David Zwier reports: The US Supreme Court granted certiorari [order list, PDF] in three cases Monday, including a dispute over a settlement in a Google privacy case and a Missouri death penalty case. In Frank v. Gaos [docket; cert. petition, PDF], the question before the court is, “in what circumstances a cy pres award of…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
A former hacker reveals what he’s learned about cybersecurity
Jennifer Schlesinger reports: Russian hackers are notorious for their hacking skills, but one American says he hacked a Russian cyber gang at just 15 years old. Eric Taylor, who went by the nickname Cosmo the God, also posted personal information of celebrities and government officials, including Michelle Obama, former CIA director John Brennan, Kim Kardashian…
Hackers Scan the Web for Vulnerable WebLogic Servers After Oracle Botches Patch
Catalin Cimpanu reports: For more than a week hackers have started scanning the Internet, searching for machines running Oracle WebLogic servers. Scans started after April 17, when Oracle published its quarterly Critical Patch Update (CPU) security advisory. The April 2018 CPU contained a patch for CVE-2018-2628, a vulnerability in the WLS core component of WebLogic,…
Equifax has spent $242.7 million on its data breach so far
Larry Dignan reports: Equifax’s first quarter earnings report highlighted expenses due to its September 2017 data breach and how the spending is shifting more toward IT and security. In its first quarter earnings report, Equifax outlined that it spent $45.7 million for the three months ended March 31 on IT and data security. The company…
1 Million US Children Affected by Identity Theft Last Year, Infuriating Study Finds
Dell Cameron reports: It’s never too early to have your identity stolen, unfortunately. More than 1 million children in the United States were affected by identity theft last year, according to a new study highlighting what’s easily the most overlooked demographic impacted by breaches of personally identifiable information. The study, released Tuesday by Javelin Strategy…
Hackers built a ‘master key’ for millions of hotel rooms
Zack Whittaker reports: Security researchers have built a master key that exploits a design flaw in a popular and widely used hotel electronic lock system, allowing unfettered access to every room in the building. The electronic lock system, known as Vision by VingCard and built by Swedish lock manufacturer Assa Abloy, is used in more…