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The New York Times reported last summer that the Cardinals were the subject of a federal investigation in connection with multiple illegal breaches of the Astros’ proprietary computer network, Ground Control. Correa was ultimately fired by the Cardinals in July and was later charged. At the time of his plea, Correa claimed that his to access Ground Control was due to concern that former Cardinals scouting director Jeff Luhnow had taken proprietary information with him upon being hired by the Astros as general manager. Per Barron, the court denied a request that would’ve allowed Correa to subpoena documents from the...

Canonical, the parent company of popular Linux distribution Ubuntu, has disclosed that its user web forums have suffered a major data breach. Over the weekend, Canonical said that it had come across claims that a third party had a copy of the Ubuntu Forums database. The company was able to verify that a breach had taken place, with a database containing details of two million Ubuntu Forums users being leaked. No "active passwords" were copied over, although the attacker downloaded the random, hashed and salted strings generated by Ubuntu Single Sign On that is used for Forum logins. Canonical shut...

The infamous Romanian hacker known as “Guccifer,” speaking exclusively with Fox News, claimed he easily – and repeatedly – breached former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s personal email server in early 2013. "For me, it was easy ... easy for me, for everybody," Marcel Lehel Lazar, who goes by the moniker "Guccifer," told Fox News from a Virginia jail where he is being held.

Personal data belonging to the accounts of 3.3m Hello Kitty fans is available to download online - and much of it probably belongs to children. The database for sanriotown.com, the official online home of Hello Kitty and a large cast of other Sanrio characters, is easily accessible according to online security researcher Chris Vickery. This means that sensitive information including users' real names, email addresses, account passwords, genders, birthdays and country of origin is all exposed, or encoded in easy-to-crack form. Hello Kitty is popular amongst both adults and children, and internet security experts are warning parents to make sure...

The White House is blocking the release of a Pentagon risk assessment of Russia’s violation of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, according to a senior House leader. Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee, disclosed the existence of the Pentagon assessment last month and said the report is needed for Congress’ efforts to address the problem in legislation. “As we look to the near-term future, we need to consider how we’re going to respond to Russia’s INF violations,” Rogers said in an Air Force Association breakfast July 8. “Congress will not continue to tolerate

The federal personnel agency will announce Thursday that a breach of OPM data revealed the information of 21.5 million federal employees and their families. More than 21 million Social Security numbers were compromised in a breach that affected a database of sensitive information on federal employees held by the Office of Personnel Management, the agency announced Thursday. That number is in addition to the 4.2 million social security numbers that were compromised in another data breach at OPM that was made public in June. The second data breach, which officials have privately linked to China, affected 21.5 million federal employees...

WASHINGTON DC – As officials of the Obama administration announced that millions of sensitive records associated with current and past federal employees and contractors had been exposed by a long-running infiltration of the networks and systems of the Office of Personnel Management on June 4, they claimed the breach had been found during a government effort to correct problems with OPM’s security. An OPM statement on the attack said that the agency discovered the breach as it had “undertaken an aggressive effort to update its cybersecurity posture.” And a DHS spokesperson told Ars that “interagency partners” were helping the OPM...

In a development that has largely been missed by mainstream media, the Pentagon early last month quietly declassified a Department of Defense top-secret document detailing Israel's nuclear program, a highly covert topic that Israel has never formally announced to avoid a regional nuclear arms race, and which the US until now has respected by remaining silent. But by publishing the declassified document from 1987, the US reportedly breached the silent agreement to keep quiet on Israel's nuclear powers for the first time ever, detailing the nuclear program in great depth. The timing of the revelation is highly suspect, given that...

Everyone worries about stolen credit cards or hacked bank accounts, but just visiting the doctor may put you at greater risk for identity fraud. Those medical forms you give the receptionist and send to your health insurer provide fertile ground for criminals looking to steal your identity, since health care businesses can lag far behind banks and credit card companies in protecting sensitive information. The names, birthdates and — most importantly — Social Security numbers detailed on those forms can help hackers open fake credit lines, file false tax returns and create fake medical records. "It's an entire profile of...

**SNIP** Over the past few years, the number of security incidents at federal agencies involving the potential exposure of personal information has skyrocketed -- from about 10,400 in 2009 to more than 25,500 in 2013, according to the Government Accountability Office. There’s no data yet this year on the total number of breaches at agencies in 2014. But with the year almost in the rearview mirror, Nextgov takes a look back at the 10 most impactful, high-profile or otherwise eyebrow-raising federal agency breaches. 1. White House Hacked The Obama administration has made cybersecurity a key priority, so it must have...

He says the diagnosis of the worker - who's not identified - clearly shows that there was a breach of protocol.

A cyber attack this summer on JPMorgan Chase compromised more than 76 million household accounts and seven million small-business accounts, making it among the largest corporate hacks ever discovered. The latest revelations, which were disclosed in a regulatory filing on Thursday, vastly dwarf earlier estimates that hackers had gained access to roughly one million customer accounts. The new details about the extent of the hack — which began in June but was not discovered until July — sent JPMorgan scrambling for the second time in just three months to contain the fallout.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A company that performs background checks for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Wednesday it was the victim of a cyber attack, adding in a statement that "it has all the markings of a state-sponsored attack." The computer breach at Falls Church, Virginia-based US Investigations Services (USIS) probably involved the theft of personal information about DHS employees, according to the Washington Post, which first reported the story. DHS has suspended all work with the company amid an investigation by the FBI, the Post reported. A U.S. government official confirmed to Reuters that the FBI is...

The California Department of Motor Vehicles Saturday said there is no evidence showing a direct breach of its computer system but it would open an investigation "out of an abundance of caution." Earlier Saturday, security blogger Brian Krebs reported that banks in California and elsewhere were alerted by MasterCard about compromised cards that had all been used for online transactions at the California DMV. The agency said it would pursue its investigation in conjunction with state and federal law enforcement.

Last weekend, Target finally disclosed at least one cause of the massive data breach that exposed personal and financial information on more than 110 million customers: Malicious software that infected point-of-sale systems at Target checkout counters. Today’s post includes new information about the malware apparently used in the attack, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.

THE BARRICADES REMOVED ONCE AGAIN AND ALL ARE COMING THROUGH THE FRONT ~ GOD BLESS THOSE ON THE SCENE ~

More than two years after her upstart Senate campaign rocked the Delaware political world, Christine O'Donnell got an unexpected contact from a U.S. Treasury Department agent warning that her private tax records may have been breached. The phone message earlier this year shocked the battled-scarred candidate, a tea party favorite who knocked off Republican mainstay Michael Castle in the primary before losing in a bid to win Vice President Joseph R. Biden's former seat. "Ms. O'Donnell, this is Dennis Martel, special agent with the U.S. Department of Treasury in Baltimore, Md. ... We received information that your personal federal tax...

The Indiana attorney general’s office confirmed Monday it is investigating a security breach in which Social Security numbers and other personal information were posted online for roughly 44,000 low-income Americans who applied for a federal program that provides discount Internet and phone service. The program was nicknamed the “Obamaphone” during the 2012 election, though it actually started long before President Obama took office. Indiana reportedly has the highest number of applicants, roughly 17,400, who were signed up by TerraCom Inc. and the affiliated YourTel America Inc. Applicants from at least 26 states were exposed to the security breach,

Recall that the State Department has denied that there were any requests for additional security.ABC News: ABC News has obtained an internal State Department email from May 3, 2012, indicating that the State Department denied a request from the security team at the Embassy of Libya to retain a DC-3 airplane in the country to better conduct their duties. Copied on the email was U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed in a terrorist attack on the diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya,  Sept. 11, 2012, along with three other Americans. That attack has prompted questions about whether the diplomatic...

MISSISSIPPI EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT HAS NOTIFIED GOHSEP AND TANGIPAHOA PARISH GOVERNMENT OF AN "IMMINENT FAILURE" OF THE DAM AT LAKE TANGIPAHOA AT PERCY QUINN STATE PARK. THIS FAILURE IS EXPECTED TO CAUSE ADDITIONAL FLOODING ALONG THE ALREADY SWOLLEN TANGIPAHOA RIVER. RESIDENTS ARE ADVISED TO STAY TUNED FOR ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS.