WIRED Security

By Wired

What's WIRED Security about?

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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WIRED Security episodes:

04.19.2024
Big Tech Squares Off Against US Spies
One of Silicon Valley's most influential lobbying arms joins privacy reformers in a fight against the Biden administration-backed expansion of a major US surveillance program. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.18.2024
Change Healthcare Faces Another Ransomware Threat—and It Looks Credible
Change Healthcare ransomware hackers already received a $22 million payment. Now a second group is demanding money, and has sent WIRED samples of what they claim is the company's stolen data. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
04.17.2024
US Senate to Vote on a Wiretap Bill That Critics Call ‘Stasi-Like’
A controversial bill reauthorizing the Section 702 spy program may force whole new categories of businesses to eavesdrop on the US government's behalf, including on fellow Americans. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.16.2024
House Votes to Extend—and Expand—a Major US Spy Program
US House of Representatives voted on Friday to extend the Section 702 spy program. It passed without an amendment that would have required the FBI to obtain a warrant to access Americans' information. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad...
04.15.2024
How to Stop Your Data From Being Used to Train AI
Some companies let you opt out of allowing your content to be used for generative AI. Here’s how to take back (at least a little) control from ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and more. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices....
04.12.2024
DuckDuckGo Is Taking Its Privacy Fight to Data Brokers
Privacy-focused company DuckDuckGo is launching a tool to remove data from people-search websites, a VPN, and an identity theft restoration service. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.11.2024
It’s Time to Switch to a Privacy Browser
Ad trackers are out of control. Use a browser that reins them in. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.10.2024
A Breakthrough Online Privacy Proposal Hits Congress
While some states have made data privacy gains, the US has so far been unable implement protections at a federal level. A new bipartisan proposal called APRA could break the impasse. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
04.09.2024
How to Protect Yourself (and Your Loved Ones) From AI Scam Calls
AI tools are getting better at cloning people's voices, and scammers are using these new capabilities to commit fraud. Avoid getting swindled by following these expert tips. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.08.2024
A Ghost Ship’s Doomed Journey Through the Gate of Tears
Millions lost internet service after three cables in the Red Sea were damaged. Houthi rebels deny targeting the cables, but their missile attack on a cargo ship, left adrift for months, is likely to blame. Read this story here. Learn more about...
04.05.2024
A Vigilante Hacker Took Down North Korea’s Internet. Now He’s Taking Off His Mask
As “P4x,” Alejandro Caceres single-handedly disrupted the internet of an entire country. Then he tried to show the US military how it can—and should—adopt his methods. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.04.2024
The Mystery of ‘Jia Tan,’ the XZ Backdoor Mastermind
The thwarted XZ Utils supply chain attack was years in the making. Now, clues suggest nation-state hackers were behind the persona that inserted the malicious code. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.03.2024
The Incognito Mode Myth Has Fully Unraveled
To settle a years-long lawsuit, Google has agreed to delete “billions of data records” collected from users of “Incognito mode,” illuminating the pitfalls of relying on Chrome to protect your privacy. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
04.02.2024
The White House Puts New Guardrails on Government Use of AI
Vice President Kamala Harris says new rules for government AI deployments, including a requirement that algorithms are checked for bias, will “put the public interest first.” Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.01.2024
Jeffrey Epstein's Island Visitors Exposed by Data Broker
A WIRED investigation uncovered coordinates collected by a controversial data broker that reveal sensitive information about visitors to an island once owned by Epstein, the notorious sex offender. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.29.2024
Hackers Found a Way to Open Any of 3 Million Hotel Keycard Locks in Seconds
The company behind the Saflok-brand door locks is offering a fix, but it may take months or years to reach some hotels. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.28.2024
‘Malicious Activity’ Hits the University of Cambridge's Medical School
Multiple university departments linked to the Clinical School Computing Service have been inaccessible for a month. The university has not yet revealed the nature of the “malicious activity.” Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.27.2024
Julian Assange Won’t Be Extradited to the US Yet
A high court in London says the WikiLeaks founder won’t be extradited “immediately” and the US must provide more “assurances” about any extradition. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.26.2024
Chinese Hackers Charged in Decade-Long Global Spying Rampage
US and UK officials hit Chinese hacking group APT31 with sanctions and criminal charges after they targeted thousands of businesses, politicians, and critics of China. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.25.2024
Apple's iMessage Encryption Puts Its Security Practices in the DOJ's Crosshairs
Privacy and security are an Apple selling point. But the DOJ's new antitrust lawsuit argues that Apple selectively embraces privacy and security features in ways that hurt competition—and users. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.22.2024
Some of the Most Popular Websites Share Your Data With Over 1,500 Companies
Cookie pop-ups now show the number of “partners” that websites may share data with. Here's how many of these third-party companies may get your data from some of the most popular sites online. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad...
03.21.2024
Glassdoor Wants to Know Your Real Name
Anonymous, candid reviews made Glassdoor a powerful place to research potential employers. A policy shift requiring users to privately verify their real names is raising privacy concerns. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.20.2024
Reddit’s Sale of User Data for AI Training Draws FTC Investigation
The platform says it stands to make more than $200 million in coming years from Google and other companies that want user comments to feed AI projects. Regulators have questions. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.19.2024
Sinking US Wiretap Program Offered One Last Lifeboat
For months, US lawmakers have examined every side of a historic surveillance debate. With the introduction of the SAFE Act, all that's left to do now is vote. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.18.2024
The 4 Big Questions the Pentagon's New UFO Report Fails to Answer
The Pentagon says it’s not hiding aliens, but it stops notably short of saying what it is hiding. Here are the key questions that remain unanswered—some answers could be weirder than UFOs. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices....
03.15.2024
The ‘Emergency Powers’ Risk of a Second Trump Presidency
Every US president has the ability to invoke “emergency powers” that could give an authoritarian leader the ability to censor the internet, restrict travel, and more. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.14.2024
How to Turn Off Facebook’s Two-Factor Authentication Change
With Meta’s updated 2FA process, the company now automatically trusts devices you often use. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.13.2024
Binance’s Top Crypto Crime Investigator Is Being Detained in Nigeria
Tigran Gambaryan, a former crypto-focused US federal agent, and a second Binance executive, Nadeem Anjarwalla, have been held in Abuja without passports for two weeks. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.12.2024
Google Is Getting Thousands of Deepfake Porn Complaints
Content creators are using copyright laws to get nonconsensual deepfakes removed from the web. With the complaints covering nearly 30,000 URLs, experts say Google should do more to help. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.11.2024
Hackers Behind the Change Healthcare Ransomware Attack Just Received a $22 Million Payment
The transaction, visible on Bitcoin's blockchain, suggests the victim of one of the worst ransomware attacks in years may have paid a very large ransom. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.08.2024
Meta Abandons Hacking Victims, Draining Law Enforcement Resources, Officials Say
A coalition of 41 state attorneys general says Meta is failing to assist Facebook and Instagram users whose accounts have been hacked—and they want the company to take “immediate action.” Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.07.2024
Dictators Used Sandvine Tech to Censor the Internet. The US Finally Did Something About It
Canada-based Sandvine has long sold its web-monitoring tech to authoritarian regimes. This week, the US sanctioned the company, severely limiting its ability to do business with American firms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.06.2024
The UK’s GPS Tagging of Migrants Has Been Ruled Illegal
The UK’s privacy regulator says the government did not take into account the intrusiveness of ankle tags that continuously monitor a person’s location. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.05.2024
Biden Bans Rival Nations From Buying Sensitive US Data—Good Luck
The White House issued an executive order on Wednesday that aims to prevent the sale of Americans' data to “countries of concern,” including China and Russia. Its effectiveness may vary. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.04.2024
Russia Attacked Ukraine's Power Grid at Least 66 Times to ‘Freeze It Into Submission’
Several of the strikes occurred far from the front lines of the conflict, indicating possible war crimes. Researchers say the attacks likely had devastating impacts on civilians. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.01.2024
The White House Warns Cars Made in China Could Unleash Chaos on US Highways
As Chinese automakers prepare to launch in the US, the White House is investigating whether cars made in China could pose a national security threat. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.29.2024
Ransomware Groups Are Bouncing Back Faster From Law Enforcement Busts
Two months ago, the FBI “disrupted” the BlackCat ransomware group. They're already back—and their latest attack is causing delays at pharmacies across the US. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.28.2024
How a Small Iowa Newspaper’s Website Became an AI-Generated Clickbait Factory
When two former Meta employees dug into why the website of Iowa’s Clayton County Register was spewing dubious posts about stocks, they uncovered a network of sites slinging seemingly AI-made content. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
02.27.2024
Apple’s iMessage Is Getting Post-Quantum Encryption
Useful quantum computers aren’t a reality—yet. But in one of the biggest deployments of post-quantum encryption so far, Apple is bringing the technology to iMessage. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.26.2024
Leak Shows Alarm in Congress Over a Russian ‘Threat’ Is a Real Anomaly
The US Congress was preparing to vote on a key foreign surveillance program. Then a wild Russian threat appeared. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.23.2024
100 Million People Pay Google for Extra Storage. Can It Get Them to Pay More for Smarter AI?
Google is still mostly supported by ads but its new subscription-only chatbot, Gemini Advanced, is a major new addition to the company's burgeoning services business. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.22.2024
Google’s AI Boss Says Scale Only Gets You So Far
In an interview with WIRED, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis says the biggest breakthroughs in AI are yet to come—and will take more than just chips. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.21.2024
A Global Police Operation Just Took Down the Notorious LockBit Ransomware Gang
LockBit’s website, infrastructure, and data have been seized by law enforcement—striking a huge blow against one of the world's most prolific ransomware groups. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.20.2024
Leak of Russian Threat Part of a Bid to Kill US Surveillance Reform, Sources Say
A surprise disclosure of a national security threat by the House Intelligence chair was part of an effort to block legislation that aimed to limit cops and spies from buying Americans' private data. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad...
02.19.2024
The Hidden Injustice of Cyberattacks
Cyberattacks and criminal scams can impact anyone. But communities of color and other marginalized groups are often disproportionately impacted and lack the support to better protect themselves. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.16.2024
Surveillance Fight Pits the White House Opposite Reproductive Rights
Prominent advocates for the rights of pregnant people are urging members of Congress to support legislation that would ban warrantless access to sensitive data as the White House fights against it. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
02.15.2024
‘AI Girlfriends’ Are a Privacy Nightmare
Romantic chatbots collect huge amounts of data, provide vague information about how they use it, use weak password protections, and aren’t transparent, new research from Mozilla says. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.14.2024
A Backroom Deal Looms Over a High-Stakes US Surveillance Fight
Top congressional lawmakers are meeting in private to discuss the future of a widely unpopular surveillance program, worrying members devoted to reforming Section 702. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.13.2024
Satellite Images Point to Indiscriminate Israeli Attacks on Gaza’s Health Care Facilities
New research finds that Israel’s attacks on Gaza damaged hospitals and other medical facilities at the same rate as other buildings, potentially in violation of international law. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.12.2024
London Underground Is Testing Real-Time AI Surveillance Tools to Spot Crime
In a test at one station, Transport for London used a computer vision system to try and detect crime and weapons, people falling on the tracks, and fare dodgers, documents obtained by WIRED show. Read this story here. Learn more about your...

What's WIRED Security about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

WIRED Security episodes:

Big Tech Squares Off Against US Spies

Change Healthcare Faces Another Ransomware Threat—and It Looks Credible

US Senate to Vote on a Wiretap Bill That Critics Call ‘Stasi-Like’

House Votes to Extend—and Expand—a Major US Spy Program

How to Stop Your Data From Being Used to Train AI

DuckDuckGo Is Taking Its Privacy Fight to Data Brokers

It’s Time to Switch to a Privacy Browser

A Breakthrough Online Privacy Proposal Hits Congress

How to Protect Yourself (and Your Loved Ones) From AI Scam Calls

A Ghost Ship’s Doomed Journey Through the Gate of Tears

A Vigilante Hacker Took Down North Korea’s Internet. Now He’s Taking Off His Mask

The Mystery of ‘Jia Tan,’ the XZ Backdoor Mastermind

The Incognito Mode Myth Has Fully Unraveled

The White House Puts New Guardrails on Government Use of AI

Jeffrey Epstein's Island Visitors Exposed by Data Broker

Hackers Found a Way to Open Any of 3 Million Hotel Keycard Locks in Seconds

‘Malicious Activity’ Hits the University of Cambridge's Medical School

Julian Assange Won’t Be Extradited to the US Yet

Chinese Hackers Charged in Decade-Long Global Spying Rampage

Apple's iMessage Encryption Puts Its Security Practices in the DOJ's Crosshairs

Some of the Most Popular Websites Share Your Data With Over 1,500 Companies

Glassdoor Wants to Know Your Real Name

Reddit’s Sale of User Data for AI Training Draws FTC Investigation

Sinking US Wiretap Program Offered One Last Lifeboat

The 4 Big Questions the Pentagon's New UFO Report Fails to Answer

The ‘Emergency Powers’ Risk of a Second Trump Presidency

How to Turn Off Facebook’s Two-Factor Authentication Change

Binance’s Top Crypto Crime Investigator Is Being Detained in Nigeria

Google Is Getting Thousands of Deepfake Porn Complaints

Hackers Behind the Change Healthcare Ransomware Attack Just Received a $22 Million Payment

Meta Abandons Hacking Victims, Draining Law Enforcement Resources, Officials Say

Dictators Used Sandvine Tech to Censor the Internet. The US Finally Did Something About It

The UK’s GPS Tagging of Migrants Has Been Ruled Illegal

Biden Bans Rival Nations From Buying Sensitive US Data—Good Luck

Russia Attacked Ukraine's Power Grid at Least 66 Times to ‘Freeze It Into Submission’

The White House Warns Cars Made in China Could Unleash Chaos on US Highways

Ransomware Groups Are Bouncing Back Faster From Law Enforcement Busts

How a Small Iowa Newspaper’s Website Became an AI-Generated Clickbait Factory

Apple’s iMessage Is Getting Post-Quantum Encryption

Leak Shows Alarm in Congress Over a Russian ‘Threat’ Is a Real Anomaly

100 Million People Pay Google for Extra Storage. Can It Get Them to Pay More for Smarter AI?

Google’s AI Boss Says Scale Only Gets You So Far

A Global Police Operation Just Took Down the Notorious LockBit Ransomware Gang

Leak of Russian Threat Part of a Bid to Kill US Surveillance Reform, Sources Say

The Hidden Injustice of Cyberattacks

Surveillance Fight Pits the White House Opposite Reproductive Rights

‘AI Girlfriends’ Are a Privacy Nightmare

A Backroom Deal Looms Over a High-Stakes US Surveillance Fight

Satellite Images Point to Indiscriminate Israeli Attacks on Gaza’s Health Care Facilities

London Underground Is Testing Real-Time AI Surveillance Tools to Spot Crime