4 Most Notorious Australian Hackers

It’s been decades since Australian hackers first started breaching the security of government databases, financial institutions, and private information.

The motives that drive these hackers to pursue this line of work vary from hacker to hacker. Not all of them are after controversial information or an organization’s secrets. A lot of hackers commit identity theft; others may wreak havoc by tampering with sewerage networks and letting out a flood of sewage! There’s no end to the extents these hackers can go to.

Here are a few cases of Australian hacking geniuses who still couldn’t outsmart the authorities.

Vitek Boden

Boden was the infamous hacker behind dumping volumes of raw sewage into waterways and public spaces. He hacked into the Maroochy Shire Council systems in Queensland on Sunshine Coast in 2000 and released a flood of sewage into the city.

He was subjected to 2 years of prison time. After much digging, it was revealed that Boden was actually rejected by the council as a job candidate his hacking job was an attempt to seek revenge.

Optik Surfer

Skeeve Stevens, aka Optik Surfer, was the man who stole the credit card information of 1200 AUSNet subscribers and published them in April 1995.

The hacker made a case for himself by saying that his aim was to unveil the shortcomings of AUSNet’s system, but the court gave him a 3-year jail term for his misdoings. At the time, 3 years was the longest record of prison time assigned to any cybercriminal.

Peter John Clark

Clark broke into the security system of the University of New South Wales to gain unauthorized access to private emails, documents, and university PCs from home. It’s still a mystery why Clark breached the university’s system, because according to the record, he wasn’t even enrolled in the institute. The case dates back to 1993, when Clark was punished with a $3000 fine and a 3-year long bond of decency.

Mendax

Julian Assange, who was more popularly known as Mendax, was held accountable for multiple attacks on international databases, companies, and online networks. A few notable victims of his hacking included NASA, the US Navy, numerous Australian universities, the Pentagon, and many others!

He was fined with $1200 and bound with a good behavior agreement. Spending his teen years hacking in the suburbs of Melbourne, Mendax illegally accessed Nortel telecommunications in 1991. However, he saved himself from a jail sentence because of a troubled childhood history.

Looking for ways to tighten your security and ward off hackers?

Lean Security handles network security measures and offers various IT solutions to the business community. We’re the only firm which resolves all IT-related concerns by communicating with clients laterally!

Our aim is to keep your web applications running without glitches and ensure secure functioning without risks.  From web penetration testing service, to website security testing and mobile app security, we’re the guys you need for all IT concerns. If you need to get in touch, contact here.

4 Effective Strategies to Protect Web Applications | Infographic

Most information breaches result from the irresponsible actions of employees, such as disclosure of information, non-reporting of unusual activities, and access to sensitive information without following proper procedures.

Let’s take a look at 4 effective strategies to protect your web applications.

E-Commerce Security Threat -What Do You Need to Know | Infographic

Cyber-crime is one of the most devastating crimes that destroy businesses by depriving them of their confidential data and customers.

Criminals are exploiting the Internet to conduct various crimes such as phishing, hacking, identity theft, virus dissemination, to name a few.

Read what do you need to know about E-commerce security threats.

3 Safety Concerns With Cloud Data Storage

Entrusting a third-party with personal data and sensitive information sounds a bit risky. This is primarily why cloud storage was received skeptically by a lot of users.

Even though this technology made waves in the industry, it still concerns many about how reliable and trustworthy it is.

In spite of hackers trying to dissuade consumers from accepting this innovation, cloud storage has emerged as by far the most reliable data storage facility.  

Its popularity is not baseless. Here are all the safety concerns that cloud data storage addresses to give consumers a safe place to store data.

How Could Apple’s iCloud Be Hacked If the Cloud Is So Secure?

Polls showed that the popularity of cloud storage fell by a large margin when Apple’s iCloud was attacked. Private pictures of 26 renowned celebrities were stolen from their respective accounts. The stolen pictures were of a highly sensitive nature and violated the privacy of 26 individuals! This raised hue and cry among the public and consumers as they started doubting the security of cloud storage.

However, media played a great role in manipulating the news and compromising the credibility of cloud storage. What deadlines didn’t tell was that the cloud’s security wasn’t compromised actually. It was the weakness of Apple’s password security which enabled hackers to use guesswork to intrude in the privacy of others. The reality in fact was that the cloud was not compromised.

How Is The Cloud Secured

Encryption is the key through which cloud keeps all the data secured. Difficult algorithms are used to encrypt data and keep information protected. Encrypted data cannot be accessed without deciphering the code first.

In order to decode the encrypted messages, the hacker would require the encryption key. Without immense computer processing, a heavy software, and power, the data cannot be decrypted.

It’s true that data in cloud storage is not 100% safe; it’s still better and more secure than data that’s locally protected. This is because the data in cloud is locked under complex security parameters that can’t be devised easily by an ordinary computer user.

What Can We Do To Keep Our Data Safe?

Protecting sensitive information and keeping it safe is as much your responsibility as it is your storage provider’s.

Using the same pass code for multiple platforms alerts cyber criminals to try a hand at accessing your personal data.

It’s equally important to include symbols, numbers and letters to make your password as complex and hard to crack as possible. Passwords should also not contain personal information like names, dates of birth, ages, contacts or addresses. If a hacker knows you personally, he/she might even have all these personal details saved so you’re paving way for your own loss.

Planning to switch to cloud data storage for better safety?

Lean Security manages security and offers various IT solutions to online businesses. We’re the only firm which communicates laterally with customers and answers all their IT needs.

Our aim is to keep your web applications up and running without needing to worry about them.  From web application penetration testing, to website security testing and mobile app security, we’ll handle everything IT for you. If you need us, contact here.

Understanding the Importance of Cloud Security

Perhaps the most important asset of any organization after its employees is its business data. With the cost of data breaches estimated to be around $3.86 million, business owners are looking towards cloud security as an effective protection mechanism against cyber attacks.

In this blog, we highlight a few key reasons why having cloud-based security is important for your organization.

Centralized Security

Similar to how cloud computing centralizes data and applications, cloud security provides centralized protection. Cloud-based networks consist of numerous endpoints and devices. Managing these networks allows for enhanced traffic analysis, fewer policy and software updates, and streamlines the monitoring of events. Disaster recovery plans are also easy to implement and put into effect in case of an emergency.

Scalability

The IT needs of any company depend on the size of its operations. A small start-up won’t have the same requirements as a large enterprise with thousands of employees. Cloud solutions enable organizations to efficiently scale up or down depending on their business demands.

 Such demands can fluctuate based on a number of external factors and an increase doesn’t require a company to exhaust resources on increasing or upgrading its physical infrastructure.

This level of flexibility and agility grants organizations a considerable competitive edge over those that don’t utilize cloud computing.

Loss Prevention

For businesses that have yet to invest in cloud security, all their data lies in their office computers and face the constant risk of corruption, hardware malfunctioning, human errors, and viruses. They’re also at risk of internal theft.

Cloud security mitigates any such risks as the data is transferred onto the cloud and can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection.

Automatic Software Updates

With older legacy systems, software updates are long and tedious. They can put a halt to business operations resulting in wasted opportunities. Cloud-based applications are refreshed and updated themselves and save an organization from resources it has to spend on manual, company-wide updates as well as IT consultation costs. 50% of businesses reported less spending on internal IT resources after they adopted cloud security.

Disaster Recovery

Maintaining control of business operations is a key ingredient for achieving long-term success. Unfortunately, despite organizations best efforts, there’ll always be certain processes and factors beyond their control.

Downtimes result in lost revenue, productivity, and negatively affect the brand image. Cloud security provides fast data recovery for a wide range of possible scenarios ranging from power outages to natural disasters in a matter of a few hours.

Effective cloud-based solutions allow organizations to conduct business without worrying about security threats which may result in data loss. Our secure cloud managed hosting will save you from all the drawbacks of having to rely on an on-premises infrastructure. Contact us today!