Security

Two hackers took just two minutes to break into a PC running Windows 7 64-bit with Internet Explorer 8 at a security conference earlier this week. The ethical hacking took place at the CanSecWest security event in Vancouver, which hosts an annual ... contest named "Pwn2Own." The name is taken from an online corruption of "own" in two senses: whomever is first to take control of a system wins the relevant hardware, plus between $5,000 and $10,000 in cash. (Source: darkreading.com ) Windows 7 DEP and ASLR Hacked, Disabled In the contest, the hackers were not able to physically access the ... (view more)

A French hacker has been arrested in connection to the hacking of a Twitter account owned by U.S. President Barack Obama. The suspect, known by the nickname "Hacker Croll," has since been arrested in his home country. "Hacker Croll" is actually a 25 ... year old male and is already infamous for his targeting of high-profile social networking accounts. He was allegedly responsible for a similar attack on Britney Spears a year ago after gaining access to Twitter's internal administrative network by acquiring the password of an employee. In order to get his dirty little hands on the latter ... (view more)

Security company Symantec recently compiled a list naming the 50 most dangerous cities in the United States for cyber crime. Some of the top entries are big surprises. The rankings are based on those cities Symantec determined were most susceptible ... to a cyber attack, and factor in the number of high-risk activities and crimes committed in a particular state and city. The study wasn't all just about where cyber attacks take place, however. The study also also investigated other factors -- for example, if a city has a high use of public wireless Internet or network access (WiFi), hosts many ... (view more)

Here at Infopackets, we sometimes talk about hackers' drive-by attacks , and invasions of unsuspecting victims' PCs via unauthorized download. However, it's very rare that a case presents itself whereby the hacker's conduct has an impact on actual ... driving. And yet, that was the situation in Austin, Texas, where over 100 vehicles were recently disabled by a dealership's disgruntled former employee. Automobile Hacker Causes Headaches for Car Owners Recently, Austin residents who'd purchased vehicles at the local Texas Auto Center started experiencing strange issues with their cars. Some started ... (view more)

Those who tweet on Twitter can rest a little easier now that their social network medium is taking effective measures to keep phishing attacks (and cyber criminals in general) away from the site. The new service will scan all links to keep online ... goons from spreading their malware across the popular micro blogging destination. Once the service is launched, all links submitted to Twitter will be routed through the system so that malicious links can be detected. This will prevent users from clicking onto corrupt links under false pretenses. In a recent blog post, Del Harvey, director of the ... (view more)

If you receive an email with the message "Facebook password reset confirmation customer support" in the subject line, don't click the link. Doing so would cause you to fall victim to the latest password-stealing virus targeting Facebook users. ... Facebook's estimated 400 million users are being targeted by hackers in an effort to steal banking passwords and gather other sensitive information. McAfee Warns of Malware in Attachment According to McAfee Inc., recipients of the email are told that their Facebook passwords have been reset. They're then urged to click on an attachment to obtain new ... (view more)

The results are in: cyber crime and online scams were way, way up in 2009. It's bad enough that the difference in losses between 2007 and 2008 was an increase of 11 percent (or roughly $265 million) -- but who would have guessed that difference ... between 2008 and 2009 would be double the previous year -- at an astounding $559 million? Cyber Crime Success: Sophistication, Anonymity According to an FBI-led taskforce, the cyber crime losses are the result of more sophisticated techniques employed by hackers during attacks. "The figures contained in this report indicate that criminals are ... (view more)

It appears Microsoft won't wait until April's Patch Tuesday to release a fix for a recently revealed zero-day vulnerability found in the company's popular web browser, Internet Explorer. The company is, according to reports, working furiously to get ... the patch out soon, but hasn't guaranteed it will arrive here before next month. Releasing emergency patches is rare for Microsoft. However, if the situation warrants fast action the company has demonstrated in the past that it will jump days or even weeks ahead of its monthly Patch Tuesday releases. In this case, Microsoft's March Patch Tuesday ... (view more)

It seems ironic that as the first of April draws near, the dreaded Conficker worm has resurfaced yet again in the media. April 1, 2010 will mark the one-year anniversary of the date that the Conficker virus was set upon the world, infecting millions ... of computers. And while many feel the worm failed to live up to its hype, its presence is still being felt across the globe. Security Researcher Discovers Malware on Phone A Panda Security employee recently discovered the worm (along with two other malware programs) on his new HTC Magic phone. The malware was activated once the phone was plugged ... (view more)

Symantec researchers have discovered that the software accompanying Energizer's DUO battery charger may have been injecting PCs with malware since May 2007. Energizer has recently discontinued the product, but for those who've already purchased the ... charger, it's important they know a workaround for the problem. Trojan Creation Date Not Known According to Symantec Global Intelligence Network director Dean Turner, it's tough to tell if the Trojan has been kicking around the full three years. "It's really impossible to say for sure that this Trojan has always been in the USB charger- ... (view more)