Hackers

More and more hackers are targeting the same application vulnerabilities on Macs and Windows PCs as a way to reap the financial benefits of writing cross-platform malware.

The trend involves exploiting vulnerabilities that go as far back as 2009 in Office documents. Other cross-platform, third-party technologies favored by hackers include Java, Adobe PDF and Adobe Flash, Microsoft security researcher Methusela Cebrian Ferrer said Tuesday in the company's Malware Protection Center blog.

It is possible for an adversary or a group of hackers to cripple India's power grids through a cyber-attack, although this is an unlikely reason for the recent power outages that crippled much of north, east and north-eastern India.

Since the first power trip up on Monday, there have been discussions within the security establishment about the possibility of entities trying to carry out a sophisticated cyber-attack to cripple the grids.

A hacker who disabled the website of a New Zealand company dedicated to helping feed poor children could face legal consequences in his home country of Spain after his attack spurred a Facebook/Twitter posse and incurred the wrath of members of Anonymous, who he may have been trying to impress.

Dave & Buster's store #32 in Islandia, New York—a restaurant and electronic funhouse for adults—seemed an unlikely target for an international credit card theft ring. Certainly no patron drinking beer and shooting miniature basketballs into a miniature hoop expected their credit card data to end up inside an encrypted Latvian server, waiting to be sold off to international criminals who would ring up more than $600,000 in charges on the cards. But that was because no patron knew anything about the Estonian hacker Aleksandr "JonnyHell" Suvorov.

Philippine police have arrested eight South Koreans who allegedly hacked into one of the country's biggest telecommunications companies to lower the cost of international cellphone calls for other Koreans in the Philippines.

Police Cyber Crime Division chief Gilbert Sosa said the hackers were rounded up Monday in four raids around metropolitan Manila along with seven Filipino women working for them.

"For the 20th anniversary of Def Con the gift is China," Recurity Labs chief Felix "FX" Lindner said as he opened his presentation.

"Nobody needs a back door; this is plausible deniability," he quipped as he detailed weaknesses in three small Huawei routers that could be exploited using basic hacking techniques. "You get what you pay for. Sorry."

Security flaws have been identified in some chip and PIN terminals, which is suggested allows thieves to download a customer’s personal card details.

As a result, it is claimed that thousands of terminals, commonly found in shops and restaurants, will now have to re-programmed.

Wanted: 12 programmers to live on a remote tropical island for two months to do nothing but write code. Applicants are being sought for the coding jamboree that will take place on an as yet un-named island.

Those applying will have to submit a proposal explaining what they will work on during the hackathon. They will also have to complete a psychological evaluation to show they can live in harmony with other coders for the duration of the event.

 Hackers who spent their teen years phone-phreaking -- breaking into telephone networks and making free calls -- have created their own GSM network at Defcon and are using creative and silly apps on highly customized Android phones.

A cell phone battery spontaneously caught fire today, burned through a Defcon attendee's back pants pocket, and fell on the floor, creating burn spots on a carpet and leaving a burn-hole in the attendee's chair.

The man, who asked not to be identified, was not harmed but his trousers were ruined. He told CNET that he was sitting in a session at Defcon around 11:30 a.m. PT when he started to smell something burning and felt some heat underneath him on his seat. He stood up to find that his back left pocket was on fire.