Facebook on Thursday announced a new security feature that will allow users to see if they are logged into their accounts on a different computer and to remotely log out if so.

This will address the problem that many of us have of leaving a computer--either one we borrowed at a friend's house or used at a public spot like a library--logged in to our Facebook account without realizing it. Doing so leaves it open for abuse by whoever happens to visit the site next on that machine, allowing them to use the account to send spam or masquerade as the legitimate user.

After its recent conflict with Research In Motion over access to customer data, India is expanding its reach to include Google and Skype.

The Indian government is asking all three companies to install local servers in the country so that it can more easily tap into encrypted e-mail and other communications, according to Bloomberg and other sources.

Home Secretary G.K. Pillai told reporters on Wednesday that notices were being sent to Google and Skype to provide 'lawful access' of data to security agencies. The country sees access to such communications as vital in its fight against militants and terrorists who may use encrypted networks to plot  attacks.

We've all received e-mails from deposed Nigerian princes asking for help in getting lots of money out of his country. But that's just one of several scams that made Panda Security's list of the most frequent online cons of the decade.

As 2010 starts to wind down, the security vendor on Thursday unveiled its rankings of the most widespread Internet scams from the past 10 years. Though the cons themselves may vary, the pattern is typically the same, according to Panda. Cybercriminals initially contact their victims through e-mail or a social network, asking them to respond back by e-mail, phone, fax, or some other means. The crooks will then try to gain the trust of anyone who swallows the bait, eventually finding some excuse to request money.

Researchers are hoping to get a better insight on botnets after taking down part of Pushdo, one of the top five networks of hacked computers responsible for most of the world's spam.

Thorsten Holz, an assistant professor of computer science at Ruhr-University in Bochum, Germany, said his group is working on an academic paper focused on methods to figure out what type of malicious spamming software is on a computer that sent a particular spam e-mail.

They looked at several of the major spamming botnets, including Mega-D, Lethic, Rustock as well as Pushdo and Cutwail, two kinds of malware that appear to sometimes work together as part of the same botnet.

Holz said they found that Pushdo had a special characteristic in that more than half of its command-and-control servers were concentrated within one hosting company. Botnets use command-and-control servers to issue instructions to the infected PC, such as uploading spam templates and the target e-mail addresses to send spam.

Mobile phone users in China are now being asked to provide identification when they set up a new account and existing accounts will eventually need to provide ID, according to reports.

The new rules, which took effect on Wednesday, apply to everyone buying a phone or SIM (subscriber identity module) card, including foreigners and short-term visitors. The requirement was adopted to curb rampant spam, porn, and telecom fraud, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said, according to Xinhuanet, the Web site of the official Chinese government news agency.

Sweden has reopened its rape investigation of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange less than two weeks after the case was initially dropped.

'There is 'reason to believe a crime has been committed,' the Swedish Prosecution Authority said Wednesday in a statement. 'More investigations are necessary.' The second investigation has been widened to include possible sexual coercion and sexual molestation, according to the statement.

Due to the timing, the rape investigation of Assange has triggered controversy and conspiracy theories. Proclaiming his innocence, Assange has suggested the allegations are part of a smear campaign by opponents of his Web site.

Researchers at Norwegian and German institutes claim to have successfully cracked the quantum cryptography equipment used to cloak highly sensitive communications by banks and defense agencies.

The researchers said they had remotely controlled the photon detectors used in commercially available photodiode quantum cryptography systems. This allowed them to eavesdrop on communications, the researchers said.

'The security of quantum cryptography relies on quantum physics but not only [on that]...It must also be properly implemented,' said Gerd Leuchs of the University of Erlangen-Nurnberg in a statement Sunday (PDF). 'This fact was often overlooked in the past.'

On September 1, New Yorkers will have a chance to peer inside the sleazy world of cybercrime when the "Norton Black Market Experience" rolls in to Times Square via a converted semi truck.

The event is free and open to the general public between 11am and 3pm. According to Symantec, visitors "will leave with a better understanding of the cybercriminal's world, as well as options for protecting themselves online."

Symantec originally devised the Black Market Experience as a one-time exhibit, but it proved so popular that it has taken the show on the road. I went through it at the RSA Security conference earlier this year and came away impressed. Visitors enter a literal "market" whose shelves are loaded with fake security software in boxes, barrels of cloned credit cards ready to be scooped up, and stolen identities in bundles of hundreds, or thousands.

After temporarily setting aside its BlackBerry ultimatum, the Indian government has shifted its focus to Gmail and Skype, according to the AFP.

India is apparently taking issue with any communication service that doesn't give it easy access to data. It has a problem with Google-owned Gmail's heavy encryption and with the inability to listen in on conversations over VoIP with Skype.

'If a company is providing telecom services in Indian, then all communications must be available to Indian security services,' a government representative told AFP. 'If Google or Skype have a component that is not accessible, that will not be possible.'

A botnet responsible for a significant amount of spam has been crippled but may reconstitute itself in a matter of weeks, according to vendor M86 Security.

The Pushdo or Cutwail network of hacked computers ranked in the top five or so botnets for spam, responsible for as much as 10 percent of all spam, said Ed Rowley, product manager for M86 Security. The spam often advertises fake software, so-called designer goods and questionable pharmaceutical products.

But security analysts with the computer security company LastLine took action last week, contacting ISPs that were hosting the command-and-control infrastructure for the botnet.

About 30 servers at eight hosting providers were found to be supporting Pushdo. LastLine contacted the ISPs, and about 20 of the servers were taken offline, according to itsblog. Some ISPs, however, were unresponsive.

That nice, new, computerized car you just bought could be hackable.

Of course, your car is probably not a high-priority target for most malicious hackers. But security experts tell CNET that car hacking is starting to move from the realm of the theoretical to reality thanks to new wireless technologies and evermore dependence on computers to make cars safer, more energy efficient and modern.

'Now there are computerized systems and they have control over critical components of cars like gas, brakes, etc.,' said Adriel Desautels, chief technology officer and president of NetraGard, which does vulnerability assessments and penetration testing on all kinds of systems. 'There is a premature reliance on technology.'

Research In Motion, the maker of the popular BlackBerry smartphone, has averted yet another ban of its e-mail and messaging service, according to news reports Monday.

The Indian government said it will not shut down the service for at least another 60 days as it evaluates proposals RIM has offered that would allow the government to monitor wireless subscribers' communications.

Indian officials said earlier this month that the company had until the end of August to come up with a solution that would allow them to monitor e-mails and other electronic messages from BlackBerry users in the country.

3M has signed a deal to acquire biometric security firm Cogent Systems for $943 million, the companies announced Monday.

According to 3M, it will pay $10.50 per share for Cogent, representing an 18 percent premium over the stock price at market close Friday. 3M will purchase all shares of Cogent 'within 10 business days,' according to the agreement.

Pasadena, Calif.-based Cogent sells finger, palm, iris, and face biometric systems to governments, law enforcement, and businesses.

The decision of 3M--a massive conglomerate--to acquire Cogent is based on its view that the biometrics market is booming. Cogent is a player in the $4 billion market, which 3M asserts will grow more than 20 percent over the next year. 3M said it is especially interested in using Cogent's services to reach law enforcement agencies.

AMMAN (AFP) – Jordan on Sunday approved a temporary law on cyber crimes after amending it to appease the fury of journalists who said the legislation was a means to control local news websites.

The law had initially allowed the authorities to raid and search offices from which websites are published and to access computers without prior approval from public prosecutors.

But under the new amendments approved by the government, searching such offices requires court permission and enough evidence that these places are used to commit cyber crimes, Information Minister Ali Ayed said.

Journalists have complained that one of the articles of the law banned sending or posting data on the Internet or any information system that involves defamation or contempt or slander, without defining such crimes.

MANILA (AFP) – The Philippines on Sunday ordered all government offices to tighten Internet security after its main information website was brought down by hackers.

"We are alerting all government agencies to review and improve security of their websites in view of the hacking of the website this afternoon," presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma said.

"We are adopting best practices to lessen the vulnerability of our websites to hacking and other cyber crimes," Coloma said.

The information agency website was inaccessible for several hours in the afternoon with the words "Hacked by 7z1" appearing if searched on Google.