Security & Privacy

ATM hacker Barnaby Jack dies

The computer-security community is in mourning following news that superstar hacker Barnaby Jack died on Thursday. The San Francisco resident was 35 years old.

The New Zealand native was the director of embedded device security at IOActive, a Seattle-based security evaluation company. He rose to prominence beyond the hacker community in 2010 when he demonstrated what he called "jackpotting" an ATM. He dragged two ATMs on-stage in front of a rapt audience, and then forced them to spew fake cash into the air.

The demonstration had been highly anticipated, delayed by a year after an ATM vendor pressured … Read more

U.S. tells Russia that Snowden won't face death penalty

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder wrote a letter to Russia assuring the government that if Edward Snowden is turned over, he'll be protected.

In a letter sent to Russia and obtained by CBS News, Holder wrote that Snowden, who faces charges of espionage by the U.S. government, would not be put up for the death penalty or be tortured if he were extradited to the U.S.

Snowden is currently holed up in the transit area in a Moscow airport. He has argued in his bid to receive temporary asylum from the Russian government that if he … Read more

Phishing scam piggybacks on Apple Dev Center hack

The recent attack against Apple's Web site for developers has prompted a flood of phishing e-mails asking people to change their passwords.

Users have taken to Twitter to warn others of the attacks. But as convincing as the e-mail might be at a glance, grammar mistakes, a missing capital letter in "Apple," and a fake Apple domain for the Web site the e-mail points to mark the message and the site as bogus.

Still, scammers often use emotional responses to a recent event to induce panic in users -- which may make them less likely to double-check … Read more

Feds accuse five men of largest U.S. hacking scheme

Five men have been accused by the U.S. government of perpetrating the largest hacking scheme ever prosecuted in the United States.

Court documents revealed Thursday in federal court in New Jersey said the five men from Russia and Ukraine were able to hack into the computer systems at the Nasdaq, J.C. Penney, 7-Eleven, and JetBlue Airways, among other companies. Obtaining around 160 million credit and debit card numbers, the individuals allegedly were able to steal more than $300 million from at least three of the targeted companies, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

The hacking began in 2005 … Read more

Snowden reportedly allowed to leave airport

Edward Snowden might soon be allowed to leave the so-called "sterile zone" in Russia's Sheremetyevo airport, according to reports out of the country.

Russia's Federal Migration Service has issued a letter to Snowden, through a lawyer, saying that he is free to enter Russian territory while he awaits the country's decision on his temporary asylum, the BBC reported Wednesday, citing reports out of the country and its own sources. If Snowden acts on the document, he'll be allowed to stay in Russia during the application process and will be given new clothes, according to … Read more

Syrian Electronic Army hacks into Viber database

The Syrian Electronic Army sent out a warning over Twitter earlier Tuesday that said, "If you have 'Viber' app installed we advise you to delete it."

The hacking group was claiming responsibility for both breaching Viber's database and defacing its Web site, according to The Hacker News.

Right after the breach, Viber's support page on its Web site displayed a banner that said "Hacked by Syrian Electronic Army" and a note that said "Dear All Viber Users, the Israeli-based 'Viber' is spying and tracking you." As of this writing, the banner is … Read more

Citi Bike leaks private info of 1,174 customers by accident

Just before launching, the New York bicycle-sharing program Citi Bike accidentally leaked the private account information of 1,174 of its customers, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The data was exposed via a software glitch and included customers' names, contact information, credit card numbers and security codes, passwords, and birth dates.

While the data leak apparently took place on April 15, a few weeks before the program launched in the city, the company didn't notify the affected customers until July 19. According to the Wall Street Journal, Citi Bike discovered the breach at the end of May and … Read more

Cybercrime costing economy up to $500B a year, study finds

Cybercrimes cost the global economy up to $500 billion annually, and can potentially result in the loss of 500,000 jobs in the United States alone.

These findings were highlighted in a report released Tuesday by the Center of Strategic and International Studies and commissioned by McAfee. Aimed at measuring real-world losses from cyberattacks, the center enlisted economists, intellectual property experts, and security researchers to develop the report. The researchers also based their estimates on comparisons to real-world analogies such as losses in car crashes, piracy, pilferage and crime, and drugs.

The generally accepted range for cybercrime losses to the … Read more

Cisco ponies up $2.7B for Sourcefire

Cisco Systems has announced the purchase of security firm Sourcefire, paying a premium for the company in order to bolster its weakening position in network security.

The Columbia, Md. -based company develops cybersecurity systems for next-generation applications -- spurred on due to the rising adoption of mobile technology, the evolving nature of cybercrime and corporate demand for systems which prevent data loss and theft.

By purchasing Sourcefire, Cisco may be able to shore up its position in the network security industry after losing market share in the last few years to more competitive rivals including Palo Alto Networks and Check … Read more

Cyberattacks account for up to $1 trillion in global losses

While still costly, cyberattacks might not be depleting government cash at the rate previously thought.

A new joint report released Monday by security firm McAfee and the Center for Strategic and International Studies has lowered the estimate from $1 trillion in global annual losses to a range of $300 billion to $1 trillion.

The report's authors say that estimating the annual costs of cyberattacks is extremely difficult because some companies hide their losses, while others don't even know the value of what has been stolen from them.

In the new report, the authors look at losses in six … Read more