Tag: HACKER

The hacker who orchestrated the biggest computer crime operation in U.S. history is alleging that the American government authorized him to do so. Last year, 29-year-old Albert Gonzalez pleaded guilty to hacking into computer systems at TJX, Office Max, Dave & Busters, Heartland Payment Systems and other companies, in order to steal some 130 million credit card numbers. He received a ...

A former Gucci IT worker is facing a 50 count indictment and a wide range of charges (including computer tampering, identity theft, falsifying business records, computer trespass and unauthorized use of a computer) after he broke into the company's systems and wreaked havoc. While an employee at Gucci, Sam Chihlung Yin created an account with a remote-access security token for a fictional ...

A cyber-attack on an online marketing firm has impacted a wide array of companies and customers in what could be the largest data breach in U.S. history. The online marketer, Epsilon, sends out more than 40 billion email ads and offers each year, typically to users who register with a company's website, or give their email addresses while shopping online. On Friday, Epsilon announced that a ...

Last year, a hacker named Igor Blinnikov infiltrated a video billboard, and used it to broadcast porn above a busy road in Moscow. Though the 40-year-old prankster eventually confessed to the crime, calling it a "bad joke," he wasn't able to avoid his legal comeuppance. Today, Blinnikov was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Blinnikov reportedly hijacked the billboard from the comfort of his ...

In June 2009, federal authorities arrested William McGraw (alias "GhostExodus") on charges of hacking into 14 computers at W.B. Carrell Memorial Clinic in Dallas, where he worked as a security guard. According to prosecutors, McGraw gained access to the network as part of his plot to attack Anonymous on or before the Fourth of July -- which he called "Devil's Day." His master plan, however, ...

Research in Motion is urging BlackBerry users to disable JavaScript on their smartphones after a major vulnerability was exposed at this year's Pwn2Own hacker challenge. According to the company, the security hole could allow a hacker to gain access to the device's data if a user stumbles upon any "maliciously designed" websites. The vulnerability only exposes data stored on a user's media card ...

Say what you will about Anonymous, but it's hard to deny that the group has a flair for the dramatic. Yesterday, the collective ambushed one of the Westboro Baptist Church's websites, during a live joint interview on 'The David Pakman Show' of a WBC member and an Anonymous member. Throughout the segment, a member of Anonymous went back and forth with an incomprehensibly annoying church ...

Symptoms: People listed in your e-mail contacts report being flooded with spam messages sent from your account. Or, you start receiving a bevy of "bounced" e-mails from random addresses you don't know. You aren't able to log into your account or change its settings, or you've discovered the settings have been altered. You attempt to use e-mail, and find it has been blocked by your provider. ...

Slipping in over his VNC client, Max could see what was on the computer's screen, as though standing right in front of it. Since he worked at night, the display on the dormant PC was usually dark, so he'd nudge his mouse to clear the screen saver. If there was anyone in the room, it might have been a little spooky: remember that time your computer monitor flipped on for no reason, and the ...

Ars Technica's Nate Anderson has put together a long and fascinating report on the tumultuous recent history of Aaron Barr -- the security expert who successfully infiltrated Anonymous, and then got burned, after running to the FBI with his findings. Based on e-mails he sent before beginning his mission, it's clear that Barr's motives, from the very beginning, were profit-driven. A social media ...

Security researcher Brian Krebs is reporting that eHarmony's user database has been compromised, giving a rogue hacker access to information on thousands of the dating site's clients. According to Krebs, it appears that the breach was orchestrated by Chris Russo -- the Argentinian hacker who pulled off a similar heist on dating site Plentyoffish a few weeks ago. Russo, who prefers to call ...

On Friday, the Financial Times published a story about the ongoing criminal investigation into Anonymous -- the notorious online collective of hacktivists that have orchestrated cyber-attacks on Visa, MasterCard, and a handful of authoritarian governments. In the article, the paper quoted a computer security expert named Aaron Barr, who claimed to have "penetrated" the group, and said that his ...

A new piece of banking malware has finally surfaced, confirming fears that have been circulating for several months. The new worm combines elements from both Zeus and SpyEye, but, according to Seculert CTO and co-founder Aviv Raff, it has only infected a handful of people so far. Seculert's screenshots show that the malware has two control panels -- one resembling Zeus's, and the other ...

The Web may be up and running in Egypt, but Anonymous clearly hasn't forgotten the Egyptian government's unprecedented shutdown of the Internet. The group of free speech 'hacktivists' is now claiming credit for taking down the websites of the Egyptian Ministry of Information and the National Democratic Party, which is currently in power. Anonymous confirmed the attacks in a message posted to its ...

Whenever you choose to block or report a person on Facebook, the social network prompts you to choose from an automatically generated list of reasons for your action. On the English version of the site, you'll see options like "Inappropriate profile picture," or "Inappropriate Wall post." On the French site, however, recent visitors may have noticed an additional option, concerning not fake ...