One of the 1.3 million names sent into space aboard NASA's Orion test capsule was a stowaway, uploaded to NASA's database by a security researcher who found and exploited a vulnerability. The name 'Payload1 Payload2' was one of three uploaded to the NASA Orion database that collected names to be later transferred to a chip aboard the rocket and shot into space.
The hack since closed was neither malicious nor dangerous to the mission but rather a flexing of grey matter by bug hunter. The filter bypass and persistent input validation web vulnerability was related to the first and surname fields of the Orion boarding pass module.
Read moreUK cyber security professionals have identified Russia and China as the countries that produce the most skilled hackers, according to a survey carried out by information security consultancy. A lot of people believed that the hackers with the highest skills come from Russia.
Almost a third of respondents surveyed at a recent IT conference linked the success of their overseas counterparts to a combination of more investment, better education and political motivations. Russia has long been recognised for being behind various malware strains and exploits. Recently, it was reported that Russian hackers had exploited a bug in Microsoft Windows dubbed Sandworm to perform cyber espionage on NATO.
Read moreA hacking group has been stealing identity information and reading emails to get the inside edge on stock markets to buy and sell to make quick profits. Vendor FireEye reckons the group sent articulate phishing emails with malicious attachments demonstrating "deep" knowledge of financial markets and corporate communications.
In one instance the attackers targeted five organisations involved in a then non-public merger, months before the deal was announced. In another, it used information gleaned from a hacked consultancy to better target that firm's clients. Malware researchers said the FIN4 group targeted a lot of firms.
Read moreMunicipal websites in Fort Lauderdale, Florida suffered a distributed denial of service attack after Anonymous promised to disrupt the city's activities following the passing of local laws outlawing the feeding of homeless people.
The attack occurred on Monday afternoon and led to massive congestion of the websites of the city and its police force, as well as the email system used by local government. The city authorities shut them down as a precautionary measure. The previous day a group claiming to be affiliated with Anonymous threatened action against the Fort Lauderdale authorities in a video.
Read moreThe crime-fighting agency tells US businesses to stay alert because of some particularly nasty malware in the wild. The FBI has warned that hackers have used malware to launch destructive attacks against businesses in the United States, following a devastating attack on the networks of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
In a five-page confidential "flash" warning sent to businesses, the FBI provided technical details about the malware, but did not mention the corporate victim by name. According to the advisory, the malware is particularly violent – overwriting data on hard drives to make them little more than bricks while also closing down networks.
Read moreBanks in Europe are warning about the emergence of a rare, virtually invisible form of ATM skimmer involving a so-called “wiretapping” device that is inserted through a tiny hole cut in the cash machine’s front. The hole is covered up by a fake decal, and the thieves then use custom-made equipment.
A nonprofit that represents banks in many countries, financial institutions in two countries recently reported ATM attacks in which the card data was compromised internally by “wire-tapping” or “eavesdropping” on the customer transaction. The image below shows some criminal equipment used to perpetrate these eavesdropping attacks.
Read moreExperts warned about the wave of Internet fraud with mobile applications: users of WhatsApp messenger propose to disable the indicator read messages. New feature – indicator reading messages – appeared in WhatsApp in November.
One gray check mark indicates that the message came to the messenger server, dual gray – on a mobile device, dual blue – the chat window is opened by the user. Not all users have approved the innovation, but at the moment to get rid of it is impossible. The dissatisfaction of the users of the most popular in the world of instant messenger benefited from the Scam.
Read moreNearly half of all web application cyber attack campaigns target retail applications, a study has shown. The retail sector is the most heavily targeted by this type of attack, according to the latest web application attack report by security firm.
The warning comes as online retailers gear up for the two busiest days of the online shopping year in the US and increasingly in the UK too. Websites containing consumer information, which require some form of log-in credentials, suffer from the attacks. Consumer information, such as personal details and credit cards, are a valuable and tradable black market piece of information.
Read more"You've been hacked" messages appear at CNBC, the Boston Globe and UK newspapers. The attack comes through an Internet address hijacking involving startup Gigya. A Thanksgiving-day attack saddled several news media websites with pop-up messages promoting the Syrian Electronic Army hacking group.
The attack was a variation on earlier Syrian Electronic Army methods. The group didn't gain access to Gigya servers, but instead redirected its Internet traffic to its own servers. Those servers showed a pop-up message that read, "You've been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army." Nevertheless, the attack was very visible to many users.
Read moreAgainst the team of hackers, the poor car stood no chance. Meticulously overwhelming its computer networks, the hackers showed that - given time - they would be able to pop the trunk and start the windshield wipers, cut the brakes or lock them up, and even kill the engine.
Their motives were not malicious. Automakers are betting heavily that consumers will want not just the maps and music playlists of today but also Internet-enabled vehicles that stream movies and the turn dictation into email. The federal government wants to require cars to send each other electronic messages warning of dangers on the road.
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