hackers

Celebrity hacker pleads guilty to Scarlett Johansson e-mail hack

Christopher Chaney entered guilty pleas to nine felony counts in federal court today, admitting that he hacked into dozens of celebrities' e-mail accounts, including those of Mila Kunis and Scarlett Johansson, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"Today's guilty pleas shine a bright light on the dark underworld of computer hacking," said U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr., whose office prosecuted the case, according to the Los Angeles Times. "This case demonstrates that everyone, even public figures, should take precautions to shield their personal information from the hackers that inhabit that dark underworld."

Chaney, 35 … Read more

Hackers steal passwords from military dating site

Hackers broke into the database for a military dating Web site and stole passwords, e-mail addresses, and other information from nearly 171,000 accounts, according to a post on the Pastebin site this weekend:

"The website http://www.militarysingles.com/ was recently closed day ago or so, so we dumped email db," the hackers said in their post. "There are emails such as @us.army.mil ; @carney.navy.mil ; @greatlakes.cnet.navy.mil ; @microsoft.com ; etc.."

So-called "data dumps" are a common occurrence, but what makes this one notable is that the group is … Read more

FBI says $700K charged in Anonymous' Stratfor attack

When the Antisec branch of Anonymous hacked into security think tank Strategic Forecasting, or Stratfor, at the end of December, one of its claims was the theft 200GB worth of data, including e-mails and clients' credit card information.

Days after the hack, the group published 860,000 e-mail addresses and 75,000 unencrypted credit card numbers on the Web.

Now, the FBI's Milan Patel says that between December 6, 2011, and February 2012, "at least $700,000 worth of unauthorized charges were made to credit card accounts that were among those stolen during the Stratfor Hack," according … Read more

Google hires DARPA Director Regina Dugan

One of the Pentagon's most tech-forward leaders is heading to a new job at Google. Regina Dugan has been the director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which works on military technology for the U.S. Department of Defense, for the past three years.

"Regina is a technical pioneer who brought the future of technology to the military during her time at DARPA," a spokesperson for Google told CNET. "She will be a real asset to Google, and we are thrilled she is joining the team."

Although Google confirmed Dugan's hire, it … Read more

Anti-abortion Anonymous hacker arrested in U.K.

Shortly after hacking into Britain's biggest abortion provider's Web site and stealing 10,000 database records of women registered with the service, self-proclaimed member of Anonymous James Jeffery proudly touted his triumph on Twitter.

It was this misstep that quickly led to his arrest, court hearing, admission of guilt, and impending sentence, according to the Guardian.

It all started on Thursday when the British Pregnancy Advisory Service reported that there were 26,000 attempted break-ins to its Web site over a six-hour period. According to the Guardian, the site was also defaced with the Anonymous logo and a … Read more

Apple goes 'new' school with iPad

week in review Apple unveiled a new iPad, resetting the goal line again even as competitors scramble to catch up in the burgeoning market for tablets.

The new iPad--not the "iPad HD" or "iPad 3" as previously rumored--offers a higher-resolution Retina Display similar to that of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. It offers a resolution of 2,048x1,536--or 3.1 million pixels. It also features an updated processor--which the company boasted was four times as fast as the nearest competition--as well as a 4G connection.

Apple also cut the price of two models … Read more

Disillusioned ex-Anonymous first outed Sabu last year

The trail to the New York apartment where a hacker named "Sabu" of LulzSec and Anonymous fame was arrested last June can be traced back to a former Anonymous participant who turned against the group over its WikiLeaks activities.

Sabu, whose name is Hector Xavier Monsegur, pleaded guilty to computer hacking charges in August and spent the last six months or so working as an informant for the FBI. The undercover operation led to hacking-related charges being filed against four alleged cohorts in the U.K., Ireland, and Chicago yesterday.

Sabu was the proverbial big fish who was … Read more

AntiSec hacks security site to protest LulzSec arrests

An online hacker group associated with Anonymous responded to the arrest of six suspected hackers by hacking and defacing a security firm's Web site.

Members of AntiSec hacked the Web site of antivirus company Panda Security after it was revealed today that five men in the U.K., Ireland, New York, and Chicago had been charged with hacking-related offenses, as well as news that LulzSec leader Hector Xavier Monsegur, known as Sabu, had assisted federal officials in their probe of the group.

"Yeah yeah, we know, Sabu snitched on us. As usually happens FBI menaced him to take … Read more

Will LulzSec arrests stop high-profile hacks? Don't bet on it

The group of hackers known as "LulzSec" frequently taunted government pursuers over the last year as they published sensitive data snatched from myriad public and corporate Web sites.

Tuesday, we may have learned what happens when you mock the feds for too long. Authorities announced that five men in the U.K., Ireland, New York, and Chicago had been charged with hacking-related offenses. They also said the alleged LulzSec leader, known as Sabu, had entered a guilty plea on August 15 to 12 counts of computer hacking conspiracies and other crimes. According to the U.S. Attorney's … Read more

Crave 79: Choose the form of the Destructor (podcast)

This week, the Crave crew uncovers a cupcake-dispensing ATM, hot-tub boats, and a sonic weapon that confounds your enemy into silence. Plus, a concept Xbox controller that massages your thumbs, merit badges for nerdlings, and a DARPA cheetah bot that will be chasing us in our nightmares.

Subscribe in iTunes SD Video | Subscribe in RSS SD Video … Read more