computer network security
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DOJ: Former NSA Operatives Worked as Cyber-Mercenaries, Helping Hack U.S. Systems
Former U.S. intelligence operatives are facing federal charges after allegedly having worked as cyber-mercenaries for the United Arab Emirates. The men, all of whom are ex-employees of the National Security Agency, are accused of helping the UAE government to break into computer systems all over the world, including some in the U.S., newly unsealed court…
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PunkSpider — the Search Engine for Web Exploits — Rises From the Dead
One of the web’s most controversial cybersecurity projects is being brought back to life next week. PunkSpider — essentially a tool that crawls the internet to create a searchable database of hackable sites across the web — is being resurfaced at next week’s Defcon cybersecurity conference, WIRED reports. This is the first time people will…
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Security Flaws Could Allow Hackers to Change Certified PDF Contracts
Researchers recently discovered security flaws in PDFs that could allow a savvy hacker to surreptitiously manipulate or deface the contents of certified documents. While the vulnerabilities in question have already been patched by most reader applications, the new research provides a weird little look at how online goons could mess with your docs, should they…
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Researchers Take Down Botnet Pretending to Be Millions of People Watching TV
Fraudsters operate off the assumption that it’s way more profitable to think up byzantine ways to cheat people out of money than it is to just, like, work hard and ask for a promotion occasionally. For instance: an Israeli tech company is currently accused of using a very convoluted method to screw advertisers out of…