Security

Taken Down

Meta Ran Ads for an App That Promised to Nudify Female Politicians

One advertisement featured a pornographic video with a deepfake closely resembling a prominent US politician. Apple removed the app from the App Store after an inquiry from WIRED.

Vittoria Elliott and Matt Burgess

The Big Interview

Can AI Coexist With Privacy? Proton’s Andy Yen Says It Will Have To

Andy Greenberg

Whistle Blown

Cyberattacks and Hacks

This Coin-Sized Device Can Hack a Boeing 737

Security researchers found that in less than 60 seconds, they could open a hatch on a plane’s exterior, plug in a tiny device, and redirect the aircraft’s autopilot or sabotage its flight plan.

Andy Greenberg

A Zoom Screen-Sharing Bug Let Anyone Take Over Other Devices on a Call

Researchers say it took fewer than 20 prompts for a public AI tool to find a flaw (now fixed) allowing anyone on a Zoom call to hijack another participants’ device.

Lily Hay Newman

Hackers Stalked Me by Hijacking a Smartwatch for Kids

Security researchers tracked and eavesdropped on a WIRED reporter using vulnerabilities in a pink plastic smartwatch. It’s just one piece of a deeply insecure supply chain of GPS-enabled gadgets.

Andy Greenberg, Matt Burgess, and Yulia Almazova

OpenAI Didn’t Notice Its AI Agents Using a Message Board to Plan Their Hacking Spree

At the Black Hat security conference, the AI giant revealed new details about how its agents went rogue, hacked several other companies—and did it all right under the company’s nose.

Lily Hay Newman

Privacy

New York City Lawmakers Push to ‘Ban the Scan’ at MSG

At a press conference outside Madison Square Garden, politicians, musicians, and privacy advocates argued for tighter restrictions on how public venues deploy biometric surveillance.

Kate Taylor

CBP Workers Allegedly Used Government Databases to Spy on Exes, Crushes, and Colleagues

Records obtained by WIRED detail hundreds of allegations of Customs and Border Protection workers misusing internal tools to look up romantic interests and track colleagues’ cell phones.

Yulia Almazova

Flock’s Plans for Rideshare Dashcams and Coaching Police, Revealed

Plus: A judge rules cell tower dumps unconstitutional, water utility hacks spread to a dozen states, a phishing email opens a missile-parts supplier’s inbox, and a ransomware boss gets 16 years.

Dell Cameron and Dhruv Mehrotra

Sensitive Info Goes Into ‘No Reply’ Emails Constantly. This Guy Sees It All

Two security researchers bought cheap domains—including noreply.net and deleteduser.com—and set up email listening services. Hundreds of companies are sending them corporate secrets.

Matt Burgess

Security Advice

The Password Managers You Should Use Instead of Your Browser

Keep your logins locked down with our favorite password management apps for PC, Mac, Android, iPhone, and web browsers.

Scott Gilbertson

You Can Disable Gemini in Chrome if It’s Freaking You Out

Chrome users were caught off guard by a 4-GB Google AI model baked into Chrome, sparking privacy concerns. The good news: You can easily uninstall it. The bad? You might not want to.

Lily Hay Newman

How the Internet Broke Everyone’s Bullshit Detectors

From AI-generated images to restricted satellite data, the systems used to verify what’s real online are struggling to keep up.

Gia Chaudry

How to Organize Safely in the Age of Surveillance

From threat modeling to encrypted collaboration apps, we’ve collected experts’ tips and tools for safely and effectively building a group—even while being targeted and tracked by the powerful.

Andy Greenberg and Lily Hay Newman

Security News

‘The Worst I’ve Ever Seen’: Cargo Thefts Have Turned Violent in Pursuit of AI Hardware

Experts allege that two recent incidents in California show the extreme lengths that criminal organizations are willing to go to to steal servers and other gear meant for data centers.

Paresh Dave and Aarian Marshall

Meta Ran Ads That Contained AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Imagery

More than 50 offending image and video ads were published across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or Threads, according to Meta’s ad library data. Some ran as recently as this week.

Matt Burgess

Landmark Deal Would Officially Add Laser Weapons to US Army Arsenal

Facing a growing drone threat, the Pentagon is poised to sign a first-of-its-kind contract for “Enduring High Energy Lasers”—and make directed energy weapons an official part of the Army’s kit.

Noah Shachtman

ICE Collected Nearly 1 Million People’s DNA Last Year—Including Young Children

Internal documents show ICE's DNA collection has skyrocketed in the second Trump administration. Now hundreds of thousands of people never convicted of a crime are in an FBI criminal database forever.

Dhruv Mehrotra