Hacks

Corporations bring a 'knife to a gun fight' amid cyberattacks

Corporations are increasingly under fire from the rapidly rising threat of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, according to new research from security firm Radware.

The study notes that DDoS attacks on corporations rose 170 percent in 2012 over the previous year.

After analyzing data from a number of security breaches and responses from 179 participating firms, Radware said that many corporations can be compared to "someone who brings a knife to a gun fight." In other words, businesses are attempting to protect themselves from cyberattacks but often fail because they are unprepared.

A number of trends point toward a … Read more

WikiLeaks says Aaron Swartz may have been a 'source'

WikiLeaks said late yesterday that recently deceased Internet activist Aaron Swartz assisted the organization, was in contact with Julian Assange, and may have been one of the organization's sources.

Reached in Iceland on Saturday evening, California time, WikiLeaks representative Kristinn Hrafnsson confirmed to CNET that the tweets were authentic but declined to elaborate.

In the tweets, the organization said it was revealing the information "due to the investigation into the Secret Service involvement" with Swartz.

Here are screenshots of the tweets:

The phrasing of the last tweet ("strong reasons to believe, but cannot prove") may … Read more

Anonymous launches attack on Mexico's Defense Department

Anonymous has set its sights on Mexico's Department of Defense.

The group's Mexican legion has claimed responsibility for waging a distributed-denial-of-service attack on the government site, rendering it inoperable for several hours yesterday, according to the Associated Press.

During the attack, the group posted a statement on the media section of the government's Web site. The statement claimed that a "bad government" was running the country.

"Our struggle is for life, and our bad government offers death as the future," the statement read, according to Spanish language tech news site Web Adictos. "… Read more

Anonymous squashes Westboro plan to picket Aaron Swartz funeral

Anonymous may have convinced the Westboro Baptist Church to cancel its planned protest of the funeral of Aaron Swartz.

A day after the news came out that the 26-year-old online activist had committed suicide, the members of WBC stated their intention to picket his funeral, which took place yesterday.

A press release on the group's Web site and Twitter feed revealed the location of the funeral and said: "Cyber criminals are the latest face of this nation's and this world's raging at God and His Servants at WBC. When you raging rebels give these cyber criminals … Read more

Windows RT jailbreak tool unleashed online

Microsoft Windows RT

Windows RT was recently hacked to allow it to run unsigned desktop apps, and now it seems anyone can run that same hack via a simple batch file.

Someone dubbed Netham45 has packaged the hack into a batch file that users can trigger on their Windows RT tablets. That hack enables people to launch unsigned desktop applications compiled for ARM-based RT devices.

The tool takes advantage of a hack revealed earlier this week by someone identified only as clrokr. In a blog, clrokr explained how he was able to change a value in the Windows RT kernel … Read more

Iran said to be responsible for cyberattacks on U.S. banks

Several U.S. banks were hit with online attacks over the past few months, but it's been unclear who was responsible. Now, government officials and security researchers are saying Iran was waging these cyberattacks, according to a report by the New York Times.

"There is no doubt within the U.S. government that Iran is behind these attacks," James A. Lewis, a former official in the State and Commerce departments and a computer security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told the Times.

The attacks were aimed at several major banks, including … Read more

Windows RT hack? Don't sweat it, Microsoft says

Windows RT can be hacked to run unsigned desktop apps, but Microsoft sees no reason to worry.

As described yesterday, the hack allows someone with a certain amount of savvy to change code in the Windows RT kernel so the tablet-based OS can run desktop apps. Officially, the only desktop programs that Windows RT supports are Microsoft's own Internet Explorer and Office suite. Otherwise, the OS can run only Windows Store apps.

But the hack isn't geared for the average Windows RT user.

Besides requiring the necessary programming chops, the hack can only change code in memory. So … Read more

Anonymous: 'Expect us 2013'

The hacking collective Anonymous has clarified that it has no plans to fade away in the New Year. It issued a statement over the weekend that warned the world to "Expect us 2013."

Along with the statement, the group created a video that boasts of its campaigns and exploits carried out in 2012. The video details the group's temporary shutdown of the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI, Universal Music, and the Motion Picture Association of America's Web sites in protest of the U.S. government's indictment of the operators of popular file-hosting site … Read more

The top threats for 2013, as seen by McAfee

In the coming year, the world will see increases in mobile cyberattacks, ransomware, and "hacking for profit," as well as the decline of hacktivist groups such as Anonymous, according to McAfee Labs' 2013 Threat Predictions.

The security firm's research report, released today, predicts that cybercriminals and hacktivists are going to refine and "evolve" techniques and tools used not only to steal from our wallets, but also to take advantage of our personal data. Along with a likely rise in cyberattacks that take advantage of the explosion in mobile technology, McAfee warns of threats based on … Read more

Celebrity hacker gets 10 years prison for e-mail hack

The man targeted in "Operation Hackerazzi" is now behind bars.

Hacker Christopher Chaney was sentenced to 10 years in prison today by U.S. District Judge James Otero, according to the Associated Press. Chaney pled guilty to hacking into dozens of celebrities' e-mail accounts and posting their private information on the Internet. Among his victims were Mila Kunis, Scarlett Johansson, Christina Aguilera, Simone Harouche, and Renee Olstead.

"It's hard to fathom the mindset of a person who would accomplish all of this," Otero said, according to the Associated Press. "These types of crimes are … Read more