US Government Seeks Medical Records of Trans Youth

Plus: Google wants billions of Chrome users to install an emergency fix, Kristi Noem is on the move, and North Korean IT workers are everywhere...

Phone Searches at the US Border Hit a Record High

Customs and Border Protection agents searched nearly 15,000 devices from April through June of this year, a nearly 17 percent spike over the previous three-month high in 2022...

Russia Is Cracking Down on End-to-End Encrypted Calls

Plus: ICE agents accidentally add a random person to a sensitive group chat, Norwegian intelligence blames the Kremlin for hacking a dam, and new facial recognition vans roam the UK...

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...

Adoption Agency Data Exposure Revealed Information About Children and Parents

A trove of 1.1 million records left accessible on the open web shows how much sensitive information can be created—and made vulnerable—during the adoption process...

CBP Wants New Tech to Search for Hidden Data on Seized Phones

Customs and Border Protection is asking companies to pitch tools for performing deep analysis on the contents of devices seized at the US border...

Taiwan Is Rushing to Make Its Own Drones Before It's Too Late

Unmanned vehicles are increasingly becoming essential weapons of war. But with a potential conflict with China looming large, Taiwan is scrambling to build a domestic drone industry from scratch...

What Satellite Images Reveal About the US Bombing of Iran's Nuclear Sites

The US concentrated its attack on Fordow, an enrichment plant built hundreds of feet underground. Aerial photos give important clues about what damage the “bunker-buster” bombs may have caused...

Why We Made a Guide to Winning a Fight

Right now, everyone seems ready to throw down. More than ever, it’s important to fight smart—and not give up until you land a decisive blow...

The Trump Administration Sure Is Having Trouble Keeping Its Comms Private

In the wake of SignalGate, a knockoff version of Signal used by a high-ranking member of the Trump administration was hacked. Today on Uncanny Valley, we discuss the platforms used for government communications...

AI Code Hallucinations Increase the Risk of ‘Package Confusion’ Attacks

A new study found that code generated by AI is more likely to contain made-up information that can be used to trick software into interacting with malicious code...

Millions of Apple Airplay-Enabled Devices Can Be Hacked via Wi-Fi

Researchers reveal a collection of bugs known as AirBorne that would allow any hacker on the same Wi-Fi network as a third-party AirPlay-enabled device to surreptitiously run their own code on it...

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...

Top US Election Security Watchdog Forced to Stop Election Security Work

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has frozen efforts to aid states in securing elections, according to an internal memo viewed by WIRED...

How the US TikTok Ban Would Actually Work

The fate of TikTok now rests in the hands of the US Supreme Court. If a law banning the social video app this month is upheld, it won’t disappear from your phone—but it will get messy fast...

Immigration Police Can Already Sidestep US Sanctuary City Laws Using Data-Sharing Fusion Centers

Built to combat terrorism, fusion centers give US Immigration and Customs Enforcement a way to gain access to data that’s meant to be protected under city laws limiting local police cooperation with ICE...

Russia Is Going All Out on Election Day Interference

Along with other foreign influence operations—including from Iran—Kremlin-backed campaigns to stoke division and fear have gone into overdrive...

Surprise! The Latest ‘Comprehensive’ US Privacy Bill Is Doomed

Gutted of civil rights protections by Democrats to woo pro-business Republicans, the American Privacy Rights Act was pulled from a key congressional hearing—and appears unlikely to receive a full vote...

OpenAI Rolls Out ‘Advanced’ Security Mode for At-Risk Accounts

OpenAI is rolling out Advanced Account Security for people concerned that their ChatGPT or Codex accounts could be potential targets of phishing attacks...

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...

‘We Were Not Ready for This’: Lebanon's Emergency System Is Hanging by a Thread

In Lebanon, nearly 1 in 5 people has been displaced by Israeli attacks, leaving the government to manage a modern crisis without modern digital infrastructure...

What Happens When a Nuclear Site Is Hit?

As strikes continue on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the real danger isn’t the explosion, but what happens if critical safety systems fail—and how that risk could spread across the Gulf...

Iran Threatens to Start Attacking Major US Tech Firms on April 1

Tech giants like Apple, Google, and Microsoft are among those on a target list released by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps...

How Trump’s Plot to Grab Iran's Nuclear Fuel Would Actually Work

Experts say that an American ground operation targeting nuclear sites in Iran would be incredibly complicated, put troops’ lives at great risk—and might still fail...

ICE Is Paying Salaries and More for This Town’s Entire Police Force

Under a Homeland Security program, police departments around the US are signing up to assist in immigration enforcement. The cops of Carroll, New Hampshire, are going all in—and they’re likely not alone...

US Takes Down Botnets Used in Record-Breaking Cyberattacks

The Aisuru, Kimwolf, JackSkid, and Mossad botnets had infected more than 3 million devices in total, many inside home networks, according to the US Justice Department...

Sears Exposed AI Chatbot Phone Calls and Text Chats to Anyone on the Web

Customer conversations with chatbots can include contact information and personal details that make it easier for scammers to launch phishing attacks and commit fraud...

Models Are Applying to Be the Face of AI Scams

Dozens of Telegram channels reviewed by WIRED include job listings for “AI face models.” The mostly women who land these gigs are likely being used to dupe victims out of their money...

GPS Attacks Near Iran Are Wreaking Havoc on Delivery and Mapping Apps

Delivery apps are glitching and navigation routes are changing abruptly thanks to electronic warfare disrupting the satellite signals that power everything from missiles to your ride home...

Here’s What a Google Subpoena Response Looks Like, Courtesy of the Epstein Files

The US Justice Department disclosures give fresh clues about how tech companies handle government inquiries about your data...

The El Paso No-Fly Debacle Is Just the Beginning of a Drone Defense Mess

Fears over a drug cartel drone over Texas sparked a recent airspace shutdown in El Paso and New Mexico, highlighting just how tricky it can be to deploy anti-drone weapons near cities...

Robot Dogs Are on Going on Patrol at the 2026 World Cup in Mexico

The Mexican city of Guadalupe, which will host portions of the 2026 World Cup, recently showed off four new robot dogs that will help provide security during matches at BBVA Stadium...

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...

Iran’s Digital Surveillance Machine Is Almost Complete

After more than 15 years of draconian measures, culminating in an ongoing internet shutdown, the Iranian regime seems to be staggering toward its digital surveillance endgame...

ICE Agent’s ‘Dragging’ Case May Help Expose Evidence in Renee Good Shooting

The government has withheld details of the investigation of Renee Good’s killing—but an unrelated case involving the ICE agent who shot her could force new revelations...

ICE and CBP’s Face-Recognition App Can’t Actually Verify Who People Are

ICE has used Mobile Fortify to identify immigrants and citizens alike over 100,000 times, by one estimate. It wasn't built to work like that—and only got approved after DHS abandoned its own privacy rules...

ICE and Qatari Security Forces at the Winter Olympics Put Italians on Edge

The influx of security personnel from around the world is sparking concern among Italians ahead of the Milano Cortina Olympic Games...

Here’s the Company That Sold DHS ICE’s Notorious Face Recognition App

Immigration agents have used Mobile Fortify to scan the faces of countless people in the US—including many citizens...

6 Best VPN Services (2026), Tested and Reviewed

Every VPN says it’s the best, but only some of them are telling the truth...

He Leaked the Secrets of a Southeast Asian Scam Compound. Then He Had to Get Out Alive

A source trapped inside an industrial-scale scamming operation contacted me, determined to expose his captors’ crimes—and then escape. This is his story...

Revealed: Leaked Chats Expose the Daily Life of a Scam Compound’s Enslaved Workforce

A whistleblower trapped inside a “pig butchering” scam compound gave WIRED a vast trove of its internal materials—including 4,200 pages of messages that lay out its operations in unprecedented detail...

Deepfake ‘Nudify’ Technology Is Getting Darker—and More Dangerous

Sexual deepfakes continue to get more sophisticated, capable, easy to access, and perilous for millions of women who are abused with the technology...

Surveillance and ICE Are Driving Patients Away From Medical Care, Report Warns

A new EPIC report says data brokers, ad-tech surveillance, and ICE enforcement are among the factors leading to a “health privacy crisis” that is eroding trust and deterring people from seeking care...

ICE Details a New Minnesota-Based Detention Network That Spans 5 States

Internal ICE planning documents propose spending up to $50 million on a privately run network capable of shipping immigrants in custody hundreds of miles across the Upper Midwest...

Why ICE Can Kill With Impunity

Over the past decade, US immigration agents have shot and killed more than two dozen people. Not a single agent appears to have faced criminal charges...

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...

Verizon Outage Knocks Out US Mobile Service, Including Some 911 Calls

A major Verizon outage appeared to impact customers across the United States starting around noon ET on Wednesday. Calls to Verizon customers from other carriers may also be impacted...

ICE Agent Who Reportedly Shot Renee Good Was a Firearms Trainer, per Testimony

Jonathan Ross told a federal court in December about his professional background, including “hundreds” of encounters with drivers during enforcement actions, according to testimony obtained by WIRED...

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...

How Protesters Became Content for the Cops

The tactics behind protest policing are changing—from one of cooperation to intentional antagonism for political marketing purposes...