On Tuesday the French firm Vupen, whose researchers develop software hacking techniques and sell them to government agency customers, announced that it had already developed an exploit that could take over a Window 8 machine running Internet Explorer 10, in spite of the many significant security upgrades Microsoft built into the latest version of its operating system.

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Throughout its early years Trend Micro faced frequent accusations of hacking to boost its software sales.

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An abundance of talent all working to create a hit--in the software business, you have groups of programmers hacking together hundreds of thousands of lines of code to hit the jackpot.

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Using hard-core hacking skills or Windows-based software from little-known firms such as Mr. Gasket and Electromotive , tuners like Spetter can fiddle with 150-odd engine functions using drop-down menus and on-screen gauges.

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That makes the iOS-hacking app the fastest-adopted jailbreak software of all time, Freeman says.

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Key to handset hacking, he said, was installing software on a device either by getting physical access to the mobile, tricking its owner into downloading a booby-trapped application or making them visit a page that inserts malware onto a device.

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The category of cyber crime includes fraudulent online shopping activity, computer software service fraud, computer misuse crime, offences linked to computer viruses and spyware and computer hacking.

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The Dev Team, whose research was instrumental in Hotz's initial hacking of the iPhone's hardware, isn't the first to offer a software-only unlock.

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