One of the more interesting events at this year’s Defcon hacker conference in Las Vegas late last month was a social engineering contest that targeted big companies like Microsoft, Google and Apple. Participants pretending to be head hunters and survey takers were able to trick employees at the companies into giving out information over...
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It’s the smartphone everyone owns — and no one seems to like. Peek into any executive conference room in America, and you’re bound to see one — or a dozen — of these anachronistic smartphones: BlackBerrys, their keys clicking like rain on a tin roof. Those red lights flashing, training their owners to pick...
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China’s rapid emergence as a hotspot for criminal hacking activities is enabled by the open and unfettered availability of sophisticated hacking tools, according to security researchers attending the Black Hat conference here this week. Many of the hacking tools are inexpensive, highly customizable, and easy to use. Most of the early users of the...
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LAS VEGAS — In a city filled with slot machines spilling jackpots, it was a “jackpotted” ATM that got the most attention Wednesday at the Black Hat security conference, when researcher Barnaby Jack demonstrated two suave hacks against automated teller machines that made them spew out dozens of crisp bills. The audience greeted the...
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A talk on China’s military cyber-attack capabilities has been pulled from the Black Hat security conference schedule following pressure from Taiwanese and Chinese agencies. The talk, entitled “The Chinese Cyber Army: An Archaeological Study from 2001 to 2010,” was billed as an analysis of China’s government-backed hacking initiatives, based on intelligence gathered from a...
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Analysts often point to the introduction of video conferencing – branded as FaceTime by Apple – as a chief selling point for the Cupertino, Calif.-based company’s soon to be released iPhone 4. However, a nagging question had remained until Sunday: won’t video calls drain your cellular minutes? Over the weekend, Apple put the doubting...
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