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Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Hackers Leak Data on D.C. Cops as Part of Extortion Scheme
In an attempt to extort some unknown amount of money out of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, hackers with the Babuk ransomware gang have leaked large amounts of data on five of the department’s officers. The data, which was published on the gang’s dark web site early Wednesday morning, is quite extensive, and includes individual … Continued
By Lucas Ropek -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Confused Feds Subpoena Signal for Data It Doesn’t Collect
For the second time in several years, Signal has been subpoenaed by federal investigators for data that the encrypted chat app company doesn’t actually collect. In a statement published Wednesday, the company disclosed that it had recently received a summons from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California, as part of a … Continued
By Lucas Ropek -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Signal’s Cellebrite Hack Is Already Causing Grief for the Law
A Maryland defense attorney has decided to challenge the conviction of one of his clients after it was recently discovered that the phone cracking product used in the case, produced by digital forensics firm Cellebrite, has severe cybersecurity flaws that could make it vulnerable to hacking. Ramon Rozas, who has practiced law for 25 years, … Continued
By Lucas Ropek -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Please, Don’t Trade Your Cookies for Cookies
MSCHF, the Brooklyn-based art collective you might remember from the recent Satanic Shoes debacle featuring Lil Nas X, has a new pitch for you: trade in your digital cookies for real ones. The conceit of this project is pretty simple: you download the Cooooookies browser extension, which then hangs out in the corner of your … Continued
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Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Hackers Say They Stole 250GB of Internal Documents From DC Police
Hackers with the Babuk Locker ransomware gang claim to have stolen 250GB of sensitive internal documents belonging to the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC, and are now extorting the public agency for an unknown sum of money. The stolen documents that the cybercriminals are now threatening to publish include intelligence on urban gang activity, … Continued
By Lucas Ropek -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Update Your Mac Right Now to Avoid This Massive Security Bug
If you haven’t already, you should update your Mac right now. A recently patched zero-day vulnerability in macOS operating systems has been allowing hackers to bypass much of Apple’s security protocols and deploy malware on an unknown amount of computers, new research shows. The bug, which was discovered in March by security researcher Cedric Owens, … Continued
By Lucas Ropek -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Enterprise Password Manager Passwordstate Hacked, Exposing Users’ Passwords for 28 Hours
Passwordstate, the enterprise password manager offered by Australian software developer Click Studios, was hacked earlier this week, exposing the passwords of an undisclosed number of its clients for approximately 28 hours. The hack was carried out through an upgrade feature for the password manager and potentially harvested the passwords of those who carried out upgrades. … Continued
By Jody Serrano -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Researchers Take Down Botnet Pretending to Be Millions of People Watching TV
Fraudsters operate off the assumption that it’s way more profitable to think up byzantine ways to cheat people out of money than it is to just, like, work hard and ask for a promotion occasionally. For instance: an Israeli tech company is currently accused of using a very convoluted method to screw advertisers out of … Continued
By Lucas Ropek -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Anonymous NatSec Officials: The Cuban Ray Guns Are in Syria Now, Just Trust Us on This
Here we go again with the anonymously sourced claims Russia is trying to fry the innards of U.S. government personnel abroad, using energy guns secretly manufactured using updated Soviet blueprints. According to Politico, anonymous officials said the Pentagon has briefed members of Congress on “intelligence surrounding suspected directed-energy attacks against U.S. troops,” with the outlet … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Signal’s CEO Just Hacked the Cops’ Favorite Phone Cracking Tool and Became a Legend
Israeli digital intelligence firm Cellebrite sells software designed to unlock phones and extract their data. As a result, its products are a favorite of law enforcement agencies across the U.S., and police frequently use them to gather evidence from seized devices. In the past, the company has received criticism for its willingness to sell to pretty … Continued
By Lucas Ropek -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
A Notorious Ransomware Gang Claims to Have Stolen Apple’s Product Designs
Cybercriminals claim to have stolen blueprints for some of Apple’s newest products and are now attempting to extort the tech giant by threatening to publish the documents online. On Tuesday, the ransomware gang REvil publicly claimed that it had hacked Quanta Computer, a third-party supplier in Taiwan that has partnerships with over a dozen large … Continued
By Lucas Ropek -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
A Geico Data Breach Let Cyber Fraudsters Steal Customers’ Driver’s License Numbers
Car insurance giant Geico has quietly disclosed that a recent security breach allowed cyber thieves to steal customers’ driver’s license information right off the company’s website. The breach was made public Monday after TechCrunch noticed that the company had recently filed a breach notice with the California Attorney General’s Office—as is required by state law. … Continued
By Lucas Ropek -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
CBP Releases Video From Predator Drone Deployed Over George Floyd Protests
Shortly after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd last year, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) flew a Predator drone over the city in an effort to surveil the ongoing protests against police brutality occurring there. The drone, which took off from Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota and flew in a holding … Continued
By Lucas Ropek -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
U.S. Federal Investigators Are Reportedly Looking Into Codecov Security Breach, Undetected for Months
U.S. federal investigators are purportedly looking into a security breach at Codecov, a platform used to test software code with more 29,000 customers worldwide, Reuters reported on Saturday. The company has confirmed the breach and stated that it went undetected for months. According to Reuters, the breach has affected an unknown number of the company’s … Continued
By Jody Serrano -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Leaked Data Reportedly Shows Cops Donated to Kyle Rittenhouse’s Legal Defense Fund
A new investigation from The Guardian shows police and other public officials have been financially contributing to the legal defense of Kyle Rittenhouse, the 18-year-old “Kenosha shooter” and rightwing icon currently on trial for the deaths of two people. Rittenhouse became infamous last summer after traveling from his home in Illinois to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where … Continued
By Lucas Ropek -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
A Tesla Helped Police Track Down a Hate Crime Suspect Accused of Burning Down a Black Church
In the category of news that is both good but also unsettling: Authorities say a Tesla’s security system recently helped them catch the culprit behind a string of hate crimes. Throughout December, someone was setting fires at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Presbyterian Church, a “predominately Black” congregation located in Springfield, Massachusetts. An FBI … Continued
By Lucas Ropek -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
CIA: We Can’t Rule Out the ‘Lab Leak’ Theory of Covid-19’s Origins
Top U.S. intelligence officials reiterated Thursday that they could not rule out the possibility that covid-19 leaked out of a Chinese government lab, as opposed to originating from animal-to-human transmission. During a House committee hearing on global threats, Director of Intelligence Avril Haines and CIA Director William Burns both stated that the controversial theory of … Continued
By Lucas Ropek -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
U.S. Lawmakers Pressure DOJ Over Funding of Predictive Policing Tools
Ratcheting up pressure on the Justice Department to crack down on unregulated predictive policing algorithms, Democratic lawmakers on Thursday called for strict new requirements on any DOJ-funded research into police tools promising to forecast crime, saying that research into some programs already in use has revealed “major problems with their effectiveness and reliability.” “These algorithms, … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Mystery of Who Cracked the San Bernardino Shooter’s iPhone for the FBI Solved After 5 Years
When the U.S. government wanted to break into a dead terrorist’s iPhone several years ago, they turned to a little-known cybersecurity startup in Australia to help them do it,a Washington Post investigation has revealed. Azimuth Security, located in Sydney, specializes in providing “best-of-breed technical services” to clients, according to its website. Those services allowed the … Continued
By Lucas Ropek -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Gaze Upon My Browser Extensions and Despair
They’re not what any of us would call “intimate,” but you can really tell a lot about a person from a quick glance at the browser extensions they use. Is your boyfriend’s browser decorated with favicons from Evernote, Trello, and literally nothing else? He’s either a type-A perfectionist or zen to a fault. Is your … Continued