SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — The official Twitter accounts of Apple, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and others were hijacked on Wednesday by scammers trying to dupe people into sending cryptocurrency bitcoin, in a massive hack of the social media platform. The list of accounts commandeered simultaneously grew rapidly to include Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Uber, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, bitcoin specialty firms and many others. Posts, which were largely deleted, were fired off from […]
Tag: hacking
China rejects US claim of attempted vaccine theft as ‘smearing’
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Beijing accused the United States on Thursday of smearing China after Washington alleged Chinese hackers were attempting to steal research on developing a vaccine against the coronavirus. The claims have added fuel to tensions between the global superpowers, who have traded barbs over the origin of the pandemic that has killed 300,000 people. US authorities said Wednesday that Chinese hackers were trying to obtain coronavirus data on treatments and vaccines, warning […]
US girds for cyber threats from Iran as military clash fears ebb
by Rob Lever Agence France Presse Iran is widely expected to ramp up cyberattacks against the United States in response to the US killing of a top Iranian leader this month even as fears have receded about a military confrontation between the two countries. The simmering tensions since the US drone attack that killed Qasem Soleimani, who was by some measures the second most influential person in Iran, make it likely that Iran will seek […]
Facebook investigating data exposure of 267 million users
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Facebook on Thursday said it is investigating a report that a database containing names and phone numbers of more than 267 million users was exposed online. The database was made available for download last week on an online hacker forum that apparently belonged to a crime group, according to a blog post on the website Comparitech. “We are looking into this issue, but believe this is likely information obtained […]
Microsoft says Iran hackers targeted US presidential campaign
(FILES) In this file photo taken on November 27, 2017 the French headquarters of US multinational technology company Microsoft is seen in Issy-Les-Moulineaux, a Paris’ suburb. – Microsoft on Friday said a hacker group linked to Iran unleashed cyber attacks on US journalists, government officials and accounts associated with a US presidential campaign. (Photo by Martin BUREAU / AFP) SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Microsoft on Friday said a hacker group linked to […]
Gatchalian urges DICT to probe April 1 hacking of websites of AFP, other gov’t agencies, schools
(Eagle News) – Senate Sherwin Gatchalian urged the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to “make a thorough investigation” of the widespread hacking of a large number of websites of the government, military and educational institutions last April 1. The attack was allegedly made by the hacking group Pinoy LulzSec as part of it’s “April Fools Day” prank. The group leaked databases from the Philippine Army, and also hacked into the websites of […]
EU probes hack of ‘thousands’ of diplomatic cables
by Damon Wake Agence France Presse BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The EU announced an urgent investigation Wednesday after hackers with possible links to China accessed thousands of sensitive diplomatic cables. In the latest embarrassing data breach to hit a major international organisation, the New York Times reported that hackers using similar techniques to the Chinese military gained entry to EU communications. The cables from European Union diplomatic missions around the world reveal anxiety about how […]
Facebook says no sign recent hack spread to other apps
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Facebook on Tuesday said hackers who stole digital keys to tens of millions of accounts appear not to have tampered with third-party applications linked to the social network. Facebook engineers analyzed logs of outside applications and found no sign of trouble, according to product management vice president Guy Rosen. “That investigation has so far found no evidence that the attackers accessed any apps using Facebook Login,” Rosen said in […]
Up to 50 million Facebook accounts breached in attack
By Glenn Chapman Agence France Presse Facebook revealed on Friday that up to 50 million accounts were breached by hackers, dealing a blow to the social network’s effort to convince users to trust it with their data. The social network is investigating the extent of harm done when hackers exploited a trio of software flaws to steal “access tokens,” the equivalent of digital keys that enable people to automatically log back into the social network. […]
Singapore says hackers stole 1.5 m health records, including those of PM Lee, in record cyber attack;
SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Hackers have stolen health records belonging to 1.5 million Singaporeans, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong who was specifically targeted in the city state’s biggest ever data breach, authorities said Friday. Singapore’s health and information ministries said a government database was broken into in a “deliberate, targeted and well-planned” strike, describing the attack as “unprecedented”. “Attackers specifically and repeatedly targeted the personal particulars and outpatient information of Prime Minister Lee […]
Russia targeted by almost 25 million cyber-attacks during World Cup: Putin
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia was the target of almost 25 million cyber-attacks during the World Cup, President Vladimir Putin said, though he did not indicate who may have been behind the attacks. “During the period of the World Cup, almost 25 million cyber-attacks and other criminal acts on the information structures in Russia, linked in one way or another to the World Cup, were neutralised,” Putin said during a meeting on Sunday with […]
Snapchat aims to spread reach to other apps
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Snapchat messaging service on Thursday set out to spread its reach, and panache, to other smartphone apps with a software kit that promised to share little data about users. Parent company Snap said people will be able to use Snapchat credentials to sign into apps the way they might do using Facebook or Google credentials, while strictly limiting access to personal data or activity tracking. The software kit […]





