Burglars use social networking

Social networkers using sites like Facebook or Twitter may leave themselves open to burglary due to the personal information so many openly share, warns eWeek.

Users of social networking sites are giving away vital information about themselves and their whereabouts that is being used by professional burglars to establish a list of targets. So found a survey sponsored by British insurance firm Legal & General and conducted by Opinion Matters, an independent pan-European market research agency.

The report, "The Digital Criminal", found 38% of users of sites such as Facebook and Twitter have posted status updates detailing their holiday plans and a third have posted status updates saying they are away for the weekend.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) has for the first time published a strategy outlining its approach to tackling e-crime, says Computing.co.uk.

The wide-ranging strategy lays out in detail plans for improving all law-enforcement agencies' capability for tackling cyber crime.

"This strategy is designed to assist law enforcement in building a response to this very real challenge," said Janet Williams, Acpo lead on e-crime.

The hacker accused of orchestrating the largest-known identity theft in US history will serve between 15 to 25 years in prison under a plea deal filed on Friday, reports The Register.

Albert "Segvec" Gonzalez is accused of leading a hacking circle that stole 130 million credit and debit card numbers from major retail chains like Barnes and Noble, TJ Maxx, Sports Authority, and OfficeMax.

The former government informant agreed to plead guilty to 19 felony counts in Massachusetts, by 11 September. Court documents also indicate Gonzalez will plead guilty to a separate New York indictment accusing him of similar crimes that targeted 11 Dave & Buster's restaurants.

Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed earlier when a US Senate Bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet, reports CNet.

They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to senator Jay Rockefeller have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft, which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cyber-security emergency.

The new version would allow the president to "declare a cyber-security emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's necessary to respond to the threat.