A man whom police say illegally accessed the social media account of a US citizen and then tried to blackmail them has been jailed. As well as hacking into the victim’s Instagram account, Gurvinder …
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This isn’t just another scary Halloween story but it is frightening: someone may be watching you using your security camera or doorbell.
The headline isn’t click-bait. It happens. With all of the gadgets and devices plugged into your home WiFi router, practically anything is hackable. This includes any device with a camera such as a computer web camera, nanny-cam, crib cam, security camera, and video doorbell.
It isn’t easy but hackers with knowledge and intent can certainly compromise those devices. You may be making it easier for them without even knowing it. The WiFi router, to which all smart home devices are connected, is vulnerable to hacks if the default password and user name information has never been changed.
All WiFi routers are shipped with default login information that you are asked to change once it is plugged in and connected to the internet. The trouble is, many people are too busy or forgetful to do that. Manufacturers of WiFi routers post the default logins on their website support page so people can quickly get their router up and running.
Armed with a router’s username and password (often “admin” and “password”) and directions that can be found posted on dark websites, a hacker can take control of the router and any device connected to it.
There are websites on the dark web that host dozens of hacked security cameras streaming video 24 hours a day. People in their homes totally unsuspecting they’re being watched. On YouTube, you can find videos of pranks carried out using those security cameras. Some hackers control smart TVs, garage doors, and things that go ‘beep’.
If you have smart home devices, think of what a hacker can do with them.
Think back to when you set up your WiFi router. Did you change the default user name and password? You might be asking “how do I do it now?”. The easiest way is to download the WiFi router’s app or go to the manufacturer’s website support page. Log in and make any changes necessary.
Newer routers have better security. If your router is 5…
Back in May 2021, the New York State Attorney-General issued a report on a scheme by “US Companies and Partisans [to] Hack Democracy”.
This wasn’t some light matter, but serious revelations of a concerted attack on a core element of democracy – the ability of citizens to express their freedom of speech. It’s not so much the “what” but the “how” I’m interested in.
Basically this was done by generating millions of fake comments on social media purporting to come from real citizens.
The danger is artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are making it possible to generate genuine-seeming comments at scale, drowning out the voices of real citizens in a tsunami of fake ones. What the New York report showed is that a few big telecommunications companies paid millions of dollars to specialist “AstroTurf” companies, also known as lead generators, to generate public comments.
These companies then stole people’s identities from dead files and from hacked data dumps and attached them to 9 million public comments and half a million letters to members of Congress.
All of the posts and comments basically said they supported the corporations’ position on the hotly debated policy issue of “net neutrality,” the idea that telecommunications companies must treat all Internet content equally and not prioritise any company or service.
They were discovered because the fakes were crude even identical!
Next time we may not be so lucky. By the way those “AstroTurf” companies were fined millions of dollars, but they were convicted in a civil case rather than a criminal one.
Perhaps in future lawmakers, in the interests of preserving freedom of speech, might consider these types of hacks more criminal in nature.
AI technologies are about to make it far easier to generate enormous numbers of convincing personalised comments and letters, each with its own word choices, expressive style and linguistic tones.
The people who create fake grass-roots organisations have always been enthusiastic early adopters of technology and the use of AI technology is a natural progression.
I’ll name one AI technology as an example – take Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3, or…
A Minnesota man has been charged with hacking into computer systems used by Major League Baseball and trying to extort the league for $150,000, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York said Thursday.In emails with an MLB executive, Joshua Streit, 30, threatened to publicize the vulnerability that he used to access the league’s website for streaming live games before asking for $150,000 for finding the technology flaw, according to charging documents.Streit allegedly renewed his extortion attempt in September, at a time of heightened scrutiny for the MLB as it was preparing for the playoffs. The news comes ahead of Game 3 of the World Series between the Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves.A Twitter account listed in the criminal complaint as belonging to Streit did not respond to a request for comment on Friday. James Becker, an attorney listed for Streit in court records, did not respond to requests for comment.The charges against Streit, who is also known as Josh Brody, include wire fraud, illegally hacking into a computer for the purposes of fraud and “sending interstate threats with the intent to extort.” The maximum sentence for each individual charge ranges from two to 20 years in prison.Streit is accused of illegally streaming copyrighted live games from the MLB, National Basketball Association, National Football League and the National Hockey League. To do that, prosecutors allege, Streit used stolen login credentials to access the sports’ websites and stream live games to his own website for profit.One of the sports leagues lost almost $3 million because of Streit’s actions, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a press release.A LinkedIn profile listed in the complaint as belonging to Streit describes him as a software engineer living in the Minneapolis area.During an initial court appearance Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, a judge ordered “temporary detention” for Streit pending a Nov. 1 hearing, according to court documents.A spokesperson for the MLB declined to comment. Neil Boland, the league’s chief information security officer, did not respond to requests for comment.The MLB is no stranger to…