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An Orange County man suspected of hacking computers was arrested on federal charges related to demands for explicit videos from women and teenage girls.


A man, claiming to be affiliated with an underground gang of hackers, was arrested on federal extortion charges that allege he hacked into dozens of computers, obtained personal data about people using the computers, and then demanded explicit videos from female victims in exchange for keeping their personal information private.

Luis Mijangos was arrested after a six-month FBI investigation into his involvement in computer hacking, identity theft and video nosiness. Mijangos infected more than 100 computers which were used by about 230 individuals, at least 44 of whom were juveniles.

Mijangos used peer-to-peer networks to infect computers with malware that he made appear as popular songs. Once his victim was infected, Mijangos sent instant messages to people in the victims’ address books. The malicious code in the IMs gave Mijangos control of those computers too.

Once he had control of a computer, he would search for intimate images or videos of young women in various states of undress or engaged in naughty acts with their partners. Mijangos contacted the female victims and threatened to send the explicit photos or videos to everyone in their contact lists unless they made additional videos for him. He also told the victims that because he controlled their computers, he would know if they attempted to contact the authorities. He told one victim that she did not want to “mess” with a team of hackers.

The digital divide is deep and gaping between security professionals and users. Researchers have studied the differing points of views in an attempt to bridge the great divide. But do prejudices on both sides make the chasm too wide and jagged to seal?

A digital divide exists between information security managers and users. IT/IS managers mainly regard users as an information security threat, while users regard themselves as an untapped resource for security work. Research suggests these greatly differing points of view tend to make management approaches to security that do not line up well with the dynamics of the users’ working day.

Different work situations and rationalities may explain the digital divide in organizations. The security professional operates at a distance from the everyday work tasks and vulnerabilities in the company, but put toe to the line in a digital attack when vulnerabilities require crisis management. Users, however, step up to the plate every day as required to keep the company going forward as productive and profitable. For users, it is often a case of feeling like all their rights and privileges are unjustly controlled.

Your right to privacy is shrinking, but it’s happening quietly without much publicity. Identity theft steals far more than your privacy.  So far in 2009, over 13 million records have been breached! Here are the top privacy breaches this year.

by Angie Porter
Cyberspace is the new Wild West frontier where sophisticated hacking is like having the fastest gun. Man-in-the-middle attacks are common place, while credit card PIN crackers lead the pack of cyber outlaws. Neither SSL websites nor the “smart” grid can be considered safe anymore. Lucifer, AKA a social engineer, may dwell on your friend’s list within instant messengers or social sites. Even if you manage to avoid tweeting your intentions, botnets, or clickjackers, the vast frontier of cyberspace is shrinking in regards to your privacy.