The idea of hackers bringing down power grids may sound like a far-fetched plot from the current series of 24, but a security firm insists it’s a genuine threat. The threat is now a possibility because of the use of a technology known as Smart Grids. This involves around two million devices, largely wireless, which […]
By PatB Contributing Writer, [GAS] On February 20th, [GAS] warned readers that the current version of Acrobat Reader had a security flaw that bad guys were exploiting to deliver malware. Adobe has worked hard and just released an updated version of their ubiquitous software for both PC and Mac. So don’t walk, but run to […]
By Sterling “Chip” Camden Contributing Writer, [GAS] You must be wondering how you entered a parallel universe in which a [GAS] headline can include the words “Microsoft”, “browser”, and “secure” — without the words “not”, “disaster”, or “joke”. And given the history of security flaws in Internet Explorer over the years, the folks at Redmond need […]
On February 19th, Adobe confirmed reports that its version 9 software of Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader were vulnerable to buffer overflows that have allowed some companies to be targeted in spearphishing attacks. Their announcement said: A critical vulnerability has been identified in Adobe Reader 9 and Acrobat 9 and earlier versions. This vulnerability would […]
By Casey Lynn Contributing Writer, [GAS] You’ve probably heard about the recent Facebook TOS debacle and subsequent backpeddling. After a few quiet changes to the terms, a bunch of users of the social networking site revolted, followed by preparation to file a formal complaint by the Electronic Privacy Information Center to the FTC. So Facebook […]
By Johnny Daniels Contributing Writer, [GAS] While President Obama is going around thinking that his sparkling, very expensive new smart phone is secure and hacker-proof, convicted hacker Kevin Mitnick has some bad news for him – it’s not secure at all. Mitnick, who spent nearly 5 years in prison for hacking offences, told Fox News […]
Pablos Holman is a futurist, IT security expert, and notorious hacker with a unique view into both breaking and building new technologies. In the following presentation, he explains what drives computer hackers to do what they do best: break into gadgets, networks, and systems.
By hooking a $250 Motorola RFID reader and an antenna to his laptop, Chris Paget was able to easily harvest and clone multiple RFID identity documents while driving through San Francisco. Fortunately for the victims Chris is a white hat hacker and only did this to prove that using RFID-enabled identify cards can only be […]
A senior Unix administrator known only as “SK” admitted she got lucky when she found the malicious script planted in a development server on the network. The script was buried within lines of legitimate code according to an affidavit filed against Rajendrasinh Makwana, an Indian citizen living in the United States under a work visa. […]
You’d think that a Monster once bitten would be twice shy. But even though user information has been stolen from Monster.com on at least two prior occasions, it has happened yet again. This time, the data includes user IDs and passwords, as well as contact information. Monster does not store Social Security numbers, thankfully. The […]