Chinese Police Bust Hacker-Training Business

Puzzling hit, but most hacked tied to spammers or dupe accounts

(NEWSER) - The usernames and passwords of more than 55,000 Twitter tweeters were leaked online Monday in a data dump that has puzzled experts. Twitter says that at least 20,000 of the leaked accounts were duplicates, and many more were spam accounts that had already been suspended, InformationWeek reports. Password resets have been sent out to affected accounts, and the possible security breach is being investigated, Twitter says. More»

The hacking is real but not all that surprising: security experts

(NEWSER) - McAfee says it's uncovered the biggest hack in history with Operation Shady RAT, in which at least 70 governments and businesses around the world were breached. At Naked Security , expert Graham Cluley isn't quite ready to join the frenzied coverage. "To be honest, there's nothing particularly surprising in McAfee's report to those of us who have an interest in computer security," he writes. (Ditto for Dan Rowinski at ReadWriteWeb .) One big caveat is that the McAfee report doesn't say "precisely what information was stolen from the targeted organizations, and how many computers at each business were affected," writes Cluley. It's tough to call it the "biggest hack ever" without knowing that. As for blaming China: Probably not a bad bet, but what government isn't spying via the Internet? More»

Companies, governments, the UN impacted: McAfee

(NEWSER) - Anonymous and LulzSec are nothing compared to this: The biggest-ever series of cyber attacks, recently uncovered by security company McAfee, involved 72 networks over a period of five years. Victims include the UN, the International Olympic Committee, defense contractors, tech companies, and governments including the US, Taiwan, India, South Korea, Vietnam, and Canada. There appears to be one "state actor" behind all the attacks, according to McAfee; one security expert says China is the most likely culprit. More»

LulzSec claims new cyberattack

(NEWSER) - According to hacker group Lulz Security or LulzSec, the current score is "hackers 16, Sony 0." That's what the group posted yesterday after claiming to have staged the 16th recent cyberattack on the electronics company. LulzSec posted a file containing Sony Computer Entertainment Developer Network source code, as well as a link to what it claims are internal network maps of Sony BMG, AFP reports. Sony has been a target ever since suing a software programmer whose program allowed customers to alter PlayStation consoles, the Wall Street Journal notes. More»

(NEWSER) - US and UK law enforcement authorities are planning a preemptive strike on hackers to protect national security, reports the Guardian. The secret plans are triggered by skyrocketing computer crimes launched from China, Russia and North Korea believed to be state sponsored. The "strikeback" attacks will target hackers' computers, disrupt them, and, in some cases, block internet access, according to officials. More»