leaks

Dropbox confirms it was hacked, offers users help

When a few hundred Dropbox users began receiving spam emails about online casinos and gambling sites two weeks ago, it seemed like something was up. And indeed there was.

The online file storage service confirmed today that hackers accessed usernames and passwords from third party sites and then used them to get into Dropbox users' accounts.

"Our investigation found that usernames and passwords recently stolen from other websites were used to sign in to a small number of Dropbox accounts. We've contacted these users and have helped them protect their accounts," the company wrote in a blog … Read more

Fake WikiLeaks op-ed targets New York Times' Bill Keller

An opinion piece that appears to be by former New York Times editor Bill Keller on what appears to be the New York Times Web site is a fake.

The editorial urges Visa, Mastercard, and American Express to take a "stand against the use of financial embargos to prohibit supporters from contributing or subscribing to media organizations protected by the First Amendment and free speech laws." The fake op-ed was drafted as a follow up to a February 2012 op-ed by Keller titled "Wikileaks, A Postscript."

The URL for the fake column was a giveaway to … Read more

iPhone 5 leak? New pictures emerge

About a year ago at this time, iPhone 5 rumors and leaked photos were flying fast and furious. In fact, it was in early August 2011, that I speculated, "Is this what the iPhone 5 looks like? MacRumors says yes."

Of course, the answer turned out to be "no." Could we be looking at a similar disappointment this fall? Perhaps, but there's mounting evidence to support the imminent arrival of a new iPhone.

For example, a couple days ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook hinted at an upcoming iPhone 5 (or something). And today, Gizmodo showed … Read more

As cash runs low, WikiLeaks finds way to accept plastic again

Following a concerted effort to starve Wikileaks of cash by cutting off its sources of funding, the controversial publisher of government and corporate secrets has found a way to once again accept donations via credit cards.

WikiLeaks yesterday announced that it has launched "a new payment gateway" that relies upon the French credit card system Carte Bleue. That system, which works globally with the Visa/MasterCard system that's currently blockading WikiLeaks, is "contractually barred from directly cutting off merchants," according to the organization. A French not-for-profit has taken advantage of that loophole and helped WikiLeaks … Read more

Dropbox users get spammed via personal e-mail accounts

David P. was the first Dropbox user to post on the company's Web site forum titled "Email-Address leaked from Dropbox" yesterday. He wrote that he received spam from an email address he uses only for Dropbox.

"So I guess you have a security problem with your user account data," he wrote. "And this sucks a lot."

As of this writing, there are now 106 posts in the forum of people complaining of receiving e-mail spam from online casinos and gambling sites via the online file storage service. The majority of the users are … Read more

Apple's iPod Nano could return to taller form, rumor says

If there's one chameleon in Apple's iPod lineup, it's a close race between the iPod Nano and the Shuffle. Both have changed dramatically over the course of their respective product life spans, and a new rumor says it could happen all over again to the next Nano.

According to Japanese Apple-focused blog Macotakara, Apple's next iPod Nano will return to an earlier form of sorts, reverting back to the tried-and-true "oblong style" form factor. As a frame of reference, the current Nano is more like an iPod Shuffle, just with a touch screen on … Read more

Windows Phone 8 to get curvy one-handed keyboard?

You've got an important text to send, but you're also trying to flag down a taxi, make a rude gesture at an enemy, or fight off a marauding seagull. It's a nightmare scenario, but possibly not for much longer, as leaked spy-shots suggest Windows Phone 8 devices will feature a one-handed one-screen keyboard.

WMPoweruser got ahold of the picture above, which reportedly comes from a leaked Microsoft Research presentation. As you can see, the keyboard is curved to fit your thumb, with individual characters sorted into distinct blocks.

Read more of "Windows Phone 8 to get curvy one-handed keyboard?" at Crave UK.… Read more

Analysis: eHarmony had several password security fails

An analysis of passwords stolen from eHarmony and leaked to the Web recently reveals several problems with the way the dating site handled password encryption and policies, according to a security expert.

The biggest problem clearly was that the passwords, although encrypted and obscured with a hashing algorithm, were not "salted," which would have increased the amount of work password crackers would need to do, writes Mike Kelly, a security analyst at Trustwave SpiderLabs, in a blog post today.

But there were two other less obvious problems. First, the lowercase characters in passwords were converted to uppercase before … Read more

DARPA fortifies soldiers' smartphones against malware

For most ordinary citizens, leaked information from a smartphone or tablet is a hassle but not a life-or-death situation. But for soldiers it can be another story.

The U.S. government is working to reinforce soldiers' devices against data breaches. According to The New York Times, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, has given a $21 million grant to the company Invincea to protect soldiers' Android-based phones and tablets from cyber threats.

"By separating untrusted apps and content we are preventing the compromise of the operating system," founder of Invincea Anup Ghosh told The New York … Read more