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Six UK teens have been arrested on suspicion of attacking websites with the help of the Lizard Squad - They used "Lizard Stresser" to launch attacks against a national newspaper, a school, gaming companies, and some online retailers, the NCA reports Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/34084231/teens-arrested-over-copying-of-lizard-squad-hacks UPDATED WITH WORKING LINK

So, I was just browsing through the news this morning, trying to wake up, when I caught this little gem of a story. Fitting that his online handle was "obnoxious" Apparently, he repeatedly targeted one girl so many times that she ended up dropping out of school. I find myself wondering if he could actually be a member of Lizard Squad. His behavior seems juvenile enough that he would fit in just fine with them. Apparently, a majority of his victims were women, which I think says just about everything that needs to be said. Sources: http://canadajournal.net/technology/canadian-teen-pleads-guilty-to-23-charges-of-swatting-harassing-online-game-rivals-26722-2015/ http://www.tricitynews.com/news/coquitlam-teen-admits-to-swatting-1.1941402

So it looks like lizard squad may be at it again and have reportedly taken down facebook and other social networking sites: https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/26112710/facebook-and-instagram-offline/ "This is the longest period the company's website has been down since September 2010" At first it was reported as only Australia was effected in Australian media but seems more in the USA and Asia http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/11371181/Facebook-and-Instagram-down-due-to-technical-difficulties.html And with other sites such as Tinder also being affected Sorry about the post quality; first time posting in news. Feel free to remove if not up to scratch

A UK man has been arrested as part of an investigation into denial-of-service attacks on Sony Playstation and Xbox systems over Christmas. The 18-year-old was arrested at an address in Southport, near Liverpool. He is accused of unauthorised access to computer material and knowingly providing false information to law enforcement agencies in the US. The investigation was a joint operation between UK cybercrime units and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Microsoft and Sony were attacked on Christmas Day, making it difficult for users to log on. The distributed-denial-of-service attack - which floods servers causing them to stop working - caused major disruptions. 'Swatting' The arrest was part of a joint operation between officers from the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (Serocu) and the North West Regional Crime Unit (Rocu), supported by the National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU). Craig Jones, head of the Cyber Crime Unit at Serocu said: "This investigation is a good example of joint law enforcement co-operation in relation to a type of criminality that is not restricted by any geographical boundaries. "We are still at the early stages of the investigation and there is still much work to be done. We will continue to work closely with the FBI to identify those who commit offences and hold them to account." He explained more about one of the charges, known as swatting. "Offences referred to as 'swatting' involve law enforcement forces in the United States receiving hoax calls via Skype for a major incident in which Swat teams were dispatched." Peter Goodman, national policing lead for cybersecurity at the Association of Police Officers (Acpo), added: "This is a significant arrest... of a UK citizen suspected of engaging in serious and organised cybercrime on the national and international stage." A hacking group called Lizard Squad said it carried out the attacks which caused major disruption to the gaming platforms at one of the busiest times of the year. All information has been taken directly from the BBC website. Source - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30849172 Whats also crazy about this is that the man who got arrested, literally lives 30 minutes away from my home....

well... *grabs popcorn http://anonhq.com/anonymous-declares-war-lizard-squad/

News 25 Hottest Tech Skills of 2014 (That Got People Hired) Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Big Stroonz Source 2: blog.linkedin.com Source 3: slideshare.net The 25 main skills are listed in Source 2. The lists for some individual countries are also in source 2. If someone has any of these skills there is a good chance that they either started a new job or garnered the interest of a recruiter in the past year. Data collected from linkedin’s 330 million members. The main conclusions from the list: STEM skills make up the majority of the list. Data analysis skills are highly valued. It pays to know a second language. There is a growing need for technical marketers. North Korea Internet Outage Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Real Phillbert Source 2: topics.nytimes.com Source 3: nytimes.com North Korea’s internet failed for 10 hours on Monday. The failure began after President Obama declared that the US would launch a “proportional response” to the “cybervandalism” against Sony Pictures. North Korean officials demanded a “joint investigation” into the Sony attacks and denied culpability. The US rejected this denial. Experts called it the worst North Korean network failure in years. American officials asked the Chinese government for help in cutting off the North’s ability to send malicious code around the world as NK’s connections are all routed through China. A State Department spokeswoman, Marie Harf, told reporters on Monday, “We aren’t going to discuss, ... the possible response options, as we implement our responses, … some will be seen, some may not be seen.”. North Korea could be pre-emptively taking its systems offline to prepare for an attack. It is possible China Unicom simply unplugged its neighbor, however, a maintenance issue was unlikely to have caused such a prolonged failure. The country has only 1,024 official Internet protocol addresses, though the actual number may be a little higher. There was very little traffic after the 10 hours, according to CloudFlare. Their networks are under stress since Friday. This is consistent with a DDoS attack on their routers. But it is also not clear that cutting off Internet service would slow North Korean hackers. Many are believed to be based in China. Sony’s attackers used servers in Bolivia, Singapore and Thailand to launch their attacks. So any cutoff of Internet services would be mostly symbolic, a warning shot that two can play the game of disruption. Bitcoin Pioneer Jailed for 2 Years Over Silk Road Ties Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Johners Source 2: rt.com Source 3: twitter.com Charlie Shrem, a former Bitcoin Foundation Inc. executive has been sentenced to two years in prison for facilitating anonymous cash-to-bitcoin swaps on the illicit online drug bazaar Silk Road. Shrem along with co defendant Robert Faiella used BitInstant to process nearly $1 million in bitcoins for Silk Road users. Shrem has also been ordered to pay a fine of $950,000. Prosecutors underscored the seriousness of the crime, claiming that Shrem was well aware that his actions promoted “the evil business of trafficking in drugs.”. “I screwed up,” Shrem admitted to US District Judge Jed Rakoff. Shrem’s defense attorney, Marc Agnifilo, tried to blame his client’s involvement in Silk Road on youth and inexperience. Boxing Day/Black Friday Shopping - do you do it? Twitter Blitz Police Can Use Fake Instagram Accounts to Try To See Your Private Photos Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Ahhming Source 2: arstechnica.com A federal judge in New Jersey has signed off on the practice of law enforcement using a fake Instagram account in order to become "friends" with a suspect thus obtaining access to their photos. No search warrant is required for the consensual sharing of this type of information. The criminal case, known as “United States v. Daniel Gatson”, involves a man accused of perpetrating a long series of burglaries (taking primarily jewelry worth over $3 million in total) in New Jersey and neighboring regions. Gatson, representing himself in the case, had attempted to have the data collected from Instagram thrown out, as he claimed there was no probable cause to search or seize such data. 10 Tech Products That We Lost in 2014 :'( Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Tech Dreamer Source 2: mashable.com Items lost according to mashable.com: MSN Messenger Xbox Entertainment Studios Facebook Poke App Orkut Justin.tv Macworld Magazine Nokia X Flappy Bird iPod Classic Windows XP Sony screened The Interview on Christmas Day Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Jaggysnake57 Source 2: gizmodo.com Source 3: bbc.co.uk ← More recent The controversial comedy The Interview has opened in some US cinemas and online. Sony reconsidered not releasing the movie at all after critics, including the US president, said freedom of expression was under threat. Several hundred independent cinemas across the US have come forward offering to show the title after larger cinemas decided not to screen it following threats. The film is also being offered through a dedicated website and via Google services YouTube and Play, and Microsoft's Xbox Video platform, but only in the US. Last week, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said its analysis pointed the finger at North Korea. However, many cybersecurity experts have come forward to dispute this assertion. Sony Chairman Michael Lynton said: "We chose the path of digital distribution first so as to reach as many people as possible on opening day, and we continue to seek other partners and platforms to further expand the release." Last Wednesday Sony began contacting a number of companies, including Google, to ask if we'd be able to make their movie The Interview available online. Top 5-10 Linus Tech Tips Videos of 2014 Shaw internet rates increasing on January 1, 2015. Existing customers affected. Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Aniallation Source 2: shaw.ca ← Use this Source 3: signon.shaw.ca Source 4: cisco.com Source 5: shaw.ca Source 6: community.shaw.ca (Annual price rises are common in the UK (and everywhere else I would assume) across ISPs, mobile carriers, utilities, etc and is in the TOC of contracts. - Ghost (source)) Shaw rates going up from January 1, 2015. By 2018, Internet traffic is estimated to triple. You will be notified on your invoice of your new monthly rate, 30 days in advance of any changes. OP’s price is rising from $60 a month to $67 a month (11.6% increase). Best Christmas Present Twitter Blitz New pasta shape thanks to 3D printer Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Ahhming Source 2: 3dprint.com Source 3: tweaktown.com Barilla is using 3D printers to work on its upcoming new pasta shapes. The company held a competition recently, where they revealed three winners who created new shapes using a 3D printer. One of the winners, Rosa, blooms into a full rose when it is put in boiling water. Two other designs include a conical vortex shape and a circular moon, with the moon featuring craters to "improve the interaction between pasta and sauces." Barilla is considering restaurant-grade 3D printers that could make made-to-order shapes. Privacy in 2025. Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Tech Dreamer Source 2: pewinternet.org Source 3: mashable.com Source 4: pewinternet.org Source 2 contains responses from 90 experts regarding the issue. The capture of such personal data lies at the heart of the business models of the most successful technology firms and government assumptions about citizens’ relationship to the state. Out of 2,511 experts, some 55% of respondents said “no” they do not believe that an accepted privacy-rights regime and infrastructure would be created in the coming decade, while 45% said “yes” that such an infrastructure would be created by 2025. Many of those answering “yes” or “no” shared the opinion that online life is, by nature, quite public. An executive at an Internet top-level domain name operator replied, “Big data equals big business. Those special interests will continue to block any effective public policy work to ensure security, liberty, and privacy online.” A promoter of the global Internet who works on technical and policy coordination, wrote, “By 2025, there will be an international consensus among Internet organizations on how best to balance personal privacy and security with popular content and services.” Themes across the survey: Living a public life is the new default. It is not possible to live modern life without revealing personal information to governments and corporations. Few individuals will have the energy, interest, or resources to protect themselves from ‘dataveillance’; privacy will become a ‘luxury.’ There is no way the world’s varied cultures, with their different views about privacy, will be able to come to an agreement on how to address civil liberties issues on the global Internet. The situation will worsen as the Internet of Things arises and people’s homes, workplaces, and the objects around them will ‘tattle’ on them. The incentives for businesses to monetize people’s data and governments to monitor behavior are extremely potent. Some communities might plan and gain some acceptance for privacy structures, but the constellation of economic and security complexities is getting bigger and harder to manage. What people expect in 2025: Citizens and consumers will have more control thanks to new tools that give them the power to negotiate with corporations and work around governments. Individuals will be able to choose to share personal information in a tiered approach that offers varied levels of protection and access by others. The backlash against the most egregious privacy invasions will bring a new equilibrium between consumers, governments, and businesses—and more-savvy citizens will get better at hiding things they do not want others to see. Living a public life is the new default. People will get used to this, adjust their norms, and accept more sharing and collection of data as a part of life—especially Millennials and the young people who follow them. Problems will persist and some will complain but most will not object or muster the energy to push back against this new reality in their lives. The Pirate Bay posted a code on its website Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Topwargamer Source 2: bgr.com Source 3: myce.com Source 4: linustechtips.com The mysterious string of characters published on the original The Piratebay domain is a BitTorrent Sync key. With the key it’s possible to gain access to a shared folder containing The Piratebay torrent database. The original The Piratebay domain thepiratebay.se came alive again. Besides a pirate flag image, hosted by the Isohunt, the site showed the amount of time elapsed since the Swedish police raided the datacenter in Sweden where the Piratebay was (partly) hosted. Hackers Finest Squad vs. Lizard Squad Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Xtankslayerx Source 2: polygon.com Two groups of self-described hackers have been fighting for nearly a month over a threat to take down the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live on Christmas Day. Lizard Squad (this new Twitter account was suspended as I wrote this story) announced in early December its plans to take down both online gaming networks for Christmas, describing itself as the "next generation Grinch." The Finest Squad, emerged, saying that it would stop the group and bring its members to justice. The back and forth between the two has resulted in both groups claiming victories through doxxing, hacked Twitter accounts and websites and even an arrest. The Finest Squad provided a link to a press release from the Polk County Sheriff's Office in Florida about the arrest of a 17-year-old in Canada in connection with a school swatting call in September. The Finest Squad said the arrested teen was a member of Lizard Squad. Finest Squad began releasing names and photographs of people it said were the members of Lizard Squad. But Lizard Squad fought back, claiming to dox the members of The Finest Squad. Shoutout FlighterLuid deserves a shoutout for doing the timestamps for the WAN doc consistently. RAPID FIRE Work is underway on new Nintendo Console Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Master Disaster Source 2: escapistmagazine.com Source 3: abcnews.go.com Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto has confirmed that work is underway on a brand new Nintendo console, which is currently in the formative stages. The next Mario platformer will possibly be reserved for it. The focus in 2015 will be in "providing a robust line-up of Wii U software". Tesla Roadster Version 3.0 Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Lots Of Unexplainable Lag Source 2: teslamotors.com Improvments: Batteries - The original Roadster battery was the very first lithium ion battery put into production in any vehicle. It was state of the art in 2008, but cell technology has improved substantially since then. We have identified a new cell that has 31% more energy than the original Roadster cell. Using this new cell we have created a battery pack that delivers roughly 70kWh in the same package as the original battery. Aerodynamics - The original Roadster had a drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.36. Using modern computational methods we expect to make a 15% improvement, dropping the total Cd down to 0.31 with a retrofit aero kit. Rolling Resistance - The original Roadster tires have a rolling resistance coefficient (Crr) of 11.0 kg/ton. New tires that we will use on the Roadster 3.0 have a Crr of roughly 8.9 kg/ton, about a 20% improvement. We are also making improvements in the wheel bearings and residual brake drag that further reduce overall rolling resistance of the car. Consequences: A predicted 40-50% improvement on range between the original Roadster and Roadster 3.0 Tesla can confidently drive the Roadster 3.0 over 400 miles and will demonstrate this on the drive between San Francisco and Los Angeles in early 2015. Appointments for upgrading Roadsters will be taken this spring once the new battery pack finishes safety validation. Kim Dotcom has been trying to bribe Lizard Squad. (Update: FinestSquad is now in on the action attacking Lizard Squad) Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Alexp10V2 Kim Dotcom put out a tweet requesting that Lizard Squad stop attacking XBL and PSN so he and his friends can play Destiny. He even went as far as to bribe them by offering them with a Lifetime of Free MEGA Premium. This caught the attention of Lizard Squad, who sharply came back with "We have 3000 Lizards" and want premium for all of them. Dotcom is in the process of trying to get MEGA management to authorise 3000 Lifetime memberships. All attacks have been stopped temporarily, awaiting Dotcom's Response. Iiyama 28" 4k freesync monitor launched Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Notional Source 2: overclockers.co.uk £390 (on overclockers.co.uk) 4k TN Panel Connectivity: 2x HDMI, 2x DP, 1x DVI, 1x Analogue Iyiama will offer a free, free-sync upgrade.

Normally I ignore this news, but for the ones that wonder what happend.. Lizard Squad just did another DDoS on the Origin Servers. Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=ea%20down Source: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=938560 Keep the 'Origin Sucks!' comments for yourself, please.