Cyber Security

A Congressional survey of utility companies has revealed that the country’s electric grid faces constant assault from hackers, with one power company reporting a whopping 10,000 attempted cyberattacks per month. US Reps. Edward Markey (D-MA) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) sent 15 questions to more than 150 utilities and received replies from 112 of them. Only Continue Reading →

Twitter has announced that it is finally rolling out two-step authentication for accounts, a much-needed security feature that comes after several months of high-profile Twitter account hacks. This feature can be enabled in the Twitter settings menu for any account that has both a confirmed email address and a verified phone number. Once activated, you’ll Continue Reading →

If you think the private messages you send over Skype are protected by end-to-end encryption, think again. The Microsoft-owned service regularly scans message contents for signs of fraud, and company managers may log the results indefinitely, Ars has confirmed. And this can only happen if Microsoft can convert the messages into human-readable form at will. Continue Reading →

Just after noon on April 23, the Associated Press put out a tweet: “Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barak Obama is injured,” causing the Dow to plummet 150 points and traders to panic. AP quickly notified its following that their Twitter feed had been hacked. Taking claim was the Syrian Electronic Army, Continue Reading →

Apple receives so many police demands to decrypt seized iPhones that it has created a “waiting list” to handle the deluge of requests, CNET has learned. Court documents show that federal agents were so stymied by the encrypted iPhone 4S of a Kentucky man accused of distributing crack cocaine that they turned to Apple for Continue Reading →

The sophistication of a global network of thieves who drained cash machines around the globe of an astonishing $45 million in mere hours sent ripples through the security world, not merely for the size of the operation and ease with which it was carried out, but also for the threat that more such thefts may Continue Reading →

The U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI believe they don’t need a search warrant to review Americans’ e-mails, Facebook chats, Twitter direct messages, and other private files, internal documents reveal.  Government documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union and provided to CNET show a split over electronic privacy rights within the Obama administration, Continue Reading →

The internet in Syria appears to have returned after a nationwide blackout knocked the country offline for more than 19 hours.  Monitoring company Renesys noted signs of activity at around 14:30 GMT (17:30 local time) on Wednesday.  Local state-run media had reported earlier that a “fault in optical fibre cables” was to blame for the Continue Reading →

Kazaa. LimeWire. Napster. There are hardly any widely used filesharing sites that didn’t try to “go legit” at some point after being dinged for facilitating piracy. It doesn’t usually work. Napster, for example, no longer exists; it was nearly bought by a porn company before it was acquired by Roxio and then sold to Best Continue Reading →

If you’re looking for some serious control over your family’s Wi-Fi use and home network, a Palo-Alto, Calif., company has developed a new cloud-based solution. PowerCloud Systems’ Skydog Wi-Fi router and mobile companion site lets parents monitor Internet access and even receive text notifications for certain network activity. The system works by signing up with Continue Reading →