Hackers hit Major League Baseball teams' Facebook sites

(Reuters) - Hackers hit Major League Baseball teams' Facebook pages with phony postings on Thursday, including an announcement that New York Yankees star Derek Jeter would undergo sex change surgery, the sports site Deadspin reported.
"He promises to come back stronger than ever in 2013 as Minnie Mantlez," said a posting that was quickly removed from the Yankees' page. Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle was a Yankees' slugger in the 1950s and 1960s.
The Miami Marlins' page falsely announced a pit bull giveaway. The animal is banned in Miami-Dade County.
The Chicago White Sox, President Barack Obama's favorite team, purported to endorse Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, while the Washington Nationals' page said the team, which used to be the Montreal Expos, was moving back to Canada.
The sites of the San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs were also hit with fake posts, some of them profane or insulting. The messages were quickly removed and the teams posted notes explaining that they had been hacked.
"For a brief moment today, a few MLB Club Facebook accounts were hacked and inappropriate material was briefly on display from those Clubs' pages on Facebook. MLB Advanced Media oversees these Facebook pages on behalf of the Clubs and regrets this occurrence," Major League Baseball said in a statement.
"We are working with Facebook, Major League Baseball Security and, where appropriate, legal authorities to determine the circumstances surrounding this situation," it added.
(Reporting by Jane Sutton; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Sources by : http://news.yahoo.com

China's Huawei responds to US hackers

Chinese communications giant Huawei Technologies on Wednesday responded to US hackers' claims that its routers were easily cracked, saying its security strategies were rigorous.
The annual Def Con hackers' convention in Las Vegas on the weekend was shown how to slip into networks through some Huawei routers, which Recurity Labs chief Felix "FX" Lindner described as a "gift" to the hacker community.
Huawei routers, equipment that connects networks to the Internet, are widely used in Asia, Africa and the Middle East and the company has been striving to gain ground in US and European markets, according to Germany-based Recurity.
Lindner and his teammate Gregor Kopf said they were troubled that Huawei had not issued security advisories about its routers to warn users to take precautions.
"These machines have serious security issues," Kopf told AFP. "In my eyes, the greatest danger is that you don't know how vulnerable it is; you're left in the dark."
Kopf said that once attackers slipped through the routers thdy could potentially run amok in networks.
In response, Huawei issued a statement to AFP saying it was aware of "media reports on security vulnerabilities in some small Huawei routers" and was trying to verify the claims.
"Huawei adopts rigorous security strategies and policies to protect the network security of our customers, and abides by industry standards and best practices in security risk and incident management," it said.
The company said it had a "robust response system to address product security gaps and vulnerabilities".
Huawei, founded by a former People's Liberation Army engineer, has established itself as a major force in the global telecoms industry where its technology is widely used to build mobile phone networks.
But it is also battling an image problem in the broader technology market due to its perceived close ties with the Chinese state.
It has recently been blocked from bidding for contracts on Australia's national broadband project, reportedly due to concerns about cyber-security.
The company has in the past also run afoul of US regulators and lawmakers because of worries over its links with the Chinese military -- fears that Huawei has dismissed.

Sources by : http://news.yahoo.com

Def Con hackers go mainstream but still love to party

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - When Jeff Moss founded the Def Con hackers convention in 1993, he never imagined that two decades on, one of the key speakers at the annual Las Vegas event would be four-star General Keith Alexander, head of the U.S. National Security Agency.
Once known as an excuse for computer geeks and social misfits to drink cheap beer, create mischief and party all night Sin City-style, Def Con has transformed itself into a venue where elite and amateur hackers alike debate serious security issues with experts from the public and private sectors.
While there was still plenty of merrymaking for hackers at last weekend's conference, it also drew top corporate executives, military officers and intelligence agencies looking to recruit the brightest minds in the crowd.
"Hacking has gone from being a hobby to a profession," said Moss, who was working as a messenger at a law firm when he founded Def Con to mark the shutdown of a Canadian hacking network known as Platinum Net.
Talented computer security experts are in high demand as government agencies and corporations grapple with increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks.
About 100 hackers showed up at the first Def Con nearly 20 years ago. A record 15,000 people attended the latest meeting, including Alexander, who called on hackers to join U.S. government efforts to make the Web more secure.
The changes in Def Con reflect the influence of Moss and other hackers who now counsel government leaders and technology companies on how to protect their information networks.
Moss, known in hacking circles as "The Dark Tangent" or just DT, is an advisor to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and chief security officer of ICANN, an organization that manages some of the Internet's key infrastructure.
Def Con promotes "white hat" hacking, which aims to identify security flaws so that software makers and other manufacturers can fix them before criminals use the vulnerabilities to launch attacks.
"Black hats" are felons, and "gray hats" fall somewhere in the middle.
WHITE HATS
In its early years, Def Con had such a wild reputation -- even by Las Vegas standards -- that Moss had trouble finding major venues to host the meeting. The raucous attendees not only liked to hack into every computer network they came across, but also sometimes caused physical damage to facilities, organizers said.
Last year, the restaurant computer system crashed at the Rio Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, which has hosted the past two Def Cons. Long lines ensued, and servers had to take orders with pen and paper. This year, cellphone calls were mysteriously jammed for several hours.
Organizers routinely advise attendees to leave their ATM cards at home, turn off all wireless connections on their mobile devices and generally be on guard, describing Def Con as one of the most hostile hacking environments on the planet.
Nevertheless, there are fewer problems nowadays than in the early iterations of Def Con, and organizers say that mischief makers account for a small minority of attendees.
"Def Con has cleaned up," said Brendon "cstone" Creighton, a member of the "Ninja" hacker crew, which hosted one of the conference's biggest parties over the weekend.
That calmer atmosphere may be partly due to an increased military presence at the conference.
"Everybody is trying to recruit you," noted Creighton. "There are Army guys handing out business cards."
There were even investors scouting the crowd of teens and adult males, some of whom were tattooed and had colored hair and Mohawks. Some were dressed in kilts and exotic costumes, but most just wore T-shirts with shorts or jeans.
Nico Sell, an organizer who is also an angel investor, decided to help two college students build a company in 2004 after they showed up with a hacking "gun" that could attack mobile phones from more than a mile away. It was dubbed "Bluetooth Sniper."
They eventually founded Lookout, now one of the biggest providers of software for mobile devices, with products available through major carriers including Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp and T-Mobile USA.
"The roots of our company are in Def Con," said Lookout Chief Technology Officer Kevin Mahaffey.
'HACK ALL THE THINGS'
Moss calls Def Con a "neutral zone" for feds and hackers to mingle. The conference's all-night parties have become increasingly lavish, with corporate sponsors including Facebook Inc, Zynga Inc and Qualcomm Inc.
One such event was organized by the Ninjas, who invited more than 1,200 hackers, security experts, federal agents, corporate executives and other "cool people" to a pool party in the courtyard of a boutique hotel on Saturday night.
A rapper belted out songs with lyrics like "Drink all the booze. Hack all the things." The invitations were in the form of HTC One Android smartphones that could access a specially built GSM mobile wireless network that ran off a wireless antenna on top of a van filled with computer equipment.
Building that network -- and designing retro Ninja Tel phones -- took nearly a year and several hundreds of thousands of dollars, which the Ninjas got from Facebook, Zynga, Lookout and a unit of Qualcomm known as AllJoyn.
Why put in so much work for a party?
"Strippers aren't so interesting anymore, so build a phone company," said Ninja crew member pinguino, a 34-year-old woman from Los Angeles. "It's kids growing up."
To be sure, the vast majority of Def Con attendees are not recruited by the feds or invited to a Ninja party. Most -- known in Def Con parlance as "humans" -- hang out with friends, watch movies, learn to pick locks and enter hacking contests.
In one big room, 20 teams of geeks spent three days crouched over laptops, jamming out code at a feverish pace in Def Con's "Capture the Flag" contest, considered one of the world's top hacking competitions. The goal was to attack the computers of other teams and defend your own.
Electronic music played in the background, and projectors showed videos of scantily clad young women and other footage on the walls. Irreverent organizers handed out finger condoms to promote "safe hacking."
By Saturday night, about thirty hours into the competition, the contestants looked dazed.
Jared Demott, the principal security researcher with Harris Corp, says he enters these contests to stay at the top of his game.
"It's fun," he said, "but not all that fun."
(Editing by Tiffany Wu and Lisa Von Ahn)
Sources by : http://news.yahoo.com

Mac Malware Alert Surfaces as Mountain Lion Goes Live [REPORT]

Mac malware.
The malware, known as Crisis and Morcut, arrived via a file named "AdobeFlashPlayer.jar." The "jar" in this case refers to "Java archive" and are just a ZIP file by another name, according to Sophos. In this case, opening the file will unleash a .class file named WebEnhancer, and "two unassuming-looking files named win and mac." The "mac" is an installer for Crisis or Morcut
[More from Mashable: Mountain Lion Arrives Today and Two Other Stories You Need to Know]
However, the good news is that the WebEnhancer applet will trigger the digital signature alert below:
[More from Mashable: Apple OS X Mountain Lion Goes on Sale Tomorrow]
The researcher warns, though, that the malware doesn't necessarily have to be delivered via a ".jar" file -- that's just the way it came about in this case. If you do download Morcut/Crisis, then beware. According to Sophos, "Morcut has kernel driver components to help it hide, a backdoor component which opens up your Mac to others on your network, a command-and-control component so it can accept remote instructions and adapt its behaviour, data stealing code, and more."
SEE ALSO: 3 Ways to Protect Your Mac From Malware
Sophos warns Mac users not to assume that they're safe from malware attacks. Indeed, such threats have been on the rise as the platform has grown in popularity. Another piece of advice is to uninstall Java if you don't need it. "That leaves one less convenience for malware writers."
Have you run across WebEnhancer? Let us know in the comments.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Forzua

Sources by : http://news.yahoo.com

Congress halts posting of civilian, military officials' assets

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a last-minute act before skipping out on a five-week vacation, the Congress on Thursday temporarily spared thousands of top military officers and civilian government officials from having their financial assets publicly posted -- and exposed to hackers and spies.
Had both the House and Senate not acted before leaving town, the financial disclosures for the military and executive branch officials from the Pentagon to the State and Treasury departments would have been posted to agency websites by August 31, thanks to Congress' own inadvertent handiwork.
The public posting plan, which also was to include a convenient searchable database that could be used by identity thieves and foreign intelligence services alike, was part of legislation enacted in April to deter insider trading by members of Congress.
The provision of the so-called STOCK Act was aimed at spreading some disclosure pain to the Obama administration by requiring the posting of data for 28,000 executive-branch officials. The annual financial disclosures include assets such as bank accounts, stock and mutual fund holdings, investment properties, major non-mortgage debts and sales and purchases of these assets.
However, it later emerged that this treasure trove of information could pose a national security risk.
"What a bonanza for domestic and foreign criminal groups, terrorist organizations and foreign intelligence services intent on harming U.S. national security officials," said John Bellinger, a former State Department and White House legal adviser.
"With the anonymous click of a button, they can know which executive branch officials have the most assets or the greatest debts," said Bellinger, now a national security lawyer with Arnold & Porter LLP in Washington. "Foreign intelligence services spend billions to try to find out who's vulnerable to influence, and this would lay it all out for them."
U.S. officials posted in foreign countries could be put at risk of kidnappings, he added.
On Friday, both the House and Senate by voice vote and with no debate, passed a measure to delay the effective date for posting any executive branch disclosures until September 30. The stop-gap will be sent to President Barack Obama to be signed into law.
Congress returns from its break on September 10 and can make further changes at that time before any information gets posted.
Bellinger and a group of other former U.S. national security officials had been pressing Congress for a full exemption for any executive branch official with a security clearance.
(Editing by Fred Barbash and Sandra Maler)

Sources by:http://news.yahoo.com

Spy chief asks hackers to help government secure Internet

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - The head of the government's secretive National Security Agency took the unprecedented step on Friday of asking a convention of unruly hackers to join him in an effort to make the Internet more secure.
In a speech to the 20th annual Def Con gathering in Las Vegas, four-star General Keith Alexander stressed common ground between U.S. officials and hackers, telling them privacy must be preserved and that they could help by developing new tools.
"You're going to have to come in and help us," Alexander told thousands of attendees.
Alexander rarely gives speeches of any kind, let alone to a crowd of hackers, professional defenders, and researchers whose discoveries of software and hardware vulnerabilities are used by both sides.
Conference founder Jeff Moss, known in hacking circles as The Dark Tangent, told the conference that he had invited Alexander partly because he wanted them to learn about one of the world's "spookiest, least known" organizations.
Attendees were respectful and gave modest applause, though several said they were concerned about secret government snooping and the failure of authorities thus far to stop foreign-backed attacks.
"Americans pay taxes so that federal agencies can defend them," said a researcher who asked not to be named. "I see it as a hard sell asking a business entity to spend money for the common good."
Alexander won points by wearing the hacker "uniform" of jeans and a tee shirt, wandering the halls and praising specific hacking efforts, including intrusion detection tools and advances in cryptology.
He also confronted civil liberties concerns that are a major issue for many researchers devoted to the Internet.
The NSA sponsored a booth at the convention for the first time, which organizers placed next to one from the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF). The EFF has sued the government, claiming that it illegally tapped conversations of Americans.
Alexander spoke with staff at the EFF booth, telling them he believes the U.S. government can secure the nation and also protect civil liberties. They did not discuss the pending litigation.
Panels at the conference include a discussion of government tracking of individuals through cell phone data.
Taking questions screened by Moss, Alexander adamantly denied that the NSA has dossiers on millions of Americans, as some former employees have suggested.
"The people who would say we are doing that should know better," he said. "That is absolute nonsense."
Alexander used the speech to lobby for a cyber security bill moving through the Senate that would make it easier for companies under attack to share information with the government and each other as well as give critical infrastructure owners some reward for adhering to future security standards.
"Both parties see this as a significant problem," he said, adding that the experts like those at Def Con should help in the process. "What are the standards that we should jointly set that critical networks should have?"
In addition to conducting electronic intelligence gathering, primarily overseas, the Defense Department-controlled NSA is charged with protecting the U.S. military from cyber attacks.
Increasingly, it has been sharing its findings with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to aid in criminal cases and with the Department of Homeland Security, which warns specific industries of new threats.
Displaying a slide with the logos of several dozen of companies breached by criminals or spies in the past two years, Alexander said that only the most competent even knew they had been hacked.
"There are 10 times, almost 100 times more companies that don't know they've been hacked," he said.
As he walked the convention floor, he repeatedly asked hackers, including children attending a "Def Con Kids" conference, to consider joining the NSA once they have honed their skills.
"Keep working on this. We need you in the future," he said.
Many of the more than 10,000 hackers who crowded into the Rio casino conference center did not seem particularly interested in the presence of the head of the biggest U.S. spy agency, who was flanked by an entourage of plain-clothes guards and Def Con's own red-shirted security force who call themselves "goons".
"Nice to meet you," he said to several dozen hackers in line to buy lock picking equipment at one crowded booth. "How can I help you?"
The crowd did not respond, and the booth's organizers politely chatted with Alexander.
When he approached a hacker preparing for a "capture the flag" computer-takeover contest, the hacker waved casually, then returned to his laptop. A teammate later explained: "We were just too busy to chat."
(Reporting by Joseph Menn and Jim Finkle)
Sources by :http://news.yahoo.com

"Internet Doomsday" virus fizzles, web traffic flows

BOSTON (Reuters) - Fears that a computer virus might cut Internet access around the world appeared to be overblown on Monday after U.S. authorities removed a safety net that had protected infected machines for months.
Shortly after midnight EDT, the authorities cut off computer servers in New York City that had been put in place to direct traffic for infected computers, which would have been unable to access the Internet without their help.
Some blogs and news reports had warned that the shutdown of the servers could trigger a potential "blackout" and described the malicious software as the "Internet Doomsday" virus.
But that did not happen.
"All quiet," said Barry Greene, a security consultant who volunteers with the DNS Changer Working Group, an ad-hoc group of experts who teamed up to help fight the virus and educate the public about how to eradicate it.
The working group was using the incidence of service calls to Internet providers as a barometer for measuring the impact of the sever shutdowns.
As of Monday afternoon New York time, providers had seen no increase in call volume.
"The outreach campaign has reached everyone humanly possible," Greene said.
Victims of the virus originally required assistance because the virus had changed settings on their PCs, diverting Internet traffic through rogue servers that showed them advertisements. Police shut them down in November.
Infected machines would have been unable to access the Web unless they were repaired, so authorities put the backup system in place as a stopgap measure.
As of Sunday, the number of machines using the clean servers was down to 211,000, with about 42,000 in the United States, according to the FBI.
That is a tiny fraction of the world's more than 1 billion Internet users, said Luis Corrons Granel, technical director with the research lab of anti-virus software maker Panda Security. "Not a big impact," he said.
The number of users who actually lost Internet service was likely far fewer than the 211,000 who accessed the temporary server on Sunday, said Hypponen, of F Secure.
That is because many Internet service providers, including AT&T Inc and Time Warner Cable, set up their own servers so their customers with infected machines could continue to access the Internet.
"It's the 9th of July, and the Internet has not exploded into bits and pieces," remarked one Twitter user.
The United States has charged seven people with orchestrating the worldwide Internet fraud. Six were arrested in Estonia, while the seventh, who was living in Russia, is still at large. Estonia has extradited two of the men to New York, where they appeared in Manhattan federal court.
The case is USA v. Tsastsin et al, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 11-cr-878.
(Reporting by Jim Finkle in Boston; Additional reporting by Basil Katz in New York and Niklas Pollard in Stockholm; Editing by Dan Grebler and Sofina Mirza-Reid)
Sources by:http://news.yahoo.com/

Internet shutdown looms for some as US fix expires

Tens of thousands of computer users around the world infected with malware last year may lose their Internet access on Monday with the expiration of a fix by US authorities, security experts say.
The problem stems from malware known as DNS Changer, which was created by cybercriminals to redirect Internet traffic by hijacking the domain name systems of Web browsers.
The ring behind the DNS Changer virus, discovered in 2007, was shut down last year by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Estonian police and other law enforcement agencies.
Because the virus controlled so much Web traffic, authorities obtained a court order to allow the FBI to operate replacement servers which allow traffic to flow normally, even from infected computers.
But that order expires Monday, when experts say infected computers will face an "Internet doomsday."
The FBI, Facebook, Google, Internet service providers and security firms have been scrambling to warn users about the problem and direct them to fixes.
According to a working group set up by experts, more than 300,000 computers remained infected as of June 11.
The largest number were in the United States (69,000), but more than a dozen countries -- including Italy, Germany, India, Britain, Canada, France and Australia -- are also believed to have infected computers.
Security experts say it's not clear how many of those computers are active.
"Reaching victims is a very hard problem, and something we have had issues with for years," said Johannes Ullrich, a researcher with the SANS Security Institute.
But he said he expected the impact to be "minimal" because many of these systems are no longer used or maintained.
Users who think they are infected may perform a test at the DNS Changer Working Group's website http://www.dcwg.org/ or others operated by various security firms.
The security firm Internet Identity said last week that at least 58 of all Fortune 500 companies and two out of 55 major government entities had at least one computer or router that was infected with DNS Changer.
That's an improvement over January, when half of Fortune 500 companies and US federal agencies were infected.
"DNS Changer is an insidious form of malware affecting everyone from the everyday consumer to a large chunk of the Fortune 500," said IID chief executive Lars Harvey.
IID said that the malware also compromises computers by preventing antivirus software updates.
"This enables criminals to view any data, messages exchanged and more on a victim's computer, depending on what the victims' machines are infected with," the company said.
The security firm McAfee, which also offers a diagnostic tool at http://www.mcafee.com/dnscheck, said users must act before Monday to clean their computers.
"If users' computers have the wrong DNS settings for the servers, they will not be able to access websites, send e-mail or use Internet services," a McAfee statement said Thursday.
Google said in May it was seeking to notify 500,000 users of likely infections who were using the FBI servers.
Google spokesman Jay Nancarrow said Thursday it was not clear how many remain infected.
"We've notified many people and have seen some clean-up as a result, but we expect others with affected devices will likely encounter problems after the deadline passes," he told AFP.
For computers affected, the blackout will be total, experts say.
"Connectivity will be lost to the Internet PERIOD," said a blog posting from the security firm Symantec.
"If your computer is still using DNS entries that are pointing to the FBI servers on July 9, you will lose TOTAL access to the Internet. No connecting to the office from home, no updating Facebook, nothing until the DNS settings are fixed."
Six Estonians and a Russian were charged last November with infecting computers, including NASA machines, with the malware as part of an online advertising scam that reaped at least $14 million.
The Internet fraud, which took place between 2007 and October 2011, involved redirecting users searching for websites such as iTunes, Netflix and even the US tax collection agency.
At least four million computers located in over 100 countries may have been infected.
Sources  by:http://news.yahoo.com/

DNS Malware: Check If Your Internet Won't Work Monday

A nasty piece of malware called DNSChanger will kick thousands of Mac and PC users off the Internet on Monday, and there's a chance you could be one of them.
[More from Mashable: ]
The FBI is shutting down domains that have been affected by the DNSChanger malware, which has been circulating the web since as far back as 2007. The malware redirected Internet traffic to sites with paid advertisements where cybercriminals reaped profit from unsuspecting visitors.
The trojan's creators -- six Estonian nationals -- shut down their services when they were caught and arrested about eight months ago.
[More from Mashable: ]
Although the FBI has been urging consumers for months to check if their systems have been affected by DNSChanger, about 275,000 computers are still at risk of not having Internet access on Monday, July 9.
SEE ALSO:
The good news is that it's easy to see if your system has been infected and fix it if needed. The DNS Changer Working Group (DCWG) -- if you click on the link and the box is green, your computer is clean (If the box is read, your Internet will be dead).
Meanwhile, not only checks if you have the malware but it takes the challenging part out of manually updating Internet settings to correct the issue.
A list of other check tools are also listed on the official .
Has your computer been affected? Let us know in the comments.
Image courtesy of ,
This story originally published on Mashable .
Sources by :http://news.yahoo.com

8.7 million mobile customers hacked in S.Korea

South Korean police have arrested two hackers who stole personal data of 8.7 million customers of the nation's second-biggest mobile operator, the company said.
KT said the hackers -- formally arrested on Sunday -- had stolen data such as customers' names, phone numbers and residential registration numbers for five months since February and sold the information to telemarketing firms.
"The number of affected people account for nearly a half of about 17 million customers of ours," a KT spokesman told AFP, adding the company had alerted police on July 13 after detecting traces of hacking attacks.
Yonhap news agency, citing police, said the duo -- including a former veteran programmer at a local IT company -- had earned at least 1 billion won (about $880,000) by selling the stolen data.
Seven other people were also booked for buying the leaked data for telemarketing purposes, Yonhap said.
"We deeply bow our head in apology for having your precious personal information leaked... we'll try our best to make such things never happen again," KT said in a statement to customers.
Hacking attacks on major companies aimed to gain access to the personal data of their customers is a frequent occurence in South Korea, one of the world's most-wired nations.
Seoul authorities said in July last year hackers using an Internet address registered in China had gained access to South Korean major websites including web portal Nate.com and may have stolen the private data of 35 million users.
In November 2011, Seoul's top games developer Nexon saw personal information of 13 million users of its popular online game MapleStory stolen by hackers.
In March 2010, authorities launched a probe into the security systems of major retailer Shinsegae and 24 other companies after private data on 20 million customers was leaked.
Sources by :http://news.yahoo.com

Hackers Race to Steal Your Data Via Social Media During Olympics

As the 2012 Summer Olympics in London gears up to become , hackers and cybercriminals are expected to pose a huge concern for users on sites such as , and .

[More from Mashable: ]

"Social media will be a major vehicle for Olympics-related fraud this year," Angel Grant, senior manager at anti-fraud solutions company RSA, told Mashable. "Thousands of people already follow the games via social channels, and fraudsters worldwide are eager to leverage the interest around the Olympics to launch cyber attacks with the goal of stealing personal information."

To prevent social media accounts from being comprised, security firms are urging users to use caution when clicking on links that are allegedly sent from the site itself.

[More from Mashable: ]

"Avoid directly responding to email alerts that appear to come from Facebook, Twitter and othersocial networking sites and even your bank," Grant said. "Instead, go directly to these sites by typing their URLs directly into your browser or using a browser bookmark."

SEE ALSO:

Meanwhile, Olympic-themed phishing emails will be among the most popular tactics used to steal your information, according to RCA. In fact, some of these scams have already started to circulate the web -- Internet users earlier this month were led to believe that they won tickets to the Olympic Games and needed to fill out a form with personal information to claim their prize.

"If it's too good to be true, it probably is," Grant added.

Fake ticketing sites will also be set up, luring unsuspecting web users looking especially for tickets to popular events such as swimming and track and field into a trap.

"The market for scalped tickets is one of the biggest around, and it’s full of fake sites trying to scam you out of not just your money, but your financial information as well," RCA said.

The official London2012.com site has a “Ticket Checker” where fans can check the URL of the site on which they are considering buying tickets to determine if it’s real, as well as a list of known fraudulent ticketing sites.

"Avoid directly responding to email alerts that appear to come from Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites and even your bank," RSA advises. "Instead, go directly to these sites by typing their URLs directly into your browser or using a browser bookmark."

Image courtesy of ,

This story originally published on Mashable .

Sources by:http://news.yahoo.com

Hackers topple Huawei routers

Hackers at an infamous Def Con gathering were shown how to easily slip into computer networks through some routers made by Chinese electronics colossus Huawei Technologies.
"For the 20th anniversary of Def Con the gift is China," Recurity Labs chief Felix "FX" Lindner said as he opened his presentation.
"Nobody needs a back door; this is plausible deniability," he quipped as he detailed weaknesses in three small Huawei routers that could be exploited using basic hacking techniques. "You get what you pay for. Sorry."
Huawei routers, equipment that connects networks to the Internet, are widely used in Asia, Africa and the Middle East and the company has been striving to gain ground in US and European markets, according to Germany-based Recurity.
Lindner and his teammate Gregor Kopf were particularly troubled that Huawei has not issued any security advisories about its routers to warn users to take precautions.
"These machines have serious security issues," Kopf told AFP. "In my eyes, the greatest danger is that you don't know how vulnerable it is; you're left in the dark."
Kopf referred to the routers studied by Recurity as having technology reminiscent of the 1990s and said that once attackers slipped in they could potentially run amok in networks.
"It looks pretty bad," Kopf said. "To be fair, we only looked at three routers. But based on this sample, chances are other equipment they offer is very vulnerable."
Recurity did not examine "big boxes," large routers Huawei makes for businesses and telecom networks.
Huawei, founded by a former People's Liberation Army engineer, has established itself as a major force in the global telecoms industry where its technology is widely used to build mobile phone networks.
Huawei is battling an image problem in the broader technology market due to its perceived close ties with the Chinese military and government.
It was recently blocked from bidding for contracts on Australia's ambitious national broadband project, reportedly due to concerns about cyber-security.
The company has in the past also run afoul of US regulators and lawmakers because of worries over its links with the Chinese military and Beijing -- fears that Huawei has dismissed.
"It doesn't really matter how much intention is behind the quality that we see," said Lindner. "If you can take over people's routers you can get into their stuff. People need to verify what they are dealing with before they buy."
Sources by:http://news.yahoo.com/

Apple 'considering investment' in Twitter

Computer and smartphone maker Apple has been discussing with social media company Twitter the possibility of making a significant investment in it, The New York Times reported.
Citing unnamed "people briefed on the matter", the newspaper late Friday said Apple was considering investing into Twitter hundreds of millions of dollars, which could increase Twitter's valuation from $8.4 billion to more than $10 billion.
The contacts between the two companies' executives were not formal negotiations, and there were no assurances the two sides will come to an agreement, the report said.
Apple has already incorporated Twitter features into its software for phones, tablets and computers, The Times said.
Meanwhile, Twitter has assigned more resources into managing its relationship with Apple, the paper noted.
Apple's share of the US smartphone market was expected to inch up one percentage point to 31 percent this year, while the share for handsets powered by Google-backed Android software was expected to hit 41 percent, according to eMarketer.
On Tuesday, the company reported a rise in its quarterly profit to $8.8 billion on hot iPad sales but the results came up short of lofty Wall Street expectations, prompting its shares to dive.
The profit in the fiscal quarter to June was up 20.5 percent from a year earlier and amounted to $9.32 dollars a share, well below the consensus forecast of $10.36 dollars.
Revenues rose 22.5 percent to $35 billion, also below expectations of more than $37 billion.
Twitter, which allows its members to post brief comments, links or pictures, claims to have more than 140 million active users, with the largest number being in the United States.
A recent survey found one in seven Americans who go online use Twitter and eight percent do so every day.
Sources by:http://news.yahoo.com

Galaxy phones drive Samsung to record profit again

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung, the world's largest technology company by revenue, reported another record-high quarterly profit as customers flocked to Galaxy smartphones, helping it outdo rivals at a challenging time for the global tech industry.
Samsung Electronics Co. said Friday its net profit swelled to 5.2 trillion won ($4.5 billion) in the April-June quarter, a 48 percent jump from a year earlier.
The earnings were lower than a median forecast of 5.6 trillion won in a poll of seven analysts by Yonhap Infomax. But Samsung shares jumped 5.2 percent to close at one-month high in Seoul as investors expect its earnings to continue growing strongly.
Samsung, the world's largest maker of mobile phones, televisions and memory chips, benefited from runaway demand for its Android-powered smartphones as rivals including Apple Inc. were yet to release new models.
The robust sales of smartphones such as the company's flagship Galaxy S3 helped Samsung paper over a slowdown in other consumer electronics sectors such as televisions and personal computers that has been painful for its rivals and component suppliers.
Its second quarter operating profit spiked 79 percent over a year earlier to 6.7 trillion won and its revenue rose 21 percent to 47.6 trillion won, matching Samsung's guidance released earlier this month. The operating profit, also at an all-time high, was up 15 percent from the previous quarter.
Despite nagging worries about debt-crippled Europe, analysts are expecting Samsung to achieve a record-high profit in the third quarter when Galaxy S3 sales are expected to reach a peak before Apple unveils its new iPhone, anticipated in October.
"The third quarter is expected to be marginally positive as demand for consumer electronics goods, including smartphones and tablets, remains strong and a stream of new products hit the market. Supply for display panels is also expected to increase, as TV makers prepare for the year-end holiday season," Samsung said in a statement.
In a conference call, Samsung's mobile communications vice president Kim Hyun-joon said growth in global smartphone sales will not be affected by an economic slowdown. Sales of Samsung's smartphones in China increased significantly and the company expects to sustain mobile growth through expansion in emerging markets, he said.
The increase in smartphone sales, the S3 as well as the Galaxy Note, will also boost sales of Samsung's mobile processors, helping the company counter weak demand for computer memory chips, analysts said.
In the second quarter, Samsung's mobile division, which makes smartphones, personal computers and network equipment, contributed 63 percent of Samsung's entire operating profit by generating 4.2 trillion won profit.
Although the company does not release its mobile sales figures, Samsung probably outperformed competitors in the top-end smartphone market, while having a tougher time competing with Chinese brands such as ZTE and Huawei in low-end smartphones, analysts said.
Unlike Apple, which makes a limited number of smartphone models, Samsung boasts a wide range of mobile phones with various screen sizes, designs and price ranges. Industry watcher say Samsung might unveil a new version of the Galaxy Note at a German trade fair in the fall to fend off competition from Apple's new iPhone launch.
Research firm IDC said Samsung shipped 50.2 million smartphones in the April-June quarter, widening its lead over Apple. Apple, which earlier this week reported earnings that fell short of expectations, sold 26 million iPhones in the three month stretch.
The two companies, which together control around half of the world's smartphone market, are scheduled to meet on July 30 in a San Jose court for a U.S. trial on mobile patents.
An epic legal battle between the two companies started in April 2010 when Apple accused the South Korean firm of copying its iPhone and iPad designs and has expanded to about a dozen lawsuits in North America, Asia and Europe. Samsung in turn accuses Apple of violating its wireless technology patents.
Despite the legal battles, the two companies continue to have a close business relationship. Samsung is a key supplier of mobile processors for Apple's iPhone and iPad and Samsung's component divisions also make display screens and mobile chips for Apple.
Outside the mobile market, Samsung made improvements in flat-screens and TVs but semiconductor profit declined on weak global demand for personal computers.
Sources by :http://news.yahoo.com

After IBM Australia, Qantas now turn to Pull BlackBerry from Employees

BlackBerry diminishing the prestige of making some big companies pull rollicking BlackBerry Smartphone from Smartphone employees and replace them with others.

After IBM Australia which attracted about 500 of its employees BlackBerry devices and may save more than $ 1.4 million of reimbursement Smartphone for these employees, Qantas is now turn attracts more than 1,300 of its employees BlackBerry devices.

The same reasons given by Qantas. According to its Chief Information Officer, Paul Jones, by pulling the BlackBerry from its employees, Qantas could save millions of dollars each year.

Previously Qantas has also surveyed its employees and it turns out most of Qantas employees would prefer to use the iPhone than the BlackBerry. That is why the company pulled the BlackBerry from its employees and replace it with the iPhone which, according to Qantas management has an easier interface than the BlackBerry.
Source by : http://www.beritateknologi.com

Tips Change Email Settings in Facebook

Some time ago, the number one social networking world, Facebook has changed the email users using alamat@facebook.com. It was they did without pemberihauan.

Thanks to these measures, many facebooker who was troubled. Not only that, the new email delivery to mobile users rose up mess. However, it turns out you can also change the email addresses with ease. The following are the steps you have to do.

Access your Facebook timeline.

Go to About page

There, you will melinat Contact Info. There, you will see there an email with alamat@facebook.com. You can edit the address.

On the Contact Info page, you will be able to see two email addresses. You can choose to hide or display the email address in the timeline.

Unfortunately, you will not be able to delete the email from Facebook. However, you can change the name of the email as you wish. And, these changes can only be changed once.

sources by : http://www.beritateknologi.com

Ten Haram emblazoned on Facebook

Facebook, jejaring sosial terbesar di dunia, kini menjadi mesin pencarian identitas. Facebook, the world's largest social network, is now an identity search engine. Baik dari perusahaan, pengintai, maupun aparat hukum. Both of the companies, surveillance, and law enforcement agencies. Tak lupa peretas yang ingin membuat identitas palsu. Do not forget to hackers who want to create a false identity. Wahai pemilik akun di jejaring besutan Mark Zuckerberg, perhatikan 10 hal terlarang untuk muncul di Facebook. Dear owner of the account on the website made by Mark Zuckerberg, watch 10 things forbidden to appear on Facebook.
1. A. Tanggal lahir Date of birth
Mengungkap tanggal lahir itu berbahaya. Uncover the date of birth is dangerous. Sebab institusi keuangan biasanya membutuhkan informasi tanggal lahir untuk kartu kredit atau pernyataan di bank. For financial institutions usually require date of birth information for a credit card or bank statement. Membiarkan tanggal lahir terlihat, sama saja membuka pintu untuk pencurian identitas. Letting date of birth shown, the same open door to identity theft.
2. 2. Nama tengah Ibu Mother's middle name
Ingat banyak situs yang menggunakan jawaban nama tengah sebagai pertanyaan keamanan untuk mengingat kata kunci. Remember a lot of sites that use the middle name as an answer security questions to remember the key word. Waspadalah apa yang anda tulis tentang Ibu di dunia maya Beware of what you wrote about my mother in cyberspace
3.Alamat rumah 3.Alamat home
Tidak perlu membagi informasi ini dengan teman, kenalan atau mantan rekan kerja. No need to share this information with friends, acquaintances or former coworkers. Pencuri sekarang juga tahu cara menggunakan Facebook. Thieves now know how to use Facebook. Apalagi jika Anda menulis status sedang bepergian sekeluarga, sudah tinggal tunggu masa saja isi rumah dikuras si penjahat ini. Especially if you write a status're traveling as a family, it's just wait for the house just drained the contents of these criminals.
4. 4. Status pergi dari rumah dalam waktu lama Status away from home for long periods
Menulis status pergi dari rumah dalam jangka waktu lama berarti mengumbar informasi kepada dunia maya bahwa rumah Anda kosong. Write status away from home in the long term mean spit to the virtual world of information that your house is empty. Jika Anda memang harus mempublikasikan status ini, maka bisa ditambahkan bahwa ada penjaga, anjing atau alarm pencuri di rumah. If you do have to publish this status, it may be added that there is a guard, a dog or a burglar alarm at home.
5. 5. Status pergi dari rumah dalam waktu singkat Status away from home in no time
Meski cuman singkat, kalau Anda terus-terusan menulis check-in di tempat yang berada di luar rumah, pencuri tentu awas kalau kediaman Anda kosong. Cuman though brief, if you keep writing the check-in at a place outside the house, the thief would alert you when the residence is empty.
6. 6. Foto tak sopan Photo disrespectful
Anda mungkin sudah membaca bahwa ada orang yang kehilangan pekerjaan karena mereka bersikap rasis atau menampilkan foto yang tak sopan di dunia maya. You may have read that there are people who lost their jobs because they are being racist or offensive showing photos in cyberspace. Jadi jangan lakukan! So do not do it!
7. 7. Mengeluh atau marah Complaining or angry
Jangan bilang ke Facebook atau Twitter jika Anda marah kepada bos, mengaku mabuk, dan memiliki obat-obatan terlarang. Do not tell me to Facebook or Twitter if you are angry with the boss, admitted being drunk and had illegal drugs. Atau mengaku pura-pura sakit. Or malingering claims.
Screenshoot status Anda bisa jadi bukti yang membahayakan reputasi, klien dan nasib profesi. Screenshot of your status may be evidence that harm the reputation, the client and the fate of the profession. Di Singapura, bahkan remaja yang menulis status berbau rasis bisa ditangkap. In Singapore, even the teenager who wrote the racist status could be arrested. Di bawah UU Penghasutan, siapa pun yang terbukti bersalah menyebarluaskan kebencian antar ras atau kelas dalam populasi di Singapura dapat di denda 5 ribu dolar Singapura (Rp 37 juta) dan penjara maksimal tiga tahun. Under the sedition law, anyone found guilty of spreading hatred between races or classes of the population in Singapore can be fined five thousand Singapore dollars (USD 37 million) and a maximum of three years in prison.
8. 8. Nomor telepon Phone number
Memasang nomer telepon, maka dipastikan Anda akan dihubungi banyak telemarketer, pengintai dan temannya teman yang sok kenal. Installing a phone number, then certainly you will be contacted by a lot of telemarketers, scouts and friends of friends who know tomorrow.
9. 9. Status hitung mundur jelang liburan Countdown status ahead of holiday
Lebih baik menulis status setelah liburan. Better to write status after the holidays. Sebab kalau sebelum liburan beresiko diketahui penjahat yang sudah siap menguras isi rumah Anda selagi kosong. For if before the holidays are at risk are known criminals who are ready to drain the contents of your home while empty.
10. 10. Foto interior rumah Interior photo
Mengunggah foto isi rumah Anda menjadi jalan mulus pencuri untuk menilai perabot yang Anda miliki. Upload a photo of your house contents into a smooth road thieves to assess the furniture you have

sources by:http://id.berita.yahoo.com/

Are Nokia and RIM Headed for Ruin?

In an announcement falling somewhere between a suicide note and an expression of optimism for the future Finnish cell-phone has-been, Nokia (NOK) announced yesterday that it would be laying off 10,000 employees between now and the end of 2013. Obviously the negative part was the plan to lay-off nearly 20% of its existing work-force. The upside was that Nokia seems to truly believe the company will exist as a freestanding concern in 18 months.
Unwilling to see the glass as anything but half-empty, Wall Street sent NOK shares down 16% Wednesday. Nokia shareholders should be used to such pain by now, the stock is down over 50% just in 2012 and a stunning 91% since the release of Apple's (AAPL) iPhone.
Nokia's not alone in its suffering. Fellow fallen idol Research-in-Motion (RIMM) also warned recently, citing... well, let's be honest, it doesn't matter what RIMM cited. The company is in trouble and there seems little on the horizon likely to stop the decline.
The question for those inclined towards catching falling knives is whether or not NOK and RIMM have finally reached the point at which the intrinsic value of their assets exceeds the value of their shares. In other words, are either Nokia or RIMM "value buys." To explore the idea Breakout welcomed Jon Najarian, kingpin of OptionMonster.com and former RIMM shareholder.
To say Najarian is a former "shareholder" of RIMM is actually a wild overstatement. What the former options pit trader actually did was trade RIMM at the beginning of 2012, buying in the teens with the idea that the company could be a potential take over candidate in the low 20's. The stock popped, Najarian sold and RIMM has dropped like a stone ever since, falling nearly 30% in since January 1 and a mind-blowing 70% over the last year.
As Najarian would be the first to tell you, a little luck never hurts when trading. He would still consider both Nokia and RIMM as part of a "fallen angel" basket, but not in much size. Both companies have large patent portfolios, a fact that makes them compelling to would-be buyers. The problem with that as an investment thesis is that Nokia and Research in Motion seem determined to continue operations, reducing their cash flows and delaying any sale. Like boxers and and an opened can of soda, patent portfolios don't become more valuable with the passage of time.
For those inclined to play, Najarian suggests owning the common but writing call options aggressively against the position.
It's not a stirring vote of confidence but it's about as bullish a view as you're likely to hear about RIMM or NOK from anyone on Wall Street. A never-ending series of profit warnings tends to shake the confidence of even the most bullish analysts.
source by: http://finance.yahoo.com