Two students have been charged with hacking into the California State University database and changing their grades. John Escalera worked at the university helpdesk and is alleged to have gained access to administrative controls in the PeopleSoft student database by setting up false accounts in the names of the registrar and academic records co-ordinator. Escalera is accused of changing his own grades and those of his friend Gustavo Razo Jr in exchange for cash.
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The US Federal Trade Commission is warning businesses to be on the lookout for spam that contains a trojan-laden attachment claiming to be a legal complaint against recipient. The bogus emails appear to come from frauddep[at]ftc[dot] gov, a spoofed address, and contain the actual logo for the FTC to establish legitimacy. The text says that “a complaint has been filed against you and the company you’re affiliated with,” a social engineering tactic used to dupe victims into opening the attachment.
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McAfee has announced that it will acquire certification vendor ScanAlert in a deal potentially worth $75 million. McAfee will pay $51 million up front for the Napa, Calif.-based company, as well as $24 million if performance targets are met. The acquisition is McAfee’s second in weeks. The company acquired encryption provider SafeBoot for $350 million on Oct. 8 to boost its enterprise data security offerings.
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The Chinese state is behind almost daily internet espionage attacks on German companies and government bodies, a top German intelligence official said on Monday. “In our view, state Chinese interests stand behind these digital attacks,” said Hans Elmar Remberg, vice president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the country’s domestic intelligence agency.
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Recently, Robert Graham, CEO of Errata Security, posted a blog in which he stated that “today’s CPUs can ‘crack’ passwords eight times fast than they can ‘check’ the passwords.” And we’re not even talking about dual-core machines, just your plain vanilla PC desktop. Graham, who last summer hacked someone’s Gmail account before a live Black Hat audience, is used to making provocative statements. And, as with the Gmail hack, Graham’s not afraid to back these statements up with data.
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Hackers are vowing to unlock the iPhone from the O2 mobile network, just days before it goes on sale in Britain. The ÂŁ269 touchscreen mobile phone, dubbed “revolutionary” by its maker, Apple, is already one of the most eagerly awaited of gadgets and stores are expecting a shopper frenzy as it goes on sale in the UK this week. Combining the music and video capability of the iPod, with a touch-sensitive screen and wireless internet access, the iPhone was dubbed “invention of the year” by Time magazine last week.
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