Hackers

Anonymous hackers have published more than 1.7 gigabytes’ worth of documents allegedly stolen from Azerbaijan’s Special State Protection Service (dmx.gov.az) on Par:AnoIA, a site belonging to the Anonymous Intelligence Agency.

The information leaked by the hacktivists doesn’t belong only to the Special State Protection Service, but also to other organizations linked to it, including ING Geneva, Sumato Energy, BNP Paribas, Taurus Petroleum and even security solutions provider Prolexic.

HP TippingPoint, the long-time organiser of the annual Pwn2Own hacking contest, announced on Friday that it will offer cash awards exceeding half a million dollars for this year’s competition, more than five times the amount paid out last year.

The 2013 edition of the contest will offer $560,000 in potential prize money to hackers who demonstrate exploits of previously unknown vulnerabilities in Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer (IE), Safari, or the Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash or Oracle Java browser plug-ins.

In what is being called a new hunt for Red October, a Russian cyber-security company says it has discovered a major international malware system that has attacked and compromised the computers of government agencies, diplomatic consulates, research centers and defense installations, among other sensitive institutions.

Hackers behind the long-running espionage campaign dubbed Red October were also using an old Java exploit to capture targets from government agencies and embassies.

Earlier this week Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab announced the discovery of a targeted malware campaign aimed at high-profile diplomatic, military and government targets across 39 nations. The victims were primarily in Eastern Europe, however individuals in Western Europe and North America were also targeted.

L33tdawg: I recently picked up Design for Hackers and it's an excellent read. Highly recommended.

With the launch of Windows 8 in late 2012, there has been strong focus on safety, both from Microsoft's own ranks and from external security experts. Recent tests show that Windows 8 lets 15 out of the 100 most common malware samples get through, even though Microsoft's own antivirus software is enabled. This is too risky, says security expert Janus R. Nielsen from MYSecurityCenter. He believes that Windows 8 may be one of the hacker's favourite targets in 2013.

The computer hacker group Anonymous hacked into MIT's webpage Sunday after RSS co-founder's suicide. Hayley Tsukayama from Washington Post writes about the group's messages rallying for the repair of intellectual property laws.

Hackers from Anonymous on Sunday claimed credit for posting messages to Massachusetts Institute of Technology websites commemorating the life of RSS co-founder Aaron Swartz and calling for an overhaul of computer crime laws.

The Federal Aviation Administration is in the midst of upgrading its air traffic control system at a cost of tens of billions of dollars. A big price might not fix an even bigger problem, though, as hackers suggest that system could be compromised.

Hackers recently defaced the Web site of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the president of Indonesia.

"The website is now back to normal but those responsible have posted an image of the defacement here," notes The Register's Phil Muncaster. "The image indicates that a hacker dubbed MJL007 from a group known as the Jember Hacker Team was responsible for the incident. The only message reads: 'This is a PayBack From Jember Hacker Team.'"

Web entrepreneur and political activist Aaron Swartz, who made headlines in 2011 when he was charged with hacking into MIT’s network and mass downloading millions of documents from a subscription-based archive, took his life in Brooklyn Friday, according to a statement from his family and partner.

Swartz, 26, hanged himself in his Brooklyn apartment Friday, according to the statement and the New York Medical ­Examiner’s Office.