Security, Spoken

As the world watched highly skilled hackers take down power grids in Ukraine twice in two years, cybersecurity analysts reached the growing consensus that Russian hackers may be using the country as a testing ground for attacks they'll someday try on the United States. On Thursday, when news emerged that hackers have indeed been targeting American power plants—including a Kansas nuclear facility—i...

North Korea's successful test of its first intercontinental ballistic missile carries grave geopolitical implications for a vast swath of the world. Although such an achievement seemed improbable not long ago, it was all but inevitable. The Hermit Kingdom tested its first nuclear bomb in 2006 and has spent the past decade steadily improving the rockets needed to lob one at its enemies. Learn more...

“Lordy, I hope there are tapes,” said an exasperated James Comey in his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8. Comey’s desire reflects a familiar one for individuals accused of lying when the stakes are high. The former FBI director wished for tapes because, in our society, audio and video recordings serve as a final arbiter of truth. He said, she said always loses to what t...

When a piece of unprecedented malicious software rampages through thousands of critical networks around the world, it tends to get our full attention. And this week's digital plague, known as Petya (or NotPetya or Nyetya) proved especially vicious. It paralyzed thousands of computers, including those of Ukrainian government agencies, transportation infrastructure, and companies, as well as interna...

The private ballot is tradition in the United States. Now, President Trump’s voter fraud commission wants to collect every American’s voting history and make it available to the public—all in the name of “election integrity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When a ransomware outbreak exploded from Ukraine across Europe yesterday, disrupting companies, government agencies, and critical infrastructure, it at first appeared to be just another profit-focused cybercriminal scheme---albeit a particularly vicious and damaging one. But its origins in Ukraine raised deeper questions: After all, shadowy hackers have waged a cyberwar there for years, likely at...

When law enforcement argues it needs a “backdoor” into encryption services, the counterargument has typically been that it would be impossible to limit such access to one person or organization. If you leave a key under the doormat, a seminal 2015 paper argues, a burglar eventually find its. And now recent events suggest an even simpler rebuttal: Why entrust a key to someone who gets robbed freque...

How many people specifically know where you are right now? Some friends and family? Your coworkers, maybe? If you're using a Windows laptop or PC you could add another group to the list: the CIA. New documents released on Wednesday as part of WikiLeaks' series of CIA hacking revelations detail a method the agency uses to geolocate computers, and the people using them. Learn more about your ad choi...

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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...

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. Lear...

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...

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 more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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,...

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 yellin...

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...

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 roo...

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 more about your ad choices. V...

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...

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 more ab...