Gawker
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newspaper wars
Rupert Murdoch's UK Papers in Huge Phone Hacking Scandal
British authorities are launching an investigation into allegations that Rupert Murdoch's UK newspapers paid more than $1.5 million in hush money to try to cover up the fact that they were illegally hacking into cell phones in pursuit of stories. More »
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Comment by skahammer: What exactly does "cellphone hacking" involve, anyway? Can't you pick up cellphone transmissions with shortwave radios and the like? 2 Responses | Other threads
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hackers
Kim Jong Il More Web Savvy Than The Average Despot
Remember North Korean's deranged little troll leader, Kim Jong Il, the one firing missiles into the Pacific lately like a ten year-old with bottle rockets on New Year's Eve? Well, he's been hacking into American and South Korean government computers! More »
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Comment by FaceMelter: The Chinese and the Russians are the most sophisticated hackers on the planet, and I imagine their services aren't that... 5 Responses | Other threads
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security
Entire U.S. Government Under Hacker Attack
Security experts have to admit they kind of admire him, the hacker who is bizarrely attacking every last boring part of the U.S. government, online. His mysterious army is living the American Dream, really. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Kid Twist: As long as they don't hit the Federal Interagency Committee for the Management of Noxious and Exotic Weeds (FICMNEW) [www.fs.fed.us] That... 4 Responses | Other threads
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crime
Sarah Palin Craves 'Hacking' Justice, Endless Martyrdom
After enduring vicious hate attacks by David Letterman, Barack Obama and random Photshop-wielding bloggers, Sarah Palin caught a moment to remind everyone, via Twitter, that tomorrow her email "hacker" stands trial in Tennessee. Remember him? He was so terrible! More »
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By Ryan TateComment by gawkimo: "(surely she meant Democratic, no?) " No, she meant Democrat. A few years ago the right-wing peanut gallery decided to use... 2 Responses | Other threads
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trendwatch
Server Trouble? Blame Iran
Is your company's Web server hosed again? Give your beleaguered sysadmins and programmers a break and blame hackers. Preferably Iranian hackers. It's all the rage! Just ask The Atlantic and Boing Boing. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Iceland Spar: Is that a screen shot from WarGames? 2 Responses | Other threads
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hackers
Did Someone Hack Into the New York Times Twitter Account?
Earlier tonight I received an email from Gawker's eagle-eyed publisher Nick Denton (Seriously, nothing gets by this guy!) with an iPhone screengrab that contained an ad for naked webcam action on the Times' Twitter feed. More »
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Comment by I do love Sherry: Wow! Isn't Nick so uppity with his iPhone set to the 24 hour clock. How European of you. 1 Responses | Other threads
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politics
Why Can't Obama Find a Good Geek?
The White House has tapped two D.C.-area techies to run the government's tech infrastructure. His CIO, Vivek Kundra, turned out to have a rap sheet. Now his CTO Aneesh Chopra, has a drug problem. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by sample032: In a perfect world, there's only a 0.04% chance two Indians would be chosen for this job in the US... 6 Responses | Other threads
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hackers
The Latest Facebook Scam
Oh no! There's a site which tricks you into handing over your personal information for its own nefarious, moneymaking schemes! It's called Facebook. Oh, also, people are all upset because FBstarter.com is stealing their passwords.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Awesome X: Oh hell. So because of this spammers might be able to comment?!? This is what happens when you have too... 1 Responses | Other threads
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leaks
Salma Hayek's Hacked Emails Reveal Celebrity's Quotidian Existence
Hackers have broken into Salma Hayek's email, revealing the actress's iPhone-app obsession, designer-clothes habit, travel plans, and more. (Her billionaire husband, François-Henri Pinault, who's throwing a second wedding for her this weekend, pays the bill!) More » -
Media Crack
Oh Just Let 4Chan Run The News
In your hacked Wednesday media column: Rachel Maddow's less fascinating, 4Chan's smarter than Time, online news fails, and newspaper layoffs reported not in newspapers: More »
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Comment by Paul_Is_Drunk: 4chan "hacked" Time's poll? No, they overwhelmed it with simple automated programs. Anyone with a large, unruly userbase could have... 6 Responses | Other threads
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flackery
Amazon.com Says 'Embarrassing' Error, Not Hacker, Censored 57,310 Gay Books
After gay-themed titles disappeared from Amazon.com's search results this weekend, everyone looked for someone to blame. One hacker took credit. Some faulted an Amazon engineer in France. One source thinks it was the Conficker worm.
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By Owen ThomasComment by cdmunch: I think it's adorable that all you butt pirates and twitterers still read books. 14 Responses | Other threads
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censorship
Why It Makes Sense That a Hacker's Behind Amazon's Big Gay Outrage
Twitter had a big tizzy yesterday over Amazon.com's supposed censorship of gay and lesbian titles, did you hear? Just one problem: A well-known hacker has come forward and claimed the whole thing was his prank. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by DrEngine: First, I untied and tied my laces an even amount of times, before flipple-bashing the revert to the Gung-ho.Then I... 9 Responses | Other threads
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hackers
Conficker Worm Spams People Too Stupid to Download Antivirus Software
For months, we've wondered what the makers of the Conficker worm, which was set to activate on April 1, were up to. An evil plot to destroy the world? Nah — they just want money. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Awesome X: That's so lame. I want James Bond villain action, damn it! At least the pirates are attempting to do hardcore... 2 Responses | Other threads
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hackers
Electronic 'GhostNet' Spy Ring Linked to China
GhostNet, a "cyber espioniage network," has broken into 1,295 computers in 103 countries. Canadian researchers have traced the operation to China. The Dalai Lama and NATO were among its targets. -
hackers
'Anarcho-Transexual' Hacker Returns with New Scam Site
Hoan Ton-That, the parodically Left Coast-y San Francisco coder linked to an earlier virus, appears to have resurfaced with a new website, Fastforwarded.com, which aims to coax passwords from users. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by kazillion: How have the police not found this guy/gal/it? How many Anarcho-Transexual Afro-Chicano American Feminist Studies Major hackers can there be... 3 Responses | Other threads
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sarah palin
Palin Email Hacker Faces Three New Charges
That poor dumb kid who "hacked" Sarah Palin's email by guessing her "security question" answers? Yes, well, he has three new federal charges: More »
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By PareeneComment by FritzIno: If it had been Obama's e-mail that he "just happened to guess the password of"...Gawker and all the people posting... 13 Responses | Other threads
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crime
Jason Calacanis's Felony-Friendly Hiring Practices
Jason Calacanis, the CEO of Mahalo, the world's largest compendium of rewritten Google search results, claims he hired a computer hacker because he never bothered to Google him. Now his employee is headed to jail. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by RodericaMockingbird: Id hire a felon. I dont like the idea that you only get one chance in the US unless... 2 Responses | Other threads
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field guide
Was an 'Anarcho-Transexual Afro-Chicano' Behind the IM Worm?
Yesterday's ViddyHo worm, which spread over Google Talk and Gmail, has been linked by some to Hoan Ton-That, a San Francisco software developer. A very San Francisco software developer.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Pope John Peeps II: She displays all the idiocy of someone who studied something as stupid as "feminism". Anarcho-Transexual [sic] Afro-Chicano American Feminist Studies Major anarcho-transexual... 14 Responses | Other threads
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oh no
Government Job Database Hacked
Were you looking for a job, maybe with President Obama? Hah, you just got identity thefted! USAJOBS, the government's online job database, has been hacked. More »
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By PareeneComment by Aaron Altman: Dear Sir: I would Like to introduce you to the Prospect of receiving A Job with the United States of Government.... 3 Responses | Other threads
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twitterati
The Twitterati Are Not as Awesome as They Think They Are
Today on Twitter: Media people being pretentious, from Bonnie Fuller to Wired's Chris Anderson and beyond! More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Gospel X: re: headline No one who uses Twitter is awesome. No one. "Twit" doesn't even mean anything positive! 7 Responses | Other threads
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celebritards
ParisHilton.com Infected, Cue the STD Jokes
That's hot. Paris Hilton's official website is unsafe for browsing, computer-security researchers have declared, playing host to software which tries to hijack her fans' bank accounts. Doesn't the heiress have enough money? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Claire Buoyant: Doesn't the heiress have enough money? Maybe this is to pay for the $2 million worth of jewels she lost? 1 Responses | Other threads
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blogodrama
Liberal Blogosphere Proves Trivially Easy to Destroy
Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one. After hackers took down SoapBlox, a one-man blog-hosting company which runs local political websites, a silenced liberal commentariat found out how true that was. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by ZukeZuke: Never heard of any of those 'popular' Soapblox sites. But then again, I'm not a flaming liberal either. 1 Responses | Other threads
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macworld 2009
Hackers Post Faked Report of Steve Jobs's Death
MacRumors, one of the many sites which cover Apple's annual Macworld product launches, has had its live coverage infiltrated, with someone adding the false news of Steve Jobs's death to the blow-by-blow reports. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by OMG! Ponies!: Maybe it would have helped if people believed the prank. At 10:30, AAPL was at $97.17. At 3:30, after the... 3 Responses | Other threads
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hackers
Twitter Hacking Epidemic Claims Britney Spears, Barack Obama
Whats going on with Twitter? First Fox News gets hacked, then Britney Spears. Is no one safe from this epidemic?
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By Owen ThomasComment by hamburgerhotdog: julia allison's twitter: please god make it happen. 5 Responses | Other threads
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hackers
Fox News Twitter Hacked By Bill O'Reilly
This is currently the lead post on the official Fox News Twitter page. Hackers are cool again.
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Comment by WhereAreTheChips?: Oh I get it; "gay" is the most insulting and degrading thing someone can be labeled, right? 19 Responses | Other threads
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facebook
Why the Koobface virus spread so fast
A long-dormant virus aimed directly at Facebook struck Thursday, spreading quickly via the social network. What's surprising isn't that Koobface hit Facebook so hard. It's that it took so long to do it.
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By Owen ThomasComment by GiuliaEurytus: interesting. I got one of the messages, but it didn't say anything about video--sent me to a photo site, saying... 1 Responses | Other threads
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hackers
YouTube users in virus panic
Hasn't YouTube always seemed too good to be true — all those video clips, for free? We must be getting away with something. That's why rumors about a new YouTube virus have spread so far, so fast.
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By Owen ThomasComment by OswaldChelios: Although this article sounds logical, I touch computers everyday and my antivirus is NOT out of date. i own a... more » | Other threads
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tweeter
Proletarian Revolutionaries Hack Web Page
Bankrupt electronics retailer Tweeter closed all its stores yesterday and fired its employees without warning. But it appears some naughty ex-employees have had their revenge on Tweeter's executives—by hacking the company's web page and placing a humorously profane photo and message upon it for all the public to see! Oh ho! It seems the tables have turned, eh? Click through for a screengrab of the shocking political metaphor that has promptedTweeter to pay all its employees what they're oweda few people to chuckle, then hit the bong again: More »
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Comment by gerbilsoutofexile...is cheap and easy: That's obviously photoshop - Bush doesn't have the coordination to pull that off. 2 Responses | Other threads
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hackers
Credit-Card Hackers in New Attack
It's the last thing cash-strapped banks need right now: Holders of credit and debit cards are reporting an epidemic of unauthorized charges on their bills. It could be the sign of a massive card-fraud operation in the making. A company called Adele Services, based in Melville, N.Y., has been charging cards small amounts — 21 to 29 cents. Such charges are usually attempts by card fraudsters to test whether a particular card number is valid.
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By Owen ThomasComment by finky: First time my card was hacked, I was 14, sitting in my dorm room bopping my head to Dashboard Confessional.... 3 Responses | Other threads
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Tim the IT Guy
Traffic engineers pull a "Die Hard 4" on Los Angeles
Who pays attention to unions anymore? A bunch of carpenters picket your office because of a grievance with a contractor who works for the facilities department of the company on the floor below you. They might as well stencil WE ARE POWERLESS on their placards. But a couple of Los Angeles traffic engineers who work for that city's Automated Traffic Surveillance Center found a way to make "strike" an active verb again: They disabled four traffic lights at major intersections a couple of hours before a job action. The red-light gridlock lasted four days until the PHBs figured out how to reprogram things. Gabriel Murillo, 39, and Kartik Patel, 36 admitted to felony hacking as part of a plea bargain. I'm sure it sucked for commuters, but at least they didn't turn all the lights green. (Photo by AP/Nam Y. Huh)
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Comment by macbeach: Obviously one of the "change"es that needs to happen is making messing with public infrastructure a hanging offense like it... more » | Other threads
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Tim the IT Guy
PDFs now as rock-solid secure as ActiveX
It's a verified bug: PDF files can be used to take over your PC. Adobe's mistake was adding support for ever-sloppy JavaScript inside the once-benign PDF format. Core Security, the company that outed the vulnerability, says, "An attacker could put malicious code in JavaScript embedded in a PDF and [...] could manipulate the program's memory allocation pattern and trigger the vulnerability to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user." Great. I can hardly wait to reinstall Paul's PC after he pretends to read another of those ethics-in-journalism PDFs.
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Comment by macbeach: Sometimes it's good when the open source alternatives to these things don't follow the lead of the products they imitate.... more » | Other threads
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software as a disservice
Vista is so secure, no one uses it
Pity the poor Microsoft employees in charge of protecting Windows from third-party apps with security holes. The only code they can fix is Microsoft's. But as John Markoff reports this morning, Microsoft's boldest move to protect Windows Vista users totally backfired: More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by WagCurious: Come on! Every single Android app asks you a dozen security questions before it launches ("Should this app have access... 5 Responses | Other threads
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Tim the IT Guy
Microsoft saves my job for the weekend
Hooray — another zero-day patch! The financial sky is falling! The only good news is I'm used to hedge fund managers throwing themselves out the windows. If you're as familiar with zero-day patches as collateralized debt obligations, let me explain the difference to an IT guy. A CDO means I'm fired. A zero-day patch means I'm working. All weekend. More »
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Comment by Nekoni: Maybe he's like my partner, likes the routine, regular money, a challenge, but not too much responsibility, just enough to... 1 Responses | Other threads
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hackers
World Bank computers repeatedly raided for over a year
Fox News scored this memo from inside the World Bank. In what one manager termed an "unprecedented crisis," the bank's servers were cracked over and over again beginning in the summer of 2007. They don't know yet what sensitive info on national economies has been stolen. Here's the breakdown on the break-ins: More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by raincoaster: Thank God I don't have any money! I get to lord it over everyone else! more » | Other threads
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hackers
Stupid rock band totally pwns Google
Google's Hot Trends page has been gamed before, but today's #1 spot is the best ever — a dorky-white-guys rock band named Captain Caucasian and the Raging Idiots. No KKK references, just a bunch of guys with guitars and a singer whose baseball cap is two sizes too big. While we wait for Clay Shirky and Cory Doctorow to explain how this is a huge, huge victory for real people over the evil corporate monster that is the music industry, Google, or maybe it's Starbucks, I crawled through the band's traffic-slammed website to dig up their video for "Bust a Move." More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by macbeach: The rest of the things on that list (which I never reference except when a story like this comes up)... more » | Other threads
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the youngs
12-year-old does iPhone security QA
"My twelve year old son brought to my attention a security bug he discovered on his iPhone," blogs programmer Karl Kraft. "He has an even more paranoid security mind than I do, because he primarily uses his iPhone to send and receive sweet nothings between himself and his girlfriend, and he is certain that his mother and I are desperate to intercept these messages." The poor kid doesn't realize his parents would be perfectly happy with an XML summary of the content. They could set alerts on it: WARNING sexual subtext identified. Steve Jobs has four kids, so don't tell me this isn't in the works.
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By Paul BoutinComment by macbeach: Do most people out there give iPhones to their twelve year olds? I guess I really am out of touch. Suggestion for... more » | Other threads
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Blamestorming
Adobe: Amazon.com goof allowed free movie downloads
Amazon.com's Video On Demand service, which allows you to preview and purchase streaming videos online, uses Adobe's Flash Media Server to deliver the video. Late last week, Reuters reported that hackers had discovered an exploit that would allow users to turn the free preview into the full stream, allowing folks to watch movies for free using software like Replay Media Catcher from Applian. Adobe took issue with Reuters' contention that Flash isn't secure — instead suggesting it was Amazon's fault for not enabling various security options such as streaming encryption and player verification. Why did Adobe choose to blame a customer instead of quietly fixing the problem behind the scenes? Probably seemed easier. -
4chan
"Despicable, slimy, scummy websites" take revenge on Bill O'Reilly
After a 4chan message board user broke into Sarah Palin's Yahoo Mail account and posted screenshots of her emails online, conservative Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly went on the air and yelled about it. "I'm not going to mention the Web site that posted this, but it's one of those despicable, slimy, scummy websites," said O'Reilly on his show. "Everybody knows where this stuff is, OK, and they know the people who run the website, so why can't they go there tonight to the guy's house who runs it, put him in cuffs and take him down and book him? " 4chan management responded by changing the banner atop its random image posting board so that it read: "DESPICABLE, SLIMY, SCUMMY." One of the site's members took a more aggressive course of action, and hacked into O'Reilly's subscription-only site, BillOReilly.com, and posted the names, billing addresses, email addresses and passwords of 205 paying subscribers to Wikileaks and 4chan. In a statement, Wikileaks expressed no sympathy for O'Reilly — calling his site's security "nonexistent" — but had plenty for O'Reilly's attackers: "The hack was a response to the pundit's recent scurrilous attacks over the Sarah Palin's e-mail story — including on Wikileaks and other members of the press."
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Comment by Rachel Marsden: Watch it - you f*ckers are talking about my Uncle here. 2 Responses | Other threads
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David Kernell
Palin email hacker's biggest misstep? Not being an HP exec
As far as we know, David Kernell, the University of Tennessee student suspected of hacking into VP-wannabe Sarah Palin’s email account, isn't thought to have done anything near the scale of HP's pretexting efforts that yielded the private records of its directors, employees and journalists. Nor did he order physical surveillance of Palin. Or seek to obtain her father's or spouse's records. Or hatch plans to infiltrate the governor's office with stooges. Or go through her trash. Or eavesdrop on her instant messaging. Or bug her email. More »
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By theodpComment by WilliamMarkFelt: If you leave your car door open and you leave an ipod and cell phone on the passenger seat, you... 4 Responses | Other threads
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security
Israeli hacker in jail ten years after U.S. military break-in
Ehud "The Analyzer" Tenenbaum, who became world-famous when he and a number of fellow Israeli and California teens successfully exploited a vulnerability in Sun Solaris to gain access to computers at Nasa, Andrews Air Force Base and the Department of Defense, is in jail. Earlier this month he was arrested in Montreal on suspicion of having helped defraud credit card companies of $1.8 million. Wired dug up a slickly produced, pretty entertaining video produced by the FBI a year after the intrusion. More »
hackers
New York, 8:44 PM
Thu Jul 9
43 posts in the last 24 hours
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