Tag Archives: hackers

Career Spotlight: What I Do as an “Ethical Hacker” | LifeHacker #cybersecurity #hackers #hacking

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You occasionally hear about major security vulnerabilities being discovered before they’re exploited, like the notorious Heartbleed bug last year. Security researchers work hard to weed out those dangerous flaws before they’re found by hackers of more malicious intent. This breed of preemptive hacking is sometimes referred to as white hat, or simply “ethical hacking.”

These hackers work with businesses to probe their networks for security holes, vulnerabilities to social engineering, and more, while considering the mindset of someone who might have criminal motivations. To learn about what such work is like we spoke with Ben Miller, an ethical hacker at Parameter Security. READ MORE: Career Spotlight: What I Do as an “Ethical Hacker” | LifeHacker

Symantec’s 2015 Internet Security Threat Report, Volume 20 | Symantec.com #cybersecurity

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2015 Internet Security Threat Report, Volume 20 | Symantec
The Internet Security Threat Report provides an overview and analysis of the year in global threat activity. The report is based on data from the Symantec Global Intelligence Network, which Symantec’s analysts use to identify, analyze, and provide commentary on emerging trends in the dynamic threat landscape.

▶ Symantec’s 2015 Internet Security Threat Report: The Cyber Landscape | YouTube.

▶ Symantec’s 2015 Internet Security Threat Report: The Cyber Landscape - YouTube

9 Facts About Computer Security That Experts Wish You Knew | Gizmodo

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Every day, you hear about security flaws, viruses, and evil hacker gangs that could leave you destitute — or, worse, bring your country to its knees. But what’s the truth about these digital dangers? We asked computer security experts to separate the myths from the facts. Here’s what they said.

READ MORE: 9 Facts About Computer Security That Experts Wish You Knew | Gizmodo

Cyber War Games | NOVA

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Researchers from all over the world can use DETER, a practice Internet, to discover the best ways to combat hackers and prevent a “Cyber Pearl Harbor.” Host David Pogue met with cyber security experts at DETER, who taught him about a common attack called the Distributed Denial of Service, or DDoS, attack.

Upstagram Is A Flying Raspberry Pi That Publishes Live Pictures On Instagram | TechCrunch

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What do Instagram, the Raspberry Pi and the movie “Up” have in common? When you mash all these things together, you get Upstagram, a neat hack that the Hackerloop team just unveiled.

First, the team made a replica of the house in “Up” using paper and foam. It was just big enough to fit a Raspberry Pi and its camera, a battery and a 3G hotspot. The Raspberry Pi, an open source and very cheap mini-computer to tweak, experiment and try new things with, is a hacker’s dream.

Then, the team used about 90 helium balloons to make the house fly above Paris’ landscape. While Instagram is only available on iOS and Android, they reverse-engineered the posting process to transform the Raspberry Pi into an Instagram-taking machine.

Read more: Upstagram Is A Flying Raspberry Pi That Publishes Live Pictures On Instagram | TechCrunch.

Adobe Data Breach Affects 38 Million — Not 3 Million, as Reported | Mashable

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In early October, Adobe announced that 2.9 million customers were hit in a major data breach. As it turns out, the breach went much further, affecting 38 million users, according to a report from Naked Security.

The attackers gained access to users’ customer IDs, names, encrypted passwords, encrypted debit and credit card numbers and other personal data.

“So far, our investigation has confirmed that the attackers obtained access to Adobe IDs and (what were at the time valid), encrypted passwords for approximately 38 million active users,” said Adobe spokesperson Heather Edell.

Adobe initially believed the hackers accessed source code from Adobe Reader, Acrobat and ColdFusion. New data shows that a portion of source code for its Photoshop software was stolen, too.

Adobe set up a help page for affected users, notified them and reset their passwords. The company advises users to change their passwords entirely not only for Adobe products, but also for other sites where they used the same password.

Adobe Data Breach Affects 38 Million — Not 3 Million, as Reported | Mashable.

Google’s Project Shield helps small websites stand up to DDoS attacks | Engadget

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Created in response to a Google Ideas request — a think tank that provides tech solutions for social issues — made by Middle Eastern activists, Shield aims to allow small site owners to “serve their content through Google” in order to withstand malicious DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks and not go offline.

Read: Google’s Project Shield helps small websites stand up to DDoS attacks  | Engadget.

Adobe Gets Hacked, Product Source Code And Data For 2.9M Customers Likely Accessed | TechCrunch

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Now this is interesting and worrying. Source code being accessed is a very big deal, especially the company being Adobe. Subversive response to the move to subscription-based cloud services perhaps?? Hijacking code to exploit vulnerabilities…insert viruses…gain access to even more data. Very worrisome.

Article in Full from TechCrunch

“Uh oh — Adobe has just disclosed that one of their servers has been hacked.

While their investigations are still ongoing, Adobe has shared a few details on what they believe could have been accessed and obtained in the hack — and it’s a big one.

From what Adobe has shared so far, it sounds like the hackers had access to encrypted data for as many as 2.9 million customers. While Adobe stresses that the data is encrypted and that they “do not believe the attackers removed decrypted credit or debit card numbers”, that data — encrypted or not — is definitely not something they want out in the wild.

Adobe has yet to disclose how that data was encrypted, so it’s currently unclear just how secure it is.

Meanwhile, it also appears that the hackers may have been able to access the source code for at least three of Adobe’s products: Acrobat, ColdFusion, and ColdFusion Builder. This goes hand in hand with a report from Brian Krebs this morning, who noted that he and a fellow researcher had discovered at least 40GB of Adobe source code available on a hacking group’s private server.

Beyond the obvious business implications of having your otherwise locked down source code floating around in the wild, there are potentially massive security concerns here. Once you’ve got the source code for an application in hand, it becomes much easier to dig up the stealthy lil’ security screw ups that might otherwise go unnoticed. Combine this new potential for big zero-day exploits with the many, many millions of Adobe Acrobat (Adobe’s official PDF reader) installs around the world, and this all starts to get pretty worrisome.”

via Adobe Gets Hacked, Product Source Code And Data For 2.9M Customers Likely Accessed | TechCrunch.

Pew: 86% Of U.S. Adults Make Efforts To Hide Their “Digital Footprints” Online; Fear Of Creeping Ads And Malicious Hackers Outweighs State Spy Worries | TechCrunch

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As surveyed by the Pew Research Center, the average U.S. citizen appears to be more concerned about the data collecting abilities of advertising networks like those of Google and Facebook, faceless malicious hackers, and even friends and family, than they are the government.

See the full discussion of the research findings: Pew: 86% Of U.S. Adults Make Efforts To Hide Their “Digital Footprints” Online; Fear Of Creeping Ads And Malicious Hackers Outweighs State Spy Worries | TechCrunch.

Video: Can Hackers Be Heroes? | Watch Off Book Online | PBS Video

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via Video: Can Hackers Be Heroes? | Watch Off Book Online | PBS Video.

Video: Can Hackers Be Heroes? | Watch Off Book Online | PBS Video