A Major Ransomware Takedown Suffers a Strange Setback

After an 18-month rampage, global law enforcement finally moved against the notorious Alphv/BlackCat ransomware group. Within hours, the operation faced obstacles...

How Your Real Flight Reservation Can Be Used to Scam You

Scammers use a booking technicality, traveler confusion, and promises of dirt-cheap tickets to offer hot deals that are anything but...

Update Your iPhone Right Now to Fix 2 Apple Zero Days

Plus: Discord has a child predator problem, fears rise of China spying from Cuba, and hackers try to blackmail Reddit...

The Dangerous Digital Creep of Britain's ‘Hostile Environment’

The UK's use of technology to enforce its hard-line immigration policy brings the border into every facet of migrants' lives...

The Hacker Gold Rush That's Poised to Eclipse Ransomware

As governments crack down on ransomware, cybercriminals may soon shift to business email compromise—already the world's most profitable type of scam...

The Fake Federal Agents Case Baffling US Intelligence Experts

Guns. Luxury apartments. Duped Secret Service personnel. Did the FBI uncover a foreign plot, or something more ridiculous?...

Elon Musk Is Right About Twitter

It really is the closest thing we have to an online public square—and that's terrible for democracy. Let his takeover bid be a wakeup call...

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...

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...

Google Warns That NSO Hacking Is On Par With Elite Spy Groups

ForcedEntry is “one of the most technically sophisticated exploits” Project Zero security researchers have ever seen...

The iOS 15 Privacy Settings You Should Change Right Now

Apple’s latest software update has a bunch of new security features. Here's how to put them to use...

Google and Apple Reveal How Covid-19 Alert Apps Might Look

As contact tracing plans firm up, the tech giants are sharing new details for their framework—and a potential app interface...

Hackers Can Mess With Voltages to Steal Intel Chips' Secrets

A new attack called Plundervolt gives attackers access to the sensitive data stored in a processor's secure enclave...

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...

Meta Sued Over Training Data for Its AI and Face-Recognition Systems

The proposed class action alleges Meta illegally harvested people’s Facebook and Instagram photos to train its AI image-generation models and to build its unreleased “NameTag” face recognition feature...

ICE’s Internal Watchdog Is Now Investigating Online Critics

The Office of Professional Responsibility has opened more than 100 cases over what ICE officials call “incidents of doxing and threats” against ICE employees...

Europe’s Online Age Verification App Is Here

Available for free to any company that wants to use it, the “completely anonymous” app puts the pressure on porn sites and social media platforms to start blocking access by minors...

A $20 Billion Crypto Scam Market Faces a New Government Crackdown

The Telegram-based Xinbi Guarantee black market sells services that help prop up scam operations. British officials just hit the highly lucrative marketplace with sweeping sanctions...

AI Is Here to Replace Nuclear Treaties. Scared Yet?

The last major nuclear arms treaty between the US and Russia just expired. Some experts believe a combination of satellite surveillance, AI, and human reviewers can take its place. Others, not so much...

Judge Delays Minnesota ICE Decision While Weighing Whether State Is Being Illegally Punished

A federal judge ordered a new briefing due Wednesday on whether DHS is using armed raids to pressure Minnesota into abandoning its sanctuary policies, leaving ICE operations in place for now...

The Instant Smear Campaign Against Border Patrol Shooting Victim Alex Pretti

Within minutes of the shooting, the Trump administration and right-wing influencers began disparaging the man shot by a federal immigration officer on Saturday in Minneapolis...

Former CISA Director Jen Easterly Will Lead RSAC Conference

The longtime cybersecurity professional says she’s taking the helm of the legacy security organization at “an inflection point” for tech and the world beyond...

Grok Is Pushing AI ‘Undressing’ Mainstream

Paid tools that “strip” clothes from photos have been available on the darker corners of the internet for years. Elon Musk’s X is now removing barriers to entry—and making the results public...

Fears Mount That US Federal Cybersecurity Is Stagnating—or Worse

Government staffing cuts and instability, including this year’s prolonged shutdown, could be hindering US digital defense and creating vulnerabilities...

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.”...

A Simple WhatsApp Security Flaw Exposed 3.5 Billion Phone Numbers

By plugging tens of billions of phone numbers into WhatsApp’s contact discovery tool, researchers found “the most extensive exposure of phone numbers” ever—along with profile photos and more...

DHS Kept Chicago Police Records for Months in Violation of Domestic Espionage Rules

The Department of Homeland Security collected data on Chicago residents accused of gang ties to test if police files could feed an FBI watchlist. Months passed before anyone noticed it wasn’t deleted...

The Long Tail of the AWS Outage

Experts say outages like the one that Amazon experienced this week are almost inevitable given the complexity and scale of cloud technology—but the duration serves as a warning...

Anthropic Has a Plan to Keep Its AI From Building a Nuclear Weapon. Will It Work?

Anthropic partnered with the US government to create a filter meant to block Claude from helping someone build a nuke. Experts are divided on whether its a necessary protection—or a protection at all...

One Republican Now Controls a Huge Chunk of US Election Infrastructure

Former GOP operative Scott Leiendecker just bought Dominion Voting Systems, giving him ownership of voting systems used in 27 states. Election experts don't know what to think...

Google’s Latest AI Ransomware Defense Only Goes So Far

Google has launched a new AI-based protection in Drive for desktop that can shut down an attack before it spreads—but its benefits have their limits...

A Cyberattack on Jaguar Land Rover Is Causing a Supply Chain Disaster

The UK-based automaker has been forced to stop vehicle production as a result of the attack—costing JLR tens of millions of dollars and forcing its parts suppliers to lay off workers...

Charlie Kirk Shooting Suspect Identified as 22-Year-Old Utah Man

Authorities have named Tyler Robinson as a suspect in the murder of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, citing Discord messages as evidence of his alleged role...

ICE Has Spyware Now

Plus: An AI chatbot system is linked to a widespread hack, details emerge of a US plan to plant a spy device in North Korea, your job’s security training isn’t working, and more...

A Misconfiguration That Haunts Corporate Streaming Platforms Could Expose Sensitive Data

A security researcher discovered that flawed API configurations are plaguing corporate livestreaming platforms, potentially exposing internal company meetings—and he's releasing a tool to find them...

Nuclear Experts Say Mixing AI and Nuclear Weapons Is Inevitable

Human judgement remains central to the launch of nuclear weapons. But experts say it’s a matter of when, not if, artificial intelligence will get baked into the world’s most dangerous systems...

Age Verification Laws Send VPN Use Soaring—and Threaten the Open Internet

A law requiring UK internet users to verify their age to access adult content has led to a huge surge in VPN downloads—and has experts worried about the future of free expression online...

Hackers Are Finding New Ways to Hide Malware in DNS Records

Newly published research shows that the domain name system—a fundamental part of the web—can be exploited to hide malicious code and prompt injection attacks against chatbots...

Apple Intelligence Is Gambling on Privacy as a Killer Feature

Many new Apple Intelligence features happen on your device rather than in the cloud. While it may not be flashy, the privacy-centric approach could be a competitive advantage...

The Race to Build Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ Missile Defense System Is On

President Donald Trump has proposed building a massive antimissile system in space that could enrich Elon Musk if it materializes. But experts say the project’s feasibility remains unclear...

You're Not Ready

Seems bad out there. Unfortunately, it can always get worse. From evil hacker AI to world-changing cyberattacks, WIRED envisions the future you haven't prepared for...

TraderTraitor: The Kings of the Crypto Heist

Allegedly responsible for the theft of $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency from a single exchange, North Korea’s TraderTraitor is one of the most sophisticated cybercrime groups in the world...

SignalGate Isn’t About Signal

The Trump cabinet’s shocking leak of its plans to bomb Yemen raises myriad confidentiality and legal issues. The security of the encrypted messaging app Signal is not one of them...

Trump’s Spy Chief Urged to Declassify Details of Secret Surveillance Program

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, has long held anti-surveillance views. Now she oversees a key surveillance program she once tried to dismantle...

Inside the Telegram Groups Doxing Women for Their Facebook Posts

A WIRED investigation goes inside the Telegram groups targeting women who joined “Are We Dating the Same Guy?” groups on Facebook with doxing, harassment, and sharing of nonconsensual intimate images...

Elon Musk’s DOGE Is Being Sued Under the Privacy Act: What to Know

At least eight ongoing lawsuits related to the so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s alleged access to sensitive data hinge on the Watergate-inspired Privacy Act of 1974. But it’s not airtight...

The Official DOGE Website Launch Was a Security Mess

Plus: Researchers find RedNote lacks basic security measures, surveillance ramps up around the US-Mexico border, and the UK ordering Apple to create an encryption backdoor comes under fire...

DOGE Teen Owns ‘Tesla.Sexy LLC’ and Worked at Startup That Has Hired Convicted Hackers

Experts question whether Edward Coristine, a DOGE staffer who has gone by “Big Balls” online, would pass the background check typically required for access to sensitive US government systems...

How to Get Around the US TikTok Ban

TikTok is now unavailable in the United States—and getting around the ban isn’t as simple as using a VPN. Here’s what you need to know...

US Names One of the Hackers Allegedly Behind Massive Salt Typhoon Breaches

Plus: New details emerge about China’s cyber espionage against the US, the FBI remotely uninstalls malware on 4,200 US devices, and victims of the PowerSchool edtech breach reveal what hackers stole...