Don’t Fall for CrowdStrike Outage Scams

Swindlers are spinning up bogus websites in an attempt to dupe people with “CrowdStrike support” scams following the security firm's catastrophic software update...

How One Bad CrowdStrike Update Crashed the World’s Computers

A defective CrowdStrike update sent computers around the globe into a reboot death spiral, taking down air travel, hospitals, banks, and more with it. Here’s how that’s possible...

Huge Microsoft Outage Linked to CrowdStrike Takes Down Computers Around the World

A software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike appears to have inadvertently disrupted IT systems globally...

J.D. Vance Left His Venmo Public. Here’s What It Shows

The Republican VP nominee's Venmo network reveals connections ranging from the architects of Project 2025 to enemies of Donald Trump—and the populist's close ties to the very elites he rails against...

Alleged ‘Maniac Murder Cult’ Leader Indicted Over Plot to Kill Jews

US prosecutors have charged Michail Chkhikvishvili, also known as “Commander Butcher,” with a litany of crimes, including alleged attempts to poison Jewish children in NYC...

The US Supreme Court Kneecapped US Cyber Strategy

After the Supreme Court limited the power of federal agencies to craft regulations, it’s likely up to Congress to keep US cybersecurity policy intact...

Hackers Claim to Have Leaked 1.1 TB of Disney Slack Messages

A hacker group called “NullBulge” says it stole more than a terabyte of Disney’s internal Slack messages and files from nearly 10,000 channels in an apparent protest over AI-generated art...

US Senators Secretly Work to Block Safeguards Against Surveillance Abuse

Senator Mark Warner is trying to pass new limits on when the government can wiretap Americans. At least two senators are quietly trying to stop him...

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...

The Sweeping Danger of the AT&T Phone Records Breach

Telecom giant AT&T says a major data breach has exposed the call and text records of “nearly all” of its customers, epitomizing the dire state of data security...

Pressure Grows in Congress to Treat Crypto Investigator Tigran Gambaryan, Jailed in Nigeria, as a Hostage

A new resolution echoes what 16 members of Congress have already said to the White House: It must do more to free one of the most storied crypto-focused federal agents in history...

Notorious Hacker Kingpin ‘Tank’ Is Finally Going to Prison

The cybercrime boss, who helped lead the prolific Zeus malware gang and was on the FBI’s “most wanted” list for years, has been sentenced to 18 years and ordered to pay more than $73 million...

Google Is Adding Passkey Support for Its Most Vulnerable Users

Google is bringing the password-killing “passkey” tech to its Advanced Protection Program users more than a year after rolling them out broadly...

The $11 Billion Marketplace Enabling the Crypto Scam Economy

Deepfake scam services. Victim data. Electrified shackles for human trafficking. Crypto tracing firm Elliptic found all were available for sale on an online marketplace linked to Cambodia’s ruling family...

AI-Powered Super Soldiers Are More Than Just a Pipe Dream

The US military has abandoned its half-century dream of a suit of powered armor in favor of a “hyper enabled operator,” a tactical AI assistant for special operations forces...

Hackers Leaking Taylor Swift Tickets? Don’t Get Your Hopes Up

Plus: Researchers uncover a new way to expose CSAM peddlers, OpenAI suffered a secret cyberattack, cryptocurrency thefts jump in 2024, and Twilio confirms hackers stole 33 million phone numbers...

The World’s Most Popular 3D-Printed Gun Was Designed by an Aspiring Terrorist

Growing numbers of insurgents and extremists use the FGC-9. Forensic analysis of online platforms reveals the dark world of the man who created it—a self-described incel who supported the German far right...

How Apple Intelligence’s Privacy Stacks Up Against Android’s ‘Hybrid AI’

Generative AI is seeping into the core of your phone, but what does that mean for privacy? Here’s how Apple’s unique AI architecture compares to the “hybrid” approach adopted by Samsung and Google...

Proton Is Launching Encrypted Documents to Take On Google Docs

Proton is adding an end-to-end encrypted documents editor to its privacy tools, boosting its competition with Google’s suite of productivity apps...

The Tech Crash Course That Trains US Diplomats to Spot Threats

The US State Department is training diplomats in cybersecurity, privacy, telecommunications, and other technology issues, allowing them to advance US policy abroad...

The Problem the US TikTok Crackdown and Kaspersky Ban Have in Common

While Kaspersky and TikTok make very different kinds of software, the US has targeted both over national security concerns. But the looming bans have larger implications for internet freedom...

The US Wants to Integrate the Commercial Space Industry With Its Military to Prevent Cyber Attacks

As more and more infrastructure is deployed in space, the risk of cyber attacks increases. The US military wants to team up with the private sector to protect assets everyone relies on...

Google Is Piloting Face Recognition for Office Security

Plus: A cloud company says notorious Russian hacker group APT29 attacked it, Chinese hackers use ransomware to hide their espionage campaigns, and a bank popular with startups discloses a cyberattack...

Quora’s Chatbot Platform Poe Allows Users to Download Paywalled Articles on Demand

WIRED was able to download stories from publishers like The New York Times and The Atlantic using Poe’s Assistant bot. One expert calls it “prima facie copyright infringement,” which Quora disputes...

Inside a Violent Gang's Ruthless Crypto-Stealing Home Invasion Spree

More than a dozen men threatened, assaulted, tortured, or kidnapped 11 victims in likely the worst-ever crypto-focused serial extortion case of its kind in the US...

Amazon Is Investigating Perplexity Over Claims of Scraping Abuse

AWS hosted a server linked to the Bezos family- and Nvidia-backed search startup that appears to have been used to scrape the sites of major outlets, prompting an inquiry into potential rules violations...

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...

War Crime Prosecutions Enter a New Digital Age

A custom platform developed by SITU Research aided the International Criminal Court’s prosecution in a war crimes trial for the first time. It could change how justice is enacted on an international scale...

The Julian Assange Saga Is Finally Over

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has agreed to plead guilty to one count of espionage in US court on Wednesday, ending a years-long legal battle between the US government and a controversial publisher...

The Mystery of AI Gunshot-Detection Accuracy Is Finally Unraveling

How accurate are gunshot detection systems, really? For years, it's been a secret, but new reports from San Jose and NYC show these systems have operated well below their advertised accuracy rates...

Deepfake Creators Are Revictimizing GirlsDoPorn Sex Trafficking Survivors

The most notorious deepfake sexual abuse website is hosting altered videos originally published as part of the GirlsDoPorn operation. Experts say this new low is only the beginning...

Red Tape Is Making Hospital Ransomware Attacks Worse

With cyberattacks increasingly targeting health care providers, an arduous bureaucratic process meant to address legal risk is keeping hospitals offline longer, potentially risking lives...

A Catastrophic Hospital Hack Ends in a Leak of 300M Patient Records

Plus: Alleged Apple source code leaks online, cybercrime group Scattered Spider's alleged kingpin gets arrested, and more...

Perplexity Plagiarized Our Story About How Perplexity Is a Bullshit Machine

Experts aren’t unanimous about whether the AI-powered search startup’s practices could expose it to legal claims ranging from infringement to defamation—but some say plaintiffs would have strong cases...

US Bans Kaspersky Software

Using a Trump-era authority, the US Commerce Department has banned the sale of Kaspersky’s antivirus tools to new customers in the US, citing alleged threats to national security...

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...

This Is What Would Happen if China Invaded Taiwan

The new book World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the 21st Century lays out what might actually happen if China were to invade Taiwan in 2028...

Hackers Detail How They Allegedly Stole Ticketmaster Data From Snowflake

A ShinyHunters hacker tells WIRED that they gained access to Ticketmaster’s Snowflake cloud account—and others—by first breaching a third-party contractor...

Amazon-Powered AI Cameras Used to Detect Emotions of Unwitting UK Train Passengers

CCTV cameras and AI are being combined to monitor crowds, detect bike thefts, and spot trespassers...

How to Spot a Business Email Compromise Scam

In this common email scam, a criminal pretending to be your boss or coworker emails you asking for a favor involving money. Here’s what do to when a bad actor lands in your inbox...

Let Slip the Robot Dogs of War

The United States and China appear locked in a race to weaponize four-legged robots for military applications...

A Guide to RCS, Why Apple’s Adopting It, and How It Makes Texting Better

The messaging standard promises better security and cooler features than plain old SMS. Android has had it for years, but now iPhones are getting it too...

Ukrainian Sailors Are Using Telegram to Avoid Being Tricked Into Smuggling Oil for Russia

Contract seafarers in Ukraine are turning to online whisper networks to keep themselves from being hired into Russia’s sanctions-busting shadow fleet...

Ransomware Attacks Are Getting Worse

Plus: US lawmakers have nothing to say about an Israeli influence campaign aimed at US voters, a former LA Dodgers owner wants to fix the internet, and more...

Medical-Targeted Ransomware Is Breaking Records After Change Healthcare’s $22M Payout

Cybersecurity firm Recorded Future counted 44 health-care-related incidents in the month after Change Healthcare’s payment came to light—the most it’s ever seen in a single month...

US Leaders Dodge Questions About Israel’s Influence Campaign

Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has joined US intelligence officials in ignoring repeated inquiries about Israel’s “malign” efforts to covertly influence US voters...

Ransomware Is ‘More Brutal’ Than Ever in 2024

As the fight against ransomware slogs on, security experts warn of a potential escalation to “real-world violence.” But recent police crackdowns are successfully disrupting the cybercriminal ecosystem...

Apple Is Coming for Your Password Manager

Plus: A media executive is charged in an alleged money-laundering scheme, a ransomware attack disrupts care at London hospitals, and Google’s former CEO has a secretive drone project up his sleeve...

Microsoft Will Switch Off Recall by Default After Security Backlash

After weeks of withering criticism and exposed security flaws, Microsoft has vastly scaled back its ambitions for Recall, its AI-enabled silent recording feature, and added new privacy features...