Hackers demand $10m ransom

Almost 8.3 million patient records have been stolen from a Virginia government Web site that tracks prescription drug abuse, according to hackers who are demanding a $10 million ransom for their return, reports The Register.

"I have your shit!" read the note, which was posted to Wikileaks. "In *my* possession, right now, are 8 257 378 patient records and a total of 35 548 087 prescriptions. Also, I made an encrypted backup and deleted the original. Unfortunately for Virginia, their backups seem to have gone missing, too."

The message said if officials did not respond within seven days, the information would be made available to whoever offered the highest bid.

Microsoft will eliminate about 5% of its UK workforce as part of a group-wide spending review, says Computing.co.uk.

The news follows the firm's announcement in January that it would shed up to 5 000 jobs worldwide in a bid to reduce costs.

The cull will affect more than 140 jobs out of Microsoft's 2 880 UK-based workforce in the areas of IT, research and development, marketing, sales, finance, legal and human resources.

The head of America's National Security Agency says the US needs to build a digital warfare force for the future, reports the BBC.

Lieutenant general Keith Alexander, who also heads the Pentagon's new Cyber Command, outlined his views in a report for the House Armed Services subcommittee.

In it, he stated the US needed to reorganise its offensive and defensive cyber operations.

Craigslist.com, the popular online community and classified bazaar, is coming under intense pressure from law enforcement authorities to eliminate what they say are ads for illegal sexual activities, reports msnbc.com.

South Carolina attorney-general Henry McMaster sent the company a letter yesterday, giving site leaders 10 days to remove illegal content and prostitution ads or face prosecution. The letter claimed managers had “knowingly allowed the site to be used for illegal and unlawful activity after warnings from law enforcement officials and after an agreement with 40 state attorneys-general”.

That was a reference to a deal Craigslist struck in November with the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children and 43 attorneys-general to crack down on ads for prostitution.