Inside The Mind Of A Hacker (Video)

The U.S. Navy Is Looking For Hackers

The government wants to pay $177,000 for the ability to monitor game systems

Know How To Hack A Video Game Console? The U.S. Navy Wants You! -- Y! Tech

For players just looking to have a good time when gaming online, hackers are a major nuisance. But regardless of how frustrating playing against someone with an unfair advantage can be, the practice of game console hacking has apparently caught the eye of the United States military. It seems the U.S. Navy is looking for a few good hackers to create both hardware and virtual modifications that will allow officials to monitor the messaging functions of specific game consoles — and they're prepared to pay over $150,000 for the final product.

Read more ....

My Comment: Chinese gamers .... watch out!

Future Wars Will Be Fought By Hackers

Clarke has seen the future of war and says it will be fought by hackers. Khue Bui

Richard Clarke On Who Was Behind the Stuxnet Attack -- Smithsonian

America's longtime counterterrorism czar warns that the cyberwars have already begun—and that we might be losing.

The story Richard Clarke spins has all the suspense of a postmodern geopolitical thriller. The tale involves a ghostly cyberworm created to attack the nuclear centrifuges of a rogue nation—which then escapes from the target country, replicating itself in thousands of computers throughout the world. It may be lurking in yours right now. Harmlessly inactive...or awaiting further orders.

A great story, right? In fact, the world-changing “weaponized malware” computer worm called Stuxnet is very real. It seems to have been launched in mid-2009, done terrific damage to Iran’s nuclear program in 2010 and then spread to computers all over the world.

Read more ....

My Comment: This is a long read .... but it is comprehensive and thoughtful. As to what is my take on the future of war .... in a way I do agree with Mr. Clark's assessment. Future wars will be fought (in some capacity) by hackers who will also have their own "army of ninjas" to use when needed.

Military Dating Site Hacked By LulzSec

msnbc.com

Hacker Group LulzSec Says It Has Attacked MilitarySingles.com -- L.A. Times

LulzSec appears to be back after many months of lying low. It says it has obtained email addresses and other data about nearly 171,000 users of MilitarySingles.com, a commercial dating site.

The hacker group known as LulzSec appears to be back after many months of lying low, saying it has obtained email addresses and other information about nearly 171,000 users of MilitarySingles.com, a commercial dating site.

The group, which in 2011 went after government agencies and companies including the FBI, CIA, Sony and even PBS, said many of the email addresses include @us.army.mil and other addresses reserved for the military.

Read more ....

Update: Hackers steal passwords from military dating site -- CNET

My Comment: 171,000 users are inconvenienced .... that is a lot of people.

LulzSec And Anonymous Hackers Busted, Done In By Ringleader

Federal prosecutors unveiled criminal charges on Tuesday against six people in the U.S. and abroad they described as important members of a computer hacking group that allegedly stole confidential information from major companies, Joanna Chung reports on digits. Photo: Getty Images.

Top Members Of Hacking Group Anonymous Arrested After LEADER 'Betrays Them And Works With FBI For Six Months' -- Daily Mail

* Leader of computer hacking group LulzSec identified as unemployed dad-of-two Hector Xavier Monsegur
* Secretly arrested last June and pleaded guilty to hacking charges in August
* Has reportedly been working with FBI to bring down top hackers ever since
* Court papers released Tuesday portray him as ringleader of hacking groups
* Five members from UK, Ireland and US face charges

Top members of computer hacking groups Anonymous and LulzSec have been arrested across two continents after their leader - one of the world's most wanted computer vandals - turned them in.

In a startling show of betrayal towards his fellow hackers, 28-year-old Hector Xavier Monsegur led authorities to the five people who have now been charged in court papers in New York.

Dad-of-two Monsegur, who has pleaded guilty to a dozen hacking-related charges, is portrayed in court papers as the ringleader of LulzSec, and an 'influential member' of Anonymous.

Read more ....

More News On The FBI Arrest Of The Members In Computer Hacking Group Anonymous and LulzSec

Top alleged members of hacking ring busted after one becomes FBI informant, betrays comrades -- Washington Post/AP
Authorities: LulzSec hackers busted, done in by ringleader -- Mercury News/AP
'Lulzsec hackers' arrested in international swoop -- BBC
LulzSec Leader Was Snitch Who Helped Snag Fellow Hackers -- Threat Level
U.S. Swoops Down on Alleged Computer Hackers -- Wall Street Journal
LulzSec arrests deal blow to hacker group -- CNET
Too Big To Fail: Why Anonymous And Hacktivism Will Go On After Sabu -- Tech Crunch

Hackers Had 'Control' Of Nasa Computers

NASA said the loss of data did not affect the operations of the International Space Station

Hackers Had 'Full Functional Control' Of Nasa Computers -- BBC

Hackers gained "full functional control" of key Nasa computers in 2011, the agency's inspector general has told US lawmakers.

Paul K Martin said hackers took over Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) computers and "compromised the accounts of the most privileged JPL users".

He said the attack, involving Chinese IP addresses, was under investigation.

In a statement, Nasa said it had "made significant progress to protect the agency's IT systems".

Mr Martin's testimony on Nasa's cybersecurity was submitted to the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology's Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight.

Read more ....

My Comment: This should never have happened.

Interpol Targets 'Anonymous Hackers' For Arrest

25 Suspected Anonymous Hackers Arrested In International Sweep -- L.A. Times

Twenty-five alleged hackers from the freewheeling, decentralized Anonymous protest movement have been arrested across Europe and South America in a massive sweep coordinated by Interpol, an agency based in France that links police around the world.

Suspects arrested in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Spain were believed to have carried out coordinated digital attacks against the Colombian Ministry of Defense, a Chilean electrical company and other targets, the Associated Press reported.

Read more ....

More News On Interpol Targeting For Arrest Anonymous Hackers

Interpol arrests suspected 'Anonymous' hackers -- CNN
Interpol says suspected Anonymous hackers arrested -- AP
25 alleged Anonymous members arrested after Interpol investigation -- Washington Post
Anonymous hackers: Police arrest 25 in four countries -- BBC
Interpol: 25 Anonymous members arrested across Europe and South America -- New york Daily News/AP
Arrests target suspected 'Anonymous' hackers -- Al Jazeera
Interpol website suffers 'Anonymous cyber-attack' -- The Guardian
Anonymous brings down Interpol website in retaliation for 25 arrests -- RT
Anonymous shuts Interpol site in revenge -- UPI
Interpol arrests Anonymous hackers: Do they warrant the attention? -- Scott Baldauf, Christian Science Monitor
What Is 'Anonymous' And How Does It Operate? -- Radio Free Europe

Hackers From Anonymous Crash The CIA Website

Anonymous hacked the CIA

Anonymous Claims Credit For Crashing CIA Site -- Washington Post

Hackers claiming an affiliation with Anonymous took credit for crashing the Central Intelligence Agency’s Web site Friday, in what appears to be another distributed denial-of-service attack.

The CIA’s Web site was inaccessible around 3:30 on Friday afternoon.

Preston Golson, a spokesman for the CIA, told The Post in an e-mailed statement, “We are looking into these reports.”

Read more ....

More News On Anonymous Crashing The CIA Website

Anonymous targets the CIA -- CNN
Anonymous announces CIA website hacked -- BBC
Anonymous Says It Knocked C.I.A. Site Offline -- New York Times
Anonymous 'takes down' CIA website -- Al Jazeera
Anonymous took down cia.gov -- RT
Anonymous Takes Down CIA Web Site -- PC Mag
Anonymous knocks CIA website offline -- AFP
CIA Tango Down: Anonymous strikes again -- Examiner
'Tango Down': Anonymous claims attacks on CIA, Alabama state sites -- MSNBC

Can You Crack It? Britain's Spy Agency Looking To Hire Top Cyber Hackers

Can You Solve This Code? Then This U.K. Spy Agency Might Want To Hire You -- National Post/AFP

LONDON — No longer content with simply approaching the brightest from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Britain’s intelligence agency GCHQ has launched a code-cracking competition to attract new talent.

The electronic surveillance organisation, the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters, is asking potential applicants to solve a code posted on a website.

It will direct potential candidates to the competition, hosted on an anonymous website, via sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Read more ....

More News On Britain's GCHQ Wanting To Hire Code Breakers

iSpy: Government intelligence agency launches online code-cracking puzzle to recruit future stars of cyber-savvy espionage -- Daily Mail
GCHQ: solve the online code, become a real-life spy -- The Telegraph
GCHQ challenges codebreakers via social networks -- BBC
GCHQ aims to recruit computer hackers with code-cracking website -- The Guardian
Crack GCHQ's code and become the next James Bond -- The Register
GCHQ challenges codebreakers in online competition -- Digital Spy
GCHQ sets codebreaking challenge for wannabe spies -- Computer World
Crack an online code, get a job as a spy -- The Inquirer
GCHQ Launches Code-Breaking Competition Through Social Networking Sites -- Jobs and Hire
Crack This Code, and Become a British Spy -- The Danger Room
Intelligence agency recruits spies with online code -- New Scientist

CSN Editor: The GCHQ spy recruitment code problem has been solved (in a few hours after being posted online).

Inside China's Hacker World

A Look At Cyberwarfare And Hackers From A Russian Perspective

Evgeny Kaspersky was trained as a cryptologist and went on to co-found Kapersky Labs, which makes antivirus, anti-spyware, anti-spam and other online security products. In a recent SPIEGEL interview, he discussed a number of what he sees as worrying trends in cyber security. Regarding the new era of cyber war, he stated: "This war can't be won; it only has perpetrators and victims. Out there, all we can do is prevent everything from spinning out of control. Only two things could solve this for good, and both of them are undesirable: to ban computers -- or people." Sergei Chirikov/ AFP/ Getty Images

'I Fear the Net Will Soon Become a War Zone'. An Interview With Anti-Virus Pioneer Evgeny Kaspersky -- Spiegel Online

Evgeny Kaspersky is one of Russia's top Internet virus hunters and IT entrepreneurs. In a SPIEGEL interview, he discusses a raft of recent hacker attacks on multinationals, the "total professionals" behind the Stuxnet virus and his fear of both personal and widespread cyber violence.

Read more ....

My Comment: I love interviews like this one, and this from Spiegel does not disappoint. On a side note, the Independent has an excellent story on the secret world of hackers and the anarchy that they can unleash on the web. That link is here.

An Army Of Hackers Are Now Informing For The FBI

A quarter of hackers in the US have been recruited by federal authorities, according to Eric Corley, publisher of the hacker quarterly, 2600. Photograph: Getty Images

One In Four US Hackers 'Is An FBI Informer' -- The Guardian

The FBI and US secret service have used the threat of prison to create an army of informers among online criminals

The underground world of computer hackers has been so thoroughly infiltrated in the US by the FBI and secret service that it is now riddled with paranoia and mistrust, with an estimated one in four hackers secretly informing on their peers, a Guardian investigation has established.

Cyber policing units have had such success in forcing online criminals to co-operate with their investigations through the threat of long prison sentences that they have managed to create an army of informants deep inside the hacking community.

Read more ....

My Comment: I am skeptical that the FBI list of informers (in the hacking community) is that long .... but it is certainly an effective way to police the internet.

TJX Hacker Gets 20 Years In Prison

From The threat Level:

BOSTON — Convicted TJX hacker Albert Gonzalez was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday for leading a gang of cyberthieves who stole more than 90 million credit and debit card numbers from TJX and other retailers.

The sentence for the largest computer-crime case ever prosecuted is the lengthiest ever imposed in the United States for hacking or identity-theft. Gonzalez was also fined $25,000. Restitution, which will likely be in the tens of millions, was not decided Thursday.

Read more ....

iPhone, Safari, IE 8, Firefox Hacked In CanSecWest Contest

Photo: Pedram Amini and Aaron Portnoy of TippingPoint look over Charlie Miller's shoulder as he conducts his Safari hack. (Credit: Elinor Mills/CNET)

From CNET:

VANCOUVER, B.C.--Researchers on Wednesday demonstrated that they could hack a non-jailbroken iPhone, Safari running on Snow Leopard and Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox on Windows 7 as part of the annual Pwn2Own contest at the CanSecWest security show here.

Charlie Miller, principal security analyst at Independent Security Evaluators, won $10,000 after hacking Safari on a MacBook Pro without having physical access to the machine. Miller won $5,000 last year by exploiting a hole in Safari, and in 2008 nabbed $10,000 hacking a MacBook Air, all on the same computer.

Read more ....

Hacker Disables More Than 100 Cars Remotely

From Threat Level:

More than 100 drivers in Austin, Texas found their cars disabled or the horns honking out of control, after an intruder ran amok in a web-based vehicle-immobilization system normally used to get the attention of consumers delinquent in their auto payments.

Police with Austin’s High Tech Crime Unit on Wednesday arrested 20-year-old Omar Ramos-Lopez, a former Texas Auto Center employee who was laid off last month, and allegedly sought revenge by bricking the cars sold from the dealership’s four Austin-area lots.

Read more ....

SEC: Hacker Manipulated Stock Prices

From Threat Level/Wired:

U.S. regulators are moving to freeze the assets and trading accounts of a Russian accused of hacking into personal online portfolios and manipulating the price of dozens of stocks listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market and New York Stock Exchange.

Read more ....

China Heralds Bust of Major Hacker Ring

People use computers at an internet cafe in Wuhan, Hubei province, January 23, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Stringer

From Wall Street Journal:

SHANGHAI—China heralded a major bust of computer hackers to underscore its pledge to help enhance global online security, with state media saying officials had shut what they called the country's largest distributor of tools used in malicious Internet attacks.

Three people were arrested on suspicion of making hacking tools available online, the state-run Xinhua news agency said on Monday. Their business, known as Black Hawk Safety Net, operated through the now-shuttered Web site 3800cc.com and generated around $1 million in income from its over 12,000 subscribers, the report said.

Read more ....

Hacker Gary McKinnon To Appeal After Extradition Blow

Photo: Supporters make the point that Gary McKinnon has Asperger's syndrome

From the BBC:

The "devastated" lawyers for computer hacker Gary McKinnon are to challenge the home secretary's decision not to block his extradition to the US.

They said they would make a last-ditch attempt after Alan Johnson said medical grounds could not prevent it.

Glasgow-born Mr McKinnon, 43, who has Asperger's syndrome, is accused of breaking into US military computers. He says he was seeking UFO evidence.

Now of Wood Green, London, he faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted.

Read more ....

Report: Cyber Attacks Caused Power Outages in Brazil

From Threat Level:

Electrical blackouts impacting millions of people in Brazil in 2005 and 2007 were caused by hackers targeting control systems, according to the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes.

In a show set to air Sunday night, CBS blames a two-day outage in Espirito Santo in 2007 on a hack attack. The blackout affected three million people. Another, smaller blackout north of Rio de Janeiro in January 2005 was also triggered by computer intruders, the network claims.

Read more ....

My Comment: I am sure there are now more safeguards to prevent such occurrences from happening, but it is an excellent example to use in revealing how easy it is to put down a power grid.

Hackers Weigh In: 8 Big Things To Do With A Mini Server

MINI SERVER: Marvell Technology's SheevaPlug is a two-inch by four-inch (five- by 10-centimeter) box that plugs into any wall outlet and is almost indistinguishable from an oversize power supply. © MARVELL TECHNOLOGY

From Scientific American:

We weren't sure what to do with a SheevaPlug, a cheap and powerful home server stuffed into a package the size of a power brick, so we asked a bunch of uber-geeks--Here's what they said.

Tiny computers are everywhere—our cell phones, handheld gaming devices and set-top boxes, to name a few—so it should be no surprise that Marvell Technology in Santa Clara, Calif., one of the companies that makes the chips that go into such devices, managed to cram an entire home server into the SheevaPlug, a two-inch by four-inch (five- by 10-centimeter) box that plugs into any wall outlet and is almost indistinguishable from an oversize power supply.

Read more ....