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Latest news on hacking, covering hackers, hacked companies and websites, data hacks, account hacks, bank, ATM, contactless and credit card hacks, computer and server hacks, cybercrime, ethical hacking, penetration testing, bug bounty programmes, white hat and black hat hackers, hacktivists and state-sponsored hackers.
Hacking means using technical skill to gain access to computers, networks, accounts or data, with or without the owner's permission. Hackers range from curious tinkerers and security researchers to organised criminals and intelligence services. Targets include banks, ATMs, contactless payments, servers, social media accounts, phones and connected devices. Agencies such as the UK's National Cyber Security Centre and America's CISA publish guidance on preventing and responding to a hack.
Many hacks begin with stolen passwords, phishing or an unpatched flaw, and zero-day exploits strike before a fix exists. Data hacks expose personal details that criminals sell or use for fraud, while account hacks hand attackers control of email and social media. State-sponsored hackers, criminal gangs and hacktivists all shape the threat picture. In August 2024 the US National Institute of Standards and Technology approved its first three post-quantum encryption standards.
Hacker culture has its own conferences, slang and ethics. DEF CON and Black Hat take place in Las Vegas in early August, while the Chaos Communication Congress is held in Germany each winter. Ethical hackers, also known as white hat hackers, carry out penetration testing with permission, and many join bug bounty programmes that pay for valid reports. Black hat hackers act without permission, and behind every hack are victims, from customers whose details leak to small firms hit by fraud.
In the UK the Computer Misuse Act 1990 makes unauthorised access to computer material an offence and also covers acts that impair a computer. In the United States the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 plays a similar role. In May 2026 the UK government announced plans to update the 1990 Act. Debate continues over legal protection for good-faith security researchers, how vulnerabilities should be disclosed and rewarded, and how reliably a hack can be attributed to a state or group.
The word hacker appears in a 1959 slang dictionary of the Tech Model Railroad Club at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and hacker culture grew around MIT in the 1960s. In the 1970s phone phreakers used a 2600 hertz tone to make free calls. The Chaos Computer Club formed in Germany in 1981, and in 1983 the film WarGames and the 414s intrusions in the US put hacking in the public eye. The Morris worm of 1988 disrupted the early internet and led to the creation of the CERT Coordination Center, while Anonymous, which emerged from online forums in the 2000s, made hacktivism widely known.
Our NewsNow hacking feed brings together the latest headlines on hackers, hacked companies, data hacks, account hacks, ethical hacking, cybercrime and security research from reliable sources worldwide, so you have a comprehensive, up-to-date view.
