Security

Over the last 24 hours or so, plenty of reports have been floating around stating that Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, has sided with the FBI when it comes to asking Apple to help them crack into a criminal's iPhone. This topic has sparked much debate over the last week but …

More tech firms are picking sides in the ongoing battle between Tim Cook's Apple and the FBI over cracking iPhone security for the handset of one of the San Bernardino attackers. This time around though they're siding with the FBI, with both Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft founder Bill …

The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) is said to have as many as 12 other iPhones it wants Apple to crack open once it's finished with the FBI's device that currently has all parties involved in a legal dispute. Those smartphones are said to be unrelated and are not linked with …

John McAfee is claiming that the U.S. government is so “illiterate,” when it comes to protecting the country's digital assets, that he's unsure how it can even consider itself a world power any more. This came to light during a chat about the ex-anti-virus founder's recent offer to the FBI to …

Recently, a hospital in LA was hacked, with the attackers locking up work systems and likely getting away with private information regarding patients. Now in an effort to try and protect their privacy, the hospital has given in to a $17,000 Bitcoin demand in hopes that the attackers won't do anything …

Google and WhatsApp have crossed party lines and stood by Apple and CEO Tim Cook's resistance to the FBI's demand for the tech firm to weaken its own security in order to make it easier for the law enforcement agency to hack a smartphone. Although that phone belonged to the …

A new virus has begun doing the rounds on Android smartphones here in Europe. It is called the Mazar virus and it spreads to devices via text messages but once installed, it can forward all of your web traffic through a proxy and allow attackers to get a hold of …

A 16 year old from the UK has been arrested by British police on suspicion of being behind the hack of confidential FBI files in late 2015. The young man was said to be the leader of a small collective of hackers who were responsible for the attack which stole information …

Back in 2014, Sony Pictures suffered from a massive cyber attack, which had long-lasting repercussions for the company. Now, over a full year later, some new evidence has come to light, tying the attack to a Korean malware campaign. Researchers over at Kaspersky and Alienvault Labs (via: Wired) managed to …

Earlier this week we learned that cracking group 3DM would be taking a year off to see if there would be any effect on game sales. However, many took this to mean that the group just couldn't break Denuvo protection, which is found on many new games including Just Cause …

If you haven't heard of Denuvo, you're probably a law abiding game purchaser and deserve to pat yourself on the back – as long as you aren't pre-ordering too many titles. If you have though, you'll no doubt be aware of how frustrating it's proved for various piracy groups as …

The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) of Parliament, a previously rather quite organisation has stepped out of the shadows to lambaste the British government over its proposed Investigatory Powers Bill, often termed the Snooper's Charter. It claims that the bill “lacks clarity,” and wants to see privacy protections, “form the …

While a smart home was once thought the preserve of the uber rich today with wireless apps and plug-in security systems, anyone can have a connected household. All you need is something like the Smanos X300 Plug and Play Alarm system, which bundles a motion sensor, door sensor and a …

The official forums for Day Z have been hacked, with email addresses, usernames and passwords for all accounts made vulnerable. As a security measure the forums have now been closed while the flaw is fixed, and all users are being encouraged to change their security information anywhere else where it was …

Despite David Cameron and Theresa May calling for a better insight into the websites we visit with the potentially fast tracked Investigatory Powers Bill, a committee of politicians has warned that it lacks clarity, not defining key points. It warned that if the tech-firms that must be complicit in the …

While it is common knowledge at this point that Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion, the company hasn't actually done much with the messenger app until recently. Just last week it was announced that WhatsApp would no longer require a yearly subscription and now, it seems that the app is …

Microsoft is finally going to start hiding user IP addresses by default on Skype. It has been known for years now that there is an exploit within Skype that allows you to obtain an IP address, which can then be used to launch a DDOS attack on someone and while …

Amid all the arguments about encryption ongoing in the press and government right now, it's easy to forget that it's something that GCHQ and other intelligence agencies have been railing against for some time. I turns out that in 2010, it helped to reject a smartphone encryption standard that would …

As much as you have to applaud anyone for taking digital security seriously enough to attend a conference about it, you have to wonder how much they're taking in when they willingly give away their Twitter passwords. As part of a promotional move (and perhaps as a measure of attendee …

Brendan Eich, one of the co-founders of the original Mozilla Foundation and the creator of the JavaScript language, has announced a new venture: Brave Software. The new company has developed an alternative browser based around Google's Chrome, that Eich claims can run far faster than other options and also offers …

Following its ending of the EU-U.S. Safe Harbour data exchange scheme last year, the European Union is demanding tighter controls and protections on how America requests information from EU companies. If those assurances aren't received soon, it may start taking enforcement actions against various firms. Safe Harbour previously gave U.S. companies the …

In an effort to help obscure its communications from the many worldwide intelligence agencies trying to hunt them down, members of terrorist group Daesh now have their own encrypted chat application. This follows members of the organisations being kicked off of the likes of WhatsApp, Telegram and other platforms. Governments …

If you access Facebook messenger, Twitter DMs, Skype or any other messaging service during work hours, be careful, as there is now legal precedent for your boss to look over your shoulder. In a landmark ruling that could have serious repercussions for in-work privacy, the European Court of Human Rights has …

In yet another instance of top intelligence officials in U.S. agencies having their personal details revealed to the world, director of national intelligence, James Clapper has had his phone hacked, with calls redirected to the Free Palestine Movement. Those involved also purportedly accessed his wife's personal email account too. “We …

Independent public data rights authority, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), has attacked plans by the government to push through the Investigatory Powers Bill, often called the Snooper's Charter. It claims that there is little justification for some of the measures it wishes to push through and claims that it weakens …

The recent power outages in Ukraine which saw upwards of 80,000 people left without electricity, are now said to have been caused by hackers. The BlackEnergy malware is thought to have been used in the attack, with a coordinated effort made to shut down the power, hinder its repair and …

Edward Snowden has made an appearance at this year's Consumer Electronics Show. Not, as you might expect, in person, but on a display with its own locomotion, looking rather like the meeting room in Demolition Man. The technology was really important, Snowden said, because it allowed him to talk at …

Last year saw the launch of the Blackphone, a smartphone designed and built for the super security/privacy conscious. However, even a device built to be secure can run into problems as independent researchers revealed that the device had a pretty severe vulnerability that could allow hackers to send and receive …

The second largest TV and broadband provider in the U.S., Time Warner Cable, has released a statement saying that around a third of a million of its customers may have had their email and passwords copied away by hackers. At this early stage in the investigation however, it was keen …

Although stopping game-pirates has seen developers get creative with their methods, it often seems about as futile as copyright protections on movies and music. That may not be the case for much longer though, as a Chinese cracking group has warned that if DRM protections continue to increase in complexity, …