For months, there’s been a steady trickle of sites getting hacked, followed by their usernames and passwords being passed around publicly on the Web. It’s a real and growing problem that’s just going to get worse. More »
Well, it looks like Microsoft is taking those warnings about WebGL pretty seriously. The company has decided not to support the web-based 3D standard because it wouldn’t be able to pass security muster. Highest on the list of concerns is that WebGL opens up a direct line from the internet to a system’s GPU. To make matters worse, holes and bugs may crop up that are platform or video card specific, turning attempts to plug holes in its defense into a game of whack-a-mole — with many players of varying reliability. Lastly Microsoft, like security firm Context, has found current solutions for protecting against DoS attacks rather unsatisfying. Lack of support in Internet Explorer won’t necessarily kill WebGL and, as it matures, Microsoft may change its tune — but it’s still a pretty big blow for all us of hoping the next edition of Crysis would be browser-based.
Update: As is usually the case Apple and the Windows folks are on opposite sides of this one. In fact, the Cupertino crew plans to bring WebGL to iOS 5 with one very strange restriction — it will only be available to iAd developers. Now, chances are it will eventually be opened up in mobile Safari for everyone, but for the moment it seems browser-based 3D graphics will be limited to advertisements on the iPhone. Still, that’s another big name throwing its support behind the burgeoning standard.
[Thanks, Greg]
Microsoft decides to pass on WebGL over security concerns (Update: iOS 5 supports WebGL, sort of)) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 01:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Lulzsec, that merry band of hackers responsible for raids on Bethesda Softworks, the US Senate, Sony, terrorists, and rival hackers, has bagged maybe its biggest fish yet: the CIA. [Updated] More »
Everything can be hacked — that’s an important detail to keep in mind as we start cramming wireless radios into our bodies attached to medical implants. Researchers have been working on ways to protect devices like pacemakers from ne’er-do-wells looking to cause, not just e-harm, but physical injury or even death. A new system developed jointly by MIT and UMass is much more sophisticated that earlier solutions, can be used with existing implants, and is worn outside the body allowing it to be removed in the event of an emergency. The shield, as it’s called, acts as a sort of medical firewall, protecting implants from unauthorized access — doctors send encrypted instructions to it which are decoded and relayed to device, while it blocks any signals not using the secret key. All that’s left to do is figure out what sort of person would mess with someone’s defibrillator.
Researchers shield implants from hackers with wireless charm of protection originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Everyone’s favorite Italian grandmother and likely next Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta made headlines last week when he cautioned that “there’s a strong likelihood that the next Pearl Harbor we confront could be a cyber attack.” That’s fear-mongering nonsense. More »
This must be the season of the hacking witch as we’ve now seen yet another company’s online security walls breached. Independent UK games developer Codemasters, responsible for titles like Dirt 3 and Overlord, has reported that its website was hacked on the third of June, exposing the names, addresses (both physical and email), birthdays, phone numbers, Xbox gamer tags, biographies, and passwords of its registered users. Payment information wasn’t compromised, but when you consider that almost everything else was, that feels like hollow consolation. For its part, Codemasters says it took the website offline as soon as the breach was detected and a subsequent investigation has revealed the number of affected users to be in the tens of thousands. Those who might have been affected directly are being emailed with penitent apologies, while the rest of us are being pointed to the company’s Facebook page while its web portal is kept offline.
Codemasters website hacked, ‘tens of thousands’ of personal accounts compromised originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 04:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Does anybody actually enjoy the laborious process of trying out clothes? The sheer physical effort, the risk of breaking a sweat… it’s just not for us. We’re much more comfortable with virtual reality fitting rooms, which is where Microsoft’s Kinect motion camera has found yet another raison for its etre. Razorfish, the folks who already impressed us with some neat Kinect hacking, now have a new shopping platform that’s said to actually wrap clothes around your frame and thereby provide a 3D preview of what you and they would look like together. The current iteration only shows some giddy ladies exploring the wide world of handbags, but they do look suitably impressed with the system. There are also sharing options via QR codes and NFC, plus the obligatory social networking tie-ins. Skip after the break to see the KinectShop on video.
Continue reading KinectShop concept is ready to televise your shopping revolution (video)
KinectShop concept is ready to televise your shopping revolution (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 03:31:00 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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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.
Well, the Pentagon is finally fed up with hackers picking on its buddies and foreign intelligence taking shots at its computer systems, and has decided that such cyber attacks can constitute an act of war. Of course, the powers that be won’t be bombing you for simply sending them some spyware, but attempts to sabotage US infrastructure (power grids, public transit, and the like) may be met with heavy artillery. It’s unclear how our government will identify the origin of an attack or decide when it’s serious enough to start shooting, but Uncle Sam is looking to its allies to help create a consensus answer for those questions. The retaliatory revelation is a part of the Pentagon’s new cyber strategy that’ll be made public in June — so saboteurs beware, your next internet incursion might get you an ICBM in your backyard.
Pentagon says cyber attacks are acts of war: send us a worm, get a missle in return? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 May 2011 14:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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