BERLINÂ (Reuters) – A Berlin security firm has cracked the encryption code for some mobile phones using the Internet, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Wednesday, citing the company’s chief.
The discovery of a way to eavesdrop so-called General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology allows a user to read emails and observe the Internet use of a person whose phone is hacked, said Karsten Nohl, head of Security Research Labs.
“With our technology we can capture GPRS data communications in a radius of 5 km,” he told the paper before heading to a meeting of the Chaos Computer Club, a group that describes itself as Europe’s largest hacker coalition.
Phones using the newer UMTS standard are safer, Nohl said, but the crack effects industrial equipment, toll systems and anything using GPRS — including newer devices like Apple Inc’s iPhone or iPad which switch to the older GPRS in remote areas.
(Writing by Brian Rohan; Editing by Richard Chang)
Ever since reinventing himself as one of the top sluggers in baseball last season, Jose Bautista(notes) has faced questions over whether his power surge received any special help.
Now, he and his fellow Toronto Blue Jays hitters are being confronted with new accusations regarding their collective success at Rogers Centre.
An ESPN The Magazine and Outside the Lines report talked to several players from an opposing team who believe that Blue Jays batters have benefited from someone — a mysterious “man in white” — who relayed signs to them from center field, signaling what opposing pitchers are about to throw.
Read More
Stealthy, sometime long-term cyber-espionage attacks to steal sensitive proprietary information – what some now call “advanced persistent threats” (APT) – have become a top worry for businesses.
Last week the Security for Business Innovation Council, a group of 16 security leaders from companies that include eBay, Coca-Cola Company, SAP, FedEx Corp., Johnson Johnson and Northrop Grumman, summed up their thoughts on APT in a report, saying this type of attack is forcing IT to rethink network security. “Tackling advanced persistent threats means giving up the idea it’s possible to protect everything. This is no longer realistic.”
Read More
A Brookline, Mass., man has agreed to plead guilty to foreign economic espionage for providing trade secrets to an undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence official, the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Carmen Ortiz announced Friday.
Elliot Doxer, 42, a former employee with Akamai Technologies, pled guilty to providing Akamai trade secrets over the course of 18 months.
Doxer’s plea hearing is scheduled for Aug. 19. The charge of foreign economic espionage carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, a three-year term of supervised release and a $500,000 fine.
According to the FBI press release, in June 2006, Doxer “sent an email to the Israeli consulate in Boston stating that he worked in Akamai’s finance department and was willing to provide any information that might help Israel.”
He said in later communications that his desire “was to help our homeland and our war against our enemies,” and also asked for payment.
The undercover FBI agent spoke with Doxer in Sept. 2007 and established a “dead drop” where they could exchange communications.
Doxer visited the dead drop location at least 62 times to “leave information, retrieve communications or check for new communications,” between then and March 2009, the FBI press release said.
He was arrested on Oct. 6, 2010.
The U.S. Attorney’s office thanked Akamai Technology and the Israeli government for help with the investigation.
“We also acknowledge the Government of Israel for their cooperation in this investigation, and underscore that the information does not allege that the Government of Israel or anyone acting on its behalf committed any offense under U.S. laws in this case,” the press release on the plea deal said.
The Americans’ lawyer, Masoud Shafiei, had hoped that Sunday’s final court session would result in their immediate release because it coincided with the two-year anniversary of their arrest and came near the start this week of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, when pardons are traditionally handed down.Shafiei said he and the two Americans presented closing arguments in their defense and the court announced the end of its hearings.
“The judge said the court will announce its verdict about my clients within one week,” Shafiei told The Associated Press.
Read More
