As you may, hopefully, be unaware, today is Alice Day, a day inspired by Lewis Carroll’s debated sexual attraction to Alice In Wonderland’s very underage and very real counterpart, when proud pedophiles come together in celebration of their disorder. So it’s a beautiful day for a NAMBLA takedown, and Anonymous was happy to answer the call. More »
It is being reported that Twitter is internally testing a two factor authentication security system which will be incrementally rolled out to users in the near future. Two factor or two step authentication safeguard accounts from hacking attempts in a far better way than just passwords alone. It is not clear when Twitter plans on rolling it out, but a sense of urgency is being reported, given the recent string of high profile Twitter accounts being hacked.
Yesterday the Associated Press @AP account was hacked and a bogus tweet about bombings at the White House was posted. In recent weeks several high profile accounts have been hacked, including that of 60 Minutes and the BBC. The two factor authentication solution is currently being beta tested for influential accounts such as The New York Times, the Associated Press and Justin Bieber. It is not known how Twitter will implement this solution, it can be assumed that users will be required to pre-register a device which will receive a randomly generated code either through SMS or through an application. Entering this code along with the password would be required when signing in from a new location, this will certainly be much more effective than a mere password.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: McAfee Patented Technology Will Detect And Block All Pirated Content, Facebook Testing Chat Presence Dots In News Feeds, 
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Amidst all of the recent Twitter accounts being breached by hackers, Twitter is tipped to be working on a two-factor authentication system to better protect its users. According to Wired, Twitter is currently performing internal tests on the two-factor authentication system and when the tests are complete, the new feature will be shortly distributed to Twitter’s users.
In the past week alone, several Twitter accounts belonging to important news sites and big name figures were compromised. The Syrian Electronic Army claimed credit for all of the attacks, including the attacks on several of CBS’s official accounts, including 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, and CBS Denver. It also hacked into FIFA’s official Twitter account, Joseph “Sepp” Blatter’s account, and The Associated Press’s official Twitter account.
The two-factor authentication system could work in several possible ways. One way is having a dedicated app that generates a randomized code that you must use to access your account. Another way is having a code sent to you via SMS text message, which you would have to use to access your account. Most of the time, you only need to input the code once and you won’t have to do so again for a while, unless you’re accessing your account from a different location.
Twitter has been working on implementing a two-factor authentication system into its service since early February. It listed a job posting for a software engineer whose main focus is on product security. It decided that a two-factor authentication system was necessary after 250,000 Twitter accounts were compromised in an attack that occurred a week earlier. This new security feature should prove effective in prevent hackers like the Syrian Electronic Army from breaching any more accounts.
[via Wired]
Twitter tipped to be testing out two-factor authentication system is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
The Australian Federal Police arrested a man in Sydney on Monday who claims to be the leader of Lulz Security, more commonly known as LulzSec. Though his name has not been revealed, ABC News Australia reports that he is 24-years-old, and worked in a “position of trust” in a NSW-local branch of an international IT company. Because of his work position, he had access to government client data.
The name of the company for which he worked has not been specified, nor has the exact position he held. Says the AFP’s Commander Glen McEwan, he is someone “known to international law enforcement,” and that he is the first LulzSec member to be arrested by them. His arrest took place after being under surveillance for less than two weeks, something that was prompted by a compromised government website.
As a result, the alleged leader has been arrested and charged with one count of unauthorized access to a restricted computer system, as well as two counts of unauthorized modification of data to cause impairment. Such charges have a maximum prison sentence of 12 years. Some of the Australian targets of the hacking collective are said to be departments of the Victorian and NSW governments, local councils, and AusAid. In addition, ten high schools and universities had their login information and email accounts leaked.
The claim that this individual is LulzSec’s leader comes from posts he allegedly made on forums, in which he claimed to be the leader. The AFP also says that they have talked about it with him, and that he has discussed it. He’s due back in court on May 15. Says Commander McEwen: “The AFP will not tolerate the attempts of hackers to damage or destroy the online property of Australian individuals, companies or national infrastructure resources.”
[via ABC News]
Alleged LulzSec leader arrested in Australia is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
The Australian Federal Police have confirmed that they have arrested the alleged leader of notorious hacking group Lulzsec in Sydney. More »
The Associated Press’s Twitter account was hacked today after a tweet was sent out from the account that read, “Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured.” The Associated Press responded shortly after saying that its Twitter account had been compromised, and now the account has been suspended, but it should be back up shortly after Twitter and the AP resolve the issue.
The fake tweet was noticed by the AP fairly quickly, and several of their other Twitter accounts tweeted out that the hacked AP tweet was indeed bogus. However, many people were quick to shoot down the claim anyway, since the tweet wasn’t in AP style formatting in the first place, and no other mainstream news outlets were reporting on it.
The AP always puts “breaking” in all caps in their tweets, and they also use a service called SocialFlow to publish their tweets, whereas the fake tweet was sent out through the “web,” meaning it was sent through Twitter’s website rather than a third-party service like SocialFlow. Plus, the tweet was in title case, which the AP and other news sources never use.
In the end, it took only three minutes for the fake tweet to be officially denied by the AP, with the account being suspended just four minutes later. This is quite a fast response, but we shouldn’t expect nothing less of a news source like the AP, who is constantly keeping an eye on their social media feeds.
[via The Next Web]
AP Twitter account hacked with fake White House explosion claim is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Matthew Keys, the journalist who was accused of conspiring with Anonymous, has been fired by Reuters today. On his Twitter account, Keys tweeted, “Just got off the phone. Reuters has fired me, effective today. Our union will be filing a grievance. More soon.” David Girardin, a Reuters spokesperson, confirmed the firing. According to Keys, his termination from Reuters had no relation to his alleged involvement with Anonymous, but was due to him violating his “Final Written Warning”.
The final written warning was issued back on October 25th, 2012. It was issued to Keys because he created a parody Twitter account named @PendingLarry. It was used to mock Larry Page, CEO of Google. The warning goes on to say that creating the fake account that did not identify Keys as the author violated Reuter’s Social Media Policy. It also stated that his actions “displayed a serious lapse of judgment and professionalism that is unbecoming of a Reuters journalist.” The following sentences may be the reason as to why Keys was terminated,
“For these reasons, we are issuing this final written warning. We must see immediate improvement in your communications with managers and more discretion in your social media practices.”
Keys, who was Reuter’s Deputy Social Media Editor, recently came under fire a few days ago after he was criticized for tweeting misinformation from police scanners. His first tweet stated, “Dispatch: First Boston bomb suspect is Mike Mulugeta,” and his second tweet stated, “Dispatcher: Suspect 2 is missing Brown University student Sunil Tripathi.” Keys defended his position in a Facebook post, stating he was unaware that the police asked people not to publish information from police scanners, and that other social journalists were doing the same thing as he was.
Keys told Politico that his termination from Reuters “wasn’t unexpected”, and that his independent coverage of the Boston bombings was one of the reasons why he was fired. Keys also told Politico that Reuters had a “specific set of reasons for the termination” which he and the union agree “is incorrect and doesn’t hold any water.” He states that Reuters may have just been “looking for an out” and jumped at the opportunity to fire him.
[via Politico]
Reuters fires journalist accused of conspiring with Anonymous is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Twitter hacks are an unfortunate reality of everyday social media life. Today, it was CBS’s 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, and CBS Denver accounts that took the hit and started dishing out some linkbait-y tweets with a virus-laiden garnish. Careful what you click. More »
This week the man known as Cody Andrew Kretsinger has been issued a prison sentence for his part in a 2011 attack on a Sony Pictures-owned website, this incident earning hima cool 1 year in a federal cell. This particular hack ended up having the names and information of customers of Sony products stolen and leaked to the public. This information included the names, phone numbers, and email addresses of a massive amount of customers.
This sentence has been passed down after the defendant was arrested back in September of 2011. His original part in the crime took place in May of that same year, and he pled guilty to the crime in April of 2012. In other words, it’s not always a quick path from the crime to the final sentence!
In similar situations related to this Sony Picture hack, LulzSec members Raynaldo Rivera and Hector Xavier Monsegur have also gone into agreements with the authorities. Monsegur, also known as “Sabu”, has according to PC World agreed to work with the FBI as an informant and – again, according to this same source – played an important part in the identification of the other members of the LulzSec team.
Monsegur is currently set to face a maximum sentence of 124 years in prison, while Rivera (aka “neuron”) is set to be sentenced on May the 16th. You’ll be able to find more information on the hacking universe in our hacking tag portal as well as through a search for LulzSec in our archives!
LulzSec hacker gets prison sentence for Sony Pictures hack is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Today it’s been announced that those working with a Jailbroken iPhone out there in the wild may soon be able to work with the still limited-to-Android Facebook Home feature Chat Heads. While the newest version of Facebook for iOS does include an in-app iteration of the Chat Heads feature for messaging, the build announced today (by unofficial sources, of course), will allow Chat Heads to appear universally, just as it is with Android.
If you’ll take a peek at our review of Facebook Home as it exists inside Android, you’ll find that the “appear anywhere” feature included in what Facebook calls “Chat Heads” might just be the most universally user-friendly feature of the bunch. While Facebook Home exists as a full home screen replacement app, Facebook Messenger allows you to see messages while you’re inside (or outside) any given app, even if it’s not Facebook.
Have a peek at Facebook’s Chat Heads push to iOS for your iPhone and you’ll find slightly less all-inclusive engagement. Unfortunately this iOS version will still not have the SMS integration available in the Android iteration. Speaking with The Verge, the creator of this particular hack, Adam Bell, confirmed that the process itself isn’t very power-hungry. Bell noted that only when you’re actually literally interacting with the head does it drain power in any notable way – good news!
You’ll be able to access the build that’s making this Chat Heads freedom possible through Adam Bell’s connection to GitHub over the next few days – can’t wait! Meanwhile have a peek in SlashGear’s jailbreak tag hub for more goodies for your hacked-up iPhone. Let us know what you’re into!
Facebook Home hitting Jailbroken iPhones: Chat Heads first is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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