Tag Archives: security

The War on Passwords Is One Step Closer to Being Over

The password-killing tech known as “passkeys” have proliferated over the past two years, developed by the tech industry association known as the FIDO Alliance as an easier and more secure authentication alternative. And although superseding any technology as entrenched as passwords is difficult, new features and resources launching this week …

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Amid Air Strikes and Rockets, an SMS From the Enemy

At the start of September, Nour was having an ordinary evening at home in Beirut—eating pumpkin seeds and watching Netflix—when the SMS hit her device like the smartphone version of a brick through her window. The sender name appeared as eight question marks, “????? ???”, and in the message preview …

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Your Phone Won’t Be the Next Exploding Pager

For two days this week, Hezbollah has been rocked by a series of small explosions across Lebanon, injuring thousands and killing at least 25. But these attacks haven’t come from rockets or drones. Instead, they’ve resulted from boobytrapped electronics—including pagers, walkie-talkies, and even, reportedly, solar equipment—detonating in coordinated waves. As …

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Did a Chinese University Hacking Competition Target a Real Victim?

Capture the flag hacking contests at security conferences generally serve two purposes: to help participants develop and demonstrate computer hacking and security skills, and to assist employers and government agencies with discovering and recruiting new talent. But one security conference in China may have taken its contest a step further—potentially …

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Walkie-Talkies Explode in New Attack on Hezbollah

With Hezbollah and Lebanon still reeling from a coordinated wave of pager explosions on Tuesday that killed at least 12 people and injured thousands, another bombardment began on Wednesday, this time taking the form of exploding two-way radios. Footage of the explosions, which was not independently confirmed by WIRED, appears …

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Do You Need an Antivirus Program on Windows?

Once upon a time, an antivirus program would be the one of the first pieces of software you would install on a new Windows PC. Now, that’s much less common. Many users instead now rely on the Windows Security tool that’s built into Microsoft’s operating system to keep them protected …

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