The ‘Long-Term Danger’ of Trump Sending Troops to the LA Protests

President Trump’s deployment of more than 700 Marines to Los Angeles—following ICE raids and mass protests—has ignited a fierce national debate over state sovereignty and civil-military boundaries...

Airlines Don’t Want You to Know They Sold Your Flight Data to DHS

A contract obtained by 404 Media shows that an airline-owned data broker forbids the feds from revealing it sold them detailed passenger data...

The Dangerous Truth About the ‘Nonlethal’ Weapons Used Against LA Protesters

While they can cause serious injuries, “nonlethal” weapons are regularly used in the United States to disperse public demonstrations, including at the recent ICE protests in Los Angeles...

A Researcher Figured Out How to Reveal Any Phone Number Linked to a Google Account

Phone numbers are a gold mine for SIM swappers. A researcher found how to get this precious piece of information through a clever brute-force attack...

The Mystery of iPhone Crashes That Apple Denies Are Linked to Chinese Hacking

Plus: A 22-year-old former intern gets put in charge of a key anti-terrorism program, threat intelligence firms finally wrangle their confusing names for hacker groups, and more...

Cybercriminals Are Hiding Malicious Web Traffic in Plain Sight

In an effort to evade detection, cybercriminals are increasingly turning to “residential proxy” services that cover their tracks by making it look like everyday online activity...

Ross Ulbricht Got a $31 Million Donation From a Dark Web Dealer, Crypto Tracers Suspect

Crypto-tracing firm Chainalysis says the mysterious 300-bitcoin donation to the pardoned Silk Road creator appears to have come from someone associated with a different defunct black market: AlphaBay...

What Really Happened in the Aftermath of the Lizard Squad Hacks

On Christmas Day in 2014 hackers knocked out the Xbox and PlayStation gaming networks, impacting how video game companies handled cybersecurity for years...

ICE Quietly Scales Back Rules for Courthouse Raids

A requirement that ICE agents ensure courthouse arrests don’t clash with state and local laws has been rescinded by the agency. ICE declined to explain what that means for future enforcement...

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...

Deepfake Scams Are Distorting Reality Itself

The easy access that scammers have to sophisticated AI tools means everything from emails to video calls can’t be trusted...

The Rise of ‘Vibe Hacking’ Is the Next AI Nightmare

In the very near future, victory will belong to the savvy blackhat hacker who uses AI to generate code at scale...

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...

The US Grid Attack Looming on the Horizon

A major cyberattack on the US electrical grid has long worried security experts. Such an attack wouldn’t be easy. But if an adversary pulled it off, it’d be lights out in more ways than one...

A GPS Blackout Would Shut Down the World

GPS jamming and spoofing attacks are on the rise. If the global navigation system the US relies on were to go down entirely, it would send the world into unprecedented chaos...

See How Much Faster a Quantum Computer Will Crack Encryption

A quantum computer will likely one day be able to break the encryption protecting the world's secrets. See how much faster such a machine could decrypt a password compared to a present-day supercomputer...

The Texting Network for the End of the World

Everyone knows what it’s like to lose cell service. A burgeoning open source project called Meshtastic is filling the gap for when you’re in the middle of nowhere—or when disaster strikes...

How the Farm Industry Spied on Animal Rights Activists and Pushed the FBI to Treat Them as Bioterrorists

For years, a powerful farm industry group served up information on activists to the FBI. Records reveal a decade-long effort to see the animal rights movement labeled a “bioterrorism” threat...

A Hacker May Have Deepfaked Trump’s Chief of Staff in a Phishing Campaign

Plus: An Iranian man pleads guilty to a Baltimore ransomware attack, Russia’s nuclear blueprints get leaked, a Texas sheriff uses license plate readers to track a woman who got an abortion, and more...

Cops in Germany Claim They’ve ID’d the Mysterious Trickbot Ransomware Kingpin

The elusive boss of the Trickbot and Conti cybercriminal groups has been known only as “Stern.” Now, German law enforcement has published his alleged identity—and it’s a familiar face...

A Swedish MMA Tournament Spotlights the Trump Administration's Handling of Far-Right Terrorism

A member of a California-based fight club seems to have attended an event hosted by groups with ties to an organization the US government labeled a terrorist group. Will the Trump administration care?...

The US Is Storing Migrant Children’s DNA in a Criminal Database

Customs and Border Protection has swabbed the DNA of migrant children as young as 4, whose genetic data is uploaded to an FBI-run database that can track them if they commit crimes in the future...

The Privacy-Friendly Tech to Replace Your US-Based Email, Browser, and Search

Thanks to drastic policy changes in the US and Big Tech’s embrace of the second Trump administration, many people are moving their digital lives abroad. Here are a few options to get you started...

A Starter Guide to Protecting Your Data From Hackers and Corporations

Hackers. AI data scrapes. Government surveillance. Thinking about where to start when it comes to protecting your online privacy can be overwhelming. Here’s a simple guide for you—and anyone who claims they have nothing to hide...

The US Is Building a One-Stop Shop for Buying Your Data

Plus: A mysterious hacking group’s secret client is exposed, Signal takes a swipe at Microsoft Recall, Russian hackers target security cameras to spy on aid to Ukraine, and more...

Feds Charge 16 Russians Allegedly Tied to Botnets Used in Ransomware, Cyberattacks, and Spying

A new US indictment against a group of Russian nationals offers a clear example of how, authorities say, a single malware operation can enable both criminal and state-sponsored hacking...

Why 3D-Printing an Untraceable Ghost Gun Is Easier Than Ever

On today’s episode of ‘Uncanny Valley,’ we discuss how WIRED was able to legally 3D-print the same gun allegedly used by Luigi Mangione, and where US law stands on the technology...

Mysterious Database of 184 Million Records Exposes Vast Array of Login Credentials

The trove has now been taken down but included users’ logins for platforms including Apple, Google, and Meta, plus services from multiple governments...

Authorities Carry Out Elaborate Global Takedown of Infostealer Heavily Used by Cybercriminals

US, European, and Japanese authorities, along with tech companies including Microsoft and Cloudflare, say they’ve disrupted Lumma, an infostealer popular with criminal gangs...

3 Teens Almost Got Away With Murder. Then Police Found Their Google Searches

An arson attack in Colorado had detectives stumped. The way they solved the case could put everyone at risk...

What to Expect When You’re Convicted

When a formerly incarcerated “troubleshooter for the mafia” looked for a second career he chose the thing he knew best. He became a prison consultant for white-collar criminals...

Trump Signs Controversial Law Targeting Nonconsensual Sexual Content

The Take It Down Act requires platforms to remove instances of “intimate visual depiction” within two days. Free speech advocates warn it could be weaponized to fuel censorship...

A Silicon Valley VC Got Israel Starlink Access Within Days of October 7 Attack

During a webinar hosted by Israel’s Defense Ministry, Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire discussed helping connect Israel with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet far earlier than was known...

For Tech Whistleblowers, There’s Safety in Numbers

Amber Scorah and Psst are building a “digital safe” to help people shine a light on the bad things their bosses are doing, without getting found out...

We Made Luigi Mangione’s 3D-Printed Gun—and Fired It

In the wake of Luigi Mangione’s alleged killing of a health care CEO with a partially 3D-printed pistol, we built and tested the exact same model of weapon ourselves. And it was entirely legal...

How to Win Followers and Scamfluence People

Format Boy makes a living teaching Yahoo Boys, notorious West African scammers, how to use AI and deepfake technology to ensnare their next victims...

Who Even Is a Criminal Now?

WIRED loves a rogue. Except rogues ruined the internet. Is there any salvaging the rebellious spirit without destroying everything?...

How the Signal Knockoff App TeleMessage Got Hacked in 20 Minutes

The company behind the Signal clone used by at least one Trump administration official was breached earlier this month. The hacker says they got in thanks to a basic misconfiguration...

Coinbase Will Reimburse Customers Up to $400 Million After Data Breach

Plus: 12 more people are indicted over a $263 million crypto heist, and a former FBI director is accused of threatening Donald Trump thanks to an Instagram post of seashells...

The Internet’s Biggest-Ever Black Market Just Shut Down Amid a Telegram Purge

Following a WIRED inquiry, Telegram banned thousands of accounts used for crypto-scam money laundering, including those of Haowang Guarantee, a black market that enabled over $27 billion in transactions...

CFPB Quietly Kills Rule to Shield Americans From Data Brokers

Russell Vought, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has canceled plans to more tightly regulate the sale of Americans’ sensitive personal data...

North Korean IT Workers Are Being Exposed on a Massive Scale

Security researchers are publishing 1,000 email addresses they claim are linked to North Korean IT worker scams that infiltrated Western companies—along with photos of men allegedly involved in the schemes...

Google’s Advanced Protection for Vulnerable Users Comes to Android

A new extra-secure mode for Android 16 will let at-risk users lock their devices down...

Google Is Using On-Device AI to Spot Scam Texts and Investment Fraud

Android’s “Scam Detection” protection in Google Messages will now be able to flag even more types of digital fraud...

An $8.4 Billion Chinese Hub for Crypto Crime Is Incorporated in Colorado

Before a crackdown by Telegram, Xinbi Guarantee grew into one of the internet’s biggest markets for Chinese-speaking crypto scammers and money laundering. And all registered to a US address...

Deepfakes, Scams, and the Age of Paranoia

As AI-driven fraud becomes increasingly common, more people feel the need to verify every interaction they have online...

ICE’s Deportation Airline Hack Reveals Man ‘Disappeared’ to El Salvador

Plus: A DOGE operative’s laptop reportedly gets infected with malware, Grok AI is used to “undress” women on X, a school software company’s ransomware nightmare returns, and more...

US Customs and Border Protection Plans to Photograph Everyone Exiting the US by Car

A CBP spokesperson tells WIRED that the agency plans to expand its program for real-time face recognition at the border, potentially aiding Trump administration efforts to track people who self-deport...

US Customs and Border Protection Quietly Revokes Protections for Pregnant Women and Infants

CBP’s acting commissioner has rescinded four Biden-era policies that aimed to protect vulnerable people in the agency’s custody, including mothers, infants, and the elderly...

Customs and Border Protection Confirms Its Use of Hacked Signal Clone TeleMessage

CBP says it has “disabled” its use of TeleMessage following reports that the app, which has not cleared the US government’s risk assessment program, was hacked...