Crime is something that we have been dealing with since early ages but in the world of technology the crime rates have gone really high because people who are interested in stealing and making easy money are making use of the technology to rob more money. The year 2011 has been an important year for those who are fighting against fraud. This year the law enforcement agencies saw one of the biggest breaches in the history and they also saw the development of organized fraud rings that helped them to tighten up the laws and provide better results because it was only with collective effort that such frauds can be prevented.
It was in April that Sony Corp network breach was announced and more than 100 million gamers were compromised at the same time. This was something that really shook the gaming world. The breach into Sony PlayStation online game network ruined the entire network as the network went down for 23 days and Sony suffered losses that are worth $170 million so far. However, just few months after the hacking was done multiple suspects were arrested. The most recent arrest was of Cody Andrew Kretsinger who is a 23 years old network security student at the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, Arizona. He is suspected to be the member of the computer hacker group Lulz Security, which is commonly known as LulzSec. According to the indictment Kretsinger executed and promoted the high profile attacks on Sony networks.
LulzSec is also in the list of suspects that has breached other networks including the CIA and US Senate network. In July House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade came up with notification bill that was designed to enhance protection of consumers personal information by establishing uniform national standards. In September, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the Personal Data Privacy and Security Act, Data Breach Notification Act and Personal Data Protection and Breach Accountability Act. As per the bills that were passed all the breached organizations must post media notices and alert credit reporting agencies of the hacking event so that they can start working on it. However, the guidelines do not apply to state and local government as they do not need to provide information to the consumers about the breach.
Soon after that Full Tilt Poker made it difficult for the players to play their online gambling games on the internet. The Full Tilt Poker along with its operators built a global Ponzi scheme that cost all online poker players $390 million. Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and PokerStars shutdown in April and the CEO of Full Tilt Poker; Raymond Bitar has been indicted with charges of bank fraud, money laundering and gambling law violation. Till date, Full Tilt Poker has maintained a false image of financial stability by crediting players through phantom funds which they would lost to other players creating massive shortfall.