Internet Dating & Marriage Scams - how to avoid them

In the last four years I have seen numerous cases of this already classical Internet scam, obviously after they took place and there was little or nothing to do to reverse the financial damage on the victims. Basically, a Western guy meets an Eastern woman on Internet chat or dating services, they develop a relationship over the Internet and in some cases even meeting in real life, then he sends her large amounts of money and the girl eventually disappears. Are there chances of legal action success? What precautions should be taken?

Cyber-terrorism from fiction to reality

While preparing my two lectures for the Advanced NATO seminar that took place in Kiev, Ukraine, last week (sep 26 to 29, 2010) and had as topic "Cyber-Terrorism Prevention & Counteraction" - I had the occasion to go again through many books, reports and related documents on Cyber-Terrorism. Below are some key elements of the phenomenon, as a short introduction to this topic.

Computer crime in Romania - press releases overview

Since we've just passed in the second half of year 2010 I have re-read for you the press release issued by the Romanian Directorate on Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) - the law enforcement body which also investigates computer related crimes in Romania.
I have made a selection of all press-releases for cybercrime cases in the first half of 2010 year in an attempt to analyze the data with respect to types of cybercrime most often encountered, areas covered, etc.

Protect your busines from computer related risks

Two different conversations with the visitors of my blog had the same theme: how can I protect my business from the computer and internet related risks?. This article is based on a situation I frequently met here in Romania but which can be generally applicable in other countries too:

I am not talking about security auditing the business, investing in security technology and such, but instead I will refer here to some simple but important measures any company should take in protecting their business. It's about legal protection.

Is email accepted as evidence in romanian courts?

I receive this question very often and one of the answers is: Yes, you can use email in a Romanian court as evidence, in most of the cases but, only if you bring it in court in a proper manner.

Prevention: How can I stay away from SPAM?

On the romanian language blog related to prevention of computer crime and dedicated to non-technical users, I have added a new practical advice in an attempt to answer questions from the readers asking how to keep their personal email addresses away from receiving SPAM.

Digital photos as evidence in Romanian courts

What should I do in order to use digital photos as evidence in court? Do Romanian courts accept photos from a digital camera? Do I have to turn in my camera or it's enough that I print the photos?..and so on... these are just a few questions I frequently receive from people concerning the digital photos as electronic evidence in courts in Romania.

Fingerprints on the Internet?

How unique and identifiable are we while surfing the Internet from the silence of our home? Do we leave behind traces that through which we can be recognized?

Our Browsers, while useful tools for gathering information, communicate with the web-servers we visit, exchanging a plethora of information, giving to the server especially information about our computer, especially the configuration of the  browser and it's helper applications (the plug-ins, installed fonts, video and audio players, etc) that are installed.

The browsers do this so that the server has the possibility to format and adapt the pages that it will deliver to us so that they are displayed correctly. But usually, the server keeps this information after we leave.

Because all these fonts and plug-ins vary from computer to computer, all this data and information, although anonymous while it's not coupled with the IP address, gathered and analyzed create a configuration fingerprint almost unique, that we leave behind while surfing. Gathering this information from several servers, it's easy to create and follow a path we make on the internet and process and store and identify us while returning to a server. Like a fingerprint.

You can test how unique is your browser by visiting project Panopticlick...