Category Archives: Ethics
16 hackers got arrested in Quebec recently
Recently, the police department in Quebec, Canada, busted an international hacking network. 16 people that were between the ages of 17 and 26 were arrested and this was the biggest hacking scam in Canadian history according to the police. These … Continue reading
Security Review: Automated Teller Machine
Summary: Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) have been around since the late 1930s. Nowadays they can be found all over the place. The common and accepted use of these machines is to draw money from your bank account in a convenient … Continue reading
Bank teller arrested for $3.2M theft
A Romanian bank teller was arrested for illegally transferring $3.2M into two bank accounts by using his director’s password. There is no detail in the article to describe how the teller acquired the director’s password but this could have been … Continue reading
Logic Bomb Fails to Cripple Medco’s Systems
In a recent article on Computerworld, it was reported that a former system administrator of Medco planted a logic bomb which was intended to cripple the company’s network. Medco deals with prescribing drugs and various other heath services. Due to … Continue reading
Say goodbye to saying ‘Hello’
Microsoft has filed a patent application for a monitoring system that collects data such as heart rate, respiration rate, body temperature, and brain signals and interprets this into the worker’s stress, frustration and productivity levels. Microsoft claims that it will … Continue reading
MySpace is NotSafe
A recent article concerning user privacy on MySpace made it known there is a serious flaw in the social network’s security. The reported exploit of the bug allows anyone, not just MySpace account holders, to view private profiles and private … Continue reading
Define “Safe”…
An article in InformationWeek yesterday exposes the details of what McAfee’s ScanAlert product actually means by “Hacker Safe”. The ScanAlert product issues certifications that websites are safe from attack. However XSSed.com, a website dedicated to exposing Cross-Site Scripting attacks, gave … Continue reading
Mac ‘scareware’ in the wild
Security software vendor F-Secure has recently reported the first known “scareware” scam targeting Mac users. The software known as MacSweeper (www.macsweeper.com) poses as legitimate security software that “discovers” numerous fake problems and threats, which can only be solved by purchasing … Continue reading
Social Engineering Your Way Into a Dorm Room
It is shocking to learn that while the University of Washington Housing and Food Services own nine residence halls with a total capacity of nearly 5000 students, the security barring access to individual students’ rooms can be compromised with little … Continue reading
Watching an Exploit Unfold: Sex Offenders and the ESRB
This post documents an actual vulnerability exploit I recently witnessed. Details have been changed to protect the stupid. I happened to be loafing around on IRC yesterday, when an unusual opportunity to observe some pointless cybercrime in action presented itself. … Continue reading