Security

Why the Hell Is Windows 10 Sharing My Wifi Passwords?

Look, Microsoft. Just because I am Facebook friends with someone, doesn’t mean I want to share my wifi passwords with them. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happens by default in Windows 10. Anyone who I’m Outlook.com contacts with (spammers), Skype friends with (webcam strippers), or Facebook friends with (high school buddies turned webcam strippers) can connect…

Contactless Payment Cards are Perhaps Not as Secure as You Hoped

If you’re a fan of discovering new anxieties that you didn’t even know you had, then consumer group Which? has some good news: It turns out that the contactless payment card in your pocket might not be as secure as you assumed. Metro reports that the group were able to use an “easily and cheaply”…

How a Lotto Worker Tried To Rig a Jackpot with Self-Destructing Software

An ex-Lotto employee who tried to get rich by installing secret software onto the computer that picks Lotto winners has been convicted of fraud for trying to rig a $14.3 million jackpot. Eddie Tipton, 52, was the information security director for the Multi-State Lottery Association when he tried to rig the system from within with…

How the Army Screwed Over Targets of Biggest Government Hack Ever

Here’s proof that the government blind-bumbles its way through tech problems like some hydra-headed bureaucratic Mr. Magoo: The Army thought a legitimate email of warning from another agency was also from hackers—and ended up leaving people affected by the hack in the dark because of its mistake. After personal data was stolen from millions of…

Costco and Sam’s Club Shut Down Photo Sites After Hackers Break In

Last week, hackers breached CVS’s photo site, so the company shut down its photo service to deal with potential credit card theft. But CVS wasn’t the only company affected. Now, Costco, Sam’s Club, Rite Aid, and dozens of other retailers that used the same photo service hosting company as CVS are temporarily shutting down photo…

Hackers Have the Power to Remotely Hijack Half a Million Chrysler Cars

An ongoing investigation into the security of Chrysler vehicles bears some pretty startling conclusions. In a couple of weeks, security researchers will reveal the details of a zero-day exploit that affects some 471,000 cars. Put bluntly: Hackers can take complete control of the cars from thousands of miles away. Longtime car hackers Charlie Miller and…

Go Update Windows Right Now

Microsoft normally restricts its Windows updates to a monthly Patch Tuesday. So when the company pushes a critical update on a Monday, it’s a good sign that shit is hitting the fan. The security update applies to all versions of Windows since Vista, and fixes a rather gaping hole in the security: thanks to a…

AshleyMadison Confirms Hack, Purges Leaked Info From Internet

AshleyMadison, noted online home of serial adulterers, has confirmed that yes, someone did rummage through its 37 million-strong blackmail database. But the company also denies that it was swindling customers over the ‘paid-delete’ option, and has managed to take down any information leaked thus far. In a statement issued earlier today, AshleyMadison owners Avid Life…

Windows 10 Users Will Get Mandatory Updates for a Full Decade 

When Microsoft called Windows 10 “the last version of Windows,” it wasn’t just posturing. The company is betting on staying power, pushing a full decade of updates for its newest OS. Microsoft is requiring mandatory updates for its Windows 10 Home users until 2025. This emphasizes security, since these updates will patch holes and keep…

Hackers Threaten to Expose 37 Million Cheating AshleyMadison Users

AshleyMadison—tagline “Life Is Short. Have An Affair”—is an online site that facilitates cheating among its 37 million users. It’s a service founded on confidentiality and privacy, which now seems to have all of its data in the hands of hackers. They’re demanding the company take down the site, or they’re going to out a lot…

CVS Shuts Down Its Photo Site After Suspected Hacker Break-In

CVS has shut down its online photo service, warning its customers that there may have been a data theft and to call their banks if they get suspicious credit card charges. The drugstore alerted people with a warning on its CVSPhoto.com website: We have been made aware that customer credit card information collected by the…

The Death of the SIM Card Is Nigh

SIM cards are dead; Long live e-SIMs. A report from the Financial Times yesterday afternoon brought news that both Samsung and Apple are close to agreeing on a common architecture standard for an electronic SIM card that would replace physical SIMs completely. It would allow you to change your carrier without having to switch cards…

Some Asshat Shot Lasers at 11 Planes Flying Over New Jersey Last Night

In one of the largest single incidents of its kind, some piece-of-shit human being(s) pointed a bunch of lasers at planes flying over New Jersey last night. Eleven commercial flights in the vicinity of Newark Liberty and LaGuardia Airports reported having green lasers pointed at their planes between the hours of 9:30 and 10 PM,…

Go Get All the Patches To Fix the Hacking Team Exploits

In addition to definitively exposing Hacking Team as a spyware-shilling immoral bunch of crap, the recent dump of Hacking Team emails also revealed a bunch of zero-day exploits in Flash, Internet Explorer, and Java. If for some unfathomable reason you’re still using those programs, you should probably download today’s patches. https://gizmodo.com/hack-exposes-what-an-utter-piece-of-shit-this-spyware-c-1716075907 Adobe released a new…

There’s a new version of Adobe Flash that Mozilla’s Firefox web browser isn’t blocking by default. It’s version 18.0.0.209, and you can get it right here. [Adobe]

Firefox Now Blocks Flash By Default (Update)

The Mozilla Firefox web browser now blocks Flash by default. And when I say “blocks,” I don’t mean it asks you nicely if you’d really like to use Flash. I don’t mean it automatically pauses Flash videos like Google Chrome. I mean Mozilla has decided that Flash is going down. I mean that the freaking…

Why the OPM Hack Will Be a National Security Threat for Decades to Come

Over 22 million peoplehad their personal information hijacked in a cyberattack on the US Office of Personnel Management. The attack is over, but its threat will literally last lifetimes. Members of the intelligence community are stressing that the attack will continue to be a problem until each one of those people whose sensitive personal information…

OPM Director Steps Down After Admitting 22 Million Hacked on Her Watch 

After confirming that over 22 million people had their personal information stolen in the largest government digital data breach, Office of Personnel Management director Katherine Archuleta has resigned. As late as last night, Archuleta had insisted she wouldn’t step down from office, despite calls from Congress. Beth Cobert, deputy director of management at the Office…

WikiLeaks Published a Searchable Directory of Hacking Team’s Emails

Want dirt on one of the dirtiest tech companies ever? WikiLeaks published a searchable database of over a million leaked emails from Hacking Team, the nefarious Italian spyware company that was massively hacked this week. There’s all sorts of messed up information in this emails, even aside from confirmation that Hacking Team actively worked as…

The Largest Government Hack Ever Is Way Bigger Than We Thought

When the Office of Personnel Management began investigating a data breach, it was already a dire situation, with 4.2 million federal workers’ information stolen. Then things got worse. And worse. During the investigation of the hack, the OPM found a second theft, the existence of which was first reported back in June. But today, we…