Hack This Site is a free, safe and legal training ground for hackers to test and expand their hacking skills. Realistic training missions included!
posted by Afroblanco on Dec 23, 2009 - 18 comments

Insurgents Hack U.S. Drones. "Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations." [Via]
posted by homunculus on Dec 17, 2009 - 86 comments

The public's opinion of the field of climatology has been shaken by the leaked CRU emails. While it's arguable that the messages show any wrongdoing, many pundits have now reached the conclusion that global warming is a hoax, coverup and conspiracy, years in the making with millions of faked datapoints. Sarah Palin has written an editorial saying Obama should boycott the Copenhagen COP15 summit.
posted by mccarty.tim on Dec 9, 2009 - 270 comments

Hacking is a Baltimore phenomenon that allows citizens to get cheap "illegal" rides across town. A hack indicates they want a ride by motioning their pointer finger towards the ground as they walk along the street. Inevitably a driver will stop, the two parties will negotiate a price and a ride will be given. It is both a dangerous and necessary part of the blighted Baltimore economy.
posted by cloeburner on Nov 9, 2009 - 84 comments

Hacking Perl in nightclubs
posted by yegga on Nov 9, 2009 - 22 comments

Everitt is a pyro.
posted by boo_radley on Aug 27, 2009 - 28 comments

Neurosecurity: security and privacy for neural devices. "An increasing number of neural implantable devices will become available in the near future due to advances in neural engineering. This discipline holds the potential to improve many patients' lives dramatically by offering improved—and in some cases entirely new—forms of rehabilitation for conditions ranging from missing limbs to degenerative cognitive diseases. The use of standard engineering practices, medical trials, and neuroethical evaluations during the design process can create systems that are safe and that follow ethical guidelines; unfortunately, none of these disciplines currently ensure that neural devices are robust against adversarial entities trying to exploit these devices to alter, block, or eavesdrop on neural signals. The authors define 'neurosecurity'—a version of computer science security principles and methods applied to neural engineering—and discuss why neurosecurity should be a critical consideration in the design of future neural devices." [Via Mind Hacks]
posted by homunculus on Jul 8, 2009 - 22 comments

You are Medeco, one of the world's premier lock companies. And you think your super-secure locks are tight. Until, that is, some upstart troublemaker comes along, reverse engineers them and shows the world (via Wired magazine--with video, natch) showing just how (supposedly) insecure they are. Then this same troublemaker releases a book giving all your secrets away. [more inside]
posted by ostranenie on May 28, 2009 - 75 comments

NPR Backstory is an automated Twitter feed providing helpful links to news items from the past 14 years that might be relevant to current events. For example, when masses of people started googling medical information after a news item about 200,000 patients' medical histories being accidentally exposed, NPRbackstory linked to an April 2008 analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of storing patient records online. [more inside]
posted by ardgedee on May 14, 2009 - 7 comments

Voting for the Time 100, Time Magazine's list of the world's most influential people in government, science, technology and the arts, has taken a bizarre turn. Rather than the expected dance-off between Stephen Colbert and Korean pop star Rain, the top spot is currently occupied by moot, the owner and operator of 4chan. Hear Time's own take on it, and then, learn who hacked the vote.
posted by CrunchyFrog on Apr 15, 2009 - 43 comments

Tracking GhostNet: Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network. "A vast electronic spying operation has infiltrated computers and has stolen documents from hundreds of government and private offices around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama, Canadian researchers have concluded. In a report to be issued this weekend, the researchers said that the system was being controlled from computers based almost exclusively in China, but that they could not say conclusively that the Chinese government was involved." [more inside]
posted by homunculus on Mar 28, 2009 - 31 comments

What real-life bad habits has programming given you? "This has actually really happened to me. I was trying to hang a glass picture frame on the wall and accidentally dropped it. And in the shock of the moment, I loudly yelled 'Control Z!' Then the glass hit the floor and smashed."
posted by grumblebee on Jan 30, 2009 - 170 comments

The Mother of all Wii Hacks: Early on in the life of the Wii, hackers discovered a bug in "Zelda: Twilight Princess" and exploited it to create the Twilight Hack. From that came the Homebrew Channel, a software browser, and even DVD capability. [more inside]
posted by Brodiggitty on Oct 31, 2008 - 28 comments

The best criminal hacker is the one that isn't caught — or even identified. These are 10 of the most infamous unsolved computer crimes as selected by PC Magazine. However, some do get caught. Here are nine of the most infamous criminal hackers to ever see the inside of a jail cell. PCMag also reached back into the early days of computing and dredged up the most inspiring examples of hacker brilliance they could find. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Sep 30, 2008 - 43 comments

Sarah Palin's email gets hacked by Anonymous (right, that Anonymous). And given the legal controversy surrounding her email, one wonders if the fact that her yahoo email accounts are now deleted constitutes destruction of evidence or violations of public-records laws. Its hit Wikileaks too, but, I'm not sure they have more then what's already released (rapidshare).
posted by yeoz on Sep 17, 2008 - 416 comments

Your Gmail account isn't secure. Announced at Defcon 16, Jay Beale's tool, The Middler (man-in-the-middle) to steal session ID from not only Gmail users, but LinkedIn, LiveJournal, Facebook, and presumably any site that uses a session-based cookie. Enable https permanently. (previously)
posted by sluglicker on Aug 28, 2008 - 53 comments

Serious as a heart attack: A collaboration of various medical researchers in the academic field has led to proof that pacemakers can be remotely hacked with simple and accessible equipment. This is a proof of concept, but the real question is: How many other pacemakers and medical devices are similarly vulnerable? (Writers may note a new twist available for the assassination of characters in their novels and screenplays.)
posted by spock on Aug 13, 2008 - 41 comments

Attention Geeks and Hackers: Uncle Sam's Cyber Force Wants You! [more inside]
posted by homunculus on Jun 5, 2008 - 29 comments

Decker isn't quite a roguelike about hacking in the world of Shadowrun with Windows 3.1-era graphics, but it's as close as you're ever gonna come.
posted by Pope Guilty on Apr 26, 2008 - 16 comments

Worried about the state of biodiversity? Why not make some of your own? Moore’s law is all over biotechnology right now. Can the hackers be far behind? MIT's Drew Endy doesn’t think so. Ready to get started? You might already have some of the tools that you will need. Plans for others are available on the web. All you need now are some parts.
posted by Kid Charlemagne on Feb 11, 2008 - 12 comments

The 24th Chaos Communication Congress, "the annual four-day conference organized by the Chaos Computer Club is taking place in Berlin right now. The Congress offers lectures and workshops on a multitude of topics and attracts a diverse audience of thousands of hackers, scientists, artists, and utopians from all around the world." Lectures are also being streamed live (Check the CCC Tube) [more inside]
posted by kolophon on Dec 27, 2007 - 4 comments

Ever admired those hard-working hackers, toiling away to get you the programs you've always loathed to have? Have you ever dreamt of exploring the innards of someone else's computer but have held back due to those pesky legalities? If you said yes to either of the above questions or just want to play an online hacking simulation, then SlaveHack is the website for you. [more inside]
posted by flatluigi on Dec 23, 2007 - 9 comments

This is an ironic tale of the consequences of inept application of cryptographic tools. Or is it? Dan Egerstad, a Swedish hacker, gained access to hundreds of computer network accounts around the world, belonging to various embassies, corporations and other organizations. How did he do it? Very easily: by sniffing exit traffic on his Tor nodes. [more inside]
posted by Anything on Dec 4, 2007 - 27 comments

"Finding JTAG on the iPhone": a ten-step hardware unlock of the iPhone, allowing it to function with other carriers
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Aug 23, 2007 - 40 comments

How secure is your password? If you're like some people, it's probably not secure enough. When did you last change yours?
posted by chuckdarwin on Jun 13, 2007 - 66 comments

Klaatu barada...Jikto? First there was Nikto. Then along came Wikto. Last Saturday at Shmoocon Billy Hoffman introduced the world to Jitko, a client-side vulnerability scanner that exploits your browser & turns your PC into a platform for finding holes in computers across the Internet (or behind your firewall). Reactions were mixed. Does Jikto go too far?
posted by scalefree on Mar 28, 2007 - 11 comments

The Wii Loop Machine. Via.
posted by solistrato on Mar 22, 2007 - 28 comments

A hacker breaks into the forums of the guild Band of Brothers on the MMORPG Eve, where he discovers an Eve devolper, called t20, is not only a high-ranking member of the alliance, but has been feeding BoB expensive and rare in-game items. CCP, the company who runs EVE, denies any wrong doing, before it is revealed that CCP knew about t20's abuses for over six months. Players are not happy.
posted by Snyder on Feb 12, 2007 - 49 comments

333-333-333 YOU WILL SEE SUCH PRETTY THINGS (via) 333-333-333
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me on Jan 22, 2007 - 50 comments

Idiot Tries to Hire Hacker to Change his GPA
Why study when you can just hire a hacker to adjust your GPA to something more to your liking? Or not.
And now an amazing (and scary) amount of his personal information is pwned!
posted by fenriq on Dec 21, 2006 - 70 comments

There are a lot of gift guides for the holiday season, but Make Magazine's open source gift guide skews towards the cool, techy, but also hackable products. Lots of great things listed including: display images in your bike spokes with a POV kit, an open source media server, control your house lights with perl, and free planetarium software.
posted by mathowie on Nov 27, 2006 - 19 comments

Crime and Punishment, Online Style Long a bastion of metaverse fantasies, avatars competing for style, and commercial dreams, Second Life has become a phenomenon. Lately, though, things are going a bit awry. Hacking attempts have been common, with the latest shutting things down only a few days ago. To address this crime, the SL crew is looking into creating a virtual FBI. Dibs on the Scully avatar.
posted by PreacherTom on Nov 21, 2006 - 8 comments

Hacking Democracy. A frightening and well-made full-length HBO documentary.
posted by Espoo2 on Nov 5, 2006 - 40 comments

Ed Felten shows a hacked Diebold voting machine (youtubesday) in action, on Fox News of all places. Yeah, that Ed Felten.
posted by mathowie on Sep 19, 2006 - 72 comments

The Secret History of Hacking [google video from a C4 documentary] is a fun romp through the exploits of Steve Wozniak, John Draper (a.k.a. Captain Crunch) and Kevin Mitnick. [via]
posted by MetaMonkey on Sep 1, 2006 - 13 comments

Compromise any Windows XP machine (that you have physical access to) with one single line of code. Even if you're logged on as guest, this cmd line text will upgrade your account to root level on the fly, after which time you can do anything you wish to the machine, (even reformat the drive & install linux!). ACHTUNG: Link goes to video that, for inexplicable reasons, has Limp Bizkit for the soundtrack.
posted by jonson on Aug 1, 2006 - 44 comments

I am computer literate! I have 22 years in computer systems engineering and operation. Now, can you tell me how to remove "your software" that you acknowledge you provided free of charge? I consider this "hacking". I have no fear of the media, in fact I welcome this publicity.
posted by rxrfrx on Mar 25, 2006 - 176 comments

"To tell the truth ... I'm sorta surprised they haven't caught me yet," The Washington Post ran an interesting interview with a botmaster, a young man who made serveral thousands of dollars a month installing XXX spyware on machines that he controlled. He installed the software on the machines of people he did not know by hacking into them remotely. The lenghty article included a partial photo of the botmaster along with vauge descriptions of the small midwestern town where the man lives, and was published with the understanding that the man's identity would be kept secret. Someone should have told that to the person that manages photos at the Washington Post. An estute reader over at Slashdot was able to locate some extra information stored in the picture's metadata including the photographer and the location the picture was taken, Roland, Oklahoma, a town of less than 3000 people. Whoops.
posted by daHIFI on Feb 21, 2006 - 56 comments

Smash and grab, the hi-tech way. Are the Chinese government responsible for recent sophisticated hacking attempts on such targets as the British parliament and the US Army's Aviation and Missile Command?
posted by Hartster on Jan 19, 2006 - 17 comments

Second Life CEO turns in players name to the FBI for disrupting one of his virtual parties. In the world of Second Life any player can create objects using the built in scripting language. Some players have created self replicating "bombs" or hand out embedded pornography. Instead of just banning users or limiting what can be done with the scripting language the CEO Philip Rosendale is simply turning over the names of players straight to the feds and expecting the FBI to prosecute players under existing anti-DoS laws. A case of the bruised ego of a self-important CEO or are virtual world 'hackers/pranksters' best treated like common criminals?
posted by skallas on Dec 15, 2005 - 67 comments

Judge: Stealing a password does not constitute hacking. David Egilman is a highly-regarded expert in occupational medicine; he was the plaintiff's witness in a recent $253-million verdict in Texas against Vioxx. After two opposing law firms stole a password to his private website containing confidential information for his clients and students, he sued them under the DMCA. He lost.
posted by docgonzo on Dec 14, 2005 - 50 comments

Cross Site Scripting (XSS) Filter Tests Are you in charge of a system that allows users to enter comments? Here's a huge list of techniques that may be used against you (or, "why you shouldn't use regex").
posted by null terminated on Dec 7, 2005 - 9 comments

In some ways, Gary McKinnon is indeed a complete idiot. Well, he is a likable and intelligent geeky man who did many, many idiotic things. What he is not, his friends and supporters reckon, is someone who deserves extradition and 70 years in an American jail.
posted by Grangousier on Jul 9, 2005 - 59 comments

Coffee hacking: See self-heating coffee cans and cold-brewed coffee. [via MAKE: blog, which is shaping up nicely]
posted by Lush on Jul 7, 2005 - 14 comments

InstantSOUP is good for the android's soul An open electronics hobbiest kit geared towards design students in non-engineering disciplines. It's built around a simple I/O board that can interface with your computer (MacOS, Windows or Linux) and, wiring a programming language. Wiring is in turn based around the nifty Processing programming language.
posted by substrate on Jun 16, 2005 - 9 comments

"Hacker" discovers backdoor to Harvard Business School admissions decisions.
Harvard rejects all applicants who used the "hack."
posted by trharlan on Mar 8, 2005 - 68 comments

Covert Call allows you to alter the caller id that is sent to the phone you are calling. It can operate just like a calling card, all for the price of a normal long distance call. Caller-ID spoofing for 5¢ a minute, for all your prankster/paranoid/social engineering needs.
posted by crunchland on Feb 10, 2005 - 12 comments

Boing Boing says he's a Lynx user , but British Telecom declared him a hacker and that's what the BBC is carrying. There's no way to tell who's right yet, but I'd say the Bloggers are betting on Lynx user. Anyone got an update?
posted by krisjohn on Jan 27, 2005 - 30 comments

Hacking Coke machines, courtesy YouCSD.com
posted by BuddhaInABucket on Jan 23, 2005 - 32 comments

GMail not-so-safe Mail. So apparentley GMail has a major exploit that's been discovered by an Israeli hacker. "Using a hex-encoded XSS link, the victim's cookie file can be stolen by a hacker, who can later use it to identify himself to Gmail as the original owner of an email account, regardless of whether or not the password is subsequently changed." And so the fun with GMail begins..
posted by mrplab on Oct 29, 2004 - 9 comments