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Uncovering Syrian Hackers
May 20, 2013 | by Nicole Perlroth | Comments
It’s the question of the moment inside the murky realm of cybersecurity: Just who — or what — is the Syrian Electronic Army? The hacking group that calls itself the S.E.A. struck again, this time breaking into the Twitter accounts and blog headlines of The Financial Times.
Complaint Filed against Snapchat
May 20, 2013 11:47 am | Comments
A privacy watchdog group is going after Snapchat for deceiving users about self-destructing...
Chinese Hackers Resume US Attacks
May 20, 2013 11:24 am | Comments
Three months after hackers working for a cyberunit of China’s People’s Liberation Army went...
Cyber Teams Need to Look for Trouble
May 20, 2013 11:05 am | by William Jackson | Comments
Agency cybersecurity teams have not been accepted by IT shops as full partners in the job of...
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Lawmakers Introduce Bill Requiring Court Order to Seize Phone Records
May 17, 2013 10:23 am | by Kim Zetter | CommentsIn the wake of the AP scandal, in which federal investigators obtained the phone records of journalists using only a subpoena, four lawmakers have introduced legislation in the House that would prevent federal agencies from seizing any phone records without a court order.
Romanian Hacker Aims to Protect World's ATMs
May 17, 2013 9:40 am | by Radu Marinas | CommentsValentin Boanta, sitting in his jail cell, proudly explains the device he has invented which, he says, could make the world's ATMs impregnable even to tech-savvy criminals like himself. Boanta, 33, is six months into a five-year sentence for supplying gadgets an organized crime gang used to conceal ATM skimmers, which can copy data from an unsuspecting ATM user's card so a clone can be created.
Lulzsec Hackers Sentenced
May 16, 2013 4:09 pm | by Peter Bright | CommentsThe four British Lulzsec hackers — Mustafa "tflow" al-Bassam, Ryan "kayla" Ackroyd, Jake "topiary" Davis, and Ryan "ViraL" Cleary — were sentenced to between 20 and 32 months in jail for crimes committed during Lulzsec's 50 day hacking spree in 2011. The handling of charges of conspiracy to commit fraud brought against all four was also an important issue.
The Trick to Detecting Poison Ivy RAT and Other Stealthy Malware
May 16, 2013 3:04 pm | by William Jackson | CommentsHackers have become adept at modifying malicious code to avoid detection by signature-based security tools so that even well-known malware such as the Poison Ivy Remote Access Tool can slip past defenses. But even stealthy, well-disguised threats leave tracks that can be discovered through analysis of network traffic.
Carbon Black Teams with VirusTotal to Improve Malware Detection
May 16, 2013 9:32 am | by Ryan Murphy | CommentsCarbon Black and VirusTotal has announced an official partnership to help improve malware detection as part of the Carbon Black Alliance. Well known in the information security world, VirusTotal is a free, online service that analyzes files and URLs, enabling the identification of viruses, worms, trojans and other kinds of malicious content.
Saudi Telecom Wants to Listen to Its Customers
May 16, 2013 9:10 am | by Dan Goodin | CommentsMobily, a Saudi Arabian telecommunications company with 4.8 million subscribers, is working on a way to intercept encrypted data sent over the Internet by Twitter, Viber and other mobile apps, a security researcher has said. Moxie Marlinspike, the pseudonymous cryptographer, said he learned of the project after receiving an email from company officials.
Cops Should Get Warrants to Read Your Email, AG Says
May 16, 2013 8:46 am | CommentsAttorney General Eric Holder became the White House’s highest ranking official to support sweeping privacy protections requiring the government, for the first time, to get a probable-cause warrant to obtain email and other content stored in the cloud. Holder, who was speaking at a Justice Department oversight hearing, said that warrants are unnecessary for non-criminal investigations.
White House Releases Benghazi Emails
May 16, 2013 8:30 am | by Jeff Mason | CommentsThe White House sought to defuse controversy over its handling of last year's killing of four Americans in Benghazi, releasing emails that show how Obama administration officials presented a scrubbed-down version of the attacks to the public.
IC3 2012 Internet Crime Report Released
May 15, 2013 3:24 pm | CommentsThe Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has released the 2012 Internet Crime Report — a summary of reported fraudulent activity, including data and statistics. In 2012, the IC3 received and processed 289,874 complaints, averaging more than 24,000 complaints per month. Unverified losses reported to IC3 rose 8.3 percent over the previous year.
LulzSec, Pirates Having Fun
May 15, 2013 11:19 am | by David Wilcock | CommentsComputer hackers who considered themselves to be "latter-day pirates" led sophisticated cyber attacks on websites and systems of major institutions including the CIA, Sony, the FBI and Nintendo, a court has heard. Britons Ryan Ackroyd, Jake Davis, Mustafa Al-Bassam and Ryan Cleary were "hactivists" with the LulzSec collective.
US Cyber Command Head General Alexander to Keynote Black Hat USA 2013
May 15, 2013 11:02 am | CommentsMajor information security event Black Hat has announced that General Keith Alexander — Commander, U.S. Cyber Command/Director, National Security Agency/Chief, Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) — will present the Day One keynote address at Black Hat USA 2013 in Las Vegas this July.
Software Spots, Isolates Cyber Attacks
May 15, 2013 10:49 am | by Matt Shipman | CommentsResearchers from North Carolina State University have developed a software algorithm that detects and isolates cyber attacks on networked control systems – which are used to coordinate transportation, power and other infrastructure across the United States.
After ATM heist, India's IT Sector Again in Unwelcome Spotlight
May 15, 2013 10:33 am | CommentsA breach of security at two payment card processing companies in India that led to heists at cash machines around the world has reopened questions on the risks of outsourcing sensitive financial services to the Asian nation. Any perception that data may be less safe in India is unwelcome for an industry that faces an undercurrent of hostility for taking away jobs in the West, home to most of its clients.
FBI Calls for Cooperation with Banks on Cyber Attacks
May 14, 2013 10:45 am | by Joseph Menn | CommentsThe FBI last month gave temporary security clearances to scores of U.S. bank executives to brief them on the investigation into the cyber attacks that have repeatedly disrupted online banking websites for most of a year. The extraordinary clearances reflect some action after years of talk about the need for increased cooperation between the public and private sectors on cybersecurity.
Stock Fraud Ring Organizer Sentenced for Hacking Prices
May 14, 2013 10:29 am | CommentsThe central organizer of a worldwide conspiracy to manipulate stock prices through a botnet network of virus-controlled computers was sentenced today in Trenton federal court to 71 months in prison. Christopher Rad, 44, of Cedar Park, Texas, was previously convicted, following a nine-day jury trial.
