SOME OF HACKER UPDATES

Aaron's Law would revamp computer fraud penalties

Two U.S. lawmakers have introduced a bill that would prevent the Department of Justice from prosecuting people for violating terms of service for Web-based products, website notices or employment agreements under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).

Pirate Bay co-founder sentenced to two years in prison for hacking

Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg has been sentenced to two years in prison by a District Court in Sweden for multiple data intrusions, attempted aggravated fraud and aggravated fraud.

Microsoft tacks up first wanted poster, debuts temp bounty for IE11 bugs

Microsoft on Wednesday backpedaled from a long-standing refusal to pay bug bounties when it announced a temporary program for the beta of Internet Explorer 11 (IE11).

Java 7 Update fixes 40 security issues, turns on certificate revocation check

Oracle addressed 40 security issues in Java and enabled online certificate revocation checking by default in its scheduled critical patch update for Java on Tuesday.

Source code for Carberp financial malware is for sale at bargain price

The source code for the Carberp banking Trojan program is being offered for sale on the underground market at a very affordable price, which could result in additional Carberp-based financial malware being developed in the future, according to researchers from Russian cybercrime investigations firm Group-IB.

Swedish court OKs Pirate Bay co-founder Svartholm Warg's extradition to Denmark

The Swedish Nacka District Court has ruled that Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg may be extradited to Denmark to face hacking charges, the court confirmed Tuesday.

U.K. spy agency reportedly snooped on delegates at G20 meetings in '09

British intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) reportedly intercepted the electronic communications of foreign politicians during G20 meetings that took place in London in 2009.

More malware is traveling on P2P networks these days

Hackers have found a devious new way to disseminate malware: They're using peer-to-peer networks.

US charges eight with multimillion-dollar cybercrime

U.S. federal prosecutors charged eight people on Wednesday in connection with a multimillion-dollar fraud that siphoned money from hacked accounts at banks and financial institutions, laundered it and sent it overseas.

Chinese seller of pirated software sentenced to 12 years in US prison

The operator of a website that sold more than US$100 million worth of pirated software to customers worldwide was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in a U.S. federal prison.

Scope of NSA's phone data snooping is 'breathtaking'

Although U.S. government officials said the NSA's efforts to secretly collect phone records of millions of Verizon customers is nothing new, reports about its size confirmed long-standing fears among privacy and civil rights advocates.

Microsoft, US feds disrupt Citadel botnet network

Microsoft and the FBI have taken aim at a botnet network based on malware called Citadel that is held responsible for stealing personal online banking information and identities.

Cyberespionage campaign 'NetTraveler' siphoned data from hundreds of high-profile targets, researchers say

An ongoing cyberespionage campaign compromised over 350 high-profile victims from more than 40 countries over the past eight years, including political activists, research centers, governmental institutions, embassies, military contractors and private companies from various industries.

Possibly related DDoS attacks cause DNS hosting outages

Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that could be related have in the past few days slammed the DNS servers of at least three providers of domain name management and DNS hosting services.

LinkedIn aims to block hackers with two-factor login

Add LinkedIn to the list of Internet companies trying to make themselves safer from cyberattacks by adding two-step authentication.

Drupal resets account passwords after detecting unauthorized access

Drupal.org has reset account passwords after it found unauthorized access to information on its servers.

Private retaliation in cyberspace a 'remarkably bad idea'

Despite the growing threat of state-sponsored cyberattacks launched from China and other countries, U.S companies should not be allowed to fight back on their own, security experts say.

Anonymous member pleads guilty to Stratfor hack

A former member of a band of hackers faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to a single computer hacking charge.

US weapons system designs were reportedly viewed by Chinese hackers

The designs for more than two dozen advanced U.S. weapon systems, including missile defenses, combat aircraft and ships, were reportedly accessed by Chinese hackers.

Commission wants to turn tables on IP thieves by crippling PCs with extortion-style lock-outs

Buried in a 100-page report issued last week by the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property was a recommendation to copy a tactic cyber scammers use to extort money from innocent victims.