Political

Computer hacking in the news: welcome and bizarre stories

The welcome news:

The Home Office is to announce a review of extradition arrangements, including those with the US and EU countries following high-profile rows over the way they are operating.

The main impetus has been the row with Washington over the Gary McKinnon affair, in which the 43-year-old has been accused of hacking into US computer systems.

But the review will also look at the operation of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). [More in the full report in The Guardian]

And the downright bizarre news:

Geographically mixed-up Algerian hackers made themselves look rather silly by defacing the website of an English stately home instead of Belvoir Fortress in Israel, their intended target.

Cyber-jihadis from a previously unknown group called Dz-SeC commandeered the website of Belvoir Castle to post an anti-Zionist rant along with an image of the Algerian national flag.

Belvoir Fortress was a Christian outpost during the Crusades, as explained in an Israeli government run-down on its history here.

Belvoir Castle, a Royalist stronghold during the English Civil War, by contrast, is best known these days as the host of an annual teddy bears’ picnic. [The Register]

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