Category Archives: A Little Sunshine

Includes investigative blog posts meant to shine a light on the darker corners of the Internet.

No Bail for Alleged Silk Road Mastermind

November 21, 2013
84 Comments

A federal judge has denied bail for Ross Ulbricht, the ? man arrested last month on suspicion of running the Silk Road, an online black market that offered everything from drugs and guns to computer hackers and hitmen for hire.

The decision came after federal prosecutors dumped a virtual truckload of additional incriminating evidence supporting its claim that Ulbricht was the infamous Silk Road administrator known as the “Dread Pirate Roberts” (DPR), and that he was indeed a strong flight risk. To top it off, the government also now alleges that Ulbricht orchestrated and paid for a murder-for-hire scheme targeting six individuals (until today, Ulbricht was accused of plotting just two of these executions).

Don’t Like Spam? Complain About It.

November 19, 2013
42 Comments

Cynical security experts often dismiss anti-spam activists as grumpy idealists with a singular, Sisyphean obsession. The cynics question if it’s really worth all that time and effort to complain to ISPs and hosting providers about customers that are sending junk email? Well, according to at least one underground service designed for spammers seeking to avoid anti-spam activists, the answer is a resounding “yes!”

vBulletin Breach Prompts Password Reset

November 18, 2013
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Forum software maker vBulletin is urging users to change their passwords following a recent breach of its networks. The attackers who claimed responsibility for the intrusion say they broke in using a zero-day flaw that is now being sold in several places online, but vBulletin maintains it is not aware of any zero-day attacks against current versions of its product.

Hackers Take Limo Service Firm for a Ride

November 4, 2013
60 Comments

A hacker break in at a U.S. company that brokers reservations at limousine and Town Car services nationwide has exposed the personal and financial information on more than 850,000 well-heeled customers, including Fortune 500 CEOs, lawmakers, and A-list celebrities.

Adobe Breach Impacted At Least 38 Million Users

October 29, 2013
73 Comments

The recent data breach at Adobe that exposed user account information and prompted a flurry of password reset emails impacted at least 38 million users, the company now says. It also appears that the already massive source code leak at Adobe is broadening to include the company’s Photoshop family of graphical design products.

Experian Sold Consumer Data to ID Theft Service

October 20, 2013
119 Comments

An identity theft service that sold Social Security and drivers license numbers — as well as bank account and credit card data on millions of Americans — purchased much of its data from Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus, according to a lengthy investigation by KrebsOnSecurity.

Breach at PR Newswire Tied to Adobe Hack

October 16, 2013
24 Comments

Earlier this year, hackers broke into the networks of marketing and press release distribution service PR Newswire, making off with usernames and encrypted passwords that customers use to access the company’s service and upload news releases, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. The stolen data was found on the same Internet servers that housed huge troves of source code recently stolen from Adobe Systems. Inc., suggesting the same attackers may have been responsible for both breaches.