The United States Department of Justice on Wednesday announced charges against a 35-year-old Chinese national, Yunhe Wang, accused of operating a massive botnet allegedly linked to billions of dollars in fraud, child exploitation, and bomb threats, among other crimes. Wang, identified by numerous pseudonyms—Tom Long and Jack Wan, among others—was …
Read More »How Researchers Cracked an 11-Year-Old Password to a $3 Million Crypto Wallet
Two years ago when “Michael,” an owner of cryptocurrency, contacted Joe Grand to help recover access to about $2 million worth of bitcoin he stored in encrypted format on his computer, Grand turned him down. Michael, who is based in Europe and asked to remain anonymous, stored the cryptocurrency in …
Read More »Microsoft’s New Recall AI Tool May Be a ‘Privacy Nightmare’
Sex, drugs, and … Eventbrite? A WIRED investigation published this week uncovered a network of spammers and scammers pushing the illegal sale of controlled substances like Xanax and oxycodone, escort services, social media accounts, and personal information on the event management platform. Making matters worse, Eventbrite’s recommendation algorithm promoted posts …
Read More »He Trained Cops to Fight Crypto Crime—and Allegedly Ran a $100M Dark-Web Drug Market
Two months ago, Lin Rui-siang, a young Taiwanese man wearing black-rimmed glasses and a white polo shirt, stood behind a lectern emblazoned with the crest of the St. Lucia police, giving a presentation titled “Cyber Crime and Cryptocurrency” in nearly fluent English to a roomful of cops from the tiny …
Read More »A Leak of Biometric Police Data Is a Sign of Things to Come
Thousands of law enforcement officials and people applying to be police officers in India have had their personal information leaked online—including fingerprints, facial scan images, signatures, and details of tattoos and scars on their bodies. If that wasn’t alarming enough, at around the same time, cybercriminals have started to advertise …
Read More »Teslas Can Still Be Stolen With a Cheap Radio Hack—Despite New Keyless Tech
For at least a decade, a car theft trick known as a “relay attack” has been the modern equivalent of hot-wiring: a cheap and relatively easy technique to steal hundreds of models of vehicles. A more recent upgrade to the radio protocol in cars' keyless entry systems known as ultra-wideband …
Read More »Eventbrite Promoted Illegal Opioid Sales to People Searching for Addiction Recovery Help
This June, approximately 150 motorcycles will thunder down Route 9W in Saugerties, New York, for Ryan’s Ride for Recovery. Organized by Vince Kelder and his family, the barbecue and raffle will raise money to support their sober-living facility and honor their son who tragically died from a heroin overdose in …
Read More »WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange Can Appeal His Extradition to the US, British Court Says
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can appeal his extradition to the United States, a British court has said. Two judges at the High Court in London today said Assange can officially challenge his extradition order from the United Kingdom in the long-running dispute over the leaking and publication of military secrets. …
Read More »US Official Warns a Cell Network Flaw Is Being Exploited for Spying
Laser warfare, among all the long-unfulfilled imaginings of science fiction writers, is right up there with flying cars. Now it's finally becoming a reality. After decades of research, the US military is actively deploying laser defense systems in the Middle East to shoot down drones launched by adversaries like Yemen's …
Read More »Android Can Now Detect When Your Phone Is Stolen
Billions of Android phones are getting new tools to stop phone thieves from accessing your information and to slow down their criminal behavior, Google announced today at its I/O developer conference. Android phones will soon use artificial intelligence to automatically detect when they have been snatched from your hand and …
Read More »