hack – Page 3 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

New Dell Tech Support Scams Have Customers Worried Company Was Hacked

Trailrunner7 writes: A new twist on the fake tech support scam has arisen that has victims wondering whether Dell has been hacked.There has been a recent rash of calls to Dell customers in which the caller says he is from Dell itself and is able to identify the victim’s PC by model number and provide details of previous warranty and support interactions with the company. These are details that, it would seem, only Dell or perhaps its contractors would know. One person who was contacted by the scammers wrote a detailed description of the call, and said the caller had personal details that could not have been found online. Dell officials say they’re looking into it. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

More here:
New Dell Tech Support Scams Have Customers Worried Company Was Hacked

Insider allegedly hacked lottery software in multiple states

If you use insider knowledge for your own gain, it could land you in hot water… especially if you hacked the computers at your job to get the information you need. At least that’s what Eddie Tipton, Multi-State Lottery Association’s former security director, is being accused of . Tipton allegedly used a rootkit — a malicious software that activates when a computer boots up — to know a drawing’s winning numbers in advance. He’d then ask an accomplice to buy the winning ticket and to collect the money afterward. He was already convicted of fraud for tampering the lottery in Iowa, but he allegedly tinkered with more drawings in four states within the course of six years. Authorities believe he may be involved in even more instances of fraud, though. So, they’re now investigating winners in 37 other states that have been using the Multi-State Lottery Association’s computers to draw winning numbers since Tipton joined the organization in 2003. Iowa deputy attorney general Thomas H. Miller said: “It would be pretty naive to believe they are the only four [jackpots involved in the scheme.] If you find one cockroach, you have to assume there are 100 more you haven’t found.” So far, the Colorado, Wisconsin and Oklahoma divisions have already confirmed that they handed out jackpots worth $8 million in all to Tipton and his associates. Authorities first suspected Tipton when a New York lawyer tried to claim a $16.5 million jackpot in 2012 and then withdrew instead of revealing who bought the winning ticket. When they released a surveillance video showing the person who bought the ticket at a gas station, Tipton’s co-workers contacted them to say that the mysterious man looked like him. Source: Chicago Tribune , AP

Unofficial app makes PlayStation 4 to PC streaming a reality

Sony’s had its Remote Play tech in one form or another since the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable, but it didn’t truly take off until its implementation on PlayStation 4 and the PS Vita handheld. But that’s kind of wasted when nobody is buying the Vita and it’s getting zero love from its parent company . Remote Play PC is exactly what its name implies: an application that tricks the PS4 into thinking a PC is a Remote Play device. Microsoft changed the game (sorry) with the ability for the Xbox One to stream its games to Windows 10-based hardware and until Sony catches up we’re just going to have to settle for an unofficial app that costs money to perform the task. Via: Kotaku Source: Tmacdev

More here:
Unofficial app makes PlayStation 4 to PC streaming a reality

Wii U emulator (almost) runs ‘Mario Kart 8’ on your PC

Want a Wii U but don’t want to own Nintendo’s latest console ? That’s sort of possible now. I emphasize the “sort of” because the recently released Cemu emulator is almost entirely broken at this point. There isn’t proper gamepad support, there’s absolutely no audio and the game video stutters and glitches pretty badly in most cases if the titles launch at all. For example, in Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD ‘s attract mode (the opening menu screen), little Toon Link looks he has some seriously Donnie Darko -esque energy tubes coming out of his chest, stretching far out from his cliffside overlook on Outset Island. Peep it in the video embedded below. “Contains basically no optimizations, ” the download page reads. “Expect slow frame rates and long load times.” It’s still very early days for the program, but the developers are planning on sending updates every two weeks. You’ll need a 64-bit Windows 7 (or higher) machine with an NVIDIA card and the most recent driver set to get started. Oh, and some patience. But who knows, with some time, this could turn into something as cool as the vaunted Dolphin emulator that runs Gamecube games in pretty stunning high def. For now though, you’re better off with a Wii U if you want to play Super Mario Maker . [Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images] Source: Gbatemp

See more here:
Wii U emulator (almost) runs ‘Mario Kart 8’ on your PC

AVG Proudly Announces It Will Sell Your Browsing History To Online Advertisers

An anonymous reader writes: AVG, the Czech antivirus company, has announced a new privacy policy in which it boldly and openly admits it will collect user details and sell them to online advertisers for the purpose of continuing to fund its freemium-based products. This new privacy policy is slated to come into effect starting October 15. The policy says: We collect non-personal data to make money from our free offerings so we can keep them free, including: Advertising ID associated with your device; Browsing and search history, including meta data; Internet service provider or mobile network you use to connect to our products, and Information regarding other applications you may have on your device and how they are used. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

BlueCross BlueShield hack may have exposed data for 10 million customers

Another week, another major institution falls victim to hackers. This time, it’s New York-based heathcare provider Excellus BlueCross BlueShield : the company says that more than 10 million personal records of its customers were exposed to hackers in an attack it discovered this past August. The company discovered the attack early in the month, but after doing more investigation it turned out that it actually took place way back in December of 2013. The investigation showed that the hackers could have accessed personal information including “name, date of birth, Social Security number, mailing address, telephone number, member identification number, financial account information and [insurance] claims information.” While all of this information could have been exposed to hackers, the company isn’t sure exactly what may have been revealed. The investigation thus far hasn’t shown any evidence of what data was stolen and whether it was used in any nefarious way, but Excellus is still offering its customers the now-commonplace two years of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection. Unfortunately, hacks against healthcare providers are hardly a rarity at this point. An attack on Premera , another arm of BlueCross, was revealed in March of this year, putting the data of 11 million customers at risk. And just a month earlier, Anthem was hacked — the database accessed in that breach contained the info of a whopping 80 million customers, though only a portion of those were believed to have been accessed. [Image credit: Shutterstock] Comments Source: Excellus BlueCross BlueShield , Democrat & Chronicle Tags: BlueCrossBlueShield, hack, healthcare

I’m Playing Xbox On Windows 10, And You Can Too

Yesterday, my wife wanted to play some Kingdom Hearts . I was in the mood for Titanfall . We only have one TV. So I pulled out a Surface 3 tablet, plugged in an Xbox One controller, and started streaming the game from my Xbox to my portable PC. It’s a new Windows 10 feature. Read more…

View post:
I’m Playing Xbox On Windows 10, And You Can Too

Sydney gets world’s first e-ink traffic signs

Sydney is now using the world’s first outdoor e-ink traffic signs to guide motorists during special events. The city’s Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) agency was apparently fed up with the constant chore of changing signs, and developed the tech with a company called Visionect . Like your Kindle , the signs are easy to read in Sydney’s bright sunshine, and also powered by it via solar panels. The messages can be updated remotely via a cell connection to an “internet of things” network. Sydney’s tech is pretty basic, but e-ink holds enormous potential for signage. We’ll no doubt see fancier outdoor displays one day, but for now the city’s just hoping to save some money — Los Angeles spends up to $9.5 million putting up temporary parking restriction signs, for instance. The group also developed anti-tampering and location detection tech, because you just know that someone’s going to try to steal or hack them. Filed under: Displays Comments Via: The Register Source: Visionect

Read this article:
Sydney gets world’s first e-ink traffic signs

Plex Hacked, Change Your Password Now

If you use the Plex media server for your movie and TV library, you’ll need to change your password this morning. The company announced it’s forum servers were hacked, leaving email addresses, forum messages, and hashed passwords vulnerable. Read more…

See original article:
Plex Hacked, Change Your Password Now

Bulletproof Coffee: Debunking the Hot Buttered Hype

People are putting butter in their coffee. And hey, if you’re just craving a new flavor experience, more power to you. The problem is that Bulletproof Coffee , the company behind the trend, is claiming that drinking a mug of fatty joe every morning instead of eating breakfast is a secret shortcut to weight loss and mental superpowers, and now the butter coffee has developed a cult of highly caffeinated, shiny-lipped adherents. So now we have to talk about it. Read more…

See original article:
Bulletproof Coffee: Debunking the Hot Buttered Hype