hacking

Ticketmaster will pay a $10 million fine for computer fraud and hacking. The company admitted responsibility for hacking an unnamed rival with the help of an employee who had previously worked there. The $10 million figure is calculated as the ... maximum $500,000 penalty for each of 20 cases of breaking the law through "unauthorized access of a protected computer." The fine is through a "deferred prosecution agreement" in which prosecutors hold off pursuing the case through the courts. As part of the agreement, Ticketmaster admitted breaking the law and must cooperate with prosecutors ... (view more)

Google has released a security update fixing a major flaw in the Chrome browser. While Chrome normally updates automatically, it's a serious enough problem that it's worth manually checking for updates to the browser in order to be certain. The bug ... was highlighted by the Center for Internet Security, a non-profit organization that crowd sources security problems and fixes. It says the flaw could be exploited simply by the user visiting a compromised web page. It says that: "Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the ... (view more)

An 11-year-old boy hacked a replica of a Florida election website in just 10 minutes. Officials have downplayed the incident saying it's not an accurate recreation of how such hacking could work. The hack took place at DefCon, an annual conference ... for people interested in computer security. It often has competitions and demonstrations of security vulnerability - and certainly isn't a place you would want to connect your wireless device to unknown WiFi networks. One of the events at the conference was the DefCon Voting Machine Hacking Village. Participants, including many children, attempted ... (view more)

A business which makes spying software for governments and police has been hit by a major hacking attack. The company has recommended customers temporarily stop using its products in case the attack compromises security. The business is named ... "Hacking Team," and is based in Italy. It specializes in software that can monitor the online activities of computer users and even retrieve data from their computers. Critics claim the software often uses the same tactics as malware created by cyber criminals. The firm says its situation is different as it only sells its products to public ... (view more)

The United States government has recommended the court trying world-renowned hacker Hector Xavier Monsegur -- better known as " Sabu " -- show leniency. It's a controversial recommendation that could see the hacker walk out of court a free man later ... this week. Monsegur has been in custody since 2011. He was once was a part of international hacking group LulzSec , which carried out a series of cyber crimes against major corporations, such as Sony. The group has also waged hacking campaigns against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the U.S. Senate, and Infragard, a security ... (view more)

A new study reviewed security among leading online companies following the Heartbleed bug scare, in which a commonly used encryption technique for secure websites had the capability to expose highly confidential data. The study comes from Dashlane, ... a password management firm. The study evaluated 80 web sites and examined 6 factors with regard to the way passwords and login processes are handled. Using these details, Dashlane ranked each site between +100 and minus -100. Based on a range of security issues, the study suggests Apple and Microsoft have the securest policies for passwords, while ... (view more)