Free Republic

**SNIP** 1. Using out-of-date software Keiran told MailOnline that one of the first things he and other hackers look for when preparing an attack is out-of-date software. 'Out-of-date software is a really big issue because, if the software has been updated, it's probably because there is a security issue', he explained. Software, whether it is the operating system of your iPhone or the control system for a factory, often has some sort of vulnerability. While these can quickly fixed by developers, they are also often shared online through forums and hacker communities. If you haven't updated your software to include...

The Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa said on Saturday that one of their booster stations had been hacked by an Iranian-backed cyber group. Matthew Mottes, the chairman of the board of directors for the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa, confirmed to KDKA-TV that the cyber group, known as Cyber Av3ngers, took control of one of the stations. An alarm went off as soon as the hack had occurred. Mottes added that the station, located on the outskirts of town, monitors and regulates pressure for Raccoon and Potter Townships and stressed that there is no known risk to the drinking water...

Kevin Mitnick, former 'most wanted' hacker who police said could launch nukes by whistling into a phone, has diedBy Joshua Wolens published about 22 hours ago A legend in the history of computing, Mitnick died on July 16 due to complications from pancreatic cancer.Kevin Mitnick, one of the most famous computer hackers in the world and the subject of an over two-year manhunt in the 1990s, died of complications from pancreatic cancer last Sunday, aged 59. His death has been confirmed to the New York Times. Mitnick is a legendary figure, one of those people whose life story reads like...

A security researcher has claimed that he was able to hack into Microsoft’s Bing search engine in order to change the top results to whatever he chose. Hillai Ben-Sasson, who works as a researcher at cloud security firm Wiz, was also able to take over millions of Microsoft Office 365 accounts, which he claimed gave him access to users’ Outlook emails, calendars and MS Teams messages. “I hacked into a Bing CMS that allowed me to alter search results and take over millions of Office 365 accounts,” Mr Ben-Sasson wrote. His Wiz research team spotted the vulnerability within Microsoft’s cloud...

A former FBI analyst was sentenced to seven days in jail for illegally accessing his neighbor’s email in what he said was an attempt to prevent harm to special counsel Robert Mueller’s reputation. Mark Tolson, 60, pleaded guilty in September to a single 'misdemeanor charge of computer fraud and abuse' after he admitted to illegally hacking right-wing lobbyist Jack Burkman’s email account.

A well-known “ethical hacker” who was hired by Twitter to overhaul its cybersecurity alleged that the social media giant has become a security risk for the US after it reneged on a deal with the federal government to set up a system that adequately protects user data. Peiter “Mudge” Zatko — a software engineer who became a star in the hacker community after leading a 1990s-era group called “Cult of the Dead Cow” — filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging widespread dysfunction at Twitter. Zatko was named head of security by Twitter two years ago after...

Web infrastructure company Cloudflare on Wednesday revealed that threat actors are actively attempting to exploit a second bug disclosed in the widely used Log4j logging utility, making it imperative that customers move quickly to install the latest version as a barrage of attacks continues to pummel unpatched systems with a variety of malware. The new vulnerability, assigned the identifier CVE-2021-45046, makes it possible for adversaries to carry out denial-of-service (DoS) attacks and follows disclosure from the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) that the original fix for the remote code execution bug — CVE-2021-44228 aka Log4Shell — was "incomplete in certain non-default...

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) was mocked Tuesday after claiming that a “hacker” had “erased” her Twitter account — despite making this announcement from her account and with no evidence of past posts being deleted. “I have been hacked and my Twitter account has been erased,” Waters, who serves as chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, wrote on Twitter. The California Democrat claimed she knew the culprit behind the so-called hack, vowing: “I will take care of this. M Waters.”

Ukrainian police said on Monday they had arrested a 25-year-old man who hacked more than 100 foreign companies and caused damage worth more than $150 million. The hacker, who was not identified, used phishing attacks and hijacked software that allows computers to be accessed remotely, a police statement said. The victims included "world-famous energy and tourism companies", it added. The hacker was caught with the help of law enforcement officials from the United States, France, Europol and Interpol. Police conducted searches at the homes of the defendant and his relatives. "As a result, computer equipment, mobile phones, vehicles and more...

The German Ambassador to China, Jan Hecker, has died suddenly less than two weeks after taking up the job in Beijing. The 54-year-old’s death was confirmed by Germany’s Foreign Ministry on Monday. Hecker, who was a former foreign policy adviser to Chancellor Angela Merkel, began his posting on Aug. 24. Hecker had arrived in Beijing on Aug 1. with his wife and three children, according to German outlet Deutsche Welle. The details surrounding his death have not yet been disclosed. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said there was no indication Hacker’s death was linked to his diplomatic role.

The DarkSide hacker gang that is responsible for the devastating Colonial Pipeline attack this weekend is a relatively new group, but cybersecurity analysts already know enough about them to determine just how dangerous they are. According to Boston-based Cybereason, DarkSide is an organized group of hackers set up along the “ransomware as a service” business model, meaning the DarkSide hackers develop and market ransomware hacking tools, and sell them to other criminals who then carry out attacks. Think of it as the evil twin of a Silicon Valley software start-up. Bloomberg first reported that DarkSide may be involved in the...

Yes, like all other devices around you, your Smart Home devices can be hacked too. You must be thinking how that is even possible. Well, hackers have their way of finding their way around something. And nothing better than a Smart Home device that can allow a hacker to enter your home and quietly collect all your helpful information. This sensitive information can include your personally identifiable information, bank details, account details, and more. Hackers can easily sneak into your Smart Home devices and find their way around the information which is most beneficial to them. So, instead of just...

Click here to read the full articleWe would­n’t be sur­prised if Big Tech was behind this in some form… Hack­ers are for plat­forms like this.The social media site Gab blamed “oli­garch tyrants” who keep the US “under occu­pa­tion” for being forced offline, after they refused to pay a ran­som in Bit­coin to a hack­er who had pil­fered giga­bytes of user data through an exploit.“We took the site down to inves­ti­gate a secu­ri­ty breach,” Gab announced on Mon­day after­noon via their Twit­ter account. Users try­ing to log into Gab were greet­ed with an “inter­nal error” mes­sage and told to try again.“Banks...

Hackers are friends not foes, says Alyssa Miller in this opening argument for our latest debateThis week's motion is: Hacking is not a crime, and the media should stop using 'hacker' as a pejorative.And now, arguing FOR the motion is ALYSSA MILLER...Using the term “hacker” to describe cyber criminals is an unfortunate habit that plagues modern media. The accompanying imagery of hoodie-clad individuals hunched over computer displays in darkened rooms exacerbates the issue. The predominance of associating hacker with cyber criminals has exploded as cyber-attacks and breaches have become regular topics in mainstream media. However, using “hacker” in such a...

Authorities say a hacker gained access to a Florida city’s water treatment plant in an unsuccessful attempt to fill the water supply with a potentially harmful chemicalA hacker remotely gained access to a Florida city’s water treatment plant in an unsuccessful attempt to fill the water supply with a potentially harmful chemical, authorities said. An unknown suspect breached a computer system for the city of Oldsmar's water treatment plant on Friday and briefly increased the amount of sodium hydroxide from 100 parts per million to 11,100 parts per million, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said during a news conference Monday....

An ITN analysis finds a State Department employee with the same name as a person at the center of accusations of election hacking was one of only ten employees to graduate the National Defense University with an advanced cybersecurity degree. A man by the name of Stefano Serafini is accused of being one of the individuals that facilitated the hacking of the presidential election on Nov. 3. That hack allegedly switched votes electronically from President Trump to Joe Biden and took place at – among other sites – the U.S. Embassy in Rome, Italy. Those allegations, made by Maria Zack...

Former Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones was arrested on a charge that she hacked into the state’s emergency response system — and later learned she tested positive for COVID-19. Jones — who said she was fired from the state’s Department of Health in May for refusing to alter coronavirus data — turned herself in late Sunday, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Her attorney, Steve Dobson, said Jones, 31, was tested for COVID-19 after being booked into the Leon County Detention Facility, and learned she was positive on Monday.

Footage from a DEFCON hacker conference in Las Vegas shows a female hacker demonstrating how to gain admin access on a voting machine in less than two minutes. In the video from 2018, SocialProof Security CEO Rachel Tobac shows how an election machine used in most states can be easily compromised in seconds with no tools needed. According to a press release, voting machines made by Premier Election Solutions, which was acquired by Dominion Voting Systems in May 2010, “are currently in use in over 1,400 jurisdictions in 33 states and serve nearly 28 million American voters.”

Earlier this week, the bitcoin community was shocked when a digital wallet containing roughly $1 billion in bitcoin...was emptied by an unknown individual. The Department of Justice announced on Thursday that it had seized the wallet’s contents as part of a civil forfeiture case targeting the Silk Road. The government said it retrieved the roughly 70,000 bitcoins with the help of an unnamed hacker, whose identity is known to the government but who is simply referred to as “Individual X” in court documents. “Individual X” allegedly hacked the Silk Road’s payments system some time in 2012 or 2013. The government...

Hackers stole $2.3 million from the Wisconsin Republican Party intended for President Donald Trump's reelection effort, state party officials confirmed to ABC News Thursday. "Cybercriminals, using a sophisticated phishing attack, stole funds intended for the re-election of President Trump, altered invoices and committed wire fraud," Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Andrew Hitt said in a statement.