Hacking episode embarrassed me: Radhika

BANGALORE: "Unfortunate and very embarrassing." This is how Sandalwood actor Radhika Pandit described the situation she faced after a 20-year-old college dropout allegedly hacked into her SIM card and sent messages to her contacts from her number. The youth was arrested on Sunday.
Radhika said, "It was invasion of one's personal life and not a nice feeling at all. I came to know that the arrested person had sent messages to producers and actors seeking photos and information about other artistes. Since many people trust me in Sandalwood, they were giving the information that he wanted. I agree, it is common for celebrities to face this kind of situation, but my reputation has been damaged by the incident."
Being a celebrity is not just about glamour, it has its pitfalls too and one has to deal with them, says Radhika. So will the actor keep her new number a secret? "No. Today's technology makes it easy to get the numbers of others. I can perhaps apply a little more caution.''
Radhika said she still wonders how her cell phone worked even after a complaint was given to the service provider for blocking her number. "I just want to know how it happened. I think the service providers should be cautious while dealing with complaints like mine. This type of incident can happen to anyone."

Siberian man faces jail, accused of hacking Kremlin website

A Krasnoyarsk man faces up to four years jail for allegedly blocking President Vladimir Putin's website for one hour.

Internet users in Russia said they were unable to access the Kremlin website for up to an house before counter measures were taken. Picture: Kremlin website

A file on the 30 year old has been passed to a court in the city, a regional FSB secret services source told Rossiyskaya Gazeta. He was acting in support of the so called 'March of the Millions' by opposition activists last May, it was reported.
The man - who was not named - denies intentionally downing the Kremlin.ru website, said the newspaper.
'He is not pleading guilty, saying to the investigation that he was not aware that this programme was a malware and might block the website. But the investigation found that the defendant consciously used the hacking programme,' said the FSB source.
At the time reports said that the attack on the president's site on May 9, two days after Putin was inaugurated for the third time, was by hacker activist group Anonymous.
On an opposition Twitter account a message was posted declaring: 'Anonymous shuts down Kremlin's websites'.
Internet users in Russia said they were unable to access the Kremlin website for up to an house before counter measures were taken.
The attack was predicted in advance. It was not previously known that the hacking attack originated in Siberia.The criminal case was opened under part one of clause 273 of Russia's Criminal Code - 'Manufacturing, using and distributing of computer's malware'.
'All the relevant departments are taking the necessary measures to counteract attacks', said a spokesman for the Kremlin Internet security division at the time. 'This is routine work. There is always some external influence. Today we are witnessing a splash of activity (by the attackers).'
However they had 'failed to achieve their goal' of downing the site for any length of time, he said.

Volkswagen halts disclosure of hacking secrets

LONDON — A British university is delaying the release of an academic paper on how the antitheft systems of millions of Volkswagen vehicles are at risk of being hacked after the German carmaker took legal action against it.
In a statement, the University of Birmingham said it would defer publication of the paper — which explains how researchers were able to subvert Volkswagen's security system — after an interim injunction issued by England's High Court. It said it was "disappointed with the judgment which did not uphold the defense of academic freedom and public interest, but respects the decision."
The university did not elaborate on how long the paper would be held, saying it was still getting legal advice.
The paper — which a group of academics had planned to publish next month — revealed three ways to bypass a brand of computer chip used by several auto manufacturers to fight vehicle theft.
Often referred to as immobilizers, such chips use a secret algorithm to ensure that a car can only be started with the right key, and they've been mandatory in all new vehicles sold in Britain over the past 15 years.
Crucially, the researchers planned to reveal how they were able to reverse-engineer the algorithm — and publish a copy of it in their paper.
Volkswagen said that publishing the formula would be highly damaging and facilitate the theft of cars, according to a ruling handed down last month by High Court Justice Colin Birss. The judge said that millions of Volkswagen vehicles were issued with the chip, including high-end cars such as Porsches, Audis, Bentleys, and Lamborghinis.
The researchers countered that Volkswagen's claim that the paper would be a boon to car thieves was overblown, they had warned the chip's manufacturer about the vulnerability six months ago and a gag order would interfere with their legitimate academic work.
Birss said he sympathized with the researchers' rights, but had to weigh them against public safety.
"I recognize the high value of academic free speech, but there is another high value, the security of millions of Volkswagen cars," he said.
It's not yet clear if the case will go to trial. The University of Birmingham declined further comment today. Volkswagen also declined comment, citing ongoing proceedings.

Hacking: Keith Vaz says firms linked to rogue investigators may not be named

Keith Vaz, who has been leading an inquiry into private investigators suspected of hacking and other illegal practices. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian

The names of law firms, insurance companies and others linked to rogue private investigators suspected of hacking and other alleged illegal practices may not be released because they could compromise a police investigation, the chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee has said.
Keith Vaz, who has been spearheading an inquiry into private investigators' practices, told Radio 4's Today programme he wanted to reveal the names of the organisations on the list and could do so using parliamentary privilege, but had been told by the information commissioner and the Metropolitan police that they could be interested in investigating the 94 businesses and individuals on the list compiled by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca).
The identities of the firms involved have not yet been revealed, although Vaz's committee has released a breakdown of the sectors they work in, including law, oil, rail services and the security industry.
Twenty-two law firms used private investigators convicted of illegally obtaining information, MPs have said.
Others on the list include celebrities, eight financial services firms and 10 insurance companies.
Vaz told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I don't think that parliament should be part of a 'secret squirrel' club where we are given a list that is important and should be in the public interest and we are not able to publish it.
"The reason that we can't publish it at the moment – though I am consulting with members of the committee and we will come to a view on this – is because we are told that both the information commissioner and the Metropolitan police may be interested in investigating the 94 companies, firms, individuals that are on the second list."
A final decision on whether to release the names would be taken when the committee published its report, he said.
"The deadline, if you like, is when we publish our report into private investigators, we would like to be in a position where we publish the entire list. But we don't want to compromise any investigation that the Metropolitan police may or may not be involved in."
Vaz said Soca and the police would appear before the committee on 3 September to update members on progress. "We want to be responsible," he added.
Controversy over Soca's refusal to name the rogue operators' clients has grown in the past few weeks as it emerged that blue-chip companies may have inadvertently used investigators who used illegal techniques.
There have been calls for the firms to be named and investigated in the same way as the News of the World executives and journalists were following the phone-hacking scandal.
The list suggested that private investigators often subcontracted work to each other – 16 clients were other private investigation agencies.
It was put to Vaz that the police could keep the committee "stringing along forever", and he said: "That is the balance. This list has been around for a number of years and nobody has done anything about it."
He added: "Frankly, what it just needs is somebody to go along to the 94. This can be cleared up quite quickly. You should ask the firms involved did they know that the rogue investigators were getting illegal information, were they acting illegally? If yes, then you have to consider criminal liability. If no, then you cross them off. These companies, individuals and firms don't even know they are on this list."
Vaz added: "The real root of all this, of course, is we need to regulate about private investigators. We recommended this a year ago, it's not happened and hopefully the government will finally join the debate by doing something about it."