Free Republic

Infidelity. Sexual fetishes. Drug abuse. Crushing debt. They’re the most intimate secrets of U.S. government workers. And now they’re in the hands of foreign hackers. It was already being described as the worst hack of the U.S. government in history. And it just got much worse. A senior U.S. official has confirmed that foreign hackers compromised the intimate personal details of an untold number of government workers. Likely included in the hackers’ haul: information about workers’ sexual partners, drug and alcohol abuse, debts, gambling compulsions, marital troubles, and any criminal activity. Those details, which are now presumed to be in...

A recently discovered group of malware that infects jailbroken iPhones has gathered the login information for more than 225,000 Apple accounts, and is believed to be one of the largest breaches of Apple accounts ever. The malware, dubbed KeyRaider by its discoverer, found its way to victims via websites that hosted repositories of Cydia software. Cydia is an app that allows users of jailbroken iOS devices to access software and apps locked phones can’t normally access. The malware then steals Apple account information by intercepting iTunes traffic from the device. Palo Alto Networks (PAN) and WeipTech, which found the vulnerability,...

http://www.wired.com/2015/08/happened-hackers-posted-stolen-ashley-madison-data/ Wired link, can't post excerpt.

Hackers from Syria and Iran are on the prowl to hold a neighborhood or city's gasoline supply up for ransom, or, worse, cause it to spill and explode, with Washington being high on the target list, according to a new report. The report, issued over the weekend by a group of digital security sleuths, found that a number of groups, including the notorious Syrian Electronic Army — known for hacking news groups — are looking for soft targets they can take control of easily through the Internet, and use to cause a variety of mayhem. The report shows that retail...

Storyline: Gloria is a young woman of the Depression. She has aged beyond her years and feels her life is hopeless, having been cheated and betrayed many times in her past. While recovering from a suicide attempt, she gets the idea from a movie magazine to head for Hollywood to make it as an actress. Robert is a desperate Hollywood citizen trying to become a director, never doubting that he'll make it. Robert and Gloria meet and decide to enter a dance marathon, one of the crazes of the thirties. The grueling dancing takes its toll on Gloria's already weakened...

Apple’s vaunted reputation for safety and security has taken some hits recently. Just this week came news of DYLD_PRINT_TO_FILE — a bug in Apple’s OS X operating system that has allowed a malicious program to take complete control of Macs. *snip* When it comes to security flaws, Windows and OS X are now about tied, says Morey Haber, VP of technology at corporate security software maker BeyondTrust.

A YouTube video message purportedly by the group Anonymous has issued a warning for U.S. police chiefs, Waller County police, and in particular, the Waller County Sheriff’s Department. In a threatening demand, the group told the Waller Sheriff’s Office, “We all know where you live. No mercy for murders.” The group plans protests in 35 cities throughout the U.S. on Saturday, August 8th. They pledge on August 8th to “rage against the corrupted system that killed Sandra Bland and continues to commit injustice across this country.” The group demands that Texas DPS trooper Brian Encinia, who stopped and arrested Bland...

fficials tell NBC News that Russia launched a "sophisticated cyberattack" against the Pentagon's Joint Staff unclassified email system which has been shut down and taken off line for nearly two weeks. According to the officials, the "sophisticated cyber intrusion" occurred sometime around July 25 and affected some 4-thousand military and civilian personnel work for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This story is developing. Please check back for further updates.

Researchers have spotted a wave of attacks targeting Macbook users.Hackers are exploiting a critical vulnerability in Apple’s OS X operating system to install malware on Macbooks.Malwarebytes Apple security expert Thomas Reed reported uncovering the attacks in a threat advisory.The vulnerability was uncovered by security researcher Stefan Esser at the end of July. It relates to the way Apple OS X version 10.10 logs software errors and can be used by hackers to forcibly install software on Macbooks.Reed said the current attacks targeting the flaw install a variety of malicious programs. These include the VSearch and Genio adwares and MacKeeper junkware.Adware...

A researcher is advising drivers to halt the use of a mobile app for General Motors Co's (GM.N) OnStar vehicle communications system, saying hackers can exploit a security flaw in the product to remotely unlock cars and start engines. "White-hat" hacker Samy Kamkar posted a video on Thursday saying he had figured out a way to "locate, unlock and remote-start" vehicles by intercepting communications between the OnStar RemoteLink mobile app and the OnStar service. Kamkar said he plans to provide technical details on the hack next week in Las Vegas at the Def Con conference, where tens of thousands of...

Are modern computer-heavy vehicles vulnerable to being hijacked by computer hackers? They are indeed, as computer security hasn't kept pace with what hackers can do.

Hackers took control of a car and crashed it into a ditch by remotely breaking into its systems from 10 miles away whilst sitting on their sofa. In the first such breach of its kind security experts cut out the engine and applied the brakes on the Jeep Cherokee, sending it into a spin. The US hackers said they used just a laptop and mobile phone to access the Jeep’s on-board systems via its wireless Internet connection. They claim that more than 470,000 cars made by Fiat Chrysler could be at risk of being attacked by similar means - including...

Hackers have stolen and leaked the personal details of users of Ashley Madison – a site that hooks up people who want to have affairs. A group or individual known as The Impact Team claimed to be behind the attack and that it had data on all of Ashley Madison's 37 million users and its partner sites, Cougar Life and Established Men, all owned by Canada's Avid Life Media (ALM). The Impact Team claims to have access to the company's user database and is threatening to release all of the information unless the site is taken down. So far the...

Hackers are threatening to expose information on over 30 million users of AshleyMadison.com, a website for cheating spouses famous for its tagline “Life is short. Have an Affair.” A group of hackers called The Impact Team reportedly has posted some data already and is demanding that parent company Avid Life Media shut down AshleyMadison and a sister site, EstablishedMen.com, according to Krebs On Security, a blog run by former Washington Post reporter Brian Krebs. The Toronto-based Avid Life Media said Monday it closed the breach in its computer system and was working with law enforcement. How the hackers got in,...

Contractors in Argentina and China were given "direct access to every row of data in every database" when they were hired by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to manage the personnel records of more than 14 million federal employees, a federal consultant told ArsTechnica. The massive breach of OPM's database — made public by the Obama administration this month — prompted speculation over why the agency hadn't encrypted its systems, which contain the sensitive security clearance and background information for intelligence and military personnel. Encryption, however, according to Ars, would not have helped in this case because administrators responsible...

The Office of Personnel Management is under fire again today after it was revealed hackers, allegedly Chinese, stole 21 million social security numbers during a massive data breach discovered last month (which officials originally said only impacted 4 million people). The social security numbers belong to Americans who have, or who currently are, working for the federal government. This new information comes on the heels of news hackers were able to obtain extremely sensitive information, including classified background check information that can be used for blackmail, belonging to tens of millions of government employees. More bad news: Here’s the kicker:...

<p>Hackers swiped Social Security numbers from 21.5 million people -- as well as fingerprint records and information from background check investigations -- in the massive breach earlier this year of federal employee data, the government acknowledged Thursday.</p> <p>The Office of Personnel Management included the findings in a report Thursday on developments in the investigation into a pair of major hacks.</p>

Just when you thought you were safe, a new hacking toy comes along and rocks your world. Imagine a tool exists that lets hackers pluck encryption keys from your laptop right out of the air. You can’t stop it by connecting to protected Wi-Fi networks or even disabling Wi-Fi completely. Turning off Bluetooth also won’t help you protect yourself. Why? Because the tiny device that can easily be hidden in an object or taped to the underside of a table doesn’t use conventional communications to pull off capers. Instead it reads radio waves emitted by your computer’s processor, and there’s...

German-owned Patriot missiles stationed in Turkey were briefly taken over by hackers, according to media reports on Tuesday.The attack took place on anti-aircraft ‘Patriot’ missiles on the Syrian border. The American-made weapons had been stationed there by the Bundeswehr (German army) to protect Nato ally Turkey. According to the civil service magazine, the missile system carried out “unexplained” orders. It was not immediately clear when these orders were carried out and what they were. The magazine speculates about two weak spots in the missile system which could be exploited by hackers. One such weakness is the Sensor-Shooter-Interoperability (SSI) which exchanges...

Major attacks on the U.S. power grid system are “increasing,” with hackers stepping up efforts to penetrate critical systems and to implant malicious software that could compromise the power grid and result in a nationwide crisis, according to a government report. While experts have long signaled that the U.S. power grid and related systems are vulnerable to physical attacks by terrorists and other individuals, the U.S. government is now warning that sensitive computer systems that maintain the grid are increasingly being attacked, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report that was not made public until the Federation of American...