Hasta La Gadget!

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.

Tragedies like the events that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School have certainly given parents reasons to worry about their children’s safety. But is this really necessary? A Colombian company claims to have created a line of kid’s clothing and school uniforms made from the same fabrics and technology found in bulletproof vests. More »

Verizon has published its latest Data Breach Investigations Report, which is released annually and looks at the instances of data breaches that happened over the course of a year. According to the report, 2012 saw 621 data breaches – those that were confirmed, that is – in addition to a much higher approximately 47,000 so-called security incidents. The numbers give us a look at what kind of threats are present, and who is most affected.

A data breach is self-explanatory, meaning that information of some sort has been compromised, whether it is employee data or a roster of login information. A security incident, however, is something related that doesn’t quite achieve the “breach” threshold, such as a DDOS attack. According to the breakdown, no one was spared from the cyberattcks, with all sorts of businesses and organizations falling victim.

Small, medium, and large businesses, law enforcement agencies, media companies, financial institutions, commercial websites, organizations, and more all suffered from various security breaches and incidents last year. Out of them, it is said that 76-percent were the result of either stolen or weak usernames/passwords, with the the data being harvested using means ranging from skimmers to malware.

According to the New York Times, Wade Baker, a principal author of the Verizon report, said: “The results validate that any business that operates online is at potential risk of suffering a data breach … the report shows that no matter the size of the organization — large, small, government agencies, banks, restaurants, retailers — people are stealing data from a range of different organizations and it’s a problem everyone has to deal with.”

[via New York Times]

Verizon security report itemizes annual data breaches is written by Brittany Hillen & 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.

Authorities are debating whether or not video surveillance should be increased in the United States due to their importance in uncovering the suspects of the Boston Marathon bombings. Lawmakers are in talks about the importance of increasing surveillance and how CCTV (close-circuit television) cameras will be able to increase security and protect citizens as well as help authorities track down suspects.

Many lawmakers believed that if there are more security cameras installed in cities, it would help speed up the process of identifying suspects and catching them before they get very far. Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York, states that they had recently increased surveillance in New York’s midtown and downtown areas due to the tragic events of the Boston bombings. He says,

“The Boston bombing is a terrible reminder of why we’ve made these investments—including camera technology that could help us deter an attack, or investgate and apprehend those involved. [The added video surveillance can] alert police to abnormalities it detects on the street, such as an abandoned package that is left on a corner.”

However, calls for extra video surveillance has left many privacy advocates concerned. They believe that increasing video surveillance can be a potential invasion of privacy for the general public. They also state that since the authorities were able to track down the Boston bombers within only a few days, there really isn’t any need for any extra surveillance tools. A lawyer for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Alan Butler, says,

“It’s one thing to have private closed-circuit cameras and look at feeds after the fact. It’s very different if you’re talking about systems of cameras identifying and tracking people over time, all the time. Especially if you couple that with facial recognition and license-plate readers and databases.”

Alongside installing more video cameras in cities, Senator Lindsey Graham, Representative of South Carolina, says that drones should also be utilized as they would be able to help track down suspects more quickly. Authorities utilized tons of surveillance footage from nearby stores, restaurants, businesses, and even people snapping pictures with their smartphones. By piecing all of the footage together, they were able to quickly identify the suspects. By installing better security cameras in cities, with facial recognition and other improved technologies, authorities believe that they can keep the public more safe. What are your thoughts on increasing surveillance in cities?

[via The Wall Street Journal]

Lawmakers debate increasing video surveillance in U.S. is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.