Social Media Security | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Ahmad Umar Agha , a Syrian Electronic Army hacker known online as " Th3Pr0 ," has been  sentenced by a U.S. federal court  to 42 months in prison for his role in a hacking conspiracy that targeted Western news outlets. The conspiracy was organized and led by members of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's inner circle, including the commander of Syria's General Intelligence Directorate, the U.S. Justice Department said on October 29. The pro-Assad Syrian Electronic Army began its attacks in 2011. Its members sent phishing emails to steal employees' passwords, then used those passwords to deface websites, redirect web traffic, and hijack social media accounts, according to a  2014 FBI affidavit . On April 23, 2013, the group hijacked the Associated Press's Twitter account and posted a false report that President Barack Obama had been injured in two explosions at the White House. Twitter's message confirming a password reset for that account w...

The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) on Wednesday said it charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov for allegedly facilitating terrorist activities and for failing to remove prohibited information in violation of Russian law. The principal security agency said the instant messaging platform "failed to remove numerous channels, chats, and bots on the platform that are actively used by Ukrainian special services and by terrorist and extremist organizations to plan and coordinate acts of sabotage and terrorism, mass killings, and cyber-fraud operations within the Russian Federation." These actions have resulted in numerous casualties, including among women and children, as well as significant damage amounting to billions, it added. Durov has been charged in connection with an ongoing criminal investigation under Part 1.1 of Article 205.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for aiding terrorist activity. He has also been placed on the inte...