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McDonald's is collaborating with law enforcement after malicious hackers infiltrated another company's database and stole information about an unknown number of the fast-food chain's customers. McDonald's has alerted potentially affected customers via email and through a message on its website . "We have been informed by one of our long-time business partners, Arc Worldwide, that limited customer information collected in connection with certain McDonald’s websites and promotions was obtained by an unauthorized third party," a McDonald's spokeswoman said via email on Saturday. McDonald's hired Arc to develop and coordinate the distribution of promotional email messages. Arc, in turn, relied on an unidentified email company to manage the customer information database. This email company's systems were hacked. The data, provided voluntarily by customers, does not include Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, or any sensitive financial info...

Police in the Netherlands have arrested a second teenager in connection with the pro-WikiLeaks distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks seen earlier this week. The arrest of the 19-year-old man follows Friday's attacks on websites belonging to the Dutch Police and the national prosecutor's office. These attacks were widely viewed as retaliation against the arrest of a 16-year-old Dutch boy the day before. This boy was allegedly involved in "Anonymous" pro-WikiLeaks attacks against several websites, including MasterCard and PayPal. Prosecutors claim that the 19-year-old, from Hoogezand-Sappemeer in the northeast of the Netherlands, flooded the prosecutor's website with internet traffic. "From behind his computer, the man used hacker software to flood the website of the prosecutor’s office with as much digital traffic as possible. Investigations by the National Police Services Agency showed that the man, who was active under the internet nickname Awinee...

Who is Julian Paul Assange? Julian Paul Assange is the lean, tall, and pale 39-year-old Australian hacker at the heart of WikiLeaks. This whistle-blowing website gained attention after revealing thousands of secret Afghan battlefield reports, making Assange a target for U.S. authorities. The Enigma of Assange and WikiLeaks Assange has become a prominent figure due to WikiLeaks, which is dedicated to obtaining and posting secret government documents from anonymous sources. Despite his heightened profile, he remains one of the most elusive figures of our time. Julian Paul Assange is an Australian journalist, publisher, and Internet activist. Best known as the spokesperson and editor-in-chief for WikiLeaks, he was a computer programmer before his involvement with the site. He has lived in several countries and occasionally speaks publicly about freedom of the press, censorship, and investigative journalism. Assange founded WikiLeaks in 2006 and serves on its advisory board. He has pu...

Specialty retailer Genesco Inc. announced on Friday that it experienced a criminal intrusion into the part of its computer network that processes payment card transactions. Some card details might have been compromised. However, the company quickly secured the affected network segment and expressed confidence that customers can now safely use their credit and debit cards in its stores. Nashville, Tennessee-based Genesco stated that the intrusion affected its U.S. Journeys, Journeys Kidz, Shi by Journeys, Johnston & Murphy stores, and some Underground Station stores. The company is currently investigating the extent of the compromise with the help of an outside expert. Robert Dennis, Chairman, President, and CEO of Genesco, said, "Since we learned of the intrusion, we have worked diligently with outside experts to protect our customers' information, and we are confident that they are safe shopping with their credit and debit cards at our stores. We recommend that our cust...

The cyber war between Pakistani and Indian hackers is intensifying. A group called the Indian Cyber Army (ICA) has claimed access to scripts from more than 375 Pakistani websites, including those belonging to the government, high-level organizations, and notable individuals. Hackers from both countries are targeting significant public and private websites. Last week, a group named Pak Cyber Army (PCA) hacked approximately 300 Indian websites. The ICA has warned it could hack another 375 Pakistani websites by December 31, 2010. In response to these threats, the government has taken serious measures. A special cell under the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), known as the National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes (NR3C), has been established to monitor Pakistani websites, particularly government sites, according to Inam Ghani, Project Director NR3C. He added that the cybercrime wing of the FIA has already recovered 36 hacked websites. To prevent further attacks on public websites, a...

On December 10, 2010, Anonymous released a press statement to clarify its identity and objectives. Who is Anonymous? Anonymous, often misunderstood, is not a conventional group. Instead, it is an internet gathering without formal structure. Both Anonymous and the media acknowledge the perceived internal disagreements within the group. However, this does not imply a failure in their command structure. The decentralized nature of Anonymous is based on shared ideas rather than hierarchical directives. Unique in its form, Anonymous learns through trial and error. The collective is now working on better communication of core values to its members. They also aim to inform the public and media about their identity and principles. Contrary to popular belief, Anonymous is not a group of hackers. Members are average internet citizens driven by frustration over daily injustices. They do not seek to steal personal information or credit card details, nor do they intend to attack critical infras...

Do you support WikiLeaks? Are you angry at critics trying to suppress it? Maybe you're considering joining online protests to shut down the websites of its opponents. Don't. A group of vigilantes named Anonymous has turned their Operation Payback campaign, previously targeting antipiracy organizations, on PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, Senator Joe Lieberman, Sarah Palin, and others who have criticized WikiLeaks or stopped doing business with the document-sharing project. The fallout from WikiLeaks has reached a fever pitch since the site began releasing diplomatic cables last month, causing embarrassment for U.S. diplomatic efforts. Launching denial-of-service (DOS) attacks against target websites to send a message and disrupt their operations is the modern-day equivalent of walking the picket line with a sign. However, the electronic version is illegal. "Participating in a botnet with the intention of shutting down a website violates the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act," ...

Gathering evidence on Facebook has become a standard legal practice, so a social sting operation was inevitable. This method led the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to apprehend a would-be terrorist in Baltimore. An FBI informant initially contacted 21-year-old Antonio Martinez after he publicly posted about his desire for jihad on Facebook earlier this fall, according to AFP. The U.S. Justice Department released a prepared statement that AFP cited: "An affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint alleges that on September 29, 2010, Martinez publicly posted on his Facebook account a statement calling for violence to stop the oppression of Muslims, and that on October 1, 2010, he publicly posted a message stating that he hates any person who opposes Allah and his prophet." The FBI set Martinez up with a fake car bomb, then apprehended him when he attempted to detonate it remotely. The faux explosive was rigged in a vehicle parked outside a U.S. military recrui...

Dutch authorities announced the arrest of a 16-year-old hacker involved in the pro-WikiLeaks attacks on the websites of MasterCard and PayPal. The Dutch National Prosecutors Office reported that the teen, whose name was not disclosed, was arrested by a high-tech crime team last night. The arrest follows a series of attacks organized by the group known as Anonymous. This group has previously targeted entities such as the Church of Scientology and the Australian government. Recently, they launched distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on companies distancing themselves from WikiLeaks. These attacks use thousands of computers to overwhelm a target by making simultaneous connections. Yesterday, Visa.com was briefly taken offline, though the company assured CNET that no payments or transactions were affected. MasterCard.com was also unreachable in the morning. Additionally, the website for the Swedish prosecution agency, which is seeking the extradition of WikiLeaks editor Julian A...

Globalization benefits consumers and businesses but also provides opportunities for organized crime. Many internet criminals join or form organized crime groups, motivated by economic, cultural, or technical reasons. Globally, individuals and mafia groups engage in illegal online activities, often aiming to become wealthy. Australia ranks among the top 10 countries targeted by cybercrime. Recently, Australian credit card holders' personal information was compromised and published on a website originating from Vietnam. Although this might seem like an isolated incident, such occurrences are part of a broader organized cybercrime effort. Cybercriminals sell thousands of pieces of stolen, misappropriated, and sometimes fake credit card information daily. Three primary packages are available: CC Dump: Information from the credit card's magnetic strip. A simple dump costs around US$0.10 (AU$0.09) when bought in large quantities. CC Full Info: Contains all details about a b...

Hacking is a core aspect of Facebook's culture. Whether we are developing the next big product at one of our hackathons or creating a smarter search algorithm, we constantly hack to find better solutions. We are launching the Hacker Cup to unite engineers worldwide in a multi-round programming competition. Participants must solve algorithmic problem statements to advance, being ranked by accuracy and speed. What: An annual algorithmic programming contest open to hackers globally. Where: Three online rounds with finals at Facebook's headquarters in California. When: Registration opens on December 20th. The three online rounds will occur throughout January 2011, followed by the world finals. Finals: We will cover the travel and accommodation expenses for the top 25 hackers from the 3rd online round to our campus. Prizes: The top hacker will win $5,000 and the title of world champion. The second place will receive $2,000, third place $1,000, and fourth to twenty-fifth place...

Stuxnet is a sophisticated virus specifically designed to attack supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems manufactured by Siemens, a German industrial giant. These systems are commonly used to manage water supplies, power plants, and other industrial facilities, making the worm particularly dangerous for governments. Who Wrote This Program? Experts in cybersecurity speculate that Stuxnet may have been created by a government or a well-financed group of investors. The virus is too complex to be the work of a single hacker. Given that much of the damage occurred in Iran, many believe Stuxnet was designed to sabotage the country’s nuclear facilities. Cyber-Attacks Getting More Sophisticated Even if Stuxnet wasn't targeting U.S. infrastructure, its creation marks a new wave of cyberattacks. These attacks, including viruses and malware, aim at infrastructure such as power-generating facilities. This shift means we must now worry about more sophisticated threats, no...