The Hacker News | #1 Trusted Source for Cybersecurity News — Index Page

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...

Hackers rushed to defend WikiLeaks on Wednesday, launching attacks on MasterCard, Visa, Swedish prosecutors, a Swiss bank, and others who acted against the site and its jailed founder, Julian Assange. Internet "hacktivists" under the banner "Operation Payback" claimed responsibility in a Twitter message for causing severe technological problems on MasterCard's website. MasterCard had recently severed ties with WikiLeaks. Although MasterCard acknowledged a disruption in its Secure Code system for verifying online payments, spokesman James Issokson assured that consumers could still use their credit cards securely. Later on Wednesday, Visa's website also became inaccessible. These online attacks are part of a broader wave of support for WikiLeaks sweeping the Internet. Twitter was flooded with messages of solidarity for the group, while its Facebook page reached 1 million fans. However, late Wednesday, Operation Payback itself faced difficulties as many of i...

The leaked American diplomatic cables released by whistleblower WikiLeaks this week have not only taken the world’s governments and financial markets by storm but have also caused a stir in Pakistani cyberspace. Pakistan has topped the global charts for 'WikiLeaks' searches on Google. Pakistan's obsession with the news is no secret. Being Pakistani means being accustomed to the many 'happenings' that fuel a booming news media industry. Whether it is bomb blasts, natural disasters, match-fixing scandals, crime, corruption allegations, or military operations, the news media is never short of things to report. Pakistani viewers and readers have a healthy diet of news to feed off, built up over years of a developing media landscape. Among the top 20 most visited websites by Pakistani internet users, according to Alexa, four are news websites belonging to mainstream media outlets. When it comes to secrets contained in leaked diplomatic cables, the value of the news see...