Security

The CIA's Web site was down this afternoon in what looked like a distributed denial-of-service attack publicized by members of the online activist group Anonymous.

With the CIA site inaccessible, the Twitter account for @YourAnonNews tweeted "CIA TANGO DOWN: cia.gov #Anonymous" and included a link to a news story about the outage on Russian site RT.com.

A CIA spokesman declined to comment on the matter to CBS News beyond offering this statement: "We are looking into these reports."

The Anonymous account also posted a Pastebin link purporting to expose e-mails from the Mexican Mining Chamber, also known more

Google Wallet users might be wise to start getting a little nervous.

Yesterday, researchers outlined a complicated way to crack the Google Wallet PIN used to make purchases with the smartphone-based payment system. Now there's a new hack that could let a stranger gain access to the funds of Wallet users.

Described yesterday by blogging site The Smartphone Champ, the hack doesn't require extra software, root access, or any particular skills in general.

Instead, all someone apparently has to do it clear the data for the Google Wallet app in the smartphone's application settings menu. The app more

If you could save over $1,300 on your annual car insurance by letting your provider track your driving, would you?

That's the question U.K. drivers are mulling this morning, as the country's Automobile Association (AA) is set to launch a new insurance policy that would place a "black box" into a car, allowing the organization to make sure its insured drivers are behaving on the road.

According to the BBC, which first reported on the move, the technology will monitor speed, braking severity, and the roads drivers are on. The information collected from the black box more

Eight in the morning is a good time to grab some coffee, but not to check your e-mail.

The number of viruses sent out each day peaks between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. EST, according to the Global Security Report released by security research firm Trustwave this week.

"The number of executables and viruses sent in the early morning hours increased," reads the report. "The spike is likely an attempt to catch people as they check e-mails at the beginning of the day."

Using real-world data collected in 2011 from more than 300 incident response and forensic investigations more

A number of iTunes users are reportedly receiving refunds after having their iTunes Store accounts cleaned out by thieves, with the underlying issue of how it happened remaining unresolved.

The firsthand stories are a little disturbing to say the least. Users posting on Apple's Support Community have been reporting that their iTunes accounts and information have been hacked, resulting in gift card and other purchases and changes to their personal information.

According to a report from The Global Mail, Apple's iTunes accounts have been susceptible to hacker attacks for some time. Users have been complaining for more than

Security and network management vendors Prolexic and Arbor Networks recently reported that distributed-denial-of-service attacks are on the rise. What can we do to make prevention a forethought?

According to Prolexic Chief Technology Officer Paul Sop, the recent trends include a shorter attack duration, but a bigger packet-per-second attack volume. This "bigger packet-per-second attack volume" is likely going to be generated by a DDoS (distributed denial of system), which is a coordinated attack from lots of dispersed nodes usually with a few central controllers.

A recent high-profile example was the hacker group "Anonymous" allegedly using the LOIC tool (Low Orbit Ion more

Researchers at security firm zvelo have discovered that they can crack a Google Wallet PIN using a brute force attack on a device that is "rooted"--i.e., freed of security restrictions imposed by wireless carriers.

But don't panic. Chances are your Android device isn't rooted; typically only developers and true geeks are willing to root the device, which gives the user full control of the device with "root" privileges, but also removes certain protections.

And someone would have to get physical access to the device and install password cracking software on it to get to the PIN. more

Psst...Wanna earn 25 bucks? Here's an offer from the folks at Google.

The search giant is promising up to $25 in Amazon gift cards if you let it track the Web sites you visit and how you use them. Through a new project known as Screenwise, you install a browser extension that monitors every site you check out.

Google's stated goal is to find out how everyday people use the Internet in an attempt to help it improve its own products and services.

Those of you not shy about sharing your Web sites can score a $5 more

Apple supplier Foxconn now has another crisis on its hands.

A group of hackers known as Swagg Security is taking credit for a breach of Foxconn network security, resulting in the theft of usernames, passwords, and other private information.

In a series of Twitter posts yesterday, the group boasted that it publicly released the information on the Pirate Bay Web site as well as on Pastebin. The attack grabbed the credentials of every Foxconn employee, according to 9to5Mac, including Terry Gou, CEO of parent Hon Hai Industries.

Beyond damaging Foxconn internally, the stolen information could also create trouble for some more