Andrew Blake

Nima Kalbasi, ex-Tesla Motors engineer, charged with hacking former boss’s email

Tesla Motors was targeted by a former employee who attempted to harm the car maker's credibility and reputation by leaking the contents of his old boss's email account, authorities claim.

September 4, 2015

Eminem lyrics in Instagram post result in felony charges for Calif. student, 15

Activity on a teenager's Instagram account prompted an investigation in Fresno, California, this week that briefly shut down two local high schools and has left the 15-year-old facing felony charges.

September 4, 2015

Extortionists earning big bucks through Ashley Madison scam, researcher says

Ashley Madison users who had their personal data dumped online don't have many options with regards to recourse, but a researcher says gullible account holders have nevertheless given extortionists thousands of dollars in recent weeks in hopes of having their hacked data removed from the Web.

September 4, 2015

Twitter user behind banned parody account settles with Peoria, Ill., for $125k

City officials in Peoria, Illinois will pay $125,000 to a local man more than a year after his home was raided by authorities over a parody Twitter account that poked fun at Mayor Jim Ardis.

September 3, 2015

Ads on Match.com can let hackers hold computers for ransom: report

Members of Match.com in search of companionship are being warned by researchers to expect something else. Security experts said Thursday that the British version of the popular online dating service is serving viruses to visitors through Web ads embedded with malware.

September 3, 2015

Sony reaches settlement with former employees affected by data breach

Sony Pictures Entertainment has reached a settlement with nine former employees who sued after last year's colossal data breach allowed their personal data to end up on the Internet.

September 3, 2015

‘Unreleased’ Hillary Clinton emails up for sale appear to be from years-old hack

Emails allegedly from Hillary Rodham Clinton's personal account are being offered to the media for a half-million dollars, but the messages said to have come from the presidential hopeful actually may have been online for years.

September 3, 2015

More college students smoke marijuana daily than cigarettes

College students are trading in Marlboros for marijuana according to a new report that suggests more undergrads smoke weed on a regular basis than regular cigarettes.

September 2, 2015

Mass baptism lands Villa Rica High School football team in hot water

An apparent mass baptism that unfolded on the football field of a public high school in Georgia is now under investigation, the local school district says.

September 2, 2015

Anti-fraud firm awarded $133 million to protect OPM breach victims

Victims of the Office of Personnel Management breach are being offered free credit and identity theft monitoring by way of a $133 million government contract awarded this week to an Oregon-based fraud protection firm.

September 2, 2015

U.S. considering sanctions against China, Russia for cyberattacks, officials say

Cyberattacks purported to have been waged against American targets from China and Russia have prompted Washington to seriously consider implementing new sanctions against Beijing and Moscow, officials say.

September 1, 2015

Cyberattack knocks U.K.’s National Crime Agency website offline

Britain's National Crime Agency was the victim of a cyberattack Tuesday that briefly knocked its website offline days after police in the U.K. arrested six individuals accused of using software to wage similar assaults.

September 1, 2015

Pentagon pledges $75M to ‘flexible technology’ project in Silicon Valley

The Pentagon is pushing Silicon Valley to bring wearables to U.S. troops by investing $75 million in a new group composed of tech giants who will strive toward achieving space-age advancements in microelectronics.

September 1, 2015

Nearly 100 dating websites vulnerable to hackers, researchers warn

Ashley Madison is hardly the only dating site attracting hackers. A security firm said it's found evidence suggesting nearly 100 similar websites have been attacked since July -- and some are still vulnerable.

August 31, 2015

Ashley Madison claims surge of new users in wake of security breach

Ashley Madison says a massive security breach of the dating site and its 30 million-plus users hasn't slowed new signups, claiming that hundreds of thousands of new accounts have been registered in the last week amid global legal disputes and the loss of company's chief executive.

August 31, 2015

‘E.T.,’ other Atari games fetch $107K at auction after 30 years in New Mexico landfill

Atari's "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" has been called the worst video game in history by industry experts and gamers alike. But more than 30 years after it was released -- and after nearly a million unsold copies were buried in a landfill -- cartridges excavated from a New Mexico dumping ground have garnered $107,930 on eBay.

August 31, 2015

U.S. officials claim spies at risk as China, Russia review hacked data from OPM, Anthem breach

Hacked data stolen during this year's OPM, Anthem and United Airlines breaches are being analyzed by foreign governments gunning to identify American spies and undercover operatives, U.S. officials said.

August 31, 2015

A-10 vs. F-35: Air Force to test combat jets in head-to-head showdown

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter stands to be the most sophisticated jet in the Air Force's arsenal once ready for combat -- but the Pentagon wants to first see how the state-of-the-art aircraft performs against its old standby, the A-10 "Warthog."

August 31, 2015

Email scams cost businesses $1.2B since 2013: FBI

Email scams targeting businesses and individuals alike are on the rise and have enabled hackers to steal upwards of $1.2 billion during the past two years, the FBI warned.

August 28, 2015

StingRay surveillance prompts Baltimore attorneys to review nearly 2,000 cases

Attorneys in Baltimore are reviewing hundreds of convictions after an investigation revealed that police there have secretly used cell phone surveillance tools in nearly 2,000 criminal cases.

August 28, 2015