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Hacking has always been inherently a young person's game. The first usage of the word "hacker" was to describe pranksters meddling with the phones at MIT. Many hackers have cited boredom, a desire for change, or the thrill of going somewhere one is not supposed to go as their motivation for hacking, all of which could apply to scores of common activities on college campuses. While today's hacking scene is dominated by large hacking groups like Anonymous and Masters of Deception, many of the greatest hacks ever have been pulled off by college, high school, and even middle school kids who rose to infamy armed only with a computer and the willingness to cross the bounds of legality. 1.) Sven Jaschan: In the words of one tech expert , "His name will always be associated with some of the biggest viruses in the history of the Internet." The viruses: the Sasser and NetSky worms that infected millions of computers and have caused millions of dollars of damage since their release in 2004. The...

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)—Apple's sole supplier of SoC components for iPhones and iPads, and Qualcomm's major manufacturing partner—shut down several of its chip-fabrication factories Friday night after being hit by a computer virus. The world's largest makers of semiconductors and processors TSMC lost an entire day of production after several of its factories systems were halted by a computer virus in the middle of the ramp-up for chips to be used by Apple's future lines of iPhones. Though the popular chip maker has been attacked by viruses in the past, this is the first time a virus has affected TSMC's production lines, making the incident a real big deal. Without revealing many details, TSMC said a number of its computer systems and fabrication tools were infected by the virus on Friday night, but since then it has recovered 80% of its impacted equipment, though others will be recovered by tomorrow. According to TSMC, the comput...

Today, the estimated number of known computer threats like viruses, worms, backdoors, exploits, Trojans, spyware, password stealer, and other variants of potentially unwanted software range into millions. It has the capability to create several different forms of itself dynamically in order to thwart antimalware programs. Users of the biggest online artwork community, DevianART with Global Alexa Rank 148, are targeted by the potentially unwanted software programs -- delivered by the advertisements on the website, Stop Malvertising reported on Sunday. A Potentially Unwanted Application (PUA) is a program that may not be intentionally malicious, but can negatively affect the performance and reliability of the system by distributing spyware or adware that can cause undesirable behavior on the computer. Some may simply display annoying advertisements, while others may run background processes that cause your computer to slow down. However, unlike malware, users themselves co...

Stop tempting fate and take a look at our picks for the best antivirus programs on the market today. Every year there are billions of malware attacks worldwide. And these threats are constantly evolving. So if you are not currently using antivirus software, or you still rely on some free software you downloaded back in 2017, you are putting your cybersecurity in serious jeopardy.  Need help picking out antivirus software? Well, we've got you covered. Below you can find our picks for the best antivirus products of 2021. But before we get to that, let's set a few things straight so we're all on the same page.  When we talk about antivirus products, we're really talking about anti- malware  products. Malware is a catchall term that refers to any malicious program created to damage, disrupt, or take charge of a computer. Types of malware include not only viruses but spyware, trojan horses, ransomware, adware, and scareware. Any good antivirus product in 2021 must be ab...

Nation-state driven cyber attacks are routinely conducted on a global scale to defend national sovereignty and project national power. We are living in the cyber era, human conflict is involving also the fifth domain of warfare , the cyberspace . As never before disputes take place with blows of bits, militias of every government are developing cyber capabilities dedicating great effort for the establishment of cyber units . Network security company, FireEye, has released a report titled " World War C: Understanding Nation-State Motives Behind Today's Advanced Cyber Attacks " which describes the effort spent by governments in cyber warfare context, the document analyzes in detail the different approaches adopted by various countries in conducting nation-state driven cyber attacks . Security experts highlight the intensification of state-sponsored attacks for both cyber espionage and sabotage purpose, campaigns such as Moonlight Maze and Titan Rain or the destruc...

Beware Internet Users! Cryptowall 4.0 – the newest version of the world's worst Ransomware – has surfaced in the Nuclear exploit kit , one of the most potent exploit kits available in the underground market for hacking into computers. Ransomware threat has emerged as one of the biggest threats to internet users in recent times. Typically, a Ransomware malware encrypts all files on victim's computer with a strong cryptographic algorithm, then demand a ransom to be paid in Bitcoin (range between $200 and $10,000). Cryptowall is currently among the most widespread and sophisticated family of Ransomware backed by a very robust back-end infrastructure. Also Read: Anyone can Now Create their Own Ransomware using This Hacking ToolKit The recent report dated back to last month suggested that the authors of Cryptowall 3.0 ransomware virus have managed to raise more than $325 Million in revenue in the past year alone. With the debut of Cryptowall 4.0 at the beg...

China 's Cyber Hackers Target Western Firms ! Sky News has learnt of the growing threat Western governments and corporations are under from hackers based in China. Cyber crime costs the UK tens of billions of pounds every year. The attacks cannot be traced but I have gained access to some of the country's growing number of hackers to discover just how big a risk they pose: The man I meet is 21, he has no technical training and has moved to Beijing from a small town in southern China. But within minutes of our meeting, he's shown me how he can hack into my email account. A few more clicks of his mouse, and he's stolen my credit card details as I make an online purchase. He says he's a "cyber security expert" - not a hacker - but we can't use his name and he refuses to show his face. I ask him whether he could successfully hack into more carefully guarded computer systems: those of government officials and top companies in the West. "Even...

Botnets - a secretly compromised networks of ordinary home and office computers with rogue software or "malware" that are controlled by an individual criminal or a group - has dramatically increased over the past several years and are considered to pose the biggest threat to the Internet. Cyber criminals have brushed-up their hacking skills and are using Botnets as a cyber weapon to carry out multiple crimes like DDoS attacks (distributed denial of service), mass spamming, page rank and advertising revenue manipulation, mining bitcoins, cyber espionage and surveillance etc. 18 BOTNET INFECTIONS PER SECOND According to the director of FBI's cyber division, Joseph Demarest, Botnet has become one of the biggest enemies of the Internet today, and therefore its impact has been significant. Yesterday during a hearing before a U.S. Senate committee, he says that every second 18 computers worldwide are part of botnet armies, which amounts to over 500 million comp...

Microsoft and the FBI have taken down a botnet that controlled millions of infected PCs, which was responsible for massive bank fraud.  Botnets are networks of computers infected with viruses that let them be controlled by hackers. The outfit runs the Citadel Botnets and is believed to have stolen more than $500 million from bank accounts over the past 18 months. Citadel is one of the biggest botnets in operation today. Citadel is a banking Trojan that has been in existence since 2011. As with most banking Trojans, Citadel is a full crimeware kit, providing the attackers with payload builders, a command and control (C&C) server infrastructure, and configuration scripts to target various banks. Citadel infected as many as 5 million PCs around the world including here in Australia and according to Microsoft, was used to steal from dozens of financial institutions, including American Express, Bank of America, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, eBay's PayPal, HSBC...

Behind every security alert is a bigger story. Sometimes it's a system being tested. Sometimes it's trust being lost in quiet ways—through delays, odd behavior, or subtle gaps in control. This week, we're looking beyond the surface to spot what really matters. Whether it's poor design, hidden access, or silent misuse, knowing where to look can make all the difference. If you're responsible for protecting systems, data, or people—these updates aren't optional. They're essential. These stories reveal how attackers think—and where we're still leaving doors open. ⚡ Threat of the Week Google Releases Patches for Actively Exploited Chrome 0-Day — Google has released Google Chrome versions 137.0.7151.68/.69 for Windows and macOS, and version 137.0.7151.68 for Linux to address a high-severity out-of-bounds read and write vulnerability in the V8 JavaScript and WebAssembly engine that it said has been exploited in the wild. Google credited Clement Lecigne and Benoît Sevens of Google T...

Cyberattacks are getting smarter and harder to stop. This week, hackers used sneaky tools, tricked trusted systems, and quickly took advantage of new security problems—some just hours after being found. No system was fully safe. From spying and fake job scams to strong ransomware and tricky phishing, the attacks came from all sides. Even encrypted backups and secure areas were put to the test. Keep reading for the full list of the biggest cyber news from this week—clearly explained and easy to follow. ⚡ Threat of the Week Motex Lanscope Flaw Exploited to Drop Gokcpdoor — A suspected Chinese cyber espionage actor known as Tick has been attributed to a target campaign that has leveraged a recently disclosed critical security flaw in Motex Lanscope Endpoint Manager (CVE-2025-61932, CVSS score: 9.3) to infiltrate target networks and deploy a backdoor called Gokcpdoor. Sophos, which disclosed details of the activity, said it was "limited to sectors aligned with their intelligence...

When it comes to safeguarding your Internet security, installing an antivirus software or running a Secure Linux OS on your system does not mean you are safe enough from all kinds of cyber-threats. Today majority of Internet users are vulnerable to cyber attacks, not because they aren't using any best antivirus software or other security measures, but because they are using weak passwords to secure their online accounts. Passwords are your last lines of defense against online threats. Just look back to some recent data breaches and cyber attacks, including high-profile data breach at OPM ( United States Office of Personnel Management ) and the extra-marital affair site Ashley Madison , that led to the exposure of hundreds of millions of records online. Although you can not control data breaches, it is still important to create strong passwords that can withstand dictionary and brute-force attacks . You see, the longer and more complex your password is, the much harder...