hackers

The 404 1,293: Where it's in that place where I put that thing that time (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- So weird: Bruins fans watched tons of porn after they lost on Monday night.

- A collection of songs ruined by film, TV, and humanity.

- New kiosks at 7-Eleven stores will store your keys.… Read more

Yahoo: Don't fret about hack attacks on recycled user IDs

Yahoo's plan to recycle old user IDs has prompted some concern among security experts who fear hackers could take advantage. But Yahoo says their fears are unfounded.

Speaking to Reuters in an interview published on Thursday, Yahoo senior director for consumer platforms, Dylan Casey, said that he's "aware" of the concerns over identity theft, but his company has "gone through a bunch of different steps to mitigate that concern."

Yahoo announced last week that it's resetting all user IDs that have been inactive over the last 12 months starting in July. The company … Read more

Malware masquerading as Bad Piggies found on Google Play

Heard of the game Bad Pigs? Or is it Bad Piggies?

Some clever hacker decided to create a malicious app deceivingly similar to one of the top games in the Google Play store. And, it was downloaded more than 10,000 times before people took notice.

Security company F-Secure wrote on Wednesday that it had located Bad Pigs -- which had the same artwork and app description as Bad Piggies -- and let Google know. The only apparent differences between the two apps were the names of the app and the developer -- who was "Dan Stokes" rather … Read more

Chinese hackers reportedly stole Obama and McCain documents

On the eve of President Barack Obama's high-level meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, U.S. intelligence officials have revealed that a slew of documents and e-mails were stolen during the 2008 presidential campaign from both the president and then GOP presidential candidate John McCain. Officials are accusing China's government for the hack.

According to NBC News, officials said that they first detected the major cyberattack in the summer of 2008 and were then able to trace the culprits back to China.

"Based on everything I know, this was a case of political cyberespionage by the Chinese … Read more

Hacker accused of massive Stratfor attack pleads guilty

Jeremy Hammond was arrested in a major federal sweep last year on charges of computer hacking conspiracy, computer hacking, and conspiracy to commit access device fraud.

The self-described hacktivist pled guilty to these counts in court on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.

"As part of each of these hacks, I took and decimated confidential information stored on computer systems websites used by each of the entities," Hammond told a judge in federal court in Manhattan, according to the Associated Press. "For each of these hacks, I knew what I was doing was against the law."… Read more

Chinese hackers reportedly accessed U.S. weapons designs

The designs for some of the most sensitive advanced U.S. weapons systems were reportedly accessed by Chinese hackers, according to a confidential report prepared by the Defense Science Board for the Pentagon.

The report, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Post, listed more than two dozen compromised weapons systems, including missile defenses and combat aircraft. The security breaches, the latest linked to China, could allow the country to accelerate development of its own systems and weakens the U.S. military position, experts told the Post.

The public version of the report, titled "Resilient Military Systems … Read more

The wide world of hacking in China

China has been cited as allegedly hacking into U.S. government and corporate networks for years now. Generally, the thinking has been that the government is the only entity in the country actively hacking. But a new report seems to indicate that's not even close to the truth.

The News York Times on Thursday released a report on hacking across China. The Times found that not only does hacking occur at the highest levels of the government, but that everyone on down from local law enforcement officials to company owners to criminals are using their hacking techniques to take … Read more

Google breach may have led to sensitive data leaks

U.S. officials are concluding that the 2010 hacks into Google's servers may have ended with Chinese hackers getting ahold of sensitive data, according to The Washington Post.

Current and former government officials told the Post that the hackers were able to access information on U.S. intelligence, as well as find out which possible Chinese spies government officials may have been targeting.

In January 2010, Google shocked the security community by being one of the first tech companies to disclose that it and other companies had been hit by attacks that originated in China. The Web giant said … Read more

U.S. charges 8 in $45M global cybercrime scheme

A global cybercime ring stole $45 million from banks around the world in a matter of hours by hacking a database of prepaid debit cards, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

Seven people are in U.S. custody in connection with the case, which prosecutors said involved thousands of thefts from ATMs using bogus magnetic strip cards. Data stolen during two separate intrusions at credit card processors was used to make more than 40,500 withdrawals in 27 countries during two separate incidents in December and February, prosecutors said.

Eight people in New York have been charged with participating in the conspiracy … Read more

U.S. says Chinese government behind cyberespionage

The Chinese government and military have engaged in widespread cyberespionage targeting U.S. government and business computer networks, the Pentagon said Monday.

China maintained a steady campaign of computer intrusions in 2012 that were designed to acquire information about the U.S. government's foreign policy and military plans, according to the Pentagon's annual report to Congress on China's military.

"China is using its computer network exploitation capability to support intelligence collection against the U.S. diplomatic, economic, and defense industrial base sectors that support U.S. national defense programs," according to the 83-page 2013 "… Read more