Next world war will be online

The head of the UN International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has told delegates at the ITU Telecom World 2009 conference that the next big war will most likely be fought online, says Computing.co.uk.

Hamadoun Tour'e said that countries are becoming increasingly dependent on the Internet to control basic services, and that any future war could focus more on the online world, since such a battle would allow weaker adversaries to fight on a level playing field with larger powers.

"The next world war could happen in cyber space and that would be a catastrophe. We have to make sure that all countries understand that, in that war, there is no such thing as a superpower," Tour'e said, according to French news agency AFP.

US and Egyptian authorities have charged 100 people with conducting a phishing operation that siphoned at least $1.5 million from thousands of accounts belonging to Bank of America and Well Fargo customers, reports The Register.

Fifty-three defendants from California, Nevada and North Carolina were named in a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday. Prosecutors said it was the largest number of defendants ever charged in a cybercrime case. Authorities in Egypt charged an additional 47 people.

Operation Phish Phry, as the case was dubbed, marks the first joint cyber investigation between law enforcement agencies in those two countries. The case was filed in federal court in Los Angeles.

US regulators will for the first time crack down on bloggers who fail to disclose fees or freebies they get from companies for reviewing products, says The BBC.

The Federal Trade Commission, FTC, decided to update its nearly 30 year old guidelines to clarify the law for the vast world of blogging.

Offenders could face eventual fines of up to $11 000 per violation.

FBI director Robert Mueller was banned by his wife from doing online banking after he nearly fell for a phishing scam, reports CNet.

He received an e-mail purporting to be from his bank that looked "perfectly legitimate" and which prompted him to verify some information. He started to follow the instructions, but then realised that that "might not be such a good idea”, he said.

"Just a few clicks away from falling into a classic Internet phishing scam", Mueller "barely caught himself in time" and admitted he "definitely should have known better".