Celeb Hack Prompts FBI Investigation

The FBI has launched a probe to find out who hacked into actress Vanessa Hudgens’ Gmail account, as well as other celebrities’ personal emails, according to media reports.

After breaking into Hudgens’ account, the hacker spread nude photos and videos of the 22-year-old “High School Musical” starlet, according to gossip website TMZ.

Hudgens is reported to be just one of as many as 50 celebrities who have fallen prey to…

New UK Cyber Czar Appointed to Wrangle £650 Million Budget

The U.K.’s Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey has announced the appointment of a “very senior military officer” to spearhead the government’s cybersecurity operations group.

Speaking in the House of Commons earlier this week, Harvey reiterated the government’s focus on cybersecurity, detailed in its Strategic Defence and Security Review, published last year, eWeekEurope reported. The minister said there has been…

Cyber Commander Sees DoD Cloud Shift

While U.S. Cyber Command’s Keith Alexander testified before Congress and advocated the Defense Department’s move to cloud computing, three companies announced a strategic alliance to address the security concerns that have impeded the progress of the commander’s proposal, C4ISR Journal reported.

Alexander, who also heads the National Security Agency, told a House…

Michael Hayden: Cyber Threat Info Too Secretive

Too much information on cybersecurity vulnerabilities is classified, and it is much easier to learn about kinetic threats from federal agencies than to learn about cyber threats, according to the former head of the CIA.

Writing for the Air Force’s Strategic Studies Quarterly, retired four-star Gen. Michael Hayden discussed the future of all things…

Cyber Commander: US Has No Manpower, Authority to Fight Cyber Attack on Homeland, Allies

The U.S. military lacks educated cyber warriors and the legal authorities it needs to respond to a cyber attack on the nation or its allies, and a crisis would quickly deplete the force the U.S. does have, the chief of Cyber Command said yesterday.

Gen. Keith Alexander, who is dual hatted in his…

Embezzling Hacker Couple Gets Prison Time

On the heels of the crooked husband-wife team who made $1.5 million off defrauding eBay customer, a judge has sentenced yet another married couple to 18 months in prison for hacking into their employer’s computer and embezzling more than $120,000, according to the Justice Department.

Alabama residents Charles Allen Elliott, 38, and Carol Ann Elliott, 43, were sentenced Tuesday on forgery and computer fraud…

Anonymous Email Authors — Watch Out! New Method Can Unveil Identity

Forget about the cloak of anonymity on the Internet: Researchers from Concordia University in Canada have developed a new technique to determine the authorship of anonymous emails.

Study co-author Benjamin Fung, a professor of Information Systems Engineering at Concordia University and an expert in data mining, said the past few years…

NIST Holds Cloud Computing Forum, Workshop

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is hosting host its third Cloud Computing Forum and Workshop on April 7-8, 2011, with a speaker lineup that boasts of federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, Google Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf and NIST Director Patrick Gallagher.

Panel sessions during the…

New Yorker Pleads Guilty to Federal Copyright Violations

A New York man has pleaded guilty to violating federal copyright law by uploading a pirated copy of the movie “X-Men …

No (Tax) Break from Cyber Crooks

Death and taxes are commonly said to be two facts of life. But as more people file their taxes online, there is a third certainty to consider: cyber crooks.

With tax season in full effect, cyber crooks have crafted legitimate-looking websites and emails with IRS-related content designed to lure hapless consumers into clicking a malicious link or downloading an…