News in the Legal category

Judge: It's OK If Best Buy's Geek Squad Nerds Search Your PC for Illegal Content

A judge presiding over a child pornography case that was set in motion in 2012 has ruled that users have no legal expectation of privacy when they hand over their computers to Best Buy's Geek Squad IT technicians.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- May 22, 2017
- 06:45 PM
- 3
Security Guard Hacks and Trashes Company Servers After Quitting His Job

A California judge has found Yovan Garcia, a former security guard, guilty for hacking his former employer, stealing proprietary software, and trashing the company network after he resigned and left his job.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- May 17, 2017
- 12:40 PM
- 2
Security Researcher and Alleged Spam Operator to Square Off in Court in Ugly Lawsuit

River City Media, an email marketing company that was reported last month as allegedly one of the world's largest spam operators, has filed a lawsuit against the security researcher who made the revelations.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- May 01, 2017
- 02:35 PM
- 4
Lawsuit Brewing Over Unfixed Bug in Intel Puma 6 CPUs

An unpatched bug in the firmware of Intel Puma 6 chipsets — used within several models of gigabit cable modems — is causing latency issues, and may also be used to knock devices offline via a gentle packet stream.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- May 01, 2017
- 12:10 AM
- 1
Italian Botnet Operator Who Allegedly Made Over $325,000 Extradited to the US

US officials successfully extradited a 30-year-old Italian man for his role in creating and running a botnet of hacked servers.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- April 28, 2017
- 04:35 PM
- 0
Fitbit and Facebook Data Helps Crack Murder Case

Modern technology played a crucial role in cracking a murder case that took place in December 2015, in Ellington, Tolland County, Connecticut.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- April 26, 2017
- 09:50 AM
- 2
Former Sysadmin Accused of Planting "Time Bomb" in Company's Database

Allegro MicroSystems LLC is suing a former IT employee for sabotaging its database using a "time bomb" that deleted crucial financial data in the first week of the new fiscal year.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- April 13, 2017
- 03:20 PM
- 3
Crooks Founded Two ISPs to Hide Illegal TV Streaming Platform

A group of criminals went as far as to register and manage two Internet Service Providers in two different countries in order to manage an illegal TV streaming platform that offered IPTV (IP Television) service to customers all over the world.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- April 06, 2017
- 10:00 AM
- 0
Amazon to Refund $70 Million of Unauthorized In-App Charges Made by Children

Amazon and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have agreed to drop all ongoing litigation, paving the way for Amazon to refund over $70 million to customers whose kids made unauthorized in-app purchases.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- April 06, 2017
- 06:52 AM
- 2
Raging Sysadmin Shuts Down Company Servers, Deletes System Files

A former sysadmin is facing up to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 after he used a backdoor account and sabotaged his former employer on the day he was fired.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- March 31, 2017
- 04:43 AM
- 0
Users File Class Action Lawsuit Against Microsoft over Botched Windows 10 Upgrades

Three angry Windows 10 users have filed a lawsuit against Microsoft over botched Windows 10 upgrades, which plaintiffs claim destroyed their data, damaged computers, and incurred lost time and money.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- March 25, 2017
- 04:16 PM
- 12
Indiana Ransomware Bill Would Send Crooks to Prison for up to 6 Years

A new Indiana bill plans to make ransomware attacks a crime on its own punishable with a sentence from one to six years in prison, and a maximum fine of up to $10,000.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- March 20, 2017
- 11:25 AM
- 2
Former IT Admin Accused of Leaving Backdoor Account, Accessing It 700+ Times

An Oregon sportswear company is suing its former IT administrator, alleging he left backdoor accounts on their network and used them more than 700 times to search for information for the benefit of its new employer.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- March 18, 2017
- 07:32 AM
- 0
US Charges Four Hackers in Yahoo 2014 Security Breach, Including Two FSB Agents

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) charged four suspects today for orchestrating the 2014 Yahoo data breach during which attackers stole details for over 500 million Yahoo users.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- March 15, 2017
- 01:24 PM
- 1
Anonymous Hacker Who Exposed Steubenville Rape Case Gets Two Years in Prison

One of the Anonymous hackers who exposed the Steubenville High School rape case in 2012, was sentenced yesterday to two years in prison by a judge in Lexington, Kentucky.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- March 09, 2017
- 05:43 AM
- 7
FCC Blocks Privacy Rules That Prevented ISPs From Selling User Data

The FCC announced it suspended the coming into effect of regulation aimed at improving user Internet privacy, which would have blocked Internet service providers from selling private user data to advertisers without their specific consent.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- March 09, 2017
- 01:21 AM
- 1
Proposed Bill Will Allow Victims to Hack Their Attackers to Stop Cyber-Attacks

The US is discussing new legislation that will allow victims of ongoing cyber-attacks to fight back against hackers by granting more powers to entities under attack in regards to the defensive measures they can take.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- March 06, 2017
- 10:37 AM
- 1
Sysadmin Says He Was "Authorized" to Damage Employer's Network

Michael Thomas, a systems administrators who was convicted in 2016 for destroying his employer's network before resigning his job, has filed an appeal in which his lawyers are arguing that in reality he actually was authorized to trash the company's IT network, in a criminal case that might change the way judges look at the CFAA.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- March 01, 2017
- 11:40 AM
- 3
Mininova Torrent Portal Will Be Shutting Down on April 4th, 2017

Mininova, a veteran of the torrenting scene, announced today it was shutting down via a message on its homepage, closing its doors after 13 years of existence.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- February 26, 2017
- 04:40 PM
- 2
EU Unimpressed with Upcoming Windows 10 Privacy Controls

EU's main privacy watchdog has expressed displeasure with Microsoft's new privacy controls that the company announced last month and plans to ship with Windows 10 Creators Update, scheduled for launch later in April.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- February 23, 2017
- 03:17 PM
- 2