Are browser web histories the vulnerability of the week?
The Register is reporting that police in Japan have arrested a Tokyo man and a juvenile on fraud charges in connection with an extortion operation in which they bilked victims out of “tens of thousands” of yen. (That would be hundreds of U.S. dollars (10,000 JPY = $110).
Authorities said the pair put a malcode-infected copy of a Hentai-based game on the Winny file sharing network. The game installer (which also installed a Trojan horse) presented a form on which users were required to enter personal information. The personal data, IP address of the victims’ computers and their browsing history were then made public on a web site. The extortionists then send email messages to victims offering to remove their data from the publically available web site for a price.
Story here: “Japanese police cuff Hentai smut scam suspects”
This, of course, is an example of the danger that lurks in file-sharing networks. It’s also interesting that this is the second story in a week that highlights the vulnerability of Web users’ browser histories.
See our May 21 blog post for directions on how to turn off browser history. “On the Web, your browser history is an open book”
Tom Kelchner