The developers behind Stuxnet, the computer worm that damaged an Iranian nuclear plant in 2010, began their work on the malware earlier than previously known and experimented with multiple attack techniques, according to new research by Symantec Corp. Stuxnet, which tampered...
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A technician works at the Uranium Conversion Facility outside the city of Isfahan, 255 miles south of the capital Tehran, Iran, in 2007.
Stuxnet Had Earlier, Potentially Explosive Version, Symantec Says
Photograph by Bradley C. Bower/Bloomberg
The control room at Exelon Corp.'s Limerick nuclear power generating station in Pennsylvania.
Control-Systems Bugs Jump After Stuxnet Nuclear Plant Attack
Control systems are a dream for hackers and Hollywood script-writers. They run power plants, dams, train lines and traffic lights — and they’re becoming more vulnerable to attacks that can inflict spectacular, physical destruction. According to research released today by...
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China has been the top source of cyber-attack traffic since the last quarter of 2011, according to a study by Akamai.
One-Third of Cyber Attack Traffic Originates in China, Akamai Says
About one-third of the world’s cyber attack traffic was traced back to China, according to a report by Akamai Technologies to be published today. Between July and September of last year, about 33 percent of the attacks originated in China, double...
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Aaron Swartz, left, has a working lunch outside in Cambridge, Mass. in 2007.
Berners-Lee Calls Aaron Swartz’s Prosecution ‘Travesty of Justice’
Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, said today that the prosecution of Aaron Swartz, an Internet activist who killed himself while facing computer-fraud charges, was a “travesty of justice.” Berners-Lee made the remarks in an interview after a...
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Medical devices such as mammography machines can be vulnerable to hacking attacks.
Many Doctors Don’t Secure Medical Devices From Hackers, Study Finds
Your doctor’s office likely doesn’t have any digital security for its mammography machines, heart pumps and other devices that are vulnerable to hacking, according to a new study. In a survey of 80 health care organizations in the U.S., the...
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Experian, the credit-reporting giant, is being probed by Irish authorities after a series of data breaches.
Experian U.S. Data Breaches Prompt Investigation by Irish Regulators
Experian Plc, the credit-reporting giant with financial information on more than 740 million consumers, is being investigated by Irish regulators in the wake of a series of breaches of the company’s databases. The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, which...
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The vote-by-e-mail idea came about as a result of the destruction leveled on New Jersey by Hurricane Sandy.
New Jersey Election Official Uses Hotmail to Collect Voter Ballots
As if voting by e-mail weren’t insecure enough, an election official in New Jersey has now instructed citizens who can’t get their ballots through to swamped government e-mail servers to send them instead to his personal Hotmail account, according to BuzzFeed. You...
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The FBI informed Coca-Cola that sensitive deal information had been taken from the computer account of Paul Etchells.
How a Coca-Cola Exec Fell for a Hacker’s E-mail Trick
In the annals of what-was-I-thinking moments in computer security, this has to be one of the most gobsmacking. According to a Bloomberg News investigation of a series of undisclosed corporate data breaches, Coca-Cola was deeply penetrated by hackers in 2009 in...
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Security firm Imperva found social media sites were a hot topic in hacker forums, including the sale of Facebook "likes."
With Friends Like These: Hacker Forums Focus on Facebook, Twitter
What do hackers talk about when they think nobody’s listening? According to a new analysis of 18 hacker forums from around the world, the answer often is: your Facebook and Twitter accounts. An examination of popular hacker chat rooms by...
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Hackers are attacking businesses, such as banks and auto dealers, that rely on reporting agencies for background credit checks.
Experian Customers Unsafe as Hackers Steal Credit Report Data
When hackers broke into computers at Abilene Telco Federal Credit Union last year, they gained access to sensitive financial information on people from far beyond the bank’s home in west-central Texas. The cyberthieves broke into an employee’s computer in September...
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