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A controversial anti-Islamist group has alerted its members to be vigilant after their details were disclosed online. Hackers, claiming to be from the Mujahideen Hacking Unit, infiltrated one of the organization’s websites, releasing hundreds of names and addresses linked to the English Defense League (EDL). In a warning to members, the group expressed fears of potential retaliations, advising those affected to be particularly cautious regarding their home and personal safety. The security breach occurred last weekend when hackers accessed a clothing website associated with the organization. They obtained lists of individuals who had recently purchased items or donated money. Over the past year, the EDL has gained prominence by staging several protests against the Islamification of Britain. Although the group asserts that it is not racist, xenophobic, or anti-Muslim, opponents such as United Against Fascism accuse the group of being deliberately Islamophobic. The incident has been ...

Iran’s Intelligence Minister, Heydar Moslehi, has publicly admitted to hacking the emails of opposition members. Iranian news agencies, including ILNA, quoted Moslehi stating that emails were the primary communication tool for opposition members during last year’s postelection protests. The Intelligence Ministry was able to break into these emails and defeat “the enemy." “One of the officials, in his speech, carelessly announced that we have access to the emails. Within 24 hours, they coded and password-protected their emails," Moslehi said. "Of course, we in the Intelligence Ministry broke those passwords within 48 hours.” Moslehi mentioned that emails were exchanged between “foreigners and their elements inside Iran." Speaking at a December 25 conference on the achievements of Iranian expatriates at Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti University, he said Iran controlled “many dimensions” of the postelection protests by monitoring email. He accused the United States of ...

Carriers, developers, and phone makers are rolling out new services and features to protect mobile devices from malicious attacks and data breaches. As people increasingly use smartphones for email, banking, and document access, the wireless industry is addressing mobile device security. According to Chris Knotts, vice president of technology and innovation at IT consulting company Force 3, there is a "consumerization of IT," where more employees use personal mobile devices like smartphones, laptops, and tablets for work purposes. IT administrators recognize that mobile devices are here to stay and need to be secured against attacks and data breaches. This effort extends beyond IT administrators. Carriers and phone makers are deploying new features and services to enhance mobile device security, as noted by the Wall Street Journal. Edward G. Amoroso, chief security officer of AT&T, stated, "Everyone is realizing that this is an uncontrolled environment. We don'...

A group of hackers recently attacked and took offline several websites belonging to credit-card sharing groups, security experts, and other hacking communities that had neglected basic security practices. On Christmas morning, the administrators of six websites discovered their sites had been hacked. According to a newsletter published by the hackers on Dec. 25, the second issue of "Owned and Exposed" listed carders.cc, ettercap, exploit-db, backtrack, inj3ct0r, and free-hack as compromised sites. Free-hack was targeted for being "lame script kiddies," while the other sites had criminal ties or were security experts criticized for their poor security practices, as noted in the e-zine. Mati Aharoni, the administrator of exploit-db, a site cataloging known exploits and vulnerabilities, admitted the breach in a blog post but mentioned that the damage was minimal. "Other than our egos, the damage is not severe," Aharoni wrote. The hackers posted a copy of th...

Some 300 internet cafes in Nepal are now under police surveillance following a new government regulation aimed at curbing cyber crimes. According to SSP Rana Bahadur Chand, chief of the Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD), cyber cafe users must now present ID cards and register their names, addresses, and telephone numbers. Chand mentioned, "There are around 1,200 cyber cafes in the Kathmandu Valley, and we will gradually bring all of them under this new law." With the growing internet use in urban areas, cyber crimes have surged significantly, Chand noted. In response, the MPCD has begun implementing measures to monitor cyber cafes operating in the Kathmandu Valley. These cafes are now required to provide information to the police upon request. Every month, approximately 8-10 cyber-related cases are reported to the police. Complaints range from email threats, theft of email IDs and passwords, email hacking, and misuse of images posted on social networking sites lik...