Elderly Amish Man Caught on Film With Prostitute, Blackmailed
When a 75-year-old Amish widower slept with a prostitute, he -- we feel certain -- felt pretty bad about it the next morning. As if that guilt weren't enough for the old man, the prostitute and her boyfriend demanded $67,000 from him, claiming that they had filmed the scene with wall-mounted cameras and would upload the recording to the Internet. The pair was later arrested and, we can only imagine, the Amish man abhorred technology more than ever.
Bank Robber Gets Away With the Help of Craiglist
In October, a bank robber -- wearing a safety vest, blue shirt, face mask and goggles -- eluded police with the help of Craiglist. Just outside the bank, while the robbery was in progress, stood a group of men who were responding to a Craiglist day labor opportunity. As the advertisement required, they were all wearing safety vests, blue shirts, face masks and goggles.
Nude New Zealander Arrested After Responding to Fake Sexy Text Message
Late in 2007, a Wellington, New Zealand man received a racy text message from two anonymous "ladies," giving him only an address and a request that he show up naked. Well, he indeed showed up naked... at the home of one appalled, unsuspecting New Zealander. Both the nude Romeo and the sadistic texter were arrested, though neither were prosecuted.
Fake Craiglist Ad Costs Man Most of What He Owns
Last Spring, a post appeared on an Oregon Craigslist board stating that the owner of a specific house was leaving all of his worldly possessions (still in said house) to whoever wanted them. When homeowner Robert Salisbury rushed home -- on a tip from a woman suspicious about the offer of a free horse -- he found his house being ransacked by 30 strangers. We suggest he take that horse and collect some vengeance Clint Eastwood-style.
17-Year-Old Jailed for Stealing Virtual 'Furniture'
When a 17-year-old Dutch boy hacked into several accounts on the Second Life-style site 'Habbo' in 2007, the the law got involved. The boy was discovered to have stolen $5,800 worth of virtual furniture and knick-knacks. Apparently, crime -- whether actual or virtual -- does not pay.
Phishers Going After Your Phones in New 'Vishing' Trend
Over the past year, sneaky spammers have begun to forsake the worn-out territory of e-mail in favor of cell phones' fertile frontier. The result? "Vishing." Get it? Voice mail phishing. It might be more ominous if it didn't sound like a James Bond villain saying, "Wishing."
Burglars Break Into Restaurant, Steal HDTV, Leave Money / Food Behind
Around Halloween of last year, a truckload of thieves drove into -- that's right, into -- a Pennsylvania Mexican restaurant, where they -- apparently uninterested in the cash register -- stole a mid-grade 47-inch HDTV and fled the scene. We've all heard about how this generation is lacking in ambition, but this generation's thieves, too?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
joe-joe said 7:50PM on 10-13-2008
cheers for the hackers.hope they make public what they found.
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dennis said 9:29PM on 10-13-2008
life in prison and confiscation of all assets for all hackers..
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Steven said 4:38AM on 10-14-2008
So it says in the article that 18 servers were attacked by an unidentified hacker or group of hackers yet the title says there were 18 hackers. So which is it?
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Ashram said 8:40PM on 10-14-2008
"It always seems that the hackers are one step ahead."
They usually always are because hackers discover an exploit that nobody administering these systems ever know about until they find out rather late that there was a compromise.
The fix is made usually after the damage has been done to someone already.
The biggest problem is that the only way to get ahead of hackers without disconnecting from an open network is for a system administrator to be a hacker him or herself and find ways to crack their own systems and then apply patches. But that's a very arduous and ongoing task. A lazy way to do it is to manage how the systems are accessed, including taking the systems offline or off an open network for times where they cannot be actively monitored. Of course, that's not always practical.
In addition, there will always be potential exploits in any system of any significant complexity. There can even be patches to a problem that may fix it but also opens up new exploits just waiting to be discovered!
In all, no system can ever be made completely invulnerable to attack for the simple fact that such a thing implies perfection in a design or a configuration, which is an engineering impossibility. The only thing you can do to help security is to make the task of cracking it so difficult that it opens questions on whether or not it's really worth it (and, ironically, that can make you question whether or not such security is worth it as well).
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