Tag: hacking
Woman denied job for ‘ghetto’ name, but company blames hacker
A Missouri woman said she’s hurt and distraught after being denied a job because her name was considered too “ghetto” — but company officials insist a hacker sent the racist message.
Hermeisha Robinson, of Bellefontaine Neighbors, shared her experience with Mantality Health in Chesterfield in a Facebook post on Monday, saying she was discriminated against due to her name — even though she had what it takes to fill the job post.
“I have a public service announcement,” Robinson wrote in an all-caps post. “I am very upset because today I received an email about this job that I applied for as a customer service representative at Mantality Health … I know I’m well qualified for the position as they seen on my resume!”
Robinson’s post continued: “They discriminated against me because of my name which they considered it to be ‘ghetto’ for their company! My feelings are very hurt and they even got me second guessing my name trying to figure out if my name is really that ‘ghetto.’”
Robinson asked friends to share her post, saying the “discrimination has to stop,” but company officials contend the message isn’t authentic, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Kevin Meuret, the CEO of the clinic that treats men with low testosterone, told the newspaper on Tuesday that someone from outside Missouri hacked into its email system, most likely a disgruntled former employee.
“Thank you for your interest in careers at Mantality Health,” read the response to Robinson. “Unfortunately we do not consider candidates that have suggestive ‘ghetto’ names. We wish you the best in your career search.”
Meuret said about 20 potential employees got emails from the hacker. Reports have since been filed with police in both Chesterfield and St. Louis County, he said.
“I’m a father of three daughters, and that young lady getting that [response] is horrible,” Meuret told the newspaper. “That young lady opened something that must have felt like a freight train, and that’s unacceptable.”
Meuret promised to “pursue this even if it becomes a federal matter,” he told the Post-Dispatch.
In a statement to The Post, Meuret said the password for an independent job board site used by the company was compromised Monday.
“We are currently working with law enforcement to identify the perpetrator and consider appropriate legal action,” the statement read. “We share the anger and frustration of those who received these bogus emails.”
Robinson, meanwhile, told The Post Wednesday that she’s still reeling from the pure hatred exposed in the hacked message.
“The first thing that went through my mind is how could someone just outright say something so mean like that,” Robinson said. “I wasn’t expecting that from a job. I didn’t name myself, I didn’t give myself this name. How can people be so mean, and so horrible?”
It was the first time Robinson applied to the company and she had not been contacted by anyone investigating the matter as of Wednesday, she said.
“It just makes me not want to do anything,” she said of the entire ordeal. “I don’t want to do anything anymore: go outside, say my name to people, anything.”
Robinson’s job hunt is still ongoing. She wouldn’t accept a job at the testosterone clinic even if one were offered to her at this point, she said.
“I wouldn’t feel safe,” she told The Post. “If some hacker got my email to reach me, they have my Social Security number, my birthday, they have everything. It just wouldn’t be a good working environment.”
Robinson’s cousin, Miltina Burnett, posted a screenshot of a message she received Monday from company officials indicating that a former employee hacked into the company’s system.
But regardless of the authenticity of the messages, the damage for Robinson has been very real, she said.
Botnet hackers that caused huge Internet blackout did it for money, revenge
Botnet hackers that caused huge Internet blackout did it for money, revenge
A New Jersey man has pleaded guilty to computer crimes charges for an online attack that caused a massive Internet outage last year, according to federal court documents unsealed Tuesday.
The Justice Department says Paras Jha, an ex-Rutgers student, built the Mirai botnet, which operated hundreds of thousands of infected household devices to flood websites with traffic, knocking out services such as Netflix and PayPal. The plea agreement was filed Dec. 5 in federal court in Alaska.
Dalton Norman and Josiah White were charged with helping Jha and also pleaded guilty last month.
The plea agreement says Jha and his cohorts built the botnet to launch denial of service attacks against business competitors and others against whom they held grudges and to make money from renting the botnet to others. They also wanted to extort money from companies that either were under attack or wanted to avoid being attacked, it said.
The Mirai botnet infected Internet-connected devices with malicious software to launch a series of attacks on websites. Among the targets was an Internet infrastructure firm, Dyn.
The program allows even unskilled hackers to take over Internet-connected devices and use them to launch distributed denial of service, or DDoS attacks. The software spreads via the Internet, taking over DVRs, cable set-top boxes, routers and even Internet-connected cameras used by stores and businesses for surveillance.
In the past, such DDoS attacks were accomplished by hijacking computers with malicious software and turning them into a robot network, or botnet, that sent the messages.
Mirai and other software available online now focus on compromising devices that are connected to the Internet but that most consumers don’t think of as computers, the so-called Internet of Things.
Jha and his cohorts made more than $180,000 leasing access to others who made money by directing fake Internet traffic to ads on infected websites, the plea agreement says.
A vigilante hacker is changing 10,000 WiFi passwords
Does your home WiFi use a default password? It forces you to change it. Does it leave unguarded communication channels open? It forces you to close them.
To experts, this seems like the work of a well intentioned hacker vigilante. Illegal, yes. But helpful, kinda.
The custom-built software is nicknamed “Ifwatch” and it is spreading quickly, according to researchers at the cybersecurity firm Symantec.
“We have not seen any malicious activity whatsoever,” said Symantec threat intelligence officer Val Saengphaibul. “However, in the legal sense, this is illegal activity. It’s accessing computers on a network without the owner’s permission.”
To date, it has snuck into at least 10,000 Internet-connected devices, usually WiFi routers.
Ifwatch first popped up last year, when an independent security researcher spotted something funky in a home WiFi router.
Why does Ifwatch seem nice? Because it tries to kill any malware on your router. It also gives your device automatic, friendly updates that protect it from computer viruses. In some cases, it forces a device to reboot every week, clearing away any dangerous malware.
Then again, there’s no telling if this intrusive program is really as benign as it seems. Ifwatch has the ability to monitor what’s going on in your router — and capture that data.
So, in theory, it could spy on you. When you’re prompted to type in a new password, it’s hard to tell if that stays private. Would you type in a new password with someone looking over your shoulder?
“We have no idea who is behind this — or what their full intention is,” Saengphaibul said.
But there’s a clue. There’s a hidden message in the program’s computer code: “To any NSA and FBI agents reading this: please consider whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden’s example.”
This altruistic hack could be an attempt to improve everyone’s privacy. Or maybe it’s just a very clever diversion.
via: http://fox2now.com/2015/10/02/a-vigilante-hacker-is-changing-10000-wifi-passwords/