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Posts Tagged ‘stolen’

Report: Canon had 10TB of data stolen off its servers in ransomware attack

06 Aug
A server room — but not Canon’s

Canon can’t catch a break. According to a report from BleepingComputer, Canon has been hit by a ransomware attack that’s resulted in more than 10TB (yes, terabytes) of data being taken from Canon servers.

In a detailed report, BleepingComputer says known ransomware group ‘Maze’ has taken credit for the attack, which has affected nearly every facet of the company, both internal and consumer-facing. BleepingComputer also reports Canon’s IT department has sent out a company-wide message that reads:

‘Message from IT Service Center

Attention: Canon USA is experiencing widesrpead system issues, affecting multiple applications, Teams, Email and other systems may not be available at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience — a status update will be provided as soon as possible.’

A number of the below domains from Canon show this error when attempting to visit.

At this time, the following domains of Canon are being affected:

  • www.canonusa.com
  • www.canonbroadcast.com
  • b2cweb.usa.canon.com
  • canondv.com
  • canobeam.com
  • canoneos.com
  • bjc8200.com
  • canonhdec.com
  • bjc8500.com
  • usa.canon.com
  • imagerunner.com
  • multispot.com
  • canoncamerashop.com
  • canoncctv.com
  • canonhelp.com
  • bjc-8500.com
  • canonbroadcast.com
  • imageland.net
  • consumer.usa.canon.com
  • bjc-8200.com
  • bjc3000.com
  • downloadlibrary.usa.canon.com
  • www.cusa.canon.com
  • www.canondv.com

BleepingComputer also shared a partial screenshot it claims is ‘the alleged Canon ransom note.’ Maze, the ransomware operators claiming to be behind the attack, says it stole 10TB of data, private databases and more, but failed to provide any information on how much of a ransom it’s asking and proof of what was taken.

The recent issues with Canon’s cloud-based media platform, image.canon, are unrelated to this ransomware attack, according to Maze.

BleepingComputer describes Maze as ‘an enterprise-targeting human-operated ransomware that compromises and stealthily spreads laterally through a network until it gains access to an administrator account and the system’s Windows domain controller.’ Maze is behind ransomware attacks on numerous other enterprises, such as LG, Xerox and more.

We contacted Canon for more information on the matter, to which Canon’s PR team replied ‘We are currently investigating the situation.’

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Photo “Stolen” From Art Gallery, Used on Magazine Cover Without Permission

12 Jul

The post Photo “Stolen” From Art Gallery, Used on Magazine Cover Without Permission appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Last week, The Big Issue published an interview with renowned filmmaker David Lynch.

And the magazine put a headshot of David Lynch on the cover.

All of this would have been fine…

…except that the headshot of David Lynch wasn’t actually a headshot at all.

Instead, it was a photo of a framed David Lynch photo. The original was taken by Nadav Kander and displayed as part of a gallery exhibition.

In other words, a photographer attended Kander’s exhibition, took a photo of the framed David Lynch portrait, and the photo ended up on The Big Issue’s front cover. Note that this thoroughly violates copyright law, as Kander has ownership over all of his gallery images.

Kander vented his frustrations via Instagram:

[A] ”photographer” goes to one of my exhibitions and photographs my framed print of David Lynch…Unbelievable blatant copyright infringement. Sad behaviour and more. I would never have wanted this photograph sold.

View this post on Instagram

READ THIS: a”photographer” goes to one of my exhibitions and photographs my framed print of David Lynch. He uploads this picture to a stock site called Alamy. Now this week The BiG Issue which is a magazine in the U.K. publishes a interview with David and buys this despicably shot picture of my photograph, crops in and uses it on the cover of the mag this week. Unbelievable blatant copyright infringement. Sad behaviour and more. I would never have wanted This photograph sold…So photographer who did this, kindly call my studio and we should talk. My alternative is to just go up an avenue that is less than pleasant for you. I wish now I had not got your name taken down off the BI site. Then all could have seen you and “your picture”. My god I work hard to make my work what it is… but this is doubly insulting because added to this your site states clearly that permission should be sought before using your work!!! Go figure. #copyright #copyrightingringement #impissedoff

A post shared by Nadav Kander Studio (@nadavkander) on

How it happened

But how did this happen? How did The Big Issue, a reputable magazine, end up with a stolen photo on its cover?

As it turns out, The Big Issue did not purchase the David Lynch image directly. Instead, the image came from the stock site Alamy, which sold the image to The Big Issue.

The Big Issue writes, in response to Kander’s anger:

Hi Nadav, we’re very sorry you feel aggrieved. This image was sourced by the art team. They discovered it on Alamy. It’s a great image that we felt would help move the magazine. We told Alamy what we were doing and neither tried to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes nor get away without paying.

The first we discovered about the issues with the image was when your agency got in touch at the start of the week. Clearly, Alamy have some explaining to do. We would never intentionally do this. As an organisation that serves the complex needs of thousands of our vendors each year, we understand the need to meet emotional distress with sensitivity. We hope this goes some way to explaining the situation. If you would like to discuss further, please DM us.

This apology would probably be fine, putting the blame squarely on Alamy and the photographer. Except that it turns out the stock image purchased by The Big Issue is different from the image that appears on the magazine cover.

Specifically, the David Lynch photo-of-a-photo acquired by The Big Issue showed a clear frame, as well as an information plaque. It also included shadows that fell across the glass:

But The Big Issue cropped out the frame and the information plaque, apparently oblivious to the photo’s illegal nature.

(Since then, the photo has been removed from The Big Issue’s website, as well as from Alamy.)

So…

Who do you think is to blame for this fiasco?

Is it the fault of the photographer, who took the picture and sold it to Alamy?

Is it the fault of the stock agency, Alamy, who put the photo up for sale on its site? Or is it the fault of The Big Issue for using a questionable photo in the first place?

Let me know right now in the comments!

 

Featured image photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash

The post Photo “Stolen” From Art Gallery, Used on Magazine Cover Without Permission appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.


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What to Do When Your Images Get Stolen

16 Jun

The post What to Do When Your Images Get Stolen appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.

If any of your images live online in any shape or form, it is inevitable that they will get stolen.

With the Internet, copyright infringement has become rampant and is a worldwide phenomenon.

Some individuals don’t understand copyright and think that because an image appears online that it’s theirs for the taking.

However, there are a lot of companies that steal images and use them for commercial purposes – to sell their own products!

How do you know if your image has been stolen?

You can do random image searches on your images in Google. This is a cool feature, but rather tedious and incredibly time-consuming. If you have an extensive library of images, this could take more time than you’d want to spend.

A better alternative is sites like Copytrack, Pixray or Pixsy, which are image tracking services that not only find your stolen images but also will file a copyright infringement claim and sue for damages on your behalf.

This is a great way to seek restitution for stolen photos without the hassle of having to do everything yourself. Not to mention, there is no way you could scan millions of images on the Internet, looking for your work. The technology these services offer does it all for you.

Utilizing an image tracking service is something every photographer should consider. It’s a sad reality that so many photographers today are struggling, while thieves are profiting from our hard work.

An image tracking service can save you a ton of legwork. Most of the time, it’s as simple as uploading your photos. If you get notified that some of your photographs are appearing without permission or licensing, you can file a DMCA takedown notice or a legal claim through the service.

The image search function is free – to a point. It depends on how many images you upload. If you file a legal claim, the service will take a commission.

One caveat to using an image tracking site is that if you do stock photography, it can be hard to ascertain where your image has legitimately appeared.

Stock agencies don’t usually disclose to you who licensed your image. Also, many have partnered up with other stock agencies to sell your work, making your images even more difficult to track.

 

How an image tracking service works

According to the image tracking site Copytrack, 3 billion images are shared online every day. 85% of them get stolen.
Licensing images is about more than just tracking down infringements. Once you discover an infringement, you need to make a decision as to what you’ll do about it.

Both Copytrack and Pixsy can handle the legal side in the fight for fair payment for your work.

You simply upload your images while their Reverse Image Search functions in the background. They will notify you of your matches by email.

Once you confirm the stolen images, they take steps to enforce your copyright.

You don’t need to do anything.

What are scraper sites?

One of the worst types of offenders in the realm of stolen images and copyright infringement online are scraper sites.
Scraper sites steal your content for their own sites or blogs. Some will just scrape content, but most use automated software that takes your images and posts content on their own site.

These sites take images from Pinterest, Google, and your own website and host them illegally.

Not only does your website host the images for them but also they take up your bandwidth!

If you write a blog in addition to post photos, you may find your content appearing on these sites.

What are your options if your image gets stolen?

If your image gets stolen, your first option is to do nothing, which is exactly what many photographers do. The hassle can make it seem not worth it sometimes.

However, if the company that has stolen your image is a large one, you can hire a copyright attorney to take them to court, as this type of claim may be worth thousands of dollars to you.

In most cases, the best option is to use a company like Pixsy and either have them file a DMC Takedown Notice, or file a claim on your behalf.

A DMC Takedown Notice is a request to remove content from a website at the request of the owner of the copyright of the content.



How to file a DMC takedown

DMCA stands for Digital Millennium Copyright Act. To get your stolen content removed from a website you need to file a DMCA takedown notice.

To file a DMC takedown, you can either hire a service or do it yourself.

You need to find out who owns the website. You can use a Who Is lookup tool.

The problem is that it can be difficult to find out who the website owner is in order to send them the notice, as a lot of these sites hide this info. For example, they use Cloudflare to hide their real IP address.

Luckily, there are DMC takedown services that can help you with this. DMCA charges $ 10 USD a month for their protection services and charges $ 199 USD for a full takedown.

How to register your copyright

As a photographer, you automatically own the copyright as soon as you create the image. This means that you do not necessarily have to file copyright for all your photos.

In most countries, you do not need to file copyright papers to prove you own the content or copyright. Government Registered Copyright is NOT necessary in order to get your content removed, however, suing for damages IS easier if you have registered your copyright.

To register your copyright, search online with keywords such as “register copyright Canada/US/Australia” etc., to find the Intellectual Property Office in your country.

In Conclusion

If you have had your images stolen, it’s up to you to decide if you want to pursue restitution.

Small transgressions may not seem worth the time and energy, however, if someone is making money off your work, you may want to consider seeking compensation. Not only for the money but also the principle.

Have you had any of your images stolen? Share with us in the comments below.

 

What to Do When Your Images Get Stolen

The post What to Do When Your Images Get Stolen appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.


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Copytrack report claims 2.5 billion online images were stolen per day in 2018

30 Mar
Illustration showing copyright infringements by continent, used with permission

Image rights enforcement company Copytrack has released its new Global Infringement Report 2019 study detailing the current state of unauthorized image use around the world. According to the company, it performed a statistical analysis of more than 12,000 Copytrack user profiles as part of its new report, which details the number of ‘potential copyright violations’ the company dealt with from December 2017 to December 2018.

Based on its analysis, Copytrack estimates more than 2.5 billion images are stolen every day with potential daily damages estimated at up €532.5 billion / $ 598 billion. Due to the vast number of images used daily, the company found that most photographers and agencies were unaware of many instances of image infringement.

Illustration showing the top 20 most image infringing countries, used with permission

The study found that the majority of copyright infringement cases originated from North America at 33.90%, with Europe coming in second at 31.40% and Asia in third with 29.38%. The company isn’t able to answer why Asia had lower rates of infringement than NA and EU regions but speculated it may be due, in part, to the percentage of regular Internet users in each continent.

Looking at infringement numbers by country, Copytrack found the US had the highest percentage at 22.96%, followed by Panama at 6.76%, China at 6.57% and Germany at 6.32%. The percentage drop quickly from there, coming in at 3.75% for the UK all the way down to 1.25% for Switzerland, 1.16% for the Netherlands and 1.05% for Vietnam.

Below is the report in its entirety:

Of the infringing use, Copytrack found Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution images were the most commonly used. Most unauthorized use involved images with 3:2, 2:3, and 1:1 format ratios, as well as 640 x 400 and 800 x 800 resolutions. Copytrack concludes its report, stating, ‘This problem will most likely continue at a similar rate until major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and the like figure out a way to reliably identify the authors of images posted online.’

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Over $200K in Leica gear stolen from Scottish camera store Ffordes

02 Oct
Image of the Leica cabinets the equipment was stolen from, provided by Ffordes

Ffordes, a camera store in northern Scotland, was the target of what’s believed to be a professional burglary that’s left the store more than $ 200,000 in missing Leica equipment.

On Wednesday, September 26th, the alarm at Ffordes went off. Both the police and a member of the Fforde team alerted management, who quickly arrived on scene. Upon arriving at the shop, it was clear there had been a break-in. One of the front windows had been broken into and a secondary protection window was also removed. Once inside, it was discovered just how much was stolen.

‘From the CCTV footage, the thieves were very well prepared, not just for removing the safety window units but timing,’ said Fforde manager Alister Bowie, in an email to DPReview. ‘They were in and out in under 10 minutes. They went directly to the cabinets with the most expensive equipment inside [passing two other cabinets], broke the doors down and started filling the bags that they had taken in with them. [They were] all suited up and covered [but some] made mistakes and Police are looking over this at the moment. Out of the 12 shelves they only took from 9 of them — the most expensive items and the easiest to sell — they knew what they were looking for.’

Not only was the burglary quick, it was also meticulously planned. According to Bowie, the burglars had been scoping out the location for week and even went so far as to dismantle the street lights and flood lights outside the building. The vehicle believed to be used as a spotter and getaway car was parked 250 yards down the road. Ffordes says authorities are currently combing through both internal and external security footage in an attempt to find out more information.

Bowie says Ffordes has already submitted all of the information it has to the appropriate authorities and will soon release more details, pictures and videos of the burglary in hopes of catching the perpetrators.

Leica Germany has been notified and currently has all of the items re-registered as stolen. Leica dealers around the globe have also been notified and will be keeping en eye out for the stolen gear.

Ffordes has also started a massive social media campaign in an effort to track down the missing gear. Ffordes ‘honestly believes the equipment would be shipped abroad within 12 hours of it being stolen,’ but still has hope the gear will be recovered. Below is a full list of equipment that was taken, complete with serial numbers for verification.

If there’s a shred of good news in this, it’s that the gear was insured. Bowie says the insurance company is currently working on its own investigation and is expected to settle, albeit for far less than what Ffordes paid for the equipment.

If you have any information about the burglary or come across gear on the list, Ffordes asks that you connect with them via email or phone using information found on its contact page.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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A happy ending: Police recover stolen limited edition Leica from The Camera Store robbery

27 Dec
Shattered glass from the break-in. Photo: The Camera Store

You could look at the story of the recent robbery at beloved Calgary camera shop The Camera Store as a play in three acts. Act 1: the store is robbed of over $ 27,000 USD worth of high-end camera equipment. Act 2: Local and worldwide media attention helps police nab two suspects and recover most of the gear in just 48 hours.

And now, Act 3: The final piece of stolen equipment—a rare, limited edition Leica M-P Edition Safari—is returned to the shop, making this particular theft a complete failure.

Act 3 took place just before Christmas, when the Calgary police executed a search warrant—ostensibly at the home of one of the two suspects arrested previously, 60-year-old Tan Xuan Hung Bui and 36-year-old Justin Ross—where they found the stolen Leica M-P Edition Safari worth $ 13,000 CAD (~$ 10,250 USD).

Posing with the recovered Leica M-P Edition Safari Photo: The Camera Store

The Camera Store announced the recovery on its blog at the same time as the news broke in The Calgary Herald. And, as promised, the tipster who alerted the police to the sketchy online gear sale that led to the two suspects’ arrest will receive a $ 5,000 CAD (~$ 3,800 USD) shopping spree at The Camera Store as a token of thanks.

According to The Calgary Sun, the ‘winner’ is “a gentleman from Edmonton.”

But this happy story is not without its one gray cloud. That rare Leica M-P, a collectors item, was scuffed somewhere between its theft from and return to The Camera Store. Then again, given the amount of attention this particular story has gotten, maybe that’ll make the camera even MORE valuable.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Calgary police catch suspected Camera Store thieves, recover most of the stolen gear

22 Dec
Photo: The Camera Store

Earlier this week, we reported on a high-profile burglary at Calgary’s well-known camera shop “The Camera Store”—best known for its popular YouTube channel. Well, thanks to sharp-eyed tipsters and the fast-acting Calgary police, it only took 48 hours from when the store was robbed to catch two suspects and recover most of the stolen gear.

As we reported on Monday, the thieves made away with over $ 27,000 worth of cameras and lenses, including a Hassleblad X1D, three Hasselblad X lenses, and a limited edition Leica M-P Edition Safari. This is the first time The Camera Store has experienced a break-in in over 20 years of business, and owner Julian Ferreira was both upset and determined: offering a $ 3,800 shopping spree “for any information that leads to a conviction.”

Fortunately for Ferreira, he need not have worried too much about the break-in. The same day that the story was spreading like wildfire across the blogosphere, the police were already tracking down the majority of the stolen gear.

Photo: The Camera Store

According to The Calgary Sun and The Camera Store’s own website, once the story went live on local news last weekend, tipsters alerted Calgary police of a Hasselblad X1D and three Hasselblad X lenses that had just been put up for sale on the website Kijiji. Undercover officers responded to the listing, meeting with two men—60-year-old Tan Bui and 36-year-old Justin Ross—at a Calgary mall on Monday afternoon, and taking them both into custody after it was confirmed the camera and lenses ‘for sale’ were the same ones stolen from The Camera Store.

Both men have been charged with possession and trafficking in stolen property, although it is unknown if police believe Bui and Ross are also responsible for the break-in. The $ 10,000 special-edition Leica M-P Edition Safari has not been recovered… at least not yet.

As for that promised shopping spree, The Camera Store writes:

Multiple tips from the public lead Calgary police to the Kijiji listing that helped them recover our equipment and to arrest the two suspects. Once convictions are made, we will contact the person who was first to provide the information to CPS that allowed them to take action quickly, to collect their $ 5000 [CAD] shopping spree reward.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Artist caught using stolen photos for $20,000 Calgary art installation

09 Dec
Image by Derek Besant via Avenue Calgary

A public art installation in Calgary has been removed after it came to light that the artist behind it, Derek Michael Besant, used copyrighted photos as part of the project without permission.

Besant was commissioned by the city of Calgary a couple years ago to create the $ 20,000 CAD / $ 15,500 USD art exhibit as part of the city’s 4th Street S.W. Underpass Enhancement Project. The resulting exhibit, which was located in the 4th St. S.W. underpass, featured large Polaroid-esque images showing blurred individuals with brief quotes overlaid onto them.

The individuals in the images were allegedly travelers with whom Besant had interacted in the underpass. Local publication Avenue Calgary reported in 2015 that Besant had spent a couple days in the underpass with “a camera, notepad and recorder” to get images and quotes from people who passed through. However, that lie fell apart after a Calgary traveler noticed that one of the project’s images resembled UK comedian Bisha Ali.

He sent Ali a note about it, at which point she began deconstructing the lie publicly online, pointing out that at least a few of the other images were also portraits of comedians. Ali detailed the entire saga in a long Twitter thread accessible here.

Late last month, Canadian publication MacLean’s unraveled the rest of the story, reporting that the images were swiped from the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and that the artist had recommended to Calgary Head of Community Services Kurt Hanson that the city take down the exhibition.

In a tweet on the matter dated November 29th, Ali reported that Calgary was taking down the art installation:

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Collector’s cache of Soviet-era camera prototypes stolen in Germany

19 Oct

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On October 3, camera collector Ilya Stolyar was at the Berlin Central Station in Germany when a thief stole his backpack containing rare Soviet camera prototypes. Stolyar describes these cameras as incredibly rare and highly valuable, the kind that would be sold through auction houses for, in some cases, substantial sums of money.

Stolyar spoke with PetaPixel about the theft, saying, ‘These cameras pretty much are one of a kind factory prototypes that cost some really serious money on collectors market. You can probably trade some of these cameras for cars. Those are pretty much Christie’s-grade cameras.’

Unfortunately, Stolyar has not recovered the cameras at this time, though he is offering a reward to those help get any of the cameras back. His contact information can be found in this forum post. Among the stolen items were the following rare cameras:

  • FED 20 
  • FED Romashka Serial 210120
  • Elicon 35C Prototype
  • Elicon 35C MMZ
  • Zenit 19 Prototype (Belomo)
  • Zenit APK (Belomo)
  • Zenit ET Prototype
  • Agat 18 Belomo
  • and Lens
  • Yantar 5 MCE prototype

Via: PetaPixel

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Lenstag helps photographers find stolen lenses and images

21 May

Screen_Shot_2014-05-20_at_2.47.12_PM.png

The website Lenstag bills itself as a tool for helping photographers find lost or stolen gear, but now it’s branching out to help people find images used without permission, too. Lenstag maintains a database of a user’s lens, camera body and accessory serial numbers and then trolls the web looking for photos posted with those registration numbers in the EXIF data of a photo. Learn more

News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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