Hack

Online forums hacked and misused on a large scale

Published: April 25, 2012 Reading time: 2 min

The H-Online: Online forums have, for some time, apparently been the target of hackers who inject additional code. However, the attackers aren’t interested in publishing cool slogans or political messages, they’re looking for money. They steal Google traffic from the forums and exploit this traffic via ads. Their main targets appear to be forums that are based on the vBulletin software. Unlike the “Look how cool I am” crackers, these attackers have very discreet working methods. They hide their code deeply within the system and ensure that their redirections don’t attract much attention. Only users who visit forum pages for the first time via a search engine such as Google are redirected to a url123.info URL. This site initially displays a strange blocking alert (“Access denied”) followed by some arbitrary text and then loads a full-page ad by InfinityAds. The ads are probably a direct source of income for the intruders even though each ad is only worth a few pennies. However, as some forum operators have reported that their traffic has dropped by more than 70 per cent, and the phenomenon seems to be a rather wide-spread one, the overall yield is likely to be considerable. ...

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Google warns the operators of thousands of hacked web sites

Published: April 19, 2012 Reading time: 2 min

The H-Security: The head of Google’s Webspam team, Matt Cutts, announced on Twitter that Google has sent out a message to the webmasters of 20,000 sites informing them that their sites may have been hacked. In the email message, the company warns operators that the affected sites appear to be being used to redirect visitors to a malicious site. Google asks the site administrators to check the files in their web space for an eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,r) JavaScript code segment. The eval() function can be used to execute JavaScript character strings that may have previously been decrypted using an unpack feature. Google also warns of specially crafted .htaccess files. These may cause a file to be redirected only in certain circumstances, for example, when a visitor accesses the page via Google. Consequently, regular visitors to a site, such as the webmaster, will be unaware of the infection. ...

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Banking System Vulnerability – 3 million bank accounts hacked in Iran [Updated]

Published: April 17, 2012 Reading time: 2 min

As I said in the other post, Iran’s Central Bank has announced that the electronic information of 3 million customers of 10 Iranian banks have been compromised. These banks now require their customers to change their ATM pin numbers before they can access their account. This has caused a rush to the ATM machines by the worried customers. The hacker was identified as Khosro Zare’, a former bank-system specialist in Iran who recently left the country. Zare’ claimed in a blog that he hacked the PIN codes to highlight the vulnerability of Iran’s banking system. ...

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Hacker divulges data on 10 Iranian banks, central bank warns clients [Updated]

Published: April 15, 2012 Reading time: 2 min

An Iranian hacker published the information about some 3 million debit cards of 10 Iranian banks, including codes and passwords. The information has been published by someone named “Khosrow Zare Farid” who was the manager of a company which operates SHETAB payment network in Iran and produces and installs POS devices. “Around one year ago I found a critical bug in the system. Then I wrote and sent a formal report to all the CEO of banks in Iran but none of them replied to me. Now I decided to publish the information. Governments tried to catch me by Iran Cyber Army but they failed,” he said, according to Kabir News website ...

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MasterCard and Visa payment processor compromised, up to 10 million cards stolen

Published: March 31, 2012 Reading time: 2 min

SophosLabs: Brian Krebs is reporting that MasterCard and Visa are warning member-banks of a payment processor breach that may impact more than 10,000,000 credit cards. It is important to note that MasterCard and Visa’s own networks were not involved in the attack, it appears to be related to payment processor Global Payments. Reuters is reporting that Global Payments stock was suspended for trading after falling more than 9% on the Nasdaq stock exchange. ...

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Pro-China hackers target Tibetan activists with malware

Published: March 25, 2012 Reading time: 3 min

The Register: Pro-China hackers have started spoofing security firm AlienVault’s email address in spam messages in an attempt to infect pro-Tibetan recipients with malware. The move follows days after the security tools firm warned that AlienVault about spear phishing attacks against a number of Tibetan organizations. The spear-phishing messages relate to the Kalachakra Initiation, a Tibetan religious festival that took place in early January. The closely targeted messages – sent to organizations such as the Central Tibet Administration and International Campaign for Tibet – carry an infectious Office file attachment with a malware payload, a digitally signed variant of Gh0st RAT (remote access Trojan). ...

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Digital Playground porn passwords exposed by hackers

Published: March 13, 2012 Reading time: 3 min

SophosLabs: A group of hackers are claiming to have stolen the details of more than 70,000 users of the Digital Playground porn website. The group, calling itself “The Consortium”, appears to have scooped up some 40,000 financial details (including credit card numbers, names, CCV numbers, and expiration dates) as well as the email addresses and passwords of 72,000 users. According to the hackers, who appear to be affiliated with the Anonymous movement, the sensitive information was not encrypted. ...

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Nude Heather Morris pictures – hacker blamed

Published: March 13, 2012 Reading time: 2 min

SophosLabs: Heather Morris, famous for playing cheerleader Brittany in the popular “Glee” TV show, is said to be the latest celebrity to have had nude photos leak onto the web. The naked pictures are alleged to have been stolen by hackers from the 25-year-old actress’s mobile phone. Of course, Heather Morris isn’t the first celebrity to have fallen victim to a nude photo hacker. Nude photos and videos of Vanessa Hudgens, the star of “High School Musical”, surfaced on the net in 2011, after it was claimed the actress’s Gmail account was hacked. ...

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Panda Security cleans up defaced websites after LulzSec arrest revenge attack

Published: March 7, 2012 Reading time: 3 min

SophosLabs/NakedSecurity: With alleged Anonymous hackers belonging to the LulzSec group arrested and charged yesterday, and the startling relevation that prominent hacker Sabu had been working undercover for the FBI for months, hacktivists defaced a number of websites belonging to anti-virus firm Panda Security overnight. The hackers changed two dozen pandasecurity.com subdomains to include a YouTube video, showing a pot pourri of Anonymous/LulzSec activity during 2011, and posted what appeared to be the username and password details of over 100 Panda employees. ...

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Hackers had ‘full functional control' of Nasa computers

Published: March 3, 2012 Reading time: 2 min

BBC: Hackers gained “full functional control” of key Nasa computers in 2011, the agency’s inspector general has told US lawmakers. Paul K Martin said hackers took over Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) computers and “compromised the accounts of the most privileged JPL users”. He said the attack, involving Chinese IP addresses, was under investigation. In a statement, Nasa said it had “made significant progress to protect the agency’s IT systems”. ...

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Twilight author’s official website attacked

Published: February 23, 2012 Reading time: 1 min

Sunbelt: Twilight fans who normally frequent the official website of Stephenie Meyer, infamous writer of the said book and saga, may have found their systems captured by a “being” that is neither a blood-sucker or a giant, feral dog. It might be something supernatural, but not in the security world: zombies. Our friends at avast! have unearthed a recent attack on the author’s website not so long ago:www.stepheniemeyer.com had been hosting Crimepack, an exploit kit that takes advantage of known vulnerabilities of various Web browsers and the Windows OS to install malware. Brian Krebs of_KrebsOnSecurity.com_ took a closer look at this particular exploit pack back in 2010, and it is indeed a nasty one. Not only is it capable of targeting holes of software installed on your system, it also “lets customers [buyers of this Crimepack exploit kit] test various Web reputation services to discover whether any include their exploit sites.” Computers successfully exploited by the Crimepack exploit kit are eventually turned into zombies, which online criminals use to do malicious tasks, such as spamming and launching denial of service (DoS) attacks. ...

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YouPorn passwords available for download, thousands of users exposed [Updated]

Published: February 23, 2012 Reading time: 2 min

SophosLabs: Want a free password for one of the world’s most popular adult websites? YouPorn, one of the world’s most popular porn video websites and one of the top 100 websites of any kind in the world, appears to have been caught with its pants down – after a list of many of its users’ email addresses, passwords and dates of birth were left exposed on a public-facing server. ...

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Chinese hackers had free rein at Nortel

Published: February 15, 2012 Reading time: 2 min

The H-Online: According to a report, hackers, allegedly from China, had access to telecoms equipment manufacturer Nortel‘s IT systems over a period of several years – access that they took full advantage of. Citing an internal investigation, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that, using seven passwords stolen from senior managers, intruders had access to almost all confidential information within Nortel from 2000 onwards. Brian Shields, the manager who led the Nortel investigation, is quoted as saying that the hackers “had access to everything”. Huge volumes of technical documents, research and development (R&D) reports, business plans and emails were downloaded over the course of several years. “They had plenty of time,” said Shields, “All they had to do was figure out what they wanted.” The seven stolen passwords included the password belonging to the company’s then CEO. The attackers have not been identified, but the WSJ notes that they appear to have been working from China. ...

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350,000 users exposed by hacking porn mavens Brazzers

Published: February 13, 2012 Reading time: 2 min

SophosLabs: A hacker, identified as a 17-year-old based in Morocco, claims to have stolen the personal information of 350,000 users from hardcore porn mavens Brazzers. The point, claims the hacker, was to highlight a security vulnerability on the adult site. According to reports, the teen uploaded a small small of the stolen data to the internet, displaying customer emails, usernames and passwords. Presumably to offer up proof that he was behind the breach. ...

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"NASA Own3d Again" – NASA Database Leaked by r00tw0rm

Published: February 12, 2012 Reading time: 1 min

The Hacker News: Hackers from Team r00tw0rm again hit NASA. According to Latest tweet by Hackers, They claim to hack the one of the Sudomain of Nasa (Link is not exposed by hackers and claimed to be reported for Fix). Hackers claim to hack GB’s of database and they Leaked sample of database include Users names, emails and Passwords , Contact as shown: ...

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