PC Tech World: Hacker

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Friday, April 12, 2013

Hacker claims he can remotely hijack airplanes using an Android app

Hugo Teso, a security consultant who also happens to be a trained commercial pilot, says he's developed an Android app that can make an airliner "dance to his tune" by attacking its flight management systems. The hack was demoed at this year's Hack In The Box conference in Amsterdam, where Teso showed how the app -- called PlaneSploit -- can seek out targets from the ground by infiltrating radio broadcasts between aircraft and air traffic control, and then use a second communication system to send malicious messages to that could "take full control of the plane" or indirectly affect the pilot's behavior. PlaneSploit is proof-of-concept software, designed to work in a closed virtual environment, so it's not like we're going to see it pop up on Google Play any time soon, but just the fact it exists will hopefully help to keep the puppet masters out of real-world planes. And no, there's no Windows Phone version.

Via: Net Security, Computerworld

Source: Aircraft Hacking: Practical Aero Series (PDF)

Sunday, February 3, 2013

WSJ: Eric Schmidt calls China 'the most sophisticated and prolific' hacker of foreign firms

The Wall Street Journal snagged a preview of an upcoming book co-authored by Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and the company's Jared Cohen, and it doesn't seem to paint the rosiest picture of China. Dubbed The New Digital Age, the tome reportedly claims China is "the world's most active and enthusiastic filterer of information" in addition to "the most sophisticated and prolific" hacker of foreign firms. Recent stats and events don't exactly help the nation's image.

In addition to the threat of hacking attempts originating from China, the work also touches upon the Chinese government's alleged involvement with network infrastructure providers such as Huawei. According to the book, such cooperation puts the US at an economic and political disadvantage since "the United States will not take the same path of digital corporate espionage, as its laws are much stricter (and better enforced) and because illicit competition violates the American sense of fair play." However, Schmidt and Cohen posit that even western firms "will coordinate their efforts with their governments on both diplomatic and technical levels" as the future unfolds.

In terms of what's to come, the work also considers that the country's "mix of active citizens armed with technological devices and tight government control is exceptionally volatile," and that it could cause "widespread instability," and even "some kind of revolution in the coming decades." If you're interested in more prognostication from Google's head honcho, the book is slated to hit shelves this April. For now, you can hit the neighboring source link for additional morsels.

[Image credit: TechCrunch, Flickr]

Via: The Verge

Source: Wall Street Journal

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Hacker Leaks 300,000 Verizon Customer Records and Claims to Have Millions More

This story will display in ...Dec 22, 2012 7:09 PM

Hacker Leaks 300,000 Verizon Customer Records and Claims to Have Millions More Sometimes it seems like no one's keeping your data safe; this is one of those times. A hacker just leaked 300,000 Verizon customer records, and that's only a sample of the 3 million he claims to have gotten in his little raid.

The hacker, who goes by TibitXimer, told ZDNet about his exploits this evening, despite claiming to have actually executed the attack way back on July 12. TibitXimer says he'd warned Verizon of the exploit he used, but they didn't take any action, so he did and snagged around 3 percent of Verizon's nation-wide customer data.

The records include information such as names, addresses, mobile serial numbers, the opening date of each account, and account passwords. And of course, it was all stored in—sigh with me, everyone—plain text. TibitXimer, despite supporting Anonymous, is claiming this hack as his own personal project, ~~and is currently making his mind up about whether or not he'll leak the rest of the data~~ (he decided against it). He described his frustration to ZDNet saying "The worst part of it all, every single record was in plain text. I did not have to decrypt anything."

Will this finally convince everyone to stop storing sensitive information in plain text? Sigh with me again. Probably not. [ZDNet]

Image by Mmaxer/Shutterstock

View the original article here

By: Dilusha On 9:38 PM

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Accomplished Celebrity Email Hacker Gets Ten Years in Prison

This story will display in ...Dec 17, 2012 5:04 PM

Accomplished Celebrity Email Hacker Gets Ten Years in Prison Christopher Chaney has a pretty impressive list of hacks under his belt. He managed to break into the digital lives of such stars as Scarlett Johansson, Mila Kunis, Christina Aguilera, and others. But Chaney's fun is over now, and for the next decade; he's just been sentenced to ten years in prison for his shenanigans.

Chaney was charged with illegally accessing over 50 different email accounts from November 2010 until his arrest in October 2011. The 35-year-old plead guilty to the charges, which included wiretapping and illegal computer access, and now U.S. District Judge S. James Otero has dropped the hammer with the ten year term.

Before the sentencing, a few of the celebrities involved came out with statments. Johansson made a tearful videotaped appeal to the court, and Aguilera said "That feeling of security can never be given back and there is no compensation that can restore the feeling one has from such a large invasion of privacy."

But now the hacking spree is over as far as Chaney is involved, so there's no more hacking for him and no more nudes for the Internet. At least for now. [via AP]

View the original article here

By: Dilusha On 2:39 PM

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Hacker Gary McKinnon won't face UK charges

Good news for McKinnon

Hacker Gary McKinnon won't face charges here in the UK. The announcement brings to an end a 10-year legal battle.

McKinnon was also going to be extradited to the US to face charges, and possibly a 60-year jail sentence, until Home Secretary Theresa May stepped in.

McKinnon was accused of hacking into US government computers. He admits he did access them, but claims he was looking for evidence of UFOs. He suffers from Asperger's syndrome.

Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer QC today announced McKinnon wouldn't face charges. He said the chances of a successful conviction were "not high".

McKinnon has been fighting extradition since 2002.

A couple of months ago, Home Secretary Theresa May told parliament that McKinnon was too ill to be extradited.

It was decided the threat of extradition could lead to him committing suicide, and so he was allowed to stay in the UK on human rights grounds.

Announcing McKinnon wouldn't face charges, Mr Starmer said in a statement: "The potential difficulties in bringing a case in England and Wales now should not be underestimated, not least the passage of time, the logistics of transferring sensitive evidence prepared for a court in the US to London for trial, the participation of US government witnesses in the trial and the need fully to comply with the duties of disclosure imposed on the CPS."

McKinnon's mother, Janis Sharp, said today's news was "amazing".

She said: "Gary admitted to the intrusion, he always denied the damage. I feel the 10 years have been gruelling, it's been life-destroying. It's difficult to explain how bad it's been.

"To have this over is amazing. Gary's gone through enough. Other people have been accused of more serious hacking in this country and they've been given a £1,000 fine and a very short community sentence.

"Gary regrets what he's done. He wishes he hadn't done it. He wishes he hadn't upset the Americans. We all regret it. But I'm grateful to Theresa May that this is all over now."

Via BBC