[00:08.180 --> 00:13.220]  This is Space Rogue of the Hacker News Network, and this is HNNCast for the third week of June, 2009.
[00:13.680 --> 00:15.240]  Our top story this week...
[00:16.740 --> 00:21.040]  The controversy surrounding the recent Iranian election has created a major internet disturbance.
[00:21.440 --> 00:31.120]  The current government of Iran is doing everything it can to block access to and from the outside world, while opposition leaders inside the country are organizing DDoS attacks using multiple tactics.
[00:31.740 --> 00:37.680]  Several major Iranian government websites have had to switch to light versions of their sites in an attempt to mitigate the attacks.
[00:38.060 --> 00:41.960]  Many of the attacks have been organized using the online social networking site, Twitter.
[00:42.680 --> 00:49.200]  Despite Twitter being banned by the in-power government, access to the site has remained available via various proxies and other methods.
[00:52.580 --> 01:00.840]  Twitter is so important to the opposition that the U.S. State Department has asked Twitter to reschedule maintenance down times to a quarter during the Iranian night, so as to not disrupt the flow of information out of the country.
[01:03.800 --> 01:08.820]  U.S. and Italian authorities have arrested several people who allegedly commandeered phone lines from companies around the world.
[01:09.140 --> 01:18.500]  Use of the compromised phone lines was then resold at various international call centers to raise money for terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda, according to Italian officials.
[01:18.980 --> 01:25.440]  Some of the people arrested conspired to break into the phone systems of 2,500 entities in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Europe.
[01:25.440 --> 01:30.060]  Over 12 million minutes of phone service were stolen at a value of $55 million.
[01:30.680 --> 01:32.580]  And no one lost any profits.
[01:32.880 --> 01:33.580]  Imagine that.
[01:35.320 --> 01:40.640]  Strong webmail has coughed up the $10,000 it promised to anyone who broke into its CEO's email account.
[01:41.180 --> 01:47.380]  Lance James of Secure Science Corporation, Mike Bailey, and Aviv Raff recently collected their prize money.
[01:47.380 --> 01:52.360]  They claim it only took them about a minute to find the hole they eventually used to gain access to the system.
[01:53.120 --> 01:57.940]  Maybe companies will learn that hacking contests are not a recommended alternative to real pen testing.
[01:58.180 --> 02:02.040]  But then again, maybe they won't, considering all the publicity this has gained.
[02:04.060 --> 02:11.340]  Green Dan, the software reported here last week to be mandated on all personal computers in China, will now be optional according to Chinese state-run media.
[02:11.340 --> 02:15.380]  The software would have restricted access to pornographic and politically sensitive websites.
[02:15.760 --> 02:24.240]  The software came under extreme criticism after it was found to contain numerous security vulnerabilities and would essentially turn the entire country of China into one giant botnet.
[02:24.640 --> 02:31.620]  In addition, charges by Solid Oak Software claim that Green Dan has lifted large chunks of code from its product CyberSitter.
[02:31.900 --> 02:35.780]  It is estimated that there are already 50 million users of the Green Dan software.
[02:36.380 --> 02:37.960]  Hmm, so much for being optional.
[02:39.020 --> 02:46.080]  The London Metropolitan Police Department, in cooperation with the FBI, has dismantled an international gang of online fraudsters.
[02:46.360 --> 02:50.100]  Members of the gang would record musical songs for upload to iTunes and Amazon.
[02:50.280 --> 02:54.340]  They would then buy thousands and thousands of copies of these songs using stolen credit cards.
[02:54.620 --> 02:57.920]  Over five months, the gang was able to collect nearly $300,000.
[02:58.580 --> 03:00.480]  Don't tell the RIAA!
[03:04.120 --> 03:10.360]  CLI.GS, a URL shortening service used to shorten URLs posted to Twitter, was compromised recently.
[03:10.680 --> 03:16.340]  The break-in redirected 2.2 million visitors from the URLs they were trying to follow to a personal blog site.
[03:16.980 --> 03:19.480]  Surprisingly, there doesn't seem to be any sort of profit motive here.
[03:19.740 --> 03:22.540]  No malware installed, no advertising revenue, nothing.
[03:22.940 --> 03:23.440]  Strange.
[03:23.440 --> 03:26.080]  CLI.GS has identified and patched the problem.
[03:27.280 --> 03:31.340]  Key Carry Key, a universal wireless keyboard sniffer, has recently been released.
[03:31.640 --> 03:39.560]  This open source hardware and software project will enable anyone to verify the security level of their own keyboard transmissions, and or demonstrate sniffing attacks.
[03:40.040 --> 03:44.260]  The hardware is designed to be small and versatile, and pre-built PCBs will be available soon.
[03:45.240 --> 03:48.960]  We'll be back with the rest of HNNCast, right after a word from our sponsor.
[03:50.620 --> 03:52.620]  Advertise with HNNCast.
[03:52.720 --> 03:55.360]  Sponsor and advertiser packages available.
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[04:01.120 --> 04:01.920]  Welcome back.
[04:02.200 --> 04:10.520]  A national cybersecurity center for the UK to combat the growing threat of criminal gangs and the cyber attacks of foreign states is to be announced later this month by the Prime Minister.
[04:10.520 --> 04:20.000]  The center will be the main theme of a revised national security strategy paper, which will place greater emphasis on tackling the online threat.
[04:21.700 --> 04:23.020]  Solo, a.k.a.
[04:23.120 --> 04:27.800]  Gary McKinnon, has been accused of the so-called biggest military hack of all time by U.S.
[04:28.290 --> 04:28.320]  prosecutors.
[04:28.670 --> 04:30.260]  After breaking into numerous U.S.
[04:30.320 --> 04:37.480]  government websites, including several sites operated by NASA, Solo's application for judicial review is set to be heard on July 14.
[04:38.040 --> 04:40.740]  Judges will then decide if he is to be extradited to the U.S.
[04:41.120 --> 04:43.180]  to face criminal charges for his actions.
[04:44.390 --> 04:50.820]  Solo's legal team has stated that they plan to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights if a House of Lords appeals fails.
[04:52.680 --> 04:57.200]  And to wrap up this week, a few quick stories that came across the desks here at HNN Studios.
[04:57.200 --> 05:04.560]  Our snake has released SlowLoris, a low-bandwidth DOS tool that will disable an Apache web server in just a few thousand packets.
[05:04.920 --> 05:11.530]  This tool operates on HTTP and not TCP, leaving other services on the targeted box relatively unaffected.
[05:12.080 --> 05:17.380]  The official Twitter account of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently had its password compromised.
[05:17.380 --> 05:22.970]  The unknown intruders made posts to Twitter, claiming that Joseph Smith was a liar.
[05:25.170 --> 05:27.040]  Twitter has since suspended the account.
[05:28.260 --> 05:38.320]  Also in Twitter news, Lindsay Lohan is claiming that her Twitter account has been compromised, after tweets regarding Justin Timberlake's infidelities were posted to her Twitter page.
[05:40.260 --> 05:47.760]  Topeka's Marion Clinic, which provides health care to needy people, claims that its computer systems were broken into and $100,000 was taken from its bank accounts.
[05:48.040 --> 05:49.680]  The FBI is investigating.
[05:50.240 --> 05:57.100]  A 16-year-old sophomore at Shenandoah High School in New York has been arrested after breaking into the school's computer for the second time.
[05:58.460 --> 06:05.160]  A small coffee shop in Portsmouth, New Hampshire had its wireless network breached and the credit card numbers of at least 50 patrons stolen.
[06:05.880 --> 06:09.220]  The crooks have rung up at least $50,000 in fraudulent charges.
[06:10.380 --> 06:17.160]  Glenn Thomas, a candidate for mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, claims that his Facebook page was broken into and rumors of his withdrawal from the race were posted.
[06:17.740 --> 06:20.240]  Hey Glenn, I bet a better password would probably help.
[06:21.400 --> 06:28.260]  And last this week, Wireshark 1.2 and L0phtCrack 6.0.4 were also released earlier this week.
[06:37.770 --> 06:45.110]  For more information about the HNN Quickies or any other stories we reported on this week, be sure to check at www.hackernews.com.
[06:46.390 --> 06:50.950]  If you have news that you think we should report, send it to news@hackernews.com.
[06:51.930 --> 06:54.790]  Check back next week for the next installment of HNNCast.
[06:55.050 --> 06:57.370]  This has been Space Rogue for the Hacker News Network.