Profiling 10 types of hackers
Credit to Author: Ryan Francis| Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2017 04:00:00 -0700
Crafty Ohio inmates scavenged parts, built PCs for hacking and hid them in ceiling
Credit to Author: Darlene Storm| Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2017 06:51:00 -0700
What can a computer recycle program and a little shoulder-surfing get you? For inmates at Ohio’s Marion Correctional Institution, it got them a great deal, enough to build two PCs from the yanked parts and then hide them in the ceiling, use a former employee’s credentials obtained by looking over his shoulder, and then commit “possible identity fraud along with other possible cyber-crimes.”
The Ohio Inspector General’s 50-page report (pdf) includes a big list of fails for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. The report reads like a mini novel of intrigue, weaving lax security as well as players across the prison system and prisoners into the story.
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Hacked Dallas sirens get extra encryption to fend off future attacks
Credit to Author: Matt Hamblen| Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2017 14:37:00 -0700
Dallas city officials have added extra encryption and other security measures to the outdoor warning sirens hacked early Saturday.
The hack also prompted the city to evaluate critical systems for potential vulnerabilities, City Manager T.C. Broadnax said in a statement late Monday. City officials are reviewing security for financial systems, a flood warning system, police-fire dispatch and the 911/311 system.
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Bank gets lesson in the security failings of third parties
Credit to Author: Evan Schuman| Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2017 04:00:00 -0700
The most effective cyberattacks turn the tables on the security measures we take to ward off attacks. We’re always countering the attacks that have worked in the past, rarely thinking about the opportunities our countermeasures might open up.
And opportunities always abound. If malware is being delivered via attachments, we put out memos forbidding employees from opening attachments from strangers. Cybercriminals see this, and they come up with phishing — sending out attachments in emails that appear to come from the recipients’ close co-workers. So then we warn employees to not open an attachment unless it was expected. All right, say the attackers; we’ll just wait for an attachment heads up and then launch our attack.
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Hack of Dallas emergency sirens prompts more warnings to bolster cybersecurity
Credit to Author: Matt Hamblen| Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2017 09:39:00 -0700
Dallas emergency management officials continue to investigate a hack that activated all 156 emergency tornado sirens citywide for about 90 minutes early Saturday.
The city declared the sirens were activated Friday night in a hack that officials believe came from the Dallas area.
The event was a warning that businesses and organizations, including cities and emergency operations centers, need to guard against similar breaches, whether they may come from disgruntled employees, hackers trying to pull a stunt, or a more nefarious group working for an enemy state, analysts said.
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The iCloud hackers' bitcoin ransom looks like a fake
Credit to Author: Michael Kan| Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2017 04:02:00 -0700
A group of hackers who claimed to hold millions of iCloud accounts for ransom said on Friday it had been paid. But one bitcoin expert said that’s bogus.
The Turkish Crime Family grabbed headlines last month by claiming it had the stolen login credentials for more than 700 million icloud.com, me.com and mac.com accounts. The group demanded increasing ransoms from Apple while threatening to wipe the data from devices connected to the affected accounts if it did not.
On Friday, the hackers tweeted that they had been paid $480,000 in bitcoin. As proof, the group posted a link showing a transaction on Blockchain.info, a popular bitcoin wallet.
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Angry Shadow Brokers release password for suspected NSA hacking tools
Credit to Author: John Ribeiro| Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2017 03:45:00 -0700
Annoyed with the U.S. missile strike last week on an airfield in Syria, among other things, hacker group Shadow Brokers resurfaced and released what it said was the password to files containing suspected National Security Agency tools it had earlier tried to sell.
“Is appearing you are abandoning ‘your base’, ‘the movement’, and the peoples who getting you elected,” the group wrote in broken English in a letter to President Donald Trump posted online on Saturday.
The hacker group, believed by some security experts to have Russian links, released in January an arsenal of tools that appeared designed to spy on Windows systems, after trying to to sell these and other supposedly Windows and Unix hacking tools for bitcoin.
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How to rescue your PC from ransomware
Credit to Author: Eric Geier| Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2017 17:51:00 -0700
With nasty malware like Locky making the rounds—encrypting its victims’ files, and then refusing to unlock them unless you pay up—ransomware is a serious headache. But not all ransomware is so difficult.
You can remove many ransomware viruses without losing your files, but with some variants that isn’t the case. In the past I’ve discussed general steps for removing malware and viruses, but you need to apply some specific tips and tricks for ransomware. The process varies and depends on the type of invader. Some procedures involve a simple virus scan, while others require offline scans and advanced recovery of your files. I categorize ransomware into three varieties: scareware, lock-screen viruses, and the really nasty stuff.
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