Today’s Cyberthreats: Tehran Threatened, iPhone Pawned
Each weekday, TechNewsDaily’s colleagues at SecurityNewsDaily give us a roundup on what’s worrying the guardians of cyberspace. Here’s what’s happening:
TEHRAN THREATENED: The “hacktivists” of Anonymous, pleased with their denial-of-service attacks on government websites in Tunisia and Egypt, are aiming at a new target: Iran. According to the talk in Anonymous chat rooms, a massive barrage of malformed requests for data will try to take down the Tehran regime’s most visible websites beginning at 1 p.m. EST Friday (Feb. 11).
SNEAKING AROUND: Five global energy companies had their systems penetrated by shadowy hackers, probably based in China, who were looking for trade secrets as well as ways to compromise oil- and gas-field production systems. Security firm McAfee, which reported the attacks, dubbed the operation “Night Dragon.”
IPHONE PAWNED: In six minutes, two German researchers managed to get vital data out of a password-locked iPhone – including the password itself. There’s a nifty video showing how they did it.
CYBERCRIME FOR DUMMIES: Making money off Internet scams has never been easier, according to a report from PandaLabs. An entire shadow economy develops, markets, sells and supports off-the-shelf hacking tools that let literally anyone become a cybercriminal.
