2014-08-26

Sony PlayStation DDoS-ed

Update 26-Aug-14:
Hackers attack Sony's PlayStation network, and at the same time send a threat to a American Airlines flight, which has the Sony system.

2014-08-15

PDF Analysis & Password Cracking Tool

Introducing ParanoiDF

Mike Brown Shooting

Update 15-Aug-14:
Post the incident in America, where an unarmed black teenager was shot down by an unnamed cop, Anonymous releases a threat against the city's IT infrastructure, plus claim to know the name of the cop.

2014-08-14

Internet Blackout in Syria

30-Nov-2012:
So the government claims that the terrorist have cut off the cables. In reality that seems unlikely, and looks like the government is trying to control the communications. Not surprisingly, the Anonymous has decided to attack them.  Full Story

11-Dec-2012:
A simple (non-technical) story around what was done by the Govt intentionally.

Update 14-Aug-2014:
Snowden reveals that this was actually (accidentally) caused by NSA

2014-08-12

PGP Inventor Announces Blackphone

An encrypted and hardened version of Android, by Phil Zimmerman!

A similar Boeing Blackphone launched.

Update 12-Aug-2014:  Gets rooted in less than 5 mins.

2014-08-11

Xiaomi Phones Sending User Data to Home Servers

Update 11-Aug-14:
Security Researchers from F-Secure Antivirus firm has shown that the Xiaomi phones (RedMi 1S handset) send quite a lot of personal and sensitive data to "api.account.xiaomi.com"  server located in China, including following information:
  • IMEI Number of your phone
  • IMSI Number (through MI Cloud)
  • Your contacts and their details
  • Text Messages
More details here and here.

Update 12-Aug-2014:
Xiaomi releases a statement

2014-08-09

End to end encryption for emails

25-May-2015:
German government encourages encryption, by setting up easy to use and free service. Commendable move, I hope it is done properly, and does not leave any holes behind.

09-Aug-2014:
Yahoo follows suit, and announces the same for next year.

18-Jun-2014
Another commendable move from Gmail, even tho it comes at the cost of losing a bit business for them

2014-08-06

Russian hackers steal 1.2B Web credentials

Criminals in Russia have amassed a huge database of 1.2 billion stolen user names and passwords and half a billion email addresses .... The data, believed to be the single biggest horde of stolen Internet identity information ever collected, was garnered from attacks that reached into every corner of the Web and hit around 420,000 sites, said Hold Security.
Full Story

We have Hold Security, the company who apparently broke this news, who is providing a free service to help you identify if your password has been compromised. Sounds like either a publicity stunt, or a pure bid to steal the passwords.

Can Your Car Be Hacked?

The most hackable vehicles include the 2014 Jeep Cherokee, the 2015 Cadillac Escalade and the 2014 Toyota Prius. The most secure cars include the Dodge Viper, the Audi A8, and the Honda Accord....
Full Story

Update: 22-Jul-15:
Another update from these same guys, but this time taking over a car remotely, over the internet.

Update 02-Nov-15:
A sarcastic article on the critiques of this hack

Update 21-Nov-15:
Chrysler Recalls 1.4m Vehicles, to patch the flaw. Some good thoughts here:
People keep computers for a few years, but cars for decades,” Camp said. “So when would an automobile company declare ‘end of life’ for supporting legacy cars that are found to have hackable defects....
Update 03-Aug-16:
The duo is back to hack the patched Jeep - again

2014-08-03

Concerned about NSA? Switch to typewriters!

Germany and Russia are both considering replacing computers, with typewriters to avoid data-leakages (ref: Prism).
Smart move? Or a hasty decision without investigating all the possible alternatives?