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AT&T has confirmed a security data breach in which attackers have compromised the security of a number of its mobile customers and stolen personal information including Social Security numbers and call records. Back in April this year, AT&T suffered a data breach in which some of its customer information, including birth dates and Social Security numbers had been inappropriately accessed by three employees of one of its third-party vendors, in order to generate codes that could be used to unlock devices. Moreover, the hackers would have also been able to access its users' credit report with Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) during the process without proper authorization, that means the information related to what subscribers purchase from AT&T would also have been compromised. The Dallas-based telecommunications giant did not specify the number of customers or type of information affected by this data breach, but state law requires such di...

The FBI officers have arrested a 20-year-old Tennessee man and charged with federal computer hacking for allegedly conspiring to launch cyber attacks on five organizations in 2013, including two universities and three companies in the US and Canada, federal law enforcement officials announced today. The accused named Timothy Justin French , who go online by the name " Orbit ," is a key member of the collective "NullCrew" hacking group , that claimed responsibility for dozens of high-profile computer attacks against corporations, educational institutions, and government agencies. NullCrew is a hacktivist group that came into light in 2012 after a successful cyber attack against the World Health Organization (WHO) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in 2012, which resulted in plain-text username and passwords being posted online on Pastebin. The group, represent itself as a part of Anonymous hacking collective, has since 2012 carried out a number of similar high profi...

Waiting for the root access for your AT&T or Verizon Android phone? Then there is really a Great News for you! Geohot (aka George Hotz) - a famed cracker who was responsible for hacking the PlayStation 3 and subsequently being sued by Sony - has built and released a root tool called Towelroot on Sunday night that will let most Android smartphones users to root their Android device with one click only, as long as it has an unpatched version of the Linux kernel. EXPLOITS LINUX KERNEL VULNERABILITY  Towelroot application exploits the same vulnerability (CVE-2014-3153) which was recently disclosed by the hacker Pinkie Pie in the Linux kernel version 3.14.5 and most versions of other Android devices, which could be leveraged by hackers to potentially acquire root access on affected devices. Having root access of your device simply means you make System-level changes to your device such as accessing and modifying any file or program using any mode (single- or mu...

In a previous story, I reported about a new ransomware threat known as Simplocker discovered by researchers at the security firm ESET, targeting Android users in the UK, Switzerland, Germany, India and Russia, for ransom. Simplocker (Android/Simplocker.A) is the latest Android ransomware that has ability to encrypt the files using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) on the Android device SD cards demanding users pay a ransom of 260 UAH ( Ukrainian hryvnias ), which is roughly equal to $21 US, for those files to be decrypted. To hide their track, the malware author is using the Command-and-Control server hosted on TOR .onion domain, which makes it difficult to trace the server's physical location or determine who is operating it. The malware collects information about the users' phone such as IMEI number, Operating System, phone model and manufacturer to send it all to Command-and-Control server. STUDENT CRACKS SIMPLOCKER RANSOMWARE Now, an undergraduate stu...

If US has banned its several major government departments, including NASA, Justice and Commerce Departments, from purchasing Chinese products and computer technology due to suspected backdoors, then they are not wrong at all. A popular Chinese Android Smartphone comes pre-installed with a Trojan that could allow manufacturer to spy onto their users' comprising their personal data and conversations without any restrictions and users knowledge. GOOGLE PLAY STORE OR A SPYING APP? According to the researchers at the German security firm G Data , the Star N9500 smartphone, a popular and cheap handset device in China, comes pre-installed with Uupay.D Trojan horse, disguising as a version of the Google Play Store. The trojan camouflage as the Google Play Store , so it enables Chinese Company to secretly install malicious apps, which creates the whole spectrum of abuse. STEALING WITHOUT RESTRICTIONS The nasty Spyware runs in the background and has capability to steal ...

In an effort to create more open and accessible atmosphere between the Internet Explorer team and the Web development community, Microsoft today announced the launch of The Developer Channel for Internet Explorer . Internet Explorer Developer Channel is a fully-functioning browser designed to provide Web programmers and early adopters an advance and better understanding of the features the team is currently working on and let them offer feedback before it reaches the broader public. " Today we're excited to announce the release of the Internet Explorer Developer Channel, a fully functioning browser designed to give Web developers and early adopters a sneak peek at the Web platform features we're working on, " Microsoft said in a blog post . Thankfully, Internet Explorer Developer Channel runs independently of the user's copy of IE and allows Web programmers to test newest Web technology and browser features without disrupting their current browser set...