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Cybersecurity firm Cisco Talos is warning of the potential for hackers to target architects and other designers with crypto-mining malware. The hacking campaign, which has largely targeted French-speaking architects, engineers, and graphic designers, sees the victim’s computer infected with... View full entry
Information stolen from the servers of Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) is being held at ransom by computer hackers. The Architect’s Journal reports that the 348-person, London-based practice has been ensnared by a ransomware attack that has resulted in the loss of some unknown quantity of... View full entry
Hackers may be pickin’ up good vibrations from your phone. All the better to surveil you with, my dear.
Researchers at the Electrical and Computer Engineering school of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign discovered that the vibration motor in your devices can operate like a microphone, according to the researchers’ paper. That means, if a hacker rewires your vibration motor (which TechCrunch reported could be executed “in a minute or two”), they can listen to what you’re saying.
— Medium
In related news:University of Calgary pays $16K to recover data held hostage by ransomware attackersNYPD admits to using "Stringrays," military tech that sweeps up cell dataWelcome to the Hudson Yards, c. 2019: the world's most ambitious "smart city" experimentIf houses had airplane modes: an... View full entry
Canada's University of Calgary paid almost $16,000 ($20,000 Canadian, ~£10,800) to recover crucial data that has been held hostage for more than a week by crypto ransomware attackers.
The ransom was disclosed on Wednesday morning in a statement issued by University of Calgary officials. It said university IT personnel had made progress in isolating the unnamed ransomware infection and restoring affected parts of the university network.
— Ars Technica
"It went on to warn that there's no guarantee paying the controversial ransom will lead to the lost data being recovered."Attacks with ransomware have become increasingly frequent. As the name suggests, ransomware allows hackers to take computers hostage until the user pays up. The... View full entry
Among the toughest cybersecurity challenges cities face are recruiting a skilled workforce, increasing education and training for employees on cyberthreats, and taking steps to ensure utility companies and service providers are protecting public water and electrical systems. [...]
Cybersecurity experts say large cities are competing with private companies to recruit and retain skilled workers. Smaller cities, particularly in rural areas, often lack staffing and funds for cybersecurity
— mystatesman.com
More cybersecurity and hacker news on Archinect:Hack The CityFrance moves to block Tor, ban free and public Wi-FiArchitecture of paranoiaTraffic Lights are Easy to HackWhen 'Smart Homes' Get Hacked: I Haunted A Complete Stranger's House Via The InternetThe New French Hacker-Artist Underground View full entry
In a paper published this month, the researchers describe how they very simply and very quickly seized control of an entire system of almost 100 intersections in an unnamed Michigan city from a single ingress point. The exercise was conducted on actual stoplights deployed at live intersections [...] As is typical in large urban areas, the traffic lights in the subject city are networked ... allowing them to pass information to and receive instruction from a central management point. — Ars Technica
A hacker with a smartphone can unlock your front door [...] Criminals and intelligence agencies grab data from your home thermostat to plan robberies or track your movements. According to computer-security researchers, this is the troubling future of the Internet of Things, the term for an all-connected world where appliances like thermostats, health-tracking wristbands, smart cars and medical devices communicate with people and each other through the Internet. — Al Jazeera
