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Electric Monk

(13,869 posts)
Wed Jun 29, 2016, 01:51 PM Jun 2016

How even the FTC's lead technologist can get hacked - Wired

(cross-posted from GD)

Lorrie Cranor wasn’t too worried when her phone died a few weeks ago. Dropped calls are as common as delayed trains and cracked screens. The next morning, it was still dead. Her husband’s was too. And that’s how the chief technologist of the Federal Trade Commission discovered that someone hijacked her mobile account.

Cranor is not just tech-savvy. She’s a digital security guru, a Carnegie Mellon University professor who specializes in passwords and authentication. And she is a reminder that identity theft can happen to anyone. Even the experts.
Account Override

Here’s what happened to Cranor, as best as she can tell: A woman walked into a retail carrier store in Ohio, identified herself as Lorrie Cranor and bought two Apple iPhones on an installment plan. She billed them to Cranor’s account and walked away. That’s all it took. No elaborate Ocean’s Eleven plot, no fanciful Swordfish hacking.

more
http://www.wired.com/2016/06/even-ftcs-lead-technologist-can-get-hacked/


Fraud Alert: ID thieves hijack mobile phone accounts

Identity thieves have come up with another devious way to make money by pretending to be someone else — hijacking mobile phone accounts.

While a common criminal might try to snatch your smartphone for some quick cash, these clever crooks take over your wireless account.

(snip)

By taking control of your mobile account, a fraudster can buy new equipment, such as expensive smartphones, bill them to your account and then sell them.

“This type of fraud is a form of money laundering,” said Robert Siciliano, CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com. “They’re turning someone’s personal information into cash by buying the phones and then selling them.”

more
http://counton2.com/2016/06/29/fraud-alert-id-thieves-hijack-mobile-phone-accounts/
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How even the FTC's lead technologist can get hacked - Wired (Original Post) Electric Monk Jun 2016 OP
Anybody can be hacked, the web is not a safe place. nt bemildred Jun 2016 #1
"He Was a Hacker for the NSA and He Was Willing to Talk. I Was Willing to Listen." bemildred Jun 2016 #2
I can't wait for driverless cars! marble falls Jun 2016 #3
Fear and Brexit in Tech City: Digital 'elite' are having a nervous breakdown bemildred Jun 2016 #4

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
2. "He Was a Hacker for the NSA and He Was Willing to Talk. I Was Willing to Listen."
Wed Jun 29, 2016, 02:15 PM
Jun 2016

The message arrived at night and consisted of three words: “Good evening sir!”

The sender was a hacker who had written a series of provocative memos at the National Security Agency. His secret memos had explained — with an earthy use of slang and emojis that was unusual for an operative of the largest eavesdropping organization in the world — how the NSA breaks into the digital accounts of people who manage computer networks, and how it tries to unmask people who use Tor to browse the web anonymously. Outlining some of the NSA’s most sensitive activities, the memos were leaked by Edward Snowden, and I had written about a few of them for The Intercept.

There is no Miss Manners for exchanging pleasantries with a man the government has trained to be the digital equivalent of a Navy SEAL. Though I had initiated the contact, I was wary of how he might respond. The hacker had publicly expressed a visceral dislike for Snowden and had accused The Intercept of jeopardizing lives by publishing classified information. One of his memos outlined the ways the NSA reroutes (or “shapes”) the internet traffic of entire countries, and another memo was titled “I Hunt Sysadmins.” I felt sure he could hack anyone’s computer, including mine.

Good evening sir!

https://theintercept.com/2016/06/28/he-was-a-hacker-for-the-nsa-and-he-was-willing-to-talk-i-was-willing-to-listen/

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
4. Fear and Brexit in Tech City: Digital 'elite' are having a nervous breakdown
Thu Jun 30, 2016, 08:11 AM
Jun 2016
Comment As Brexit sends London's tech sector and Silicon Roundabout into post-traumatic shock, and protesters out onto the streets of London, inventor Andrew Fentem wonders "what sort of hippy free-for-all is this anyway?"

While some sections of the British press celebrate the Brexit vote in the UK, in the technology press there has been much gnashing of teeth and rending of garments.

Forbes interviewed a clearly traumatised Brent Hoberman – of Lastminute.com fame – who seems to be in need of a reassuring cuddle: "People feeling rejection. I think this is what the Leave campaign underestimated: the psychology of rejecting openness."

---

Preening international elitists like Hoberman are exactly what Brexit voters so dislike. While the self-styled “digital elite” talk in therapy-speak about European peace, love, and understanding, they are masking their true motivation – which is the freedom to exploit low-cost mobile tech labour. Cheap labour was the top reason cited by Tech City startups for voting Remain.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/30/andrew_fentem_silicon_roundabout_brexit/
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