Security

That HBO Game of Thrones Hack Was Worse Than We Thought

Well, this isn’t terribly surprising. According to the latest dispatch from Variety, the hackers who broke into HBO’s servers and stole 1.5 terabytes of data, including at least one Game of Thrones script, also stole employee data. More specifically, the hackers made off with “thousands of Home Box Office (HBO) internal company documents.” That’s bad.…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes

Every Voting Machine at This Hacking Conference Got Totally Pwned

A noisy cheer went up from the crowd of hackers clustered around the voting machine tucked into the back corner of a casino conference room—they’d just managed to load Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” onto the WinVote, effectively rickrolling democracy. The hack was easy to execute. Two of the hackers working on the…

Privacy & Security Kate Conger

Someone Hacked Into HBO and Is Now Releasing Game of Thrones Info

It’s cyber deja vu time in Hollywood. HBO just confirmed that hackers broke into their servers and stole an unknown quantity of data. Now, unreleased episodes of Ballers and Room 104 have appeared online as well a script that looks an awful lot like next week’s Game of Thrones episode. This is not a drill.…

Privacy & Security Adam Clark Estes

Oh Shit, Will.i.am Could Soon Be in Charge of Your Smart Home

Will.i.am has had a hard time breaking into the tech market. In his latest entrepreneurial venture, he’s jumping into the smart home game. What could go wrong? https://gizmodo.com/let-us-count-some-reasons-why-you-wont-want-will-i-ams-1778367350 Innovator and musician Will.i.am’s lack of luck in the gadget world has always come down to the fact that he’s been so far ahead of his time.…

Privacy & Security Rhett Jones

What’s the Most Secure Way to Lock Your Smartphone?

Smartphone owners today have a plethora of ways to lock and unlock their phones: face scans, finger presses, PIN codes, location detection, and so on. Are some of these options more secure than others? And which one should you use? First, let’s recap of what’s actually available. iPhone owners have the option of Touch ID…

Gadgets David Nield

Adobe Is Finally Killing Flash (For Real, This Time)

Here it is, hiding halfway down the company’s latest press release, like a guillotine in a crowded town square: “Adobe is planning to end-of-life Flash.” Boom. That’s the sound of the blade dropping, and Flash, finally, thankfully, mercifully dying. Because Adobe just killed it. It’s actually slightly more complicated than that. Adobe is working with…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes

Sweden Leaks the Personal Information of Millions of Its Own Citizens

There are security fuck-ups and there are legendary security fuck-ups. This one clearly falls into the latter category. Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven confirmed at a press conference on Monday that his administration potentially exposed the personal information of millions of Sweden’s citizens. https://gizmodo.com/huge-trove-of-confidential-medical-records-discovered-o-1795104856 Normally, for a fuck-up to be legendary, it needs the benefit…

Privacy & Security Rhett Jones

Secure Chat App Wickr Thinks It’s Solved the Encrypted Conference Calls Problem

Remember when encrypting stuff was really hard? It kinda drives me crazy to think about how much time I wasted trying to set up encrypted OTR chat on Adium a few years ago, and now we can just download Signal or WhatsApp or Messenger and bam! Our chats are encrypted, just like that. We can…

Privacy & Security Kate Conger

Uber Unveils New Privacy Tool That Protects Individual User Data

You might think of Uber as a ride-hailing company or a lawsuit-ridden self-driving car developer, but at its core, Uber is a big data company. It has to constantly crunch location coordinates, traffic data, payment information, and tax rates—and putting all that data in Uber’s hands sometimes makes users nervous. But now Uber is debuting…

Privacy & Security Kate Conger

The Era of Chaos-Inducing Ransomware Is Here and It’s Scary as Hell

The ‘90s cyberpunk thriller Hackers is used too often to illustrate the fearful future of cyber security, but it’s popular for a reason. The film’s seemingly fictional scenarios keep coming true. Take this week’s global ransomware attack, for instance. It’s a plot twist that would make Matthew Lillard leer at the camera and cackle. On…

Privacy & Security Adam Clark Estes

Another Ransomware Attack Is Rapidly Spreading Across Europe

Hackers hit Ukraine’s national bank, the state power provider, an airport, and a number of other agencies and companies with a ransomware attack on Tuesday. This left top-ranking Ukrainian officials unable to access computers and an untold number of citizens unable to access their money. The scariest part? The United States could be next. So…

Privacy & Security Adam Clark Estes

All the Best Ways to Back Up Your Data

You’ve got more choices than ever when it comes to backing up your data—you are backing up your data, right?—so how do you choose the best one for your needs? First, it’s a good idea to pick up some kind of external hard drive. You can go the Network Attached Storage (NAS) route if you…

Gadgets David Nield

How to Spot and Remove Stalkerware

As if there aren’t enough tech security threats to worry about, you also need to be on your guard against so-called ‘stalkerware’—invasive programs installed by suspicious spouses, jealous exes or controlling parents without your knowledge. Here are the warning signs (on your computer) to look out for, and what you can do about them. Stalkerware…

Gadgets David Nield

Sphero’s Adorable Spider-Man Toy Has AI Smarts (That Aren’t Creepy)

Once known for its quirky remote-controlled robot balls, Sphero parlayed that technology into a massive consumer hit with its Star Wars: The Force Awakens BB-8 toy. As a result, the company has been able to expand beyond the sphere, first with a robotic version of Cars’ Lightning McQueen, and now with an interactive Spider-Man figure…

Other Gadgets Andrew Liszewski

US Blames North Korea for Series of DDoS Attacks

The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a rare cybersecurity bulletin linking North Korea to a series of attacks that have targeted US businesses and critical infrastructure since 2009. The alert focuses on a malware strain called DeltaCharlie, which DHS and FBI say was used by the North Korean government…

Privacy & Security Kate Conger

Russia’s Attack on the US Election Was Apparently Much Worse Than We Thought

If you had any doubt that Russian hackers attempted to meddle with the United States electoral system, a new report from Bloomberg is here to scare the shit out of you. Not only did Russia go after a voting software supplier in one state (as previously reported by The Intercept), Putin’s cyber army reportedly targeted…

Privacy & Security Adam Clark Estes

Hackers Built a Weapon to Trigger Blackouts—and It Could Work Anywhere

The seemingly local cyberattack that cut power to part of Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, last December could have been a test run. And security researchers now say the malware believed to have caused the blackout is actually modular, mostly automated, and highly adaptable. That means it doesn’t just work on electrical grids in Ukraine. This dangerous…

Privacy & Security Adam Clark Estes

Apple Rolls Out New Feature That Permanently Associates Devices with Apps, Even After Deletion

Tim Cook once scolded Travis Kalanick about Uber’s practice of tracking users even after they deleted the app from their iPhones. But in its newest operating system, iOS 11, Apple is rolling out a feature that will allow the same type of tracking—but with fewer privacy implications. Apple’s new feature is called DeviceCheck and, if developers…

Tech News Kate Conger

Researcher Found Another Twitter Vulnerability That Allowed Tweeting From Any Account

A bug in a Twitter product could have allowed attackers to send tweets from any account and delete photos and videos from published tweets, according to a recent blog post by the security researcher who discovered it. It’s the second broad vulnerability in the product, called Studio, that’s come to light recently, raising questions about how…

Privacy & Security Kate Conger

Protect Yourself Against Ransomware With a Solid Backup System

Data backups can save your skin from all kinds of IT mishaps like dropping your laptop in a lake or having a virus blast through your hard drive. You should be backing everything up! Thanks to the recent spree of ransomware attacks, it’s once again time to evaluate your backup system, so you’re prepared in…

Gadgets David Nield

That HBO Game of Thrones Hack Was Worse Than We Thought

Every Voting Machine at This Hacking Conference Got Totally Pwned

Someone Hacked Into HBO and Is Now Releasing Game of Thrones Info

Oh Shit, Will.i.am Could Soon Be in Charge of Your Smart Home

What’s the Most Secure Way to Lock Your Smartphone?

Adobe Is Finally Killing Flash (For Real, This Time)

Sweden Leaks the Personal Information of Millions of Its Own Citizens

Secure Chat App Wickr Thinks It’s Solved the Encrypted Conference Calls Problem

Uber Unveils New Privacy Tool That Protects Individual User Data

The Era of Chaos-Inducing Ransomware Is Here and It’s Scary as Hell

Another Ransomware Attack Is Rapidly Spreading Across Europe

All the Best Ways to Back Up Your Data

How to Spot and Remove Stalkerware

Sphero’s Adorable Spider-Man Toy Has AI Smarts (That Aren’t Creepy)

US Blames North Korea for Series of DDoS Attacks

Russia’s Attack on the US Election Was Apparently Much Worse Than We Thought

Hackers Built a Weapon to Trigger Blackouts—and It Could Work Anywhere

Apple Rolls Out New Feature That Permanently Associates Devices with Apps, Even After Deletion

Researcher Found Another Twitter Vulnerability That Allowed Tweeting From Any Account

Protect Yourself Against Ransomware With a Solid Backup System

Even the ‘Avatar’ Fighting Game Is Disrespecting ‘Legend of Korra’

Bluesky Has a New App, and It’s All About AI

Dammit, Jim, He’s a Doctor And an Action Figure!

Whatever Just Happened with ‘Fruit Love Island,’ Nobody Won

AMC Puts a Stake in ‘Talamasca’ After One Season

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

2027 Is Shaping Up to Be a Great Year for Big Sci-Fi RPGs

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

Let us help find what you are looking for...

Security

That HBO Game of Thrones Hack Was Worse Than We Thought

Every Voting Machine at This Hacking Conference Got Totally Pwned

Someone Hacked Into HBO and Is Now Releasing Game of Thrones Info

Oh Shit, Will.i.am Could Soon Be in Charge of Your Smart Home

What’s the Most Secure Way to Lock Your Smartphone?

Adobe Is Finally Killing Flash (For Real, This Time)

Sweden Leaks the Personal Information of Millions of Its Own Citizens

Secure Chat App Wickr Thinks It’s Solved the Encrypted Conference Calls Problem

Uber Unveils New Privacy Tool That Protects Individual User Data

The Era of Chaos-Inducing Ransomware Is Here and It’s Scary as Hell

Another Ransomware Attack Is Rapidly Spreading Across Europe

All the Best Ways to Back Up Your Data

How to Spot and Remove Stalkerware

Sphero’s Adorable Spider-Man Toy Has AI Smarts (That Aren’t Creepy)

US Blames North Korea for Series of DDoS Attacks

Russia’s Attack on the US Election Was Apparently Much Worse Than We Thought

Hackers Built a Weapon to Trigger Blackouts—and It Could Work Anywhere

Apple Rolls Out New Feature That Permanently Associates Devices with Apps, Even After Deletion

Researcher Found Another Twitter Vulnerability That Allowed Tweeting From Any Account

Protect Yourself Against Ransomware With a Solid Backup System

Even the ‘Avatar’ Fighting Game Is Disrespecting ‘Legend of Korra’

Bluesky Has a New App, and It’s All About AI

Dammit, Jim, He’s a Doctor *And* an Action Figure!

Whatever Just Happened with ‘Fruit Love Island,’ Nobody Won

AMC Puts a Stake in ‘Talamasca’ After One Season

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

2027 Is Shaping Up to Be a Great Year for Big Sci-Fi RPGs

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

Let us help find what you are looking for...

Dammit, Jim, He’s a Doctor And an Action Figure!