hat

LAS VEGAS -- From journalists hacking the press room Ethernet to RFID skimmers swiping your ID without even touching your credit card, the war stories you've heard about Black Hat and DefCon are true more often than not.

The best way to avoid getting hacked at the annual security conferences is to not show up. Go somewhere disconnected, like a nice mountain retreat, instead of hitting the paranoia pills with several thousand other security professionals and obsessives in Vegas' urban playground.

But if you must go to Sin City, there are some actions you can take to protect your … Read more

LAS VEGAS -- A year ago this week, Microsoft announced a startup-style contest with serious reward money called BlueHat to get security researchers to apply their expertise to innovative defenses. Today, the company revealed that the efforts of one of the three BlueHat finalists would be incorporated into its Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit tool.

Mike Reavey, the senior director of Microsoft's Security Response Center, explained that the BlueHat contest process was a big win for Microsoft. "In less than a year, we were able to solicit for ideas, receive them, implement them, and get them to customers," … Read more

LAS VEGAS - You might not think that a hacker conference in Sin City in the summer is the best place to take the kids. But if you want them to learn some skills, know their digital rights and have some fun, I can't think of any place better. Oh, and there's some stuff for us big kids too.

Defcon, which turns 20 this year, runs Friday through Sunday, following the more corporate Black Hat conference, the newsy parts of which are tomorrow and Thursday.

Black Hat organizers had a rocky start to their week with a security … Read more

Apple will not only be at this week's Black Hat security confab, but also offer a presentation there too.

Bloomberg today notes that Dallas De Atley, Apple's manager of the platform security team, will be on the scene in Las Vegas to host a security briefing on the company's mobile operating system.

"Apple designed the iOS platform with security at its core," the description reads. "In this talk, Dallas De Atley, manager of the Platform Security team at Apple, will discuss key security technologies in iOS."

An Apple spokesperson declined to provide further … Read more

You may not be as safe in your locked hotel room as you think.

Keycard door locks from Onity -- used in more than 4 million hotel rooms around the world -- are susceptible to vulnerabilities that could lead to a security bypass, according to Cody Brocious, a 24-year-old Mozilla developer and security researcher. Brocious, who is expected to present his findings at the Black Hat security conference tomorrow, showed Forbes how he is able to open hotel doors with a gadget he built with materials costing less than $50.

Brocious' device spoofs a portable programming device used to control … Read more

Security researchers testing Google's Bouncer malware detection system for Android apps have managed to submit a benign app and then slowly update it to add malicious functionality, one of the researchers told CNET today.

Nicholas Percoco, head of Trustwave's SpiderLabs, and colleague Sean Schulte will be discussing their research during a session at Black Hat and Defcon next week in Las Vegas entitled "Adventures in Bouncerland."

After Google launched its Bouncer system to protect apps in the Google Play Android market in February, the researchers wanted to see if they could turn a good app that … Read more

Much ado has been made about Marty McFly's self-tying sneakers from "Back to the Future Part II." What's been forgotten is his groovy hat of the future...until now.

That's right, McFliers, you can now dress even more like your hero thanks to the Marty Hat Replica at ThinkGeek. At $24.99, it's a lot cheaper than the $37,500 a British rapper paid out for a pair of McFly replica sneakers.

The hat is made from a super reflective fabric that shimmers and glimmers with swirls of color. It looks like a herd of unicorns upchucked some rainbows all over it. The hat is one-size-fits-all-geeks with a Velcro closure at the back.… Read more

It will be a sad day when you can't tear yourself away from Facebook long enough to take a shower. Start weeping. The Social Shower Curtain is on its way from gift designer SpinningHat.

The Social Shower Curtain looks a lot like a classic Facebook profile page, complete with a familiar white and blue color scheme and status updates. It tells bad jokes and is in a relationship with Limescale.

Maybe Spinning Hat will update the curtain with a Timeline version.… Read more

A few companies pay money to bug hunters. But Facebook is giving out something more unique than just a check. Some security researchers are getting a customized "White Hat Bug Bounty Program" Visa debit card.

The researchers, who can make thousands of dollars for reporting just one security hole on the social-networking site, can use the card to make purchases, just like a credit card, or create a PIN and take money out of an ATM. As the researchers find more bugs, Facebook can add more money to their accounts.

Facebook wanted to do something special for the … Read more