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The Top 10 IT News Stories of the Week

By Nancy Weil

July 13, 2007 — IDG News Service —

1. "Google Buys Messaging Security Vendor Postini for $625M,"
Computerworld, July 9

The Google corporate universe could be growing again -- the company plans to buy messaging security and compliance vendor Postini in a deal worth $625 million. The aim is to help Google Apps users with security for company e-mail, instant messaging and other Web-based communications, Google said. The deal is expected to close by the end of the third quarter and if it does, Postini will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Google. Postini provides message security, archiving, encryption and policy enforcement to about 10 million users at 35,000 companies.

2. "Search Warrants Not Needed to Monitor Internet Use, Court Says,"
Computerworld, July 9

The government doesn't need a search warrant to monitor e-mail or Internet usage of suspects, a federal appeals court ruled this week. The ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in a San Diego County drug case said that privacy shouldn't be expected by Internet users because they voluntarily give information to the third-party owners of Internet infrastructure and hardware. The court referred to a 1979 Supreme Court decision that using a device that records numbers dialed on a phone line isn't search under the Constitution's Fourth Amendment because there can be no expectation of privacy in using phone numbers routed through telephone company switching equipment.

3. "Secret Service Nabs Gang Blamed for $75M in Credit Card Fraud Losses,"
Computerworld, July 9

More than 200,000 credit card numbers, two pickup trucks, some $10,000 in cash and a handgun were found when the U.S. Secret Service captured four members of a criminal gang based in South Florida. The gangsters are believed to be responsible for more than $75 million in losses related to credit card fraud. The gang's activities started to unravel when authorities nabbed Julio Lopez of Hialeah, Florida, and his girlfriend earlier this year. Using the screen name "Blinky," Lopez trafficked for years in counterfeit credit cards and stolen IDs online, according to the Secret Service. Investigating him and his girlfriend led to an organized fraud ring of Cuban nationals at work in South Florida, the Secret Service alleges. "This case demonstrates the potential for online criminals to inflict significant damage on a global scale, " said William Sims, special agent in charge at the Secret Service Miami field office.

 

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