French Arrest Hacker Who Targeted Obama Twitter Account

A 25 year old Frenchman who used the online persona HackerCroll has been arrested after hijacking US President Barack Obama's twitter account.

“This individual spread information about a dozen American personalities, notably Barack Obama, on specialist blogs,” Adeline Champagnat, head of the French office against online fraud, said.

HackerCroll appeared to be driven by the challenge and apparently acted alone in his quest to gain access to the accounts. No sensitive information was allegedly targeted.

“He thinks he is good at this, and he is,” Ms. Champagnat said.

The French were tipped off by the FBI according to this Globe and Mail article.

Obama To Keep His Blackberry

It's a huge day for President Elect Barack Obama! Not only will he take the oath of office and assume the role of President but it also looks as if he is going to be able to hang on to his Blackberry. When asked about the device during a CNN interview Obama responded "I think we're going to be able to beat this back," and "... I think we're going to be able to hang onto one of these."

The concern over the device has been in protecting Obama from threat and the security risk that may be associated with the Blackberry's GPS and e-mail encryption.

"While it is true that the Secret Service is likely more than capable of fending off these types of security breaches, it's easy to see that the organization charged with preserving the commander-in-chief's security at all costs would rather not have to deal with this exposure at all," said Carmi Levy, an analyst with AR Communications Inc. "Up until now, they've been able to disconnect the president as a means of limiting exposure, but it looks like that era is drawing - fitfully - to a close."

Source: Globe and Mail.


The good news for tech companies is that there will finally be a President in the White House who has a clue about technology.

"Occasionally. One of the things I've used on the Google is to pull up maps. It's very interesting to see -- I've forgot the name of the program -- but you get the satellite, and you can -- like, I kinda like to look at the ranch. It remind me of where I wanna be sometimes." - George W. Bush

Cellular Systems To Take Hit During Inauguration

With throngs of people descending upon the US capital for a chance to see the Inauguration of President Elect Barack Obama, cellphone carriers are urging their customers to go easy on the system by delaying making calls, sending photos or text messages. “If some of these estimates come true, people should anticipate delays with regards to sending text messages or making phone calls or getting onto the Internet,” said Joe Farren, spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association. “We can only bend the laws of physics so much,” Mr. Farren said. Sort of sounds like a Scotty remark to Captain Kirk!

Interestingly, Verizon has several mobile units known as COWs and COLTs (for cells on wheels and cells on light trucks) in it's inventory that it plans to deploy to alliviate some of the anticipated strain on it's system. Carriers also have “sat COLTs,” which carry satellite dishes to send signals independent of terrestrial networks and power supplies. “You drive it where it needs to go, park it, push a couple of buttons, the mast will deploy, the dish will deploy and our generator and satellite ensures we’re fully self-contained and independent,” said Tanya Lin, manager of emergency response team operations for Sprint.

Source: NYTimes