The UK Is GPS-Tagging Thousands of Migrants

Ankle tags that constantly log a person’s coordinates are part of a growing cadre of experimental surveillance tools that countries around the world are trying out on new arrivals...

SpaceX Launched Military Satellites Designed to Track Hypersonic Missiles

The prototype satellites hitched a ride on a Falcon 9 rocket...

A Backroom Deal Looms Over Section 702 Surveillance Fight

Top congressional lawmakers are meeting in private to discuss the future of a widely unpopular surveillance program, worrying members devoted to reforming Section 702...

2054, Part V: From Tokyo With Love

“Had this all been contrived? Had his life become a game in which everyone knew the rules but him?” An exclusive excerpt from 2054: A Novel...

China’s Hackers Keep Targeting US Water and Electricity Supplies

Plus: Russia was likely behind widespread GPS outages, Vault 7 leaker was sentenced, police claim to trace Monero cryptocurrency, and more...

‘Stablecoins’ Enabled $40 Billion in Crypto Crime Since 2022

A new report from Chainalysis finds that stablecoins like Tether, tied to the value of the US dollar, were used in the vast majority of crypto-based scam transactions and sanctions evasion in 2023...

What It’s Like to Use Apple’s Lockdown Mode

If you're at high risk of being targeted by mercenary spyware, or just don't mind losing iOS features for extra security, the company's restricted mode is surprisingly usable...

Police Can Spy on Your iOS and Android Push Notifications

Governments can access records related to push notifications from mobile apps by requesting that data from Apple and Google, according to details in court records and a US senator...

Elon Musk Is Giving QAnon Believers Hope Just in Time for the 2024 Elections

Musk’s recent use of the term “QAnon” is his most explicit endorsement of the movement to date. Conspiracists have since spent days dissecting its meaning and cheering on his apparent support...

The Hundred-Year Battle for India’s Radio Airwaves

The Indian government has a monopoly on radio news, allowing it to dictate what hundreds of millions of people hear. With an election approaching, that gives prime minister Narendra Modi a huge advantage...

Government Surveillance Reform Act of 2023 Seeks to End Warrantless Police and FBI Spying

The Government Surveillance Reform Act of 2023 pulls from past privacy bills to overhaul how police and the feds access Americans’ data and communications...

Okta's Latest Security Breach Is Haunted by the Ghost of Incidents Past

A recent breach of authentication giant Okta has impacted nearly 200 of its clients. But repeated incidents and the company’s delayed disclosure have security experts calling foul...

A New Attack Reveals Everything You Type With 95 Percent Accuracy

A pair of major data breaches rock the UK, North Korea hacks a Russian missile maker, and Microsoft’s Chinese Outlook breach sparks new problems...

How AI May Be Used to Create Custom Disinformation Ahead of 2024

Generative AI won't just flood the internet with more lies—it may also create convincing disinformation that's targeted at groups or even individuals...

Ransomware Attacks Are on the Rise, Again

Ransomware attacks tumbled in 2022, offering hope that the tide was turning against the criminal gangs behind them. Then things got a whole lot worse...

Silk Road’s Second-in-Command, Variety Jones, Gets 20 Years in Prison

Roger Thomas Clark, also known as Variety Jones, will spend much of the rest of his life in prison for his key role in building the world’s first dark-web drug market...

EV Charger Hacking Poses a ‘Catastrophic’ Risk

Vulnerabilities in electric vehicle charging stations and a lack of broad standards threaten drivers—and the power grid...

Inside the Dangerous Underground Abortion Pill Market Growing on Telegram

As states further limit access to abortion care in the US, a gray market for medication is filling the void. Buyers beware...

Docs Show FBI Pressures Cops to Keep Phone Surveillance Secrets

Newly released documents highlight the bureau's continued secrecy around cell-site simulators—spying tech that everyone already assumes exists...

Kaspersky Says New Zero-Day Malware Hit iPhones—Including Its Own

On the same day, Russia’s FSB intelligence service launched wild claims of NSA and Apple hacking thousands of Russians...

A US Bill Would Ban Kids Under 13 From Joining Social Media

The legislation would insert the government into online platforms’ age-verification efforts—a move that makes some US lawmakers queasy...

Intel Let Google Cloud Hack Its New Secure Chips and Found 10 Bugs

To protect its Confidential Computing cloud infrastructure and gain critical insights, Google leans on its relationships with chipmakers...

Hacker Group Names Are Now Absurdly Out of Control

Pumpkin Sandstorm. Spandex Tempest. Charming Kitten. Is this really how we want to name the hackers wreaking havoc worldwide?...

The TikTok CEO’s Face-Off With Congress Is Doomed

On Thursday, Shou Zi Chew will meet a rare united front in the US Congress against the Chinese-owned social media app that has lawmakers in a tizzy...

The FBI Just Admitted It Bought US Location Data

Rather than obtaining a warrant, the bureau purchased sensitive data—a controversial practice that privacy advocates say is deeply problematic...

Android Phone Makers’ Encryption Keys Stolen and Used in Malware

Device manufacturers use “platform certificates” to verify an app’s authenticity, making them particularly dangerous in the wrong hands...

Twitter’s Ex-Election Chief Is Worried About the US Midterms

Edward Perez says that “manufactured chaos” by bad actors will be even riskier thanks to Elon Musk’s own mayhem...

TikTok Admits Staff in China Can Access Europeans’ Data

Plus: Liz Truss’ phone-hacking trouble, Cash App’s sex-trafficking problem, and the rising cost of ransomware...

China Operates Secret ‘Police Stations’ in Other Countries

Plus: The New York Post gets hacked, a huge stalkerware network is exposed, and the US claims China interfered with its Huawei probe...

Hot on the Trail of a Mass-School-Shooting Hoaxer

For months, an anonymous caller has terrorized communities around the US by reporting false shooting threats. We know how they did it. The question is, why?...

How to Protect Yourself If Your School Uses Surveillance Tech

Colleges and K-12 campuses increasingly monitor student emails, social media, and more. Here’s how to secure your or your child’s privacy...

A Matrix Update Patches Serious End-to-End Encryption Flaws

The messenger protocol had gained popularity for its robust security, but vulnerabilities allowed attackers to decrypt messages and impersonate users...

Cloudflare Takes a Stab at a Captcha That Doesn’t Suck

The internet infrastructure company has an alternative tool to check whether you’re human—and it doesn’t force you to pick out buses in tiny boxes...

Apple Fixed a Serious iOS Security Flaw—Have You Updated Yet?

Plus: Chrome patches another zero-day flaw, Microsoft closes up 100 vulnerabilities, Android gets a significant patch, and more...

The Privacy Flaw Threatening US Democracy

Without robust federal protections, the country's widespread mass surveillance systems could be used against citizens like never before...

A Phone Carrier That Doesn’t Track Your Browsing or Location

The new Pretty Good Phone Privacy service for Android hides the data linking you to your mobile device...

How to Password Protect Any File

Put a digital lock on your most important data...

Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists

New details connect police in India to a plot to plant evidence on victims' computers that led to their arrest...

Period-Tracking and Fertility Apps Can Put Women Seeking Abortions at Risk

Apps collect sensitive data that could be subpoenaed by law enforcement or sold by data brokers...

Is Leaking a SCOTUS Opinion a Crime? The Law Is Far From Clear

The leak of a draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade quickly sparked a court investigation. Which laws may have been violated, if any, remains uncertain...

Feds Uncover a ‘Swiss Army Knife’ for Hacking Industrial Systems

The malware toolkit, known as Pipedream, is perhaps the most versatile tool ever made to target critical infrastructure like power grids and oil refineries...

The Tricky Aftermath of Source Code Leaks

Lapsus$ hackers leaked Microsoft’s Bing and Cortana source code. How bad is that, really?...

Europe Is Building a Huge International Facial Recognition System

Lawmakers advance proposals to let police forces across the EU link their photo databases—which include millions of pictures of people’s faces...

Shutdown of Russia's Hydra Market Disrupts a Crypto-Crime ATM

More than just a market for illegal drugs, the dark-web site allowed criminals to launder or cash out hundreds of millions in stolen cryptocurrencies...

Russia Wants to Label Meta an ‘Extremist Organization’

Plus: A satellite hack, ransomware extradition, and more of the week’s top security news...

Is Firefox OK?

Mozilla’s privacy-heavy browser is flatlining. What it does next is crucial for the future of the web...

An Insidious Mac Malware Is Growing More Sophisticated

When UpdateAgent emerged in late 2020, it utilized basic infiltration techniques. Its developers have since expanded it in dangerous ways...

Now Is a Good Time to Update Your Recovery Email Addresses

You know those “emergency” email addresses you can use to get into your email and other accounts in case you're locked out? Make sure they're up-to-date...

Crypto.com Finally Admits It Lost $30 Million in a Hack

Plus: Scammer arrests, the NSA plays defense, and more of the week's top security news...

They Hacked McDonald’s Ice Cream Machines—and Started a Cold War

Secret codes. Legal threats. Betrayal. How one couple built a device to fix McDonald’s notoriously broken soft-serve machines—and how the fast-food giant froze them out...