"We'll take appropriate measures and I imagine this is something that will eventually be settled in a court of law or the Legislature," Anderson said.

Bill Sadler, a spokesman for Arkansas State Police, said pending applications by two or three districts for similar licenses have been put on hold because of McDaniel's opinion. Later Thursday, Sadler said any pending applications for entities or businesses that aren't security companies were also on hold.

Sadler said it will be up to the licensing board on what to do with the 13 existing licenses.

"We've got to hear from the board what they want us to do with the existing licenses that are out there," Sadler said. "Until we hear that and get some clear guidance from the board, we're in a holding pattern"

McDaniel said his opinion wouldn't affect districts' ability to contract with private security companies or to use law enforcement as school resource officers. He also noted that the Legislature has the power to change the law prohibiting school employees from carrying guns on campus.

A House panel in February rejected a bill that would have allowed some school employees to carry concealed handguns on campus after completing a 40-hour course at a state law enforcement training academy.

McDaniel's non-binding opinion also said that it's up to prosecutors whether or how to proceed against school employees who are relying on the licenses to carry concealed weapons on campus.

McDaniel noted that the districts were seeking licenses under a provision of the law that applies to private security firms and guard companies.

"If a school district were indeed functioning as a 'guard company,' then, it would be organized to provide services to any and all 'customers' purely for the purpose of generating income ? a private business motivation that is self-evidently anathema to a school district's purely public functions," he wrote.

___

Follow Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ark-ag-schools-cant-arm-teachers-staff-204340761.html

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Canada hurting itself with protectionist practices in agriculture: report

OTTAWA ? Canada is only hurting itself by maintaining high protectionist barriers on its agriculture sector, says a report which cites Canadian tariffs on agricultural imports as among the highest among food exporting nations.

The paper, from the Conference Board, notes that Canada has talked a good game about liberalized trade ? particularly on launching free trade talks with major economies in Europe and Asia ? but has not acted when it comes to the highly-protected agricultural sector.

The report argues there is a big potential payoff in freeing trade in food, particularly as Canada already exports significantly more food products than imports, by a ratio of about 60 to 40 per cent.

?The Canadian food industry can become more prosperous by serving fast-growing markets? and consumers benefit from a greater variety of food products at lower costs,? said Michael Burt, the director of industrial economic trends for the Ottawa-based think-tank.

The only thing preventing Canada from gaining these benefits is ourselves

?The only thing preventing Canada from gaining these benefits is ourselves.?

The report makes clear, however, that liberalizing trade would result in some losers as well as winners, with the highly protected dairy industry falling squarely in the former category.

?A (deal) between Canada and the European Union, with complete trade liberalization of the food sector, would lead to resources shifting from the production of milk and dairy to other segments such as grains, oilseeds and other processed food,? it explains.

?(Overall) as a result of a more efficient use of our resources, the food sector would see a significant increase in both output and exports,? the report concludes.

Agriculture is a key sticking point holding up a free trade agreement with the European Union, although sources suggest the impediment involves European barriers to imports of beef and pork from Canada.

Canada is believed to have agreed to lower tariffs on European cheese exports if a deal is finalized, but the federal government has insisted it will not sacrifice the supply-management regime that protects Quebec and Ontario dairy farmers.

Agriculture also figures to be one of the more difficult issues to crack in the TransPacific Partnership talks and negotiations with Japan, two other free trade fronts Canada has opened in an effort to diversify its exporting sector.

In an interview, Burt does not advocate unilaterally dropping tariffs, noting that other nations also protect their food sector. But says Canada?s walls are unusually high compared to other like nations that are significant net food exporters.

Through the controversial supply-management regime, Canada imposes 246.8 per cent tariffs on dairy imports. It also maintains high tariffs barriers on animal products (30.5 per cent); cereals and preparations (20.3 per cent) and even 10.4 per cent levies on coffee and tea.

Meanwhile, other net food exporting nations like Australia, New Zealand and Chile have chopped its tariffs to single-digits.

Canada fares better in a comparison that includes non-tariff barriers, although the report says that measure is more difficult to assess, since it is based on existing trade flows.

As well, the paper calculates that Canadian tariffs are comparable to the U.S. and the EU, although levels vary depending on the sector being protected.

But overall, Burt says Canada?s walls against food imports are too high, and in some cases ? such as with wheat, barley, beef and veal ? unnecessary.

Source: http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/08/01/canada-hurting-itself-with-protectionist-practices-in-agriculture-report/

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Cool heads likely won't prevail in a hotter, wetter world: Climate change will likely exacerbate violence

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Researchers report that even slight spikes in temperature and precipitation greatly increase the risk of personal and civil violence, and suggest that more human conflict is a likely outcome of climate change.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/zujPWL3OP2c/130801142422.htm

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