Security, Spoken

The biggest story in tech this week—and maybe this year—was net neutrality, which the FCC effectively abolished by rolling back Obama-era rules that prevented the creation of internet “fast lanes.” They did so despite overwhelming evidence that the mandatory public comment period was overrun with bots, form letters, and over maladies. How bad was it? We tracked down all 39 Nicholas Thompsons who commented, and could only confirm that three were humans.

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The International Space Station is one of the few nonstellar things up there that we can see from down here without instruments. It’s a prefab home the size of a football field, 462 tons and more than $100 billion worth of pressurized roomlike modules and gleaming solar arrays, orbiting 250 miles above the surface of the Earth. Its flight path is available online, and you can find out when it will make a nighttime pass over your backyard.

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Over the course of the Star Wars franchise, we’ve been treated to some epic battles: dogfights between X-Wings and TIE fighters at Yavin-4, AT-ATs on the frozen wastes of Hoth, jungle warfare on Endor, and Rogue One’s epic battles on the beaches of Scarif. The Last Jedi offers no shortage of skirmishes, either. Except this time, the Resistance’s consistently bad military tactics finally catch up with it.

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All software has flaws, no matter how carefully you vet it. So the question isn't how to write perfect code, but how to respond to mistakes as you find them. And while Apple has earned a strong reputation for security, a string of significant vulnerabilities in macOS and iOS have strained Apple's safety net—and led some security researchers and developers to question whether the issues are systemic. Take the release of Apple's macOS High Sierra operating system at the end of September.

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The Federal Communications Commissions' public comment period on its plans to repeal net neutrality protections was bombarded with bots, memes, and input from people who don't actually exist. The situation's gotten so bad that FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, as well as several members of Congress, including one Republican, have called for the FCC to postpone its December 14 net neutrality vote so that an investigation can take place. The FCC seems unlikely to comply.

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There was a time when high-status people signaled their worth with an ostentatious key fob for an expensive car. Today the keyring of an important person—or at least a paranoid one—might be distinguished by a less obvious marker: a pair of inconspicuous plastic dongles that protect an inbox full of secrets worth keeping.

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Hackers can threaten your smartphone in lots of ways, and if you want (or need) to lock it down completely, ironclad protection gets a little complicated. Fortunately, you can take some quick and easy steps to make big improvements to your mobile security. They don’t eliminate all risk, but they’re a solid baseline for any smartphone owner.

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Any self-respecting paranoiac long ago taped over the webcam on their laptop—and for good measure, the cameras on their smartphone too. But for those truly concerned that their computers have been hacked and turned into spy tools, the microphones on those devices represent just as much of a security threat as the cameras. They would allow a hacked gadget to bug an entire room.

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You've covered the basics. You've checked off the more-than-basics. But you still can't fight a nagging feeling that it's not quite enough. At a certain point, if a nation-state wants to compromise your devices or your privacy badly enough, it's going to find a way. You can at least make it harder for them. Here are a few measures designed to do just that. The Air Gap Up There The best way not to get your computer hacked? Don't connect it to any other computer, a practice known as air-gapping.

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If you're facing targeted security threats, your problems run deeper than spyware on your devices. You need to check your physical spaces as well—your home, hotel room, office, and so on—for hidden cameras, mics, and other eavesdropping tools that someone may have planted. That means performing regular "technical surveillance counter measures" inspections. In other words? Checking for bugs.

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