One day and iOS 5 has been hacked already. Gizmodo reader and Apple lover Mert Erdir has discovered how to upgrade to iOS 5 without developer accounts, using a simple backdoor. Everyone can do it following these extremely simple instructions: More »
RSA offering SecurID replacements following Lockheed Martin attack originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jun 2011 16:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Microsoft’s Kinect is the gift that keeps on giving for hackers, spawning everything from glasses-free teleconferencing to Tesla coil manipulation to uh, well, Android dance parties. But Luis de Matos’s wi-Go project is one of the most socially conscious we’ve seen: it adds a laptop and (despite its name) a Kinect to a shopping cart, enabling the cart to follow a wheelchair user. Improving on the B.O.S.S. bot we saw a half-decade ago, the wi-Go could allow anyone — including the disabled or elderly — to shop independently, regardless of physical capability. De Matos doesn’t offer many technical details, but see the video above for a before-and-after demonstration.
Newest Kinect hack: a grocery cart that loyally follows disabled shoppers (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Jun 2011 02:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Microsoft’s new wireless keyboard-and-mouse duo aims to thwart keystroke spies with full AES 128-bit encryption on over-the-air data — an improvement on older wireless models that have proven to be easy pickings for hacker-types. You can pick up the Wireless Desktop 2000 now for $40, but that won’t buy you protection from more common threats like Shandong phishmongers, nor will it make up for security loopholes in your other peripherals. Speaking of which, are you still using that seemingly innocent USB coffee-cup warmer?
Microsoft Wireless Desktop 2000 protects that sensitive area between your peripherals originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Jun 2011 19:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We’ve seen it aid surgery, help make smarter robots, and even do some gaming stuff, but honestly, what good is a controller if it can’t fuel your crazy techno dance parties? Vimeo user Matt “Namethemachine” Davis posted a video showing a new hack for the peripheral, using its camera-based motion detection, combined with Ableton Live, DMX protocol, and more clever hackery to create a one-man electro-laser light show. It’s easy to see this getting a bit out of control real fast in a room packed with overexcited club goers, but if you’re looking to recreate the communal experience for you and your cat in your one bedroom apartment, this may be just the ticket.
Kinect hack turns your living room into a crazy one-man laser techno dance party (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Jun 2011 20:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sony’s been hacked again, with over a million SonyPictures.com accounts lifted, containing vital personal information like home addresses. Is yours included? We’ve got an exclusive, easy database to check. Just enter your email address, and see if you’ve been compromised: More »
Researchers hack Kinect for glasses-free 3D teleconferencing (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jun 2011 19:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Contagio security blog posted evidence back in February of targeted attacks against government and military officials on Gmail. Today, nearly four months later, Google has finally admitted this is true: hundreds of personal accounts have been compromised by hackers it believes to be working out of Jinan, the capital of China’s Shandong province. The accounts include those of “senior U.S. government officials, Chinese political activists, officials in several Asian countries (predominantly South Korea), military personnel and journalists.” The hijackers’ aim appears to have been to spy on their targets using Google’s automatic forwarding function. But unlike the PSN fiasco, Google insists its internal systems “have not been affected.” Instead it seems the hackers used a phishing scam, possibly directing users to a spoof Gmail website before requesting their credentials. Google says its own “abuse detection systems” disrupted the campaign — but in a footnote right down at the bottom of their official blog page they also credit Contagio and user reports.
Update: And in comes China’s response, courtesy of Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei. “Allegations that the Chinese government supports hacking activities are completely unfounded and made with ulterior motives.” Ok then, that settles that.
Update 2: And the saga continues… According to an AP story published earlier today, the Obama administration has stated that the FBI is looking into allegations that hackers broke into Google’s email system, but denied that any official government accounts were compromised. A White House spokesman went on to say that government employees are free to use Gmail for personal purposes, and can not be sure who in the administration might have been affected by the attack. Let’s just hope they know how to leave the sensitive stuff at the office.
Google admits sensitive email accounts have been hacked, some users knew months ago (update: US says no government accounts compromised) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jun 2011 18:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Oh, Sony — not again. We’ve just received numerous tips that Lulz Security has broken into SonyPictures.com, where it claims to have stolen the personal information of over 1,000,000 users — all stored (disgracefully) in plain text format. Lulz claims the heist was performed with a simple SQL injection — just like we saw the last time around. A portion of the group’s exploit is posted online in a RAR file, which contains over 50,000 email / password combos of unfortunate users. We’ve downloaded this file (at our own risk, mind you) and can verify these sensitive bits are now in the wild, though it remains unclear if what’s published matches reality. In addition to user information, the group has blurted out over 20,000 Sony music coupons, and the admin database (including email addresses and passwords) for BMG Belgium employees. Fresh off the heels of the PlayStation Network restoration, we’re guessing the fine folks in Sony’s IT department are now surviving solely on adrenaline shots.
[Thanks to everyone that sent this in]
Sony Pictures hacked by Lulz Security, 1,000,000 passwords claimed stolen originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jun 2011 17:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Remember Firesheep? Well, the cookie snatching Firefox extension now has a more portable cousin called FaceNiff. This Android app listens in on WiFi networks (even ones encrypted with WEP, WPA, or WPA2) and lets you hop on to the accounts of anyone sharing the wireless connection with you. Right now it works with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Nasza-Klasa (a Polish Facebook clone), but developer Bartosz Ponurkiewicz promises more are coming. You’ll need to be rooted to run FaceNiff — luckily, we had such a device laying around and gave the tap-to-hack app a try. Within 30 seconds it identified the Facebook account we had open on our laptop and had us posting updates from the phone. At least with Firesheep you had to sit down and open up a laptop, now you can hijack Twitter profiles as you stroll by Starbucks and it’ll just look like you’re sending a text message (but you wouldn’t do that… would you?). One more image and a video are after the break.
Continue reading FaceNiff makes Facebook hacking a portable, one-tap affair (video)
FaceNiff makes Facebook hacking a portable, one-tap affair (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jun 2011 02:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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