By Steve Huff 11/05/12 1:06pm

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Chinese flag

Hackers Torpedoed Coke’s Multi-Billion Dollar Deal to Buy a Chinese Corporation

A Chinese hacking crew dubbed the Comment Group has been romping through corporate America’s computer networks for a few years now. The extent of the breaches wasn’t clear until Bloomberg published an in-depth report Sunday detailing in part how soft drink giant Coke was hacked in 2009 and didn’t tell.

The deep hacking of sensitive data from Coke’s systems destroyed a $2.4 billion acquisition deal with China Huiyuan Juice Group, which would have been the largest deal of its kind at the time: Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 11/04/12 1:15pm

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NBC NBC.com hacked

NBC’s Website Was Hacked and Defaced Just Before Guy Fawkes Night

Earlier today, NBC’s website was hacked. The site returned to normal for a few minutes, but now even the homepage is having problems. This afternoon, users who clicked on the “Shows” or “Full Episodes” tab were shown a black page with glowing lights, loud music, and references to Guy Fawkes Night, which is celebrated on November 5th.  NBC’s mobile landing site, Saturday Night Live page, 30 Rock clips, and NBC Sports Rotoworld were also hacked.

Despite the Fawkes reference, Anonymous has not yet taken credit for the hack. A message on the site said “Hacked by pyknic.” It’s also unclear why NBC was a target. Not a Louis C.K. fan, perhaps? Read More

By Steve Huff 11/02/12 12:16pm

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He knows kung-fu.

With Project BlackStar, Hacker Group Team GhostShell Declares Cyber-War Against Russia

Hacking group Team GhostShell, which recently hacked records from major universities around the world, has materialized again to announce a declaration of war against Russia. It calls the operation Project BlackStar and claims it already has “access to more russian files than the FSB (Russia’s answer to the CIA).”

Team GhostShell has a novel approach to promoting its ops–it uses mulitple hacked Twitter accounts, posting the same message directed at various tech blogs and writers on each one: Read More

By Steve Huff 10/26/12 3:39pm

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Hackers were likely not ski-masked in this case.

Hackers Steal Millions of Social Security Numbers From South Carolina Taxpayers

Hackers from outside the United States recently penetrated the website for South Carolina’s Department of Revenue and reportedly made off with 3.6 million Social Security numbers and 16,000 unencrypted credit and debit card numbers.

South Carolina has a population of approximately 4.5 million, meaning the compromised Social Security numbers could affect most of state.

South Carolina’s governor held a press conference about the breach on Friday: Read More

By Steve Huff 10/12/12 5:13pm

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The Sun. Totally hackable. (Flickr/DBduoPhotography)

Researchers Discover Software Controlling Solar Power Plants Is Totally Hackable

On the heels of Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta scaring the crap out of everyone regarding cyberattacks, SophosLabs’ NakedSecurity blog linked to a Homeland Security alert which warns that hackers could take control of solar energy plants.

Plant administrators use the vulnerable software to control energy-generating solar plants. However the programming wasn’t written with security in mind; it’s a swiss cheese of SQL injection holes: Read More

By Steve Huff 10/12/12 11:56am

SOPA Opera

SOPARansomware

SOPA Virus Kidnaps Computers for Ransom [Video]

Virus makers sometimes create what amount to digital versions of the creepy guy on the corner in a trenchcoat trying to convince kids to get in his ‘police van.’ The SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) virus is just the latest and worst example of this. It’s called ransomware, and it will lock down a victim’s computer and give them an ugly scare in the process.

TorrentFreak explains how the SOPA virus works: Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 10/08/12 11:40am

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YOUR GOD CAN'T SAVE YOU NOW.

After Hack Attack, Carnage Sweeps Like Death’s Scythe Through World of Warcraft

Is no Internet community safe from the outrageous depredations of the hackers? The latest victims of their villainy: World of Warcraft. Forbes reports that, on Sunday morning, a mysterious attack swept through the game, slaying thousands of avatars.

It was as swift and terrible as the coming of Ringwraiths.

Forbes reports on the terror: Read More

By Steve Huff 10/04/12 4:34pm

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(Matthew Jakubowski)

Hacker Hides Handheld Hotel Lock-Picking Gadget in Dry Erase Marker [Video]

Recently Cody Brocious discovered that the program controlling Onity brand hotel room door locks was weak enough he could crack it and open any room secured with one. Building on Mr. Brocious’s work, ethical hacker Matthew Jakubowski has taken hotel room lock hacking into James Bond territory, hiding his own lockpicking device inside an innocuous Dry Erase marker.

Mr. Jakubowski refers the curious hacker or technologically sophisticated burglar to Mr. Brocious for the fine details regarding the actual hacking of the locks and then describes creating his “Hotel Pen Test Pen” in detail. He has also uploaded a video of his pen unlocking a hotel door lock purchased on eBay, which you can watch below. Read More

By Steve Huff 10/03/12 1:13pm

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SpaceX's Dragon. Probably won't fall on you. (SpaceX.com)

Security Experts Warn Hackers Could Hijack Satellites

An alarming report in The Independent may serve as a warning to satellite operators and a challenge to hackers: cyber security experts attending a conference in the United Kingdom say our satellites face more dangers than ever, including hijacking and sabotage by skilled and malicious hackers.

The Independent‘s Jerome Taylor reports that experts attending the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies conference believe the world’s dependence on space-based tech could render many “acutely vulnerable”: Read More