The Subprime Loan Crisis 08/31/2007 04:53:00 pm by Dan Krohn

	Increasingly one reads in the business press of worries running through the world’s financial markets that the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis might trigger something much worse. There are calls for government action; and indeed, there have already been some governmental responses in the U.S. if not elsewhere. This is a very curious situation. As one person explained it to me, the real problem is that the lenders in response to problems with loans that they should not have made are restricting credit to worthy borrowers. How peculiar? Does it follow that lenders should not, as other businesses are, be allowed to fail if managed poorly? One of this blogger’s neighbors was working for a mortgage lender while the mass of subprime loans was being produced, and claims that instructions from upstairs were to make loans to people who could not pay them back. The money would be made on the real estate foreclosed upon. Alas, there are executives today who have never seen a whole business cycle and thus do not believe in downturns. They are learning. It will be interesting to watch just who the government takes actions to help. This blogger knows where his money would be. This is the same government which passed a “Bankruptcy Reform Act” which will soon be seen for the cruel thing that it is. This is the same government that has allowed interest rates on credit cards to rise to levels previously only seen on loans by organized crime to the desperate. It’s a long odds bet that this government will truly come to the aid of the downtrodden foreclosed upon poor and lower middle class. But it’s a good bet that this government will use tax money to help those lenders which knowingly made high risk loans. Perhaps they made those loans believing that the government would bail them out. The story is yet to be completed.

	[comments?]

Monster.com Data Exposure 08/25/2007 05:15:23 pm by Dan Krohn

	One of the most sophisticated computer scams in memory is growing out of the wrong people having obtained data to more than 1.6 job resumes submitted to Monster.com. Apparently they did not hack in, but rather gained access by using login names and passwords taken from legitimate employers and/or recruiters. Though the full effects are yet to be known, anyone who has submitted a resume to Monster.com should be on the alert, as an assortment very nicely customized email scams are being sent. (After all, the bad guys know a lot about the people whose material they accessed, so the email is much more customized than in the usual scam.) Some of the email is actually designed to lure the hungry job applicants into participating, perhaps unwittingly, in illegal money laundering operations. If it looks too good to be true, it is.

	[comments?]

Cybergang Warfare - What’s Old Is New Again 08/23/2007 10:23:12 am by Dan Krohn

	As people spend increasing amounts of their time living in a virtual world, the virtual world continuously evolves to imitate more closely the natural world. Heck, some companies have even issued dress codes for their employees’ avatars in Second Life. But not all such crossover is wanted. All of us have seen movies, read books, or studied enough history to recall the days of organized crime and gang warfare in efforts to control territory. Legendary villains like Al Capone built empires largely by taking out other gangs. The older among us remember the television show the Untouchables, and more recently born readers may have seen the movie version. While the old style gang warfare still exists, it is now leaking into the virtual world. Computer security experts have discovered that some organizations specializing in infecting computers with sophisticated malware are including code to prevent installation of malware from other sources. There are several apparent motives. One is simply the greater value of stolen information that is not easily available to others. The second motive is concern that more poorly written malware could get the computer user’s attention and inspire security measures. Lastly, if the computer has been hijacked for use in generating spam or as part of a botnet to be used in denial of service attacks, who would want its performance degraded by someone else’s virus?

	[comments?]

Be Wary - Wells Fargo Customers 08/23/2007 10:19:26 am by Dan Krohn

	Wells Fargo suffered a computer problem last Sunday which temporarily shutdown customers electronic banking capabilities including use of ATM’s. Though the bank rapidly restored service, there have been some complaints about transactions not yet being reflected. Security experts are expecting a substantial increase in phishing aimed at Wells Fargo customers. Customers of Wells Fargo are urged to be wary of any emails purporting to come from the bank, and should not click on any link contained in such email. The overwhelming probability is that such a link is designed to compromise the security of your own computer. The bad guys have made sure that their phony Wells Fargo website looks very similar to the real one. But if you are looking at it, you have probably been infected.

	[comments?]