Why Facebook's Banned 'Research' App Was So Invasive

Until Apple revoked its privileges Wednesday, Facebook was paying iOS users $20 a month to download and install the data-sucking application.

from
https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-research-app-root-certificate

Facebook Hires Up Three of Its Biggest Privacy Critics

Can a trio of privacy advocates effect change from within Facebook—or will they be stifled by corporate bureaucracy?

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https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-hires-privacy-critics

Hackers Are Passing Around a Megaleak of 2.2 Billion Records

The so-called Collections #1-5 represent a gargantuan, patched-together Frankenstein of rotting personal data.

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https://www.wired.com/story/collection-leak-usernames-passwords-billions

The Threat That the US Can't Ignore: Itself

Tuesday's worldwide threats briefing to Congress outline numerous concerns for US security—many of which Donald Trump has inflamed or denied.

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https://www.wired.com/story/worldwide-threats-briefing-donald-trump-china-north-korea

Google Takes Its First Steps Toward Killing the URL

Google wants to get rid of URLs. But first, it needs to show you why.

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https://www.wired.com/story/google-chrome-kill-url-first-steps

Apple Takes Drastic Measures to Stop a Nasty FaceTime Bug

Group FaceTime chats let people eavesdrop on whoever they called, a bug so bad that Apple pulled the plug until it comes up with a fix.

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https://www.wired.com/story/apple-facetime-bug-group-chats

Security Isn't Enough. Silicon Valley Needs 'Abusability' Testing

Former FTC chief technologist Ashkan Soltani argues it's time for Silicon Valley companies to formalize and test not just their products' security, but its "abusability."

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https://www.wired.com/story/abusability-testing-ashkan-soltani

A Six Flags Fingerprints Ruling, Supply Chain Hacks, and More Security News This Week

Google's elite security team, police scanner encryption, and more of the week's top security news.

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https://www.wired.com/story/six-flags-biometric-privacy-security-roundup

The Pitfalls of Facebook Merging Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp

Facebook's effort to combine its major chat platforms could create minefields for users who rely on end-to-end encryption.

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https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-messenger-whatsapp-instagram-chat-combined-encryption-identity

The Roger Stone Indictment: 4 Key Takeaways

The indictment of longtime Trump advisor Roger Stone allegedly sheds new light on where the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks intersected.

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https://www.wired.com/story/roger-stone-indictment-wikileaks-mueller-investigation

One Man’s Obsessive Fight to Reclaim His Cambridge Analytica Data

David Carroll has been locked in a legal war to force the infamous company to turn over its files on him. He’s won a battle, but the struggle continues.

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https://www.wired.com/story/one-mans-obsessive-fight-to-reclaim-his-cambridge-analytica-data

It’s Not Quite Doomsday o’Clock—But It Should Be

Opinion: The apocalyptic clock remains fixed at two minutes to midnight—as close as we've ever been to catastrophe. That's not close enough.

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https://www.wired.com/story/its-nearly-doomsday-o-clock

Nest Cams Hijacked in the Name of PewDiePie and North Korea Pranks

In separate incidents, hackers have used poor password hygiene to terrify Nest camera owners.

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https://www.wired.com/story/nest-cameras-pew-die-pie-north-korea-passwords

Jargon Watch: Stochastic Terrorism Lets Bullies Operate in Plain Sight

It takes a master demagogue to weaponize unstable individuals and aim them at political enemies.

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https://www.wired.com/story/jargon-watch-rising-danger-stochastic-terrorism

How to Find Your Netflix Freeloaders—and Kick Them Out

Sharing is caring. But it's worth checking if your streaming accounts have picked up any suspicious stragglers along the way

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https://www.wired.com/story/netflix-hulu-spotify-shared-account-freeloaders

DNC Accuses Russia, ACLU Sues ICE, and More Security News This Week

Trump dominated security headlines this week, but there's plenty of other news to catch up on.

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https://www.wired.com/story/dnc-russia-spearphishing-aclu-lawsuit-security-roundup

If Trump Told Cohen to Lie, Impeachment Is Coming

An explosive new report from Buzzfeed News makes the impeachment of Donald Trump not just possible, but likely.

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https://www.wired.com/story/trump-impeachment-mueller-cohen

Trump's Missile Defense Plan Creates More Problems Than It Solves

The Trump administration has presented its Missile Defense Review, and yes, there are lasers.

from
https://www.wired.com/story/trump-missile-defense-review

How the Feds Failed to Track Thousands of Separated Children

Ad-hoc systems and haphazard databases made the Trump administration’s cruel border separation policies somehow even worse.

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https://www.wired.com/story/oig-report-trump-separated-children-border

Be Careful Using Bots on Telegram

Introducing a bot to a secure Telegram conversation downgrades the level of encryption—without providing any visual cues.

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https://www.wired.com/story/telegram-bots-tls-encryption

How Trump Could Wind up Making Globalism Great Again

OK, so it was never great in the first place. But the rise of rank nationalists could finally—perversely—spark an era of progress and cooperation for all humanity.

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https://www.wired.com/story/trump-style-nationalism-make-globalism-great-again

An Astonishing 773 Million Records Exposed in Monster Breach

Collection #1 appears to be the biggest public breach yet, with millions of unique passwords sitting out in the open.

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https://www.wired.com/story/collection-one-breach-email-accounts-passwords

Trump Must Be a Russian Agent. The Alternative Is Too Awful

We know a lot about the “what” of the Mueller probe’s findings. The crucial questions now focus on the “why?”

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https://www.wired.com/story/president-trump-mueller-russia-agent-putin

A 'Fortnite' Vulnerability Exposed Accounts to Takeover

Epic Games has since patched the attack, which would have allowed attackers to view account info, listen in on in-game conversations, and more.

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https://www.wired.com/story/fortnite-vulnerability-account-takeover

As the Government Shutdown Drags on, Security Risks Intensify

From potential nation state hacks to a brain drain, the shutdown has done nothing good for cybersecurity.

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https://www.wired.com/story/government-shutdown-cybersecurity-impact

Facebook's '10 Year Challenge' Is Just a Harmless Meme—Right?

Opinion: The 2009 vs. 2019 profile picture trend may or may not have been a data collection ruse to train its facial recognition algorithm. But we can't afford to blithely play along.

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https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-10-year-meme-challenge

How GPS Tracking Technology Can Curb Domestic Violence

Opinion: GPS-monitored violent offenders are 95 percent less likely to commit a new crime. We need to implement an integrated, nationwide domestic violence program that tracks domestic abusers.

from
https://www.wired.com/story/gps-tracking-technology-can-curb-domestic-violence

Ring Security Cam Snooping, Location Tracking, and More Security News This Week

A German hack confession, unencrypted government sites, and more security news this week.

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https://www.wired.com/story/security-news-this-week-employees-may-have-snooped-on-ring-security-camera-feeds

A Worldwide Hacking Spree Uses DNS Trickery to Nab Data

Security researchers suspect that Iran has spent the last two years pilfering data from telecoms, governments, and more.

from
https://www.wired.com/story/iran-dns-hijacking

Your Old Tweets Give Away More Location Data Than You Think

Researchers built a tool that can predict where you live and work, as well as other sensitive information, just by using geotagged tweets.

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https://www.wired.com/story/twitter-location-data-gps-privacy

Carriers Swore They'd Stop Selling Location Data. Will They Ever?

Months after Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon promised to stop selling user location data, the practice continues.

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https://www.wired.com/story/carriers-sell-location-data-third-parties-privacy

A Growing Frontier for Terrorist Groups: Unsuspecting Chat Apps

Opinion: As Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube crack down on extremist propaganda, ISIS recruiters are exploiting lesser-known messenger apps.

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https://www.wired.com/story/terrorist-groups-prey-on-unsuspecting-chat-apps

Paul Manafort Is Bad at Basic Tech, From Passwords to PDFs

The former Trump campaign chair keeps getting in trouble thanks at least in part to subpar digital security.

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https://www.wired.com/story/paul-manafort-bad-tech-pdfs-passwords

A YubiKey for iOS Will Soon Free Your iPhone From Passwords

Yubico has finally gotten the green light from Apple to make a hardware authentication token that works on iPhones and iPads.

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https://www.wired.com/story/yubikey-lightning-ios-authentication-passwords

Mueller Investigation 2019: Indictments, Witnesses, and More

The special counsel has lots of unfinished business on his to-do list this year, including a final report. Here's a rundown.

from
https://www.wired.com/story/robert-muellers-2019-to-do-list

The 'Twinning' Fad, the Weather Channel, and More Security News

A rogue PewDiePie fan, Marriott hack details, and more of the week's top security news.

from
https://www.wired.com/story/security-news-this-week-that-viral-twinning-site-leaked-a-bunch-of-photos

A Major Hacking Spree Gets Personal for German Politicians

Hundreds of German politicians who have had their private digital lives exposed online are victims of a hacking campaign with unclear motives.

from
https://www.wired.com/story/germany-hacking-politicians-personal-information

The Elite Intel Team Still Fighting Meltdown and Spectre

One year after a pair of devastating processor vulnerabilities were first disclosed, Intel's still dealing with the fallout.

from
https://www.wired.com/story/intel-meltdown-spectre-storm

Tor Is Easier Than Ever. Time to Give It a Try

Been curious about Tor but worried it's too complicated to use? Good news: The anonymity service is more accessible than ever.

from
https://www.wired.com/story/tor-anonymity-easier-than-ever