UKFast security bulletin - November 2009

protecting email from friend or foe

Two stories regarding different aspects of email security have been prevalent this week. Firstly, Brand Republic reports that Nigerian officials have closed 800 scam websites and arrested members of 18 crime syndicates. Closer to home, the EC continues to fight to protect Brits against our own Government.

Starting in Africa, Nigerian email scammers are usually the source of much comedy. Their broken English tales of millions to be made by just supplying your bank details have office water coolers buzzing with talk of who would be so stupid to fall for it. And yet their continued high-profile existence would suggest that many do.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission teamed up with Microsoft three years ago to help stop the practice of scamming foreigners out of money. EFCC chairman Farida Waziri said the ambition of the partnership with Microsoft was to shut down as many as 5,000 email addresses each month and take Nigeria out of the top ten sources of scam emails.

Anecdotal evidence would suggest that the EFCC has its work cut out. The 'Nigerian' emails look likely to remain a scourge of our in boxes for some time to come. The best advice would apply common sense and if it seems to good to be true, then it is!

Meanwhile, the EC continues to fight to protect Brits against our own Government. Last week, The European Commission moved to the second phase of an infringement proceeding against the UK for failing to put into law EU rules on privacy and personal data protection when using electronic communications.

European laws state that EU countries must ensure the confidentiality of people's electronic communications like email or internet browsing by prohibiting their unlawful interception and surveillance without the user's consent.

The UK now has two months to reply to this second stage of the infringement proceeding. If the Commission receives no reply, or if the response presented by the UK is not satisfactory, the Commission may refer the case to the European Court of Justice.

Related articles:

Nigerian Officials Close 800 Scam Websites

EU steps up UK legal action over personal data protection

other stories

• Ubuntu security improvements reviewed - Kees Cook is the security engineer and Gerry Carr is the head of platform marketing at Canonical. In this interview they discuss the security improvements in Ubuntu 9.10, the security challenges the Ubuntu team faces as well as what the latest version of Ubuntu offers to the developer community.
• deceptive ads get Facebook cold shoulder - The industry PR frenzy over scams in ads and offers on social networks goes on: Facebook announced on Thursday evening in a post on its developer blog that since it updated its developer platform terms of service this summer, it has disabled two ad networks that it says were running deceptive advertisements.
• software makers worldwide tackle serious bug - Software makers around the world are scrambling to fix a serious bug in the technology used to transfer information securely on the Internet. The flaw lies in the SSL protocol, best known as the technology used for secure browsing on Web sites beginning with HTTPS, and lets attackers intercept secure SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) communications between computers using what's known as a man-in-the-middle attack.
• would Wine encourage Windows seeking malware - For those Wine aficionados out there, beware of the remote possibility that your Linux system could be infected by Windows-seeking malware. "WINE running a Windows virus is nothing more than a 'stupid Linux trick' ... for now," said Slashdot blogger hairyfeet. But if the year of the Linux desktop ever arrives, he wonders, can Linux hold up to a "tidal wave of stupidity"?