Hacking group activist’s posts land him in trouble

DALLAS — Barrett Brown has, at times, called himself an author, a freedom fighter and a spokesman for the movement of hacker-activists known as Anonymous.
In tweets and videos, Brown praises Anonymous’ work, rips his opponents and repeatedly lashes out at his biggest nemesis: the FBI.
Now, his online postings have landed him in federal prison.
The 31-year-old Brown is charged with making Internet threats and retaliating against law enforcement in a three-count federal indictment that quotes dozens of his tweets and YouTube videos. One of those videos, posted just before his arrest last month, includes a promise to ruin an FBI agent’s life and “look into his (expletive) kids.”
Brown is in custody in a Fort Worth prison. He is scheduled to have an Oct. 18 hearing to determine his mental competency. Both the FBI’s Dallas office and Brown’s attorney, Doug Morris, declined to comment about the case.

Pirated Android apps three sites seized, DOJ says

                                                      The Justice Department's site warning.

                                                        (Credit: U.S. Department of Justice)

The U.S. Department of Justice has taken aim at three sites that allegedly pirated Android apps.

According to the Justice Department, it seized three Web sites -- applanet.net, appbucket.net, and snappzmarket.com -- that were allegedly offering copies of copyrighted Android apps. It marked the first time that sites were seized over allegedly pirating copyrighted mobile apps.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the sting operation by downloading "thousands of copies of popularity copyright apps" from the sites, the Justice Department said. The agency didn't specify the apps, but the servers hosting them were based overseas, leading the FBI to call on international law-enforcement partners for help.

International Cyber Crime Master Mind arrested

A hacker, believed to have created the Mariposa botnet which compromised millions of computers across the globe, has gone on trial in Slovenia.

Matjaž Škorjanc, who is 26 years old, is believed by the authorities to be the hacker known as "Iserdo", and was arrested in the city of Maribor, Slovenia two years ago.

Škorjanc's arrest followed an international investigation by the FBI and Slovenian and Spanish police.

Computer crime-fighting authorities had succeeded in bringing down the Mariposa botnet at the end of 2009, but at its height, the botnet (named after the Spanish word for "butterfly") had silently recruited almost 13 million computers in more than 190 countries.

The computers had been hijacked by hackers after being infected by the polymorphic W32/Rimecud family of malware, which spread itself via a number of methods including copying itself to removable storage devices, instant messaging and P2P file-sharing systems.

Once a computer had been compromised and brought into the botnet, operators could steal information from innocent users - including credit card details and banking passwords.

According to police, code created by the masterminds of the Mariposa botnet was sold to hundreds of other cybercriminals around the world.

Škorjanc's former girlfriend, Nuša Čoh, is also standing trial - accused of being an accomplice in alleged money laundering.

Three suspects arrested in Spain have not yet stood trial. Source-NakedSecurity

by Graham Cluley on August 7, 2012