Hackers

Ferris Bueller Wannabe Faces 38 Years in Prison After Changing Grades

The Orange County District Attorney has charged 18-year-old student Omar Khan with 69 felony counts—including identity theft, computer fraud, falsifying a public record, second degree burglary and watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off and War Games 5,405 times—after allegedly getting into Tesoro High School's computers to change his grades. The pseudo-Matthew Broderick was not very subtle, though, leaving a trail the size of the Exxon Valdez's oil spill. More »

7:35 AM on Fri Jun 20 2008
By Jesus Diaz
61,287 views, 67 comments

Latest by n/a: Fail.Ferris hacks into the school computer to change the number of absences.As pointed out the picture is of David Lightman in War Games where he indeed hacks into the school computer and changes his grades as well as his girlfriend's.I more »

pew pew

US Military Hackers Could Pwn Enemies Using Real Bombs, Missiles

We knew that the Air Force Cyber Command is supposed to fight against enemy computer attacks using their skillz, computer programs, and massive PlayStation 3s networks. Now Christian Lowe at Defense Tech reveals that, if they can't stop the attacks using a terminal, the US military hackers can actually order a cruise missile attack or drop a couple of MK84 bombs on the hacker at the other side of the line. Or like Col. Tony Buntyn, vice commander of Air Force Cyber Command, euphemistically refers to as "kinetic warfare." More »

6:24 AM on Fri Jun 13 2008
By Jesus Diaz
6,814 views, 47 comments

Latest by nimblesquirrel: @cac67: Because the Rules of Engagement operate on the same principles for ANY engagement, whether it is close combat or an attack from distance. The Rules of Engagement are also the same for all branches of the military, and are more »

military intelligence

US Military Wasted Millions on Fake Hardware, Sparking Cyber-Terrorism Fears

The U.S. Military has spent millions of dollars on counterfeit computer components over the years, according to an FBI report. This not only screws over businesses, but it also makes it easier for cyber-terrorists to hack into our systems by putting trojans and viruses in fake circuitry. An anti-counterfeit initiative by the FBI, led to 15 criminal cases and over $3.5 million worth of seized products. More »

3:00 PM on Sat May 10 2008
By Elaine Chow
8,255 views, 22 comments

question of the day

What Kind of Geek are You?

Wired has done a handy cut-out-and-keep guide to spotting geeks. Third from the right is gadget geek, who apparently "writes ferocious comments on Giz" (FIRST! and Will It Blend? are not examples of ferocious comments, before you ask.) James Chiang's fabulous photo just begs the question, however: What kind of geek are you? More »

7:00 PM on Sun Apr 13 2008
By AddyDugdale
36,475 views, 106 comments

security

T Pities Fool Who Bids on Hacked Fujitsu U810 With Live Virus "Still Present"

Shane Macaulay, the hacker who beat a Vista-powered Fujitsu in last week's CanSec West PWN 2 OWN contest has listed the UMPC—with virus "still likely present"—on eBay. Some say this might be Macaulay's idea of a joke, but T doesn't think it's funny when hackers joke around with exploits, especially an Adobe Flash exploit that might "affect 90 percent of computers worldwide." Mac's alleged rationale:

This laptop is a good case study for any forensics group/company/individual that wants to prove how cool they are, and a live example, not canned of what a typical incident responce sitchiation [sic] would look like.

Note: We can't spot an April 1 listing of any Fujitsu U810 on eBay. [InfoWorld]

9:15 AM on Tue Apr 1 2008
By Wilson Rothman
2,089 views, 12 comments

Latest by firesign: who the hell buys a used computer and doesn't totally wipe and redo the drive? i pity the foo'! more »

fingerprint thieves

German Hackers Publish Interior Minister's Fingerprint to Protest Against Biometric IDs

A group of hackers has captured the fingerprints of the German Interior Minister as a protest against plans to use biometric data in e-passports. The latest edition of their magazine, Die Datenschleuder, contains a plastic foil that reproduces the whorls and swirls of Wolfgang Schauble's digit, meaning there are 4,000 copies of the politician's prints just waiting to be attached to someone's finger. More below. More »

3:00 PM on Sun Mar 30 2008
By AddyDugdale
9,308 views, 42 comments

hackers

Hackers Attack Epileptics Forum With Snow Crash-like Seizure Inducing GIFs

For currently unknown reasons, several internet griefers decided to screw with epileptics last weekend by posting flashing and multicolored images in a support forum run by the nonprofit Epilepsy Foundation. About three percent of epileptics are photosensitive, which means that the flashing lights and colors can trigger migraines or seizures. Way to go, assholes. More »

5:30 PM on Sat Mar 29 2008
By Elaine Chow
15,702 views, 69 comments

contests

Linux Last Man Standing In PWN 2 OWN Thunderdome

The dust has settled on PWN 2 OWN and Linux FTW! The Ubuntu-equipped Sony VAIO was the only computer to get through the tournament unscathed, managing to elude the assembled hackers. On Thursday the MacBook Air was the first to go, followed the next day by the Vista-running Fujitsu, conquered by Shane Macaulay. No one, but no one, however, was able to bring down the penguin. [ PWN 2 OWN via PC World ]

5:15 PM on Sat Mar 29 2008
By Elaine Chow
11,927 views, 60 comments

spamalot

Spambots Can Now Fool Yahoo CAPTCHA Tests: Yes, Worry

You know those anti-spam tests that make you enter funny characters to prove you're a human? Well, non-humans can finally fake their way into systems using the "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart" too—even Yahoo's pretty secure system, according to new reports. More »

10:39 AM on Wed Jan 30 2008
By Wilson Rothman
10,679 views, 38 comments

outage

Hackers Are Going After Power Grids

According to Tom Donahue, a CIA official, hackers have recently infiltrated various power grids outside the US, and in at least one instance, caused a power outage in multiple cities. We don't know much else: the when, where, how and who were all left for guessing only. But we know that the attacks were done remotely (through the internet) and that current Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems (that, as we understand it, represent many of the world's infrastructural networks, software and databases) are sadly out of date. More »

5:30 PM on Sat Jan 19 2008
By Mark Wilson
6,320 views, 47 comments

Latest by n/a: SaintJohnson is mostly correct. I work at a company that, more or less, "manages" the power grid for a multi-state region. The SCADA links are usually on a secure private network, and could only be hacked at the source or more »

security

Globalization and Its Malcontents: Mexico, India and Africa Will Be New Epicenters of Internet Crime

Computer viruses no longer come from the US or Europe; the hottest hotbeds of hackerdom may be in China and Russia now, but even that will shift. Soon, the most dangerous internet criminals might hail from Mexico, India and Africa, says a new study. Shouldn't somebody call Nick Negroponte? More »

9:45 AM on Fri Jan 18 2008
By Wilson Rothman
3,279 views, 17 comments

Latest by DJTripleRRR: Hahaha Africa! Take that! The place with like the highest crime rate is making it to the Internet scene. Take this virus from Xoxobe this malware from Mokhane and this worm from Noxolo! more »

buy viagra

Hackers Fox Al Gore by Hacking into An Inconvenient Truth Website

Oh dear, poor The Al Gore. The Nobel Prize Laureate, internet inventor and husband of Tipper has had his website hacked. His blog for An Inconvenient Truth is now selling Viagra, Valium, Zovirax and Xanax. More »

7:32 AM on Tue Nov 27 2007
By AddyDugdale
9,797 views, 34 comments

hackers

AirRaid2 Hackers Tournament Announced

ThinkSECURE shall be hosting a hacking competition, titled AirRaid2, in the great city of Bangkok, Thailand. The tournament will take place on the 21st December 2007, so if you are a mean-bean hacking machine, say goodbye to another Christmas. More »

11:25 PM on Sun Sep 23 2007
By Haroon Malik
3,504 views, 7 comments

challenge

iPhone Hacker Challenge: Make the iPhone Work With Nike+ Sport Kit

Dear Hackers: Here's a personal challenge from me, Jason Chen. Make the iPhone work with the Nike+ Sport Kit. The current status now, when you plug the adapter into the iPhone, is a message that reads, sadly "This accessory is not supported by iPhone." More »

7:00 PM on Sun Sep 16 2007
By Jason Chen
8,941 views, 14 comments

blogs

Microsoft Starts Hackers MSDN Blog. Wait, What?

Microsoft just launched a new blog on their MSDN network (their network for developers) for hackers. Microsoft, of course, hires "white hat" hackers to come and work for them by throwing money at "talent," and having them test Microsoft products for security vulnerabilities and weaknesses. (Something tells us they need to throw more money at this problem.) In any case, despite being called and aimed at hackers, who knows whether actual hackers will get any use out of this blog. [MSDN]

12:45 PM on Mon Aug 27 2007
By Jason Chen
2,903 views, 28 comments

Latest by Lorticon: That used to be Billy Bob's couch. more »

government hacks

Germany Bans "Hacker Tools" - Punishment Half that of Kiddie Porn

In a law left vague enough for ridiculous exploitation, the German government has just passed Paragraph 202C, which states that it's illegal to possess, produce, use or distribute a "hacker tool". More »

12:45 PM on Sat Aug 11 2007
By Mark Wilson
6,288 views, 21 comments

arrrrrrrrr

Hackers Allow Netflix' Streamed Movies to be Decrypted and Saved

Netflix's online movie-streaming service has been hacked by a Very Clever Person . The tools: Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player 11, FairUse4WM and Notepad. The method: finding and downloading the URL of the video file, getting the license key and stripping the DRM. Sounds simple enough. The catch: Only Netflix subscribers can do it. Logically, the rights management stripping only works on videos you have downloaded from their service. [Rorta via TV Squad]

7:58 AM on Wed Aug 8 2007
By AddyDugdale
7,374 views, 23 comments

Gizmodo

Tron 2 Trailer Video Makes Pants Wet Worldwide

Gizmodo Team

Gawker Media Network