hackers

News

• The week in security: hackers work as quick as a Flash

  The use of Facebook and Google credentials to log onto multiple services has been heralded as a benchmark in service integration, but a recent study has shown the protocols used to facilitate such logins remain woefully inadequate. This is a significant weak point in cloud-based services, while Microsoft's decision to release an anti-malware tool for its Azure cloud service seems to counter the company's own advice that one of Azure's benefits is to avoid reliance on security software.

• Monday Grok: Did Microsoft help hackers by mistake?

  The words "Microsoft" and "security" are synonymous, but often for all the wrong reasons. It’s the curse of success really. When you own an overwhelming slab of the world’s desktops, naturally the Black Hats will come after you rather than other niche operating system providers. And let’s face it, Windows is hardly Helm’s Deep when it comes to repelling Orcs.

• What does 2012 have in store for Anonymous?

  Anonymous had a busy year in 2011 pushing its hacker-activist agenda on companies around the Web, to the point where just the sound of the hacker group's name can send shivers down the spine of many a CIO.

• 2012 Outlook: The end of everything?

  Welcome to 2012, the year the world ends. Yes, in case you haven't been following the eschatologists out there (and most of them are definitely "out there"), 2012 will be "it" for humanity. The "last hurrah". Fini. Au revoir.

• Turnbull's card details exposed by hackers

  Millionaire MP Malcolm Turnbull and billionaire businessman David Smorgon have had their credit card details published on the internet by hackers.

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  Top 10 Influential 2011: The rise and fall of LulzSec

  Hacktivists with a virtual axe to grind got their fair share of the spotlight in 2011, most notably a group called LulzSec that managed to cause problems for organisations ranging from the CIA to Sony, thereby earning them a place in the top 10 influential.

• Ultrabooks have Intel Anti-Theft tech, yawn

  Consumer laptops built to Intel's new Ultrabook standard-cum-brand must include Intel Anti-Theft technology. Well, so what?

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  Monday Grok: 600,000 Facebook accounts compromised

  600,000 Facebook accounts were "compromised" yesterday, or thereabouts.

• Hacking Apple's Siri: Not so easy

  Hackers looking to port Apple's Siri digital assistant to iOS devices other than the iPhone 4S claim to have a rudimentary version of Siri running on the original iPad. Twitter user Jackoplane recently posted screenshots online showing Siri fully integrated into the iPad's operating system. The only problems is Siri can't do much on the iPad right now since most of Siri's processing takes place on Apple servers. Similar to the version of Siri on the iPhone 4 that hacker Steve Troughton-Smith had up and running earlier in October, the iPad doesn't appear to be able to interface with Apple's servers.

• Hacker collective Anonymous strikes at child porn sites

  Hacker collective Anonymous is at it again, and this time it is targeting websites that allow users to share child porn.

• Study: Hackers, IT pros share personal information online

  Hackers apparently can be just as careless as their victims.

• Sony PSN compromise a setback for consumer loyalty: Analyst

  The suspension of 93,000 Playstation Network (PSN) accounts by Sony after a large number of unauthorised sign-in attempts could undo recent campaigns to win back customers and affect long-term confidence in the company, according to an Australian security analyst.

• Privacy Commissioner clears Sony over PSN hack

  Sony Computer Entertainment Australia should have acted more quickly to notify customers of the data breach occurring from the hacking of the PlayStation Network and Qriocity platforms in April, the Office of the Australian Privacy Commissioner has said.

• Android users: Advice to protect your phones

  Android smartphone users can take some commonsense precautions to protect their personal data from being stolen -- important advice considering an app developer purports to know how to take the information in under 60 seconds.

• Facial recognition: Facebook photo matching just the start

  The Internet was in an uproar earlier this year following Facebook's launch of facial recognition software for its photo services, enabling users to identify their friends in photos automatically--and without their permission. Though critics described that move as creepy, the controversial technology may now be on the verge of widespread use.