Expect a downturn in naked celebrity photos: the FBI has arrested a Florida man suspected of hacking into the phones of actresses Scarlett Johansson, Vanessa Hudgens, Ali Larter, Jessica Alba and Emma Caulfield. According to the Feds, the man responsible for showing you Scar-Jo's breasts (NSFW) is likely "a lone wolf, who never got a cent for the pictures he stole... he just did it for the thrill." more ›

A Michigan man will go on trial next month on hacking charges that are normally leveled at those who break into a government system or private business. Leon Walker's crime? Reading his wife's e-mail on the laptop they shared. Through his snooping, Walker discovered that his wife Clara was now having an affair with her second husband—a guy who was previously arrested for beating her in front of her son. more ›

After admitting that they were hacked yesterday, Gawker Media sites are now running an alert at the top of their sites about the breach of their 1+ million commenters' usernames and passwords with a link to how commenters can change their passwords, adding, "We understand how important trust is on the internet, and we're deeply sorry for and embarrassed about this breach of security—and of trust." The purported hackers, who also took over Gawker's content management system, said, "You would think a site that likes to mock people, such as Gawker, would have better security and actually have a clue what they are doing. But as we’ve proven, those who think they are beyond our reach aren’t as safe as they would like to think!" more ›

The former University of Tennessee student who successfully hacked into former Alaska governor Sarah Palin's Yahoo! email account during the 2008 election season was sentenced to one year and one day in prison. David Kernell, 20, was convicted this past April; Palin said at the time, "As Watergate taught us, we rightfully reject illegally breaking into candidates’ private communications for political intrigue in an attempt to derail an election." Still, this is great publicity for Sarah Palin's Alaska, the TLC reality show that debuts on Sunday (photos of the hockey mom and family). more ›

As a commenter noted, WikiLeaks' founder did not attend The Next Hope hacker conference at the Hotel Pennsylvania. Julian Assange was scheduled as the keynote speaker yesterday, but perhaps reports of federal agents scoping out the event on Friday prompted the mysterious to change his mind. Instead of Assange in person or speaking by video, his replacement was WikiLeaks contributor and Tor Project programmer Jacob Appelbaum. more ›

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is scheduled to speak at The Next Hope conference (held at the Hotel Pennsylvania) today, but he may not want to, given that federal agents were there yesterday. CNET reports, "[Conference organizer] Eric Corley...said that five Homeland Security agents appeared at the conference a day before Assange was scheduled to speak. The conference program lists Assange -- who has been at the center of a maelstrom of positive and negative publicity relating to the arrest of a U.S. serviceman and videos he may have provided the document-sharing site -- as speaking at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday. 'If he shows up, he will be questioned at length,' Corley told CNET." more ›

Department of Education officials are blaming the assistant principal at Brooklyn Tech High School for lax security that resulted in students' names, addresses and social security numbers being posted on the school's website. This has been the third hack of the school's website this year—the first posted a fake letter saying school was canceled, the second put Lil' Wayne lyrics on the site—but this is the first one that could cause students harm. Junior Jessica Tan told the Post, "It's more serious because it has to do with our Social Security numbers and identity theft...Students are more creeped out than think it's funny." more ›

After a tech guy was laid off at North General Hospital in Harlem, he got revenge the only way he knew how: hacking! 45-year-old Jason Wang was fired last September and shortly thereafter he hacked into the hospital's network, sent emails to staffers under a doctor's address (one calling a higher-up there "racist"), and according to the NY Post he also accessed patient files and test results. Wang has now been arrested and charged with computer trespass, unauthorized use of a computer and 4th degree computer tampering. What would IT guy Nick Burns do if found in this predicament! more ›

Today, the Wall Street Journal reported, "The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing a computer-security breach targeting Citigroup Inc. that resulted in a theft of tens of millions of dollars by computer hackers who appear linked to a Russian cyber gang, according to government officials." And the attack allegedly focused on Citibank. more ›

In what appears to be the work of a hacker, Silicon Alley Insider reports that the Fox News Twitter account recently posted the following "tweet": "Breaking: Bill O Riley is gay". While the link itself has already been taken down, a quick trip over to O'Reilly's home page reveals some possibly related clues. In the "O'Links Around the World" section, the top link earlier was "New York Times Writer Admits to Being a Sex Addict," which forwarded readers to this week's Modern Love column, which dealt with the casual encounters of a young gay man. Then in the backstage video posted on the site, O'Reilly responds to a viewer's inquiry saying that there is a "zero percent" chance of seeing Richard Simmons on his show. Why, you ask? "The short pants? it just doesn't work on the Factor. Short pants—it frightens me." While O'Reilly himself doesn't appear to post updates on Twitter, here's a list of the almost 70 feeds coming from NY Times staff members—most, if not all of whom have not been hit with graphic sexual harassment suits. more ›

One good thing to come from the Sarah Palin Yahoo Mail hack: Other free email users will be resetting their passwords with stronger ones. more ›

Troopergate scandal, his emails were targeted (and his personal ones were published!). more ›

Hackers and tourists unite this summer as hackers from around the world track themselves, and others, in NYC. Confused? Terrified? Read on...

As part of a social experiment, attendees at a hacker conference in July will be issued badges with electronic tracking devices. Large displays will show in real-time where people go, with whom they associate, for how long and how often. more ›