Hackers target Macs

Hey, Mac owners! Your days of smugness are about to come to an end!

After years of relative safety, the Apple Mac is becoming an increasingly tempting target for malicious computer hackers, according to a new report published this week.

Security researchers have been aware of the threat to Apple since last year, when they detected the first piece of malicious code – or “malware” – specifically designed to target Apple.

Over the past few months, however, the number of malicious programmes has increased, according to a report published this week by F-Secure, an internet security company.

“Over the past two years, we had found one or two pieces of malware targeting Macs,” said Patrik Runald, an F-Secure security researcher. “Since October, we’ve found 100-150 variants.”

Though, I'm not gloating about it since I wouldn't want to wish a virus on anyone even a smug Mac user :-)

(via)

Swedish hackers target Turkish forum

Man! Don't tick off the Swedish hackers!

Swedish hackers have retaliated against their Turkish counterparts following an attack earlier this month on some 5,000 Swedish websites.

On Saturday, a group of disgruntled hackers posted a comment to the Flashback web forum linking to a stolen database containing thousands of user names and passwords from Turkish forum Ayyildiz.

"We have chosen to leak these user details in response to the many recent attacks on Swedish web hosts and websites following the publication of a satirical drawing by Lars Vilks portraying the Muslim prophet Muhammad as a roundabout dog."

The group said that Ayyildiz was a forum used by Turkish hackers to brag about their destructive exploits on the internet.

Having stolen the identities of the Turkish users, Swedish hackers proceeded to post messages on their forum informing them of the successful security breach.

Ayyildiz was temporarily taken out of service as a result of the attack.

(via)

Homeland Security computers hacked

Our government in action:

Hackers compromised dozens of Department of Homeland Security computers, moving sensitive information to Chinese-language Web sites, congressional investigators said Monday.

Investigators pointed a finger at a government contractor, saying the firm hired to protect DHS computers tried to hide the incidents from the department.

The FBI is investigating the incidents, a congressional staffer said, and two members of Congress have asked the department's inspector general to also launch an investigation.

"The results of our [committee] investigation suggest that the department is the victim not only of cyber attacks initiated by foreign entities, but of incompetent and possibly illegal activity by the contractor charged with maintaining security on its networks," Democratic Reps. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and James Langevin of Rhode Island said in a written statement.

The lawmakers said committee investigators found dozens of DHS computers were compromised and the incidents "were not noticed until months after the initial attacks."

The extent of the damage is unclear, but a House Homeland Security Committee staff member said the hackers "took significant amounts of information."

Don't you feel safer now?