arrest

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

LulzSec arrests deal blow to hacker group

Government agencies have arrested several members of hacker group LulzSec, which has claimed responsibility for attacks on Sony Pictures and Fox's "X-Factor" reality series, charging them with crimes allegedly affecting more than 1 million victims.

Five of the arrested individuals are described as "core" members of the hacker groups Anonymous and LulzSec, while a sixth individual, who operated under a separate group called Antisec, was also arrested, the U.S. Attorney's office said today in a statement.

The arrests have likely put hackers on alert, even as tensions rise over future attacks. While law … Read more

Philly challenge to map thousands of AEDs could go national

In an effort to quickly and efficiently map the roughly 5,000 automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public areas of Philadelphia, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine recently launched a contest to award $10,000 to the team or person who finds the most.

With the six-week contest, which kicked off in late January, nearing its March 13 deadline, researchers are already planning to conduct a similar, nationwide challenge.

AEDs can save the lives of those suffering cardiac arrests via electric shocks, particularly if used in the first minutes following the onset of the attack. … Read more

Interpol sweep nets 25 Anonymous suspects

Twenty-five suspected members of the online activist group Anonymous have been arrested in sweeps across Europe and South America, the international police agency Interpol said today.

The sweep, dubbed "Operation Unmask," was in response to coordinated cyberattacks against government, political, and corporate Web sites in Colombia and Chile, Interpol said. The suspects, whose ages range from 17 to 40, were arrested in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Spain.

"This operation shows that crime in the virtual world does have real consequences for those involved, and that the Internet cannot be seen as a safe haven for criminal activity, … Read more

Former chairman, six others arrested over Olympus scandal

Japanese lawmakers went on an arrest spree today, nabbing seven people who were allegedly involved in the Olympus accounting coverup.

According to the New York Times, Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, former Olympus chairman and president, was among the men arrested in Tokyo today. Japanese prosecutors told the Times that Kikukawa and two other former Olympus executives, have been detained on suspicion of falsifying financial statements. Two investment bankers and two of their associates were also arrested for alleged involvement in the coverup.

Olympus' trouble started in October when the company--led by Kikukawa--fired president and CEO Michael Woodford. Following his dismissal, Woodford presented documents to the media … Read more

Dying teen's final video goes viral

Shortly before Christmas, teenager Ben Breedlove, creator of the YouTube channel BreedloveTV, posted a two-part video about his lifelong heart condition, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. It was the high school senior's most serious video and would prove to be his last.

On Christmas morning, while playing with his younger brother in the family's backyard, Breedlove succumbed to the condition that causes a thickening of heart muscle, went into cardiac arrest, and died.

In the days following, Breedlove's final two videos--in which he does not say a word but cycles through a series of flash cards to the music "… Read more

The 404 951: Where we undo a huge mistake (podcast)

Leaked from today's episode of The 404 Podcast:

Five years after its series finale, Netflix seals a deal for exclusive rights to a new season of "Arrested Development." Molly Wood fears the minefield of links spreading through Facebook's Open Graph sharing program. Publishers with Facebook apps like The Guardian are requesting access to your feed that automatically show your friends the articles, images, and music you consume. More than 200 independent record labels pull their music from streaming sites like Spotify, Rdio, Simfy, and Napster. Studies show that consumers care less about owning the music than about unlimited access to streaming tracks. Apple will open a flagship store in Grand Central Station tomorrow that spans 23,000 square feet and costs $800,000 a year in rent to the MTA.… Read more

Netflix unarrests 'Arrested' development

Emmy-winning cult sitcom "Arrested Development" is being revived with all-new episodes, thanks in part to Netflix's continuing push toward becoming an HBO-like purveyor of original content.

Netflix announced yesterday that Twentieth Century Fox Television and Imagine Television will produce an unspecified number of brand-new episodes that will start streaming exclusively for Netflix subscribers in the U.S. beginning in 2013.

Earlier this year, Netflix signed a deal with "Social Network" and "Fight Club" director David Fincher for an original series called "House of Cards," starring Kevin Spacey.

The moves are in … Read more

Seven accused in $14 million click-hijacking scam

The U.S. Department of Justice said today that it has uncovered a large, sophisticated Internet scam ring that netted $14 million by infecting millions of computers with malware designed to redirect their Web searches to sites that generated ad revenue.

Six people have been arrested in Estonia and a Russian is being sought on charges of wire fraud and computer intrusion, the FBI said. They are accused of infecting about 4 million computers in more than 100 countries--500,000 in the U.S. alone, including NASA--with malware called DNSChanger. The malware altered the Domain Name Server settings on the … Read more