hacking
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Brazilian judge dismisses hacking charges against journalist Glenn Greenwald
Last month The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald faced criminal charges for breaking cybersecurity laws in Brazil. Now a judge has dismissed the hacking charges, linked to six people who allegedly stole information from the phones of public officials and judges. His outlet published excerpts of a group chat allegedly showing coordination between the judge and prosecutors working on a corruption investigation. The Intercept reports that the judge's dismissal is "for now," with an indication that if a previous injunction by a Supreme Court minister blocking investigation of the journalist were overturned, charges could be refiled. As it stands, the other six people will still face charges of alleged hacking to obtain the messages. In a statement, Greenwald said, "this ruling, while good, is insufficient as a protection of core press freedom. We will continue reporting and will also go to the Supreme Court for an even stronger ruling."
Richard Lawler02.06.2020
UN confirms it suffered a 'serious' hack, but didn't inform employees
The United Nations was the victim of a massive, likely state-sponsored hacker attack this past summer, according to reports from The New Humanitarian and Associated Press. To make the matters worse, the organization didn't disclose the details and severity of the hack until those publications obtained an internal document on the situation.
Igor Bonifacic01.29.2020
Google makes it easier to sign up for advanced hacking protection
It's now clearer why Google made it possible to use an iPhone as a security key -- the company is simplifying sign-ups for its Advanced Protection Program. As of today, anyone with a reasonably modern Android phone (running 7.0 Nougat or later) or iPhone (iOS 10 or later) can enroll in Advanced Protection using just their handset as the security key. You can get airtight security for your Google account without having to carry around a dedicated key fob just to sign in. iOS users will need to download Google's Smart Lock app, but that's the only major hassle.
Jon Fingas01.15.2020
NYT: Experts find evidence Russians hacked Ukrainian gas company
Any relationship between former Vice President Joe Biden, his son and the Ukrainian gas company Burisma has become a central figure in the 2020 election campaign and the impeachment of Donald Trump. Now, in a situation with echoes of the 2016 election, the New York Times reports that a security firm claims it has detected successful phishing attacks on Burisma by hackers connected to Russia.
Richard Lawler01.13.2020
UK investigates if cyberattack led to stock exchange outage
UK officials are worried that a London Stock Exchange outage in August wasn't just the glitch that many suspected. Wall Street Journal sources say the GCHQ intelligence agency is investigating the possibility that the failure may have been due to a cyberattack. It's reportedly taking a close look at the associated code, including time stamps, to determine if there was any suspicious activity. The exchange was in the middle of updating its systems when the outage happened, and there's a fear this left systems open to attack.
Jon Fingas01.05.2020
Techno-thriller 'Mr. Robot' ends on a mind-melting high
(This article contains spoilers for 'Mr. Robot' season four) When Mr. Robot debuted in June 2015, it was the show's commitment to authentic hacking that attracted eyeballs. For so long, cybersecurity had been shortchanged on-screen -- an ever-changing field that needed to be simplified, producers thought, for mainstream audiences and dramatic pacing. Mr. Robot was unique in part because it veered in the other direction, embracing the skill and complexity of modern-day hacking and taking time -- exponentially more than the average TV drama, anyway -- to explain the vulnerabilities that were being exploited and the knowledge or leverage it would give each character. Hacking, though, was never the central theme of the show. Not really.
Nick Summers12.25.2019
FBI program helps companies fool hackers with 'decoy data'
The FBI thinks it has a way for companies to limit the damage from data breaches: lure thieves into taking the wrong data. Ars Technica has learned of an FBI program, IDLE (Illicit Data Loss Exploitation), that has companies plant "decoy data" to confuse intruders looking to steal valuable info. Think of it as a honeypot for would-be fraudsters and corporate spies.
Jon Fingas12.21.2019
Hackers targeted BMW, Hyundai in hunt for trade secrets
Two of the world's larger car makers were the victims of a sophisticated (but still not very successful) hacking campaign. Bayerricscher Rundfunk has learned that intruders from the hacking group OceanLotus slipped into the networks of BMW and Hyundai in an attempt to find trade secrets. BMW, at least, found the hackers quickly -- instead, it let them operate for "months" to gather data before blocking them at the start of December. No sensitive data would have leaked out of BMW, according to an anonymous security expert, and the attackers wouldn't have breached the central data center in Munich.
Jon Fingas12.08.2019
DOJ charges two Russians with using malware to steal millions
Officials are offering a $5 million reward for information that leads to the capture of Maksim Yakubets of Moscow. Yakubets is one of two Russian nationals charged with cybercrimes that resulted in tens of millions in losses. The $5 million reward is the largest amount offered for a cyber criminal's capture to date.
Christine Fisher12.05.2019
Amazon Echo Show falls victim to an old flaw at hacking contest
The latest iteration of the Pwn2Own hacking contest just underscored an all-too-common flaw with smart home devices. The security research team Fluoroacetate hacked into an Amazon Echo Show 5 by taking advantage of its "patch gap" -- that is, its use of older software that had been patched on other platforms. Brian Gorenc, the director of contest host Zero Day Initiative, explained to TechCrunch that the smart screen uses a not-so-current version of Google's Chromium browser engine that leaves it vulnerable to attacks. Fluoroacetate exploited this out-of-date code by using an integer overflow JavaScript bug to hijack the device while it was connected to a malicious WiFi network.
Jon Fingas11.10.2019
Chinese hacking group targeted governments in six countries
A Chinese hacking group has caused chaos for government organizations in numerous different countries for the last three years, a new report reveals.
Georgina Torbet11.04.2019
Even the tech expert from 'Mr. Robot' can’t figure out this iPhone hack
If your dad were the technical advisor for the realistic hacks on Mr. Robot and he lovingly micromanaged your gadgets, you'd probably feel pretty badass about the security of your personal devices. So when one of Marc Rogers' kids had their iPhone pickpocketed at San Francisco Pride this year, things took an unexpected turn when tech-savvy thieves pulled off hacking tricks that had Rogers beside himself with curiosity and fascination. And concern. Lots of concern.
Violet Blue09.30.2019
iPhone exploit could allow permanent jailbreak for millions of devices
Jailbreaks seemed to be a thing of the past, but last month, a security research released the first free, public iPhone jailbreak in years. Now, another security researcher has discovered an exploit that could make it possible to permanently jailbreak any iPhone from the 2011 4S to the 2017 iPhone X and 8/Plus.
Christine Fisher09.27.2019
Alleged JPMorgan hacker set to plead guilty
Andrei Tyurin, one of the key suspects in the huge JPMorgan Chase hack in 2014, is set to plead guilty, according to a court filing obtained by Bloomberg. The Russian reportedly struck a deal with federal prosecutors and will appear at a plea hearing next week in New York.
Kris Holt09.16.2019
Apple re-fixes a bug that let users jailbreak iPhones
Apple fixed a vulnerability that temporarily allowed hackers to jailbreak iPhones. The bug was first fixed in iOS 12.3 but reintroduced in iOS 12.4. Hackers discovered the flaw earlier this month and shared a free public jailbreak just for the fun of it. Today, Apple released iOS 12.4.1, which should take care of the vulnerability once and for all.
Christine Fisher08.26.2019
Hitting the Books: How legendary hackers wound up working for the CIA
Welcome to Hitting the Books. With less than one in five Americans reading just for fun these days, we've done the hard work for you by scouring the internet for the most interesting, thought provoking books on science and technology we can find and delivering an easily digestible nugget of their stories.
Andrew Tarantola08.10.2019
Key U.S. election systems could have been exposed online for months
More than 30 backend election systems over the last year -- including some in key swing states like Florida, Michigan and Wisconsin -- have been left online and were susceptible to hackers. A Motherboard investigation published today revealed that systems made by ES&S, one of the largest makers of voting machines in the country, were connected to the internet for long periods of time, in some instances as long as a year. This information contradicts prior claims by election officials that voting machine systems were no longer connected after Election Day.
Amrita Khalid08.08.2019
StockX confirms it was hacked (updated)
StockX's warning of "suspicious activity" appears to have stemmed from a serious data breach. TechCrunch has learned through a black market data seller that a hacker stole 6.8 million records from the shoe trading site in May, including names, email addresses and (thankfully hashed) passwords. The data also included less vital info like shoe sizes, trading currencies and device version profiles.
Jon Fingas08.03.2019
Data breach compromises info for 20,000 LAPD officers and applicants
Los Angeles police officers are the victims of what appears to be a serious data breach. The city's Personnel Department has warned the LAPD that intruders stole personal information for roughly 2,500 officers and 17,500 officer applicants, including names, dates of birth, partial employee serial numbers and login details for the applicants. More info may have been taken, an official told NBC Los Angeles.
Jon Fingas07.29.2019
Capital One data breach affected 100 million in the US
Just as Equifax announced a settlement for its massive data breach, Capital One has revealed that someone hacked into its systems earlier this year. According to the company, someone exploited a "configuration vulnerability" that allowed them to access and decrypt customer data affecting over 100 million people in the US, and about 6 million in Canada.
Richard Lawler07.29.2019