The Real News
RELAW, APC
May, 2017
Airbnb Updates Security

Airbnb has been in the news lately, but not for good reasons.  Criminals have started hacking the accounts of highly rated Airbnb users.  They then are able to conduct a short-term lease on properties using someone else's account.  While they are in the unit, they rob the place.  Other criminals have taken the opposite approach.  They have hacked or spoofed a reputable person posting a property for rent.  They then trick people looking for a place to rent into giving them money.

There are three main ways the criminals have targeted Airbnb (and other service providers) accounts.  The first is by "Password dumps".  This is when a large company has a security breach and a large number of accounts have their information stolen.  Since many people use the same user name and passwords for all of their online accounts, the criminals may take data from a different company and apply it to the Airbnb account to see if that allows them access.  Even though Airbnb has not reported any data breach, since other companies have, it may still compromise your account if you don't change your passwords often.  The second method is "phishing".  The criminals will send unsuspecting people a link to a fake website that looks just like the legitimate website.  They ask the people to enter their personal information, which the criminals then use against them.  The third method is the use of "malware".  People's computers may become infected with malicious software that can capture keystrokes, including usernames and passwords.  Once the person logs into their account, the information is sent to the criminals.

To thwart the criminal threat, Airbnb has added "multi-factor authentication".  This requires a user to enter a separate code when they try to access their account from a device that is different than what they have on record.  They are also implementing new forms of account alerts to help users to be more aware of what's happening with their account.  Cybercrime is a growing "industry".  The public needs to become more aware of this threat and do what they can to combat it.  It's good to see companies are being proactive in this regard.

Case of the Month

Joshua and Christina Epps, Plaintiffs and Respondents
v.
Bruce Lindsey, Defendant and Appellant

What's in a word?  For Bruce Lindsey, he hoped it was the house he was living in.  Unfortunately, it didn't work out the way he wanted.  It all started when Lindsey's at the time girlfriend, Linda Barbee, purchased the house.  After, according to Lindsey, a tumultuous relationship, Barbee quit claimed her interest to Lindsey after the house was in foreclosure and Barbee moved out.  However, he claims she used her "leverage" to "extort" money from Lindsey in the form of a ten-year lease to the property for $2,300 a month.

Bank of America purchased the property during an April 2015 foreclosure sale.  Joshua Epps' parents then purchased the property, on behalf of Joshua and Christina Epps, via an online auction in August 2015.  The Epps did not have enough liquidity to purchase the property online themselves.  One month later, Joshua Epp's parents transferred the property to the Epps.

Code of Civil Procedure section 1161b, subdivision (b)(1), provides that "tenants or subtenants holding possession of a rental housing unit under a fixed-term residential lease entered into before transfer of title at the foreclosure sale shall have the right to possession until the end of the lease term, and all rights and obligations under the lease shall survive foreclosure, except that the tenancy may be terminated upon 90 days' written notice to quit" if, as relevant here, "[t]he purchaser or successor in interest will occupy the housing unit as a primary residence."  The Epps had no obligation to honor the lease if they provided a 90 day notice to quit and if they were "the purchaser or successor in interest" who intended to "occupy the housing unit as a primary residence".  Both of those items were not contested.  The Epps did serve the 90 days written notice to quit.  The Epps were very clear that they intended to occupy the housing unit as a primary residence.

Lindsey appealed the trial court's decision that favored the Epps.  His claim was the wording of the Code of Civil Procedure section 1161b.  Lindsey claimed that the trial court got it wrong because Bank of America was the successor in interest.  Further, since the Epps' parents purchased the foreclosure property, the Epps were even further removed from being the successor in interest and that his 10-year lease was applicable.

The appellate court remarked that a thorough analysis of the wording of section 1161b allowed them to determine that the "successor in interest" is not qualified by terms like "immediate," "ultimate," or "eventual".  Instead, section 1161b uses the word "the" before "purchaser or successor".  The word "the" is used as a "function word" to indicate "that a following noun or noun equivalent is definite or has been previously specified by context or by circumstance" or the word indicates "that a following noun or noun equivalent is a unique or particular member of its class." (Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed. 2003)).  In fact, section 1161c does use the word "immediate".  Although Lindsey attempted to stay in the house for the full 10 years based on a "technicality" of the wording of section 1161b, the appellate court agreed with the trial court and ruled in favor of the Epps.

Inmates Go On A Cybercrime Spree


Two inmates at an Ohio prison went on a cybercrime spree in 2015.  They were able to cobble together computers using parts they salvaged from their prison jobs of recycling old electronics.  They built the computers and then hacked into the prison facility's network, where they were able to "watch porn and steal stuff."  They downloaded hacking materials and accessed the state's Departmental Offender Tracking System in order to steal another inmate's social security information.  They were inspired by an article they found by Bloomberg Business that detailed tax refund fraud.  They used the inmate's social security information to apply for five credit cards and they were planning to file false tax returns in order to steal the money.  They even created passes for other inmates to access restricted areas within the prison.  They were able to do all of this because they were given extended periods of time left on their own without supervision.

An IT staffer noticed that a computer on their network had exceeded its daily usage limit.  After a closer look at that computer via the network, they noticed it also triggered alerts after failed attempts to hack past the network's controls.  This is what tipped off the people inside the prison.  They found the illegal PCs hidden away in the ceiling of a small training room in the medium-security Marion Correctional Facility. 

As if this wasn't enough trouble, the warden also landed in hot water because he broke state rules by not reporting the incident to his superiors.  He eventually resigned.  The two inmates have since been sent to two separate facilities and are no longer allowed access to electronic devices.

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Jennifer Felten, Esq., Principal & Editor
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