This Week in Getting Hacked: Hacked Ignitions Edition

All aboard the cybersecurity train! CHOOO CHOOOO! Each week we bring you the greatest and most terrifying cybersecurity and hacking-related news on the web. This is….THIS WEEK IN GETTING HACKED!

On to the links…

Hey remember that guy that hacked into all those famous people’s accounts and that resulted in the leak of their private—often nude—photos? Well, he has plead guilty to running a phishing campaign designed to steal login info for Apple iCloud and Gmail accounts.

After setting up a bunch of malicious websites filled with login-stealing malware, he sent emails that looked like security warnings that directed people to the malicious sites and thus stealing their info. Amongst the 300 iCloud and Gmail accounts he hacked between November 2013 and August 2014, around 30 of them were from famous celebrities like Rihanna, Jennifer Lawrence, and more.

Photo Credit: ew.com

While he was behind hacking into the accounts, there was no evidence that he was involved in leaking the private photos of those celebrities. He faces the maximum sentence of five years in prison.

You can preach it as much as you want, but sometimes people don’t learn their lesson when it comes to cybersecurity, and they get caught with a virus taking over their computer. Well, a new form of ransomware is spreading, and it attempts to teach a lesson to those infected by giving them a free key to unlock their infected files.

Photo Credit: kaspersky.com

Known as EduCrypt, the ransomware encrypts the files on your computer, but then also gives you a “ReadMe.txt” file that tells you where to download a decrypter, with a message that says, “Don’t download random sh*t on the Internet.”

A group named the Lizard Squad—known for taking down the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live network—have targeted a bunch of webcams and connected devices of the Internet of Things to hack into government and banking websites.

Photo Credit: forbes.com

Squad up.

Speaking of connected devices, car manufacturers are finding that their late-model cars are frequently getting stolen after hackers get into their electronic ignitions. Via the Wall Street Journal:

The recent reports highlight the vulnerabilities created as cars become more computerized and advanced technology finds its way into more vehicles. Fiat Chrysler, General Motors Co. and Tesla Motors Inc. have had to alter their car electronics over the last two years after learning their vehicles could be hacked.

Mozilla’s Firefox browser is about to get a whole lot more cool, as a new feature allows users to log into the same site with two different accounts within the same browser. Basically, you could have multiple Gmail or Facebook accounts open in different tabs, allowing for easier workflow as well as increased security and data protection.

And finally…

Check out this interesting article about the NSA’s secret plan to hack system administators.

That’s it for this week! Stay safe out there and definitely change your passwords.