Beto O’Rourke could be the first hacker president

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke has revealed he was a member of a notorious decades-old hacking group. The former congressman was a member of the Texas-based hacker group, the Cult of the Dead Cow, known for inspiring early hacktivism in the internet age and building exploits and hacks for Microsoft Windows. The group used the […]

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‘Psychedelic Warlord’ Beto O’Rourke belonged to a legendary hacking crew

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I guess he wouldn’t have to ask the Russians to do it for him. 

Beto O’Rourke — yes, the same skateboard-riding, baby faced, recently declared presidential candidate who narrowly lost a senate campaign to Ted Cruz — just added another cool notch to his Gen X-cred belt. According to a forthcoming book by Joseph Menn, and as he reported in Reuters, the three-term congressman once belonged to the legendary hacking crew known as the Cult of the Dead Cow

That’s right, Beto was in a hacker group. In the 1980s. But before you accuse the periodontal exhibitionist of some nefarious plot to infect Grandma’s machine with adware or hack an election, it’s worth reading Menn’s fine print. Basically, O’Rourke was a teenager, and his relationship to the group mostly involved pirated games and conversations on message boards.  Read more…

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View More ‘Psychedelic Warlord’ Beto O’Rourke belonged to a legendary hacking crew

Flawed visitor check-in systems let anyone steal guest logs and sneak into buildings

Security researchers at IBM have found, reported and disclosed 19 vulnerabilities in five popular visitor management systems, which they say can be used to steal data on visitors — or even sneak into sensitive and off-limit areas of office buildings. You’ve probably seen one of these visitor check-in systems before: they’re often found in lobbies […]

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You can buy used Cellebrite iPhone hacking tools for cheap on eBay

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Hacking a smartphone just got a whole lot cheaper. 

A tool once favored by law enforcement for pulling data off locked phones is now available to the general public. We can’t imagine the Israel-based company behind the Cellebrite hacking device is all that pleased with its newly expanded customer base, but here we are. There’s not much it can do about it at the moment, as the sales are taking place on eBay — where a quick search shows numerous used models listed for prices as low as $50. 

According to Forbes, which first reported the news, a brand new Cellebrite device will set law enforcement back around $6,000. Things are quite a bit cheaper on the online auction site, where one seller has what appear to be 10 used models for sale ranging in price between $50 to $70.  Read more…

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DOJ charges former US Air Force officer with spying for Iran

Prosecutors have brought charges against a former Air Force officer for allegedly spying for Iran, the Justice Department confirmed Wednesday. Monica Witt, a former Air Force counter-intelligence officer, is accused of defecting to Iran in 2013, after leaving the military in 2008 after more than a decade’s service and later working as a defense contractor. […]

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First hacker convicted for SIM swapping gets 10 years in prison for stealing millions

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A college student is facing 10 years in prison for stealing millions in cryptocurrency using a method called “SIM swapping.”

According to Motherboard, 20-year-old Joel Ortiz of Boston accepted a plea deal for stealing more than $5 million in cryptocurrency from around 40 victims. Ortiz plead guilty to the crime and was sentenced to 10 years in prison as part of his plea deal. 

Ortiz was able to steal the cryptocurrency through a hacking method known as SIM swapping. Krebs on Security has frequently reported on the rise of SIM swapping throughout the past few months.

Over the last year, a number of brazen SIM hijackers have been arrested, such as 21-year old Nicholas Truglia who allegedly stole a million dollars in cryptocurrency. However, authorities say Ortiz is the first person to be convicted of a crime involving SIM swapping. Read more…

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The huge ‘Collection #1’ data breach is only a small part of much larger hacker dataset

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I guess they wouldn’t have numbered it if it was the only one. 

On Jan. 16, security research Troy Hunt uploaded a massive cache of leaked emails and passwords to his invaluable website have i been pwned. The 87GB dataset, dubbed “Collection #1,” was admittedly years old, and had been passed around by hackers for some time now. Still, the sheer scale of it — containing over 772 million email addresses — turned heads. Hold onto your digital butts, because as Krebs on Security reports, you ain’t seen nothing yet. 

According to Krebs, the Collection #1 data breach is, unsurprisingly, part of a much larger collection of stolen online credentials being sold online. And, taken as a whole, it dwarfs Collection #1’s size.  Read more…

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View More The huge ‘Collection #1’ data breach is only a small part of much larger hacker dataset

Fortnite bugs put accounts at risk of takeover

With one click, any semi-skilled hacker could have silently taken over a Fortnite account, according to a cybersecurity firm who says the bug is now fixed. Researchers at Check Point say the three vulnerabilities chained together could have affected any of its 200 million players. The flaws, if exploited, would have stolen the account access token […]

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Some of the biggest web hosting sites were vulnerable to simple account takeover hacks

A security researcher has found, reported, and now disclosed a dozen bugs that made it easy to steal sensitive information or take over any customer’s account from some of the largest web hosting companies on the internet. In some cases, clicking on a simple link would have been enough for Paulos Yibelo, a well-known and respected bug […]

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Of course Angela Merkel’s hacker was a 20-year-old student who lives with his parents

Just when cyber-espionage was doing so much to turn the image of lone hoodie-wearing hackers around!
German authorities have discovered the identity of the hacker that breached the accounts of hundreds of politicians, including Chancellor Angela Merk…

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NASA announces its servers were hacked

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NASA announced that its servers were hacked back in October. Although the agency claims this will not jeopardize any missions, current and former employees might have had some super personal information stolen. Like social security numbers. NASA says it’s working with “federal cybersecurity partners” to assess the damage. Read more…

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