cyberthreats

Corporate Cybersecurity Nightmare: The Internal Hacker

Rajendrasinh Makwana was a UNIX contractor for Fannie Mae. On Oct. 24, he was fired. Before he left, he slipped a logic bomb into the organization's network. The bomb would have "detonated" on Jan. 31. It was programmed to disable access to the server on which it was running, block any network monitoring software, systematically and irretrievably erase everything — and then replicate itself on all 4,000 Fannie Mae servers. Court papers claim the damage would have been in the millions of dollars, a number that seems low. Fannie Mae would have been shut down for at least a week. [Fox News] ›
CyberATTACK

Hackers break into government travel site, feed users attack code

A travel reservations Web site used by several federal agencies was hacked last week, and it shunted unsuspecting users to a malicious domain, according to information that Computerworld has obtained. The site, GovTrip.com, is currently unavailable to federal employees through their offices' intranet; the version accessible via the public Internet is also o ›
CyberSECURITY

Hackers Jump On Newest IE7 Bug

"Attackers are already exploiting a bug in Internet Explorer 7 that Microsoft patched just last week, security researchers warned today. Although the attacks are currently in "very, very small numbers," they may be just the forerunner of a larger campaign, said Trend Micro's Jamz Yaneza. 'I see this as a proof-of-concept,' said Yaneza, who noted that the exploit's payload ›
CyberSECURITY

Number of cyber incidents jumps

Federal civilian agencies reported three times as many cyber-related incidents in fiscal 2008 as they did in fiscal 2006 to the Homeland Security Department's office that coordinates defenses and responses to cyberattacks. Meanwhile, an official says the office suspects the actual number of cyber incidents is higher. The agencies reported to DHS’ United States Computer ›
CyberATTACK

Miley Cyrus Twitter Account Hit By Sex-Obsessed Hacker

Miley Cyrus' run of bad luck continued yesterday when a foul-mouthed hacker posted a series of expletive-strewn messages from her Twitter account. Posing as the Hannah Montana star, the computer whiz starting posting crude updates at 1.45pm on Monday February 16. Miley's 3,505 'followers' were greeted with a series of message littered with swear words and ›
CyberSECURITY

Reported raids on federal computer data soar

Reported cyberattacks on U.S. government computer networks climbed 40% last year, federal records show, and more infiltrators are trying to plant malicious software they could use to control or steal sensitive data. Federally tracked accounts of unauthorized access to government computers and installations of hostile programs rose from a combined 3,928 inci ›
CyberSECURITY

Hacker Prompts Credit Warning To Wyndham Guests

The roughly 21,000 Florida residents whose credit card information may have been accessed by a hacker who got into records of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts last year should monitor their credit reports, the state's attorney general warned today. In September, the company discovered that hackers obtained credit card numbers and the names of customers at about 4 ›
CyberSECURITY

Hackers Using Parking Tickets As Trojan Horses

Hackers in Grand Forks, North Dakota of all places have hit on a clever Trojan Horse: using a fraudulent parking ticket to direct unsuspecting motorists to their virus laden websites. The scam works like this: You come back to your parked car and there's a parking ticket under the windshield wiper. Everything looks official so you go home, and, being a law ›
CyberSECURITY

Computer virus shuts down Houston municipal courts

Houston shut down part of its municipal court operations Friday, cancelling hearings and suspending arrests for minor offenses after a computer virus infected hundreds of its machines. City officials said they expected the problems to extend at least through Monday. Court offices will remain open to allow people to pay tickets and fines, but the dockets wil ›
CyberCRIME

Flash Mob Steals $9 Million From ATMs

A global flash mob of ATM thieves netted $9 million in fraud against ATMs in 49 cities around the world. The computer system for a company called RBS WorldPay was hacked. One service of the company is the ability for employers to pay employees with the money going directly to a debit card that can be used in any ATM. The hacker was able to infiltrate the supposedly secure ›
CyberSECURITY

Kaiser warns nearly 30,000 employees of data breach

Kaiser Permanente is notifying 29,500 of its Northern California employees that a security breach has led to the release of their personal information, including Social Security numbers. A "handful" of employees have reported identity thefts as a result of the breach, Kaiser said. The breach did not involve Kaiser member information and no personal health ›
CyberSECURITY

Geeks.com agrees to security audits in wake of data breach

The operator of the Geeks.com Web site will submit to five outside security audits over the next 10 years as part of a data-breach settlement deal with the Federal Trade Commission, which found that the online retailer had failed to adequately protect its customer data prior to the breach. Geeks.com, which sells computer supplies and consumer electronics, ›
CyberSECURITY

Federal Workers Warned Of Potential Data Compromise At SRA

Federal government employees are being notified of a potential compromise of personal information following the discovery of a virus on the network of SRA International, a major government contractor. In an breach disclosure notification submitted to the Maryland attorney general's office on Jan. 20, SRA revealed that it has launched an investigation into t ›