Category: Computer Security

Foreign hacker gets 8 years in $55M US scam case

A prolific foreign hacker behind sophisticated cyberattacks that netted an estimated $55 million was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison in rare win for law enforcement officials who have identified, but failed to arrest, hundreds of others like him. Prosecutors in federal court in Brooklyn had sought up to 14 years behind bars for Ercan Findikoglu, a Russian-speaking Turkish national so skilled with computers that he tracked the sprawling international heist in real-time to make sure a small army of thieves wouldn’t cheat him out of his share of the proceeds.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark apologizes over claims NDP hacked her party’s website

British Columbia Premier Christy Clark has apologized to New Democrat Leader John Horgan over her accusations that the Opposition was involved in criminal hacking of her Liberal party’s website. The acknowledgment is the latest twist in a spiralling storyline that unravelled Friday when Independent member of the legislature Vicki Huntington came forward to say her staff had access to the private information – without any attempt at hacking.

Sentencing of hacker in $55M scam is a rare win for feds

A prolific Russian-speaking hacker behind cyberattacks that netted an estimated $55 million is facing sentencing by a U.S. judge on a conviction considered an unusual win for law enforcement officials who have identified, but failed to arrest, hundreds of others like him. Ercan Findikoglu, a Turkish national who also speaks English, pleaded guilty last year conspiracy charges that could land him in prison for up to 14 years.

Arby’s Warns It Has Suffered a Massive Security Breach

Arby’s has confirmed that a massive data breach has occurred at “hundreds” of its restaurants, potentially putting more than 355,000 of its customers’ credit and debit cards into the hands of hackers. The hackers reportedly placed malware on the payment systems of corporate stores, and the possible carnage looks serious – the National Association of Federal Credit Unions’ CEO describes it as “probably one of the biggest numbers I’ve heard.”

US judge to sentence prolific hacker in $55M scam

A prolific foreign hacker behind cyberattacks that netted an estimated $55 million is facing sentencing by a U.S. judge in a conviction considered an unusual win for law enforcement officials who have identified hundreds of others like him but failed to put them in handcuffs. Ercan Findikoglu, a Turkish national, had gone to great lengths to avoid capture by the U.S. Secret Service, both by obscuring his cyber fingerprints but also by avoiding the reach of American law, according to court papers.

Top 7 Security Mistakes When Designing a Mobile App

Mobile apps – and in particular mobile-based payment systems – can be a double-edged sword for mass transit systems. While mobile apps offer new opportunities for riders and transit authorities, they may also increase the risks of hacking, identity theft, fraud, extortion and service disruption if not handled correctly.

Danes See Russia as ‘Hacking Leader’

Denmark’s cybersecurity agency sees Russia as “a leader” when it comes to hacking, saying that the country has for “a long time invested intensively in its cyber capabilities.” The Danish position is similar to that reached by others in the Nordic region where national security agencies recently have pointed fingers at Russia for illicit online activities.

Trend Micro Inc. (TMICY) Lowered to Hold at Zacks Investment Research

According to Zacks, “Trend Micro Incorporated is engaged in providing endpoint, messaging and Web security software and services. It develops security solutions that protects against a wide range of insidious threats and combined attacks including viruses, spam, phishing, spyware, botnets, and other Web attacks, including data-stealing malware.

Trend Micro Inc. (TMICY) Lowered to Hold at Zacks Investment Research

According to Zacks, “Trend Micro Incorporated is engaged in providing endpoint, messaging and Web security software and services. It develops security solutions that protects against a wide range of insidious threats and combined attacks including viruses, spam, phishing, spyware, botnets, and other Web attacks, including data-stealing malware.

Sophos to buy VC-backed anti-virus company Invincea

Sophos has agreed to acquire Fairfax, Virginia-based Invincea, an anti-virus company, for a consideration of $100 million with a $20 million earn-out. Invincea’s backers included ORIX Growth Capital, Comerica Bank, Dell Ventures, New Atlantic Ventures and Harbert Ventures.

Capsule8 picks up $2.5 mln seed

Capsule8 today emerged from stealth mode to unveil its plans for the industry’s first container-aware, real-time threat protection platform designed to protect legacy and next-generation Linux infrastructures from both known and unknown attacks. Founded by experienced hackers John Viega, Dino Dai Zovi and Brandon Edwards, Capsule8 is being built on the real-world experience of its founders in building and bringing to market defensive systems to protect against exploitation of previously unknown vulnerabilities.

Report: Security Flaw Lets Hackers Snoop on 76 iPhone Apps

HTTPS encryption is good , but it won’t protect you from the sort of man-in-the-middle attack that security researchers said this week can affect dozens of popular iPhone and iPad apps. The attack derives its man-in-the-middle moniker from the fact that hackers can exploit it by routing your Internet traffic through their servers first before it arrives on the open Web.

UK firms urged to invest in prevention and detection of cyber threats

British firms are lagging behind US and German peers when it comes to responding to cyber security threats, putting them at risk of new hacks that could cost upwards of 500,000. British firms are lagging behind US and German peers when it comes to responding to cyber security threats, putting them at risk of new hacks that could cost upwards of 500,000.

Hackers Take Down Thousands of ‘Dark Web’ Sites, Post Private Data

Someone claiming to be affiliated with Anonymous compromised a private web hosting service last week, taking down more than 10,000 sites on the highly encrypted “dark web,” security researchers said. The hacker or hackers broke into the hidden web hosting service Freedom Hosting II, claiming to have harvested all of the sites’ files and its database, totaling almost 80 gigabytes of material, they said in a message appearing on the screens of users trying to access the sites.

Innocent mother Jayne Pearce kills herself

Judge slams Facebook as a ‘tool for evil’ after an innocent mother killed herself after being falsely accused of killing a baby on social media A judge has slammed Facebook as a ‘tool for evil’ after an innocent mother killed herself after being falsely accused of killing a baby on social media. Jayne Pearce, 23, suffered ‘vitriol’ at the hands of an online ‘pitchfork mob’ after two mothers hacked into her Facebook page and falsely alleged she had tried to smother one of their children.

Tech Note: Two Factor Authentication Comes to LGF

As soon as I began writing the code, back in the Paleolithic Era when we were still using flat files instead of a database, I realized that I needed to spend a lot of attention on protecting the site as well as possible. And so far, this effort – and it takes a lot of effort! – has paid off.

Palak stresses cyber security for key govt agencies

The government has identified 21 of its agencies as critical infrastructure and attached high importance to protecting them from cyber attacks, State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak said yesterday. Bangladesh Bank, National Board of Revenue and Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh are among them, he said at a seminar on cyber security at the NBR headquarters.

Is Trump Tweeting From a ‘Secure’ Smartphone? The White House Won’t Say

For some time, the public has known that Donald Trump does a lot of his tweeting himself, from the account @realDonaldTrump, and from an Android smartphone. But many cybersecurity experts believed that would change once Trump took the oath of office, because White House-approved communication devices are much more secured – and stripped down – than the smartphones the rest of us use.

Crime scene tape wrapped around a computer keyboard

“It’s beautiful, it’s elegant, it’s convincing,” Markus Jakobsson gushes, describing the fake email used to hack into the personal Gmail account of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign chairman. Sent on March 19, 2016, to the chairman, John Podesta, the email landed in the spam folder of his account.

Avast SafeZone Browser: Full Review [2017]

Never before have people had such access to information, nor ease with which to conduct personal business such as banking finance, purchasing consumer goods and services, or simply communicating with friends, family, or colleagues around the world. However, with this technology comes the risk of falling victim to criminals and thieves who are always trying to game the system and take advantage of people.

Dido Harding will leave her position at TalkTalk in May

Ms Harding said: “After seven extraordinary and fulfilling years, during which we have transformed TalkTalk’s customer experience and laid the foundations for long-term growth, I’ve decided it’s time for me to start handing over the reins at TalkTalk and focus more on my activities in public service. “I am very proud to be handing over to the next generation of TalkTalk leadership who, together with Charles, have played such an integral part in the success of the business to date.

A week on, Saudi labor ministry continues to face disruptions from cyber attack

The Shamoon malware that infected the ministry’s systems is believed to be responsible for a similar cyberattack on state oil giant Saudi Aramco in 2012. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Labour and Social Development is still unable to renew or transfer residence permits following a devastating cyber attack on January 23. Saudi Gazette reports that the ministry’s office Al-Marwah district branch in Jeddah was chaotic yesterday as visitors sought information on when the network would be fully restored .

CVE-2016-8703

NVD is the U.S. government repository of standards based vulnerability management data. This data enables automation of vulnerability management, security measurement, and compliance .

Radio stations in several states hacked with anti-Trump rap

Radio stations in South Carolina and several other states say their signals were hacked and interrupted by an anti-Donald Trump rap song that contained obscene language. Multiple media outlets report a radio station in Salem, South Carolina, had its signal hacked Monday night and replaced by a rap played on a loop for at least 15 minutes, making a vulgar reference to Trump.