Nobody wants to get hacked. The very concept is terrifying to many and at the least a personal violation to most. Despite our desires, hacking happens every day. It’s quickly becoming the most widespread crime in the world as far as reach with over half a billion victims last year. Sometimes there are no ways to completely prevent getting hacked, but there are definitely ways to make it harder. This infographic from BotRevolt comes to us from Visually and breaks down some basic information about hacking. * * * “Hacking” image courtesy of Shutterstock.  …

Late last week payment processor Global Payments revealed that MasterCard and Visa cardholders were at risk through a security flaw in their system.  We now know that the cards affected in the breach processing system were only in North America but that the original estimates of tens of thousands of cards affected were grossly understated. The worst is apparently over as the security flaw is reportedly plugged. Names, addresses, and social security numbers were not affected, only credit card numbers. “We are making rapid progress toward bringing this issue to a close. Our nearly 4,000…

With over 12 million monthly visitors, word must get out to keep people from going to MySQL(dot)com until they get things sorted out. This isn’t a minor annoyance. The exploits inserted by the hackers are extremely malicious and work in the background. There is no need to click on or accept anything. Simply visiting the site can cause major permanent damage to your hard drive and currently only 6 out of the 43 major malware protection services are even able to detect it. The administrative access to perform the hack and inject the exploits, known as the BlackHole Exploit Pack, was sold through a hacker…

Oh, Sony. The venerable old company – who have actually done some smart things lately – have gone and shot themselves in the foot. First, they have demanded that Google hand over the IP addresses of anyone who commented on or like a private YouTube video detailing how to hack the PS3. They are also asking the same of Twitter for anyone who linked to the page. Sony will sue anyone who links to or spreads the hack. First, let’s keep in mind that the PS3 hack came about because of a glaring mistake in Sony’s security, and stemmed from an attempt to put back a feature Sony removed. Second, since when it is a crime…

Fair use. If you buy a device and decide later to switch to a different one, should you be forced to buy the exact same media over again? Such was the case with the DRM-tainted Amazon Kindle… until now. The geniuses over at Too Smart Guys made a video showing us how to remove DRM from your Kindle. The intro is fun to watch, but the real meat starts just passed the 2-minute mark. Free your books! You bought them. …

Everyone loves a good hack. There are good hacks, bad hacks, clever hacks, then there’s just plain old hacking. John Benson purchased a 3G iPad and traveled home to the UK hoping to be able to simply switch SIM cards. The one problem? The 3G iPad takes a MicroSIM card, which aren’t yet available in the UK. Some might have been stumped. Some might have given up. Not John. With a chopping board and cleaver, John literally hacked his way out of a pickle. On his site he provides step by step instructions with photos, but doesn’t recommend everyone try this. John is now happily using his 3G iPad on the Vodafone…