Facial Recognition, a British Airways Hack, and More Security News This Week

A British Airways breach, a fake Army site, and more of the week's top security news...

Fake Beto O'Rourke Texts Expose New Playground for Trolls

Someone hijacked a volunteer tool to make it look like Beto O'Rourke encouraged voter fraud—and that could just be the beginning...

Facebook Offers a Better Way to Get Back Into Your Locked-Out Apps

At Facebook's F8 conference, the company outlined a refreshing alternative to the bad security questions that plague account recovery across the web. The post Facebook Offers a Better Way to Get Back Into Your Locked-Out Apps appeared first on WIRED...

Mapping Every Flock License Plate Reader Near US World Cup Stadiums

Most US World Cup stadiums are surrounded by surveillance cameras. Want to know if you’re being watched on your way to a match? These maps will help you...

Amnesty International Warns That World Cup Fans Face Potential Human Rights Violations

The organization claims that the FIFA tournament could have impacts on the rights of local people and visiting soccer fans in all three host countries...

The Pentagon Knew Enemies Could Track Troops’ Phones for Years. Now They Are

The US military has long known that cheap fixes could stop location data from exposing its troops. It adopted almost none—and now says adversaries are using the data to target soldiers during a war...

A New York Cop Got Injured at a Boxing Match. Now Madison Square Garden Is Banning His Lawyer

Attorney John Scola is representing a police officer who is suing over injuries allegedly sustained while working security at an MSG property in 2025...

Elon Musk’s Grok ‘Undressing’ Problem Isn’t Fixed

X has placed more restrictions on Grok’s ability to generate explicit AI images, but tests show that the updates have created a patchwork of limitations that fail to fully address the issue...

A Major Leak Spills a Chinese Hacking Contractor’s Tools and Targets

Plus: State-sponsored AI hacking is here, Google hosts a CBP face recognition app, and more of the week’s top security news...

Hackers Hijacked Google’s Gemini AI With a Poisoned Calendar Invite to Take Over a Smart Home

For likely the first time ever, security researchers have shown how AI can be hacked to create real world havoc, allowing them to turn off lights, open smart shutters, and more...

Metadata Shows the FBI’s ‘Raw’ Jeffrey Epstein Prison Video Was Likely Modified

There is no evidence the footage was deceptively manipulated, but ambiguities around how the video was processed may further fuel conspiracy theories about Epstein’s death...

CBP's Predator Drone Flights Over LA Are a Dangerous Escalation

Customs and Border Protection flying powerful Predator B drones over Los Angeles further breaks the seal on federal involvement in civilian matters typically handled by state or local authorities...

The US Grid Attack Looming on the Horizon

A major cyberattack on the US electrical grid has long worried security experts. Such an attack wouldn’t be easy. But if an adversary pulled it off, it’d be lights out in more ways than one...

Who Even Is a Criminal Now?

WIRED loves a rogue. Except rogues ruined the internet. Is there any salvaging the rebellious spirit without destroying everything?...

Hacking Spree Hits UK Retail Giants

Plus: France blames Russia for a series of cyberattacks, the US is taking steps to crack down on a gray market allegedly used by scammers, and Microsoft pushes the password one step closer to death...

Mike Waltz Has Somehow Gotten Even Worse at Using Signal

A photo taken this week showed Mike Waltz using an app that looks like—but is not—Signal to communicate with top officials. "I don't even know where to start with this," says one expert...

Protecting Your Phone—and Your Privacy—at the US Border

In this episode of Uncanny Valley, our hosts explain how to prepare for travel to and from the United States—and how to stay safe...

‘Stupid and Dangerous’: CISA Funding Chaos Threatens Essential Cybersecurity Program

The CVE Program is the primary way software vulnerabilities are tracked. Its long-term future remains in limbo even after a last-minute renewal of the US government contract that funds it...

Here’s What Happened to Those SignalGate Messages

A lawsuit over the Trump administration’s infamous Houthi Signal group chat has revealed what steps departments took to preserve the messages—and how little they actually saved...

Even More Venmo Accounts Tied to Trump Officials in Signal Group Chat Left Data Public

WIRED has found four new Venmo accounts that appear to be associated with Trump officials who were in an infamous Signal chat. One made a payment with a note consisting solely of an eggplant emoji...

How to Delete Your Data From 23andMe

DNA-testing company 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy, which means the future of the company’s vast trove of customer data is unknown. Here’s what that means for your genetic data...

Meet the Hired Guns Who Make Sure School Cyberattacks Stay Hidden

An investigation into more than 300 cyberattacks against US K–12 schools over the past five years shows how schools can withhold crucial details from students and parents whose data was stolen...

Candy Crush, Tinder, MyFitnessPal: See the Thousands of Apps Hijacked to Spy on Your Location

A hack of location data company Gravy Analytics has revealed which apps are—knowingly or not—being used to collect your information behind the scenes...

Apple May Owe You $20 in a Siri Privacy Lawsuit Settlement

Plus: The FBI discovers a historic trove of homemade explosives, new details emerge in China’s hack of the US Treasury Department, and more...

The Invisible Russia-Ukraine Battlefield

In Russia’s war against Ukraine, electronic warfare, including signal-jamming, anti-drone weapons, and innovative protections for critical military systems, has become a key piece of the conflict...

Intel Officials Warned Police That US Cities Aren’t Ready for Hostile Drones

In a previously unreported August memo, the Department of Homeland Security urged state and local police to conduct exercises to test their ability to respond to weaponized drones...

Stop Calling Online Scams ‘Pig Butchering,’ Interpol Warns

Experts say the catchall term for online fraud furthers harm against victims and could dissuade people from reporting attempts to bilk them out of their money...

The ‘Ghost Gun’ Linked to Luigi Mangione Shows Just How Far 3D-Printed Weapons Have Come

The design of the gun police say they found on the alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killer—the FMDA or “Free Men Don’t Ask”—was released by a libertarian group...

Poker Cheaters Allegedly Use Tiny Hidden Cameras to Spot Dealt Cards

Several recent schemes were uncovered involving poker players at casinos allegedly using miniature cameras, concealed in personal electronics, to spot cards. Should players everywhere be concerned?...

She Was a Russian Socialite and Influencer. Cops Say She’s a Crypto Laundering Kingpin

Western authorities say they’ve identified a network that found a new way to clean drug gangs’ dirty cash. WIRED gained exclusive access to the investigation...

Meet ZachXBT, the Masked Vigilante Tracking Down Billions in Crypto Scams and Thefts

He just untangled a $243 million bitcoin theft, what may be the biggest-ever crypto heist to target a single victim. And he has never shown his face...

Google Chrome’s uBlock Origin Purge Has Begun

Plus: The alleged SEC X account hacker gets charged, Kroger wriggles out of a face recognition scandal, and Microsoft deals with missing customer security logs...

This Prompt Can Make an AI Chatbot Identify and Extract Personal Details From Your Chats

Security researchers created an algorithm that turns a malicious prompt into a set of hidden instructions that could send a user's personal information to an attacker...

This AI Tool Helped Convict People of Murder. Then Someone Took a Closer Look

Global Intelligence claims its Cybercheck technology can help cops find key evidence to nail a case. But a WIRED investigation reveals the smoking gun often appears far less solid...

The FBI Still Hasn’t Cracked NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ Phone

Plus: Harvard students pack Meta’s smart glasses with privacy-invading face-recognition tech, Microsoft and the DOJ seize Russian hackers’ domains, and more...

Notorious Evil Corp Hackers Targeted NATO Allies for Russian Intelligence

UK law enforcement and international partners have released new details about the cybercriminal gang Evil Corp, including its use of the Lockbit ransomware platform and ties to Russian intelligence...

The Mystery of Hezbollah’s Deadly Exploding Pagers

At least eight people have been killed and more than 2,700 people have been injured in Lebanon by exploding pagers. Experts say the blasts point toward a supply chain compromise, not a cyberattack...

‘Terrorgram’ Charges Show US Has Had Tools to Crack Down on Far-Right Terrorism All Along

The federal indictment of two alleged members of the Terrorgram Collective, a far-right cell accused of inspiring “lone wolf” attacks, reveals the US is now using a “forgotten” legal strategy...

Pavel Durov’s Arrest Leaves Telegram Hanging in the Balance

Durov has reportedly been detained in France over Telegram’s alleged failure to adequately moderate illegal content on the messaging app. His arrest sparked backlash and left some associates asking, what now?...

Geofence Warrants Ruled Unconstitutional—but That’s Not the End of It

Plus: US regulators fine T-Mobile $60 million for mishap with sensitive data, New Zealand approves Kim Dotcom’s US extradition, and San Francisco takes on deepfake porn...

Computer Crash Reports Are an Untapped Hacker Gold Mine

One hacker solved the CrowdStrike outage mystery with simple crash reports, illustrating the wealth of detail about potential bugs and vulnerabilities those key documents hold...

Inside the Dark World of Doxing for Profit

From tricking companies into handing over victims’ personal data to offering violence as a service, the online doxing ecosystem is not just still a problem—it’s getting more extreme...

Sensitive Illinois Voter Data Exposed by Contractor’s Unsecured Databases

Social Security numbers, death certificates, voter applications, and other personal data were accessible on the open internet, highlighting the ongoing challenges in election security...

A Senate Bill Would Radically Improve Voting Machine Security

This year’s Intelligence Authorization Act would mandate penetration testing for federally certified voting machines and allow independent researchers to work on exposing vulnerabilities...

A North Korean Hacker Tricked a US Security Vendor Into Hiring Him—and Immediately Tried to Hack Them

KnowBe4 detailed the incident in a recent blog post as a warning for other potential targets...

AT&T Paid a Hacker $370,000 to Delete Stolen Phone Records

A security researcher who assisted with the deal says he believes the only copy of the complete dataset of call and text records of “nearly all” AT&T customers has been wiped—but some risks may remain...

Spyware Users Exposed in Major Data Breach

Plus: The Heritage Foundation gets hacked over Project 2025, a car dealership software provider seems to have paid $25 million to a ransomware gang, and authorities disrupt a Russian bot farm...

Perplexity Is a Bullshit Machine

A WIRED investigation shows that the AI-powered search startup Forbes has accused of stealing its content is surreptitiously scraping—and making things up out of thin air...

Russians Love YouTube. That’s a Problem for the Kremlin

YouTube remains the only major US-based social media platform available in Russia. It’s become "indispensable" to everyday people, making a ban tricky. Journalists and dissidents are taking advantage...

Teslas Can Still Be Stolen With a Cheap Radio Hack—Despite New Keyless Tech

Ultra-wideband radio has been heralded as the solution for “relay attacks” that are used to steal cars in seconds. But researchers found Teslas equipped with it are as vulnerable as ever...