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US arrests two members of console hacking group Team Xecuter
Two leaders of console hacking group Team Xecuter are in FBI custody.
Igor Bonifacic10.02.2020Twitter removed 130 Iran-linked accounts during last night's debate
Twitter has removed 130 accounts that appeared to originate from Iran and were attempting to disrupt public conversation around the 2020 US Presidential debate. The social network’s Support account has revealed the deletion on the platform. It also posted sample tweets that show support for Trump and question whether moderator Chris Wallace truly is nonpartisan.
Mariella Moon10.01.2020Twitter will keep fighting to share government data requests
Twitter’s years-long battle over government surveillance and transparency isn’t over yet.
Christine Fisher09.24.2020Judge rules FBI, NSA broke the law and court orders with data collection
A judge has determined that the FBI and NSA broke the law and court orders when they collected data from email and other US communications.
Jon Fingas09.05.2020Tesla worked with the FBI to block a million dollar ransomware attack
Tesla avoided a ransomware attack with the help of an honest employee and the FBI.
Christine Fisher08.27.2020FBI and CISA warn against surge in voice phishing campaigns
Authorities saw an uptick in voice phishing (or “vishing”) campaigns after the pandemic forced companies to implement work-from-home arrangements. While the agencies didn’t confirm the report, they said that cybercriminals started a vishing campaign in mid-July 2020.
Mariella Moon08.23.2020US officials seize cryptocurrency accounts tied to al-Qaeda and ISIS
Agents recouped about $2 million worth of virtual currency in total.
Kris Holt08.13.2020FBI reportedly uses a travel company's data for worldwide surveillance
The FBI has reportedly used a massive repository of travel data from Sabre to surveil people worldwide, including at least one in real time.
Jon Fingas07.18.2020The FBI is investigating the Twitter Bitcoin hack
The hack has already triggered multiple investigations and Congressional scrutiny.
Karissa Bell07.16.2020Facebook paid for a tool to hack its own user, then handed it to the FBI
According to Motherboard, Facebook paid a security firm to develop a hack that the FBI eventually used to bring down a serial child abuser.
Christine Fisher06.10.2020House amendment would require warrants for web history searches
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren announced an amendment that would prohibit the collection of Americans’ internet search history and web browsing data without a warrant.
Christine Fisher05.26.2020District judge rules FBI needs a warrant to access your lock screen
A Washington state judge ruled that the FBI needs a search warrant to look at a suspect's lock screen.
Marc DeAngelis05.22.2020AG Barr seeks 'legislative solution' to make companies unlock phones
Attorney General William Barr wants to force companies like Apple to unlock phones recovered in criminal investigations.
Marc DeAngelis05.18.2020FBI accuses China of attempting to steal US COVID-19 research
The FBI warns that China-backed hackers are attempting to steal COVID-19 research from organizations in the US.
Christine Fisher05.13.2020FBI sees cybercrime reports increase fourfold during COVID-19 outbreak
Cybercrime has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rachel England04.20.2020Judge denies Twitter effort to reveal US surveillance requests
A judge has ruled that Twitter's demand to reveal exact surveillance request numbers would risk national security.
Jon Fingas04.18.2020NYT: $100 million US phone surveillance program produced two unique leads
After 2015, the USA Freedom Act replaced NSA mass surveillance of American's call metadata that had been enacted under the Patriot Act and Section 215. While it didn't go so far as to completely reform the system as groups like the EFF and ACLU hoped, it changed things by having phone companies collect the data, under limits of how long it could be stored, with queries performed by agencies with a judge's permission. Even the new rules have had problems, with phone companies storing more data than was legally allowed causing the NSA to wipe all data collected in 2018. Also, even more limited queries could end up touching millions of records. Now the New York Times reports on a just-declassified study by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board from last year that looked into the program and found that it had only ever generated two unique leads during the time it was operating. That's out of 15 reports total, but 13 had information the FBI was able to get through other methods, At a cost of over $100 million to operate the setup, this almost complete lack of production reveals more about why the NSA had stopped using it. Sections of the Patriot Act were set to expire in 2019, but despite reported recommendations by the NSA to shut things down, they were extended as part of a funding bill. Now they're up for review again by March 15th, and despite proposed bipartisan legislation intended to replace the program, AG William Barr is again pushing for an extension.
Richard Lawler02.26.2020Huawei accuses US Justice Department of 'political persecution'
One day after the US Justice Department announced 16 new charges against Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer has responded. In a lengthy statement, the company defends its track record, and accuses the US government of "using the strength of an entire nation to come after a private company."
Igor Bonifacic02.14.2020Justice Department charges Huawei with stealing trade secrets, again
The US Justice Department has charged Huawei and two US subsidiaries with racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to steal trade secrets. A 16-count superseding indictment, filed yesterday in Brooklyn, New York, adds to previous US charges filed against Huawei last January. The indictment names several defendants, including Huawei's Chief Financial Officer Wanzhou Meng, who is already facing fraud accusations and could serve years in prison.
Christine Fisher02.13.2020Puerto Rico's government lost $2.6 million to a phishing scam
An email phishing scam duped the government of Puerto Rico into transferring more than $2.6 million into a fraudulent account, The Associated Press reports. A government agency transferred the funds on January 17th, but the incident was just discovered this week. Puerto Rico is working with the FBI to investigate and recover the funds.
Christine Fisher02.13.2020