The DOJ Puts Apple's iMessage Encryption in the Antitrust Crosshairs

Privacy and security are an Apple selling point. But the DOJ’s new antitrust lawsuit argues that Apple selectively embraces privacy and security features in ways that hurt competition—and users...

Sinking Section 702 Wiretap Program Offered One Last Lifeboat

For months, US lawmakers have examined every side of a historic surveillance debate. With the introduction of the SAFE Act, all that’s left to do now is vote...

Russian Hackers Stole Microsoft Source Code—and the Attack Isn’t Over

Plus: An ex-Google engineer gets arrested for allegedly stealing trade secrets, hackers breach the top US cybersecurity agency, and X’s new feature exposes sensitive user data...

A Pornhub Chatbot Stopped Millions From Searching for Child Abuse Videos

Every time someone in the UK searched for child abuse material on Pornhub, a chatbot appeared and told them how to get help...

23andMe Failed to Detect Account Intrusions for Months

Plus: North Korean hackers get into generative AI, a phone surveillance tool that can monitor billions of devices gets exposed, and ambient light sensors pose a new privacy risk...

US Agencies Urged to Patch Ivanti VPNs That Are Actively Being Hacked

Plus: Microsoft says attackers accessed employee emails, Walmart fails to stop gift card fraud, “pig butchering” scams fuel violence in Myanmar, and more...

The Sad Truth of the FTC's Location Data Privacy Settlement

The FTC forced a data broker to stop selling “sensitive location data.” But most companies can avoid such scrutiny by doing the bare minimum, exposing the lack of protections Americans truly have...

To Beat Russia, Ukraine Needs a Major Tech Breakthrough

Ukraine’s top general says his country must innovate on the level of inventing gunpowder to “break military parity” with Russia. If it’s successful, it could change the future of war...

Google Fixes Nearly 100 Android Security Issues

Plus: Apple shuts down a Flipper Zero Attack, Microsoft patches more than 30 vulnerabilities, and more critical updates for the last month of 2023...

How to Not Get Hacked by a QR Code

QR codes can be convenient—but they can also be exploited by malicious actors. Here’s how to protect yourself...

Okta Breach Impacted All Customer Support Users—Not 1 Percent

Okta upped its original estimate of customer support users affected by a recent breach from 1 percent to 100 percent, citing a “discrepancy.”...

TikTok Streamers Are Staging ‘Israel vs. Palestine’ Live Matches to Cash In on Virtual Gifts

TikTokkers are using a little-known livestreaming feature to falsely represent Israelis and Palestinians—and the company is taking a cut of costly in-app gifts viewers give to participants...

Deepfake Porn Is Out of Control

New research shows the number of deepfake videos is skyrocketing—and the world's biggest search engines are funneling clicks to dozens of sites dedicated to the nonconsensual fakes...

The Biggest Hack of 2023 Keeps Getting Bigger

Victims of the MOVEit breach continue to come forward. But the full scale of the attack is still unknown...

Google Fixes Serious Security Flaws in Chrome and Android

Plus: Mozilla patches more than a dozen vulnerabilities in Firefox, and enterprise companies Ivanti, Cisco, and SAP roll out a slew of updates to get rid of some high-severity bugs...

How X Is Suing Its Way Out of Accountability

The social media giant filed a lawsuit against a nonprofit that researches hate speech online. It’s the latest effort to cut off the data needed to expose online platforms’ failings...

An Apple Malware-Flagging Tool Is ‘Trivially’ Easy to Bypass

The macOS Background Task Manager tool is supposed to spot potentially malicious software on your machine. But a researcher says it has troubling flaws...

Microsoft’s AI Red Team Has Already Made the Case for Itself

Since 2018, a dedicated team within Microsoft has attacked machine learning systems to make them safer. But with the public release of new generative AI tools, the field is already evolving...

UFO Whistleblower, Meet a Conspiracy-Loving Congress

Fresh claims from a former US intelligence officer about an “intact” alien craft may get traction on Capitol Hill, where some lawmakers want to believe...

An Anti-Porn App Put Him in Jail and His Family Under Surveillance

A court used an app called Covenant Eyes to surveil the family of a man released on bond. Now he’s back in jail, and tech misuse may be to blame...

Apple's iOS 16.5 Fixes 3 Security Bugs Already Used in Attacks

Plus: Microsoft patches two zero-day flaws, Google’s Android and Chrome get some much-needed updates, and more...

The Real Risks in Google’s New .Zip and .Mov Domains

While the company’s new top-level domains could be used in phishing attacks, security researchers are divided on how big of a problem they really pose...

How You, or Anyone, Can Dodge Montana’s TikTok Ban

Montana’s TikTok ban will be impossible to enforce. But it could encourage copycat crackdowns against the social media app...

A Republican-Led Lawsuit Threatens Critical US Cyber Protections

Three states are suing to block security rules for water facilities. If they win, it may open the floodgates for challenges to other cyber rules...

SolarWinds: The Untold Story of the Boldest Supply-Chain Hack

The attackers were in thousands of corporate and government networks. They might still be there now. Behind the scenes of the SolarWinds investigation...

A Security Team Is Turning This Malware Gang’s Tricks Against It

The cybercriminals behind the Gootloader malware have found clever ways to avoid detection. But researchers are using those same mechanisms to stop them...

ChatGPT Has a Big Privacy Problem

Italy’s recent ban of Open AI’s generative text tool may just be the beginning of ChatGPT's regulatory woes...

How a Catholic Group Doxed Gay Priests

Plus: A data breach exposes Washington, Ring camera footage has a new problem, and the George Santos scandal slips into the world of cybercrime...

Twitter’s Two-Factor Authentication Change ‘Doesn't Make Sense’

The company will soon require users to pay for a Twitter Blue subscription to get sign-in codes via SMS. Security experts are baffled...

North Korean Hackers Are Attacking US Hospitals

Plus: Deepfake disinformation spotted in the wild, Android privacy problems in China, Reddit gets phished, and more...

Russia’s Ransomware Gangs Are Being Named and Shamed

Members of the Trickbot and Conti cybercrime gangs have been sanctioned in an unprecedented wave of action against the country’s hackers...

The Untold Story of a Crippling Ransomware Attack

More than two years ago, criminals crippled the systems of London’s Hackney Council. It's still fighting to recover...

The Small but Mighty Danger of Echo Chamber Extremism

Research shows that relatively few people exist in perfectly sealed-off media bubbles—but they’re still having an outsize impact on US politics...

Welcome to the Era of Internet Blackouts

New research from Cloudflare shows that connectivity disruptions are becoming a problem around the globe, pointing toward a troubling new normal...

Spy Cams Reveal the Grim Reality of Slaughterhouse Gas Chambers

Animal rights activists have captured the first hidden-camera video from inside a carbon dioxide “stunning chamber” in a US meatpacking plant...

Slack Discloses Breach of Its Github Code Repository

Plus: Russian spies uncovered in Europe, face recognition leads to another wrongful arrest, a new porn ID law, and more...

Turla, a Russian Espionage Group, Piggybacked on Other Hackers' USB Infections

The infamous, FSB-connected Turla group took over other hackers' servers, exploiting their USB drive malware for targeted espionage...

Elon Musk and the Dangers of Censoring Real-Time Flight Trackers

Elon Musk claims plane-tracking data is a risky privacy violation. But the world loses a lot if this information disappears—and that's already happening...

Hackers Planted Files to Frame Indian Priest Who Died in Custody

And new evidence suggests those hackers may have collaborated with the police who investigated him...

Drop What You're Doing and Update iOS, Android, and Windows

Plus: Major patches dropped this month for Chrome, Firefox, VMware, Cisco, Citrix, and SAP...

‘Dark Ships’ Emerge From the Shadows of the Nord Stream Mystery

Satellite monitors discovered two vessels with their trackers turned off in the area of the pipeline prior to the suspected sabotage in September...

Russia’s Sway Over Criminal Ransomware Gangs Is Coming Into Focus

Questions about the Kremlin’s relationships with these groups remain. But researchers are finally getting some answers...

When Your Neighbor Turns You In

Authoritarian societies depend on people ratting each other out for activities that were recently legal—and it's already happening in the US...

If Musk Starts Firing Twitter's Security Team, Run

What's next for the social network is anyone's guess—but here's what to watch as you wade through the privacy and security morass...

Your Microsoft Exchange Server Is a Security Liability

Endless vulnerabilities. Massive hacking campaigns. Slow and technically tough patching. It's time to say goodbye to on-premise Exchange...

The $1 Billion Alex Jones Effect

The Infowars host now knows the cost of “free speech”—but does the landmark judgment signal a crackdown on disinformation?...

Biden’s Privacy Order Slaps a Band-Aid on the EU-US Data Crisis

A new executive order tries to reassure Europeans that their data is safe on US soil, despite government surveillance...

The Race to Find the Nord Stream Saboteurs

Damage to the pipeline that runs between Russia and Germany is being treated as deliberate. Finding out what happened may not be straightforward...

Child Predators Mine Twitch to Prey on Kids

Plus: A leaked trove illuminates Russia’s internet regulator, a report finds Facebook and Instagram violated Palestinian rights, and more...

Iran’s Internet Shutdown Hides a Deadly Crackdown

Amid protests against the killing of Mahsa Amini, authorities have cut off mobile internet, WhatsApp, and Instagram. The death toll continues to rise...