Free Republic

Some months ago, my contacts in the defense industry had alerted me to a startling development that has escalated to the point of near-panick in nearly all corners of Government security and IT infrastructure. The very-real concern, being investigated by the FBI, is that either the Chinese government or Chinese hackers (or both) have had the benefit of undetectable back-doors into highly secure government and military computer networks for months, perhaps years. The cause: a high-number of counterfeit Cisco routers and switches installed in nearly all government networks that experienced upgrades and/or new units within the past 18 months.

From Times OnlineApril 23, 2008 Executives harpooned by online 'whalers' Spies and conmen target bosses in e-mail attacks to install malicious software with access to most privileged data Jonathan Richards Corporate bosses have become the latest target of cyber-criminals, after a string of attacks in which senior management have been singled out to receive fraudulent e-mails. Internet fraudsters have taken to sending personally addressed e-mails to chief executives and other high-level executives with a view to installing malicious software on computers that have access to the most privileged company information. In the latest e-mail scam, known as "whaling" because it...

The site of Freeper EUPHORIADEV was hacked. She has lost over 2 years worth of data. Euphoriadev was covering the Haditha and Hamdania incident extensively she has lost over 2 years worth of data we do NOT believe it is the people who are claiming the hack

A BusinessWeek probe of rising attacks on America's most sensitive computer networks uncovers startling security gaps The e-mail message addressed to a Booz Allen Hamilton executive was mundane—a shopping list sent over by the Pentagon of weaponry India wanted to buy. But the missive turned out to be a brilliant fake. Lurking beneath the description of aircraft, engines, and radar equipment was an insidious piece of computer code known as "Poison Ivy" designed to suck sensitive data out of the $4 billion consulting firm's computer network. The Pentagon hadn't sent the e-mail at all. Its origin is unknown, but the...

Gone in 2 minutes: Mac gets hacked first in contest by Robert McMillan It may be the quickest US$10,000 Charlie Miller ever earned.He took the first of three laptop computers -- and a $10,000 cash prize -- Thursday after breaking into a MacBook Air at the CanSecWest security conference's PWN 2 OWN hacking contest.Show organizers offered a Sony Vaio, Fujitsu U810 and the MacBook as prizes, saying that they could be won by anybody at the show who could find a way to hack into each of them and read the contents of a file on the system, using a...

It seems Scientology is not all that bright, as if we didn't already know that. Having set up a web site called Anonymous Exposed. You would think they would take extreme measures to ensure its security. After all, Anonymous was formed by a group of skilled computer hackers. But it seems Anonymous has had the last laugh. I'm fairly certain THAT is not the video the CoS wants us to be seeing on that page,

Harvard student database hacked, posted on BitTorrent By Robert Vamosi, CNET News.com Friday, March 14, 2008 12:03 PM Harvard University says about 10,000 of last year's applicants may have had their personal information compromised. At least 6,600 Social Security numbers were exposed. Worse, a compressed 125 M-byte file containing the stolen student data is currently available via BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer network. In a statement published Monday night Harvard officials said the database containing summaries of GSAS applicant data for entry to the Fall 2007 academic year, summaries of GSAS housing applicant data for the 2007-08 and 2006-07 academic years, and...

Un-authorized programming must come to an end. To argue that "it can't be done" or "it's not cost-effective" is to concede either (a) incompetence, or (b) indifference, or (c) dis-honesty Suggested reading: GEEKONOMICS, David Rice

How best to Clean up the InternetWe all know this is a job that has be be attended: we have got phishers, pharmers, hackers, bank robbers, sleazes sending out RATS and robots, taking over our computers, stealing our identity, credit cards, bank funds, and birth days, plotting conspiracy, and sending sleazeover OUR networkIn his book "Geekonomics: The Real Cost of Insecure Software" David Rice describes our condition as a "market failure": the current Market Incentives are not producing results most beneficial to society.David rails over "insecure software" and that is certainly a big part of our network troubles today, but...

Consumers of Internet pornography who secretly signed up for memberships on adult-oriented Web sites in the past few months may be in for a shock -- some of their personal information, including e-mail addresses, may have been compromised by a security breach. Though the breach, which potentially could affect tens of thousands of customers, reportedly did not involve the theft of credit card information, it could nonetheless have a significant impact on the lucrative Internet pornography industry, according to those who monitor the market. These observers note that online porn relies, as much as anything else, on the promise that...

Recent revelations of China's state-sponsored cyber attacks on U.K. financial institutions underscores that strategic financial power is high on Beijing's list of priorities. Moreover, these attacks are consistent with "Unrestricted Warfare," a white paper published in 1999 by two PLA Air Force colonels, Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui, in which they argue that future wars will be fought on many fronts, and that in fact economic and financial warfare will become an increasingly necessary and accepted form of conflict. Whether Unrestricted Warfare represents today's official view of China's strategic outlook is unclear. What is clear, however, is that from a...

One asymmetric threat to our military forces and the nation is "cyber terrorism." Our advanced technologically based military forces — dependent on our satellites, critical infrastructure computers, the Internet, secure software programming, computer-driven telecommunications, air traffic control centers and other sophisticated sensor systems — are tempting targets for cyber terrorism. Not only do we use our satellite and communication technology to support our military forces, but it has also become a key link in all aspects of our complex economic society. Banking, control of electrical grids, stock markets, telecommunications and a vast array of computer networks are part of our...

MANLIUS, N.Y. (AP) - Six students at suburban Syracuse high school and two graduates are accused of hacking into the school's computer system and changing their grades and test scores. Authorities say 6 of the teenagers involved are current students at the school. Of the other two suspects, one attends Syracuse University and the other is a student at John Hopkins University in Baltimore. They're accused of breaking into the school's computers to change their scores on Advance Placement exams, SAT tests and classroom examinations.

Thomas X. Hammes is a retired Marine colonel. He is the author of a seminal book on conducting counter-insurgency warfare. The work is called "The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century." Recently, he made an intriguing proposal on how to battle jihadists on the Internet (a virtual agora where Islamist militants appear to consort with alarming frequency). This is what he said: "For the last few years, individuals and private organizations that are pro-Israeli have been in a daily fight to shut down or deface anti-Israeli Web sites. Unofficial and informal, this Internet Hagana has had...

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Duncan Hunter's presidential campaign Web site was briefly hacked earlier this week when a starkly anti-war image was posted by an attacker operating from Turkey. The Web site, gohunter08.com, was hijacked either late Sunday or early Monday morning so that visitors were greeted by images of two unhappy-looking children - one peering out between two iron bars with a blood-stained bandage on his head, the other seated on a bleak plateau with a tank in the background. The hacker left an apparent calling card over the graphic - "Hacked by Adnali fOr Turkstorm.Org." Underneath were the words...

Chinese military hacked into Pentagon By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington and Richard McGregor in Beijing Published: September 3 2007 19:00 | Last updated: September 3 2007 20:53 The Chinese military hacked into a Pentagon computer network in June in the most successful cyber attack on the US defence department, say American ­officials. The Pentagon acknowledged shutting down part of a computer system serving the office of Robert Gates, defence secretary, but declined to say who it believed was behind the attack. Current and former officials have told the Financial Times an internal investigation has revealed that the incursion came from...

China has hacked into the computers of Angela Merkel’s Chancellery and three other German ministries in an extraordinary economic espionage operation that threatens to blight the German leader’s already delicate trip to Beijing this week. The claims, made in a detailed investigation by Der Spiegel magazine, were denied strenuously by the Chinese authorities yesterday, but there was no mistaking German anger. “If true, it is unacceptable,” Ralf Stegner, a senior Social Democrat, said. “China is a competitor as well as a trading partner. Mrs Merkel has to get to the bottom of the affair on her China trip.” Mrs Merkel...

Back on July the 6th all of my systems that were on Comcast could not connect to most websites. I could connect to google just fine and also some smaller sites. I called around to most people I knew (on Comcast)and found they also had the same problem. So I called Comcast and after waiting on-line for around 30 minutes, I just hung up figuring that they must be inundated with calls. I then proceeded to do some checking on my own, I was able to ping the sites I could not connect to, but unable to do anything else(web/Mail/Telnet)...

Guangdong, television pirates transmit anti government messages from state TV On the night of May 1st a group of hackers re-routed the provinces stat elite signal and for over an hour transmitted messages against the Communist Party. No one has so far claimed the attack. Guangzhou (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Unknown television pirates successfully re- routed the television signal in the rich southern province of Guangdong and for over an hour transmitted messages against the Communist Party. The attack took place on the night of May 1st, the national Labour Day holiday. Local media and dozens of witnesses report that between 8...