Free Republic

The online version the New York Post editorial in today's issue harshly criticizing WikiLeaks for publishing stolen classified Pentagon Afghan war documents without redacting them to prevent Afghans from facing retribution from the Taliban has been hacked.Attempts to access the editorial directly through NYPost.com and through Google result in being directed to Pages.US.comWikiLeaks and its founder, reputed computer hacker Julian Assange, have come under criticism from allies Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International for outing Afghans without regard to their safety.This week, Assange called Afghans aiding the U.S. in the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban "genuinely traitorous." That...

NOTE The following text SNIPPET is a quote: International Hacker Arraigned After Extradition Elaborate Scheme Stole over $9.4 Million from Credit Card Processor ATLANTA, GA—SERGEI TŠURIKOV, 26, of Tallinn, Estonia, has been extradited to the United States. TŠURIKOV appeared today and was arraigned before United States Magistrate Judge E. Clayton Scofield III, on federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit computer fraud, computer fraud, and aggravated identity theft. TŠURIKOV was indicted by a federal grand jury on these charges on November 10, 2010, along with VIKTOR PLESHCHUK, 29, of St. Petersburg, Russia; OLEG COVELIN,...

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

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

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...

Oh man this is rich. The same group of people who want to grab control of private civilian networks can't even secure their own network! Can you say poetic justice?

New hires are being given the choice of using Macs or LinuxGoogle is one of the most creative and powerful tech companies in the world, thus its actions are scrutinized at times.  However, it's hard not to see a bit of significance in this one -- Google is reportedly phasing out Windows due to security concerns. News of the plan broke as Google remains reeling from a major intrusion by Chinese hackers which occurred using an unprotected flaw in Internet Explorer 6.  Back in early February, Google announced that it would be dropping dedicated support for Internet Explorer 6, leaving a fifth of...

Hackers planted code into three sites belonging to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.As a consumer and a taxpayer, it's assumed that government websites are the most secure in the nation. After all, if hackers can gain access and plant malware for viewers to download , then the nation really isn't that all secure on the cyber frontier, right? Unfortunately, that's apparently what has happened to three websites belonging to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. How safe and secure do you feel now? Roger Thompson of AVG discovered the infestation on Monday. The urls involved include bep.gov (Bureau of...

NEW DELHI — India has banned telecom equipment from China citing national security reasons, heightening trade tensions between the two Asian economic giants. In a recent order, the government has told mobile operators not to import any network equipment manufactured by Chinese vendors such as Huawei and ZTE. Indian officials say the ban was prompted by concerns that Chinese telecom equipment could have spyware or malicious software - known as "malware" - embedded in it which could give Chinese intelligence agencies access to telecom networks in India. Under strict new conditions, Indian telecom companies will have to get a security...

BEIJING—China-based hackers stole Indian national-security information, 1,500 emails from the Dalai Lama's office and other sensitive documents, a new report said Tuesday. Researchers at the University of Toronto said they were able to observe the hacking and trace it to core servers located in China and to people based in the southwestern city of Chengdu. The researchers said they monitored the hacking for the past eight months. The report said it has no evidence of involvement by the Chinese government, but it again put Beijing on the defensive. Separate reports earlier this year said security investigators had traced attacks on...

Many nations are taking advantage of the Internet to encourage, or even organize, patriotic Internet users to obtain hacking skills. This enables the government to use (often informally) these thousands of hackers to attack enemies (foreign or domestic.) These organizations arrange training and mentoring to improve the skills of group members. Turkey has over 44,000 of these hackers, Saudi Arabia has over 100,000, Iraq has over 40,000, Russia over 100,000 and China, over 400,000. While many of these Cyber Warriors are rank amateurs, even the least skilled can be given simple tasks. And out of their ranks will emerge more...

By some estimates we will need nearly 60,000 newly trained cyber defense warriors (as they are called), just in the next 3 years to help stop the threats to U.S. interests, companies and friends around the globe. That number is staggering when you realize that much of the hacking that exists today is unknown. For example, for every hacker like Francois who clearly wants to be known, there are hundreds who want to do just the opposite....they just want to sneak in, get the info and then sneak out......never detected.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A message that North Korea had conducted a nuclear attack on the Japanese island of Okinawa turned out to be false, but the fact it was delivered via U.S. military communications has prompted a high alert, according to U.S. officials who asked to remain anonymous. U.S. military channels were hacked either by the Chinese or North Koreans, the source said. Access to such communications – even unclassified military systems – suggests a serious breach of technology security. "Today, March 06, 2010 at 11.46 AM local time (UTC/GMT -5 hours),US seismographic stations recorded seismic activity in the area...

Analysis More details have emerged about a cybercrime investigation that led to the takedown of a botnet containing 12m zombie PCs and the arrest of three alleged kingpins who built and ran it. As previously reported, the Mariposa botnet was principally geared towards stealing online login credentials for banks, email services and the like from compromised Windows PCs. The malware infected an estimated 12.7 million computers in more than 190 countries. The botnet was shut down on 23 December 2009 following months of collaboration between security firms Panda Security and Defence Intelligence in co-operation with the FBI and Spain's Guardia...

US national security leaders and top cyber warriors from around the world are gathering here to plot defenses against criminals and spies that increasingly plague the Internet. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and White House Cyber Security Coordinator Howard Schmidt will take part in this week's RSA conference along with computer defense companies and technology icons such as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Craigslist creator Craig Newmark. "We have before us more data moving into the cloud and more sophisticated cyber criminals," said Qualys chief executive Philippe Courtot, who is among the keynote speakers at the premier event that kicks...

US analysts believe they have identified the Chinese author of the critical programming code used in the alleged statesponsored hacking attacks on Google and other western companies, making it far harder for the Chinese government to deny involvement. Their discovery came after another team of investigators tracked the launch of the spyware to computers inside two educational institutions in China, one of them with close ties to the military. A freelance security consultant in his 30s wrote the part of the program that used a previously unknown security hole in the Internet Explorer web browser to break into computers and...

Security researchers say attackers have gotten into Google’s (GOOG) PageRank system to boost their own sites in search results, to reach more victims. And by similar means, attackers have infected major online ad systems. Alwil Software, maker of Avast anti-virus products, says it has uncovered a network that serves hundreds of fake links through hijacked Web sites to cheat Google search algorithms. “By positioning themselves among the top search results, these organized gangs are successfully pushing products such as fake anti-virus software

SAN FRANCISCO – Deep inside millions of computers is a digital Fort Knox, a special chip with the locks to highly guarded secrets, including classified government reports and confidential business plans. Now a former U.S. Army computer-security specialist has devised a way to break those locks.The attack can force heavily secured computers to spill documents that likely were presumed to be safe. This discovery shows one way that spies and other richly financed attackers can acquire military and trade secrets, and comes as worries about state-sponsored computer espionage intensify, underscored by recent hacking attacks on Google Inc.The new attack discovered...

Note: The following text is a quote: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, February 5, 2010 Resident of India Pleads Guilty in International Online Brokerage “Hack, Pump and Dump” Scheme WASHINGTON - A resident of India pleaded guilty today to conspiracy and aggravated identity theft charges arising from an international fraud scheme to "hack" into online brokerage accounts in the United States and use those accounts to manipulate stock prices, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Deborah K.R. Gilg of the District of Nebraska. Jaisankar Marimuthu, 35, a native of Chennai, India, pleaded guilty...

The world's largest Internet search company and the world's most powerful electronic surveillance organization are teaming up in the name of cybersecurity. Under an agreement that is being finalized, the National Security Agency would help Google analyze a major corporate espionage attack that the firm said originated in China and targeted its computer networks, according to cybersecurity experts familiar with the matter. The objective is to better defend Google -- and its users -- from future attack. Google and the NSA declined to comment on the partnership. But sources with knowledge of the arrangement, speaking on the condition of anonymity,...