Tag: hackers
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Meet The DIY Hackers Creating The Cyberpunk Devices Of Their Dreams
In 2023, it’s fair to say that the cyberpunk future promised to us by books like Neuromancer and Snow Crash hasn’t exactly come to fruition. The wearable computers like “cyberdecks” or even the wrist-mounted Pip-Boys of the Fallout series seem destined to remain the stuff of science-fiction, at least for now. That is, of course, unless you decide to build them yourself, which is exactly what a small group of DIY enthusiasts have done over the past few years.
There’s an entire community of talented builders using tiny computers like the Raspberry Pi to build the cyberpunk setups of their dreams. And while none of them are going to replace your smartphone anytime soon, they’re not just idle props, either.
Brendan Charles is a tinkerer and hacker who has experimented with miniature computers like the Raspberry Pi for years now. As a fan of cyberpunk movies and TV of the ’80s and ’90s, Charles always imagined a different sort of future than the one that’s come to pass–glitchy CRTs and homemade hacking kits, not identical iPhones in every pocket.
Hackers put the triple whammy on a Tesla Model 3, remotely accessing several features
Last week, researchers at Pwn3Own 2023 found three vulnerabilities in a Tesla Model 3 to win $140,000 and the car. The exploits allowed the team from security firm Synacktiv to control some functions of the vehicle remotely, including operating the lights, horn, windshield wipers, infotainment center, and opening the trunk lid.
Hackers Render Tesla Car Unsafe to Drive, Win Themselves a Model 3
A group of security researchers have, once again, proven that Tesla vehicles’ high-tech software and systems are easily exploited. At Zero Day Initiative’s Pwn2Own 2023 hacking competition this week, cybersecurity firm Synacktiv successfully cracked both Tesla’s infotainment and Gateway networks in a Model 3 car, as…
Two hackers charged with last year’s DEA portal breach
Two men have been charged for their alleged roles in last year’s hack of the Drug Enforcement Agency’s web portal, as reported earlier by Gizmodo. In a press release posted earlier this week, the Department of Justice says Sagar Steven Singh and Nicholas Ceraolo stole a police officer’s credentials to access a federal law enforcement database that they used to extort victims.
Prosecutors claim the 19-year-old Singh and 25-year-old Ceraolo are members of a hacking group called Vile, which often steals personal information from victims and then threatens to dox them online if they don’t receive a payment. While the DOJ doesn’t explicitly say which agency Singh and Ceraolo allegedly hacked into, it states the portal contains “detailed,…
Meet The Hackers Behind The Resident Evil 4 HD Project That Took 8 Years To Make
Upon its original release, Resident Evil 4 was nothing short of a revelation for the beloved horror series. Combining pinpoint moment-to-moment action with some of the best set pieces and boss fights of the 2000s, RE4 deserves its reputation as one of the greatest action games of all time. With Capcom’s impressive remake coming out this year, the original is still kept relevant thanks in part to the fan-made Resident Evil 4 HD Project, a mod that updates the look and feel of the game to modern standards. It’s one of the most impressive video game fan works of all time, and it’s all thanks to a small team of dedicated hackers who literally traveled the globe to accomplish their goals.
Albert Marin Garau is a longtime Resident Evil fan who dabbles in game modding. Over the years, he made a hobby out of collecting assets that had appeared in many of the series’ best entries, including music tracks, textures, and pre-rendered backgrounds. He created repositories of these assets primarily for his own amusement. When he started working on RE4, he realized that many of the game’s textures were blurry and low-resolution. However, it wasn’t until the first PC port of the game came out that he realized he could simply rip the images from the game. In fact, he could even modify them himself. Now his library had a practical use.
“When the first RE4 port came out in 2007, I was really impressed with how moddable the game was,” Marin Garau tells GameSpot. “The textures were simple TGA images, which meant I could move from compiling game assets to improving them. I created a texture pack for the game, which obviously pales in comparison to the HD Project.”
Security News This Week: Ring Is in a Standoff With Hackers
Twitter silent as hackers scam users with stolen high-profile verified accounts
Looking at Jase Robertson and David Dayen, you wouldn’t think the two of them have much in common. Robertson is known for his time on the A&E reality TV show Duck Dynasty. He currently hosts a show on the conservative digital outlet TheBlaze. David Dayen is a longtime progressive journalist and executive editor for The American Prospect magazine.
However, over the past few weeks, tweets from both Robertson’s and Dayen’s Twitter accounts have been sharing the exact same messaging.
Credit: Mashable Screenshot
“Hello twitter family !” begins the tweets posted to both accounts. “I have 10 MacBooks that I will personally sign myself , that you can purchase for $600 and free Shipping ! First come first serve basis , and all proceeds will be going to charity ! MY DMS ARE OPENED IF INTERESTED”
Included in each account’s tweets is the exact same photo of a MacBook Pro sitting on wood flooring. What’s going on here? Have Dayen and Robertson put their political differences aside and start an Apple reselling business?
No. They’ve been hacked, along with a slew of other legacy verified accounts on the social media platform. And, Twitter has been silent on the matter.
Even though some of these accounts have been hacked for weeks now, Twitter has not suspended the accounts, allowing the hackers to scam users of thousands of dollars, if not more.
Credit: Mashable Screenshot
Dayen tells Mashable that he was originally hacked last summer after clicking on a malicious link which provided bad actors with access to his account. He says his account was quickly suspended by Twitter then, well before Elon Musk acquired the company. When he regained access about a month later, Dayen quickly activated two-factor authentication on his account. Enacting this security measure should’ve made another hack extremely difficult to carry out.
However, here the @ddayen Twitter account is, just 6 months later, hacked and scamming the platform’s users.
Followers are falling for the scams
Mashable heard from at least one of Dayen’s followers who got scammed after seeing Dayen’s tweets. This person saw a tweet from a user they trusted and, not realizing Dayen was hacked, fell for the scheme in a moment of desperation.
“I fell for it,” the Twitter user told Mashable. “I desperately need a computer.”
Credit: Mashable Screenshot
This person shared the private DM conversation between themself and the person running the hacked @ddayen account. They also provided screenshots of the $1,500 transaction that they made to the scammer, which included payments from family members who also wanted to purchase a MacBook. The scammer required that they paid via Zelle, Cashapp, or Apple Pay – all peer-to-peer payment services that often don’t provide refunds to users who are scammed.
Dayen tells Mashable that he’s filed two support tickets with Twitter since he was hacked on March 12. He also sent replies to Twitter’s auto-reply asking for more information. In addition, he has tweeted publicly at Twitter’s official support account, @TwitterSupport. His account remains both hacked and active, the scammer’s tweets visible to all of Twitter.
“Amazing that @twittersupport hasn’t at least locked @ddayen after I reported the hack along with dozens of other people,” Dayen tweeted from his backup account, @david_dayen.
This is not an isolated incident
Duck Dynasty‘s Robertson was hacked even earlier, with the earlier scam tweet visible on his account’s feed appearing on March 2. Robertson announced he was hacked to his followers on a March 5 episode of his podcast.
Winnie Wong, a former senior political advisor to Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, was also hacked by these scammers. Although, they appear to be trying something different with her account.
Wong tells Mashable that when she was first hacked and booted from her @WaywardWinifred account on March 13, the scammers originally started to post about the same MacBook scam. But then, after she started tweeting about her and Dayen being hacked from her other high-profile Twitter account, @People4Bernie, the scammers blocked her account from viewing tweets from the hacked accounts. Then, the scammers changed her Twitter profile and header in order to make the account look like an official Twitter profile.
The hacked @WaywardWinifred account then began to privately DM Wong’s contacts – including politicians and other influential users – pretending to be a member of Twitter’s support. The DMs informed the user that they broke Twitter’s policies and needed to fill out a form at a website “security-twitter.com/resetpassword,” a phishing website setup by the scammer to look like a Twitter page in order to trick the user into sharing their password so they can take over the account.
The phishing website currently forwards to an Instagram account @morcegoen, which appears to be connected to the scammer. A single photo on @morcegoen’s page has comments from verified Instagram users like actor John Cusack. Cusack himself had his Instagram account hacked at the time this account was made. Cusack’s Instagram account posted photos of MacBooks while it was hacked, along with the same “10 MacBooks” for sale text.
The same scammer hit other high-profile Twitter accounts earlier this year too. Actress Anya Taylor Joy‘s Twitter account was hacked and started tweeting out the MacBook scam in January. Actor Jonathan Frakes‘ account started doing the same in late December of last year too. However, both Joy’s and Frakes’ account has been restored to its rightful owner since then.
Credit: Mashable Screenshot
So far, all high-profile accounts that have been hacked are legacy verified accounts, meaning they were verified before Musk took over the platform and allowed users to purchase a Twitter Blue verified checkmark for $8 per month.
Twitter’s inaction on the matter is a problem. As Wong tells me, her concern isn’t so much that she can’t access her account, it’s that the accounts have not yet been suspended. This makes it possible for the hacker to continue to scam her followers as well as other Twitter users. She points out that the issue with the accounts that were stolen earlier this year, such as Anya Taylor Joy’s, were resolved at a time when Twitter had a larger workforce. Since those hacks earlier this year, Twitter has gone under additional rounds of layoffs.
Twitter could not be reached for comment by Mashable as the company no longer has a communications department under Musk.