Hasta La Gadget!

Microsoft has issued a statement confirming that some of its “high-profile” Xbox LIVE accounts that are said to belong to both former and current employees have been hacked, reports the folks over at ars technica, which was cyberattacked yesterday by the same hacking group. Known as Team Hype, the hackers are suspected to have caused a host of grief, including having possibly caused a police raid on Brian Krebs, a security reporter.

Said Microsoft to ars technica: “We are aware that a group of attackers are using several stringed social engineering techniques to compromise the accounts of a handful of high-profile Xbox LIVE accounts held by current and former Microsoft employees. We are actively working with law enforcement and other affected companies to disable this current method of attack and prevent its further use.”

In addition, Team Hype is said to use stolen Social Security numbers and credit information to take over Xbox LIVE accounts, according to Krebs, who has also linked one of the hackers with ordering DoS attacks on both his own and ars technica’s websites. The hackers made public videos of them holding account hijacking sessions, with some of those hijacked accounts then being sold to LIVE users.

Earlier today, Microsoft also confirmed that Xbox LIVE users who had used the Xbox Entertainment Award app were compromised, with the Entertainment website having displayed approximately 3,000 instances of gamertags and private information, such as addresses and names. As a result, Microsoft has temporarily pulled the app while it sorts out the issue, directing concerned customers to its Xbox Security Web page.

[via ars technica]

Microsoft confirms LIVE accounts hacked, pulls Xbox Entertainment Award app is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A huge cyberattack on South Korean banks, broadcasters and others, believed to be one of the most serious in the country’s history, has left investigators hunting for evidence of North Korean involvement as infrastructure struggled back online. Systems at multiple banks and two insurance companies were either forced offline or severely impacted in the attack, which began at roughly 2pm local time; three TV stations were also targeted and suffered downtime. However, despite strong suspicions at North Korean involvement, spokespersons from South Korean agencies insist it’s too early to lay the blame at their insular northern neighbours.

“We’re looking into the cause of the shutdown,” a spokesperson for South Korea’s president told the WSJ, “but we can’t say North Korea is behind it.” The country’s communications agency described the attacks as the result of “malicious code” though held off suggesting potential culprits.

Some reports have suggested that skulls were seen on the impacted systems, though that has not been corroborated as yet. Television networks KBS, MBC, and YTN all confirmed problems to the National Police Agency, Korea’s Yonhap News reports, in addition to Shinhan Bank and Nonghyup Bank.

However, there was either no attack or no impact of an attempted attack on any South Korean government sites, nor military services. It’s possible the targets were selected because they were considered more vulnerable than their government counterparts.

There are suggestions that the attack may have been connected to recent North Korean allegations that South Korea and the US had themselves been hacking systems, the New York Times reports, targeting North Korean websites as part of joint military exercises this month. On Friday last week, a North Korean spokesperson said that the country would “never remain a passive onlooker to the enemies’ cyberattacks that have reached a very grave phase as part of their moves to stifle it.”

Technicians quickly worked to bring the systems back online, discovering a virus that had prevented computers from booting. A longer-term investigation into the root cause and origins of the attack is still underway. “We cannot rule out the possibility of North Korean involvement,” a South Korean defense department spokesperson said, “but we don’t want to jump to a conclusion.”

South Korea hacked: North Korea key suspect in cyberattack is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A new Samsung lockscreen hack has been identified, allowing unofficial access to PIN-secured Galaxy smartphones through a combination of keypresses and commands, though Samsung is apparently working on a software fix. The exploit relies on brief visibility of the phone’s display, unlocked, after a failed emergency call placed from the lockscreen; though ponderous, you could use that access to download a screenlock disabler from the Google Play store.

The flaw was identified by Terrence Eden, who has something of a track record for spotting Samsung exploits. Earlier this month he found ways to bypass the lockscreen security on the Galaxy Note II, a hack which then prompted another researcher to come forward with a second hack, this time for the Galaxy S III.

Eden’s latest discovery only allows for a brief period of interaction with the momentarily-unlocked phone at a time, but given sufficient access to repeat the process, it could allow for calls to be placed, apps downloaded, data viewed, or other illicit use to be made of the handset.

Eden says that he’s been in communication with Samsung around the issue, and that the company will have a patch to address the loophole that it intends to release “shortly.” He also offered to withhold an announcement of the exploit until that happened, something Eden says Samsung declined.

Until it’s patched, however, there’s no way to avoid the problem, bar removing Samsung’s ROM and replacing it with a more standard Android installation. As ever, be careful who you leave your phone with.

Yet another Samsung lockscreen hack identified is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

An Australian casino called Crown Casino was hit by a group of high-tech hackers. The hackers co-opted the casinos own security cameras for the heist that saw them to make off with about $33 million. The hackers broke into the casino’s surveillance camera network and used the cameras to gain an advantage during some high-stakes card games.

According to reports, the heist took place over only eight different hands of cards before the gambler in the casino was captured. Apparently, the person in the casino was a high roller described only as a foreigner that regularly bet and lost lots of money. The security cameras that were used by the hackers during the highest were in the VIP high-roller room of the casino.

The hackers operating the cameras passed the gambler signals to tip them off about the cards that his opponents held. Apparently, the gambler was staying with his family in the Crown Towers in Melbourne Australia when the casino discovered the fraud. The man was kicked out of the casino and is banned from returning.

Reports indicate that it’s surprisingly easy to intercept signals from many casino cameras if the casino isn’t taking precautions. The casino hopes to recover some of the money that was taken during heist. At this point, there’s no indication of whether or not criminal charges will be filed or if any of the hackers who gained access to the casino’s camera system were caught.

[via Wired]

Hackers use Crown Casino’s own security cameras to beat the house is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Two men were charged for an elaborate hacking scheme. They have been identified as Shahin Abdollahi, whose alias was Sean Holdt, and Jeffrey Thomas Wilkinson. The two men hacked over 13 point-of-sale (POS) computers at a variety of Subways located in Massachusetts, Wyoming, and California. This isn’t the first time Subway’s been hacked. Last September, the franchise’s credit card terminals were hacked at over 150 of its locations. It suffered $10 million in losses and 146,000 accounts were compromised.

Abdollahi and Wilkinson went through an elaborate scheme to execute their plans. Abdollahi operated his own POS business, called “POS Doctor”. There he sold POS computers to various Subways, and he preloaded his LogMeIn (remote desktop tool) information into those machines. In order to get a better understanding of how Subway and their POS systems worked, he operated a few of his own Subway franchises in Southern California.

After learning how Subway operates and how they use their POS system, he and Wilkinson then remotely accessed Subway’s POS systems to create fake gift cards totaling up to $40,000. They took the fake gift cards and sold them either on eBay, or Craigslist. According to the reports, Abdollahi’s hacked systems were sold to a variety of other businesses besides Subway as well.

The two men were charged with computer intrusion and wire fraud. It seems like they did an awful lot of scheming and prep work just to create fake gift cards. Abdollahi went through alot of hassle of owning his own POS company and a few Subways just to get this plan into motion. It’s speculated that Subway was just the testing grounds for an even bigger scheme the two had planned.

[via Ars Technica]

Two men hacked Subway to steal gift cards totaling $40,000 is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.