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Security

John McAfee claims U.S. knows nothing about cybersecurity

John McAfee is claiming that the U.S. government is so “illiterate,” when it comes to protecting the country's digital assets, that he's unsure how it can even consider itself a world power any more. This came to light during a chat about the ex-anti-virus founder's recent offer to the FBI to …

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LA hospital pays Bitcoin ransom to hackers

Recently, a hospital in LA was hacked, with the attackers locking up work systems and likely getting away with private information regarding patients. Now in an effort to try and protect their privacy, the hospital has given in to a $17,000 Bitcoin demand in hopes that the attackers won't do anything …

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New Android SMS malware surfaces

A new virus has begun doing the rounds on Android smartphones here in Europe. It is called the Mazar virus and it spreads to devices via text messages but once installed, it can forward all of your web traffic through a proxy and allow attackers to get a hold of …

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UK teen arrested on suspicion of hacking the FBI

A 16 year old from the UK has been arrested by British police on suspicion of being behind the hack of confidential FBI files in late 2015. The young man was said to be the leader of a small collective of hackers who were responsible for the attack which stole information …

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New evidence points to North Korea being behind Sony 2014 hack

Back in 2014, Sony Pictures suffered from a massive cyber attack, which had long-lasting repercussions for the company. Now, over a full year later, some new evidence has come to light, tying the attack to a Korean malware campaign. Researchers over at Kaspersky and Alienvault Labs (via: Wired) managed to …

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Watchdog attacks government over Investigatory Powers Bill

The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) of Parliament, a previously rather quite organisation has stepped out of the shadows to lambaste the British government over its proposed Investigatory Powers Bill, often termed the Snooper's Charter. It claims that the bill “lacks clarity,” and wants to see privacy protections, “form the …

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Day Z forums hacked, emails, passwords exposed

The official forums for Day Z have been hacked, with email addresses, usernames and passwords for all accounts made vulnerable. As a security measure the forums have now been closed while the flaw is fixed, and all users are being encouraged to change their security information anywhere else where it was …

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British MPs critical of new Investigatory Powers Bill

Despite David Cameron and Theresa May calling for a better insight into the websites we visit with the potentially fast tracked Investigatory Powers Bill, a committee of politicians has warned that it lacks clarity, not defining key points. It warned that if the tech-firms that must be complicit in the …

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WhatsApp to start sharing data with Facebook

While it is common knowledge at this point that Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion, the company hasn't actually done much with the messenger app until recently. Just last week it was announced that WhatsApp would no longer require a yearly subscription and now, it seems that the app is …

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GCHQ shot down encryption standard because it was too good

Amid all the arguments about encryption ongoing in the press and government right now, it's easy to forget that it's something that GCHQ and other intelligence agencies have been railing against for some time. I turns out that in 2010, it helped to reject a smartphone encryption standard that would …

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EU demands tighter controls for U.S. data requisitions

Following its ending of the EU-U.S. Safe Harbour data exchange scheme last year, the European Union is demanding tighter controls and protections on how America requests information from EU companies. If those assurances aren't received soon, it may start taking enforcement actions against various firms. Safe Harbour previously gave U.S. companies the …

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Daesh has its own encrypted chat app

In an effort to help obscure its communications from the many worldwide intelligence agencies trying to hunt them down, members of terrorist group Daesh now have their own encrypted chat application. This follows members of the organisations being kicked off of the likes of WhatsApp, Telegram and other platforms. Governments …

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EU Court rules bosses can read employee private messages

If you access Facebook messenger, Twitter DMs, Skype or any other messaging service during work hours, be careful, as there is now legal precedent for your boss to look over your shoulder. In a landmark ruling that could have serious repercussions for in-work privacy, the European Court of Human Rights has …

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U.S. national intelligence director had his phone hacked

In yet another instance of top intelligence officials in U.S. agencies having their personal details revealed to the world, director of national intelligence, James Clapper has had his phone hacked, with calls redirected to the Free Palestine Movement. Those involved also purportedly accessed his wife's personal email account too. “We …

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Information commissioner attacks UK’s new Snooper’s Charter

Independent public data rights authority, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), has attacked plans by the government to push through the Investigatory Powers Bill, often called the Snooper's Charter. It claims that there is little justification for some of the measures it wishes to push through and claims that it weakens …

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Ukraine power outages confirmed as result of hacking

The recent power outages in Ukraine which saw upwards of 80,000 people left without electricity, are now said to have been caused by hackers. The BlackEnergy malware is thought to have been used in the attack, with a coordinated effort made to shut down the power, hinder its repair and …

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Edward Snowden uses Demolition Man tech to talk at CES

Edward Snowden has made an appearance at this year's Consumer Electronics Show. Not, as you might expect, in person, but on a display with its own locomotion, looking rather like the meeting room in Demolition Man. The technology was really important, Snowden said, because it allowed him to talk at …

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Time Warner Cable admits 320,000 accounts may be leaked

The second largest TV and broadband provider in the U.S., Time Warner Cable, has released a statement saying that around a third of a million of its customers may have had their email and passwords copied away by hackers. At this early stage in the investigation however, it was keen …

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Pirates warn game DRM may soon make pirating impossible

Although stopping game-pirates has seen developers get creative with their methods, it often seems about as futile as copyright protections on movies and music. That may not be the case for much longer though, as a Chinese cracking group has warned that if DRM protections continue to increase in complexity, …

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Microsoft to warn users if government might be hacking them

If Microsoft thinks that intelligence agencies or governments from around the world are attempting to gain access to one of their user's email accounts, it has promised to issue a warning to that person to let them know it's happening. This move follows similar announcements by other major tech firms like …

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Valve finally explains Steam’s Christmas day accident

It has taken a few days but Valve has finally explained exactly what went wrong with Steam on Christmas day, when a caching error allowed users to see someone else's account while visiting the Steam store. This meant that information like a user's address, phone number, and email address were …

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