Jan 12, 2015 11:04 PM (This post was last modified: Jan 19, 2015 11:24 PM by Oak.)
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The edition you are currently reading is the 222nd full edition. To read any older editions of HF News, please go here.
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The White Hat Help School Recruitment is now Closed
On December 31st, 2014 the user -Hyperion posted a recruitment thread for the fairly new White Hat Help School ran by The Brotherhood. Throughout the approximate week and a half the recruitment was open there were many applications submitted so hopefully in the near future we'll be seeing a new, strong White Hat Help Team across the forums. There was roughly over 100 applications posted but only 25 of them will be getting accepted. Recruitment for this group ended today, January 10th 2014 however have no fear if you missed your chance at applying as the next recruitment will be reopened on April 1st, according to a post made by -Hyperion, here. If you would like to read through the rest of the thread you can do so, here.
HackerCraft License Renewed
The new year brings renewed hope for HackerCraft! After settling a deal dispute with Robust concerning missing payments, Edward Snowden. becomes the new owner of HackerCraft. Omniscient has publicly stated that he has issued a new license to him and will manage the server provided that he follows his terms. However, the server is currently a work in progress but Edward Snowden. is doing everything he can to get it running smoothly again and is also taking players' suggestions into consideration. You can read more about the new license, here and also the recent server announcement from Edward Snowden., here.
Unexpected Downtime
On January 9th, 2014 Omniscient posted a Twitter update stating that HF is offline and how it seemed to be a network outage at the data center. Of course Omniscient immediately began working on resolving the issue so that Hack Forums could go back online as soon as possible. Fortunately it appears that the downtime only lasted roughly 15 minutes. If you would like to read the Twitter update feel free to do so, here
---Post for a L33t/Ub3r Upgrade - Mark Webber ---Mark Webber is continuing to upgrade members he deems worthy. Giveaway will end when he reaches 50 total upgrades.
---zAim CS:GO Hack Lifetime Copy Contest - Akex ---Akex is giving away a free copy of the zAim hack for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Contest ends January 18th.
Justin Timberlake: Welcome to the 222nd edition of the HF News, today I'm joined by Sktchy. What's going on man? Sktchy: Not much, getting ready to watch the GPlay vs myRev csgo game. Got a few bets riding on it. You?
Justin Timberlake: I'm enjoying my last few days of vacation unfortunately. Any shoutouts you'd like to make? Sktchy: None because this is my interview and my turn to be a greedy fuck. (Breaking my New Years Resolution already)
Justin Timberlake: Haha it's your time to shine, enjoy the spotlight. What exactly was your New Years resolution? Sktchy: It was put in HF News - 220. "As I'm not moving yet I have to start my fresh start here in the same place I have been. My New Years resolution is to be more organized to help start and finish projects, to spruce up my extensive interpersonal skills, and trying not to be such an ass."
Justin Timberlake: Good luck with that. Speaking of New Years, did you do anything interesting for the holidays? Sktchy: Not really, I did go out and see family on Christmas. Other than that the entire holiday time spam I was either sleeping or drunk.
Justin Timberlake: Sounds like a blast. Gifts are the best part of Christmas, did you get anything cool? Sktchy: Nah, i'm the old person so I do the giving instead of receiving. I did get a nephew this really cool electric piano that he can use headphones in. His mom was telling me how much she wanted to smash the piano.
Justin Timberlake: I can only imagine. So let's get back to HF. Who introduced you to the site? Sktchy: A long time best friend named Joey. We were looking for a community to share what knowledge we have to. We were interested in helping others. After both of us signed up he strayed off of HF, while I took the straight road ahead. He's still a regular member with barely a day of online time.
Justin Timberlake: I'd say that's a better beginning than most. What kept you coming back? Sktchy: Time, as an old man I have a lot of time.
Justin Timberlake: Old man? The older the wiser. What else do you do in your free time? Sktchy: I would say play games but the only game I play is CSGO. I have a lot of free time. After getting work done I just kind of do whatever I can get my hands on, I try to keep myself busy.
Justin Timberlake: Well I know you're not someone new to interviews. If I remember correctly, you had the privilege of interviewing Omniscient during a group radio broadcast. What was that like? Sktchy: At first it was nerve-racking, even now i'd be scared to criticize who was working with me. For the most part I felt alone. I got it done and a lot of people enjoyed it. That's what made me happy! Omniscient himself was really cool about it and I enjoyed talking with him. Sadly, the way we recorded the interview caused the audio to shift on both voices. It sounds like we were talking over each other however that was not the case. I enjoyed having the chance and moving onto the topic of Polymath Radio. I'm sad to see Polymath being sold, that means the end of the project for now in my eyes. Overall I see it as a milestone that I passed long ago compared to my join date for hack forums, I don't regret it.
Justin Timberlake: That certainly is an impressive feat, I won't lie. I didn't get a chance to listen to the whole thing but I heard great things about it, and I applaud you for that. As for Polymath, the group has been a community favorite with all the fun contests, it would be a shame to let it go. Did you have any upcoming plans for the radio? Sktchy: As of right now, I and the team involved have no plans for Polymath Radio. None of the projects are being pushed due to Lani trying to sell Polymath. Not bad talking, just stating facts.
Justin Timberlake: If the sale goes through, Polymath will be missed my many, but it built up a good name during its lifetime. With all these groups going up for sale, what would you like to see with a new group? Sktchy: I don't think it's about what the group does for anyone else but it's members. A group is not required to do shit. What I would like to see is a group acting as a brand. We all know the famous Anonymous right? What if there was a group that represented something? Maybe farther than Hack Forums. We see all this news about lizard squad this, finest squad that, DoX this, DDoS that. Yet no one really represents them, they only represent themselves. What if there was a group on Hack Forums that ran projects together? Crypters, RATs, Currency exchange, Hosting services, Graphics. What if it was a brand and all the people inside the group ran it together. Anyone qualified would run it as a group. Profits could be split, or however you want to do it. Maybe even bring new people into the group and teach them how to do it on their own with those group crypters, rat's, ect.It doesn't even have to be a Crypter, or a RAT, or anything like that. It could just be teaching others. So this notion of HF being full of little kids that don't know how to do anything can be fixed. Instead of insulting a community, help it.
Justin Timberlake: Well spoken my friend. But it seems like all the people with great ideas either don't have the money or aren't approved to buy a group. Anyway, thank you for your time. Is there anything else you'd like to say before we wrap up this interview? Sktchy: I see that a lot too, I personally don't have the money to invest in a group. If I were to have the extra money one day, I personally would do what I said above. You also wouldn't need to pay $35 dollars to get into the group If it was my group. I wouldn't need a rolex. I don't wear watches. Thank you for taking the time to interview me, I had fun.
630: Welcome to 222nd edition of the HF News, it's an honor to be her today with Coopersan. Any shout-outs you'd like to make before we begin? Coppersan: I'd like to give a shoutout to the members of Phoenix, Anima Libera and Crypto!
630: How did you get to know this interesting mix of people? Coppersan: I got to know the members of Phoenix back when Empire was around months ago. When that ended, I was invited to Phoenix since I know the members and their focus is relevant to what I do. I'm not much a coder and I'm not really in the marketplace so you can mostly find me in the Innuendo section helping others with personal life issues and educating them about transgender people like myself and any other people under the LGBT spectrum. Sharing my transition seems to be doing just that and I'm satisfied.
630: I see Phoenix members around, but could you explain to us what the group does? I know you kind of just covered it, but what else is in store for us? Coppersan: Well Tibit made a recent April Fools joke lately about changing the Phoenix group. However, there are changes coming and we're adding 1-2 focuses that I think will greatly benefit the forum. I can't tell you what they are exactly but I can say that the forum will definitely appreciate it.
630: I respect the loyalty you have to keep group secrets, no worries, but I am glad there's something in the works. So how did you find Hack Forums? Coppersan: I remember looking for hacks on a game: I think it was Runescape. Couldn't see the entire thread without signing up so I registered, got what I needed and left. I signed up last June but I didn't really get active on here until this March-April. Since then, I got addicted to the forums and couldn't stop posting on here.
630: So what do you do outside of the forums? Do you currently attend school or have any cool hobbies? Coppersan: No, I already graduated college. Right now, I'm trying to study on my own, get into a specialized school for coding and then move on with life with getting my own place and finding a job. My transition to male is my number 1 priority at the moment and I'm still rather afraid to apply for things like jobs since my legal name hasn't been changed yet. I really should move on with life, I haven't had a job since April and I already got rejected from graduate school.
630: Transition to male? I was unawre of that, care to explain that? Coppersan: Well the thread is right here: https://hackforums.net/showthread.php?tid=4490127 Well after college, my depression got worse. It was practically as far as I was going to get: being in a girl's body is physically and emotionally taxing and it was affecting everything I did. I had no social life, I didn't stick with hobbies that I enjoyed and I had no direction of where my life was going. Looking back, I really disliked who I was. I had no drive to do more than what other people wanted me to do because I used up all my energy to pretend to be someone I'm not. Shortly after graduating college, the reality set in: I'm going to entering the adult world where I will be perceived as a girl and be placed certain expectations. I panicked like crazy and getting a job as a secretary did nothing to relieve this because I was surrounded by female coworkers talking about the dumbest shit. I wanted to claw my eyes out. So when I got rejected from graduated school and had my hours drastically reduced in mid-April, I really had to sit down and think on where to go from here. Nothing occurred to me until I went on Tumblr and saw the word transgender. I read a brief description on it and it just clicked. Being a psychology major, I did as much research as I could on the subject and treatments. At that point, I've certainly heard of male to female transsexuals but nothing about female to male. I had to correct the damage female puberty has done as soon as possible. The desperation was real and I had to act quickly So after my birthday in June, I wasted no time to sign up for hormone treatment in an informed consent clinic. Had to wait a grueling 3 months for my appointment but it was well worth it. Got started on testosterone cypionate injections on October 8th and I've been happier since. Starting to get out of my comfort zone, I'm running on the right fuel, I'm actually pursuing what I'm passionate about even without the 100% support of my parents. Started a YouTube channel to document the transition, was invited to speak for a class for an old college professor, made new friends, reconnected with some old people interested in what I'm doing and I have an editorial on myself to come out sometime next year. I know now that I made the right choice. Most people wouldn't understand this for sure but it was either hormone treatment or death.
630: Wow I had no idea. I wish you the best and glad that everything in your life is getting back on track. I knew someone who had male to female gender reassignment surgery and although it was difficult she seems much happier. So one question for is what keeps you active here on Hack Forums? Coppersan: Yeah, that might take a while for me to get a bilateral mastectomy. Will cost like $5-$7k USD depending on the surgeon, operation need and how much needs to be removed from my chest. Trying to do my best with working out so the breast fat tissue decreases and hopefully get a periareolar procedure. I suppose I'm on Hack Forums for the community despite the obvious drama that occurs on a daily basis and for the groups I'm in. Phoenix is like family to me, I don't get much support from my biological family. As for the community, I love everyone dearly even if they probably hate everyone's guts and I just lend a helping hand or ear to those that need it. I feel morally obligated to help others and give them the support I've never had. I guess I'm the Aura of the Innuendo section? XD
630: It always amaze me how this is a hacking forum, but it's comprised of such a diverse group of people. So what would change about the forum if you have the chance? Coppersan: It's basically New York City in a forum. Hmmm, what I would suggest is that the staff should definitely open up more because I barely see them around other than Omniscient. I suppose we could have better account security but Omniscient is already working on that 2 Factor Authentication so I'll just have to wait and see. The forum is great, I just wished the community would get along better but that's just wishful thinking. The forum wouldn't be as interesting if it wasn't for the crybabies. I'm not going to lie, some of the stuff makes me laugh occasionally.
630: I'd agree with that, I can't remember the last time I've seen a staff member casually posting. How would you rate your overall Hack Forums experience on a scale of 1-10? Coppersan: Hmm, I would say a 9/10. Minus 1 for the drama. XD
630: Oh the drama, it really is terrible, but somewhat amusing. So are there any goals or milestones that you'd like to complete in your time here on HF? Coppersan: Not really any forum goals for the site. Maybe I can strive for the Master Donator someday?
630: That was my original goal when I joined. So how do you feel about Hack Forums having its own crypto currency? Do you have the OmniCoin craze? Coppersan: I'm not huge on cryptocurrency. For me, I just get enough of a coin to get the coin awards for the site and that'll be the end of it. I know Omniscient wants to expand its use but he's probably going to have to come up with more creative ways to do so.
630: Well I think that's all the time we have for this interview. Do you have any final remarks you'd like to make before we conclude this interview? Coppersan: Leave your mind open to the possibilities. Also, I love you all!
Jan 12, 2015 11:04 PM (This post was last modified: Jan 13, 2015 11:00 AM by Oak.)
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Two Pools are Renamed
Formerly named Omni-BLU pool, run by Doctor Blue, was renamed to Sparkle Pool. This was done in protest to the number of products for Omnicoin that have the prefix 'Omni'. "I have decided to rename my pool to Sparkle. I'm annoyed by the amount of sites, tools and services named something with 'omni'.", said Doctor Blue.
New Block Explorer on the Block
Back in mid June of this past year, Doctor Bluehinted of a new block explorer he was working on. This past week he announced that he has finished most of the required work and it is now useable. He is still working on completing some finishing touches before he will officially launch it.
Asus Router Vulnerability
Asus sells several million wireless routers for predominately home use every year. A recently uncovered vulnerability is highly concerning for home users as it could allow local attackers to gain full administrative privileges on the router, allowing for the changing of DNS servers, redirection or traffic, or installation of malicious firmware onto the router. As of now, the attack seems only to work when issued from inside the network and does not work across the internet. However, this has not stopped hackers from performing the attack by methods of acting as if one is inside your own network, such as DNS rebinding, or simply by spreading malware and accessing the router through the victim's computer. This would allow them to not only capture user data, but also spread malware throughout the network by coercing others to download malicious programs as well. The vulnerability is caused by a poorly coded service called "infosvr" which looks for other routers on the network, but has an unauthenticated command execution bug. More can be learned about CVE-2014-9583.
Airlines Allowing False SSL Certificates?
For those of us who fly often, it's often nice to use the in-flight internet for business or pleasure. Adrienne Felt, a Google Chrome Security engineer, discovered on a flight supporting GoGo Inflight Internet that she was being served untrusted SSL certificates from GoGo as opposed to the correct *.google.com ones. She released a tweet to GoGo essentially questioning why they felt justified in performing a man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack on their customers. It was later discovered that GoGo had partnered with government officials to "accommodate law enforcement interests" even if it goes against their users' interests. GoGo is responsible for thousands of national and international flights and is likely in possession of data and metadata mined from hundreds of thousands of unknowing customers. Now that GoGo is offering in-flight texting and voicemail, one should be highly skeptical of what they are planning on doing with that information.
Were the LizardSquad Attacks a Promo?
Last week, several large-scale distributed denial of service attacks were focused on the gaming servers of X-Box Live (XBL) and the Play Station Network (PSN) by a group of hackers called LizardSquad. At least 2 of the members have since been apprehended, including HF's own Vinnie, for unrelated alleged attacks. Now, a group of people claiming to be LizardSquad have taken responsibility for the attack and claimed that it was merely a promotion for their new online DDoS/Booter service https://lizardstresser.su/. Officials are also investigating a possible link between members of LS and the DarkCode forum who not only share the same internet host, but until a few days ago, even the same address. Also, the administrator of the DarkCode, "sp3c1alist," has a suspiciously similar name to one of the LS mebers, "sp3c." LizardStresser runs on compromized home routers and generates several hundred Gigabits of attack power, however, it is unknown if this group is the same group that is responsible for the gaming attacks or not.
Google Discovers Zero-Day in Windows 8
A zero-day vulnerability in Windows 8 has been made known to the public by Google's Project Zero team. This exploit allows elevated privilege to an already compromised machine which can be used to run malware as an administrator. Security measures can be taken to avoid this vulnerability and it is not considered to be a severe risk. Microsoft failed to fix the vulnerability within 90 days which resulted in Google's full disclosure of it on December 29th, 2014.
Malicious Ad Reported by Skype Users
Skype users should be weary as a malicious ad has been reported by some users. This ad leads to a site that attempts to download a fake Adobe or Java update. The advertisement should raise flags though as it contains some grammatical errors which is common for sites leading to malware. Skype has not yet commented on the issue.
FBI Struggles to Find Enough IT Workers
The FBI is struggling to find enough people to assist in fighting cybercrime. The FBI is greatly in need of more IT workers as it states in a press release posted on their website. Salary gap and strict job requirements puts the FBI at a disadvantage when it comes to finding more people to fill technology positions. It seems as if the FBI is going to have to start training people from a young age to keep up with the ever growing problem of cybercrime.
New Assurances Regarding DRM on the Xbox One from Microsoft
On January 5th Microsoft released more information regarding its DRM policies on the Xbox One following the inability of a number of players to load up their digital copy of Far Cry 3. It has said that an issue such as this would most likely occur as a result of gameplay-dependent online verification or gating process on the side of Microsoft. In response to this, a Microsoft spokesperson issued this statement: "If customers own the rights to a game, they can visit their download history and initiate a re-download whenever they please--even if the game has been delisted from Xbox Store and is no longer available for purchase.” Despite this statement, it's said on the Microsoft support page that a connection to Xbox Live may be mandatory in certain situations. "If the game was purchased in digital form and the owner is unable or unwilling to enable sharing, the owner has to be signed in and connected to Xbox Live for that game to be played." Microsoft's initial plan regarding gameplay on the Xbox One called for a persistent internet connection in order to use the console. This plan was canceled following a strong backlash from consumers.
Good News for Well-Behaved League of Legends Players
If you were able to get through 2014 without getting in trouble in the popular Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game League of Legends, you're in luck. Players who were able to go through the entire year of 2014 without a chat restriction, ranked restriction, 14-day ban, or permanent ban will be awarded a "classic Mystery Gift" in recognition of their good behavior. The only two catches associated with this are that you must be above level five and there must be a minimum of ten skins that you don't already own. As of November 2014, 95% of League of Legends players have been able to elude penalizations of any sort from Riot. Riot hopes this new reward will provide an incentive for players in 2015.
Nintendo Leaves Brazil
Brazilian division of the Video Juegos Latinoamérica, distributor of Nintendo products in the South American country Brazil, has been reported by Scub to have ceased their four year partnership with Nintendo. No replacement distributor has been named. Nintendo sites multiple reasons for the country-wide withdrawal, including but not limited to high import tariffs and challenges with the local business environment. "Brazil is an important market for Nintendo and home to many passionate fans but unfortunately challenges on the local business environment have made our current distribution model unsustainable in the country," says Bill van Zyl, Director and General Manager of Latin America at Nintendo of America. "Working together with the Juegos de Video Latinoamérica, we will monitor the evolution of the business environment and evaluate the best way to serve our Brazilian fans in the future."
Omniprocessor: Human Waste and Sewage Turns into Drinkable Water
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has sponsored the creation of a water filter that turns human waste and sewage into drinkable water. The filter is specifically made to filter the water, and pick up any pathogens that are found in the water. The device was created for countries that do not have access to multi-million dollar sewage treatment plants for water recycling. Currently the device will cost 1.5 million dollars per unit to create, which is much less than anything before seen.
Here is a video of Bill Gates drinking the sewage water which has been processed:
Researches Create Flexible Spinal Cord Implant That Could Help Disabled People Walk Again
A new development in technology is body implants, and the e-Dura implant is one of its kind. While still in alpha stages, they believe once this implant is done being tested and is in production they could help treat epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and help treat many other back related injuries.
Marriott Hotel Chain Wants to Jam Your Wifi and Data Signals
Marriott has petitioned the FCC to allow them to jam signals from personal devices to access the internet. Just a few months back they were sued for doing just that and have decided to take the legal route this time. The hotel chain claims they are doing it for security reasons, to prevent rouge Hotspots from spying on their clients by forcing them to connect to hotel wifi. They specifically are targeting conference rooms and business clients, which they can make between $250-$1000 for internet usage in these rooms. Speculators believe this is a stunt to make more money off petty blockages.
Jan 12, 2015 11:06 PM (This post was last modified: Jan 12, 2015 11:26 PM by Oak.)
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Every week - assuming we get enough submissions - the HF News will feature the best submitted battlestation.
Send Sir a message by clicking here and including an imgur link of your battlestation!
I must sayeth Sir, thou has't done another fine job on the news. Grant you mercy for producing these weekly for the community of Hack Forums. Keepeth up the valorous worketh.
Jan 13, 2015 01:56 AM (This post was last modified: Jan 13, 2015 02:01 AM by Vitani's Mate.)
Will read it now.
thanks for the edition.
EDIT:
lel
Though it's cold and lonely in the deep dark night.
I can see paradise by the dashboard light.
Though it's cold and lonely in the deep dark night.
Paradise by the dashboard light.
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