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Hackers Break Into O'Reilly's Website

Subscriber passwords posted online in act of cyber-revenge

(Newser) - Hackers have broken into Bill O'Reilly's website and posted subscriber data online in an apparent act of retaliation, The Register reports. The hackers put screen shots of subscribers' names, passwords, and email addresses on Wikileaks, which reported that O'Reilly's condemnation of an attack on Sarah Palin's email inspired the break-in....

Federal Informer Was Behind Massive Credit Card Theft

Multinational gang stole 45M credit card numbers from US retailers

(Newser) - Federal agents struggling to crack the biggest data-theft ring in history discovered that one of their own informants was orchestrating the syndicate's US operations, the New York Times reports. The supposedly reformed hacker had turned Secret Service informant to escape a prison sentence in 2003 but secretly continued his criminal...

Suit Stops Hackers From Showing Subway Flaw

MIT students see bug in electronic fare cards; judge says zip it

(Newser) - Boston’s mass transit system has blocked three MIT students from revealing a flaw in its electronic fare system, the Boston Globe reports. Most Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority customers use the CharlieCard, which allows them to store fares. By cracking it, the students vowed to give attendees at a Las...

High-Tech 'Trolls' Stalk the Internet, Harrass for Fun

Web subculture has disdain for just about everything

(Newser) - They gleefully wreak havoc online, tormenting the parents of a teen suicide victim, for example, or causing the website of an epilepsy foundation to flash brilliantly to trigger convulsions. These so-called trolls seek "lulz," or laughs, for their deeds and test the limits of free speech online. One...

Cybercrime Getting Organized
 Cybercrime Getting Organized 
Jul 16, 2008 5:20 PM CDT

Cybercrime Getting Organized

Hackers, identity thieves working more like mafia; profits increasing

(Newser) - There’s serious money to be made in cybercrime, and its perpetrators are beginning to reflect that fact, Ars Technica reports. Lone hackers have been replaced with hierarchical organizations that divide the criminal risks inherent in stealing and reselling (usually financial) information. The cybercrime "firms" are growing steadily as...

Vicious Bugs Lurk in Digital Photo Frames

Cute photos can be latest back-door way to destroy files

(Newser) - Digital photo frames of the kids on shelves across America are cute and trendy—but they can hide computer heartbreak, warns the San Francisco Chronicle. Destructive bugs can lurk in the software and wipe out entire files as photos are being downloaded. "It was the nastiest virus I've ever...

Cyberattack on US Nuclear Lab Linked to China

Hackers' trail leads to Chinese locations, but could be red herring

(Newser) - The coordinated cyberattack into the nonclassified portion of a US nuclear laboratory may have originated in China, says a Homeland Security memo obtained by the New York Times. The memo includes a list of offending internet addresses associated with locations in China, but points out that hackers commonly bounce their...

Hackers Target Bloggers in Cyber-Faceoff

Viral gang sends users infected downloads in major web sweep affecting thousands

(Newser) - Hackers are attacking Google’s Blogger site and planting links to downloads potentially laden with viruses, the BBC reports. Some blogs have been updated with innocent-looking links promising news or digital greeting cards. But clicking on the links could give away users' private data or invite harmful spam messages. Google...

Teen iPhone Hacker Trades Up
Teen iPhone Hacker Trades Up
Aug 28, 2007 1:38 AM CDT

Teen iPhone Hacker Trades Up

He gets sports car, job and more iPhones

(Newser) - A New Jersey teenager who reconfigured an Apple iPhone to operate on networks other than AT&T's has parlayed his creation into a "sweet" new sports car and a consulting job. George Hotz, 17,  is trading the hacked iPhone to a Kentucky mobile phone repair company for a...

Germany Furious Over Chinese Spy Hackers

Berlin government computers infected with espionage programs

(Newser) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel kicked off her Chinese summit today amid highly charged reports in der Spiegel that the Chinese have been spying on the German government by hacking into computers in several German ministries. Scores of official computers are said to have been infected with spyware concealed in PowerPoint...

Teen Hacker Switches iPhone Carriers

Expert coders, solderers can ditch AT&T with procedure

(Newser) - A 17-year-old New Jersey student has unlocked Apple's previously AT&T-exclusive iPhone, the AP reports, potentially opening the floodgates for users who want to use the vaunted handset with other carriers. Teen hacker George Hotz used a complex combination of software alterations—and hardware soldering—to let his phone onto...

Arrest Marks TJX Hack Case Breakthrough

Ukrainian man captured in Turkey called key to massive scheme

(Newser) - A Ukrainian-born man believed to have helped arrange the sale of credit card numbers stolen from TJX is in custody, investigators say, and his arrest may help crack the largest case of corporate data theft on record. He was selling thousands of  stolen numbers, the Boston Globe reports, but it's...

Russian Hackers Attack Websites for a Fee

'Online mercenaries' target clients' business, political foes

(Newser) - Hackers across Russia are executing crippling attacks against enemy websites—and they work for hire, Der Spiegel reports. For only a few hundred dollars, clients can retain Russian hackers to disrupt business transactions by launching barrages of pernicious data into their enemies' systems. But a disturbing trend is evident in...

iPhone Security Flaw Exposed
iPhone Security Flaw Exposed
Jul 23, 2007 5:07 PM CDT

iPhone Security Flaw Exposed

Vulnerability could make must-have gadget a target for hackers

(Newser) - A software vulnerability in the iPhone could allow hackers to commandeer the device and steal personal information, such as text messages and contacts, or even dial expensive calls, the New York Times reports. The hack works through either a WiFi connection or by steering users to a site containing malicious...

The Computer Virus Turns 25
The Computer Virus Turns 25
Jul 13, 2007 4:52 PM CDT

The Computer Virus Turns 25

(Newser) - A long time ago (1982), in a galaxy not so far, far away, Rich Skrenta, then a clever 9th grader, invented what may have been the first computer virus—Elk Cloner. It was, by current standards, a benign virus that Skrenta installed on his school computer, so that every time...

Estonia Attack Prompts Cyber Security Blitz

Experts from all over studying how to soup up digital security

(Newser) - In the wake of what some are calling the first digital act of war—when hackers using as many as a million computers attacked Estonia's  web-based infrastructure—cyber security experts from all over Europe and the US are huddling to study how to prevent future disasters, reports the New York ...

Estonia Suspects Russia of Cyberattack

NATO geeks dispatched after barrage cripples e-government

(Newser) - Estonia is under cyberattack after removing a Soviet war memorial from its capital, reports the Guardian.  A barrage of mysterious spam assaults crippling government ministries, banks, corporations, political parties and news organizations has prompted NATO to deploy counter-cyberterrorism experts to the Baltic state, as officials cast a suspicious eye...

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