Eideard

Cyber criminals use Trojans to steal information, but are the same techniques of electronic surveillance being used by the agencies set up to protect us?

Internet crime “is no longer the elephant in the room. It is the room,” Sir Ian Andrews, chairman of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), told this week’s London Conference on Cyberspace. The rapid increase in the cost of cyber-crime means police and governments are having to protect themselves from a threat that is often nearly impossible to trace. But the web has also become a vital space to gather evidence on suspects for traditional crimes…

There was controversy earlier this month when the German state of Bavaria admitted using a Trojan – a malicious program sent to a digital device covertly to collect data – to gather intelligence on suspected criminals. The R2D2 malware received criticism for it potentially allowing officials to launch software and capture images on the infected computer…

Ironically, the Trojan is not believed to have been sophisticated enough to beat antivirus software so would only be able to infiltrate unprotected computers – something unlikely amongst experienced computer users.

But there seems to be an emerging trend of governments going on the offensive…

In the UK, senior officials have not ruled out doing something similar. “In terms of the sensitivities around particular Trojans, it wouldn’t be something that we would particularly like to talk about,” says Lee Miles, head of cyber at the UK serious crime agency, SOCA.

Cybercrime expert Professor Peter Sommer, of the London School of Economics, believes that adding software remotely to a suspect’s computer would probably be illegal under current UK law. And the introduction of new powers for the police is something that is often picked over with a fine-toothed comb before its introduction is even proposed.

“We do need to exercise care embarking down this path [of using new techniques] because of the unintended consequences – it’s something that has to be considered very carefully,” says UK Minister for Crime and Security James Brokenshire.

Will police expand the use of malware to catch cyber-criminals? Short answer? I hope so.

We’ve already had instances of counter-measures fired back at zombie servers used by hackers. That can be turned to trojan techniques in any number of ways. But, then, if I have thought of doing this – someone in computer security is probably already doing it.

Her sister, Waltraut, awaits her return

A runaway cow named Yvonne is on the loose in Germany and the manhunt — or moohunt — for the Bavarian bovine has captivated the country.

The freedom-loving cow ran away from a little farm in Bavaria in May and has managed to hide successfully in the forests of southern Germany ever since — despite her sturdy 1,500-pound (700-kilogram) figure.

Locals have reported a few sightings of the brown dairy cow with the white head, but every time search teams have tried to capture her, Yvonne had already hoofed it from the area. A helicopter equipped with a thermal camera used in search-and-rescue missions returned Thursday empty-handed.

Searchers have tried to lure Yvonne into the open with food, with the bellows of her son Friesi and her sister Waltraud, even with a prospective mate named Ernst. Scores of volunteers are combing upper Bavaria’s woods for her.

The six-year-old animal would have never made national headlines if it hadn’t been for a near-collision with a police car days after she broke away. The rural district office in Muehldorf reacted by labeling the big-eyed bovine a public danger and ordering her shot on sight.

That prompted animal-rights activists to rally to her defense. A Facebook page calling for Yvonne’s rescue had more-than 23,000 “likes” by Friday, and Germany’s biggest-selling newspaper, Bild, has offered a 10,000 euro reward on its front page for anyone who helps find Yvonne.

In the wake of all the attention, the order to shoot Yvonne has been suspended.

A animal sanctuary in Bavaria has bought Yvonne — sight unseen — from the farmer she escaped from and is now in charge of trying to find her. Hopefully they’re better at it than the silly buggers who have been trying.

UPDATE: Yvonne has surrendered and has been taken to the Gut Aiderbichi animal sanctuary to live out her days.

Alois Mannichl
Daylife/AFP/Getty Images

German police say they have held two people suspected of stabbing a police chief in an apparent neo-Nazi attack. The suspects were arrested based on a description given by Alois Mannichl, who was seriously injured near the southern city of Passau on Saturday.

A regional prosecutor said the attacker was a skinhead who called Mr Mannichl a “leftist pig” before plunging a knife into him, narrowly missing his heart.

Mr Mannichl, 52, has led a crackdown on neo-Nazis in the state of Bavaria.

Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Hermann has said if the right-wing theory is confirmed it would mark a serious escalation in neo-Nazi violence.

State prosecutor Helmut Walch said the attacker rang the police chief’s doorbell and said before stabbing him: “You’re a leftist pig cop, and you will no longer hang around the graves of our comrades.”

The attacker’s comments were an apparent reference to this summer’s funeral of a regional neo-Nazi leader, who was buried with a Nazi swastika flag, which is banned in Germany. Mr Mannichl later ordered police to re-open the grave and remove the swastika.

Lock ‘em up and throw away the key.