Identity theft victims help catch the bad guys by Corina Ciubotaru

Identity theft is one of the most recent, but common types of crime. If a hacker somehow finds a way to use your bank account and starts spending your money, it's identity theft. And it's a nightmare if it happens to you: you will soon have no money, your checks will bounce, you cards will become useless and the bank will still blame you for not keeping your account functional. It will probably take a very long time to get the problem sorted out with the bank and don't expect it to be easy. If you discover you are the victim of identity theft, the first thing you should do is to place a fraud alert on your credit reports, to prevent the hacker from opening accounts in your name. The fraud alert can be placed at any of these three companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Next, you should try to close the accounts that have been tampered with then file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission which has a special Identity Theft Hotline. Last but not least, you should report your trouble to the police. Hackers are many, but every once in a while, one of them gets caught. This time, it was Max Ray Butler from San Francisco, who stole account information and then sold it to various buyers for a few hundred dollars. He was known as Iceman and now risks 40 years of prison and a fine of $1.5 million if he is found guilty on all five charges. He was arrested on September 5th in California.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070911/ap_on_hi_te/internet_credit_theft;_ylt=AnsnncrKRnB0pf6t6r9NQAis0NUE

by Corina Ciubotaru for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

Twenty-five years ago, the virus was born by Corina Ciubotaru

This year marks the anniversary of 25 years since the first virus was released onto the unsuspecting world. It was the brainchild of a 9th grader named Rich Skrenta, who liked to play pranks on his friends. So, when he got an Apple II computer as a gift, he started using technology to make fun of them. At first, he tampered with their floppy disks, getting them to show certain messages when they were inserted in the computer; later viruses created by Skrenta would render the game unplayable after a certain amount of time, which ultimately led to his friends not trusting him anymore and forbidding him from borrowing their disks. He created what is now known as a "boot sector" virus, which infects the computer and all the disks that are inserted into it afterwards. After his friends got sick of getting their games messed up, he went on to install his program on the school computers and from then on, the users took care of the rest. Since then, millions of viruses have infected countless computers and have evolved along with the world. Modern viruses are being transmitted through the internet, by e-mail and attachments, and are much more commercial in purpose. They cause huge losses to some companies and high gains for antivirus developers. Some allow the creator to gain control of the infected computer and use it as a cover for other malicious activities. The virus has come a long way and it looks like it's here to stay as long as people have personal computers and the need to do bad things to others.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070901/ap_on_hi_te/computer_virus_anniversary;_ylt=ApFgDmz1ZgKR3Ih78CSYPaqs0NUE

by Corina Ciubotaru for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.