How Russia Hacks Elections in the US and Around the World
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Jun 21, 2017•10 min
Security, Spoken
Get in-depth coverage of current and future trends in technology, and how they are shaping business, entertainment, communications, science, politics, and society.
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Episodes
Robert Mueller Chooses His Investigatory Dream Team
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Jun 20, 2017•22 min
The Next Device in Your House to Get Hacked May Be Your Vibrator
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Jun 16, 2017•7 min
Crash Override Malware Took Down Ukraine's Power Grid Last December
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Jun 15, 2017•12 min
Everything You Need to Know About James Comey’s Senate Hearing
It’s almost showtime in Washington, DC. On Thursday, former FBI director James Comey will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee for the first time since he was fired in the midst of an ongoing investigation into a possible connection between Trump campaign officials and Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Comey’s opening remarks, already public, set the stage for an explosive hearing. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Jun 13, 2017•8 min
Blaming the Internet For Terrorism Misses The Point
British Prime Minister Theresa May has found somethingto blame for Saturday night’s terror attack in London: the internet. May, responding to the attack by three young men who killed seven people and injured scores more, called for an end to the “safe spaces” that the internet provides, and for measures to “regulate cyberspace.” “We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Jun 12, 2017•8 min
What Christopher Wray Learned From the Last Two FBI Directors
With a tweet Wednesday morning, President Trump announced his pick to replace James Comey as FBI director. Should the Senate confirm him, Christopher Wray will step into the job amid the controversial firing of his predecessor, and the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate that incident, as well as the larger swirling questions around Trump and Russia’s meddling with the 2016 election. It’s no small task. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Jun 09, 2017•7 min
Hack Brief: Dangerous ‘Fireball’ Adware Infects a Quarter Billion PCs
Adware that infects your computer to display annoying pop-ups is an annoyance. But when it infects as many as one five networks in the world, and hides the capability to do far more serious damage to its victims, it’s an epidemic waiting to happen. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jun 08, 2017•5 min
Security News This Week: OneLogin Had One Very Bad Breach
For the first time in too long, a week went by without any major international security incidents (unless you count the US withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, which you probably should). Perhaps unsurprisingly, that meant there was also time to look at defensive measures for a change. For instance! The US successfully tested its very expensive, not entirely reliable missile defense system, but that doesn't mean we'd be safe from a real-world attack. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.p...
Jun 07, 2017•5 min
Banned From the US? There’s a Robot for That
Two telepresence robots roll into a human-computer interaction conference. Sounds like the beginning of a very nerdy joke, but it really happened (#2017). A few weeks ago in Denver, Colorado, a robot I was piloting over the internet from my computer in Idaho stood wheel-to-wheel with a similar ‘bot in a pink skirt controlled by a researcher in Germany. We huddled. We introduced ourselves by yelling at each other’s screens. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Jun 06, 2017•9 min
Don’t Buy Into Putin’s Latest Misdirection on Election Hacking
Vladimir Putin conceded on Thursday that maybe, just maybe, “patriotic” citizen-hackers from Russia could interfere in the democratic processes of other countries. Atacit acknowledgement of interference in the US election? An unsubtle mockingof the US following rescinded sanctions? Could be! Mostly, though, you can consider this just another page fromPutin’s playbook of misdirection. “Hackers are free people like artists,” Putin saidat the St. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-cho...
Jun 05, 2017•6 min
Inside Google’s Global Campaign to Shut Down Phishing
At the beginning of May, a phishing scam flooded the web, disguised as a typical Google Docs request. Some of the emails even appeared to come from acquaintances. If victims clicked through and granted seemingly innocuous permissions, they exposed their entire Gmail account to whoever was behind the scam. It was an explosive scheme. And Google responded in kind. “We convened what we call a war room,” says Mark Risher, Google’s director of counter-abuse technology. Learn about your ad choices: do...
Jun 02, 2017•11 min
Don’t Read Too Much Into That Successful Missile Defense Test
The United States successfully tested its interceptor missile defense system on Tuesday, essentially shooting an incoming missile out of the sky. An impressive technological feat to be sure, one the Pentagon likens to hitting a bullet with another bullet. But as proof that such a system could defend the US against a North Korean attack, it still misses the mark. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jun 01, 2017•7 min
Instead of Banning Cheaters, Pokémon Go Trolls Them Hard
Now that the generalized Pokémon Go craze has subsided, the more captivating effort to catch ‘em all may be game developer Niantic’s ongoing battle against cheaters. Its latest evolution: Not banning bad actors, but banishing them to poké-purgatory. As detailed by Pokémon Go enthusiast subreddit The Silph Road, a recent Pokémon Go update targets players who use bots to trawl the globe for valuable Pokémon. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
May 31, 2017•7 min
How to Spring Clean Your Digital Clutter to Protect Yourself
You’re using strong and unique passwords. You’re on the lookout for phishing emails. And you’ve set up two-factor authentication on every account that offers it. Basically, you’re acing Personal Cybersecurity 101. But with new threats popping up all the time, you may be looking for other proactive steps you can take to protect yourself. Here’s an easy one: Clean up your digital junk. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
May 30, 2017•7 min
A Clever New Way to Protect Your Data at the Border Could Also Add Risk
Over the last few months, the US and other countries have seen an uptick in border searchers—including those of smartphones and laptops. There are several precautions you can take to defend your privacy, the most recent of which is a clever new feature from password-manager 1Password. But while it could secure your digital stuff, it could also introduce new risks. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
May 29, 2017•5 min
A WannaCry Flaw Could Help Some Windows XP Victims Get Files Back
Since the WannaCry ransomware ripped through the internet late last week, infecting hundreds of thousands of machines and locking up critical systems from healthcare to transportation, cryptographers have searched for a cure. Finding a flaw in WannaCry’s encryption scheme, after all, the could decrypt all those systems without any ransom. Now one French researcher says he’s foundat least a hint of a very limited remedy. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
May 26, 2017•7 min
Think Before You Tweet In the Wake of an Attack
Monday night, a suicide bomber took the lives of at least 22 people—including an 8-year-old girl—at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England. Almost instantly, images and video of the devastating attack overtook Twitter timelines and Facebook News Feeds. As natural and understandable a response to horrific events that might be, it also threatens to amplify the chaos that terrorists intend. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
May 25, 2017•9 min
Hackers Are Trying to Reignite WannaCry With Non-Stop Botnet Attacks
Over the past year, two digital disasters have rocked the internet. The botnet known as Mirai knocked a swath of major sites off the web last September, including Spotify, Reddit, and the New York Times. And over the past week, the WannaCry ransomware outbreak crippled systems ranging from healthcare to transportation in 150 countries before it an unlikely “kill-switch” in its code shut it down. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
May 24, 2017•8 min
Security News This Week: Hoo-Boy, Mar-a-Lago’s Internet Is Insecure
For anyone growing weary of the constant focus on Russian and President Donald Trump's campaign, good news! A fresh horror took the spotlight late last week in the form of WannaCry, a vicious ransomware whose creators appear not to have been all that smart. WannaCry, we learned, features a built-in "kill switch" that security researchers have used to, well, kill it, at least for now. Some people on XP and Windows 7 might even be able to get their files back. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail...
May 23, 2017•5 min
High-Profile Extortion Hacks Aren’t Paying Off
This week, Disney CEO Bob Iger reportedly revealed to employees that a hacker had stolen the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and threatened to release it if the Mouse House doesn’t pay a hefty ransom. But Disney, which has enlisted the FBI’s help, says it won’t pay to keep its billion-dollar franchise under wraps. It’s just the latest in a string of high-profile extortion hacks that didn’t pan out. A few weeks ago, Netflix faced a similar threat. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org...
May 22, 2017•5 min
Chelsea Manning Walks Back Into a World She Helped Transform
Today, Chelsea Manning walked out of the military prison that held her for seven years, and into a world largely remade by her actions. “Whatever is ahead of me is far more important than the past. I’m figuring things out right now—which is exciting, awkward, fun, and all new for me,” she said in a statement through her ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio. Manning marked the occasion with a photo of her first steps of freedom on Instagram, an app that launched in 2010. Learn about your ad choices: doveta...
May 19, 2017•10 min
Stop Thinking James Comey Keeps All His Files in a Cardboard Box
On October 19, 1973, Nick Akerman and his fellow Watergate investigators began hoarding whatever documents they could from the office of the special prosecutor, Archibald Cox. They knew that the next day, Cox planned to disobey President Richard Nixon and announce before a clutch of reporters at the National Press Club that he would pursue taped recordings from inside the Oval Office; they also knew that in doing so, Cox was risking his job and the fate of the investigation. Learn about your ad ...
May 18, 2017•6 min
If You Still Use Windows XP, Prepare For the Worst
As a vicious new strain of ransomware swept the UK’s National Health Service yesterday, shutting off services at hospitals and clinics throughout the region, experts cautioned that the best protection was to download a patch Microsoft had issued in March. The only problem? A reported 90 percent of NHS systems run Windows XP, an operating system Microsoft first introduced in 2001, and hasn’t supported since 2014. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
May 17, 2017•7 min
Security News This Week: Trump’s Cybersecurity Executive Order Looks … Pretty Good!
There are no quiet weeks in security these days, but the firing of FBI Director James Comey made this one particularly loud. President Trump's controversial dismissal won't slow down the investigation into his campaign's alleged ties with Russia, and it occurred with no apparent replacement lined up. And that's just for starters. Those worried about whether Comey's files are safe can rest easy—it's not like they were in a cardboard box. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
May 16, 2017•4 min
A Vicious Microsoft Bug Left a Billion PCs Exposed
On Friday night, security researcher Tavis Ormandy of Google’s Project Zero announced on Twitter that he had found a Windows bug. Well, not just any bug. It was “crazy bad,” Ormandy wrote. “The worst Windows remote code exec in recent memory.” By Monday night, Microsoft had released an emergency patch, along with details of what the vulnerability entailed. And yes, it was every bit as scary as advertised. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
May 15, 2017•5 min
Don’t Pin the Macron Email Hack on Russia Just Yet
After a hacked US election covered in Russian fingerprints, it's easy to assume that Friday's megaleak of emails from France's president-elect Emmanuel Macron was the Kremlin's work, too. Russia, after all, has the motive, the means, and a very fresh track record of meddling in Western elections to sabotage center-left candidates. But this latest breach, for now, lacks conclusive fingerprints-and what few clues there are have only added to the confusion. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx...
May 12, 2017•8 min
Security News This Week: Oh Good, Hackers Beat Two-Factor to Rob Bank Accounts
Congratulations! You've gotten through the week of the Google Docs phishing ploy that rocked the world, or at least a vocal corner of the media. Speaking of speaking out, FBI Director James Comey this week gave his most thorough explanation yet of the election-rocking Clinton investigation letter he gave last fall, though it's unlikely to satisfy critics. Oh, and apps can use your phone's mic to listen for marketing beacons your ears can't hear. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-c...
May 11, 2017•7 min
South Korea’s New Missile Defense Tech Isn’t a Cure-All For North Korea
A year after it was first announced, the United States-provided missile defense system meant to guard South Korea is fully operational. The device has sparked controversy and pushback from China, but it’s a powerful symbolic step that should provide some legitimate protection from an increasingly volatile North Korea. It also has some important limitations. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
May 10, 2017•4 min
FBI Boss Comey Finally Explains His Infamous Clinton Letter
FBI Director James Comey would like you to travel back in time with him for a minute. It's Friday morning, October 28. The day prior, members of his staff told Comey that they had found thousands of Hillary Clinton's private emails stored on Anthony Weiner's laptop, and needed a warrant to read them, thereby reopening the investigation into the Democratic presidential candidate's use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choi...
May 09, 2017•5 min
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