The FCC wants to roll back steps meant to stop a repeat of a massive telecom hack
The FCC wants to roll back steps meant to stop a repeat of a massive telecom hack After one of the biggest telecom hacks in US history, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) moved to enforce strict standards on carriers’ cybersecurity measures. On Thursday, the agency is set to vote to roll back those requirements, arguing […]
Cloudflare explains Tuesday’s outage that temporarily took down ChatGPT
Cloudflare explains Tuesday's outage that temporarily took down ChatGPT A blog post published Tuesday night by Cloudflare co-founder and CEO Matthew Prince has details on what caused its “worst outage since 2019,” pinning the issue to a problem in the Bot Management system that is supposed to control which automated crawlers are allowed to scan […]
Cloudflare outages aren’t a matter of if — but when
Cloudflare outages aren't a matter of if — but when Cloudflare has become the latest web infrastructure giant to collapse in the span of a month, replacing entire sites, including X, ChatGPT, Spotify, Canva, and even the outage-tracking DownDetector, with an error message for hours this morning. It’s the latest in a string of outages […]
X launches Chat, its new encrypted DMs
X launches Chat, its new encrypted DMs X has revealed Chat, an encrypted upgrade to the platform’s direct messaging service. It also includes support for video and voice calls, disappearing messages, and file sharing. The company announced Chat on Friday, and it’s available now on iOS and the web, with an Android version coming “soon.” […]
Google is collecting troves of data from downgraded Nest thermostats
Google is collecting troves of data from downgraded Nest thermostats The second-gen Nest Thermostat launched in 2012. Google officially turned off remote control functionality for early Nest Learning Thermostats last month, but it hasn’t stopped collecting a stream of data from these downgraded devices. After digging into the backend, security researcher Cody Kociemba found that […]
Google will let ‘experienced users’ keep sideloading Android apps
Google will let 'experienced users' keep sideloading Android apps Google says that it’s softening its plan to require every Android developer — even outside of the Play Store — to verify their identity, a move which critics warned could kill sideloading for good. The company now says it’s developing a workflow to allow “experienced users” […]
America’s cybersecurity defenses are cracking
America's cybersecurity defenses are cracking It was late June, and something strange was happening on Arizona’s online portal for political candidates. Images of the candidates were disappearing. Photos of the Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini were popping up in their place. The state would later come to believe it was an attack from an Iranian government-affiliated […]
Hackers threaten to leak ‘woke’ University of Pennsylvania student data
Hackers threaten to leak 'woke' University of Pennsylvania student data “We got hacked,” members of the University of Pennsylvania community were told in the subject line of several emails sent from addresses linked to its Graduate School of Education. The sender, apparently, was the potential hacker or hackers themselves. “The University of Pennsylvania is a […]
WhatsApp can now use passkeys to secure your backups
WhatsApp can now use passkeys to secure your backups Say hello to passkey backup encryption. WhatsApp is introducing a passwordless way to instantly secure your chat backups. The messaging platform is launching passkey-encrypted backups for iOS and Android, allowing users to quickly encrypt their stored message history using their face, fingerprint, or device screen lock […]
‘There isn’t really another choice:’ Signal chief explains why the encrypted messenger relies on AWS
'There isn't really another choice:' Signal chief explains why the encrypted messenger relies on AWS After last week’s major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage took Signal along with it, Elon Musk was quick to criticize the encrypted messaging app’s reliance on big tech. But Signal president Meredith Whittaker argues that the company didn’t have any […]