Claimed Anonymous member takes plea in law firm computer hacking case

A 21-year-old who claimed to be a member of the Anonymous hacking collective took a plea Monday in a case over an alleged unauthorized intrusion into a Pittsburgh law firm’s computer. Matthew James West pleaded guilty to unlawful trafficking in computer passwords and reckless damage to a protected computer, both…

Apr 29, 2013 8:12 PM CDT

Indicted journalist is out at Reuters. Were Boston Marathon tweets a factor?

A deputy social media editor at Reuters says he has lost his job after being federally indicted on charges he helped the hacking group Anonymous deface a former employer’s news website. Matthew Keys said in a tweet and a Tumblr post that he plans to fight what he described as…

Apr 23, 2013 6:09 PM CDT

King & Spalding blocks employee access to personal email accounts, but offers an alternative

Citing security concerns, a major law firm has blocked its workers from accessing their personal email on its computers. In a memo to employees on Monday, King & Spalding said it had been advised by consultants that accessing personal email accounts such as Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail from the law…

Apr 16, 2013 7:30 PM CDT

IT workers gave federal prosecutors 540K emails in Gitmo defense lawyer directories

An order by the chief defense lawyer for Guantanamo Bay military tribunals that banned colleagues from using the Pentagon’s computer system for confidential documents and emails followed news that information technology workers for the government had shared 540,000 defense emails with prosecutors. The sharing resulted from an apparently legitimate search,…

Apr 12, 2013 7:40 PM CDT

After Pentagon computer security issues, defense lawyers ordered not to email or draft docs online

After the disappearance of multiple documents and intrusions into the Pentagon computer system used by lawyers representing terrorism defendants, both military and civilian attorneys have been ordered not to use their computers for drafting confidential documents or email. “I honestly don’t know how bad it is. All I know is…

Apr 11, 2013 8:00 PM CDT

How a $100 device can track Wi-Fi users’ online activities

John Simek threw a Pineapple into the works of online security Friday. Neither a spiky fruit nor the hand grenade nicknamed after it, the Pineapple used by the vice president of Sensei Enterprises Inc. is a device that could cause explosive damage for users of Wi-Fi to access and operate…

Apr 5, 2013 6:21 PM CDT

Unlikely allies join in a push to require warrants for access to digital communications

Apr 1, 2013 10:10 AM CDT

Should hacked firms be cybercops?

Apr 1, 2013 6:19 AM CDT

New manual applies traditional rules of war to state-sponsored Internet hacking

In what is being billed as the first effort to apply the traditional rules of war to state-sponsored hacking, a think tank has released a treatise on the legal parameters of cyberwar. In discussions that are often advisory because of the cutting-edge topic, the Tallinn Manual (named after the Estonian…

Mar 19, 2013 6:26 PM CDT

Journalist is federally charged with helping Anonymous hack into Tribune Co. website

A deputy social media editor at Reuters has been federally indicted, accused of participating in a conspiracy to help Anonymous hack into a former news company employer’s website. Matthew Keys, best-known to some by his Twitter handle, @TheMatthewKeys, is charged in a Sacramento grand jury indictment (PDF) with one count…

Mar 14, 2013 11:00 PM CDT

Google to pay $7M over Street View data scoop, critics call huge sum a pittance for Web giant

In one of the largest settlements ever reached over an Internet privacy violation involving unauthorized access into consumer accounts, Google has agreed to pay $7 million to a coalition of state attorneys general over what the search engine goliath has called an inadvertent data scoop during the compilation of photographs…

Mar 12, 2013 7:31 PM CDT

Hackers put personal info, financial data online for Eric Holder, Beyonce and others

Los Angeles police and federal authorities are investigating a website on which hackers posted apparently correct financial and/or personal contact information about a dozen well-known individuals including Mel Gibson, Beyonce and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Addresses and other sensitive information—no credit reports, though—about Vice President Joe Biden and former…

Mar 12, 2013 6:46 PM CDT

ABA responds to Superstorm Sandy with a reinforced disaster response plan

Mar 1, 2013 7:40 AM CST

In-house counsel ‘woefully unprepared’ to deal with cybersecurity issues

More than a quarter of the respondents to a 2012 general counsel survey say their companies experienced a cybersecurity breach during the last year or so. And that number may well be too low; given the expense and embarrassment associated with hacking and data security breaches, some individuals who discover…

Feb 13, 2013 2:29 PM CST

How far should companies be allowed to go to hunt cyber attackers?

Suppose a thief breaks into your house and steals your belongings. In efforts to cover his tracks, the thief hides your stuff in a neighbor’s garage. The neighbor doesn’t realize your property is in his garage, but you find it there. What do you do next–go into the neighbor’s garage…

Feb 10, 2013 1:25 AM CST