After a slowdown in payments to ransomware gangs in 2022, last year saw total ransom payouts jump to their highest level yet, according to a new report from crypto-tracing firm Chainalysis.
A loose coalition of anti-censorship voices is working to highlight reports of one Indian company’s hacker-for-hire past—and the legal threats aimed at making them disappear.
By Dhruv Mehrotra, Andrew Couts — February 1st 2024 at 01:28
For nearly two years, police have been tracking down the culprit behind a wave of hoax threats. A digital trail took them to the door of a 17-year-old in California.
Aerial drones have changed the war in Ukraine. Now, both Russia’s and Ukraine’s militaries are deploying more unmanned ground robots—and the two are colliding.
Members of Congress say the DOJ is funding the use of AI tools that further discriminatory policing practices. They're demanding higher standards for federal grants.
Plus: North Korean hackers get into generative AI, a phone surveillance tool that can monitor billions of devices gets exposed, and ambient light sensors pose a new privacy risk.
A California teenager who allegedly used the handle Torswats to carry out a nationwide swatting campaign is being extradited to Florida to face felony charges, WIRED has learned.
US spy agencies purchased Americans’ phone location data and internet metadata without a warrant but only admitted it after a US senator blocked the appointment of a new NSA director.
Newly disclosed breaches of Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise highlight the persistent threat posed by Midnight Blizzard, a notorious Russian cyber-espionage group.
The Amazon-owned home surveillance company says it is shuttering a feature in its Neighbors app that allows police to request footage from users. But it’s not shutting out the cops entirely.
By Vas Panagiotopoulos — January 24th 2024 at 12:00
NSO Group, creator of the infamous Pegasus spyware, is spending millions on lobbying in Washington while taking advantage of the crisis in Gaza to paint itself as essential for global security.
Police around the US say they're justified to run DNA-generated 3D models of faces through facial recognition tools to help crack cold cases. Everyone but the cops thinks that’s a bad idea.
Plus: Microsoft says attackers accessed employee emails, Walmart fails to stop gift card fraud, “pig butchering” scams fuel violence in Myanmar, and more.
A new report from Chainalysis finds that stablecoins like Tether, tied to the value of the US dollar, were used in the vast majority of crypto-based scam transactions and sanctions evasion in 2023.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission and security firm Mandiant both had their X accounts breached, possibly due to changes to X’s two-factor authentication settings. Here’s how to fix yours.
Crypto tracing firm Chainalysis found that sellers of child sexual abuse materials are successfully using “mixers” and “privacy coins” like Monero to launder their profits and evade law enforcement.
By Lily Hay Newman, Andy Greenberg — January 6th 2024 at 14:00
Plus: Russia hacks surveillance cameras as new details emerge of its attack on a Ukrainian telecom, a Google contractor pays for videos of kids to train AI, and more.
Apple updated its location-tracking system in an attempt to cut down on AirTag abuse while still preserving privacy. Researchers think they’ve found a better balance.
After an 18-month rampage, global law enforcement finally moved against the notorious Alphv/BlackCat ransomware group. Within hours, the operation faced obstacles.
On Telegram, scammers are impersonating doctors to sell fake Covid-19 vaccination certificates and other products, showing how criminals are taking advantage of conspiracy theories.
By Andy Greenberg, Lily Hay Newman — December 16th 2023 at 14:00
Plus: Apple tightens anti-theft protections, Chinese hackers penetrate US critical infrastructure, and the long-running rumor of eavesdropping phones crystallizes into more than an urban legend.
Kytch, the company that tried to fix McDonald’s broken ice cream machines, has unearthed a 3-year-old email it says proves claims of an alleged plot to undermine their business.
Ten years in, Microsoft’s DCU has honed its strategy of using both unique legal tactics and the company’s technical reach to disrupt global cybercrime and state-backed actors.
A hacker group calling itself Solntsepek—previously linked to Russia’s notorious Sandworm hackers—says it carried out a disruptive breach of Kyivstar, a major Ukrainian mobile and internet provider.
Competing bills moving through the House of Representatives both reauthorize Section 702 surveillance—but they pave very different paths forward for Americans’ privacy and civil liberties.
Videos featuring Elijah Wood, Mike Tyson, and Priscilla Presley have been edited to push anti-Ukraine disinformation, according to Microsoft researchers.
Mark Zuckerberg personally promised that the privacy feature would launch by default on Messenger and Instagram chat. WIRED goes behind the scenes of the company’s colossal effort to get it right.
Binance’s settlement requires it to offer years of transaction data to US regulators and cops, exposing the company—and its customers—to a “24/7, 365-days-a-year financial colonoscopy.”
By Andrew Couts, Lily Hay Newman — December 6th 2023 at 17:08
Governments can access records related to push notifications from mobile apps by requesting that data from Apple and Google, according to details in court records and a US senator.
Legislation set to be introduced in Congress this week would extend Section 702 surveillance of people applying for green cards, asylum, and some visas—subjecting loved ones to similar intrusions.
A federal court ruled on Friday that Trump, as president, may be able to avoid civil action for his role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. But candidate Trump is something different.
In a year pocked with fights over US government funding, Republicans are quietly trying to strip the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of its ability to research gun violence.
Dozens of advocacy groups are pressuring the US Congress to abandon plans to ram through the renewal of a controversial surveillance program that they say poses an “alarming threat to civil rights.”
A WIRED analysis of more than 100 restricted channels shows these communities remain active, and content shared within them often spreads to channels accessible to the public.
Congressional leaders are discussing ways to reauthorize Section 702 surveillance, including by attaching it to the National Defense Authorization Act, Capitol Hill sources tell WIRED.
By Dell Cameron, Dhruv Mehrotra — November 20th 2023 at 18:25
A WIRED analysis of leaked police documents verifies that a secretive government program is allowing federal, state, and local law enforcement to access phone records of Americans who are not suspected of a crime.
A new report by an oversight committee in the US House of Representatives says the FBI has routinely violated rules governing FISA’s Section 702 surveillance program and must be reined in.
Signal’s president reveals the cost of running the privacy-preserving platform—not just to drum up donations, but to call out the for-profit surveillance business models it competes against.
The new generation of hardware authentication key includes support for cryptographic passkeys as Google pushes adoption of the more secure login alternative.
More than 60 groups advocating for Asian American and Pacific Islander communities are pushing the US Congress to reform the Section 702 surveillance program as Senate leaders move to renew it.
In its plans to implement a White House executive order, CISA aims to strike a balance between promoting AI adoption for national security and defending against its malicious use.
An effort to reauthorize a controversial US surveillance program by attaching it to a must-pass spending bill has civil liberties advocates calling foul.
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