Child Abusers Are Getting Better at Using Crypto to Cover Their Tracks

Crypto tracing firm Chainalysis found that sellers of child sexual abuse materials are successfully using “mixers” and “privacy coins” like Monero to launder their profits and evade law enforcement...

End-to-End Encrypted Instagram and Messenger Chats: Why It Took Meta 7 Years

Mark Zuckerberg personally promised that the privacy feature would launch by default on Messenger and Instagram chat. WIRED goes behind the scenes of the company’s colossal effort to get it right...

The Binance Crackdown Will Be an 'Unprecedented' Bonanza for Crypto Surveillance

Binance’s settlement requires it to offer years of transaction data to US regulators and cops, exposing the company—and its customers—to a “24/7, 365-days-a-year financial colonoscopy.”...

When It Comes to January 6 Lawsuits, a Court Splits Donald Trump in Two

A federal court ruled on Friday that Trump, as president, may be able to avoid civil action for his role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. But candidate Trump is something different...

Anduril’s New Drone Killer Is Locked on to AI-Powered Warfare

Autonomous drones are rapidly changing combat. Anduril’s new one aims to gain an edge with jet power and AI...

The CDC's Gun Violence Research Is in Danger

In a year pocked with fights over US government funding, Republicans are quietly trying to strip the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of its ability to research gun violence...

Don't Join Threads—Make Instagram's 'Twitter Killer' Join You

Meta’s Twitter alternative promises that it will work with decentralized platforms, giving you greater control of your data. You can hold the company to that—if you don't sign up...

Your Twitter Feed Sucks Now. These Free Add-Ons Can Help

A few simple tools can help filter out most Twitter Blue users but still see the ones you like...

ICE Records Reveal How Agents Abuse Access to Secret Data

Documents obtained by WIRED detail hundreds of investigations by the US agency into alleged database misuse that includes harassment, stalking, and more...

Pinduoduo, a Top Chinese Shopping App, Is Laced With Malware

Plus: 119 arrested during a sting on the Genesis dark-web market, the IRS aims to buy an online mass surveillance tool, and more...

I Lost $17,000 in Crypto. Here’s How to Avoid My Mistake

I’m not the first person to suffer this fate, but hopefully I can be the last...

How to Use Apple Pay or Google Wallet Instead of Plastic Cards

Cash is safe—for now. Contactless payment methods, like Apple Pay or Google Wallet, are more of a threat to the existence of physical cards...

Go Update iOS, Chrome, and HP Computers to Fix Serious Flaws

Plus: WhatsApp plugs holes that could be used for remote execution attacks, Microsoft patches a zero-day vulnerability, and more...

Chinese Police Exposed 1B People's Data in Unprecedented Leak

Plus: A duplicitous bug bounty scheme, the iPhone's new “lockdown mode,” and more of the week's top security news...

Parents Need to Know What’s Going On Inside Their Day Care Apps

After months of digging into privacy and security issues around these apps, I have some serious concerns...

Shanghai’s Censors Can’t Hide Stories of the Dead

Many people reportedly died after struggling to access medical care during a brutal lockdown. The families want to make sure these deaths are counted...

The Hidden Race to Protect the US Bioeconomy From Hacker Threats

A biotech threat intelligence group is gaining supporters as urgency mounts around an overlooked vulnerable sector...

FBI Conducted 3.4 Million Warrantless Searches of Americans' Data

Plus: Trump backers breach election systems, Microsoft tracks Russia's war prep, a new Facebook leak reveals a mess, and Bored Ape Yacht Club gets hacked...

Elon Musk’s Twitter Buy Exposes a Privacy Minefield

The social network’s user data and more will soon be at the whims of the world’s richest man. Who’s worried?...

Hackers Are Getting Caught Exploiting New Bugs More Than Ever

A pair of reports from Mandiant and Google found a spike in zero-day vulnerabilities in 2021. The question is, why?...

Forcing WhatsApp and iMessage to Work Together Is Doomed to Fail

Europe’s Digital Markets Act requires interoperability between popular messaging apps. But experts warn encryption could be compromised...

How to Limit Who Can Contact You on Twitter

Lock down your account to tweet in peace or take the guardrails off to court controversy...

TSA’s First Crack at Guarding Pipelines From Hackers Falls Short

Plus: Anonymous dedicates a hack to Hillary Clinton, Google researchers expose Exotic Lily, and more...

War Is Calling Crypto’s ‘Neutrality’ Into Question

War in Ukraine and Western sanctions against Russia have made cryptocurrency a hot potato for international politics...

Playing With Crypto? You’ll Need a Wallet (or Several)

Buying and selling NFTs or transferring digital currency is going to require a little leap of faith. Here’s how to get started...

Meet the Activists Risking Prison to Film VR in Factory Farms

This animal liberation group actually wants to be put on trial. Their goal: force jurors to wear VR headsets and immerse them in the suffering of animals bound for slaughter...

Anthropic Offers Mythos Upgrade for Cyber Partners and a ‘Safe’ Version for the Rest of You

Anthropic is releasing Claude Mythos 5 to trusted organizations and Claude Fable 5 to the public, a version it says can’t be used for cyberattacks...

The Manhattan Institute Helped Kill DEI. Now It’s Coming for Protests

The right-wing think tank is actively pushing “civil terrorism”—increasing penalties for minor crimes committed while people engage in constitutionally protected free speech...

DHS Plans Experiment Running ‘Reconnaissance’ Drones Along the US-Canada Border

Autonomous drones and ground vehicles will stream “battlefield intelligence” over 5G along the US-Canada border in a bilateral DHS experiment this fall...

Foxconn Ransomware Attack Shows Nothing Is Safe Forever

Famous for helping build Apple’s iPhones, Foxconn just suffered another cyberattack, highlighting the perils of warehousing some of the world’s most valuable data...

The Canvas Hack Is a New Kind of Ransomware Debacle

Thousands of schools around the US were paralyzed on Thursday after education tech firm Instructure shut down access to its Canvas platform following a breach by hackers going by the name ShinyHunters...

How to Disable Google's Gemini in Chrome

Chrome users were caught off guard by a 4-GB Google AI model baked into Chrome, sparking privacy concerns. The good news: You can easily uninstall it. The bad? You might not want to...

Thousands of Vibe-Coded Apps Expose Corporate and Personal Data on the Open Web

Companies like Lovable, Base44, Replit, and Netlify use AI to let anyone build a web app in seconds—and in thousands of cases, spill highly sensitive data onto the public internet...

Newly Deciphered Sabotage Malware May Have Targeted Iran’s Nuclear Program—and Predates Stuxnet

Researchers have finally cracked Fast16, mysterious code capable of silently tampering with calculation and simulation software. It was created in 2005—and likely deployed by the US or an ally...

It Takes 2 Minutes to Hack the EU’s New Age-Verification App

Plus: Major data breaches at a gym chain and hotel giant, a disruptive DDoS attack against Bluesky, dubious ICE hires, and more...

The FCC Has a Fast Lane for Complaints About Trump’s Media Critics

Internal emails obtained by WIRED reveal how a conservative legal group with a direct line into FCC chairman Brendan Carr’s office built the case against Jimmy Kimmel and his employees...

The US Military’s GPS Software Is an $8 Billion Mess

The GPS Next-Generation Operational Control System was due for completion in 2016. Ten years later, the software for controlling the military’s GPS satellites still doesn’t work...

US Lawmakers Move to Kill the FBI’s Warrantless Wiretap Access

A bipartisan bill would force the FBI to get a warrant to read Americans’ messages and ban the federal purchase of commercial data on US residents ahead of a critical April deadline...

The Controversies Finally Caught Up to Kristi Noem

Donald Trump said he would replace the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Noem’s tenure was marked by aggressive anti-immigration tactics and ICE and CBP’s killing of two US protesters...

Password Managers Share a Hidden Weakness

Plus: The cybersecurity community grapples with Epstein files revelations, the US State Department plans an online anti-censorship “portal” for the world, and more...

US Judge Rules ICE Raids Require Judicial Warrants, Contradicting Secret ICE Memo

The ruling in federal court in Minnesota lands as Immigration and Customs Enforcement faces scrutiny over an internal memo claiming judge-signed warrants aren’t needed to enter homes without consent...

Trump Warned of a Tren de Aragua ‘Invasion.’ US Intel Told a Different Story

Hundreds of records obtained by WIRED show thin intelligence on the Venezuelan gang in the United States, describing fragmented, low-level crime rather than a coordinated terrorist threat...

The Ultra-Realistic AI Face Swapping Platform Driving Romance Scams

Capable of creating “nearly perfect” face swaps during live video chats, Haotian has made millions, mainly via Telegram. But its main channel vanished after WIRED's inquiry into scammers using the app...

AI Toys for Kids Talk About Sex, Drugs, and Chinese Propaganda

Plus: Travelers to the US may have to hand over five years of social media history, South Korean CEOs are resigning due to cyberattacks, and more...

Huge Trove of Nude Images Leaked by AI Image Generator Startup’s Exposed Database

An AI image generator startup’s database was left accessible to the open internet, revealing more than 1 million images and videos, including photos of real people who had been “nudified.”...

US Border Patrol Is Spying on Millions of American Drivers

Plus: The SEC lets SolarWinds off the hook, Microsoft stops a historic DDoS attack, and FBI documents reveal the agency spied on an immigration activist Signal group in New York City...

Scam Ads Are Flooding Social Media. These Former Meta Staffers Have a Plan

Rob Leathern and Rob Goldman, who both worked at Meta, are launching a new nonprofit that aims to bring transparency to an increasingly opaque, scam-filled social media ecosystem...

It Looks Like a School Bathroom Smoke Detector. A Teen Hacker Showed It Could Be an Audio Bug

A pair of hackers found that a vape detector often found in high school bathrooms contained microphones—and security weaknesses that could allow someone to turn it into a secret listening device...

Encryption Made for Police and Military Radios May Be Easily Cracked

Researchers found that an encryption algorithm likely used by law enforcement and special forces can have weaknesses that could allow an attacker to listen in...

Android May Soon Warn You About Fake Cell Towers

Plus: Iran-linked hackers threaten to release Trump campaign emails, Chinese hackers still in US telecoms networks, and an abusive deepfake website plans an expansion...