San Francisco’s fight against deepfake porn, with City Attorney David Chiu (Lock and Code S05E20)

This week on the Lock and Code podcast … On August 15, the city of San Francisco launched an entirely new fight against the world of deepfake porn—it sued the websites that make the abusive material so easy to create. “Deepfakes,” as they’re often called, are fake images and videos that utilize...

U.S. EPA Forms Task Force to Protect Water Systems from Cyberattacks

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPA said it's forming a new "Water Sector Cybersecurity Task Force" to devise methods to counter the threats faced by the water sector in the country. "In addition to considering the prevalent vulnerabilities of water systems to cyberattacks and the...

Deepfake Taylor Swift images circulate online, politicians call for laws to ban deepfake creation

Deepfake images of Taylor Swift have really made some serious waves. Explicit images of the popstar, generated by Artificial Intelligence AI were posted on social media and Telegram. The images were viewed millions of times. The impact of the deepfake was enormous. Social media platform X formerl...

SEO Expert Hired and Fired By Ashley Madison Turned on Company, Promising Revenge

This is Part II of a story published here last week on reporting that went into a new Hulu documentary series on the 2015 Ashley Madison hack. It was around 9 p.m. on Sunday, July 19, when I received a message through the contact form on KrebsOnSecurity.com that the marital infidelity website...

Reddit users crowdsourcing explicit images and identities

The BBC is warned of a large photograph trading ring which operated on popular group forum site Reddit. These warnings are in relation to stolen nude photographs and other content shared without permission. In this case, even non-explicit photos are being posted alongside frequently degrading and...

toastmasters.org.tw Cross Site Scripting vulnerability OBB-2490901

Following the coordinated and responsible vulnerability disclosure guidelines of the ISO 29147 standard, Open Bug Bounty has: a. verified the vulnerability and confirmed its existence; b. notified the website operator about its existence. Technical details of the vulnerability are currently hidde...

Software engineer hacked webcams to spy on girls—Here’s how to protect yourself

A 32 year-old software engineer has been sentenced to two years and two months in prison for remotely accessing chat logs, photos, videos, and webcams of his female victims. For nine years, between 2010 to 2019, Robert Davies used malware to infiltrate his targets devices and access their data...

Groove Calls for Cyberattacks on US as REvil Payback

UPDATE: Subsequent reporting and disclosures show “Groove” was a hoax intended to lure media outlets into reporting on fake potential threats against U.S. government interests. Threatpost regrets falling for a troll. Lesson learned and apologies to our readers. Following the recent international...

When contractors attack: two years in jail for vengeful IT admin

An IT contractor working for an IT consultancy company took it upon himself to perform an act of revenge against the firm he worked at, after they complained about his performance. The charge he faced was breaking into the network of a company in Carlsbad, California. And it got him two years in...

Online scams: How to give scammers a taste of their own medicine

By Owais Sultan Internet users are much more aware of these scams these days, but they do still happen. Let’s look at the different types of internet scams. This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Online scams: How to give scammers a taste of their own medicine...

FBI Warn Hackers are Using Hijacked Home Security Devices for 'Swatting'

Stolen email passwords are being used to hijack smart home security systems to “swat” unsuspecting users, the Federal Bureau of Investigation warned this week. The announcement comes after concerned device manufacturers alerted law enforcement about the issue. Swatting is a dangerous prank where...

RansomExx Ransomware Gang Dumps Stolen Embraer Data: Report

Hackers have dumped sensitive company data that was stolen during a ransomware attack last month on aircraft manufacturer Embraer. The compromised data appeared on a new dark web site created to publish leaked information, according to a published report. The move appears to be a revenge for the...

The 'Robo Revenge' App Makes It Easy to Sue Robocallers

Mac malware, a Bitcoin mixer, and more of the week's top security news...

Deepfakes laws and proposals flood US

In a rare example of legislative haste, roughly one dozen state and federal bills were introduced in the past 12 months to regulate deepfakes, the relatively modern technology that some fear could upend democracy. Though the federal proposals have yet to move forward, the state bills have found...

How Facebook’s Anti-Revenge Porn Tools Failed Katie Hill

Despite automated systems and zero tolerance policies, it's easy to find photos of the former representative weeks after they were published without her consent...

New York's Revenge Porn Law Is a Flawed Step Forward

All but four states in the US now have a revenge porn law on the books. But advocates say precious few get it right...

Authorities seize 15 popular DDoS-for-hire websites

By Waqas Authorities have seized and shut down 15 popular DDoS-for-hire websites used by cybercriminals for revenge and DDoS distributed denial of service attacks on private individuals as well as businesses including online gaming giants, email service providers and hosting sites. The operation...

A week in security (April 23 – April 29)

Last week, we dug into behavioral biometrics, explored a new crossrider variant, and embraced the power of "no." We also launched another CrackMe challenge, took a deep dive into smart toys, and finished up with a look at digital privacy in the age of IoT. Other news LinkedIn does battle with...

Man admits hacking former employer’s computer system for revenge

By Waqas In October 2017, Gavin Paul Prince, 37, chief executive of This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Man admits hacking former employer’s computer system for revenge...

Facebook Fingerprinting Photos to Prevent Revenge Porn

This is a pilot project in Australia: Individuals who have shared intimate, nude or sexual images with partners and are worried that the partner or ex-partner might distribute them without their consent can use Messenger to send the images to be "hashed." This means that the company converts the...