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On three occasions I have received emails from my bank asking me to verify information. I called my branch and was instructed not to respond to it. The bank rep said they never contact customers by email. So I printed the two emails and brought them to the bank manager.

To my dismay, the bank really wasn't interested in going after the fraud. The sender was very clever. They had the correct logo and a domain that matched my bank. When I clicked on the link an unfamiliar domain name came up.

I switched to Chase Bank and I recently got a similar email asking me to confirm sensitive information.

Isn't internet fraud a federal offense?

Jon P. please see my initial comment..

antonio from park slope,

There is an advantage to owning a way overpriced computer that you can only run a handful of computer programs on and only a hand full of people use (a MAC), No one will hack your computer. Kind of like being stranded on a desert island. Nobody will bug you wile the rest of the world writes programs for computers that people actually use and can afford. Now don’t you feel special?

What the Wired Lady is trying to say is that scanners are only getting the low fruit on the the net, i.e. those who do not have the protection available on their systems. You could as easily change the daily news headlne to: NYPD Successfuly defends Computers Against 75,000 Attacks a Day"

Thank you for doing this segment on cyber hacking hype. Perhaps this story should go a bit further in deconstructing how news organizations follow the headlines of each another and, in a sense, create news which sometimes leads to new legislation, policy change and wasting taxpayers money. Why did this story take the headlines away from the economy?

Kim is giving very useful information, but she needs to work on her delivery, it's so monotone and her connection is so poor it's difficult to pay attention -- sorry!

Yet another Murdock (sp) controlled media source is providing irresponsible reporting. Shocking.

Any time that end-users have can't explain "weird behavior", any time IT managers refuse to admit their own incompetence at securing data (or making it accessible to the outside world in the first place), or any time the mass media needs a sensationalist headline, the hacker gets blamed.

On behalf of the "hacker community" in New York City, I'm sick and tired of this blame game. We're not your scapegoats.

Yes, Kim is right. 70,000 scans per HOUR is also possible.

Want to see what happens on YOUR pc?

take your pc, re-configure it to DIRECTLY talk on your DSL or cable (or FIOS) line DIRECTLY
without a firewall.

you will likely see about 500 to 1,000 scans PER HOUR without looking at the firewall..

Quite accurate, and quite scary.

This does NOT mean it hasn't been happening since 1990. It IS there, and HAS been (almost) forever

I appreciate Kim Zetter's level-headed view on this.

One thing I noticed, was that all these stories point fingers at China & Russia. What is the U.S. doing or attempting? Are they hacking China & Russia's computers?

Brian,
There was an interesting piece on the Wall Street Journal's alarmism re. this issue in Slate yesterday, check it out: http://www.slate.com/id/2216795/

I think NYC police commissioner Ray Kelly said yesterday that 70,000 people have tried to hack into NYC's police computers. Not sure of the time frame.

buy a mac.