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Fox News Politics Twitter Account Hacked, Reports President Obama Had Been Assassinated

2011-07-07/0 Comments/in General Security, Hack, Incident Response/by admin

On Monday July 4th, a hacker group called the “Script Kiddies” hacked into the Fox News Politics Twitter account and posted six tweets reporting that President Obama had been assassinated.

FCC and FTC holds Location-Based Services Forum

2011-06-28/0 Comments/in General Security, Mobile Security, Privacy, Wireless Security/by admin

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is holding a public forum on privacy concerns about cell phones and their ability to track the location of users.

The forum is being held between 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. EDT at the FCC Headquarters, 445 12th Street, SW, Washington DC 20554.

Audio/video coverage of the meeting will be broadcast live with open captioning over the Internet from the FCC’s web page at www.fcc.gov/live. The FCC’s webcast is free to the public. Those who watch the live video stream of the event may email event-related questions to livequestions@fcc.gov. Depending on the volume of questions and time constraints, the panel moderators will work to respond to as many questions as possible during the workshop.

Fox News Politics Twitter Account Hacked, Reports President Obama Had Been Assassinated

2011-07-07/0 Comments/in General Security, Hack, Incident Response/by admin

On Monday July 4th, a hacker group called the “Script Kiddies” hacked into the Fox News Politics Twitter account and posted six tweets reporting that President Obama had been assassinated.

FCC and FTC holds Location-Based Services Forum

2011-06-28/0 Comments/in General Security, Mobile Security, Privacy, Wireless Security/by admin

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is holding a public forum on privacy concerns about cell phones and their ability to track the location of users.

The forum is being held between 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. EDT at the FCC Headquarters, 445 12th Street, SW, Washington DC 20554.

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Fox News Politics Twitter Account Hacked, Reports President Obama Had Been Assassinated

2011-07-07/0 Comments/in General Security, Hack, Incident Response/by admin

On Monday July 4th, a hacker group called the “Script Kiddies” hacked into the Fox News Politics Twitter account and posted six tweets reporting that President Obama had been assassinated.

The “@foxnewspolitics” Twitter account has a badge with a check mark, which means it has been verified by Twitter for authenticity and also has more than 34,000 followers. Data pertaining to the twitter account shows the tweets were first posted at 2 a.m. Eastern Time.

George Ogilvie, a spokesman for Secret Service stated they would look into the false postings and “conduct the appropriate follow-up.” The Secret Service ensures the safety of current and former national leaders and their families, such as the President, past Presidents, Vice Presidents and presidential candidates.

The false postings about President Obama’s assassination remained visible to the public for at least six hours before Fox News system administrators apparently regained control of the Twitter account and deleted the tweets.

Jeff Misenti, vice president and general manager of Fox News Digital, said FoxNews.com is working with Twitter to address the situation as quickly as possible. He later added, “We will be requesting a detailed investigation from Twitter about how this occurred, and measures to prevent future unauthorized access into FoxNews.com accounts.” Then closed by stating,”FoxNews.com regrets any distress the false tweets may have created.”

Due to privacy reasons, officials at Twitter stated they would not comment or provide information on specific accounts, but added that users should follow its strong password advice.

SecurityOrb.com, an information security and privacy organization published a guideline to creating strong passwords for online accounts. We regard passwords as the first line of defense when it comes to protecting computers and information assets.

On a brighter note, President Obama actually spent the holiday at a barbecue at the White House with military families and administration staffers.

FCC and FTC holds Location-Based Services Forum

2011-06-28/0 Comments/in General Security, Mobile Security, Privacy, Wireless Security/by admin

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is holding a public forum on privacy concerns about cell phones and their ability to track the location of users.

The forum is being held between 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. EDT at the FCC Headquarters, 445 12th Street, SW, Washington DC 20554.

Those hearings came about due to an investigation by security researchers and the Wall Street Journal that found Google’s Android devices; Apple’s iPhones and other similar devices track customers’ locations without their knowledge. At the hearing, senators called on Congress to pass new laws to protect smartphone users from having their locations tracked without their consent.

In bringing awareness to this issue, the federal government is making a statement about the need to preserve some level of privacy in the digital age. Concern over security and privacy is growing as the Internet and mobile devices play larger and larger roles in our work and play.