US Seeks 'Ethical Hackers' to Combat Cyber Threats

Christopher Chaney also hacked Christina Aguilera, Mila Kunis

(NEWSER) - The man responsible for bringing naked photos of Scarlett Johansson to the World Wide Web has pleaded guilty to nine felonies, including unauthorized access to a computer and wiretapping, reports TMZ . Christopher Chaney, 35, also accessed email accounts belonging to Mila Kunis and Christina Aguilera, and had forwarded other, less racy photos of celebrities to two gossip sites, notes the AP . Chaney was immediately taken into custody and will be sentenced in July. More»

'Sabu' readily joined feds, pulled all- nighters for them

(NEWSER) - LulzSec leader Sabu didn't need to be asked twice to partner with the FBI. When the feds arrested him last June, Hector Xavier Monsegur immediately agreed to work for them, court papers show. He pulled all-nighters to help the government track down fellow top members of hacking groups LulzSec and Anonymous . "Since literally the day he was arrested, the defendant has been cooperating with the government proactively," a US attorney told a Manhattan federal court. More»

Ability to launch attack is still a few years off, though

(NEWSER) - Hacking collective Anonymous has taken on the FBI and the CIA , among others—and soon the group could be making its presence known in your living room. The National Security Agency director warns that within the next one to two years, Anonymous could launch a cyberattack that results in a limited power outage, the Wall Street Journal reports. Gen. Keith Alexander did not air his concerns in public, but in private meetings including some at the White House, sources say. Other officials are similarly concerned, but some think the possibility is more like three to five years off. More»

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»