Security

In the battleground for the internet, armies lob digital shells at each other almost as often as the masses sling insults, as it looks like millions of US government worker details may have been stolen by a foreign party. While an investigation is ongoing, China is the earliest named potential …

Collecting data on your customers in order to sell to advertisers is a bad idea according to CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, who took a moment during the annual Champions of Freedom dinner, hosted by public interest research group, the Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC), to criticise his technological competitors. …

One of the biggest back and forth struggles of the Kim Dotcom legal saga, was that the US wanted access to his decryption keys so that it could look into the data held on his personal systems, which were seized as part of the raid on his New Zealand mansion …

Whoever said talking too much was a bad thing? Thanks to unending debates, filibusters and a growing unease at the US government's willingness to spy on its own citizens, the clause within the Patriot Act that allowed the NSA to record every phone call made by a member of the …

Even if the US' attorney general might be spending plenty of time attacking the idea of encrypting the public's information, the United Nation's Office of the High Commissioner sees things differently. In a new report released Thursday, it stated that encryption was “necessary for the exercise of the right to freedom,” …

Despite the British Parliamentary Office urging against it, prime minister David Cameron has repeatedly attacked the idea of being able to hide what you're saying from the government, but he's not the only one. The Obama administration in the US is also spinning up its fear mongering wheel when it …

When the Megaupload domain names were seized back in January 2012, they were some of the most visited on the internet, with the site's promotional material suggesting as many as 50 million people a day used them and their services. However those days are long gone, but that doesn't mean …

If you have a SMITE account, changing your password as a precaution may not be a bad plan, as we've had a few reports from readers that their accounts have been hijacked, and they're far from the only ones. According to a number of gamers, their emails and user logins …

Google has been doing some research in to just how effective security questions are. The results were published this week, showing that apparently, account security questions aren't that secure and in some cases could be guessed by attackers in ten guesses or less. Additionally, if you use a fake answer …

One of Lizard Squad's members, a 17 year old teen from Canada, has appeared in court and pleaded guilty to 23 charges relating to online abuse. He was charged with counts of extortion, criminal harassment and public mischief. Since the boy is only 17, he can't be named publicly but …

Section 215 of the United States Patriot Act is set to expire on the 1st of June, potentially killing off a lot of the NSA and other US based intelligence forces' abilities to spy on individuals without going through official channels. That's something that a  lot of US law-makers don't …

Digital security expert, Chris Roberts, was previously banned from a United Airlines flight after he tweeted that he could potentially release the air-masks after hacking into the plane's onboard network. Now however, he may be in even hotter water, as the FBI is said to be investigating his claims, though whether …

It looks like two mods for Grand Theft Auto V have malware rooted in them. If you have been using either the ‘No Clip' or the ‘Angry Planes' modifications, then you may want to remove them and run a virus scan as both were found to have keyloggers within them. The …

Some hackers have gone ahead and cooked up Breaking Bad themed ransomware, which is currently affected a few people over in Australia. The new malware, which encrypts a PC's images, videos and documents, was recently discovered by Symantec. The ransomware is named Trojan.Cryptolocker.S. Once a user is affected, their files …

Facebook is opening up its free Internet.org platform to developers, allowing them to create services to be delivered through the social network's curated and stripped down version of the internet. However, the platform is set to face yet another round of heavy criticism, as it seemingly neglects user security and …

Even though pirating many pieces of software, movies and games is incredibly easy for those with a bit of technical know-how, its the long term upkeep that can be difficult. Official updates aren't likely to work and worse yet, they get complacent, which is where the likes of Microsoft can …

Kaspersky has been on a tear in recent months, making headlines all over the world for its efforts in aiding those hit by ransomware and pointing out the NSA's continued technological oversteps. It's not stopping there though and has today broken down a new digital infection known as CozyDuke, CozyBear or …

Grand Theft Auto V has been out for a week now on the PC but it hasn't been without issues. Last week it was reported that Rockstar's Social Club service, which is the hub for GTA V and its multiplayer, may have been hacked with many claiming that their accounts …

PayPal has recently discussed a number of biometric security solutions that could well be used in order to slowly kill off the traditional password. While we are used to the idea of fingerprint sensors and the possibility of iris scanners in the future, PayPal has a couple of strange ideas. …

Tweets have been getting people in trouble for a while now, whether they were intended as jokes, or legitimate statements, but often it's because of perceived ‘offence.' Not in this instance however, where digital security expert and founder of One World Labs, Chris Roberts, was barred from a United Airlines …

Mojang has finally patched out a two-year old security bug that would allow people with the know-how to crash Minecraft servers by forcing them out of memory or causing them to freeze. The patch came in response to a blog post written by coder, Ammar Asker. The coder outlined a …

Hackers with enough technical know how could break into the flight controls of a plane using the on board WiFi, according to the US Government Accountability Office. It claims to have identified a significant danger in the use of in-flight WiFi that could make it possible for the plane to be …

We're receiving reports from some readers that their Rockstar Social Club accounts appear to have been compromised and taken over by nefarious individuals. While we all love to point the finger at user error in such instances, we've also been sent a link to a pastebin posting containing over 200 …

Ransomware, perhaps the most malicious malware ever released doesn't target your bank details, or your office network. No, ransomware targets your work documents themselves and your personal photos, anything on your system that could be valuable, and encrypts them. It then demands payment by a certain date, or those files will …

When companies as big and as technologically proficient as Sony get hacked, like it was last year, many people wonder just how exactly that could happen. Surely it knows how to protect itself? Well of course certain parts of it do, but firms like Sony are enormous, with many thousands of …

You probably know by now that the biggest tech companies in the US are currently battling it out with the NSA over data encryption and what the US government should be allowed to access. Since back door access to customer data is clearly out of the question following the Snowden …

China has had a firm grasp on its country's internet for decades, with researchers in the 90's terming its mix of legislation and technological censorship, “The Great Firewall.” On a more aggressive front, it's maintained divisions of the military exclusively for hacking for years now but it may have recently given birth to …

One of the biggest revelations in tech in recent years, was that the United States' intelligence agency, the NSA, has spent a lot of time, money and energy recording and storing the digital communications of Americans and foreigners, regardless of criminal activity or intent. This was huge, but it turns …

The last year has revealed a lot of stories of nefarious hacking, with a good number of them seemingly sponsored by one nation or another. More often than not too, those actions – like the one against Sony – target US facilities and companies, which is why, despite its own efforts …

The collaborative programming site GitHub has been hit by a sustained denial of service attack over the weekend, with suggestions that China may be behind it. While not entirely clear, it's thought that the reasoning may be to shut down projects designed to circumvent Chinese censorship tools. At last count …