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Woah. Adrian Lamo (the blinking insomniac hacker who snitched out Bradley Manning) answering questions from a mostly hostile audience during the ‘Informants: Villains or Heroes?’ panel at HOPE Conference #8:’The Next Hope/Hackers on Planet Earth’ (NYC July 16-18). Via John Young, Cryptome.org, vigilant-snitch.htm. From TheNextHope.org: [...] The leaker [Manning] had reportedly boasted to hacker Adrian Lamo (after seeing his name in a Wired article) about sending 260,000 U.S. State Department classified documents to wikileaks.org. According to Lamo, that claim was enough to make him decide to call the authorities and become an informant. [...] Let’s jump in at part-3 and...

"A security researcher created a $1,500 cell phone base station kit (including a laptop and two RF antennas) that tricks cell phones into routing their outbound calls through his device, allowing someone to intercept even encrypted calls in the clear. Most of the price is for the laptop he used to operate the system. The device tricks the phones into disabling encryption and records call details and content before they are routed on their proper way through voice-over-IP. The low-cost, home-brewed device ... mimics more expensive devices already used by intelligence and law enforcement agencies — called IMSI catchers —...

HAGERSTOWN, Md. — A key figure in the government's investigation of thousands of leaked secret war records says the suspected culprit had help. Adrian Lamo is the computer hacker who turned in Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning. Lamo says someone told him that he helped Manning set up encryption software that Manning allegedly used to send classified information to the whistleblower website Wikileaks. Lamo isn't naming the apparent accomplice. But he says the man is among a group of people in the Boston area who work with Wikileaks.

A man has been arrested for spying on more than 150 girls in their bedrooms by hacking into their computers and using their webcams to watch them, provoking warnings that others will be doing the same thing. The hacker, from the Rhineland area, is suspected of having infected computers with a program enabling him to manipulate webcams, a spokesman for the Aachen state prosecutor confirmed on Friday. Thomas Floß from the association of data protection advisors, discovered the case, according to a report in the Westfalenblatt newspaper. He often visits schools to talk with children about data protection and sensible...

Wonderful, just one more way for our benevolent federal government to spy on us.

28 June 2010 HAXOR TRAINING TO COMMENCE SHORTLY AT AL-FALOJA? SNIPPET: "Signs point to yes."

SNIPPET: "The guy who uploaded it seems to think that he's a cyber-hacker for Allah, too."

Child pornography charges were added Thursday to the allegations against a Blaine man who is accused of pilfering the identity of a neighbor and e-mailing a death threat to Vice President Joe Biden. The new federal indictment also says that the threat sent by Barry Ardolf went not only to Biden, but also to Gov. Tim Pawlenty and one of Minnesota's U.S. senators. The document did not say which senator -- Amy Klobuchar or Al Franken -- was targeted. Last week in federal court in St. Paul, Ardolf, 45, reversed his intention to plead guilty, professing his innocence. Seamus Mahoney,...

SNIPPET: "-- The Voice of Truth claims responsibility for attacking the site on March 17, April 7, April 14, May 17, June 4, and June 7 of this year (the dates are based on this Islamic calendar date converter)." SNIPPET: "So, who could be doing this? Earlier this year, someone identifying himself as @th3j35t3r on Twitter bragged about taking sites promoting terrorism, for short periods of time (30-60 minutes). He says he's hit at least some of the Taliban usual suspect sites - for example: www.alemarah.info - official taliban website (Afghan Resistance) - ooops I did it again, down for...

I met Gary McKinnon a few years ago and interviewed him over a beer. Over time I have come to the conclusion that despite the serious hacking crimes he committed, he needs help and a period of coummunity service, rather than a 60 year prison sentence. McKinnon certainly broke the law and caused damage when he hacked into US military systems. He may not have deleted files, or damaged software, but security specialists had no choice but to rebuild each machine he compromised. That is expensive, time consuming, and disruptive. But I believe that McKinnon is telling the truth when...

We think you're going to be hearing a lot about this one over the next few days... or weeks. A team of researchers at the University of Washington and the University of California San Diego have determined that, with physical access to your car's ECU, a hacker could "adversarially control a wide range of automotive functions and completely ignore driver input -- including disabling the brakes, selectively braking individual wheels on demand, stopping the engine, and so on." For example, the team was able to connect a computer to a car's ODB-II port, access that computer wirelessly, and then disable...

A county street construction sign became into a political sign this morning after the message it displayed was changed to support Arizona’s new immigration law. A Pima County Transportation inspector noticed the traffic sign, on West Ina Road near North La Cañada Road, was no longer warning drivers about the widening project ahead, but instead telling them “SB1070 Rules. Import illegals back to Mexico” at 6 this morning. The sign, owned by Highway Technologies and deployed as part of the widening work, was changed back to a traffic advisory by 7 a.m. “Somebody removed one of the locks and reprogrammed...

My family and I are thankful that the jury thoroughly and carefully weighed the evidence and issued a just verdict. Besides the obvious invasion of privacy and security concerns surrounding this issue, many of us are concerned about the integrity of our country’s political elections. America’s elections depend upon fair competition. Violating the law, or simply invading someone’s privacy for political gain, has long been repugnant to Americans’ sense of fair play. As Watergate taught us, we rightfully reject illegally breaking into candidates’ private communications for political intrigue in an attempt to derail an election. I want to thank the...

A jury in Tennessee today found David Kernell guilty of two of four charges against him. Kernell was found guilty of computer fraud and obstruction of justice. These two charges could carry a combined maximum penalty of up to 25 years in prison and $500,000 in fines. The jury deadlocked on the charge of identity theft and he was not found guilty on the charge of wire fraud. Prosecutors have reserved the right to hold a new trial for the deadlocked charge of identity theft. The judge in the case will determine the sentencing. Expect Karnell to get off with...

KNOXVILLE — A federal jury this afternoon convicted Sarah Palin e-mail intruder David C. Kernell of felony destruction of records to hamper a federal investigation and misdemeanor unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer. The jury acquitted Kernell, 22, of felony wire fraud. U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Phillips declared a mistrial on the fourth charge, felony identity theft, after the jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked.

The 22-year-old man accused of hacking into the Yahoo! email account of Sarah Palin while she was the Republican candidate for vice president was found guilty of two of four counts: unlawful computer access and obstruction of justice, according to a report in the Knoxville News Sentinel. He was acquitted of the charge of wire fraud and a mistrial was declared on count one, identity theft. David Kernell was a 20-year-old economics student at the University of Tennessee when he hacked his way past security questions to access Palin's personal email account in 2008. Kernell gained access by providing Palin's...

KNOXVILLE — A federal jury this afternoon convicted Sarah Palin e-mail intruder David C. Kernell of felony destruction of records to hamper a federal investigation and misdemeanor unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer. The jury acquitted Kernell, 22, of wire fraud. It remains deadlocked on felony identity theft. It’s unclear if U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Phillips will order the jurors, in their fourth day of deliberations, to continue.

Political ploy gone bust or prankish peek gone awry? That is the question facing jurors today in U.S. District Court as they begin deliberating the fate of former University of Tennessee student David C. Kernell. Kernell, 22, is standing trial on charges he guessed his way past the security features on then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's private Yahoo! e-mail account. Authorities allege he perused some of its contents, downloaded photos, captured screenshots and ultimately posted the new password he set on an Internet discussion site, allowing 10 people in the U.S. and abroad to make more than 70 forays into the...

Kernell, if convicted is facing as many as 50 years in prison. Some may find that harsh. Let me remind you: G.Gordon Liddy was sentenced to 20 years in prison and a $40,000 fine for his part in the Watergate affair, and he wasn’t even one of those who actually broke into the DNC offices. I doubt Kernell will get 50 years, but a strong sentence is needed in a case like this to send a message to others who would attempt this sort of nonsense. It’s just sad that no one is pursuing the connection to the Obama regime....

Photo by J. Miles Cary Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor, talks with the press outside of the Federal Court House in downtown Knoxville Friday. KNOXVILLE - With the government wrapping up its case, the defense attorney for a former University of Tennessee student accused of illegally accessing one-time Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's private e-mail account tried and failed to put another college student in the hot seat. Attorney Wade Davies this afternoon sought to convince U.S. District Judge Thomas Phillips to allow him to force a reluctant Justin Hill to testify as a defense witness. Hill is a Utah college...