When Face Recognition Doesn’t Know Your Face Is a Face

An estimated 100 million people live with facial differences. As face recognition tech becomes widespread, some say they’re getting blocked from accessing essential systems and services...

A New Attack Lets Hackers Steal 2-Factor Authentication Codes From Android Phones

The malicious app required to make a “Pixnapping” attack work requires no permissions...

Feds Seize Record-Breaking $15 Billion in Bitcoin From Alleged Scam Empire

Officials in the US and UK have taken sweeping action against “one of the largest investment fraud operations in history,” confiscating a historic amount of funds in the process...

Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data

With just $800 in basic equipment, researchers found a stunning variety of data—including thousands of T-Mobile users’ calls and texts and even US military communications—sent by satellites unencrypted...

'Happy Gilmore' Producer Buys Spyware Maker NSO Group

Plus: US government cybersecurity staffers get reassigned to do immigration work, a hack exposes sensitive age-verification data of Discord users, and more...

Apple Announces $2 Million Bug Bounty Reward for the Most Dangerous Exploits

With the mercenary spyware industry booming, Apple VP Ivan Krstić tells WIRED that the company is also offering bonuses that could bring the max total reward for iPhone exploits to $5 million...

North Korean Scammers Are Doing Architectural Design Now

New research shows that North Koreans appear to be trying to trick US companies into hiring them to develop architectural designs using fake profiles, résumés, and Social Security numbers...

Apple Took Down These ICE-Tracking Apps. The Developers Aren't Giving Up

“We are going to do everything in our power to fight this,” says ICEBlock developer Joshua Aaron after Apple removed his app from the App Store...

Vibe Coding Is the New Open Source—in the Worst Way Possible

As developers increasingly lean on AI-generated code to build out their software—as they have with open source in the past—they risk introducing critical security failures along the way...

Apple and Google Pull ICE-Tracking Apps, Bowing to DOJ Pressure

Plus: China sentences scam bosses to death, Europe is ramping up its plans to build a “drone wall” to protect against Russian airspace violations, and more...

ICE Wants to Build Out a 24/7 Social Media Surveillance Team

Documents show that ICE plans to hire dozens of contractors to scan X, Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms to target people for deportation...

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...

How to Use Passkeys With Google Password Manager (2025)

Google can create and manage passkeys from your browser, but the process is more involved than it suggests...

How to Use a Password Manager to Share Your Logins After You Die (2025)

Your logins will live on after you pass on. Make sure they end up in the right hands...

Tile Tracking Tags Can Be Exploited by Tech-Savvy Stalkers, Researchers Say

A team of researchers found that, by not encrypting the data broadcast by Tile tags, users could be vulnerable to having their location information exposed to malicious actors...

How a Travel YouTuber Captured Nepal’s Revolution for the World

Harry Jackson went into Kathmandu as a tourist. He ended up being one of the main international sources of news on Nepal’s Gen Z protests...

An App Used to Dox Charlie Kirk Critics Doxed Its Own Users Instead

Plus: A ransomeware gang steals data on 8,000 preschoolers, Microsoft blocks Israel’s military from using its cloud for surveillance, call-recording app Neon hits pause over security holes, and more...

Inside the Nuclear Bunkers, Mines, and Mountains Being Retrofitted as Data Centers

Companies are going to great lengths to protect the infrastructure that provides the backbone of the world’s digital services—by burying their data deep underground...

Heritage Foundation Uses Bogus Stat to Push a Trans Terrorism Classification

By inflating numbers and narrowing definitions, Heritage promotes a false link between transgender identity and violence in its push for the FBI to create a new terrorism category...

‘SIM Farms’ Are a Spam Plague. A Giant One in New York Threatened US Infrastructure, Feds Say

The agency says it found a network of some 300 servers and 100,000 SIM cards—enough to knock out cell service in the NYC area. Experts say it mirrors facilities typically used for cybercrime...

DHS Has Been Collecting US Citizens’ DNA for Years

Newly released data shows Customs and Border Protection funneled the DNA of nearly 2,000 US citizens—some as young as 14—into an FBI crime database, raising alarms about oversight and legality...

How to Use 1Password's Travel Mode at the Border (2025)

Travel Mode not only hides your most sensitive data—it acts as if that data never existed in the first place...

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...

A Dangerous Worm Is Eating Its Way Through Software Packages

Plus: An investigation reveals how US tech companies reportedly helped build China’s sweeping surveillance state, and two more alleged members of the Scattered Spider hacking group were arrested...

These Are the 15 New York Officials ICE and NYPD Arrested in Manhattan

More than a dozen elected officials were arrested in or around 26 Federal Plaza in New York City, where ICE detains people in what courts have ruled are unsanitary conditions...

This Microsoft Entra ID Vulnerability Could Have Been Catastrophic

A pair of flaws in Microsoft's Entra ID identity and access management system could have allowed an attacker to gain access to virtually all Azure customer accounts...

Cybercriminals Have a Weird New Way to Target You With Scam Texts

Scammers are now using “SMS blasters” to send out up to 100,000 texts per hour to phones that are tricked into thinking the devices are cell towers. Your wireless carrier is powerless to stop them...

A DHS Data Hub Exposed Sensitive Intel to Thousands of Unauthorized Users

A misconfigured platform used by the Department of Homeland Security left national security information—including some related to the surveillance of Americans—accessible to thousands of people...

How to Set Up and Use a Burner Phone

Obtaining and using a true burner phone is hard—but not impossible. Here are the steps you need to take to protect your mobile communications based on the risks you face...

Russia Tests Hypersonic Missile at NATO’s Doorstep—and Shares the Video

Russian military exercises near NATO borders follow the recent incursion of Russian drones into the airspace of Poland and Romania, further stoking tensions with the West...

Jeffrey Epstein’s Yahoo Inbox Revealed

Plus: ICE deploys secretive phone surveillance tech, officials warn of Chinese surveillance tools in US highway infrastructure, and more...

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...

How China’s Propaganda and Surveillance Systems Really Operate

A series of corporate leaks show that Chinese technology companies function far more like their Western peers than one might imagine...

Apple’s Big Bet to Eliminate the iPhone’s Most Targeted Vulnerabilities

Alongside new iPhones, Apple released a new security architecture on Tuesday: Memory Integrity Enforcement aims to eliminate the most frequently exploited class of iOS bugs...

Here’s What to Know About Poland Shooting Down Russian Drones

On Wednesday morning, Poland shot down several Russian drones that entered its airspace—a first since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The incident disrupted air travel and set the region on edge...

US Investment in Spyware Is Skyrocketing

A new report warns that the number of US investors in powerful commercial spyware rose sharply in 2024 and names new countries linked to the dangerous technology...

Cindy Cohn Is Leaving the EFF, but Not the Fight for Digital Rights

After 25 years at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Cindy Cohn is stepping down as executive director. In a WIRED interview, she reflects on encryption, AI, and why she’s not ready to quit the battle...

A New Platform Offers Privacy Tools to Millions of Public Servants

From data-removal services to threat monitoring, the Public Service Alliance says its new marketplace will help public servants defend themselves in an era of data brokers and political violence...

Massive Leak Shows How a Chinese Company Is Exporting the Great Firewall to the World

Geedge Networks, a company with ties to the founder of China’s mass censorship infrastructure, is selling its censorship and surveillance systems to at least four other countries in Asia and Africa...

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...

Defense Department Scrambles to Pretend It’s Called the War Department

President Donald Trump said the so-called Department of War branding is to counter the “woke” Department of Defense name...

US Congressman’s Brother Lands No-Bid Contract to Train DHS Snipers

DHS says retired Marine sniper Dan LaLota’s firm is uniquely qualified to meet the government’s needs. LaLota tells WIRED his brother, GOP congressman Nick LaLota, played no role in the contract...

Automated Sextortion Spyware Takes Webcam Pics of Victims Watching Porn

A new specimen of “infostealer” malware offers a disturbing feature: It monitors a target's browser for NSFW content, then takes simultaneous screenshots and webcam photos of the victim...

What Is a Passkey? Here’s How to Set Up and Use Them (2025)

Passkeys were built to enable a password-free future. Here's what they are and how you can start using them...

No, Trump Can’t Legally Federalize US Elections

The United States Constitution is clear: President Donald Trump can’t take control of the country’s elections. But he can sow confusion and fear...

China Is About to Show Off Its New High-Tech Weapons to the World

On September 3, China will hold a “Victory Day” military parade in Tiananmen Square to celebrate the 80th anniversary of its victory over Japan—and to send the West a message...

DOGE Put Everyone’s Social Security Data at Risk, Whistleblower Claims

Plus: China’s Salt Typhoon hackers target 600 companies in 80 countries, Tulsi Gabbard purges CIA agents, hackers knock out Iranian ship communications, and more...

SSA Whistleblower’s Resignation Email Mysteriously Disappeared From Inboxes

Less than 30 minutes after the Social Security Administration’s chief data officer resigned following a whistleblower complaint, recipients could no longer access the resignation email...

This Is the Group That's Been Swatting US Universities

WIRED spoke to a self-proclaimed leader of an online group called Purgatory, which charged as little as $20 to call in fake threats against schools...

The Era of AI-Generated Ransomware Has Arrived

Cybercriminals are increasingly using generative AI tools to fuel their attacks, with new research finding instances of AI being used to develop ransomware...