The latest big news is that on February 6th the Kaspersky Customer Records database was hacked through a simple SQL injection flaw on the website. The hacker claimed it was possible to expose all customer data including users, activation codes, lists of bugs, admins, shot and so on. The anonymous hacker hasn’t actually posted any of the data, but has listed the database tables exposed here.

Later Kaspersky has stated that no data was actually exposed, apparently there was a flaw to do with data validation and perhaps only the database table names were exposed - not the data within.

So far though it’s all speculation unless the hacker releases the actual data and Kaspersky comfirms it there’s no way we can know what has actually transpired.

Anti-virus vendor Kaspersky Lab denies any data was stolen during a SQL injection attack launched Feb. 6. Well-known database security expert David Litchfield of NGSSoftware is doing a third-party review for Kaspersky.

Officials at anti-virus vendor Kaspersky Lab are adamant that no data was stolen during a hack of its U.S. support site over the weekend.

According to Kaspersky Lab, on Feb. 6, a hacker exploited a flaw on the Web site to launch a SQL injection attack. After Kaspersky officials received word of the breach Feb. 7, they took down the vulnerable site and replaced it.

The security company maintained in a press conference Feb. 9 that no data had been leaked. However, the anonymous hacker behind the attack publicized table names purportedly taken from a Kaspersky database the hacker accessed.

Kaspersky has already commissioned a 3rd party audit from well-known specialist in Database Security, David Litchfield the principal consultant with NGS Software.

I wonder if Mr. Litchfield will publish his findings publicly or they will be vetted through Kaspersky first, I’d imagine the latter - which again means we might never know the true extent of the vulnerability.

According to the company, the problem was due to the site not properly validating user input. Roel Schouwenberg, senior anti-virus researcher at Kaspersky, confirmed that the names of the tables are accurate. However, having the names of the tables does not mean the hacker actually accessed them, he noted.

Schouwenberg added that no credit card data was stored on the server targeted by the hacker, though there were product activation codes and 2,500 e-mail addresses for people who signed up for a product trial.

“This shouldn’t have happened,” Schouwenberg said, adding he was worried about the impact the hack would have on Kaspersky’s reputation.

The vulnerable code the hacker took advantage of to launch the attack was developed externally and did not go through Kaspersky’s normal code review process, Schouwenberg said.

It shouldn’t have happened? What insight these people have!

They are blaming the vulnerability on code developed externally, and it seems that from the story it’s limited data to do with some kind of software trial. It’s not the full customer records database.

Still I think we need to wait a little longer to get a clearer picture of what is going on, either way it looks like this might be an interesting story for us to follow.

[Source: Darknet ]

Read more on this article...

So the latest news with the Gary McKinnon case that was he was trying to fight against Extradition, he started off with Appeals against US Extradition, then he Won The Right to Lords Appeal Extradition Hearing and then he lost the Lords case then went for the European Court.

Sadly it seems he lost his appeal in the European Court of Human Rights and he is to face immediate extradition and trial in the US possibly still under charges of terrorism, which is ridiculous.

The British hacker facing extradition to the US for breaking into the computer systems of the Pentagon and NASA has lost his appeal with the European Court of Human Rights.

Gary McKinnon (42) was hoping to be tried in the UK where the alleged offences took place. The Glaswegian now faces immediate extradition for trial.

McKinnon lost an appeal in the House of Lords last month and applied to the European court for temporary relief on August 12. After yesterday’s verdict, that relief will no longer apply.

So the decision is out finally, after temporary relief until August 28th he was safe in the UK but now extradition has been granted he will be heading to the US.

I hope they don’t try and make an example of him because he doesn’t wish to comply with their wishes, apparently he has Asperger’s too (a form of autism).

He has previously declined a deal with the US authorities in which he would receive a shorter sentence in return for a guilty appeal. He now faces up to 60 years in prison although the sentence is likely to be much shorter.

McKinnon’s lawyers are now appealing to the home secretary to allow their client to be tried in the UK as he has recently been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome.

McKinnon denies his activities were a threat to US security and claims he was then motivated by a belief that the computer systems contained information about UFOs that was being concealed from the public.

I really wonder what kind of sentence he will get, he surely won’t get the full 60 years terrorism sentence but still they could be harsh with him.

If I had to make a conservative guess I’d say 3-5 years in the clink, up to a maximum of about 7.

Source: Tech Radar Read more on this article...

A US-based prescription processing and benefits firm has taken the unusual step of offering a $1m bounty for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of an unknown group which targeted it in a cyber-extortion scam.

Express Scripts went public last week with news that it received personal details on 75 end users including, in some cases, prescription data. Blackmailers threatened to expose millions of records they claimed were in their possession unless the firm paid up.

The cyber-extortionists responded to a refusal to pay up by moving onto the customers of Express Scripts with similar threats, sent in letters to these various organisations. Express Scripts responded on Tuesday by upping the ante and offering a $1m reward for information that put the unidentified miscreants behind bars

Also in situations like this you have to bear in mind the terms and conditions, the reward actually requires that legal action be taken against the criminals and not just their identity known.

Imagine if they are in a country that has no extradition laws or doesn’t have good relations with the US.

In a related move, Express Scripts offered identity restoration services to anyone who becomes a victim of identity theft as a result of its security breach. It has set up a website to provide information to its members - insurance carriers, employers, unions and the like who run health benefit plans - to provide support at esisupports.com. It has also has hired risk consulting firm Kroll to help its members.

The cause of the breach that led to the data leak and the extent of the compromise are still under investigation. Beyond saying it “deploys a variety of security systems designed to protect their members’ personal information from unauthorized access”, Express Scripts (which handles a reported 50 million prescriptions a year) has said little about the breach or how it intends to prevent a repetition.

As well as posting a reward, Express Scripts has called in the FBI in its attempts to bring the blackmailers threatening its business to book. Anyone with information on that threats is advised to contact the FBI on 800-CALL-FBI. ®

It’s interesting that the whole issue of how the data integrity was comprised and what happened exactly to expose the customer details.

Perhaps the whole thing is a PR management exercise to divert attention away from the real issues, they may have issued the reward in safe knowledge the people involved will never be served justice.

But then that’s just me being a skeptic.
Read more on this article...

Another teen hacker in the news, this guy looks like he has some formidable skills though with the list of crimes he’s perpetrated.

He’s pleaded guilty though, so he should get a reduced sentence and he’s still classified as a juvenile offender being only 17 - so that works in his favour too.

A juvenile hacker with a reputation for stirring up trouble in online gaming groups has admitted to multiple computer felonies, including cyber attacks that overwhelmed his victims with massive amounts of data and the placing of hoax emergency phone calls that elicited visits by heavily armed police teams.

Known by the online handle of Dshocker, the 17-year-old Massachusetts hacker also admitted he breached multiple corporate computer systems, called in bomb threats and engaged in credit card fraud. The defendant, who was identified only by the initials N.H., pleaded guilty to charges in court documents that included one count each of computer fraud and interstate threats and four counts of wire fraud.

Dshocker is best known in hacker and gaming circles as the miscreant said to have perpetrated a series of attacks on members of myg0t, an online confederation dedicated to cheating and disrupting play in online games such as Counter Strike. He also unleashed attacks on other well-known hackers, according to online accounts.

It seems like he’s mixed up in some pretty dodgy online communities and has quite a number of people who have grudges against him.

I think he stepped off the mark a bit when he got engaged in credit card fraud - that’s a really dangerous business and serious if you get caught (which he has unfortunately for him).

To fool police, Dshocker spoofed his phone number so it appeared to originate from a victim who was located thousands of miles away. He obtained the victims’ numbers and addresses by breaking into the computer systems of their internet service providers and accessing subscriber records. Charter Communications, Road Runner, and Comcast are among the ISPs he broke into.

One call falsely reporting a violent crime in progress was made in March to the police department in Seattle. Another in April was made to police in Roswell, Georgia. Both calls originated from a phone located in Dshocker’s home town of Worcester, Massachusetts. He also phoned in a false bomb threat at one school and the presence of an armed gunman at another.

Dshocker didn’t limit his illegal hacking to settling grudges with fellow gamers. From 2005 to earlier this year, he used stolen credit card information to make fraudulent purchases. He also managed to gain free internet access by stealing proprietary software from a large, unnamed electronics company and then using it to modify his cable modem.

He was involved with phone number spoofing too and prank calls about bombs and gunmen. He was also perpetrating all these crimes over free Internet which he’d jacked by stealing the cable modem software.

Apparently he’ll get 11-month sentence of juvenile detention, which could have been 10 years if he was tried as an adult.
Read more on this article...