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Need a new password? Don't choose one of these 306 million
Troy Hunt, the security expert behind Have I Been Pwned (HIBP), has released 306 million previously-pwned passwords in a bid to help individuals and companies ramp up their online security. The passwords have been mined from dozens of data breaches, and now anyone can download them for free. HIBP lets someone see if their email address has appeared in a breach, but doesn't reveal the associated password for that particular compromised service. Now, Hunt -- who has written extensively on password protection -- has flipped the model on its head, making passwords searchable without the associated email address or username.
MechWarrior Online invites you to River City
It's important to remember that for every shell-shocked city that you're rampaging through with your 40-ton 'Mech, there are families who have lost everything in the destruction. But enough about them -- more pew pew! Welcome to MechWarrior Online's River City, where the fun never stops and the human suffering is drowned out by cheers of "PWNED!" In a new video, Piranha Games shows off the urban battlefield of River City. It's a high-tech metropolis on fire, with hazy smoke and broken highways abounding. In the middle of River City is a fortified building, which is the high ground. Holding this will help players achieve their two objectives: a space port and an industrial port facility. And yes, the narrator actually uses the words "River City" and "ransom" in the same sentence. There's a strange video game crossover going on here. You can visit River City after the jump, but you probably won't want to move there.
Google's paying $20,000 to hack Chrome -- any takers?
So far, Chrome is the only browser of the big four -- Safari, Firefox, and Internet Explorer being the other three -- to escape the Pwn2Own hacking competition unscathed the past two years. (Sorry Opera aficionados, looks like there's not enough of you to merit a place in the contest... yet.) Evidently, its past success has Google confident enough to pony up a cool $20,000 and a CR-48 laptop to anyone able to find a bug in its code and execute a clean sandbox escape on day one of Pwn2Own 2011. Should that prove too daunting a task, contest organizer TippingPoint will match El Goog's $10,000 prize (still $20,000 total) for anyone who can exploit Chrome and exit the sandbox through non-Google code on days two and three of the event. For those interested in competing, Pwn2Own takes place March 9th through 11th in Vancouver at the CanSecWest conference. The gauntlet has been thrown -- your move, hackers.
Breakfast Topic: Let's talk about fun ways to die
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Yes, when we hear the graveyard music, we often indulge in various expressions of nerd rage. However, there is no denying that there are some cool, funny and emblematic ways to die, both throughout the leveling process and in the endgame. Who has not gotten stomped by the Fel Reaver in Hellfire Peninsula? Were you ever pwned by Hogger? And what about all those times when your famous last words were, "I'm a _____. Five levels above me? No big deal ..." My characters have met their deaths in the elevator of the Undercity, been shot out of the sky near Alliance camps in Outland and steamrolled under various groups of mobs in Stranglethorn Vale. One of my favorite deaths occurred when my husband and I rolled Forsaken toons together. I rolled a warrior, he rolled a rogue, and we had fun roflpwning low-level mobs in our BoA gear. We found our way to Silverpine Forest, and I noticed that one of the nearby worgen had a different skin color than the others. Of course, being the compulsive silver-elite-killer that I am, I immediately targeted the mob, only to discover that it was a gold elite -- a level 20 Son of Arugal. I shouted and we ran, avoiding the mob the first time, only to have it pat up behind us and kill me a few minutes later. Darling hubby got away (stupid rogues -- always run when there's a fight). One of my more shameful deaths occurred after playing chicken with the ground on my level 80 druid. The most exciting part of this game is wondering if there is enough lag at the moment that you click the flight form button that you'll end up dying anyway. I was flying over Dalaran and told my hubby, "Hey, watch this!" As he stood at the bank, I proceeded to fall through the air, expecting to be able to transform into flight form at the last second. Oh wait, fail -- I forgot that you cannot mount up on flying mounts in Dalaran. After he stopped laughing, he was nice and rezzed my splattered corpse. Sure, we all die in raid wipes and in PvP -- but what about the neat ways to die in the game? What has been your favorite or most hilarious death in the World?
iPhone SMS database hacked in 20 seconds, news at 11
It's a story tailor-made for the fear-mongering subset of news media. This week, a pair of gentlemen lured an unsuspecting virgin iPhone to a malicious website and -- with no other input from the user -- stole the phone's entire database of sent, received and even deleted text messages in under 20 seconds, boasting that they could easily lift personal contacts, emails and your naughty, naughty photos as well. Thankfully for us level-headed souls, those gentlemen were Vincenzo Iozzo and Ralf-Philipp Weinmann, security researchers performing for the 2010 Pwn2Own hacking contest, and their $15,000 first prize ensures that the winning formula will go to Apple (and only Apple) for further study. Last year, smartphones emerged from Pwn2Own unscathed even as their desktop counterparts took a beating, but this makes the third year in a row that Safari's gotten its host machines pwned. That said, there's no need for fear -- just a healthy reminder that the Apple logo doesn't give you free license to click links in those oh-so-tempting "beta-test the new iPad!" emails.
Top ten reasons Thrall got pwned by Garrosh
So, there's this Wrath-release event happening. One of the side-plays during the event is a duel between Thrall and Garrosh Hellscream. And while Thrall was busting out all the Shaman mojo he could, he ultimately loses to Garrosh. Over and over. Why, Thrall? How could it come to this? Where did we go wrong? In an attempt to understand how the Warchief could be struck low by the young pup, we here at WoW Insider bring you the Top Ten Reasons Thrall got pwned by Garrosh:
