The NSA Is Training 13 Teams of Covert Hackers to Attack Other Countries

Gizmodo.com - For the first time, the United States has officially disclosed plans to develop counterattack measures against foreign nations' cyberattacks. General Keith Alexander, chief of the military's Cyber Command and the NSA, told Congress yesterday the military is training 13 teams of programmers and computer experts to carry out offensive attacks.

As disclosures to Congress go, this is about as ass-kicking as you can get:

"I would like to be clear that this team, this defend-the-nation team, is not a defensive team," Gen. Keith Alexander, who runs both the National Security Agency and the new Cyber Command, told the House Armed Services Committee. "This is an offensive team that the Defense Department would use to defend the nation if it were attacked in cyberspace. Thirteen of the teams that we're creating are for that mission alone."

There will be an additional 27 teams that will be focused on surveillance and training. These defensive teams will "monitor incoming traffic to the United States through private 'Internet service providers'". That sounds ominous, and there will obviously be a lot of back and forth about what can be done legally, and what is actually being done. But cyberattacks like Stuxnet and Shady Rat are evidence enough that the government needs to take very seriously.

So a bunch of dweebs/hackers/assassins in Fort Meade, Maryland, are going to be our defense against digital destruction. Though, it's fun to imagine them as captured hackers deployed Weapon X Style.

Burger King Twitter Account Hacked

Huffingtonpost.com - This is exactly why you don't give the Hamburglar your Twitter password...

Someone apparently hacked Burger King's Twitter account on Monday and changed its photo to the McDonald's logo and name "McDonalds." The hacker then claimed Burger King was sold to McDonald's, and then posted a host of raunchy messages.

The account's bio was also changed to: "Just got sold to McDonalds because the whopper flopped =[ FREDOM IS FAILURE."

The perpetrator referenced several internet hacker groups, including LulzSec, Anonymous and DFNTSC.

About an hour after the wayward tweets began, the fast food chain's account was suspended. A company spokesman told the AP that they reached out to Twitter to have the account frozen.

According to BuzzFeed, Burger King released the following statement:

It has come to our attention that the Twitter account of the BURGER KING® brand has been hacked. We have worked directly with administrators to suspend the account until we are able to re-establish our legitimate site and authentic postings. We apologize to our fans and followers who have been receiving erroneous tweets about other members of our industry and additional inappropriate topics.

Here are a few screenshots for posterity:

Alasan Grup Hacker Dukung Pembobol PlayStation 3

Detik.com - Kelompok hacker bernama Anonymous rela pasang badan demi pembobol PlayStation 3, GeoHot. Bukan tanpa alasan, melainkan demi membela beberapa poin yang mereka anggap benar.

Nama kelompok peretas Anonymous mulai mencuat pasca penutupan situs Wikileaks. Sejak itu grup ini mulai menyerang beberapa situs yang dianggap tidak membela kepentingan masyarakat. Sebut saja penyerangan situs Amazon usai mendepak Wikileaks, dilanjutkan dengan penyerangan ke Mastercard dan Visa. 

Kisruh antara Sony dengan GeoHot pun tampaknya menarik simpatik Anonymous. Grup hacker ini berjanji akan melakukan pembalasan terhadap Sony dengan menyerang ke beberapa situs milik raksasa elektronik tersebut.

"Kita tidak bisa, dan tidak akan membiarkan Sony untuk menyensor informasi. Jika kita membeli sesuatu, itu akan menjadi milik kita. Kita bebas memperlakukannya dengan cara apapun yang kita suka," tulis Anonymous Seperti yang dikutip detikINET dari pastebin, Senin (4/4/2011).

Selain itu Anonymous juga menuliskan beberapa poin di balik aksi dukungan mereka terhadap GeoHot, antara lain:

• Jailbreak di iPhone adalah legal, dan pengadilan pun menolak ini diperkarakan.
• Tuntutan terhadap modifikasi Xbox 360 juga ditolak pengadilan, padahal kasusnya sama dengan GeoHot.
• GeoHot harusnya di pengadilan sipil, bukan di pengadilan pidana.
• Hakim coba memidahkan persidangan dari New Jersey (tempat tinggal GeoHot) ke California, di mana posisi Sony akan lebih kuat.
• Modifikasi yang dilakukan GeoHot hanya mengembalikan fitur kompatibilitas PS3 terhadap Linux yang sejak pertama ada.
• GeoHot tidak pernah menggunakan layanan PlayStation Network karena ia tidak setuju dengan perjanjian di dalamnya.

"Biggest Military Hack of All Time" Was Done Over a 56k Connection

Gary McKinnon, the British hacker who broke into military computers looking for evidence of UFOs in the "biggest military hack of all time," did so using his home computer and a 56k modem. I think we just lost our rights to complain about not having Japan-fast broadband.

Using his own computer at home in London, McKinnon hacked into 97 computers belonging to and used by the U.S. government between February 2001 and March 2002. McKinnon is accused of causing the entire U.S. Army's Military District of Washington network of more than 2,000 computers to be shut down for 24 hours. Using a limited 56-kbps dialup modem and the hacking name "Solo" he found many U.S. security systems used an insecure Microsoft Windows program with no password protection. He then bought off-the-shelf software and scanned military networks, saying he found expert testimonies from senior figures reporting that technology obtained from extra-terrestrials did exist. At the time of his indictment, Paul McNulty, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said: "Mr. McKinnon is charged with the biggest military computer hack of all time."

He's currently awaiting extradition to the United States where, if convicted, he'll face up to 70 years in jail and up to $1.75 million in fines. Let us know about that alien technology first, Gary!