Security news

Security

Police are probing apparent cyber vandalism on Wi-Fi networks at UK train stations

U.K. transport officials and police said Thursday they are investigating a "cyber-security incident" after users of public Wi-Fi networks at the country's biggest railway stations reported being shown anti-Muslim messages.

Security

AI is fueling a deepfake porn crisis in South Korea. What's behind it—and how can it be fixed?

It's difficult to talk about artificial intelligence without talking about deepfake porn—a harmful AI byproduct that has been used to target everyone from Taylor Swift to Australian school girls.

Security

How did they get my data? I uncovered the hidden web of networks behind telemarketers

Last year, I started getting a lot of unsolicited phone calls, mainly from people trying to sell me things. This came as a surprise because, as a data scientist, I am very careful about what personal information I let out ...

Business

Ukraine bans Telegram messenger app on state-issued devices because of Russian security threat

Ukraine has banned government officials, military personnel and other defense and critical infrastructure workers from installing the popular Telegram messaging app on state-issued devices, describing the move as necessary ...

Security

Encrypted 'Ghost' app: What we know

Police revealed Tuesday they had infiltrated and taken down an encrypted chat app called Ghost used by criminals across the world.

Security

'Good complexity' can make hospital networks more cybersecure

In May, a major cyberattack disabled clinical operations for nearly a month at Ascension, a health care provider that includes 140 hospitals across the U.S. Investigators tracked the problem to malicious ransomware that had ...

Security

New tools use AI 'fingerprints' to detect altered photos, videos

As artificial intelligence networks become more skilled and easier to access, digitally manipulated "deepfake" photos and videos are increasingly difficult to detect. New research led by Binghamton University, State University ...

Software

Usable data hacked from air-gapped computer

A team of software and information systems engineers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Israel, has demonstrated an ability to extract useful data from an air-gapped computer. The group has posted a paper to the arXiv ...

Security

Five notorious cyberattacks that targeted governments

Warfare is no longer confined to physical battlefields. In the digital age, a new front has emerged—cyberspace. Here, countries clash not with bullets and bombs, but with lines of code and sophisticated malware.

Security

Spyware find highlights depth of hacker-for-hire industry

Security researchers said Thursday they found two kinds of commercial spyware on the phone of a leading exiled Egyptian dissident, providing new evidence of the depth and diversity of the abusive hacker-for-hire industry.

Security

Here's how to stay safe while online shopping for the holidays

The holiday season is one of the busiest times of year for most online retailers—and for would-be scammers. While millions of people are searching for that perfect gift, hackers and online thieves will be looking for security ...

Internet

Keeping the world connected, without sacrificing privacy

Smart phones, vehicles, thermostats, fitness monitors and other internet-connected devices have made our lives far more convenient, but the amount of personal data they upload to the cloud has raised concerns about privacy. ...

Security

EXPLAINER: The security flaw that's freaked out the internet

Security pros say it's one of the worst computer vulnerabilities they've ever seen. Firms including Microsoft say state-backed Chinese and Iranian hackers and rogue cryptocurrency miners have already seized on it.

Computer Sciences

New tool protects users' private data while they browse

Computer scientists funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and affiliated with the University of California San Diego and Brave Software have developed a tool that will increase protections for users' private data ...

Security

Germany: 'Critical' cybersecurity flaw already exploited

Germany has activated its national IT crisis center in response to an "extremely critical" flaw in a widely used software tool that the government says has already been exploited internationally.

Security

Indian PM's Twitter hacked again by crypto scammers

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Twitter account was hacked Sunday with a message declaring his country had adopted bitcoin as legal tender and was distributing the cryptocurrency to citizens.

Security

Global race to patch critical computer bug

Security experts around the world raced Friday to patch one of the worst computer vulnerabilities discovered in years, a critical flaw in open-source code widely used across industry and government in cloud services and enterprise ...

Computer Sciences

Researchers unveil new cyber protections against "logic bombs"

Cybersecurity researchers at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and the Georgia Institute of Technology have proposed new ways to protect 3D printed objects such as drones, prostheses and medical devices from stealthy "logic ...

Security

Group: Pandemic tech tools raise risk of everyday tracking

Tech tools like digital contact tracing apps and artificial intelligence that European governments rolled out to combat COVID-19 failed to play a key role in solving the pandemic and now threaten to make such monitoring widely ...

Security

Google disrupts cybercrime web infecting 1 mn devices

Google said Tuesday it has moved to shut down a network of about one million hijacked electronic devices used worldwide to commit online crimes, while also suing Russia-based hackers the tech giant claimed were responsible.