Personal Data Hacked from New German ID Cards Live on Public TV
The same, privacy-conscious German government that threatened Google with legal action over its "invasive" Street View feature is now facing its very own security crisis, after a group of hackers recently demonstrated how to easily extract private information from government-issued ID cards. The hackers, who are part of the so-called 'Chaos Computer Club,' recently appeared on the German TV show 'Plusminus' to show the world how easily data can be harvested from the cards. As the Local reports, a person's fingerprints and unique six-digit PIN code can both be gathered from the cards, with the help of an at-home card scanner that the German government will begin distributing soon.
The at-home scanners were originally intended to allow Germans to more easily process their personal information for business or online shopping. Interior Minister Thomas de Maizi
Microsoft: Script Kiddies And Hackers Accidentally Send Us Their Code All The Time [Hackers]
It's not unusual for hackers and script kiddies to crash their Windows systems while trying to write a malicious code. It's apparently also not unusual for them to send that malicious code right along to Microsoft when prompted. More
Apple plugs vulnerabilities associated with jailbroken iPhones
Apple has finally eliminated a couple of vulnerabilities which were exploited to jailbreak the iPhone via the iOS, which is around one week after JailbreakMe 2.0 hit the scene. Apple says that the first of the two was a stack buffer overflow which exists in FreeType's handling of Compact Font Format opcodes, where it can be exploited to run arbitrary code through a PDF file with malicious embedded fonts. Once there, an integer overflow in the handling of iOSurface properties is exploited to gain access to system privileges. Improved bounds checking was the solution to these problems, and we now wait on the hackers' part to see which door they will knock on next.
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New ATM Hack Turns Cash Machines Into Jackpots
The ubiquitous ATM has quickly become a favorite, and often easy, target for hackers looking to make a quick buck. At the Black Hat Conference in Las Vegas, security researcher Barnaby Jack recently demonstrated a pair of hacks that allowed him to force an ATM to literally spit cash at him like he'd hit the jackpot on a slot machine. In the demonstration, Jack attacked ATMs from Triton and Tranax, but he said that he had successfully tried the methods on two other brands of machines, as well.
The first attack involved accessing a Tranax model over a network (although it could also theoretically be done on the Internet via dial-up) and bypassing the ATM's authentication systems. Once inside, Jack installed malware that can either collect account numbers and PINs, or simply force the machine to spit out cash with a specially coded card. For his follow-up act, Jack opened the front of a Triton machine, inserted a USB drive loaded with similar malware, and watched as it automatically infected the ATM. The attack on the Triton is particularly unnerving, since it demonstrates that many ATMs use the same key to unlock the access panel (much like filing cabinets). That key can easily be purchased on the Internet for around $10.
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Filed under: Computers
New ATM Hack Turns Cash Machines Into Jackpots originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Nazi Hackers Target Concentration Camp Sites
Hackers recently defaced the digital "Book of the Dead" and other portions of a website dedicated to the Buchenwald concentration camp, and completely erased all traces of a second site dedicated to the Mittelbau Dora camp. The attacks, targeting these grim reminders of Nazi horrors, were carried out by people who, we assert, are technically called "scum." Gone were the digital memorials and in their places were neo-Nazi and fascist slogans -- or, in the case of the Mittelbau Dora site, empty space.
The attacks were reported to police, and authorities in Berlin are working diligently to find and punish those responsible. The Memorials Foundation has restored at least portions of both sites, although the true extent of the damage has yet to be determined. One of the messages left on the site menacingly threatened that the attackers would "be back," so it's safe to assume that the site's security is being buttressed in anticipation of a follow-up attack. We are saddened that these peaceful sites, intended for healing, have been so defaced. [From: Reuters and Memorials Foundation]
Filed under: Web
Nazi Hackers Target Concentration Camp Sites originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Wikileaks Keynote at HOPE 2010: No Assange, But Institutional Details Emerge [Wikileaks]
The part of scheduled keynote speaker Julian Assange, the Australian hacker US agents have made it clear they would like to question, was played by Jake Appelbaum today at HOPE. More
iPhone 4 Attracts Porn, Hackers, Phonies… and Record-Breaking Sales
Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines....
- Despite the media's focus on ordering issues, "Antenna Attenuation" and questionable customer service, consumers purchased iPhone 4s at record pace over the weekend. Apple moved 1.7 million iPhones before Sunday, making the gadget's opening weekend the most successful ever for a cell phone. Basking in new gadget success, Apple has now astoundingly sold an approximate total of 5 million iPads and iPhone 4s. [From: Engadget]
- When almost 2 million people buy a new gadget, odds are pretty high that at least one of those geeky fanboys will be an adept hacker. Photos of two different jailbroken iPhone 4s have already appeared on Twitter, and MuscleNerd -- the Apple adversary who also accomplished the first iPad hack -- was responsible for one of them. [From: Mobile Beat]
- Hackers apparently aren't the only gadget groupies racing to capitalize on the new iPhone. An ad on Craigslist (Where else would it be?), currently seeks women for a "Video Sex Line Chat" service. Participants will receive a free iPhone 4 and a "very competitive salary" for providing naughty company to lonely folks through the 'FaceTime' video-chat app. [From: Business Insider]
- According to statisticians at Techi, Twitter hosts "750 [tweets per second] at any given moment," with a record high of 3,085 having recently occurred during the NBA finals. It only took a week, but World Cup excitement actually pushed tweeting activity to a dizzying new record of 3,283 tweets per second. It's uncertain how much of that buzz was related to those ungodly vuvuzelas. [From: Techie]
- In a race to be "First!," legitimate and respected news sources often get duped by phony releases and fake personalities. Citing what wound up being a fake Steve Jobs Twitter account (the reason Twitter implemented that glaringly obvious "Account Verified" thing), the Daily Mail reportedly indicated this weekend that Apple could potentially recall the iPhone 4. Whoops. [From: TUAW]
iPhone 4 Attracts Porn, Hackers, Phonies... and Record-Breaking Sales originally appeared on Switched on Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
AT&T Apologizes To iPad 3G Subscribers Over Privacy Breach
While it's probably scant consolation, but a few days after it was reported that hackers managed to get access to the email addresses of some 114,000 AT&T iPad 3G subscribers, the company's VP of Public Policy and Chief Privacy Officer has sent out an email to everyone on AT&T's iPad 3G data plan, explaining the situation. According to the email, the hackers were unable to access more critical information such as passwords, account information and email, which is good news, though you can bet many subscribers are still unhappy about the whole deal. The flaw has since been patched, so hopefully no additional information will be leaked, but you have to be wondering how many subscribers could be preparing to file a complaint on the whole issue.
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The Mystery of the Orphaned Robot [Retromodo]
Deep in the bowels of an old industrial building in Brooklyn, behind a dusty steel door, stands a cylindrical device marked "DANGER." Black rubber accordion folds separate its silver base from its rectangular top, from which protrudes The Claw. More
Steve Jobs Suggests Android for Porn, Apple iPad 3G Lands on April 30th
Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines....
- The ever-present iPhone-Porn War continues to rage, and, in his latest anti-smut salvo, Steve Jobs also managed to assault another longtime Apple rival. In a purportedly authentic e-mail, Jobs contended that Apple not only has a "moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone," but that consumers who "want porn can buy and [sic] Android phone." Way to take the "moral" high road, Steve. [From: Tech Crunch]
- Apple has officially announced that in-store sales of its iPad 3G will begin April 30th in the U.S. Consumers who opted to pre-order the WIFI + 3G tablet, prior to yesterday at least, will also begin receiving their gadgets on the same date. [From: Engadget]
- Bloomberg's website reigns as one of the ugliest, blurriest and most migraine-inducing sites on the Web. Apparently, Bloomberg's operators have decided to drop the garish orange-on-black Halloween theme, though, and -- while still not perfect -- it definitely appears to be much easier on the eyes. The preview of the redesign does happen to posses a striking and troubling resemblance to a certain tech blog, though. [From: Tech Crunch]
- Facebook's implementation of a 'Like' button prompted assertions that the site's new content-sharing feature would track users' Web histories in order to garner information for behavioral advertising practices. The site has responded in order to dispel those accusations, though. A Facebook spokesperson reportedly stated that the site has no "changes planned to our ad offering or ad policies." [From: The Telegraph]
- A new detail in the winter Google hack has emerged, and the alarming revelation concerns a secretive password system known as Gaia. According to the New York Times, the hackers reportedly compromised the system which "controls access by millions of users worldwide to almost all of the company's Web services." The breach, which Google almost immediately sought to rectify, reportedly won't affect Gmail users or their individual passwords. [From: The New York Times]
- Facebook passed rival MySpace in terms of Internet traffic last year, and the popularity disparity between the two sites continues to increase. Facebook, which now outnumbers the U.S. in terms of population, currently owns a 41-percent share in social media trafficking, compared to a lagging 24-percent for MySpace. [From: Mashable]
Steve Jobs Suggests Android for Porn, Apple iPad 3G Lands on April 30th originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.