Tag Archives: Security

Sony Corporation Using Amazon Servers To Attack Torrent Sites

Posted on by

“Sony Corporation has launched a counterattack against torrent websites sharing its stolen data. The company is reportedly using Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud services to target torrents released by the hackers who crippled the corporate network of its entertainment arm, Sony Pictures Entertainment, late last month.  Sony is using hundreds of computers throughout Asia to execute denial of service (DDoS) attacks against file-sharing sites that allow people to download its stolen data, according to a report from Re/code published Tuesday. The site says Sony is paying Amazon Web Services (AWS) to carry out the attack.”

http://www.ibtimes.com/sony-corporation-strikes-back-its-using-amazon-servers-attack-torrent-sites-report-1748849

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Contactless cards’ cash limits inop; can be skimmed with nearby phone

Posted on by

“A flaw in Visa’s contactless credit cards means they will approve unlimited cash transactions without a PIN when the amount is requested in a foreign currency.  New research by experts at Newcastle University, UK, has highlighted a ‘glitch’ in the Visa system which means their contactless cards will approve foreign currency transactions of up to 999,999.99 in any foreign currency.   Side-stepping the £20 contactless limit, transactions can be carried out while the card is still in the victim’s pocket or bag.  Transactions are carried out offline, avoiding any additional security checks by the bank.”

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office/press.release/item/contactless-cards-fail-to-recognise-foreign-currency

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Dutch man injects Bitcoin wallet NFC chips into his hands

Posted on by

“As an entrepreneur and founder of Mr. Bitcoin, a company that installs Bitcoin ATMs in the Netherlands and Belgium, Wismeijer had a 2 millimeter by 12 millimeter NFC Type 2 compliant NTAG216 RFID chip injected into the muscle tissue between his index finger and thumb on each hand. One he uses to store and overwrite common, everyday data, such as contact details, while the other holds his encrypted Bitcoin wallet key. After his doctor in Amsterdam understandably refused to perform the procedure, Wismeijer says he turned to a professional piercing artist to do the deed. Wismeijer is already planning to use his chips as keys to NFC-enabled door locks at his home.”

http://www.slashgear.com/man-injects-bitcoin-wallet-nfc-chips-into-his-hands-16355694/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

China to lay out massive quantum network for information security

Posted on by

“A quantum communication network between Beijing and Shanghai — the two political and financial centres of the country — is now under construction, and is projected to be put into service by 2016. The 2,000-kilometre network between Beijing and Shanghai is slated to become the world’s longest quantum communication network.  China also plans to achieve Asia-Europe intercontinental quantum key distribution by 2020, and is ready to build a global quantum communication network by the 2030.  Quantum cryptography is believed to be able to create ‘unbreakable’ messages, as any attempt to access the encryption will be detected by the system immediately.”

http://www.zdnet.com/china-to-lay-out-massive-quantum-network-for-information-security-7000035436/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Federal AIDS website insecurely transmitted user locations for years

Posted on by

“Everyone loves to hate Healthcare.gov, but there are plenty of other bad websites out there. Take, for example, AIDS.gov. The Washington Post reports that the site has failed to adhere to basic web security protocols for the past few years. As a result, anyone snooping on internet traffic could easily find the location and identity of someone searching for HIV testing facilities or other services.  The culprit is encryption — or rather, the lack thereof.  AIDS.gov and another similar government site offering HIV assistance has not used SSL encryption to maintain its users’ privacy.”

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/8/7178247/federal-aids-website-insecurely-transmitted-user-locations-for-years

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Massive Postal Service breach hits employees and customers

Posted on by

“Hackers recently broke into a U.S. Postal Service computer system and stole personal data, including Social Security numbers, for 750,000 employees and retirees, a U.S. official familiar with the breach told CNN on Monday.  The breach also compromised the data of 2.9 million postal service customers, the official said.  The personal identifying information of the 750,000 employees and retirees includes birth dates, addresses and employment codes used in the Postal Service’s payroll systems, the official briefed on the matter said.  USPS customers’ data affected includes names, home addresses, phone numbers and emails, the official said.”

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/10/politics/postal-service-security-breach/index.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Rap Sheets, Watchlists and Spy Networks Now At Cops’ Fingertips

Posted on by

“Law enforcement officials nationwide now have the ability to search multiple sensitive databases, including spy agency intranets and homeland security suspicious activity reporting – with a single login.  ‘With a single sign-on capability, there is no wrong door,’ Kshemendra Paul, program manager for the Information Sharing Environment at the Office of Director of National Intelligence, said during an interview. The databases now accessible through a single sign-on include the Homeland Security Information Network, a key exchange between state-run intelligence fusion centers and the federal government, as well as the Justice Department’s Regional Information Sharing Systems.”

http://www.nextgov.com/defense/2014/11/rap-sheets-watchlists-and-spy-networks-now-available-one-click/98423/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

FBI Director: If Apple/Google Won’t Decrypt Phones, We’ll Force Them To

Posted on by

“Everyone is stoked that the latest versions of iOS and Android will (finally) encrypt all the information on your smartphone by default. Except, of course, the FBI: Today, its director spent an hour attacking the companies and the very idea of encryption, even suggesting that Congress should pass a law banning the practice of default encryption. Comey’s  speech and thinking was out-of-touch and off on many levels: He continually referred to potential ‘bad guys’ as the only ones using encryption, and suggested that, with default encryption, people who are wrongly arrested won’t be able to unlock data within their phones that could exonerate them.”

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/fbi-director-if-apple-and-google-wont-decrypt-phones-well-force-them-to

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Visit the Wrong Website, and the FBI Could End Up in Your Computer

Posted on by

“Security experts call it a ‘drive-by download’: a hacker infiltrates a high-traffic website and then subverts it to deliver malware to every single visitor. It’s one of the most powerful tools in the black hat arsenal, capable of delivering thousands of fresh victims into a hackers’ clutches within minutes.  Now the technique is being adopted by a different kind of a hacker—the kind with a badge. For the last two years, the FBI has been quietly experimenting with drive-by hacks as a solution to one of law enforcement’s knottiest Internet problems: how to identify and prosecute users of criminal websites hiding behind the powerful Tor anonymity system.”

http://www.wired.com/2014/08/operation_torpedo/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

FBI created fake Seattle Times Web page to nab bomb-threat suspect

Posted on by

“The FBI in Seattle created a fake news story on a bogus Seattle Times web page to plant software in the computer of a suspect in a series of bomb threats to Lacey’s Timberline High School in 2007, according to documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in San Francisco.  The deception was publicized Monday when Christopher Soghoian, the principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington, D.C., revealed it on Twitter.   In an interview, Soghoian called the incident ‘outrageous’ and said the practice could result in ‘significant collateral damage to the public trust’ if law enforcement begins co-opting the media for its purposes.”

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2024888170_fbinewspaper1xml.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet