Another devious, young techno-wiz was placed safely behind bars this past Wednesday after authorities say he deftly "hacked into his school's secure computer network" by guessing the password (his teacher's last name). The crime? Changing the desktop background to two dudes kissin'. The punishment? Arrest on felony charges.
On February 19, one of the largest bank heists in history was pulled off and almost no one noticed. No getaway vehicles were left idling, no guns were pointed, no panic buttons were pressed—but somehow several crews in two dozen countries working in perfect precision walked away with $40 million in cash.
If you used a credit card between the dates of Sept. 21 and Nov. 18th at national restaurant wholesalers Restaurant Depot or Jetro Cash & Carry, then you should probably know that Russian cyberthugs wearing leather blazers and gold chains and stinking of Armani Aqua di Gio are currently selling your information on the black market.
This summer it seems every day brings dire news of a new data breach perpetrated by shadowy hackers. For those prone to panic, it might be enough to end in a hospital visit. But there's no need to freak out about every single attack reported by a hacker-obsessed media.
Cybercriminals have gotten so sophisticated recently that their operations are almost indistinguishable from the legit businesses they rip off. Here's a "menu" of services offered by cybercriminals, including working physical credit cards and fake storefronts to scam unsuspecting Internet users.
Oh noes! Publicist/stylist/funboy-about-town Kristian Laliberte's Facebook page was hacked and someone's been sending his friends the most horrible messages! "Dear All," he writes. "This is Kristian and this message is real. Sometime between midnight and nine am, my facebook account was hacked into. A similar experience happened with my gmail two weeks ago-where fake emails were forwarded to an unknown address. The perpetrator sent slews of disgusting fake messages to many of my contacts, but I do not know who all received these. I am categorically letting everyone know that this happened and I'm so sorry if you were upset for one moment and caught up in this mess." Clues as to the perp's ID and a sample of the offending emails below.
