The Inquisitr » hackers

[VIDEO] Modern Warfare 2 already hacked on PC?

Chris Greenhough — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:34:53 +0000

The game hasn’t been out for 48 hours, but already one site is claiming to have the very first hack for Modern Warfare 2. If you’re a jerk, you can even choose to buy the hack from the site.

Watch the footage below, and you’ll see the hack in inglorious action. A player cruises through a Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer map in which all player positions (friendly or enemy) are highlighted, and guns have zero recoil. Needless to say, this is reportedly only for the PC version. And for jerks. In case I didn’t mention that.

1UP points out that this may simply be a ruse, though that video is pretty convincing. If it is real, it looks like Infinity Ward’s decision to forbid player admins (who could kick these chumps out of games) is looking shaky.

[Callofdutyhacks.com, via 1UP]

Rogue group hijacks hundreds of Facebook groups for your own good

Kim LaCapria — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:50:11 +0000

Despite well-known privacy leaks and rampant availability of sensitive personal data, Facebook remains hugely popular.

Lulled into a precarious sense of security by friends locking accounts, most people feel fairly comfortable sharing information they might not otherwise like to see on the front page of The New York Times. (One of the litmus-tests for information sharing on the internet, that or “would you like to see it in your grandmother’s inbox?”) A common Facebook function for many users seems to be the practice of joining any and all groups that cross their news feeds, from “Celebrities I’d Like To Hit in the Face With a Bag of Doorknobs” to “I couldn’t give a flying f**k about what you’re up to on Farmville.”

Today, many users woke up to find the following message posted on the “walls” of groups taken over by Control Your Info, who state that the mass-hack was “strictly not for profit and done for a good cause.” (It did get their name in the news, though.)

Hello, we hereby announce that we have officially hijacked your Facebook group.

This means we control a certain part of the information about you on Facebook. If we wanted we could make you appear in a bad way which could damage your image severly.

For example we could rename your group and call it something very inappropriate and nasty, like “I support pedophile’s rights”. But have no fear – we won’t. We just renamed it Control Your Info. Because this is really all we want:

Think about the safety in your social media life to the same extent you do in your real life. Watch the videoclip for more information or check out www.controlyour.info for more tips soon!

We promise to restore your group name and leave the group by the end of next week. Don’t worry – we won’t mess anything up.

The loophole which allowed the group to gain administrative access to Facebook groups exists in groups in which the administrator has since jumped ship. Anyone belonging to a group without an admin can appoint themselves in charge of the group and then change the group name, contact members, and so on. While it’s unlikely to be the end of life as you know it, it’s certainly something to think about.

Facebook has commented on the matter and denied groups had been hijacked, asserting that no sensitive data had been compromised. The spokesman also addressed concerns with large groups and cleanup of the affected groups, many of which remain “hijacked”:

“The names of large groups cannot be changed, nor can anyone message all members,” he said. In cases where Facebook finds that a group name has been changed inappropriately, it will disable those groups, which is what it plans on doing in this case, he said.

International Computer Hacker Pleads Guilty For Attacks On U.S. Retailers

AHN — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:30:25 +0000

An international computer hacker pleaded guilty on Friday in a Boston courtroom to multiple charges relating to hacking activity and credit card fraud. More than 40 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen from major U.S. retailers as a result of the hacking activity.

Albert Gonzalez, 28, of Miami, pleaded guilty to 19 counts of conspiracy, computer fraud, wire fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft relating to hacks into numerous major U.S. retailers including TJX Companies, BJ’s Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble and Sports Authority. Gonzalez was indicted in August 2008 in the District of Massachusetts on charges related to these hacks.

Gonzalez also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud relating to hacks into the Dave & Buster’s restaurant chain.

Some of the luxuries Gonzalez accumulated during his tenure as a criminal that he now has to forfeit include $2.7 million dollars, multiple items of real estate and personal property, including a condo in Miami, a 2006 BMW 330i, a Tiffany diamond ring and Rolex watches. Included in the forfeited currency is more than $1 million in cash, which Gonzalez had buried in a container in his backyard.

“Consumers must be able to trust that the credit and debit cards they use everyday in thousands of stores around the world are safe from unlawful access,” says, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division.

Computer hacking and identity theft pose serious risks to our commercial, personal and financial security. Technology and the global world we live in has forever changed the way we do business, virtually erasing geographic boundaries.

U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan says, “However, this case demonstrates that even in the cyber world, there is no such thing as anonymity.”

According to the court documents Gonzalez and his co-conspirators broke into retail credit card payment systems through a series of sophisticated techniques, including “wardriving” and installation of sniffer programs to capture credit and debit card numbers used at these retail stores.

Wardriving involves driving around in a car with a laptop computer looking for accessible wireless computer networks of retailers. Using these techniques, Gonzalez and his co-conspirators were able to steal more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers from retailers. Also according to the indictments, Gonzalez and his co-conspirators sold the numbers to others for their fraudulent use and engaged in ATM fraud by encoding the data on the magnetic stripes of blank cards and withdrawing tens of thousands of dollars at a time from ATMs.

Based on the terms of the Boston plea agreement, Gonzalez faces a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 25 years in prison. Based on a New York plea agreement for crimes there, Gonzalez faces up to 20 years in prison, which the parties have agreed should run concurrently. He also faces numerous fines.

Gonzalez also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud relating to hacks into the Dave & Buster’s restaurant chain.

U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan says, “However, this case demonstrates that even in the cyber world, there is no such thing as anonymity.”

iPhone’s C64 emulator hacked, pulled from App Store

Chris Greenhough — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 01:53:39 +0000

Eww, you got hacker in my Commodore 64 emulator!

Yes, it’s true: only a couple of months after it appeared on the Apps Store, Manomio’s C64 emulator for the iPhone has been yanked from the service. Apparently, some ne’er-do-goods managed to access the C64 BASIC programming system that came with the emulator at launch, and started coding … let’s say inappropriate things.

Developer Manomio did discover the loophole, but it was too late; by the time a new build had been submitted to Apple, the app had been dropped.

Manomio now wants to sit down with Apple and talk through the situation, and try and get its retro goodness back up as soon as possible. And so it should, for the app reached the gaming top 10 at one stage. Also, the world needs to know about Impossible Mission. Releasing a version without the BASIC system should do the trick.

Until that happens, I’d like to suggest an alternative.

[Via Pocket Gamer]

Hackers running rampant on PS3 Call of Duty 4

Chris Greenhough — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 01:10:40 +0000

I last played Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on a PS3 some months ago, and always had a riot – COD 4 is one of the most accomplished, polished online shoot-me-dos I’ve encountered.

Sadly, it’s all going to shit now.

Players of the PS3 version are complaining that the online component is now chock-full of hackers who can fly and walk through buildings with unlimited ammunition and no reloads. If you haven’t played it before, that stuff is kind of against the rules. The cheating has rapidly bloomed into something more widespread, thanks to several instructional YouTube videos popping up.

As a result, developer Infinity Ward (who, to its credit, has always listened to the community) has stepped in, Tweeting that “We hear you loud and clear and are investigating the glitchers.”

Modern Warfare 2 might be out this November (and looking like the kipper’s knickers), but I’d still expect Infinity Ward to be pretty sharp about this. You don’t want to piss off a userbase of 13 million-plus gamers.

[Hexus, via Gamestooge]

Update: T-Mobile confirms/denies breach

Kim LaCapria — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:52:57 +0000

T-Mobile has made a statement regarding the investigation into hacker claims that customer data was stolen and made available to online bidders, although more questions were raised than answered.

T-Mobile confirmed that some information included in the original post to the Full Disclosure mailing list is accurate, but insisted that there was no breach of confidential data. From T-Mobile’s statement on the matter:

Regarding the recent claim on a Web site, we’ve identified the document from which information was copied, and believe possession of this alone is not enough to cause harm to our customers. We continue to investigate the matter, and have taken additional precautionary measures to further ensure our customers’ information and our systems are protected. At this moment, we are unable to disclose additional information in order to protect the integrity of the investigation, but customers can be assured if there is any evidence that customer information has been compromised, we would inform those affected as quickly as possible.

While the company insists that customer data is safe, the nebulous nature of the statements made don’t exactly come across as reassuring. If some data is accurate, what kind of data is it? And how was it obtained? Speculation includes leaking of confidential documents and “dumpster diving” for improperly disposed of consumer data.

Details on how the data may or may not have been obtained are still under wraps pending investigation, but it seems more information is needed from T-Mobile before subscribers can rest assured.

Hackers claim T-mobile data breach, with info available to the highest bidder

Kim LaCapria — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:29:43 +0000

T-Mobile is investigating unconfirmed claims made this weekend to the Full Disclosure mailing list by hackers bragging that they’ve infiltrated company servers.

Full Disclosure is an unmoderated forum that exists to notify people of possible security vulnerabilities. The post, reading a bit like a Craigslist ad, gives scant details of the alleged breach but offers information to the highest bidder.

Like Checkpoint[,] Tmobile has been owned for some time. We have everything, their databases, confidental documents, scripts and programs from their servers, financial documents up to 2009.

We already contacted with their competitors and they didn’t show interest in buying their data -probably because the mails got to the wrong people- so now we are offering them for the highest bidder.

Please only serious offers, don’t waste our time.

Whether T-Mobile has indeed been pwned remains to be seen- but posters claiming to be former T-Mobile employees appear to be corroborating formats as matching those they worked with while in the company’s employ. Skeptics say that a large-scale attack involving such a massive amount of data would be likely better executed, however, as a buyer for the alleged data has not been found. Now that T-Mobile is aware of a potential breach, the value of any stolen data is considerably reduced.

In a statement, T-Mobile had this to say:

“Regarding the recent claim, we are fully investigating the matter. As is our standard practice, if there is any evidence that customer information has been compromised, we would inform those affected as soon as possible.”

Hackers take Citibank customers for $2 million

Steven Hodson — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:34:45 +0000

(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

It appears that back in late 2007 a Russian hacker breached the ATM server belonging to Houston based Cardtronics and monitored transactions from 7-Eleven cash machines long enough to capture thousands of account numbers and PINs. This information was then sent to people around the U.S. who burned the information onto blank mag-stripe cards and then used those cards to hit Citibank ATM machines on the New York area for about five months.

Citibank reported the breach to the FBI in February of this year at which point it was also learned that the U.S. Secret Service had been investigating a Russian by the name of Rakushchynets who they were able to tie to the Citibank heist. With the help of two previously captured cashers from the group The FBI were able to arrest two other members, Andrey Baranets and Aleksandr Desevoh.

Then in May Aleksandr Aleksiev was picked up during a stakeout while he was trying to withdraw money from a Citibank ATM. This was the same machine on the Upper East Side where $180,000 had been stolen previously.The majority of the money taken in by the group was funnelled back to Russia. While Citibank hasn’t commented on the breach they were quick to say that the Citibank customers whose accounts had been targetted wouldn’t be held responsible for fraudulent withdrawals.

Well isn’t that nice of them.

[via Kevin Paulsen - Threat Level]

Online Social Networks Now Playground for Hackers

Dominic Rivera — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 16:24:04 +0000

Computer security researchers warned that social networking websites are playgrounds for hackers, AFP reports. The report added that hackers are taking advantage of people’s trust, especially with the open platform that social networks employ, a trend started by Facbook. With an open operating platform, outside developers can create their applications and feed it to the entire network. Hackers can obviously play around with this openness.

“I can’t necessarily attack Facebook or MySpace, but I can attack their users all day long,” Computer security specialist Shawn Moyer told AFP. The specialist added that not having a social networking page does not mean that you will not be vulnerable to trouble.

So, what then do we do now? I believe that the web, not just social networks, is a playground for hackers, prying on people with their malicious codes. That’s a given and we have to live it with, unless we stop using the web (but then you have to live with real-life malicious intentions).

To avoid it, I do not make the web as my life nor do I fill my online social network account with crappy applications or widgets. Poking is enough for me.