Security

The US Federal Reserve has confirmed that it recently suffered a cyber attack that resulted in personal data being lost. It's also possible that this information has already been published online. A spokesman for the Federal Reserve said the attack ... was made possible by hackers "exploiting a temporary vulnerability in a website vendor product." That problem was quickly fixed once officials became aware of it. The spokesman didn't publicly confirm what information was stolen, but did say that the attack failed to negatively impact critical operations. There's no indication the hacking ... (view more)

The United States Department of Energy has been attacked by hackers. The unknown assailants reportedly gained access to employee personal information. News agency Reuters recently acquired a letter between the US Department of Energy (DOE) and its ... employees. In that letter, the DOE admits that the attack "resulted in the unauthorized disclosure of employee and contractor Personally Identifiable Information." Employee Personal Data Lost to Hacker The letter indicated that employee and contractor personal information was lost. However, it also noted that none of the stolen information was ... (view more)

Hackers have reportedly breached Twitter security defenses. According to the social networking site, it's possible that up to a quarter of a million accounts were affected by the attack. Twitter director of information security, Bob Lord, announced ... on Friday afternoon that the site had been under attack throughout the day. An investigation by Twitter's security team discovered that the attackers had in fact bypassed site security and had gained access to a large amount of user data. That user data reportedly contained user names, email addresses, and encrypted passwords. Passwords Reset, ... (view more)

In the past, someone upset by a newspaper article would write a letter of complaint to the editor. But The New York Times (NYT) says Chinese hackers have unleashed a campaign of cyber attacks in response to an article about Chinese leader Wen Jiabo. ... Though the hackers haven't publicly explained their actions, NYT staff believe the attacks are a response to an article published in October 2012 about Jiabao. The story reported that his relatives had made billions of dollars in business deals. (Source: nytimes.com ) The attackers gained access to New York Times computers through malicious ... (view more)

Printers using server software offered by Hewlett-Packard (HP) are reportedly vulnerable to attack. In fact, it's possible for a hacker to use the flaw to bypass security defenses, steal documents, and crash every machine connected to the same ... network. Security researcher Sebastian Guerrero says the problem affects printers using HP's JetDirect software. That software is used for print servers, meaning it can handle any printing request made by a network-connected computer. Hackers Could Bypass Security Defenses Guerrero says that a flaw in the JetDirect software could allow an attacker to ... (view more)

Three Eastern European men now stand accused of operating a global scam designed to steal "tens of millions" of dollars from banks by means of a special virus known as "Gozi." The same virus is also said to have compromised about 190 computers at ... NASA during a five year period, revealing confidential log-in information and instant messaging transcripts. Gozi Virus Infects 1 Million PCs The prosecutors in the case claim the Gozi virus infected more than a million computers worldwide, including large numbers in such countries as Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Turkey and the ... (view more)

Two men claiming to belong to the loosely-organized international 'hacktivist' group Anonymous have now been sentenced to jail terms in England. The men were convicted of carrying out distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks in support of ... WikiLeaks. The convicted men include 22-year-old Christopher Weatherhead and 28-year-old Ashley Rhodes. They were found guilty of conspiring to impair the operation of computers. Weatherhead received an 18-month jail term, while Rhodes was sentenced to seven months behind bars. (Source: bbc.co.uk ) PayPal 'Stung' by DDoS Attack According to British ... (view more)

Security researchers have uncovered a complex virus capable of reappearing even after it is thought to have been removed from a computer system. This so-called 'Red October' virus reportedly attaches itself to Adobe Reader and Microsoft Office ... software. The virus is named after the Tom Clancy novel about a Soviet submarine crew trying to defect. It's an appropriate moniker because the majority of computers infected by the virus are located in Russia and Eastern Europe (though there are victims in at least 37 other countries). The infections mostly affect computers used by government ... (view more)

The United States Air Force (USAF) plans to add 1,000 cybercrime experts to its current workforce of 6,000 computer professionals. The reason: there is a concern that Iran may soon pose a serious threat to US Internet security. Although the Air ... Force budget as a whole is likely to be cut, observers expect extra recruits in Space Command, the unit responsible for monitoring and controlling United States Internet security, satellites, and long-range missiles. (Source: ohsonline.com ) Cyber Command: Leading, Preventing Online Attacks Space Command is a unit within the larger Air Force Cyber ... (view more)

After it suffered a number of costly robberies in Australia, McDonald's is testing a new DNA-based security system. The new system, called 'Intruder Spray,' coats thieves with an invisible substance that remains on their body even after considerable ... time has passed. UK-based SelectaDNA has been hired to install the security system in more than 750 of McDonald's Australian restaurants. In each participating restaurant, the Intruder Spray system is positioned above the doorway and connected to an alarm. Once activated, the system sprays a "non-toxic, invisible DNA solution" which can remain on ... (view more)