Hasta La Gadget!

Two hacker associated with the infamous Anonymous group have been sentenced to jail time for their role in DDoS attacks on the websites of MasterCard, Visa, and PayPal. 22-year-old Christopher Weatherhead and 28-year-old Ashley Rhodes, both from the UK, will spend 18 months and seven months in jail, respectively.

The attacks costs all the companies involved a large sum of money, and it cost PayPal alone over $5.5 million. Both Weatherhead and Rhodes were found guilty of conducting various DDoS attacks between August 2010 and January 2011, and the sentences are said to be the first convictions for DDoS attacks in the UK.

Co-conspirators Peter Gibson and Jake Birchall also face sentences, although Gibson was sentenced to six months in jail, with a two-year suspension, while Birchall will face the judge on February 1. The hacking group called the attack “Operation Payback” and targeted various payment sites that had withdrawn support from Wikileaks.

Anonymous ended up launching DDoS attacks against PayPal, MasterCard, Swiss bank PostFinance, Visa, and Amazon. The financial impact other websites were not disclosed, although it’s said that Weatherhead once bragged online at having caused almost $1.6 million in damage to MasterCard.

[via BBC News]

Anonymous hackers jailed for PayPal, MasterCard, Visa attacks is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

PayPal is becoming more widely accepted lately as you can purchase many goods using your PayPal account, including Starbucks coffee. You can even purchase digital goods from your Xbox 360 as they’ve been accepting PayPal for months now, and it looks like PlayStation 3 and PS Vita owners will finally be able to use the service to purchase their digital goods now.

The process isn’t as easy as it is on the Xbox 360 as you could input your PayPal information from the dashboard in order to access it when needed. Instead of being able to input your PayPal information in your account settings on either your PS3 or PS Vita, you’ll need to visit the Sony Entertainment Network site, enter your account information, and then access your wallet to then add funds through PayPal.

Supporting PayPal is certainly a step in the right direction, but Sony needs to mainstream this process by supporting it within the PlayStation 3′s XMB or on the PS Vita. I’m sure there are many of you out there, who like me, couldn’t be bothered visiting the Sony Entertainment Network site and will probably not link your PayPal account to your PSN account until it’s available directly on the PS3 and PS Vita. Until then, thanks for the thought, Sony.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Next-gen Xbox Architecture Details Leaked , Minecraft Xbox 360 To Get Update 8 Soon,

Throughout the past year or so, PayPal has been working to make its in-store payment platform more robust by bringing in a number of new retail partners, including Home Depot, Guitar Center, Barnes & Noble, and JC Penney. However, today the company has revealed that PayPal users can now pay for items in over 18,000 physical stores throughout the US.

PayPal announced today that 23 large national retailers have begun participating in PayPal Now, and the service is now available at 18,000 retail locations around the United States. PayPal Now officially launched back in May of 2012 to extend PayPal’s payment platform into physical stores. Shoppers simply enter their phone number and a pin code during checkout instead of swiping their credit or debit card.

The service is definitely useful for people who forget their wallets, or for those who just prefer to keep all of their transaction under one roof. There are also opportunities to earn digital coupons and loyalty points by choosing this method of payment, so there’s definitely an incentive to use the new platform other than convenience.

Square is obviously PayPal’s biggest competitor, with its own plans in the retail realm that includes a major partnership with Starbucks. It’ll be interesting to see where the mobile payment industry goes from here. Google Wallet is making the rounds, and while it’s not yet a well-known avenue for payments, it just could be a matter of time before we see it take off.

PayPal in-store payment system now available at over 18,000 locations is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s no secret that PayPal has had its fair share of speed bumps, but can a change in leadership help usher in a new era? The online payment outfit’s new president, David Marcus, seeks to do just that and we offer a look at said task inside our weekly. As far as full-length reviews are concerned, we put both the Galaxy S III Mini and Acer’s $199 Chromebook through their respective paces. IRL is back with another look at our personal gadget stash, Recommended Reading examines the Lytro and The Almost’s Jon Thompson takes a run at the Q&A. The requisite download links reside below, leaving you mere clicks away from some relaxing weekend e-reading.

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In case you don’t remember, today is Guy Fawkes Day. Anonymous is trying to make sure that you remember the fifth of November, taking to Twitter today to announce that it has hacked PayPal and made off with nearly 28,000 passwords. According to The Next Web, Anonymous posted these passwords (along with usernames and telephone numbers in some cases) to Private Paste, though at the time of this writing the page linked to by the AnonymousPress Twitter account has been taken down. [UPDATE: PayPal responds below.]

PayPal says that it is currently investigating the claims of a breach, but so far the company hasn’t found any evidence that it has been hacked. SEE: quote below. That isn’t all Anonymous has been up to though, as the BBC reports that Symantec is looking into claims that it has been hacked as well. Over the weekend, sites belonging to NBC, Lady Gaga, and the Australian government were compromised in an apparent protest for Guy Fawkes Day.

“It appears that the exploit was not directed at PayPal after all, it was directed at a company called ZPanel. The original story that started this and was retweeted by some of the Anonymous Twitter handles has now been updated.” – PayPal Spokesperson

Guy Fawkes, who attempted to blow up the House of Lords in an effort to kill King James I back in 1605, has become something of a legend within Anonymous, thanks to 2005′s V for Vendetta. “Members” of the group often wear Guy Fawkes masks that were used in the movie when they appear publicly, and indeed, a few of the websites displayed the famous Gunpowder Treason rhyme after being compromised. “Remember, remember the fifth of November, the Gunpowder Treason and Plot,” the rhyme commands. “I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot.”

A number of the sites that were reportedly compromised in this Guy Fawkes protest are now back to normal, but you can bet that Anonymous is pleased with the attention it has received this fifth of November. Even though PayPal hasn’t confirmed that it was hacked, it might not be a bad idea to switch up your password if you happen to be a customer. Knowing Anonymous, this won’t be the last we hear of the hacktivist group today, so keep it tuned here to SlashGear for more details.

Anonymous celebrates Guy Fawkes Day with reported PayPal hack [UPDATE] is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.