Street Fighter V will roll back request for kernel access on Windows [Updated]

Enlarge / No, not really, Capcom. (credit: Aurich Lawson) On Thursday, Street Fighter V ‘s first “season” concluded with a downloadable update that included the game’s 22nd fighting character. (If you’re curious: the new guy is Urien, a tall fellow who first appeared in Street Fighter III wearing only a thong.) But the download updated more than just the game’s roster. It also brought apparent sweeping changes to the PC version—which now demands kernel access from players before every single boot of the game. Windows’ User Account Control (UAC) system warns computer users when an application wants to write or delete sensitive files, and, in the case of PC games, you typically only see these warnings during installations. SFV’s Thursday patch, however, apparently includes “an updated anti-crack solution” that Capcom insists is “not DRM” but rather an anti-cheating protocol. The anti-crack solution is causing a UAC prompt to pop up for the PC version’s users. (Our own Aurich Lawson confirmed the news by booting the latest patched version; his Windows prompt appears above.) Unfortunately, Capcom’s public-facing messages about PC version “hacks” have not been about cheats but about players finding workarounds to unlocking in-game content. In July, Capcom issued a stern warning to any PC player who found alternate ways to unlock  Street Fighter ‘s alternate costumes, which normally require grinding through the game’s lengthy “survival” modes. Capcom producers also condemned PC players who used characters hidden in that game’s version before they were officially released. Thursday’s patch notes mentioned that the new anti-crack solution is particularly targeted at “illicitly obtaining in-game currency and other entitlements” (so it’s, you know, DRM). Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Street Fighter V will roll back request for kernel access on Windows [Updated]

Opera’s Free VPN, Built Right Into the Browser, Rolls Out For Everyone

Windows/Mac/Linux: A few months ago, Opera launched its own free, built-in VPN, but you could only get it if you manually enabled it in the dev version of the browser . Now, it’s available for everyone in the stable version of Opera. Read more…

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Opera’s Free VPN, Built Right Into the Browser, Rolls Out For Everyone

Anonymous Hacker Explains His Attack On Boston Children’s Hospital

Okian Warrior writes: Martin Gottesfeld of Anonymous was arrested in connection with the Spring 2014 attacks on a number of healthcare and treatment facilities in the Boston area. The attacks were in response/defense of a patient there named Justina Pelletier. Gottesfeld now explains why he did what he did, in a statement provided to The Huffington Post. Here’s an excerpt from his statement: [Why I Knocked Boston Children’s Hospital Off The Internet] The answer is simpler than you might think: The defense of an innocent, learning disabled, 15-year-old girl. In the criminal complaint, she’s called ‘Patient A, ‘ but to me, she has a name, Justina Pelletier. Boston Children’s Hospital disagreed with her diagnosis. They said her symptoms were psychological. They made misleading statement on an affidavit, went to court, and had Justina’s parents stripped of custody. They stopped her painkillers, leaving her in agony. They stopped her heart medication, leaving her tachycardic. They said she was a danger to herself, and locked her in a psych ward. They said her family was part of the problem, so they limited, monitored, and censored her contact with them…” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Anonymous Hacker Explains His Attack On Boston Children’s Hospital

After 23 years, the Apple II gets another OS update

Hello, old friend Yesterday, software developer John Brooks released what is clearly a work of pure love: the first update to an operating system for the Apple II computer family since 1993. ProDOS 2.4, released on the 30 th anniversary of the introduction of the Apple II GS, brings the enhanced operating system to even older Apple II systems, including the original Apple ][ and ][+. Which is pretty remarkable, considering the Apple ][ and ][+ don’t even support lower-case characters. You can test-drive ProDOS 2.4 in a Web-based emulator set up by computer historian Jason Scott on the Internet Archive. The release includes Bitsy Bye, a menu-driven program launcher that allows for navigation through files on multiple floppy (or hacked USB) drives. Bitsy Bye is an example of highly efficient code: it runs in less than 1 kilobyte of RAM. There’s also a boot utility that is under 400 bytes—taking up a single block of storage on a disk. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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After 23 years, the Apple II gets another OS update

Over 500K People Have Installed a Pokemon Go-Related App That Roots and Hijacks Android Devices

An anonymous reader writes: Over 500, 000 people have downloaded an Android app called “Guide for Pokemon Go” that roots the devices in order to deliver ads and installs apps without the user’s knowledge. Researchers that analyzed the malware said it contained multiple defenses that made reverse-engineering very difficult — some of the most advanced they’ve seen — which explains why it managed to fool Google’s security scanner and end up on the official Play Store. The exploits contained in the app’s rooting functions were able to root any Android released between 2012 and 2015. The trojan found inside the app was also found in nine other apps, affecting another 100, 000 users. The crook behind this trojan was obviously riding various popularity waves, packing his malware in clones for whatever app or game is popular at one particular point in time. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Over 500K People Have Installed a Pokemon Go-Related App That Roots and Hijacks Android Devices

Thieves find an even more insidious way to swipe your PIN

The secret service has issued a warning to banks and ATM companies about a new way that thieves can steal your credit card information . A report from Krebs on Security explains that “periscope” skimmers have been found inside teller machines in Connecticut and Pennsylvania in the last two months. Of course, since the devices attach to the internal mechanism, there’s absolutely no way for an end user to tell if they’re at risk. The report explains that ATMs with openable lids are the most at risk, since nefarious types can easily gain access inside. The “periscope” probe is installed in a pre-existing hole in the card reader to skim the magnetic stripe, while the other end contains a battery and storage unit. It’s believed that the device can store up to 32, 000 numbers and will last 14 days on a charge. What the gear can’t do, however, is harvest PINs, so it’s theorized that these devices were tests in preparation for a bigger heist. Krebs goes on to add that putting your hand over the cash dispenser’s number pad will defeat a large proportion of scammers with skimmers. Thieves who use pin-pad overlays — fake buttons over the real thing — are relatively rare because the hardware is expensive to reproduce. Krebs also advises users to avoid, wherever possible, standalone ATMs where the lid is easily accessible. Instead, people should favor cashpoints that are mounted in the wall, like those outside banks, and in well-lit areas. Source: Krebs on Security

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Thieves find an even more insidious way to swipe your PIN

ClixSense Suffers Massive Data Breach, 6.6 Million Users Compromised

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Digital Trends: ClixSense, a site which pays users to view ads and take surveys, was the victim of a massive data breach compromising around 6.6 million user accounts. Usually when there’s a data breach of this size, the information stolen contains usernames, passwords, and some other personal information, but due to the nature of ClixSense and the service it provided, home addresses, payment histories, and other banking details have also been compromised. According to the message posted to PasteBin along with a sample of the stolen data, social security numbers, dates of birth, and some internal emails from ClixSense may also have been compromised. Ars Technica reported this morning that about 2.2 million people have had their data posted to PasteBin over the weekend, reportedly just a taste of the 6.6 million user accounts that have been stolen. The hackers responsible stated in their PasteBin post that they intend to sell the user information they gathered, without disclosing a specific price. PasteBin has since removed the posts and the sample of the compromised user account information. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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ClixSense Suffers Massive Data Breach, 6.6 Million Users Compromised

Malware Infects 70% of Seagate Central NAS Drives, Earns $86,400

An anonymous Slashdot reader writes: A new malware family has infected over 70% of all Seagate Central NAS devices connected to the Internet. The malware, named Miner-C or PhotoMiner, uses these hard-drives as an intermediary point to infect connected PCs and install software that mines for the Monero cryptocurrency… The crooks made over $86, 000 from Monero mining so far. The hard drives are easy to infect because Seagate does not allow users to delete or deactivate a certain “shared” folder when the device is exposed to the Internet. Over 5, 000 Seagate Central NAS devices are currently infected. Researchers estimates the malware is now responsible for 2.5% of all mining activity for the Monero cryptocurrency, according to the article. “The quandary is that Seagate Central owners have no way to protect their device. Turning off the remote access NAS feature can prevent the infection, but also means they lose the ability to access the device from a remote location, one of the reasons they purchased the hard drive in the first place.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Malware Infects 70% of Seagate Central NAS Drives, Earns $86,400

Researcher Gets 20 Days In Prison For Hacking State Websites As Political Stunt

An anonymous reader writes from a report via Softpedia: David Levin, 31, of Estero, Florida will spend 20 days in prison after hacking two websites belonging to the Florida state elections department. Levin, a security researcher, tested the security of two Florida state election websites without permission, and then recorded a video and posted on YouTube. The problem is that the man appearing in the video next to Levin was a candidate for the role of state election supervisor, running for the same position against the incumbent Supervisor of Elections, Sharon Harrington. Harrington reported the video to authorities, who didn’t appreciate the media stunt pulled by the two, and charged the security researcher with three counts of hacking-related charges. The researcher turned himself in in May and pleaded guilty to all charges. This week, he received a 20-day prison sentence and two years of probation. In court he admitted to the whole incident being a political stunt. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Researcher Gets 20 Days In Prison For Hacking State Websites As Political Stunt

Stealing login credentials from a locked PC or Mac just got easier

Enlarge Snatching the login credentials of a locked computer just got easier and faster, thanks to a technique that requires only $50 worth of hardware and takes less than 30 seconds to carry out. Rob Fuller, a principal security engineer at R5 Industries, said the hack works reliably on Windows devices and has also succeeded on OS X, although he’s working with others to determine if it’s just his setup that’s vulnerable. The hack works by plugging a flash-sized minicomputer into an unattended computer that’s logged in but currently locked. In about 20 seconds, the USB device will obtain the user name and password hash used to log into the computer. Fuller, who is better known by his hacker handle mubix, said the technique works using both the Hak5 Turtle ($50) and USB Armory ($155) , both of which are USB-mounted computers that run Linux. “First off, this is dead simple and shouldn’t work, but it does,” mubix wrote in a blog post published Tuesday . “Also, there is no possible way that I’m the first one that has identified this, but here it is (trust me, I tested it so many ways to confirm it because I couldn’t believe it was true).” Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Stealing login credentials from a locked PC or Mac just got easier