Tag Archives : hacker

Hackers at an infamous DefCon gathering are proving that old-fashioned smooth talk rivals slick software skills when it comes to pulling off attacks on computer networks. A first-ever “social engineering” contest here challenges hackers to call workers at 10 companies including technology titans Google, Apple, Cisco, and Microsoft and get them to reveal too much information to strangers.

Software security experts warn that mobile phones are tempting targets for hackers in a world where people eagerly invite strange applications onto handsets packed with personal data. Briefings on Thursday at a Black Hat computer security conference were devoted to threats to smartphones, mobile personal computers used for anything from banking and shopping to pinpointing people’s whereabouts. “Right [...]