US Seeks 'Ethical Hackers' to Combat Cyber Threats

Once again: 'Password' is not a good choice to beat hackers

(NEWSER) - Lots of people are still lousy at choosing computer passwords. Mashable picks up on the annual list of most-hacked passwords from SplashData. The usual suspects are still at the top:

1. password
2. 123456
3. 12345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123
6. monkey
7. 1234567
8. letmein
9. trustno1
10. dragon

YouTube channel briefly turns XXX

(NEWSER) - Sesame Street briefly turned into Sex-ame Street yesterday, when hackers apparently took hold of the children’s show’s YouTube channel and filled it with porn. The page was taken offline in the afternoon, CNN reports, but it appears to be back up today . The nonprofit Sesame Workshop apologized yesterday, noting that, "We always strive to provide age-appropriate content for our viewers and hope to resolve this problem quickly." The XXX material was available for at least 20 minutes, The Daily What notes. Gawker and Reddit have NSFW screenshots. More»

He guessed passwords, leaked photos of Scarlett Johansson, others: FBI

(NEWSER) - The FBI has arrested a suspect accused of hacking the emails of Scarlett Johansson and other celebrities and leaking personal—sometimes nude—photos, reports the Los Angeles Times . The feds say Christopher Chaney, 35, didn't have a sophisticated tech scheme. Rather, he pored over public info available in magazines, on Facebook, etc., and used it to guess passwords. Other celebrities reportedly victimized include Mila Kunis, Vanessa Hudgens, and Christina Aguilera. More»

Yingluck Shinawatra 'can't even protect her Twitter account'

(AP) - A mocking hacker took over the Twitter account of Thailand's recently elected prime minister today, questioning her ability to defend the country if she cannot even secure her own tweets. The unknown hacker ended a series of at least eight postings on the account of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra with a taunt: "If she can't even protect her own Twitter account, how can she protect the country? Think about it." More»

It turns out she's actually two men, not a teen girl

(NEWSER) - British police think they’ve taken down the senior LulzSec/Anonymous hacker known as “Kayla”—and if they’re right, she’s actually a pair of men in their 20s, not the 16-year-old girl she’s always claimed to be. Police arrested two men yesterday, aged 20 and 24 respectively, accusing them of conspiring to commit computer misuse under the Kayla moniker, the Telegraph reports, noting that Kayla’s Twitter feed has been inactive since yesterday. More»