Tag Archives: hackers

Deepfake scammer walks off with $25 million in first-of-its-kind AI heist

reader comments 48 On Sunday, a report from the South China Morning Post revealed a significant financial loss suffered by a multinational company’s Hong Kong office, amounting to HK$200 million (US$25.6 million), due to a sophisticated scam involving deepfake technology. The scam featured a digitally recreated version of the company’s chief financial officer, along with… Read More »

A startup allegedly “hacked the world.” Then came the censorship—and now the backlash.

reader comments 15 Hacker-for-hire firms like NSO Group and Hacking Team have become notorious for enabling their customers to spy on vulnerable members of civil society. But as far back as a decade ago in India, a startup called Appin Technology and its subsidiaries allegedly played a similar cyber-mercenary role while attracting far less attention.… Read More »

What are “drainer smart contracts” and why is the FBI warning of them?

Getty Images reader comments 61 with The FBI is advising potential NFT buyers to be on the lookout for malicious websites that use “drainer smart contracts” to surreptitiously loot cryptocurrency wallets. The websites present themselves as outlets for legitimate NFT projects that provide new offerings. They’re promoted by compromised social media accounts belonging to known… Read More »

White House challenges hackers to break top AI models at DEF CON 31

Enlarge / An AI-generated image of the White House in front of a cybernetic background. Midjourney reader comments 22 with On Thursday, the White House announced a surprising collaboration between top AI developers, including OpenAI, Google, Antrhopic, Hugging Face, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Stability AI, to participate in a public evaluation of their generative AI systems… Read More »

North Korean hackers target security researchers with a new backdoor

Getty Images reader comments 14 with Share this story Threat actors connected to the North Korean government have been targeting security researchers in a hacking campaign that uses new techniques and malware in hopes of gaining a foothold inside the companies the targets work for, researchers said. Researchers from security firm Mandiant said on Thursday… Read More »

Redditor discovers legendary 1956 computer in grandparents’ basement

Enlarge / The LGP-30 computer, from 1956, that a Redditor found in a basement. Share this story On Monday, a German Redditor named c-wizz announced that they had found a very rare 66-year-old Librascope LGP-30 computer (and several 1970 DEC PDP-8/e computers) in their grandparents’ basement. The LGP-30, first released in 1956, is one of… Read More »

Omnipotent BMCs from Quanta remain vulnerable to critical Pantsdown threat

Getty Images reader comments 33 with 32 posters participating Share this story In January 2019, a researcher disclosed a devastating vulnerability in one of the most powerful and sensitive devices embedded into modern servers and workstations. With a severity rating of 9.8 out of 10, the vulnerability affected a wide range of baseboard management controllers… Read More »

US and its allies say Russia waged cyberattack that took out satellite network

reader comments 61 with 46 posters participating Share this story The US and European Union on Tuesday said Russia was responsible for a cyberattack in February that crippled a satellite network in Ukraine and neighboring countries, disrupting communications and a wind farm used to generate electricity. The February 24 attack unleashed wiper malware that destroyed… Read More »

Microsoft seizes domains used by “highly sophisticated” hackers in China

Enlarge / Computer chip with Chinese flag, 3d conceptual illustration. reader comments 66 with 40 posters participating Share this story Microsoft said it has seized control of servers that a China-based hacking group was using to compromise targets that align with that country’s geopolitical interests. The hacking group, which Microsoft has dubbed Nickel, has been… Read More »