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Proposed Bill Would Legally Allow Cyber Crime Victims to Hack Back

Proposed Bill Would Legally Allow Cyber Crime Victims to Hack Back

Mar 08, 2017
Is it wrong to hack back in order to counter hacking attack when you have become a victim? — this has been a long time debate. While many countries, including the United States, consider hacking back practices as illegal, many security firms and experts believe it as "a terrible idea" and officially "cautions" victims against it, even if they use it as a part of an active defense strategy. Accessing a system that does not belong to you or distributing code designed to enable unauthorized access to anyone's system is an illegal practice. However, this doesn't mean that this practice is not at all performed. In some cases, retribution is part of current defense offerings, and many security firms do occasionally hack the infrastructure of threat groups to unmask several high-profile malware campaigns. But a new proposed bill intended to amend section 1030 of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act that would allow victims of ongoing cyber-attacks to fight ...
WiFi Hacking Is Now Legal in Dutch !

WiFi Hacking Is Now Legal in Dutch !

Mar 19, 2011
Breaking in to an encrypted router and using the WiFi connection is not an criminal offence, a Dutch court ruled. WiFi hackers can not be prosecuted for breaching router security. A court in The Hague ruled earlier this month that it is legal to break WiFi security to use the internet connection. The court also decided that piggybacking on open WiFi networks in bars and hotels can not be prosecuted. In many countries both actions are illegal and often can be fined. The ruling is linked to a case of a student who threatened to shoot down everyone at the Maerlant College in The Hague, a high school. He posted a threat on the internet message board 4chan.org using a WiFi connection that he broke into. The student was convicted for posting the message and sentenced to 20 hours of community service, but he was acquitted of the WiFi hacking charges. The Judge reasoned that the student didn't gain access to the computer connected to the router, but only used the routers internet con...
Exclusive: German Police Raid OmniRAT Developer and Seize Digital Assets

Exclusive: German Police Raid OmniRAT Developer and Seize Digital Assets

Jun 27, 2019
The German police yesterday raided the house of the developer of OmniRAT and seized his laptop, computer and mobile phones probably as part of an investigation into a recent cyber attack, a source told The Hacker News. OmniRAT made headlines in November 2015 when its developer launched it as a legitimate remote administration tool for IT experts and companies to manage their devices with explicit permissions. Available between $25 and $100, OmniRAT quickly became one of the most popular remote administration tools, allowing users to monitor Android, Windows, Linux, and Mac devices remotely and access every available information on them. However, just like any other remote administration tool like DroidJack, DarkComet, AndroRAT, and njRAT, some customers of OmniRAT also used the tool for illicit purposes, especially because it was available at a far cheaper price than other RATs in the market. In one such event earlier this year, a group of hackers attempted to target severa...
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CISO Board Reports: Crush It

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Transform how you report cyber risk to the board. Get real-world skills now.
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2025 Pentest Report: How Attackers Break In

websiteVonahi SecurityNetwork Security / Pentesting
Discover real exploitable vulnerabilities and defense gaps in our free Cybersecurity Awareness Month report.
To Protect Your Devices, A Hacker Wants to Hack You Before Someone Else Does

To Protect Your Devices, A Hacker Wants to Hack You Before Someone Else Does

Apr 19, 2017
It should be noted that hacking a system for unauthorised access that does not belong to you is an illegal practice, no matter what's the actual intention behind it. Now I am pointing out this because reportedly someone, who has been labeled as a 'vigilante hacker' by media, is hacking into vulnerable 'Internet of Things' devices in order to supposedly secure them. This is not the first time when any hacker has shown vigilance, as we have seen lots of previous incidents in which hackers have used malware to compromise thousands of devices, but instead of hacking them, they forced owners to make them secure. Dubbed Hajime , the latest IoT botnet malware, used by the hacker, has already infected at least 10,000 home routers, Internet-connected cameras, and other smart devices. But reportedly, it's an attempt to wrestle their control from Mirai and other malicious threats. Mirai is an IoT botnet that threatened the Internet last year with record-sett...
The Hacker News Magazine September Issue - NO ONE IS SECURE

The Hacker News Magazine September Issue - NO ONE IS SECURE

Sep 01, 2011
The Hacker News Magazine September Issue - NO ONE IS SECURE Well folks, after this issue and the obvious intensity of the insecurity of the net, I have a few thoughts on the unfettered access to knowledge. It is more than apparent we all live in a time where the extensive dissemination of opinions, thoughts and ideas and information are done through a modern method of transmission. The simplicity and effectiveness by which computers and networks are used to assemble, store, search, associate, recover, and share information make computer technology especially risky to anyone who wishes to keep personal or protect information from the public sphere or out of the clutches of anyone who is perceived as a probable threat. As this issues explores, the evolving and more advanced capabilities of computer viruses, phishing, fraud schemes, spyware, and hacking activity springing up from every corner of the globe and the diversity of privacy-related issues engendered by computer technolo...
'The Pirate Bay' Co-Founder Found Guilty in Denmark's Largest Hacking Case

'The Pirate Bay' Co-Founder Found Guilty in Denmark's Largest Hacking Case

Oct 31, 2014
The co-founder of The Pirate Bay torrent site Gottfrid Svartholm Warg (Anakata) and his 21-year-old Danish co-defendant have been found guilty by a Danish court of hacking into systems operated by American IT giant CSC and illegally downloading files. It was the biggest hacking case ever conducted in the history of Denmark . By breaking into the servers maintained by CSC, Svartholm Warg illegally accessed police email accounts and stolen email addresses and passwords of over 10,000 policemen, explored the European border control database, and downloaded millions of social security numbers belonging to Danish citizens. The initial hack attack took place for about six months. " This is the largest hacking case to date. The crime is very serious, and this must be reflected in the sentence, " Prosecutor Maria Cingali said. Gottfrid Svartholm allegedly committed the crime along with his his 21-year-old co-defendant between February and August 2012. His co-defendant ...
What is the Deep Web? A first trip into the abyss

What is the Deep Web? A first trip into the abyss

May 31, 2012
The Deep Web (or Invisible web) is the set of information resources on the World Wide Web not reported by normal search engines. According several researches the principal search engines index only a small portion of the overall web content, the remaining part is unknown to the majority of web users. What do you think if you were told that under our feet, there is a world larger than ours and much more crowded? We will literally be shocked, and this is the reaction of those individual who can understand the existence of the Deep Web , a network of interconnected systems, are not indexed, having a size hundreds of times higher than the current web, around 500 times. Very exhaustive is the definition provided by the founder of BrightPlanet, Mike Bergman, that compared searching on the Internet today to dragging a net across the surface of the ocean: a great deal may be caught in the net, but there is a wealth of information that is deep and therefore missed. Ordinary...
Top Industries Significantly Impacted by Illicit Telegram Networks

Top Industries Significantly Impacted by Illicit Telegram Networks

Aug 02, 2023 Cyber Crime / Telegram
In recent years the rise of illicit activities conducted within online messaging platforms has become a growing concern for countless industries. One of the most notable platforms that has been host to many malicious actors and nefarious activities has been Telegram. Thanks to its accessibility, popularity, and user anonymity, Telegram has attracted a large number of threat actors driven by criminal purposes.  Many of the cybercriminals that have moved operations into  illicit telegram channels  in order to expand their reach and exploits to wider audiences. As a result, many of these illicit Telegram networks have negatively impacted many industries in relation to the increase of cyberattacks and data leaks that have occurred across the globe.  While any industry can be affected by the cybercriminals operating on Telegram, there are several industries that are more significantly impacted by these illicit activities. In this post, we'll cover several of the common...
The Age of Collaborative Security: What Tens of Thousands of Machines Witness

The Age of Collaborative Security: What Tens of Thousands of Machines Witness

Jul 07, 2022
Disclaimer: This article is meant to give insight into cyber threats as seen by the community of users of CrowdSec. What can tens of thousands of machines tell us about illegal hacker activities? Do you remember that scene in Batman - The Dark Knight, where Batman uses a system that aggregates active sound data from countless mobile phones to create a meta sonar feed of what is going on at any given place?  It is an interesting analogy with what we do at CrowdSec. By aggregating intrusion signals from our community, we can offer a clear picture of what is going on in terms of illegal hacking in the world. After 2 years of activity and analyzing 1 million intrusion signals daily from tens of thousands of users in 160 countries, we start having an accurate "Batman sonar" global feed of cyber threats. And there are some interesting takeaways to outline. A cyber threat with many faces  First of all, the global cyber threat is highly versatile. What do we see when looking at...
Do You also want to Hack Facebook Account of your Girlfriend?

Do You also want to Hack Facebook Account of your Girlfriend?

Jun 13, 2015
We at The Hacker News get a lot of requests via emails and messages from people who want to hack into someone else's Facebook account or Gmail account or break into somebody's network. However, 80 to 90 percent requests we receive every day are from people who want to hack into their girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, or husband's Facebook account in order to read their private conversations and reveal their secret relationships, if any. Even though we strongly deny any such requests because accessing someone else's account without their knowledge or permission is a crime… ...but there are demands from people – those cheated by their love, betrayal of trust, driven by greed or revenge – to break into the Facebook accounts of other people. So, what about Hiring a Hacker? As money could buy everything, a service received a lot of popularity earlier this year – even featured on the front page of the New York Times – claims to connect these needy people to professional ...
Deep Web Search Engines to Explore the Hidden Internet

Deep Web Search Engines to Explore the Hidden Internet

Feb 11, 2016
Do you know: There is a vast section of the Internet which is hidden and not accessible through regular search engines and web browsers. This part of the Internet is known as the Deep Web , and it is about 500 times the size of the Web that we know. What is DEEP WEB? Deep Web  is referred to the data which are not indexed by any standard search engine such as Google or Yahoo. The 'Deep Web' refers to all web pages that search engines cannot find, such as user databases, registration-required web forums, webmail pages, and pages behind paywalls. Then, there's the Dark Web or Dark Net – a specific part of that hidden Deep Web. Deep Web and Dark Web are the intriguing topics for the Netizens all around. But when you hear the term 'Deep Web' or 'Dark Web,' you usually categorize them into one. If yes, then you are wrong. What is DARK WEB? Dark Web is where you can operate without been tracked, maintaining total anonymity....
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