cybersecurity

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CentCom's Twitter Hacked by Purported ISIS Backers

Hackers warn US soldiers to watch their backs

(Newser) - The US Central Command's Twitter page was ominously hacked today by a group claiming to be allied with ISIS—a particularly bold move, notes Politico , because President Obama was delivering a speech on cybersecurity at the FTC. US officials are confirming the hack and @CentCom is currently suspended; the...

Latest Federal Hacking Victim: State Department

Senior officials say unclassified email, public websites shut down for fixes

(Newser) - The good news: The hackers that recently accessed the State Department's computer networks got their hands on unclassified information only. The slightly more worrisome news: The State Department is the fourth federal agency to fall prey to computer security breaches over the past couple of months, joining the White...

Russians Eyed in White House Hack

Unclassified networks breached, US thinks it might be the Russians

(Newser) - Land of the free, home of the hacked? Just hours after the Wall Street Journal reported that a cybersecurity firm found breaches in the networks of a US firm holding military secrets, it's been revealed the White House has apparently been hacked as well. Officials who spoke on condition...

Hackers Exploited Windows Flaw to Spy

Signs point to Russian cyberespionage—but why the 'Dune' references?

(Newser) - Microsoft is releasing a patch today to fix a vulnerability in its Windows OS—but not before a cyberespionage campaign against Ukrainian government employees and an American expert on Russia took place. According to the iSight cyberintelligence firm, which discovered the bug last month, hackers sent malicious PowerPoints to users...

Mystery 'Interceptors' Capture Our Calls: Experts

And they don't appear to be NSA installations

(Newser) - Security experts have been spotting so-called "fake cellphone towers" of unknown origin that could be spying on us. The "interceptors," as they're called, trick our phones into thinking they're regular cell towers; then, according to VentureBeat , they can listen to our calls or pave the...

Seriously, Don&#39;t Download &#39;Yo&#39;
 Seriously, Don't Download 'Yo' 
OPINION
Jun 20, 2014 11:32 AM CDT

Seriously, Don't Download 'Yo'

App has already been hacked

(Newser) - Well that was fast: Yo has been hacked. The app that lets you send messages that say "yo" (yes, that's all it does) was virtually unknown a week ago, but then it got a $1 million cash injection, prompting a flood of mostly incredulous news stories —and...

Iran Spies Built Fake News Site to Trick US Targets

Hackers also used bogus Facebook accounts, says security firm

(Newser) - Iranian hackers savvy with social media created a fake news site and false Facebook credentials to spy on top-ranking officials in the US and elsewhere, the Wall Street Journal reports. Cybersecurity firm iSight Partners uncovered what it says is the most elaborate such scheme it has ever seen, reports Reuters...

Software Is Hopelessly Bad and No Data Is Safe
Software Is Hopelessly Bad and No Data Is Safe
OPINION
May 22, 2014 10:00 AM CDT

Software Is Hopelessly Bad and No Data Is Safe

Security expert Quinn Norton explains why we're all screwed

(Newser) - The computer you're reading this on right now is compromised. There's simply no way it's not, Quinn Norton explains in a fairly terrifying column at Medium . "Computers, and computing, are broken," Norton writes. "Most software gets shipped the moment it works well enough to...

What China's 'Unit 61398' Allegedly Stole

US is 'China's biggest cyberattacker,' Beijing says in retaliation

(Newser) - Eric Holder described the cybercrimes charges against five Chinese military officers as a "wake-up call" and China is certainly paying attention: Government officials have summoned the US ambassador in Beijing, suspended a cybersecurity agreement made with the US last month, and denounced the charges as an "absurd" move...

US Charges 5 in China's Military With Cyber Spying

It's the first such charge against a state actor

(Newser) - The US government has filed criminal charges against five Chinese military officers, accusing them of spying on American businesses, NBC News and USA Today report. It's the first time the US has leveled such charges against a state actor. The Justice Department is alleging that the officers used military...

Symantec Exec: Antivirus 'Is Dead'

Norton maker just assumes hackers can get through its firewalls

(Newser) - Just how thoroughly have hackers licked antivirus programs? So thoroughly that even Symantec, which essentially invented commercial antivirus, is jumping ship on the concept, the Wall Street Journal reports. Antivirus "is dead," Symantec Senior VP Brian Dye tells the paper. "We don't think of antivirus as...

Tech Titans Throw $3.6M at Preventing New Heartbleed

Google, Microsoft, Amazon among firms backing effort

(Newser) - Competing tech giants don't want to see another Heartbleed, and they're putting their money where their mouth is to ensure that they don't. Some of tech's biggest names—Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, and Dell, to name a few—are now jointly funding an effort to support...

Heartbleed Fears Prompt ObamaCare Password Reset

No sign site has been compromised: White House

(Newser) - People who have accounts on the enrollment website for ObamaCare are being told to change their passwords following an administration-wide review of the government's vulnerability to the confounding Heartbleed Internet security flaw. All enrollee passwords have been reset, the White House says, per CNN . Senior administration officials said there...

More Heartbleed Fallout: 'Major' Internet Disruptions

Security-certificate issue may seriously slow down browsing

(Newser) - The Heartbleed security flaw could pose a major nuisance even if your data isn't compromised, as hundreds of thousands of websites scramble to fix the problem—causing what the Washington Post predicts will be "major disruptions" to Internet service. At issue are sites' security certificates, or identification information...

Man Behind Heartbleed: It Was a 'Trivial' Mistake

Meanwhile, guy who found the bug donates reward

(Newser) - Conspiracy theories have been building about Heartbleed, but the man whose coding error caused the vulnerability says it was an honest mistake. Dr. Robin Seggelman, a German programmer, says he was trying to improve OpenSSL with the patch that introduced Heartbleed—his other patches to the open-source software project have...

Canada Shuts Down Online Tax System Over Heartbleed

How you can protect yourself

(Newser) - Just how bad is the Heartbleed exploit ? So bad that even the taxman can't handle it, at least in Canada. The Canadian Revenue Agency has cut off access to its online services because of the issue, and says they'll likely remain offline for days, the Toronto Star...

Boeing's New Smartphone Self-Destructs

The 'Boeing Black' intended for government use

(Newser) - Maybe President Obama can stop complaining about his BlackBerry . Boeing, a company normally associated with planes, is creating a new smartphone designed specifically with security in mind, the BBC reports. The "Boeing Black" features a special hardware design that causes it to effectively self-destruct if tampered with; all data...

The Dangerous Life of a Cybercrime Blogger

Brian Krebs revealed Target hack

(Newser) - Brian Krebs, a Washington Post reporter turned private blogger, has made a name for himself in the world of cybersecurity—in particular through his revelation of the enormous Target hacks . But such security success doesn't come without a price: Hackers know who Krebs is, writes Nicole Perlroth in the...

Google Buys Tech That Could Replace Passwords

SlickLogin uses an almost inaudible sound to unlock sites

(Newser) - Google has just purchased a startup that hoped to change the way people log in. SlickLogin has been developing a system in which sites would play a uniquely generated and virtually inaudible sound, the BBC reports. An app on users' phones would pick up the sound, and send back a...

US Government Also Uses 'Password' for Password

Report slams lazy cybersecurity measures in place at federal agencies

(Newser) - Yes, ordinary and lazy humans often use "password" as a computer password , but a new report complains that the same thing applies to sensitive government agencies, reports Mashable . The Senate cybersecurity report finds that agencies ranging from Homeland Security to the IRS use weak security measures that leave their...

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