Hacks

LulzSec case in U.K. brings sentences for 4 men

LONDON -- Four members of the LulzSec hacking group were sentenced in court Thursday after pleading guilty to various computer hacking-related charges.

Ryan Ackroyd, 26; Jake Davis, 20; and Mustafa al-Bassam, 18, were all sentenced together with Ryan Cleary, 21, over a two-day hearing at Southwark Crown Court, London.

Each member of the LulzSec hacktivist group admitted to various hacking charges, including taking down corporate and government Web sites between February and September 2011.

Presiding Judge Deborah Taylor sentenced Ackroyd to 30 months -- serving half -- and Davis 24 months in a Young Offenders institution, serving at least 12 … 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

Hackers send bogus tweets from '60 Minutes' account

The Twitter accounts for CBS News programs "60 Minutes" and "48 Hours" were used by hackers earlier today to send out messages accusing the U.S. of aiding terrorists, the network confirmed.

"We have experienced problems on Twitter accounts of #60Minutes & @48Hours; We apologize for the inconvenience; Twitter is resolving issues," read a tweet from @CBSNews. Read another from @60Minutes: "PLEASE NOTE: Our Twitter account was compromised earlier today. We are working with Twitter to resolve."

Bogus messages tweeted from the hacked accounts included this one from the @60Minutes account:

Exclusive: … Read more

Top Wi-Fi routers easy to hack, says study

The Wi-Fi router you use to broadcast a private wireless Internet signal in your home or office is not only easy to hack, says a report released today, but the best way to protect yourself is out of your hands.

The report, written by research firm Independent Security Evaluators of Baltimore, found that 13 of the most popular off-the-shelf wireless routers could be exploited by a "moderately skilled adversary with LAN or WLAN access." It also concludes that your best bet for safer Wi-Fi depends on router vendors upping their game. All 13 routers evaluated can be taken … Read more

Anonymous again hacks into North Korean Web sites

Anonymous is once again trying to raise the hackles of North Korea by hacking into one of the country's official news sites.

For the second time this month, the North Korean news and information site Uriminzokkiri.com has been taken down. Trying to access the site today delivers an eventual timeout error. In the official Twitter account for Uriminzokkiri, which Anonymous took over earlier this month, the group tweeted that "more of North Korean websites are in our hand. They will be brought down."

North Korean Web sites minjok.com, jajusasang.com, and paekdu-hanna.com had also … Read more

North Korea behind March cyberattack, says South Korea

South Korea has accused North Korea of launching a recent cyberattack that hit tens of thousands of PCs.

A spokesman for South Korea's Internet agency said today that six computers in North Korea were identified as the source of the attack, according to The Guardian. Those computers used more than 1,000 IP addresses from across the world to infect 48,000 PCs and servers at South Korean banks and broadcasting stations.

The spokesman told the Associated Press that the attack mimicked past hacking attempts by North Korea and pointed the finger at an espionage agency run by the military. … Read more

Anonymous hacks North Korea's Twitter and Flickr accounts

Anonymous continues to target North Korea with its latest round of exploits.

Citing the threat posed by the North Korean government, the "hacktivist" group defaced the country's official Twitter and Flickr accounts yesterday.

The North Korean Twitter feed now displays a series of tweets with links that poke fun at the country's leader Kim Jong-un. One linked image portrays Kim Jong-un in a less than flattering light and criticizes him for "threatening world peace with ICBMs and nuclear weapons" and "wasting money while his people starve." The country's Flickr account shows … Read more

'Chameleon Botnet' takes $6-million-a-month in ad money

A newly discovered botnet has found a way to siphon cash from advertisers.

Spider.io, a security researcher, yesterday announced that it has discovered a new botnet, called Chameleon, that's targeting "at least" 202 Web sites. The botnet is made up of over 120,000 host machines running Windows, according to Spider.io. Those machines are connecting to the Web with a Flash-friendly Trident-based browser that executes JavaScript. The vast majority of the machines -- 95 percent -- have come from U.S.-based IP addresses.

The botnets have targeted at least 202 Web sites, hitting them … Read more