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Hacker Group That Hit Twitter, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft Intensifies Attacks
itwbennett writes: The hacker group, which security researchers from Kaspersky Lab and Symantec call Wild Neutron or Morpho, has broken into the networks of over 45 large companies since 2012. After the 2013 attacks against Twitter, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft were highly publicized, the group went underground and temporarily halted its activity. However, its attacks resumed in 2014 and have since intensified, according to separate reports released Wednesday by Kaspersky Lab and Symantec.
Just wondering, what dus 50k systems mean in this context. Is it like downloading 50k mp3's (sounds impressive but isn't, you can automate most of it), or is it he put serious work and did serious damage to each of those systems (would be quite a full time job with lots of overtime though).
Just write 1 good worm and you'll have "hacked 50k systems"... It just sounds like some stupid number that's supposed to sound impressive, but has hardly any meaning.
Are you a good hacker or a bad hacker? Apparently, now, the good hackers are the ones who rob and extort people and companies for personal gain. While the bad ones, apparently, are the ones who try to help people - with no personal benefit to them. The courts have their priorities...
A cracker is also a white guy with a whip. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_(pejorative) I would cringe if somebody referred to a criminal hacker kid from the Southern U.S. as a "cracker"
The criminal hacker as a "cracker" was coined 30 years ago and still hasn't caught on. It's up there with Gnu/Linux as relevant.
OTOH, Hackerspaces and the maker movement have done a good job at changing the meaning of 'hacker' to include both worlds. Hackerspaces are somehow more approachable and understandable to the media and general public.