On the Wire Podcast: RSA Preview with Mike Mimoso
It’s been 16 years since the first time I went to the RSA Conference and a whole lot of things have changed since then. For one, there are about 30 times as many people now. And the conference has morphed from being a crypto-heavy gathering to a sales feeding frenzy. So I called up my […]
On the Wire Podcast: Roger Anderson
Last year, we talked to Roger Anderson about his Jolly Roger Telephone company bot, a system he designed to frustrate and annoy telemarketers by sending them through an infinite loop of robot responses. Now, Anderson is taking aim at the Windows support scammers who try to scare victims into calling them and paying for fake […]
Senators Push Trump Administration for Clarity on Privacy Act
A group of influential lawmakers, including Sen. Ed Markey and Sen. Ron Wyden, are pressing the Trump administration for answers about how an executive order that includes changes to the Privacy Act will affect non-U.S. persons and whether the administration plans to release immigrants’ private data. The letter comes from six senators who are concerned about […]
Macro-Enabled Malware Targets macOS
A new piece of malware that targets macOS appears to be the first one that includes one of the favorite tricks of Windows malware authors: the use of macros. The malware, discovered recently by researchers, is delivered through the use of a rigged Microsoft Word document that is disguised as an analysis of America’s allies’ […]
Phone Bot to Target Windows Support Scammers
The man who developed a bot that frustrates and annoys robocallers is planning to take on the infamous Windows support scam callers head-on. Roger Anderson last year debuted his Jolly Roger bot, a system that intercepts robocalls and puts the caller into a never-ending loop of pre-recorded phrases designed to waste their time. Anderson built the […]
House Passes Bill to Require Warrant for Old Emails
The House of Representatives has passed the Email Privacy Act, which requires law enforcement agencies to get a search warrant in order to obtain emails and some other stored records that are older than six months. The legislation is an effort to modify the old Electronic Communications Privacy Act to reflect the way that service […]
Vizio Settles FTC Charges Over Data Collection
Vizio has settled charges with the FTC and the state of New Jersey that it secretly collected TV owners’ viewing data, and will pay a $2.2 million fine and delete the data it gathered. The settlement is the result of Vizio using proprietary software that continuously tracked what TV owners were watching and sent the […]
FBI Targets Extensive Cybercrime Ring
A Brooklyn man has pleaded guilty to charges as part of an FBI investigation into a banking malware and money mule scheme that has been running since 2015 and cost victims more than $1 million. The plea from Vyacheslav Khaimov was for his role in the scam, which the FBI alleges involved attackers infecting victims’ machines […]
Details Emerge of Severe WordPress Content Injection Flaw
WordPress has revealed the details of a critical privilege escalation vulnerability that the company fixed in a security release last week. The bug was part of a major upgrade for WordPress, but the details of the flaw hadn’t come out until now because the company was working with hosting providers and security firms to put […]