Security

A recent study reports that 4.4% of all Internet usage in China is done without antivirus protection. What is more disturbing is that these figures have actually increased when compared to figures from last year. The studies were conducted by the ... Chinese Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) and China's National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team (CNCERT). $2.2B In 'Service Fees' To Clean Up Attacks In 2009, Chinese Internet users spent almost 15.3 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) on service fees designed to clean up after cyber attacks. It is also reported that free ... (view more)

Cybercrime is often likened to a never-ending cycle: just when a security company believes they have found a way to combat one malware-installation method, hackers come along and find a new ways to attack a computer. Thus, it should come as little ... surprise that there is a new hack that attacks network card firmware: software specifically designed to control the network card. This innovative hacking technique (dubbed the "Jedi Packet Trick") works by sending infectious network packets to the network's firewall , which needs to be running a vulnerable network card. Once an infected packet is ... (view more)

The names, addresses, and Social Security numbers of 3.3 million people were stolen in what is believed to be the largest-ever breach of personal information amongst university students. The issue could affect as many as 5% of all federal ... student-loan borrowers. According to Educational Credit Management Corp. (ECMC), a non-profit guarantor of federal student loans, during the weekend of March 20-21 the personal details of 3.3 millions borrowers were stolen from their St. Paul, Minn. headquarters. The theft did not involve hackers. ECMC spokesman Paul Kelash told the Wall Street Journal that ... (view more)

A Miami-based hacker found guilty of stealing millions of credit card numbers has been sentenced to two decades behind bars. However, the Boston US District Court judge who sentenced him opted not to commit Albert Gonzalez to more jail time for his ... role in several major schemes. 130 Million Credit Card Numbers Stolen We first reported on hacker Albert Gonzalez in August of last year. Back then, he had just been apprehended for an incredible heist of some 130 million credit card numbers from Heartland Payment Systems Inc., a huge U.S. credit and debit card processor. Although it doesn't appear ... (view more)

Two hackers took just two minutes to break into a PC running Windows 7 64-bit with Internet Explorer 8 at a security conference earlier this week. The ethical hacking took place at the CanSecWest security event in Vancouver, which hosts an annual ... contest named "Pwn2Own." The name is taken from an online corruption of "own" in two senses: whomever is first to take control of a system wins the relevant hardware, plus between $5,000 and $10,000 in cash. (Source: darkreading.com ) Windows 7 DEP and ASLR Hacked, Disabled In the contest, the hackers were not able to physically access the ... (view more)

A French hacker has been arrested in connection to the hacking of a Twitter account owned by U.S. President Barack Obama. The suspect, known by the nickname "Hacker Croll," has since been arrested in his home country. "Hacker Croll" is actually a 25 ... year old male and is already infamous for his targeting of high-profile social networking accounts. He was allegedly responsible for a similar attack on Britney Spears a year ago after gaining access to Twitter's internal administrative network by acquiring the password of an employee. In order to get his dirty little hands on the latter ... (view more)

Security company Symantec recently compiled a list naming the 50 most dangerous cities in the United States for cyber crime. Some of the top entries are big surprises. The rankings are based on those cities Symantec determined were most susceptible ... to a cyber attack, and factor in the number of high-risk activities and crimes committed in a particular state and city. The study wasn't all just about where cyber attacks take place, however. The study also also investigated other factors -- for example, if a city has a high use of public wireless Internet or network access (WiFi), hosts many ... (view more)

Here at Infopackets, we sometimes talk about hackers' drive-by attacks , and invasions of unsuspecting victims' PCs via unauthorized download. However, it's very rare that a case presents itself whereby the hacker's conduct has an impact on actual ... driving. And yet, that was the situation in Austin, Texas, where over 100 vehicles were recently disabled by a dealership's disgruntled former employee. Automobile Hacker Causes Headaches for Car Owners Recently, Austin residents who'd purchased vehicles at the local Texas Auto Center started experiencing strange issues with their cars. Some started ... (view more)

Those who tweet on Twitter can rest a little easier now that their social network medium is taking effective measures to keep phishing attacks (and cyber criminals in general) away from the site. The new service will scan all links to keep online ... goons from spreading their malware across the popular micro blogging destination. Once the service is launched, all links submitted to Twitter will be routed through the system so that malicious links can be detected. This will prevent users from clicking onto corrupt links under false pretenses. In a recent blog post, Del Harvey, director of the ... (view more)

If you receive an email with the message "Facebook password reset confirmation customer support" in the subject line, don't click the link. Doing so would cause you to fall victim to the latest password-stealing virus targeting Facebook users. ... Facebook's estimated 400 million users are being targeted by hackers in an effort to steal banking passwords and gather other sensitive information. McAfee Warns of Malware in Attachment According to McAfee Inc., recipients of the email are told that their Facebook passwords have been reset. They're then urged to click on an attachment to obtain new ... (view more)