Hackers group steals insider data

2 December 2014 Last updated at 12:25

Sophisticated cyber-thieves are attempting to cash in on stock markets' movements by stealing insider information, a security company says.

FireEye said the group had used a variety of tricks to access senior executives' email accounts.

And information and documents stolen via the compromised accounts had helped them predict stock movements.

The group had targeted more than 100 companies since it had begun operating in 2013, FireEye said.

The Fin4 group stood out from other cybercrime gangs in its preference for stealing insider information from senior executives, lawyers, regulatory staff and internal risk assessors, FireEye said.

Fin4 had gone after such employees, said FireEye in a blogpost, because of their close involvement in business activities, such as mergers and acquisitions, that could influence a stock price when they became public.

More than two-thirds of the firms targeted by Fin4 had been healthcare and pharmaceutical firms, said FireEye.

"Fin4 probably focuses on these types of organisations because their stocks can move dramatically in response to news of clinical trial results, regulatory decisions, or safety and legal issues," it said.

Information had been stolen using booby-trapped Word and Excel documents sent to executives and with messages designed to trick people into opening them, FireEye said.

The messages had looked plausible because they had employed jargon familiar to those employed in the investment and corporate worlds, it said.

In several cases, said FireEye in a longer report about Fin4, the group had targeted almost all of the organisations involved in a particular deal so it could keep an eye on how negotiations had progressed. It had also stolen information relating to drug trials, ongoing legal cases and insurance rates in a bid to profit, said the security firm.

FireEye said it was not clear yet how profitable Fin4's series of campaigns had been. However, it said, the group must be enjoying some success because it had already been operating for over a year.

To help others spot when they are being targeted by Fin4, the security firm has shared information about the computer code hidden inside the booby-trapped documents used to steal login names and passwords.

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Obama in police body-camera call

1 December 2014 Last updated at 23:51

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Protests have spread across the US over perceived policing injustices

US President Barack Obama has requested $263m (£167m) to improve police training, pay for body cameras and restore trust in policing.

Mr Obama asked Congress for the funds after a week of nationwide protests over perceived policing injustices.

Ferguson in Missouri was rocked by riots after a grand jury decided not to charge a white police officer in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man.

Protests spread across the US and a mass walkout was held on Monday.

Students and workers held a lunchtime protest in several cities to highlight the issue.

"This is not a problem just of Ferguson, Missouri. This is a national problem, Mr Obama said. "But it's a solvable problem."

Post-Ferguson plan

• more appropriate use of military equipment by police
• 50,000 body cameras (pictured above) to record interactions
• task force to build a "sustained conversation" across the US

The president spoke after a day of meetings with mayors, civil rights leaders and law enforcement officials at the White House.

They discussed a programme that currently provides redundant US military tactical gear to local police departments, free of charge.

Mr Obama said he has asked federal agencies for recommendations to ensure the programme is not building a "militarised culture" in domestic police forces.

Police in Ferguson, Missouri, were criticised for being heavy-handed in dealing with protests sparked by the shooting of Michael Brown in August.

The funds requested by Mr Obama would be spread over three years and some of the money will go towards purchasing 50,000 body cameras for police officers as well as resources to reform law enforcement departments.

Body cameras can provide evidence of encounters between police and civilians, particularly in disputed cases such as the Ferguson shooting.

The president said the stories of discrimination that young people had told him at the White House on Monday "violate my belief about what America can do".

He also unveiled a taskforce on modern policing, to be chaired by Philadelphia police commissioner Charles Ramsey.

Also on Monday, a commission tasked with making recommendations on issues stemming from the fatal shooting has convened in Ferguson.

The 16-member panel, stood up by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, will consider changes in areas including public interaction with law enforcement and community stability.

The officer who shot Brown in Ferguson, Darren Wilson, resigned from the force over the weekend.

The decision not to charge Mr Wilson days earlier triggered a nationwide debate over relations between black communities and law enforcement.

The policeman said he had feared for his life.

Brown's supporters said the teenager was attempting to surrender when he was shot. Some witnesses said the 18-year-old, who was unarmed, had his hands up.

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Hawking: AI could end human race

2 December 2014 Last updated at 13:02 By Rory Cellan-Jones Technology correspondent

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Stephen Hawking: "Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn't compete and would be superseded"

Prof Stephen Hawking, one of Britain's pre-eminent scientists, has said that efforts to create thinking machines pose a threat to our very existence.

He told the BBC:"The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race."

His warning came in response to a question about a revamp of the technology he uses to communicate, which involves a basic form of AI.

But others are less gloomy about AI's prospects.

The theoretical physicist, who has the motor neurone disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is using a new system developed by Intel to speak.

Machine learning experts from the British company Swiftkey were also involved in its creation. Their technology, already employed as a smartphone keyboard app, learns how the professor thinks and suggests the words he might want to use next.

Prof Hawking says the primitive forms of artificial intelligence developed so far have already proved very useful, but he fears the consequences of creating something that can match or surpass humans.

"It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever increasing rate," he said.

"Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn't compete, and would be superseded."

But others are less pessimistic.

"I believe we will remain in charge of the technology for a decently long time and the potential of it to solve many of the world problems will be realised," said Rollo Carpenter, creator of Cleverbot.

Cleverbot's software learns from its past conversations, and has gained high scores in the Turing test, fooling a high proportion of people into believing they are talking to a human.

Rise of the robots

Mr Carpenter says we are a long way from having the computing power or developing the algorithms needed to achieve full artificial intelligence, but believes it will come in the next few decades.

"We cannot quite know what will happen if a machine exceeds our own intelligence, so we can't know if we'll be infinitely helped by it, or ignored by it and sidelined, or conceivably destroyed by it," he says.

But he is betting that AI is going to be a positive force.

Prof Hawking is not alone in fearing for the future.

In the short term, there are concerns that clever machines capable of undertaking tasks done by humans until now will swiftly destroy millions of jobs.

In the longer term, the technology entrepreneur Elon Musk has warned that AI is "our biggest existential threat".

Robotic voice

In his BBC interview, Prof Hawking also talks of the benefits and dangers of the internet.

He quotes the director of GCHQ's warning about the net becoming the command centre for terrorists: "More must be done by the internet companies to counter the threat, but the difficulty is to do this without sacrificing freedom and privacy."

He has, however, been an enthusiastic early adopter of all kinds of communication technologies and is looking forward to being able to write much faster with his new system.

But one aspect of his own tech - his computer generated voice - has not changed in the latest update.

Prof Hawking concedes that it's slightly robotic, but insists he didn't want a more natural voice.

"It has become my trademark, and I wouldn't change it for a more natural voice with a British accent," he said.

"I'm told that children who need a computer voice, want one like mine."

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WATCH: Prof Murray Shanahan provides a brief introduction to AI

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Selfie-stick sales outlawed in S Korea

1 December 2014 Last updated at 11:11

In South Korea, selling a "selfie stick" that lets people photograph themselves could mean a fine of up to £17,300 if the gadget is unregistered.

South Korea's radio management agency has issued guidelines outlawing the sale of unregistered selfie sticks.

The law applies to sticks using Bluetooth to remotely trigger a phone to take a picture.

The agency said unregistered sticks might interfere with other devices using the same radio frequencies.

Selfie sticks into which smartphones can be slotted to take snaps of their owners beyond arm's length have proved hugely popular and the most sophisticated versions use the Bluetooth short-range radio technology to trigger a handset's shutter.

Because they use Bluetooth, the devices are considered to be a "telecommunication device" and must be tested and registered with the South Korean agency that oversees such gadgets, an official at the Central Radio Management Office told the AFP newswire.

"The announcement last Friday was really just to let people know that they need to be careful about what they sell," said the official.

The regulations published by the Office can impose fines or jail terms on those making and selling unregistered sticks.

"We've had a lot of calls from vendors who think they might have been unknowingly selling uncertified products," added the radio management office's spokesman.

So far, the new regulations are not being rigorously enforced and there are no reports of the sellers of selfie sticks at attractions in South Korea being targeted by police.

Even the official at the radio frequency watchdog wondered if the new regulation was going to make a difference to the sale of the sticks - whether or not they are registered.

"It's not going to affect anything in any meaningful way, but it is nonetheless a telecommunication device subject to regulation, and that means we are obligated to crack down on uncertified ones," said the spokesman.

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Phone scammers 'net £23.9m in a year'

2 December 2014 Last updated at 00:13

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Maureen and Peter Sinnott: Phone scammers stole £1,800 from us

The amount of money lost to phone scammers has tripled in a year, prompting a major awareness campaign.

An estimated £23.9m has been tricked out of unsuspecting victims in the last year, up from £7m the previous year, according to Financial Fraud Action.

The group, which runs fraud prevention action for the financial services industry, said research suggested 58% of people had received suspect calls.

This was up from 41% in a similar study carried out last summer.

The main trick involves a con artist deceiving victims into believing they are calling from the police, a bank or a computer company.

They suggest that the individual has been the victim of fraud and ask for personal financial information - such as card details or a Pin code - to access their account.

Some ask victims to transfer money, to withdraw cash from a branch, or to hand over a bank card to a courier.

Advice to consumers includes:

• Being wary of cold calling, especially if the caller suggests you call back
• Banks and the police never ask for personal banking details, or request that individuals withdraw or transfer money
• If suspicious of a call, hang up, wait five minutes or preferably use a different phone line to report the fraud

Adverts are appearing across the UK to warn people of these scams. All the major UK banks, building societies, card companies and chief police officers have also signed a declaration aiming to highlight the warning signs of phone scams.

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'Counterfeit' domains are seized

1 December 2014 Last updated at 16:07

Police forces across Europe have seized 292 web domains that were being used to sell counterfeit goods, according to Europol.

The sites were selling luxury goods as well as "sportswear, electronics, pharmaceuticals and pirated goods like movies and music".

Visitors trying to reach the sites will now be shown a page "educating" them on copyright crime.

The BBC understands that no arrests were made during the operation.

However, a source close to the investigation said it was possible that arrests would be made soon - using the site closures as a means to track down those responsible for the physical counterfeiting of goods.

'Growing problem'

Europol wanted to act quickly, the source said, to minimise the sites' custom in the run-up to Christmas.

"Counterfeiters take advantage of the holiday season and sell cheap fakes to unsuspecting consumers everywhere," said Bruce Foucart, acting director of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, which assisted in the action.

"Consumers need to protect themselves, their families, and their personal financial information from the criminal networks operating these bogus sites," he said.

The 292 seized domains did not necessarily equate to 292 closed websites as many domains can point to the same operation. It also does not close the website itself, instead just the domain pointing to it, in theory making it harder to access.

Europol said the total number of domains seized in this way was now 1,829 since the initiative - dubbed In Our Sites - was launched in November 2012.

"The infringements of international property rights is a growing problem in our economies and for millions of producers and consumers," said Rob Wainwright, director of Europol.

"Europol is committed to working with its international partners to crack down on the criminal networks responsible for this illegal activity."

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Annie among 'leaked' Sony films

1 December 2014 Last updated at 21:24 By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

Five films distributed by Sony Pictures appear to have been leaked online following a reported cyber-attack on the company last month.

Among the titles is a remake of classic film Annie, which is not due for release until 19 December.

The company was reported to have shut down its internal systems last week due to an "IT matter".

Some have linked the cyber-attack to forthcoming film The Interview, Sony's comedy about North Korea.

That film does not appear to have been leaked.

However, reports say other high-profile titles have been circulated. Among them Fury, starring Brad Pitt, which was in cinemas in October but is yet to be made available on DVD.

According to research firm Excipio, Mr Turner, Still Alice and To Write Love on Her Arms are also being distributed and downloaded.

In a statement, the company said: "Sony Pictures continues to work through issues related to what was clearly a cyber attack last week.

"The company has restored a number of important services to ensure ongoing business continuity and is working closely with law enforcement officials to investigate the matter."

Korea row

In The Interview, Seth Rogen and James Franco play two reporters who have been granted an audience with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The CIA then enlists the pair to assassinate him.

Technology news site Recode quotes unnamed sources saying the possibility that North Korea may have targeted Sony is being investigated.

The site said: "The sources stress that a link to North Korea hasn't been confirmed, but has not been ruled out, either."

In July, North Korea complained to the United Nations that the film, which will be released on 25 December, was "the most undisguised sponsoring of terrorism as well as a war action".

The country's UN envoy Ja Song-Nam said there would be a "merciless response" if the film was not cancelled.

In response, Rogen joked on Twitter: "People don't usually wanna kill me for one of my movies until after they've paid 12 bucks for it."

#GOP

Little is known about the breach of Sony's systems last month.

A group calling itself the Guardians of Peace - #GOP - claimed responsibility.

Some reports said some computers of Sony employees displayed a picture of a skeleton, threatening to release large amounts of data from the company.

The early leak of films is considered, by the film industry, to have a devastating effect on the potential success of a title.

Last month, in an unrelated case, police in the UK arrested two men alleged to have leaked the Expendables 3 before its release date.

Some calculations said the leak of the film meant $10m (£6.4m) in lost box-office takings - although others said it is difficult to determine the true effect of piracy.

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

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Apple faces digital music trial

2 December 2014 Last updated at 11:54

Apple is heading to court to defend itself against allegations that it abused its dominant position in the digital music player market.

Individuals and businesses who brought the case argue that a 2006 update to digital music store iTunes unfairly blocked any device other than the iPod from accessing songs.

Apple has so far not commented on the case.

Video of late founder Steve Jobs will be used as evidence in the trial.

Emails sent by Mr Jobs are expected to be shown alongside the short deposition, filmed six months before he died.

The case, due to be heard in a Californian court later today, has dragged on for nearly a decade.

FairPlay code

Lawyers representing consumers and electronics retailers will claim that Apple used its iTunes software to force buyers to use iPods instead of rival devices between 2006 and 2009.

They will claim that shutting out other devices artificially inflated the price of iPods. They are seeking $350m (£222m) in damages, which will be automatically tripled under federal anti-trust laws.

Apple is likely to claim that the economic argument about inflated iPod prices is flawed. It will claim that its iPod prices were set without reference to rivals. In 2006, rival RealPlayer had less than 3% of the online music market.

Apple's iTunes store was launched in 2003. Songs sold through the online store were encoded with digital rights management (DRM) software to prevent unauthorised copying.

Known as FairPlay, the code meant that songs purchased from iTunes could not be played on competing devices such as Microsoft's Zune and Diamond Multimedia's Rio. It also meant that songs from rival online stores could not be played on iPods.

Attempts by rivals to introduce coding that would allow songs from other stores to be played on iPods were blocked by Apple.

The code was removed from iTunes in 2009.

The hardware giant has been embroiled in several legal wrangles over the last year.

In July, a New York federal judge found Apple liable over allegations that it colluded with publishers to drive up the price of e-books. It is currently appealing against the ruling.

In April, it was one of several tech firms that agreed to settle claims that they colluded to keep salaries lower by agreeing not to poach workers from rivals.

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N Korea refuses to deny Sony hack

2 December 2014 Last updated at 15:45

North Korea has refused to deny involvement in a cyber-attack on Sony Pictures that came ahead of the release of a film about leader Kim Jong-un.

Sony is investigating after its computers were attacked and unreleased films made available on the internet.

When asked if it was involved in the attack a spokesman for the North Korean government replied: "Wait and see."

In June, North Korea complained to the United Nations and the US over the comedy film The Interview.

In the movie, Seth Rogen and James Franco play two reporters who are granted an audience with Kim Jong-un. The CIA then enlists the pair to assassinate him.

North Korea described the film as an act of war and an "undisguised sponsoring of terrorism", and called on the US and the UN to block it.

California-based Sony Pictures' computer system went down last week and hackers then published a number of as-yet unreleased films on online download sites.

Among the titles is a remake of the classic film Annie, which is not due for release until 19 December.

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Alastair Leithead says N Korea is furious about the new film

The film about North Korea does not appear to have been leaked.

When asked about the cyber-attack, a spokesman for North Korea's UN mission said: "The hostile forces are relating everything to the DPRK (North Korea). I kindly advise you to just wait and see."

On Monday, Sony Pictures said it had restored a number of important services that had to be shut down after the attack.

It said it was working closely with law enforcement officials to investigate the matter but made no mention of North Korea.

The FBI has confirmed that it is investigating. It has also warned other US businesses that unknown hackers have launched a cyber-attack with destructive malware.

Analysis: Leo Kelion, technology desk editor

Suggestions North Korea could be behind the Sony Pictures hack has drawn incredulity from some, surprised that the "Hermit Kingdom" might be able to pull off such a stunt.

In fact, experts say Pyongyang's cyber-skills should not be underestimated. One US government adviser warned last year that North Korean hackers posed "an important 'wild card' threat" to US and international security.

Being sure about how far its cyber-capabilities extend isn't easy. A report by Hewlett Packard's security division noted that most North Koreans were restricted to an intranet system, separate from the wider internet, which limits their links to the outside world.

But the report noted that the state's education system places special emphasis on mathematics, which has helped it develop skilled programmers, cryptographers and security researchers.

According to a report by Al-Jazeera, North Korean defectors have spoken of promising students going on a two-year accelerated university course before heading to China and Russia for a year to hone their hacking skills.

A US analyst quoted a defector who claimed to be part of North Korea's Unit 121 hacking squad until he escaped in 2004. He said some operations had been carried out from a Pyongyang-owned hotel in Shenyang, China.

According to HP, North Korea's "cyber-warriors" are thought to have carried out a wide variety of attacks, including:

• Spreading malware via video games
• Stealing details of foreign technologies stored on computers
• Carrying out distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS), which knock services offline by flooding them with traffic sent from hijacked foreign computers
• Cyber-psychological operations - posting propaganda to social networks and "trolling" message boards

However, hacking a major corporation to make threatening demands is not a behaviour that has been linked to North Korea in the past, and the hashtag #GOP (Guardians of Peace) - used in the Sony attack - is not known to have been used by Pyongyang.

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EE plans micro-network for not-spots

2 December 2014 Last updated at 16:09

Mobile operator EE is planning to connect 1,500 rural "not-spots", using small antennas that can be attached to any building.

So-called micro-networks eliminate the need for underground cables or large masts.

The technology has been tested in Cumbria and will be rolled out more widely from 2015.

The move could placate the government, which is keen to see operators helping solve rural mobile connectivity.

"We've been working closely with government on the long-term ambition to bring voice coverage to more of the UK, and we believe that this world-first technology will demonstrate significant advancements against that vision," said EE chief executive Olaf Swantee.

Over the next three years, EE will use the technology to make voice services as well as 3G and 4G mobile data coverage available to communities struggling with connectivity.

Unreliable mobile and broadband

The technology is a fairly old one - the concept of mesh networking has been used by wireless internet service providers in the past although issues with power and the cost of connecting to the wider network have previously limited its usefulness.

"The key will be whether the links between the mesh points are able to cope with heavy use of the 4G network and whether the pricing is such that it makes it accessible to the average user," said Sebastien Lahtinen, from broadband news site ThinkBroadband.

The type of technology EE is using is designed by Parallel Wireless and will be able to connect communities of between 100 and 150 across an area of 0.5 sq miles (1.3 sq km) with three or four antennas.

The first community to test the technology is the village of Sebergham in Cumbria, which has 129 dwellings and 347 residents.

It sits in a deep valley, making connectivity a daily struggle.

"The mobile service here is either non-existent or spasmodic at best," said Cumbria county councillor Duncan Fairbairn.

"And the broadband is incredibly slow and very unreliable. In rural communities like Sebergham, being connected to good, reliable mobile coverage can make a significant difference to everyday life, and we need fast broadband."

The government is keen to solve the problem of dropped calls and unsent texts and is currently considering the idea of making operators share 2G networks as a way of solving it.

For their part, the mobile operators have promised to invest millions of pounds in their networks in order to avoid network sharing.

Matthew Howett, an analyst with research firm Ovum, thinks EE could be attempting to woo government with its latest plan, which could prove a good tactic.

"The added benefit of the micro-network of course is that it also extends the reach of mobile data, which of course the governments proposals don't.

"That has to be an attractive proposition and will certainly get the government's attention," he said.

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