Safety Security & Privacy

The tangled David Petraeus scandal highlights how easily the U.S. government can access citizens’ private e-mails. The FBI’s request to access Paula Broadwell’s personal Gmail account was one of 7,969 similar requests Google received from the U.S. government in the first half of 2012, according to Google and news reports. The company said it complied Continue Reading →

  The President has asked Americans all across the country to come together as a nation to help fellow citizens recover in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. As the community steps up, so do the scammers. In the devastating wake of Sandy, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a new warning for all investors Continue Reading →

A computer virus known as “Stuxnet” was released into the wild in 2010 and crippled Iran’s nuclear program. The sophisticated attack, which has been described as the atom bomb of cyberwarfare, is widely believed to have been the result of a joint project from Israel and the United States. This is just one of several Continue Reading →

While serial self-publicist Kim Dotcom was re-igniting the submarine cable debate in New Zealand, the Electronic Frontiers Foundation’s (EFF’s) case trying to recover files on behalf of a former Megaupload user Kyle Goodwin took a new twist. The EFF has been in court trying to gain access to the servers seized by the Feds last year, Continue Reading →

Hackers appear to have apparently infiltrated and defaced several NBC Web sites, including the page for “Saturday Night Live.” The page’s usual content was replaced with a message that the site had been hacked by “pyknik” and scrolling text with the nursery rhyme “Remember, Remember The Fifth of November Gunpowder and Treason Plot.” The message also Continue Reading →

If you’ve filed tax returns in South Carolina sometime since 1998, you might be in a little bit of hot water. An unidentified, foreign hacker has gotten into the state’s Department of Revenue, pilfering around 3.6 million social security numbers, and 387,000 credit and debit card numbers. In other words, no small haul. It’s a Continue Reading →

Barnes and Noble just posted a notice informing customers that PIN pads 63 stores across the country have been tampered with. The compromised PIN pads could have recorded your PIN number. Not good. If you’ve shopped at a brick and mortar Barnes and Noble over the last couple of months, keep a closer watch on Continue Reading →

Pinterest members have long been asking for an option to block other users on the social network. The Block User suggestion is third most popular feature request on the site right now. Pinterest confirmed a long time ago that it’s coming, and today you access it yourself, with a quick hack. On a Pinterest support Continue Reading →

iTwin made some waves back in 2009 when it revealed its $99 namesake computer-connecting USB dongles at TC50, and the team has been working on ways to extend the thing’s functionality ever since. Now, the company is ready to show off the fruits of its labor with a new feature called SecureBox for the security Continue Reading →

Residents and city workers in Burlington, Wash., have been told to check their accounts after $400,000 was stolen from a city bank account. City officials believe that the security breach resulted from the infiltration of a government account used to pay workers in the town, which is about 65 miles north of Seattle. Although the Continue Reading →