According to recent reports, a member of Lulzsec group of hackers was arrested on Thursday.

Hacker, Cody Kertsinger, 23, was held responsible for being a part of the Sony Pictures Entertainment Website attack, commenced in June. The Washington Post reports, above 1 million accounts were hacked into during the actual event, but at present Sony states that personal information of about 40,000 users had been leaked.

The youngster, belonging to Tempe, Arizona, was a college student who was taken to a court in Phoenix Thursday afternoon, charged against conspiring and accessing illegally to a protected system. As stated in the Reuter’s report, the hacker, if found guilty, can be sentenced to 15 years.

Cody and his accomplices used an SQL injection program to hack into the Sony Pictures computer systems and steal user information.

It was also informed that Kertsinger along with his group mates posted the stolen data on the LulzSec website.

He was released on Thursday, by US Magistrate Judge Lawrence Anderson, and forbidden to access the internet except for homework purposes; moreover, banned traveling to any other states except Arizona, Illinois and California.

The state government has asked to send Cody to LA where the actual claim was made from.

The report states that FBI investigations, regarding the event, are still in process.

Although, Sony has made no comments, as far as the arrest is concerned.

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Original: LulzSec Group Hacker Caught in Arizona

Everyone that has an Internet Service Provider account has a unique username and password to protect hackers and authorized user from accessing accounts without the proper authorization.  Upon registering with a web hosting provider, typically an automated e-mail is sent to the owner of the account with all of the confidential information required to access and begin set-up the website.

It’s imperative to print and file a copy of this sensitive information in either your home or office.  Also, it’s a good idea to inform a trusted employee the whereabouts of the account information in case of an emergency situation.

Black-listed Passwords

Contrary to popular belief, there are many common passwords that even mogul social media sites such as Twitter has implemented a black list of hundreds of password combinations numbers and letters that are unacceptable to register as a valid log-in credential such “password, naked, twitter, 123456, please, internet, testing, beavis, and of course, butthead.  For a complete listing of forbidden passwords, you can visit TechCrunch’s In addition, Twitter repots some of the most common password combinations including:  coffee, prince, princesses, password123, Porsche, 121212, testing, and zzzzzz.

Avoiding the Obvious

While Fluffy, Snuggles and Spot are cute names for your favorite pet, they are not as adorable for passwords.  The same thing can be said for nicknames for spouses, significant others or children.  And obviously, you would want to avoid using any part of your personal name as a password.  So, the first thing to keep in mind when creating a password is to be creative and unique.

Password Generators

If you’re still perplexed when it comes to setting up, automatic password generators are a great tool.  Most password generators allow you to select the number and/or symbols.  All you need to do is plug in the desired number of characters, and the online software program does the rest.  Once the password is generated, it is displayed almost immediately.

Tips for Creating a Strong Password

To ensure a solid password there are a few tips to keep in mind:

Do

• Use a minimum of 15 characters;
• Use both uppercase and lowercase letter;
• Use numbers;
• Include at least one symbol.

Don’t

• Use old passwords;
• Use your first, middle, last or surname;
• Use the same info as your login info;
• Use names of family members or friends;
• Use dictionary words;
• Use recognizable names.

Although choosing a secure password to protect valuable information may be a challenge for some novice users, however, password generator tools and helpful tips, applied with some common sense makes the task less daunting.

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Original: Using Common Sense When Selecting a Secure Password

London police on Tuesday stated that they have arrested a 19 year old for alleged involvement in the Sony hack attacks. The tweet by BBC News identified the arrested person as Ryan Cleary, though this has not been confirmed by the police. Cleary was behind various attacks on message boards being utilized by members of the hacker group Anonymous to protest how publicity seeking and focused the leaders had turned, a report by Metro UK stated.

CNN London states in a report that the suspect in connected with hacks made on the systems and increasing denial of service attacks on numerous international organizations and intelligence agencies. This arrest has been preceded by the one made by Spanish authorities nearly a week ago, in which three members of Anonymous group were taken into custody for attacking Sony properties. Immediately after which the Spanish police website was attacked by Anonymous. Earlier in may, action against two teens was taken for a hack attack on a UK web host.

The hacking attack made on Sony in April which breached security protocol and stole private data of nearly a 100 million users, was initiated by DDoS attack. According to Sony, the loss because of this occurrence has accounted to almost $171 million. According to the police, the accused was taken into custody on Monday night in Essex just outside London, in an operation led by intelligence.

“The teenager was arrested on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act and Fraud Act offences and was taken to a central London police station, where he currently remains in custody for questioning,” the spokesman said in a statement.

“Searches at a residential address in Wickford, Essex, following the arrest last night have led to the examination of a significant amount of material. These forensic examinations remain ongoing.”

Authorities have confiscated the suspect’s computer and will investigate any ties to hacking groups, including LulzSec.

“This link has not been established yet as it is still early days,” a police spokesman told CNN.

On Tuesday, LulzSec tweeted, “seems the glorious leader of LulzSec got arrested, it’s all over now… wait… we’re all still here! Which poor bastard did they take down?”

Numerous reports stated on Tuesday that LulzSec was responsible for the attack on UK census. However the allegation has been denied by the group which cautions not to accept false rumors until LulzSec itself makes a tweet. LulzSec admitted the attacks on PBS, FBI, affiliated InfraGard, a CIA website, a US Senate server and many others, including Sony Pictures.

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Original: London Police Arrests Hacker for Involvement in PlayStation Network Hack

In a report released by Spanish Authorities, they claim to have arrested three people over alleged involvement in the hack attacks made on Sony’s PlayStation Network. Soon however, they themselves were attacked by a hacker group known as Anonymous. The reports surfaced on the Wired Threat Level blog just recently giving details about the attacks on Spanish authorities which came just after the arrests made on three people said to be a part of hacker group which infiltrated the Sony PlayStation Network and obtained user data of more than 77 million user accounts.

A blog post made on Threat Level on Friday claimed that the Spanish authorities made an announcement over the arrest of three members belonging to the Anonymous hacker group for their involvement in the attacks on PlayStation Network, as well as on many other sites like Visa, PayPal and more which did not cater to the website WikiLeaks in 2010.

Initially, the statement released by the police claimed that the arrests were made because the hackers were involved in the main hack attack on PlayStation Network that took place in April. However later additions were made to the reports claiming that the group conducted attacks on many other Sony organizations.

The speculations made during the attacks and afterwards, held a hacker group known as LulzSec, responsible for the hacks. This group’s involvement with the Anonymous is not well known since no hacker voluntarily gives information about his real identity.

Information about the hackers arrested was not released by the police, though it has been said that the attacks were conducted from a server located in the house of one of the suspects in Northern Spain.

The hacker group Anonymous, even though earlier refused to be associated with any group or organization, has recently taken credits for many of the attacks related to WikiLeaks, but says that it has been wrongfully framed for the attacks on Sony’s PlayStation Network.

Threat Level on Monday stated the official website for the federal police of Spain was hacked by Anonymous, causing them to go offline for an hour. Anonymous professed blame for the attack, labeling it retaliation for the arrests made on Friday. The authorities are still looking into the attack on their website.

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Original: Spanish Authorities Face Hack Attack after Arresting Three for Attack on PlayStation

If you run an online business then one of the most important factors for you should be making sure that your site is secure at all times. Every day and sometimes every hour, new threats emerge that can do serious damage to your online business. This is why web hosting security is so crucial to making sure you and your customers are protected. While you are working diligently everyday to provide your customers with the absolute best service possible there is someone out there who is working just as hard to hack into your site and bypass your security. There are many levels of undesirable effects that come from hacker attacks. They range from being nothing more than a minor annoyance to being major security breaches that allow you become the victim of things like identity theft. In addition, major holes in your web hosting security can even cause you to be subject to arrest for something they/you did not do.

Battling Invisible Demons

The worst aspect of hackers and online security threats is that you cannot see, touch or feel them. They come like a thief in the night and take you completely by surprise if you are ill prepared for them. Many people envision hackers to be geeks or teenagers sitting at the keyboard working fervently to get into their files and databases. In reality this is not even close to what the world of hacking looks like. Hackers use a variety of automated bots and tools to break through your security measures. Applications which can work thousands of times faster than humans are used and this is why it is so easy to become a target/victim. Unfortunately, your system can be hi-jacked without even the first sign to you. In fact, everyone, even personal computer users are prone to malicious attacks and threats. A good method of web hosting security will make sure that you are ready at all times for any threat that may try to infiltrate your site.

Online Virus Mutation and Resistance

Just like viruses that attack our bodies, online viruses are ever changing and mutating. Because of this they can develop super strength and become extremely hard to fight. In order to make sure that your PC is safe from viruses it is important to be certain that your web hosting company has all the latest tools and virus definitions in place. If virus definitions are not updated everyday, maybe even multiple times per day then there is a good chance that new and mutated forms of computer viruses will go undetected. Always be sure that you pick a web hosting company that takes security seriously and has their protection updated on a continual basis.

What Your Hosting Company is Capable Of

Just about 90% of all web masters actually have a third party hosting their sites. Because of this it is vital to understand that hosting companies are not all created equally. The economy has hit everyone hard, even web hosting companies constantly have to lay off employees and make budget cuts. For this reason certain web hosting companies may not have the ability or staff to fight off the many threats that seek to invade your site through cyber space. If you are running an online business then choosing to least expensive hosting company may not be the best option for you. Remember, in most aspects of life you get what you pay for. The same can be said when it comes to web hosting and the security measures they are capable of taking to protect you.

Click Stealing: A Very Dangerous Threat

There are so many dangerous threats out there that it would be impossible to list them all. However, among one of the most serious concerns is a practice called “click stealing”. This occurs when a hacker places a link over the top of one of the buttons on your site which will redirect traffic toward them. This may be very annoying when it occurs but when there are important financial details involved then it can be absolutely devastating. Imagine going to your online bank account to make a payment and having a redirect link take you somewhere else. This could cause you to enter sensitive information to a form that has been created by people with the intent of doing you harm. This is why it is so important to talk to your prospective web hosting company to find out what type of security they have in place to protect your site from “click stealing”.

Beware of Disgruntled Employees

Another major threat that you may be exposed to if you run a business with employees is that you are probably using employees that are quite experienced when it comes to technical matters. This means that if you do not generate new passwords and make sure that they are locked out 100% then they can return and do very damaging things to your site. Fortunately, this is not as common as the practice of “click stealing but it is still a threat and should be taken seriously.

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Original: The Truth about Web Hosting Security

A petition was distributed by Change.org to free Chinese activist and artist Ai WeiWei. Unfortunately the repercussions of this action were hackers attacking the petitioning website. In the recent months, Change.org has incurred a significant amount of downtime as a result of distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS). These malicious actions overwhelm a website’s server with traffic and by sending requests that overload the system.

A Statement by Change.org

The founder of Change.org released a statement noting that it is clear the attacks have come as a result of the Ai WeiWei freedom campaign. In early April 2011, WeiWei was taken into custody for uncovering a Chinese government scandal and crisis. The activist was also well-known for his participation in the construction of Beijing’s National Stadium which was the venue for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

100,000 Signatures and Counting

The current petition for WeiWei’s release from incarceration has gathered over 100,000 signatures including those from high-profile entities like the Tate Modern and Guggenheim museums.

The United States’ Role

Representatives from Change.org have confirmed that the DDoS attacks originated in China despite being blocked by the Chinese government for many years. Change.org also stated that there is no reason to believe the Chinese government is behind these malicious attacks. The United States government, FBI and the State Department have all launched separate investigations into the attack.

Several international bodies such as the United States have criticized the Chinese government for its sub par human rights record over the past few years. There is the possibility that WeiWei’s arrest is only a small segment of a much larger movement to crackdown on anti-government dissidence by the Chinese government.

Information about Change.org

Established in 2007, Change.org is one of the largest petitioning websites on the Internet. The Change.org team works to gather caring individuals to fight for issues that plague the human race. Some of the most commonly fought for issues on the website include, human trafficking, sustainable food, immigration rights, gay rights and animals.

The website provides the advocacy tools needed to make a difference for free. The most popular tool is the email petition with a full suite of resources currently in development for online and offline campaigning.

Whenever there are controversial political articles and movements on the Internet, it is going to upset an individual or group somewhere in the world. Therefore, that group may take actions against that online presence such as with Change.org. To maintain continued success, Change.org must implement a higher level of security to reduce downtime.

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Original: Hackers Attack Change.org

McAfee recently released a report proving that cyber attacks have significantly increased on infrastructure companies. Most of these attacks involved the extortion of information and malware attempts. McAfee worked in conjunction with the Center for Strategic and International Studies and was based on surveying 200 information technology executives and over 1,000 information technology workers and technicians.

The Survey

The surveying was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2010 and found that almost 70 percent of companies polled faced some type of security threat via mail-ware on a regular basis. The report also unveiled that almost 60 percent of companies had launched security audits and procedures as a result of these attacks.

Organizational Denial

The Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at McAfee stated that too many organizations have the mentality that an attack will not happen to them. If an attack does occur, the company will just pay for it then. Based on the results of the report, this is dangerous thinking and a great way to incur major issues with servers and workstations. Like anything else, it is always best to catch potential problems upstream, before they cause real damage.

Disrupting Critical Infrastructure

The majority of the attacks primarily focus on the disruption of a company’s critical infrastructure. The most recent type of damaging attack is malware called Stuxnet which as affected numerous company’s data acquisition programming and supervisory control. Stuxnet can easily enter systems because of a Microsoft Windows security exploit.

Electric Smart Grids

Also, electric smart grids face a major risk according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. As a result, the office and independent security consultants have suggested the implementation of stronger, more robust security measures. The report also uncovered that almost one quarter of companies that have enacted smart technologies have not developed security protection for the subsequent grids.

Report Results

The report deduced that the rise in attacks is directly related to the need of companies to always implement the newest technologies and updates without integrating security measures in the process. Therefore, this number would be significantly reduced if organizations enforced all steps during implementation.

Companies need to work smarter and realize that they can be attacked at any given time without the proper protection. Therefore, it appears as if a strong method of relaying this information is through the education of information technology professionals. Hopefully in the future, the experts will listen and protect their company from cyber attacks.

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Original: Companies See a Rise in Cyber Attacks

Communicating across cyberspace never been more risky, especially with new hackers being born every day and current fraud levels at an all-time high. The Internet is teeming with hackers and cyber criminals that will do anything to earn some quick cash with minimal work. Perhaps the easiest way for a hacker to make a lot of money is to steal confidential sensitive financial data that is being transmitted from one e-mail address to another. Fortunately, this is a relatively difficult task for even the most experienced hacker, as web hosting providers and e-mail providers have developed complex security algorithms and encryption techniques that have nearly eliminated data interception. However, if you’re still concerned about the safety of webmail communications facilitated by your hosting provider, consider the following paragraphs that describe how hosting providers maintain secure webmail communications on a continual basis.

How Are E-Mails Encrypted?

Whenever you are connected to the inbox of your webmail you are actually connecting to a web server via a secured connection, in which all data that is transmitted and received to and from your computer is completely encrypted. The encrypted data server uses special software to gather information and then scramble it into complete nonsense, simultaneously generating the key that can be used to decipher this “nonsense” within the receiving web server. Only the receiving web server contains this key, and the data is therefore useless until it reaches the server. Thus, the only way for a hacker to intercept e-mail communications is to either hack into the e-mail inbox of the user by somehow obtaining their login credentials (i.e. – via spyware/viruses like keyloggers), or to hack into the receiving inbox for a web server that contains the encryption key. Data is encrypted utilizing complex mathematical algorithms that scramble data instantly, and upon arriving at its destination the data is decrypted utilizing the same algorithm that transforms it back into legible form.

How Are Website E-Mail Forms Secured?

If you own a website then you are probably familiar with contact forms, which can be utilized by your site visitors to contact you via webmail without leaving your site. Unfortunately, contact pages make it possible for hackers to send spam e-mails to your webmail through the contact form. Thankfully, web hosting providers have been able to successfully deal with this form of e-mail spam for quite a while now. By utilizing on-page captchas, which are basically photographic images containing various characters, website contact forms now force users to verify that they are a human being before they can submit an e-mail. Hosting providers also block repetitive e-mails that originate from the same IP address to prevent unwanted e-mail harassment.

Securing E-Mail Credentials

Web hosts also offer password generators within the backend interface of your hosting control panel, which allow you to automatically generate complex passwords that minimize the possibility of having your e-mail accounts hacked. It is highly recommended that such password generators be used anytime you are creating an e-mail account for online business operations. Be sure to store the generated password within a password-protected file, and for maximum security backup this file on external media such as a USB flash drive or external hard drive.

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Original: How Web Hosting Providers Maintain Secure Webmail Communications

Business owners and website administrators spend countless hours trying to perfect their website and sales pages in order to maximize conversion rates and create a profitable online presence. Sadly, every year hundreds of webmasters go through the terrible experience of losing site data and having to start all over from scratch. There are a plethora of reasons that data loss can occur, including but not limited to – your hosting provider going out of business, a hacker stealing or erasing data from the server, and even hardware damage. Luckily, every web hosting plan offers a free backup utility within the control panel that can be used to completely secure all of the data that powers your websites.

The Importance of Creating Backups

While most web hosting providers create routine backups of all of their web servers, it is important to store your own backup copies, in case the hosting provider goes out of business or physical damage is done to their data center. By having access to your own server backups you can also easily transfer your website to another hosting provider, and ensure the continuity of your sites in the event that the hosting plan expires. The following paragraphs outline the overall process of creating backups within the web hosting control panel.

How to Create and Store a Full Server Backup

Since most webmasters have or will eventually own multiple websites, hosting providers make it possible to backup the entire server, thereby securing the data of all websites simultaneously. To create and store a full server backup simply locate the backup utility module within your control panel, click generate backup, and then select the location on your computer that you would like to store the file to. Alternatively, you can store the file on external media such as an external hard drive, a DVD, a blank CD, or even a USB flash drive. Experts recommend keeping a copy of the backup on your local hard drive, and having several backup copies located on external media for maximum redundancy.

Other Backup Options

In addition to backing up all of the data on your web server, you can also backup a single website or even a portion of a website by clicking the partial backups module within the backup utility of your control panel. If you would like to download a backup copy of your server to be transferred via FTP so that it can be used within a new hosting account, you can also save the backup to a directory on your web server and then transfer it via an FTP client to the new hosting plan. Using this method will also allow you to store data remotely, thereby facilitating the process of working “within the cloud” (not having to rely on your computer’s local hard drive constantly). Traveling businessmen often utilize this method of backups so that they can access the backup from anywhere in the world. In addition, you can store the generated backup file hosting website for greater accessibility.

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Original: The Importance and Process of Creating Backups within Your Web Hosting Control Panel

The majority of web hosting security issues are caused by flaws within web application. In fact, producing a 100% secure Web application is a very difficult task that only the most experienced developers can accomplish. In many cases, web developers are paid on a per project basis, and therefore rush to finish the project without putting a large emphasis on the security of the application and whether or not it will compromise the safety of the user’s web hosting account and computer. Thus, most of the serious security lapses caused by such applications are not recognized or realized until they cause a significant amount of loss or damage to a webmaster. To avoid becoming such a webmaster and to secure your online operations, you may want to consider the following information about securing web applications.

Utilizing Complex Programming Languages

One way programmers make web applications more secure is by developing them in more complex programming languages that are less popular amongst hackers. For example, the PHP programming language is extremely popular and can be found in nearly every content management system web application promoted online. However, this popularity makes it much easier for novice and experienced hackers to exploit the weaknesses of a web application developed using PHP. While not all PHP web applications are unsafe, by utilizing less popular programming languages such as Microsoft ASP it is possible to significantly reduce the likelihood of having your site or web hosting account hacked.

Testing the Security of a Web Application

Before utilizing a web application it is important to ensure that it is completely secured, and does not provide any loopholes through which hackers can gain access to the administrative interface of your web hosting account. Hackers are known for using any means necessary to infiltrate online interfaces and gain control of websites, and the most popular types of web hosting exploit used today relies upon web hosting applications. Hackers may distribute dangerous web applications that are installed on the victims’ Web servers, at which point the hacker can request and send information to and from the server freely. Once this happens, an entire universe of opportunities opens up for the hacker, giving them the ability to extract information from your website’s databases, and even change the content of the sites (a tactic known as ‘defacing’). To test the security of the web application you may need to hire your own programmer, or use proprietary packing software to test security holes.

Working with Reputable Programmers

Perhaps one of the best ways to avoid unsecured web applications is to utilize the services of a reputable programmers, rather than installing free applications that are in the public domain. Hackers distribute free applications with the hopes that webmasters will install them on their server, thereby giving them the aforementioned access needed to carry out a variety of nefarious tasks. By working with a team of reliable and reputable programmers you can ensure that your web applications are developed to accommodate all of your specific requirements and specifications.

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Original: Eliminating Hosting Security Flaws by Securing Web Applications