Today, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his company will hire 3,000 people to watch for violent footage posted to the site. The decision comes after two horrific videos caught global attention in recent weeks: a man uploaded a video of himself murdering a grandfather in Cleveland, and a man in Thailand hanged his infant and then himself in a Facebook Live video the authorities saw too late. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
May 08, 2017•8 min
If you get a Google Doc link in your inbox today, scrutinize it carefully before you click—even if it looks like it comes from someone you trust. A nasty phishing scam that impersonates a Google Docs request has swept the internet today, including a decent chunk of media companies. You’ve heard “think before you click” a million times, but it really could save you from a whole lot of hassle. Google has taken steps to neutralize this particular phish. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org...
May 05, 2017•5 min
Last year, Capt. Sean Ruddy and his team of operator-soldiers from the US Cyber Brigade entered a Locked Shields, a NATO-organized cyber-defense war game that pits teams from dozens of countries against “live-fire” attacks. It was their first time. And of the 19 countries represented, the US finished dead last. This week, they got their shot at redemption. Locked Shields challenges participating countries to show off their defensive prowess, rather than offensive firepower. Learn about your ad c...
May 04, 2017•6 min
It must have seemed like such a good bet, as far as extortion attempts go. Steal one of Netflix’s prized original series months before it’s slated to air, and shake the streaming company down under threat of releasing it. But as season five of Orange Is the New Black‘s recent appearance on torrenting site The Pirate Bay shows, it was a crime destined destined for failure, because it misunderstood how streaming—and the internet at large—works today. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/a...
May 03, 2017•6 min
It was a week full of revelations in the security world. A New York Times Uber story revealed that the company got in trouble with Apple over "fingerprinting" iPhones even after users deleted the app. It's a common enough practice, but Uber took it a few steps too far. And speaking of common practices, here's how to check which services have access to your Gmail and Facebook accounts-you might be surprised at how many do. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
May 02, 2017•5 min
The new Amazon Echo Look seems like a logical enough extension of Alexa, the company’s AI-powered digital assistant. Previously, Alexa lived inside speakers. Now, it’s in a camera. That progression belies just how much more the Echo Look could know about you than other Alexa hardware does—especially if Amazon ever unleashes the full power of its machine learnings smarts. Amazon envisions the Echo Look as a way to get fashion advice. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
May 01, 2017•8 min
Once again Uber finds itself taking heat for questionable business practices. This time the company was using software to identify iPhones even after their owners deleted the Uber app, or even wiped the phones altogether. That technique, known as fingerprinting, isn’t uncommon—and shouldn’t be interpreted as tracking your every move. But Uber’s implementation crossed a line with Apple, in particular because it tried to hide what it was doing. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choi...
Apr 28, 2017•5 min
No one wants murder videos on Facebook. But no one wants Facebook to censor their baby videos, either. Technology isn’t ready to step in and tell the difference. So what are the legal options for stopping videos like the appalling killing uploaded last week from hitting Facebook? None of them will be easy for Americans to swallow. The country could regulate Facebook like it does traditional broadcasters and media by holding the company accountable for the country it distributes. Learn about your...
Apr 27, 2017•9 min
The pitch has plenty of appeal: Sign up for our service, and we’ll automatically unsubscribe you from all those pesky email lists. For free! Except, not quite; as it turns out, you end up paying in privacy. That’s just one revelation from a bombshell New York Times look at Uber, which showed how Unroll.me, the service described above, scans the email accounts of its users for information as granular as Lyft receipts to anonymize, package, and sell on the lucrative data market. Unroll. Learn abou...
Apr 26, 2017•6 min
As end-to-end encrypted messaging apps have exploded in popularity, several well-known services have added encrypted calls as well. Why not, right? If it works for text-based chat, voice seems like a natural extension. If only it were that easy. Encrypting calls has plenty of value, keeping conversations strictly between the two parties. They can circumvent government wiretaps, or criminal snooping. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Apr 24, 2017•10 min
A tense weekend of brinksmanship between the United States and North Korea culminated in a failed missile test from the reclusive dictatorship. And while the busted launch does highlight the country’s long-term commitment to advancing its warfare capabilities, it also shouldn’t cause undo alarm. In fact, it was something close to routine. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Apr 21, 2017•8 min
Phishing attacks can make even crusading technovangelists paranoid. One wrong click can put you out a ton of cash, or cause a corporate breach. And they evolve constantly. Case in point: A cunning new exploit makes malicious phishing websites appear to have the sameURL asknown and trusted destinations. You knowby now to check your browser while visitinga site to besure it sportsthelittle green padlock indicatingTLS encryption. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Apr 20, 2017•6 min
National security experts and North Korea watchers say the reclusive countrymay test a nuclear bomb on Saturday, the ‘Day of the Sun’ holiday that marks the birthday of national father Kim Il-sung. The Hermit Kingdom’s recent saber-rattling prompted the United States to dispatch the Vinson carrier group as a show of force, and President Trump has not ruled out a pre-emptive strike. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Apr 19, 2017•10 min
It feels like all weeks in security news are overstuffed lately, and this one's no exception. It started with a bang, or more of a blare, as all of Dallas's dozens of tornado sirens were hacked to sound off at once. And it ended with a boom, as the US dropped the Moab ('Mother of All Bombs,' colloquially), a 22,600 pound bomb, for the first time. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Apr 18, 2017•6 min
When the US dropped a 22,600-pound bomb near suspected ISIS tunnels in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province on Thursday, the blast from the explosion would have rushed into the furthest reaches of the mountain complex about a mile away. The GBU-43, known as Moab—short for Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or, colloquially, Mother of All Bombs—is the largest non-nuclear, non-penetrating bomb in the US arsenal. And until now, this mother had never been used outside of a testing facility. Learn about your ad...
Apr 17, 2017•8 min
It’s easy for all sides to read too much into the news tat FBI reportedly obtained a warrant to surveil former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page. Those convinced of Trump’s Russia ties may see validation, and proof of a grander conspiracy. Others may see this lending credence to Trump’s allegations that the Obama administration ordered illegal, politically motivated surveillance in the heat of last years’s presidential campaign. In truth, it does neither. Learn about your ad choices: dove...
Apr 14, 2017•6 min
Windows Vista was not a popular Microsoft release. We can just say it. Launched in 2007 (after a few delays), it was the first Windows overhaul since the well-loved XP release in 2001. Six years is a long time to make people wait, no matter how great the replacement. And Vista, well, was not great. A decade later, Microsoft's finally pulling the plug on support tomorrow. Which means, if you're somehow stuck with Microsoft's least popular operating system, it's time to move on. Like, now. Learn a...
Apr 13, 2017•3 min
Filing and paying taxes can be frustrating enough without the looming threat of identity theft and refund fraud. But tax scams have become so prevalent, you’ve likely received a bogus call, text message, or email in the last few years. As painful as it is to add another item on the tax to-do list this year, working to protect yourself from cons and digital attacks could really save you money and time. The scams work a few ways. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Apr 12, 2017•7 min
Well, we sent 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles smack into a Syrian airbase this week. But other stuff happened too! The week started off with some clever hack revelations, including a backdoor that Russians have used for two decades, and an ATM hack that just takes a drill hole and $15 worth of gear. And some particularly industrious hackers took over a Brazilian bank's entire online footprint for a few hours. Spies got their own cool new app that you can't play with. Learn about your ad choices: dov...
Apr 11, 2017•4 min
On Thursday night, two US Navy warships fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase after President Bashar al-Assad’s regime used chemical weapons earlier this week against civilians. For months, Donald Trump has espoused a hands-off approach to intervening in the Middle Eastern country’s six-year-long civil war, yet it took just 24 hours for the president to reverse course and launch America’s first military action against the Syrian government. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.p...
Apr 10, 2017•7 min
When you lose the key to your bike lock you borrow bolt cutters. When your door is jammed you look up a locksmith. And when you need targeted surveillance of a smartphone, you call your cyberarms dealer. Naturally! For bad actors and nation states, sometimes all it takes to access someone’s private text messages, browsing history, calls, emails, calendar, location, contacts, and apps, is a big enough check. Although maybe not as big as you’d think. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/a...
Apr 07, 2017•6 min
Chris Rasmussen is an evangelist, and his message is crowdsourcing. As a career analyst inside the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Rasmussen’s sermons have been limited to a closed top-secret community. But this week, he’s going public with his most radical idea to date, in the form of a smartphone app for senior US intelligence officers. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Apr 06, 2017•9 min
On a desert-cold, moonlit night just over two years ago, Amir Taaki stepped off the Iraqi sand into a rubber dinghy floating in the Tigris River. The boat was just wide enough to fit his compact body next to the much larger American ex-Army machine gunner sitting beside him. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Apr 04, 2017•15 min
As the internet continues to limp toward better security, sites have increasingly embraced HTTPS encryption. You’ve seen it around, including here on WIRED; it’s that little green padlock in the upper lefthand corner, and it keeps outside eyes from snooping on the details of your time online. Today, the biggest porn site on the planet announced that it’s joining those secured ranks. Pornhub’s locking it down, and that’s a bigger deal than you’d think. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.or...
Apr 03, 2017•7 min
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives voted to reverse regulations that would have stopped internet service providers from selling your web-browsing data without your explicit consent. It’s a disappointing setback for anyone who doesn’t want big telecoms profiting off of their personal data. So what to do? Try a Virtual Private Network. It won’t fix all your privacy problems, but a VPN’s a decent start. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Mar 31, 2017•7 min
This article was published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization that covers the US criminal justice system. Sign up for their newsletter, or follow The Marshall Project on Facebook or Twitter. In the new cop drama APB, an Elon Musk-type billionaire engineer buys a beleaguered Chicago police precinct to avenge his buddy's murder. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Mar 30, 2017•11 min
A hacker group called Turkish Crime Family says that it can access 250 million iCloud accounts, and will do so on April 7 to reset the password, locking people out of their accounts. They’ve even threatened to wipe people’s linked iPhones if Apple doesn’t pay up. And while it’s hard to tell how legitimate the threat is, their assertions make now as good a time to lock down your iCloud as ever. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Mar 29, 2017•5 min
As so many of them have been lately, it was a wild week in security. Monday, FBI Director James Comey confirmed that an ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia began last July. The GOP responded minutes later by charging hard against-leaks. That really set the tone! House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes added some misplaced intrigue by suggesting Trump or his associates had been caught up in surveillance, which isn't what it sounds like. Learn about your ad cho...
Mar 28, 2017•4 min
Because you care greatly about your personal security hygiene, you’ve already enlisted two-factor authentication to help protect most of your online accounts. That’s good! Instagram, though, hasn’t given you the option. That changes today. Go get it. While Instagram had made two-factor available to a select group of users previously, the extra layer of protection is now available to all, meaning you, meaning it’s time to fiddle with some settings. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad...
Mar 27, 2017•3 min
First, the good news: Half of all Android devices have gotten fairly recent security updates, patching the hackable flaws that leave users vulnerable to digital crime and espionage. The bad news? The other half hasn’t. In an annual report on the security of the world’s 1.4 billion Android devices that Google released today, the company touts the ever-improving state of Android security. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Mar 24, 2017•8 min
