Target Corp. Suffers Black Friday Data Breach

UPDATE – TJX and Heartland Payment Systems may soon have company atop the list of the worst retail data breaches in U.S. history after reports surfaced that Target Corp. was breached around Black Friday and millions of credit and debit cards were stolen. Target confirmed the breach this morning a...

Whether you are a large or small business, beware of these 5 common security problems

Every January, the trade press if full of new years resolution-like advice… things to do in the coming year, even Coalfire made a few predictions for 2013. I work at Coalfire Labs, and since our business is IT security and testing, we want to share some advice on how to avoid your systems and...

Moscow Bombings, TJX Hacker Spur Black Hat Campaigns

Spammers and malware writers have wasted no time in taking advantage of Monday’s bombings in Moscow, opening up a campaign on Twitter to point users to malicious sites. The pair of suicide bombings that hit the Metro system in Moscow Monday morning inevitably led to a flood of messages on Twitter...

TJX Browser Exploit Accomplice Gets Probation

A computer security professional who sold Internet Explorer exploit code to credit card hacker Albert Gonzalez was sentenced Tuesday to three years probation and a $10,000 fine. Jeremy Jethro, 29, was paid $60,000 by Gonzalez for a zero-day exploit against Microsoft’s browser, “the purpose and...

Feds Seek 25-Year Sentence for TJX Hacker

Computer hacker Albert Gonzalez deserves a quarter-century behind bars for leading a gang of cyberthieves who stole tens of millions of credit and debit card numbers from a transaction processor and several giant retail chains, federal prosecutors argued in a recent court filing. Read the full...

Another TJX Accomplice Gets Nearly 4-Year Sentence

Humza Zaman, a co-conspirator in the hack of TJX and other companies, was sentenced Thursday in Boston to 46 months in prison and fined $75,000 for his role in the conspiracy. The sentence matches what prosecutors were seeking. Read the full article. Wired...

Hacker Gonzalez Pleads Guilty to More Breaches

Notorious hacker Albert Gonzalez pleaded guilty Dec. 29 to conspiracy to hack into the computer networks of Heartland Payment Systems, 7-11 and Hannaford Brothers and faces sentencing between 17 and 25 years on top of his previous guilty plea for the TJX breach and others. Read the full article...

Sniffing Programmer Gets 2 Years Jail for TJX

Stephen Watt, a 25-year-old former Morgan Stanley software engineer, pleaded guilty last December to creating a custom sniffing program dubbed “blabla” that Albert Gonzalez and other hackers used to siphon millions of credit and debit card numbers from TJX’s network; Watt received a 2 year Federa...

How the TJX and Heartland Hackers Worked

The group of hackers alleged to have broken into the networks of a string of companies, including TJX, Hannaford and Heartland Payment Systems, were in no hurry once they worked their way into the companies’ systems. In fact, they had plenty of time to do their dirty work, in some cases sitting...

TJX, Heartland Suspect Was Near Plea Deal

From NYTimes.com Brad Stone Albert Gonzalez, a suspect in several hacking cases, was close to reaching a comprehensive plea agreement with federal prosecutors in Massachusetts and New York when federal prosecutors in New Jersey indicted him on Monday on a new raft of computer crimes, said Mr...

TJX Hack Accomplice Now Broke, Awaiting Sentence

From Wired.com Kim Zetter Accused TJX hacker kingpin Albert Gonzalez called his credit card theft ring “Operation Get Rich or Die Tryin.” He spent $75,000 on a birthday party for himself and once complained that he had to manually count $340,000 in pilfered $20 bills because his counting machine...