1. Arrested: Russian Hacker Responsible for Two Minutes of Roadside Porn
The hacker who managed to compromise computer servers controlling a large commercial advertising screen in Moscow was arrested recently by Russian authorities. On January 14, 2010, commuters on Moscow’s Garden Ring Road passed a large-scale video screen and instead of the normal commercial advertisements saw two minutes of hard-core pornography. The video, as well as the resulting traffic problems, was thanks to a hacker who is described as a 40 year old, unemployed man living in Novorossiisk. Apparently, the hacker directed his attack from computers in Chechnya believing that Russian authorities would not bother to track him down. A month later, the hacker is pleading guilty to criminal charges, insisting that “he only wanted to entertain people.”
2. China Shuts Down Largest Hacker Training Site
Last week, Chinese officials arrested three individuals allegedly responsible for running the Black Hawk Safety Net, a website that was known as the largest hacker training site in China. The site apparently disseminated training materials and offered users the ability to download virus software, trojan programs and other hacker tools. According to China Daily, Black Hawk Safety Net had more than 170,000 users and collected more than 7 million yuan in membership fees by the time authorities shut it down. Authorities seized $1.7 million yuan, 9 servers and one automobile in the raid.