Here’s a quick roundup of (in)security news.
Google has formed an elite security team dedicated to finding and stomping out software threats. Wired reports that Project Zero is made up of famous hackers that have exposed high-profile vulnerabilities, and they’ll be on the hunt for the big, bad bugs in Google software and elsewhere on the Internet. Google security engineer Chris Evans tells Wired that Project Zero is “primarily altruistic.”
How many ways can a spy agency hack data? Many ways, says a new Intercept report based on the Edward Snowden leaks. The tools, created by Britain’s GCHQ’s Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group, reportedly can: spoof email addresses; access private Facebook photos; change outcomes of online polls; engage in censorship by disrupting video sites; snoop on Skype messages; and more.
Russian hackers took credit for hacking into news site CNet and say they made off with the usernames, encrypted passwords and email addresses of more than 1 million users. CNet reportedly said the group wanted to sell the database of information for one bitcoin, or about $622. CNet told the BBC the “issue” has been “resolved.”
Illustration by Al Phillips/Charlotte Observer/MCT archives
