Russian hacking site disappears

The notorious Russian web hosting service Russian Business Network (RBN) has disappeared from the internet after it became the focus of intense media scrutiny.

RBN provided internet services to organized crime and cyber criminals, it has been reported. The company was called a "hub" of internet crime, including child pornography, identity theft, phishing scams and spam mail. The St Petersburg-based company always denied the allegations, however it has now abandoned most of its internet addresses.

A network architect at Trend Micro, Paul Ferguson, told PC World: "The routing information for their IP addresses has been withdrawn. "That's significant because while RBN has had connectivity issues in the past, then the routing [to its IP addresses] was still being advertised. This time, they've been voluntarily withdrawn."

Many have theorized that the outfit is merely relocating, with some hypothesizing that they are setting up in China, Taiwan or Turkey.

Internet plea from Interpol garners overwhelming response

Hundreds of people from all over the globe have responded to an internet-borne request from Interpol for help in finding a pedophile.

Interpol have posted the man's picture on the internet after he appeared in over 200 photos abusing young boys. In the photo's the man's face has been digitally scrambled, but computer experts working for German police managed to unscramble it and produce a legible image.

Kristin Kvigne, assistant director of Interpol's Trafficking in Human Beings Unit, told the BBC: "We have already ... hundreds of responses from the public globally as to who this person could be. "We feel that with the press, the media coverage that this case has been given, we have a very good chance of finding out who he is."

Investigators think that the pictures that the man appears in were taken in Vietnam or Cambodia in 2002 or 2003.

Online videos 'could contain malware'

A recent security report has warned that online videos could be disguising viruses and malware which could infect one's computer.

Research from the Georgia Tech Information Security Center found that hackers are finding new means of disguising damaging software and that putting it in online videos is becoming a favored method. Criminals are also using text-based messages and PDF files to disguise viruses, the security report stated.

Chris Rouland, the chief technology officer for IBM's internet security systems unit and a part of the group that drafted the report, commented: "Just as we see an evolution in messaging, we also see an evolution in threats. "As companies have gotten better blocking e-mails, we see people move to more creative techniques."

Media players are simply "the next logical step" for cyber criminals to take to infect victims' PCs, he added. Meanwhile, MessageLabs Intelligence recently reported that the month of September saw a substantial rise in the number of phishing attacks.