OurMine hacks Buzzfeed in retaliation for publishing details of alleged member

By Rob Thubron on October 6, 2016, 12:30 PM




You may be familiar with the name OurMine. The group has been responsible for several high-profile hacks of celebrities and some of the most famous CEOs in the tech industry, including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, and Uber’s Travis Kalanick. Now, the hackers have hit BuzzFeed in retaliation for an article that exposed one of its alleged members.

Joseph Bernstein’s investigation identified Saudi teenager Ahmed Makki as a member of OurMine. The group denied this, claiming he was “just a fan,” but the story appears to have touched a nerve – BuzFeed was hacked the morning after the report, with the titles of several articles changed to “Hacked by OurMine.”

The body of several stories, including Bernstein’s, had the following text added: “Don’t share fake news about us again, we have your database. Next time it will be public. Don’t f**k with OurMine again.”

It’s unclear precisely what database the group is referring to, or what information it contains, though an email to The Guardian from an account associated with the hackers claims it was “Emails, Password Hashes, Usernames.”

There has been no comment from Makki, but OurMine’s website states: “Yesterday Buzzfeed Created a post that we are only 1 member called Ahmed Makki, and we can confirm that we don’t Have a member called ‘Ahmed Makki’ and we are now 4 we were 3 but someone joined, and we hacked it because they are reporting fake news about us.”

“We have a member known as ‘Makki’ But not ahmad makki, and he is not from Saudi Arabia.”

BuzzFeed quickly restored the affected articles, including the original OurMine exposé, back to their original state.

OurMine said the only reason it infiltrates accounts is to show that nobody is secure, using the exposure to advertise its services so people can stay “safe from other hackers.”

Pokémon Go developer Niantic faces court over players invading protected Dutch beaches

By Rob Thubron on September 30, 2016, 1:00 PM



The Pokémon Go phenomenon may have started to die down slightly in recent weeks, but swarms of players are still causing disruption across the world. The problem has got so bad in the Netherlands that local authorities are taking developer Niantic Labs to court, according to The Guardian.

Since it was released in the country back in July, thousands of players have swarmed the beaches of Kijkduin, south of the Hague, to capture the Pokémon that spawn there. The sheer number of people roaming the location is a concern for locals, who believe the gamers could be damaging the protected sand dunes in the area.

Authorities say they have been trying to contact Niantic since mid-August but the company hasn’t responded, leaving Hague officials with “no choice” but to take the case before a local court on October 11. Kijkduin officials said in a statement that they want to ban Pokémon from protected areas and in the streets from 11:00 pm to 7:00 am.

"The municipality is demanding that Niantic switch off the coordinates to stop the virtual characters from appearing in the Natura 2000 nature protection areas around Kijkduin," thestatement reads. "People should no longer be tempted to walk through the protected dune areas. The municipality also wants the Pokémons to stop appearing on and around the Deltaplein between 23.00 and 7.00 hrs. so that residents can enjoy a good night's rest."

This isn’t the first time that Niantic has faced legal action over crowds of Pokémon Go players allegedly causing disruption. Last month, Michigan couple Scott Dodich and Jayme Gotts-Dodich filed a class action lawsuit against the firm. They claim that the Pokémon gym and Pokéstops placed in Wahby Park in St Clair Shores has turned their neighborhood into a “nightmare.”

It’s been used to lure victims and rob people, banned in Iran, and faces numerous complaints filed with the US Federal Trade Commission about its potential dangers, but after being downloaded over 500 million times since launch, Pokémon Go has proved a worldwide success.