MegaUpload Users Want Their Files Back, Plan To Sue FBI
Thursday, 26th January 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Keeping it Real
Tags: FBI, files, hacking, lawsuit, megaupload, pirate, Pirate Parties, Pirates of Catalonia, racketeering, recover, Spain
Written by: Jordan Kahn
It appears MegaUpload’s users aren’t ready to just back down to the feds with new reports claiming international pirate organizations are planning on suing the FBI on behalf of users over files that have been lost due to the shutdown.
If you’ve been following along with the MegaUpload case, you’d know that many of the company’s execs are now awaiting trial on charges of piracy, racketeering, and money laundering following the feds shutting down the massively popular file-sharing site Keep Reading
NinjaVideo Founder “Rushed to Jail” After Facebook Messages
Tuesday, 17th January 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Keeping it Real, Offbeat
Tags: controversy, government, hacking, Hana Beshara, ninja video, phara, SOPA
Written by: Paul Nyhart
With the debates surrounding SOPA, and the U.S. Government’s obvious mis-calculations in judging the reaction of the internet community, is it safe to say that the Feds are now AFRAID of its citizens communicating on the internet? You fear most what you don’t understand, perhaps the government is trying to ban something before they make an effort to combat it by understsanding its inner workings?
I pose these questions in reaction to the news that Hana Beshara, the founder of NinjaNet (one of the largest movie streaming sites on the net) has been rushed to jail after being sentenced to 22 months in jail. Keep Reading
Anonymous Takes Aim at Sony (Again)…Is This Getting Ridiculous?
Wednesday, 4th January 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Technology
Tags: anonymous, hacking, Sony
Written by: Jeff N
While it obviously doesn’t pay to have Anonymous angry at you, part of me can’t help but think that it really doesn’t take much to get on their bad side.
As even the infamous Zeta Drug Cartel proved — i.e. those guys who like to skin, impale, boil, and (nsfw) gas innocent Mexican civilians — once you see a video with the dude from V for Vendetta talking sh*t about you, it’s time to panic.
This time, the hacking collective turned their attention back to Sony, for financially supporting Keep Reading
Could Piracy Be GOOD For The Movie Industry?
Wednesday, 14th December 2011Posted in Blog Archive
Tags: bit torrents, hacking, Hollywood, piracy
Written by: Paul Nyhart
The fears over piracy are well known in Hollywood, with the most recent push being the sponsorship of an Anti-Piracy bill that puts Hollywood against Google.
With the internet being the vast and uncontrollable landscape that it is, gaming companies are moving to combating piracy using more creative methods, like shoving ridiculous characters into versions of their games that were not purchased.
But is Hollywood taking the wrong approach Keep Reading
Anonymous Roundup, goes after Syria and Facebook.
Wednesday, 10th August 2011Posted in Blog Archive, Technology
Tags: anonops, anonymous, Facebook, hackers, hacking, syria
Written by: R Bryant Francis
Way to prioritize your targets guys! ‘Cause taking down a social networking site is exactly the same as attacking a nation brutalizing its citizens. Keep Reading
Li’l Hackers–DefCon Kids teaches 8-year old geeks how to hack.
Monday, 8th August 2011Posted in Blog Archive, Technology
Tags: anonymous, DefCon, DefCon Kids, hackers, hacking, kids, lockers, locks, white hat
Written by: R Bryant Francis
Yes, it’s as awesome as it sounds. No, you can’t go unless you’re a kid. Yes, you can bribe the kids into teaching you their tricks.
Warning: They’re probably smarter than you and will jack up the price. (No, I’m not speaking from personal experience…why?)
This weekend, DEF CON hosted its first ever educational event for children–mostly children who attended with their parents, who originally taught them some fundamental basics of hacking. If you’re between the ages of 8 and 16, you can attend sessions with names like “Secrets Revealed,” “Meet the Feds,” and “Google Hacking.” (No, the last one does not teach you how to hack Google.) Keep Reading
YTCracker Says: Hacking Ain’t All that Hard
Tuesday, 2nd August 2011Posted in Pop Culture
Tags: blog, blogs, hacking, human, social networks, technology, ytcracker
Written by: Jeff N
That’s according to his new blog, at least, in which the famed nerdcore hip hopper dispelled certain notions about hacking:
Personally, the most common misconception i find people have about what constitutes hacking by the general public is they feel it requires some exceptional and unique technical prowess. in reality, hacking is all about PEOPLE.
Lulz-worthy news: Hackers Hack Hacking Social Network
Thursday, 21st July 2011Posted in Blog Archive, Technology
Tags: hackers, hacking, lulz
Written by: R Bryant Francis
In news that’s memeworthy, newsworthy, and JHS-worthy, it seems the tables have not only been turned, but spun around to the point that we honestly don’t know who’s at what end of the table.
When a G+ account affiliated with Anon members was kicked off Google Plus, Anonymous got angry, and decided to start their new Social Network, exclusively for Anon members? You may be already asking if that wasn’t just what 4Chan was but shhhhh, let’s just run with it.
On the one hand, you have to admire their entrepreneuring spirit. Not invited to the club? START YOUR OWN. (Though their ban had less to do with them being Anon and more to do with their being an account affiliated with a company and not an individual person). On the other hand, we have to admire the gonads of the guys who decided this would be hilarious (which it is!)
The site was defaced, and the usual headless suited man replaced with the image below.
Former News of The World Reporter Piers Morgan Possibly Involved in Phone Hacking
Wednesday, 20th July 2011Posted in Blog Archive, Pop Culture, Technology
Tags: controversy, culture, daily mirror, hacking, news of the world, piers morgan, wolf blitzer
Written by: Paul Nyhart
When in doubt, gather your CNN buddies around and team up against the enemy. That’s gatekeeping 101 at its finest, especially when you’re a journalist in the hot seat. It is exactly what Piers Morgan chose to do when a parliamentary member had the gaul to question his relationship with the phone hacking scandal, something he had made known in his very own book.
It all began with Wolf Blitzer interrogating Parliament Member Louise Mensch, for her accusation that Morgan used hacking tactics while working for Rupert Murdoch’s the Daily Mirror.
That is a former editor of the Daily Mirror being very open about his personal use of phone hacking,” she said in the hearing.
What is wrong with the above statement exactly? Blitzer and Morgan apparently felt it was too direct in assessing Morgan’s credibility as a journalist.
But if that were simply the case, all Morgan had to do was deny the claim and support evidence on his behalf, not demand an apology and blatantly threaten the person that had made the remarks.
I’m amused by her cowardice. She may be already aware that she came out with an absolute blatant lie, in no stage of my book or outside my book have I boasted about phone hacking. What she did was a deliberate attempt to smear my name.
But why the hostility? Why so violently rebuke somone who you claim to be a coward with zero credibility? Examining Morgan’s sardonic response points towards his lack of credibility.
Morgan’s response had the following: 1) an insult which did nothing but attack the character of Mensch opposed to eradicating the assumption that he was innocent; 2) a smear against the parliamentary process as a whole in Britain, which had nothing to do with his journalistic practices and was another tactic in bludgeoning the character of Mensch; 3) the presupposition that Mensch was speaking for the sole purpose of smearing his name, in which Morgan granted no evidence to support this theory other than calling her a liar.
Strong words from a man who, if innocent, should be in a position of calm and not on the attack. Perhaps the hostility indicates that he knows there is evidence elsewhere and is doing his best to shoot down that assumption by taking Mensch down with the ship? He knows that if he can validate his credibility by destroying her image, any allegations that arise outside of what Mensch presented will be looked at in the same vein, just “someone trying to smear Morgan, again.” This all assumes someone has the “temerity” to come onto CNN in the same fashion as Mensch, something Blitzer, Morgan and CNN did everything to denounce.
On that note, Keep Reading
FEDS Crack Down on ‘Anonymous’ in Hacking Sting
Tuesday, 19th July 2011Posted in Blog Archive, Pop Culture, Technology
Tags: anonymous, culture, hacking, tech
Written by: Paul Nyhart
Because all hackerz wear hoodies while breaking into a company's mainframe...
Operation Payback is getting a taste of its own medicine…
The US government is taking down alleged members of the infamous hacking clan, Anynymous, in reaction to the latest hacking events sweeping the country.
At least 14 people have been arrested as part the operation targeting the group, with arrests taking place in Florida, San Francisco and New Jersey.
Leave no stone unturned is the theme, taking computers, hard drives, and manilla folders that might contain any information that could crack down on the hackers that have been cracking into everything from Arizona Prisons (allegedly) to Paypal (probably).
Next on the list is members of Lulzsec, another hacking group that has caused as much if not more trouble for groups everywhere.
Officers from the Metropolitan Police’s E-Crime Unit in London arrested a 16-year-old boy in South London Tuesday afternoon, the latest arrest in an international sting operation targeting the notorious hacker groups Anonymous and LulzSec.
Law enforcement officials confirmed that they arrested a juvenile, who goes by the user name Tflow, convicted of violating the Computer Misuse Act (amongst other things).
After a flurry of attacks, which the hacking groups dubbed “Operation Payback” as part of a series of coordinated distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on multiple high-profile, billion-dollar companies.
Shots fired at News Corp! FBI Investigating over 9/11 Voicemail Hacking
Thursday, 14th July 2011Posted in Blog Archive, Offbeat, Pop Culture, Technology
Tags: controversy, culture, fox news, hacking, pop, tech
Written by: R Bryant Francis
You know who News Corp is—FOX NEWS.
Remember when we talked about News of the World maybe hacking 9/11 victims? Looks like we weren’t the only ones who noticed that little tidbit of information. The FBI whipped their heads around at the word 9/11 and are launching an investigation into the New York based Media conglomerate to see just how far the scandal Keep Reading
WTF?! World’s Worst Neighbor DESTROYS Lives over Wi-Fi
Thursday, 14th July 2011Posted in Blog Archive, Offbeat, Pop Culture
Tags: controversy, culture, hacking
Written by: R Bryant Francis
This is like some kind of sick, twisted remake of Lakeview Terrace, except instead of Samuel L. Jackson being badass, you get creepy old white guy being creepy. Wired.com has the unbelievable story about a man, Barry Ardolf, who decided to take revenge on his neighbors for accusing him of kissing their 4-year old child on the lips. (Which, judging from this article, he probably did.)
He makes this stuff seem cool. Creepy old white people make it seem TERRIFYING
The Prosecutor of the case puts it best… Keep Reading
Hacking News Roundup! Not Entirely What You Expect…
Tuesday, 12th July 2011Posted in Blog Archive, Pop Culture, Technology
Tags: geeks, hacking, rupert murdoch, tech culture
Written by: R Bryant Francis
Though Lulzsec may have vanished in the background, Anonymous has taken up the flag of operation #Anonsec—but that’s chump change compared to the storm that’s been rumbling in Great Britain in the last few days. If you thought Lulzsec’s shenanigans were pretty rough, they’ve got nothing on Rupert Murdoch’s British Newspaper News of the World, which was forced to shut down over a huge scandal its propagated.
That scandal? Hacking into people’s cell phones, and listening to and stealing their voice mails.
More on that outrage in a moment–first, Anonymous. The faceless, headless, V-For-Vendetta worshipping hackers targeted Booz Allen Hamilton today, a Military contractor that was targeted for its involvement in a recent surveillance minor-scandal. Anonymous managed to make off with 90,000 military-related email accounts and passwords–not just of Booz Allen employees, but military employees staffed at US CENTCOM and SOCOM, as well as other military departments. The long and the short of it Keep Reading
TECH – Lulzsec Calls it Quits, A-Team Believes they Reached the End of their Rope
Tuesday, 28th June 2011Posted in Blog Archive
Tags: hacking, lulszec, news, quits, tech
Written by: R Bryant Francis
In what will hopefully be the last article we publish on Lulzsec, there’s two different bits of news to talk about…
First, Lulzsec is out of the game. The group took to pastebin and Twitter to announce that after their planned 50-day spree. (Planned?), they’d decided to do one last dump of confidential data and ride off into the sunset. Of note, the data they released contained information from Battlefield Heroes, some AT&T user information, and…not…exactly much else. Seems operation #Antisec’s biggest target wound up being the Arizona Police Department, and the good news Keep Reading
TECH – Hacker Heyday: Lulzsec, Bioware, the IRS all Make Headlines
Friday, 24th June 2011Posted in Blog Archive, Technology
Tags: bioware, hacking, irs, lulzsec, tech
Written by: R Bryant Francis
This Could Be You.
It’s the 90′s all over again—Hackers are the talk of the town, cybserspace is scary to old people again, and this new generation of internet thieves still relies on absurdly stupid and hard-to-type codenames.
But there’s been such a variety of reports going out we decided to consolidate them all for your viewing convenience. First up—Lulzsec. We’ve covered these bad boys before, and this week their first fruits of operation #Antisec have been revealed. Last night, Lulzsec released a trove of information ripped from the data centers of the Arizona State Police department—personal email correspondence, training manuals, private memos, names, phone numbers, passwords, and weird power points Keep Reading
TECH – Password Protection: Too Old School?
Friday, 17th June 2011Posted in Blog Archive, Pop Culture, Technology
Tags: hacking, password protection
Written by: R Bryant Francis
So in this last month, it’s kind of sucked if you have an e-mail and password combination at just about any site. Sony got hacked. Lulzsec distributed 62,000 random e-mail/password combinations that it won’t reveal the origins of. And even Citigroup had to admit the security of 320,000 accounts had been compromised.
So what’s the solution? Gizmodo has a great article arguing that the age of e-mail and password combinations needs to finish quickly. Soon, it could be all too easy for someone to jack into—say, your Bethesda softworks account, and get information to breach your Facebook account, Amazon account, or even your corporate or government e-mail.
But what kind of solutions can we think of? It’s not like we can do DNA testing on the web. (Don’t believe CSI, it actually takes like 5 weeks to get DNA testing done, not a few minutes.) Your social security number—which only you are supposed to know—would be a terrible replacement.
Terrible, terrible idea
And the answer can’t really be making better locks—Apple’s a sterling gold example that no matter how many times you update the security on iOS, people can still hack their iPhones and iPads like nobody’s business. The lock doesn’t just need to be changed, it needs to be made out of an entirely new metal.
Any ideas?
SEASON 5 IS COMING…
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