Being the kind of technical person you are, you most likely identify with the old-time hacker ethic and disdain the popular use of the word “hacker” when “cracker” would be more apropos.
Well, Eric Steven Raymond, co-founder and president of the Open Source Initiative and ex-board member of VA Linux Systems, is of a similar mind. Eric wants you to identify with the hacker ethic and do so in public by displaying his hacker emblem on your Web site, your personal home page, your T-shirt and your coffee mug.
Read more…
Google’s $625m (ÂŁ308m) acquisition of email security specialist Postini appears to be further proof that the search giant wants enterprises to buy into its vision of hosted applications.
Read more…
You’re probably familiar with many ways you can be victimized by identity theft. There’s the thief who steals your wallet and maxes out your credit cards. There are online “phishers” who steal your personal information by claiming to be from a legitimate company. There are computer hackers who break into “secure” Web sites and steal Social Security numbers, bank account records and other data.
Read more…
A FORMER staffer for Geek Squad admitted his team stole a porn star’s personal data and then hacked into her home computer to get more. A few day’s later the porn star, Jasmine Grey, was killed in a car crash, leaving the entire team feeling a bit guilty, he said.
According to The Consumerist, Grey walked in with her computer complaining of her PC locking up when she went to use her webcam.
Read more…
An Italian security researcher this week has developed the first web-based email worm capable of taking advantage of cross site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in multiple web-mail services.
Rosario Valotta described the new form of worm on his blog. The proof of concept, called Nduja Connection, could spread faster than a worm targeting only a single web-mail provider, he said.
Read more…
A Swiss Internet start-up is raising the ire and eyebrows of the computer security community with the launch of an online auction house where software vulnerabilities are sold to the highest bidder.
The founders of WabiSabiLabi.com (pronounced wobby-sobby-lobby) say they hope the service presents a legitimate alternative for security researchers who might otherwise be tempted to sell their discoveries to criminals.
Several established vulnerability management companies already purchase information about software flaws from researchers, yet the terms of those deals are private and generally set by the companies. Letting all interested parties bid on security vulnerabilities in an “eBay”-style auction assures that researchers receive the fair market value for the work they do in finding the flaws, said Herman Zampariolo, WabiSabiLabi’s chief executive.
Read more…
t’s been seven years since a Montreal teenager known only as Mafiaboy hacked into computers the world over by exploiting chinks in the security systems of major companies and universities, including Yahoo, Yale and CNN.
Now a Swiss company claims it can slow such activity by doing for hackers what eBay did for collectors of decorative spoons: create a marketplace for the sale of software vulnerabilities to the highest bidder.
Read more…
There’s a great variety of attacks and hacks that black hats can perpetrate on your network. Fortunately, you can prevent most of them using an assortment of security measures.
However, a distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS) is an entirely different story. You can’t thwart a DDoS attack â they attack an IP address or service that’s available to the internet.
Read more…
Security expert warns of new trend among hackers to target user-generated content websites.
irus writers are turning their attention to social networking sites and other user-generated content networks to steal personal information and create botnets, according to an anti-virus expert.
Read more…
The coding geniuses who are taking apart Apple’s hot device say they’re within a few days of making it work with cell networks beyond AT&T.
When Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, unveiled the iPhone, he promised it would put “the Internet in your pocket for the first time ever.” So a few days after purchasing this wonder, I was walking around town when I had a delightful epiphany: Hey, now that I’ve got the Internet in my pocket, I can listen to a live stream of NPR anytime I want! (I’m a fellow of milquetoast impulses.) A quarter-second later the truth hit me. Of course I can’t get NPR on my iPhone; it lacks the necessary software. I also can’t watch Comedy Central’s online videos, nor buy a song from iTunes, nor place a Skype call. Jobs is right; the iPhone is the Internet in your pocket, and at times, having it there feels marvelous. But often the device is a tease: Because Apple and AT&T have locked it down, the iPhone gives you the Internet of 1996, not of 2007. You can look but you can’t watch, listen, download or play.
Read more…