Hacktivity Draws 1000 Hackers, Security Experts to Budapest

Hacktivity 2010, the largest hackers’ conference in Eastern and Central Europe, concluded Sunday, drawing nearly 1,000 Internet security professionals and experts to attend the two-day event in Hungary’s capital Budapest.

The conference aimed at bringing together officials and computer experts from Hungary and abroad in an informal setting, mixing lectures and discussions with games and competitions such…

French Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Twitter Account Hacked

The official Twitter account of the French ministry of foreign affairs was hacked last week, sending thousands of followers a undiplomatic message about Roma people, France24 reports.

The tweet was written in English and said, ” YOU ROMANIAN PEOPLE! I HATE YOU ALL AND I WANT DESTROY EU!”

The French government has recently been criticized nationally and globally for its policy of deporting Roma to Eastern Europe. It was unclear…

Tiffany Jones of Symantec: No Longer Enough to Just Secure Infrastructure, System

Tiffany Jones joined Symantec Corporation eight and half years ago to stand up its office in Washington, D.C., and the government relations public policy and government relations team, which she ran for about seven years. More recently, she become director of Public Sector Strategy and Programs teams. In her role, she manages Symantec’s relationships with the major systems…

Raytheon Launches New Cybersecurity Product

Defense contractor Raytheon has released a new product aimed at diminishing cyber threats by monitoring employee social-networking activity and other actions.

Called SureView 6.5, the program supports organizations’ efforts to mitigate cybersecurity risks by proactively auditing end-user behavior on computer endpoints for policy violations and high-risk activity.

“Our customers face a…

NBA Star Accused of ‘Hacking’ Phone, Voicemail of Former Employee

Basketball star-turned-one-time-rapper Shaquille O’Neal has been accused of hacking the phone of a former employee and lover as well as destroying evidence by throwing a laptop into a lake–all of which the NBA star denies.

Shawn Darling, who worked as a personal computer consultant for O’Neal from 2007 to 2009, claims O’Neal hacked into his voicemail and those of an alleged former lover because he…

SafeNet, NetApp Team Up to Offer Secure Cloud-Based Storage

Information security provider SafeNet Inc and storage and data management solutions provider NetApp are joining forces to offer a new approach to storage security solutions.

“SafeNet and NetApp are working together to make data-protection solutions available inside the network extendable beyond the network as customers…

Carder Gets 6-Year Prison Sentence for Online Money Laundering Scheme

A California man who served as the head honcho for transmitting stolen money to hackers and carders in East Europe and globally was sentenced yesterday to 72 months in prison for conspiring to launder money.

Cesar Carranza, aka “uBuyWeRush,” participated in the money laundering conspiracy from Long Beach, between April 2004 to November 2006, and received cash deposits from carders. Carranza used various ways to launder proceeds of the illegal…

William J. Lynn: NATO Perfect Platform to Fight Cyber Threat

Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III said yesterday he is encouraged by the sense of purpose on cybersecurity he received from NATO members during his visit to Brussels, Belgium.

“It seemed to me to be broadly held that NATO needs to make a strong commitment in this area,” he…

Shawn Henry to Head FBI Cyber Crime Branch

Shawn Henry has been named the new executive assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch, Director Robert S. Mueller, III announced yesterday.

“I am confident that under Shawn’s leadership, CCRSB will continue to sharpen its strategic focus and coordinated efforts with state, local, and…

Chinese Botnet Herders Offer ‘Commercial’ DDoS Services

Researchers have identified a new botnet based in China that was openly advertising DDoS-for-hire services and had managed to plant roots inside a number of major U.S. ISPs.

Damballa researchers discovered the botnet known as IMDDOD a few months ago when coming across suspect domains while investigating another incident. They traced the domains back to a single domain in China. The more they looked into the botnet, the more…