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Hi-tech thieves who specialise in card fraud have a credit line in excess of $5bn (£3.35bn), research suggests.

Credit card numbers and bank details are big sellers among hi-tech thieves

Security firm Symantec calculated the figure to quantify the scale of fraud it found during a year-long look at the net’s underground economy.

Credit card numbers were the most popular item on sale and made up 31% of all the goods on offer.

Coming in second were bank details which made up 20% of the items being offered on criminal chat channels.

The $5.3bn figure was reached by multiplying the average amount of fraud perpetrated on a stolen card, $350 (£234), by the many millions Symantec observed being offered for sale.

Similarly, the report said, if hi-tech thieves plundered all the bank accounts offered for sale they could net up to $1.7bn.

Closed accounts
Symantec said it was likely that many of the cards offered for sale were invalid or cancelled and bank accounts closed but it added: “These figures are indicative of the value of the underground economy and the potential worth of the market.”

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I was getting this error [Generic Host Process for Win32 Services has encountered a problem] every time i reinstalled windows and it kept coming up and then stopped after few days. I never knew what was the reason for it and this time i decided to go after it.

It is very annoying and comes only when I am online and whenever it pops up it taken down the internet and I have to restart my computer again. The error details show the problem with svchost.exe and netapi32.dll

Well the reason the error goes away after a few days is that I have windows update on and it downloads the updates and patches the errors in xp sp2. This time I turned it off and thats why I still get this error.

I order to get rid of this error and other variants of it do the following.

1. You receive a “Generic Host Process” error message after you start the computer, or DBCS attachment file names are not displayed in Rich Text e-mail messages.

RESOLUTION

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894391

loadTOCNode(1, ‘resolution’);

Hotfix information

loadTOCNode (2, ‘resolution’);A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft. For Windows XP SP2, the Generic Host Process error can potentially occur on any system at any time. Although you receive the error message shortly after system startup, the actual error occurred during the previous system shutdown. Because of the broad nature of this issue, this hotfix was made available through Windows Update and distributed to users who have Automatic Updates enabled to eliminate this problem on Windows XP SP2 systems. For Windows XP SP2, you may experience one last Generic Host Process error upon restart after you install this hotfix. This is from the previous system shutdown before the new version installation was completed.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894391

2. Generic Host Process Error Message and a Flashlight Icon Appear

RESOLUTION

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/821690

loadTOCNode(1, ‘resolution’); To resolve this problem, follow these steps:

Contact HP to obtain compatible drivers for the printer or scanner. For information about how to contact HP, click the appropriate article number in the following list to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/821690

3.Error messages when you start a Windows XP-based computer and then try to download Windows Updates

RESOLUTION

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931852

loadTOCNode(1, ‘resolution’);To resolve this problem, follow these steps:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931852

Music pirates can be deterred by warnings from their internet service provider (ISP), suggests a survey.

Almost 75% of music pirates would stop if told to by their ISP, the survey of 1,500 UK consumers found.

The research looked at the digital habits of consumers and found that the abundance of online music services was convincing many to go straight.
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Residents of Muswell Hill, London and Whitchurch, South Glamorgan will be the first to try next generation broadband.

Exchanges in both areas are to become pilot sites where the fibre-based broadband will be tested.

Once the exchanges are upgraded home users should be able to go online at speeds in excess of 40 megabits per second (MBPS).

Up to 15,000 home and business customers in each area will get the chance to take part in the pilot.

Fast forward

The operational pilots will run fibre-optic cables to the street cabinets that connect homes and businesses to telephone exchanges.
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Ufone Pakistan is introducing innovative mobile products in Pakistan, and has now launched BlackBerry Bold smart phone in the country. First to bring this inimitable marvel to the local market, Ufone will further add to its reputation as a front runner in providing BlackBerry services to customers on the go.

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The Pakistan Telecommunication Ltd (PTCL) has increased its reliance on modern technology by introducing new IT software to facilitate customers with quick information/connectivity providing efficient services.

Walid Irshad, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PTCL stated this here on Wednesday while addressing the signing ceremony of Enterprise Agreement for Information Technology (IT) Infrastructure Optimisation between PTCL, Ufone and Microsoft. He termed the agreement a “milestone” and said that this strong technological partnership will allow PTCL and Ufone to benefit from the Microsoft’s innovative products.

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Are you a frequent flyer and aware that everytime you board a plane, even for short distances, you are contributing to global warming?

A new software ‘Travelport Carbon Tracker’ launched by leading automated aviation ticket reservation systems company Galileo GDS will tell “your contribution” to carbon emission when you take a particular flight.
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The idea may scare some, but Intel predicts that by 2050 machines could surpass the peak of human intelligence.

So predicted Justin Rattner, chief technology officer at the chip maker, in a presentation at the Intel Developer Forum which examined how technology is expected to bridge the gap between man and machine.

The vision included sensitive robots and shape-shifting materials.

“There is no question that one of the most likely things that will happen in the next 40 years is that machine and human intelligence will come much closer together,” Mr Rattner told the BBC.

“The ability of humans to communicate with machines and for machines to communicate with humans will get so much better.”
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Say goodbye to the tangle of cables and the wall socket and hello to powering up your electronic gizmos wirelessly.

This picture of a world without wires is one long dreamed of and came a step closer following significant progress made by Intel.

It said it has increased the efficiency of a technique for wirelessly powering consumer gadgets and computers.

“The notion of disappearing energy sources is a powerful one,” Justin Rattner, Intel technology boss, told the BBC.
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A UK-built solar-powered plane has set an unofficial world endurance record for a flight by an unmanned aircraft.

The Zephyr-6, as it is known, stayed aloft for more than three days, running through the night on batteries it had recharged in sunlight.

The flight was a demonstration for the US military, which is looking for new types of technology to support its troops on the ground. continue

Police snooping in the past makes the issue very sensitive in Germany

Data protection officials in Germany have called for privacy laws to be tightened amid a scandal over illegal sales of personal data.

The officials say they were able to buy six million items of personal data on the internet, including bank account details and phone numbers.

The data cost just 850 euros (£671), the officials said.
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