Wired Security Spoken Edition

The data theft technique called "Rowhammer" has fascinated and worried the cybersecurity community for years now, because it combines digital and physical hacking in ways that are both fascinating and unaccounted for. Since its discovery, researchers have steadily refined the attack, and expanded the array of targets it works against. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A major question hanging over the United States midterm election season: Where was Russia? But while GRU hackers didn't directly interfere, they appear to be as active as ever. New research from two threat intelligence firms indicates that two prominent Russia-linked groups have been developing some clever phishing innovations, and are working purposefully to expand their reach. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

We may never know whether Cuba attacked American diplomats with microwave weapons—but we do know similar devices exist. The US Department of Defense’s Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate, along with a host of private arms companies, has spent decades testing everything from long-range wireless Taser bullets to sonic guns that can disable a car engine from 150 feet away. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Even if you're an ascetic who eschews the materialism of holiday shopping, the Black Friday and Cyber Monday juggernaut is hard to avoid. Stores hawk their deals everywhere, promotional emails flood your inbox, tweets and even texts tell you what to buy, and where, for the best price. But before you give in to the siren's song of cheap fitness trackers, keep in mind that online scams are lurking everywhere. And the threat is greater this year than ever. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Over the last year or so, cryptojacking—which forces your computer to mine cryptocurrency for bad guys when you visit an infected site—has become one of the internet’s most pervasive scourges. It’s shown up everywhere, even inside critical infrastructure. But its practitioners appear to have recently hit a new low, compromising the website of Make-A-Wish, the venerable charity that offers uplifting experiences for children with serious or terminal illnesses. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

As you travel this holiday season, bouncing from airport to airplane to hotel, you’ll likely find yourself facing a familiar quandary: Do I really trust this random public Wi-Fi network? As recently as a couple of years ago, the answer was almost certainly a resounding no. But in the year of our lord 2018? Friend, go for it. This advice comes with plenty of qualifiers. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Just like any lock can be picked, any biometric scanner can be fooled. Researchers have shown for years that the popular fingerprint sensors used to guard smartphones can be tricked sometimes, using a lifted print or a person's digitized fingerprint data. But new findings from computer scientists at New York University's Tandon School of Engineering could raise the stakes significantly. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In my book Data and Goliath, I write about the value of privacy. I talk about how it is essential for political liberty and justice, and for commercial fairness and equality. I talk about how it increases personal freedom and individual autonomy, and how the lack of it makes us all less secure. But this is probably the most important argument as to why society as a whole must protect privacy: it allows society to progress. We know that surveillance has a chilling effect on freedom. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The days since the midterms have been filled with developments in the probe of special counsel Robert Mueller, whose weeks of public silence leading up to the election belie a frenzy of activity, grand jury meetings, and investigative steps that his probe has pursued. The next shoes to drop seem likely clear: GOP operative Roger Stone has long suspected he'll be indicted. Stone ally Jerome Corsi suggested in a recent YouTube livestream that he may face charges as well. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A good rule of thumb when it comes to internet-connected toys is not to buy them. Security too often sits too low on the priority list of the companies that make them. But in a new report, Mozilla, the nonprofit behind the popular Firefox browser, has a more finely tuned privacy appraisal of not just toys but dozens of popular holiday gifts—some of which may not rate much better than coal. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In his years-long career developing software for power grids, Stan McHann had never before heard the ominous noise that rang out last Wednesday. Standing in the middle of a utility command center, he flinched as a cyberattack tripped the breakers in all seven of the grid's low voltage substations, plunging the system into darkness. "I heard all the substations trip off and it was just like bam bam bam bam bam bam bam bam," McHann says. "The power’s out. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

For two hours Monday, internet traffic that was supposed to route through Google's Cloud Platform instead found itself in quite unexpected places, including Russia and China. But while the haphazard routing invoked claims of traffic hijacking—a real threat, given that nation states could use the technique to spy on web users or censor services—the incident turned out to be a simple mistake with outsized impacts. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

During a speech at the annual UNESCO Internet Governance Forum in Paris Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the “Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace,” a new initiative designed to establish international norms for the internet, including good digital hygiene and the coordinated disclosure of technical vulnerabilities. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Did you hear? There was an election this week! Not only does that mean the 2020 campaign has officially started (help!) but also that we saw a ton of misinformation trying to affect the vote. That includes from the secretary of state of Georgia, who accused his Democratic opponent of hacking the state's voter roles, even though all evidence strongly suggests that's not the case. At least, though, law enforcement had a massive coordinated effort to protect the election from actual hacking. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

There comes a period of time in every beloved gadget's life—some more prolonged than others—when you need to think about replacing the electronic device that's given you so much loyal service, whether it's a smartphone, a laptop, a digital camera, or anything in between. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Sue Gordon, the principal deputy director of national intelligence, wakes up every day at 3 am, jumps on a Peloton, and reads up on all the ways the world is trying to destroy the United States. By the afternoon noon, she has usually visited the Oval Office and met with the heads of the 17 intelligence agencies to get threat reports. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In December 2016, Georgia secretary of state Brian Kemp accused the Department of Homeland Security of attempting to hack his office's systems, which include the Georgia voter registration database. Six months later, the DHS inspector general concluded that the allegations were unfounded; someone on a DHS computer had simply visited Georgia Secretary of State website. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

David Weiner counts himself lucky. Sure, he waited an hour to vote at the Brooklyn Public Library along with, he estimates, several hundred other New Yorkers Tuesday afternoon. But, hey, at least he arrived when the last ballot scanner officially broke. That meant he could just fill out his ballot and shove it in a box. The people in line in front of him, the ones who’d been waiting to use that last ballot scanner, said they'd been in line for twice as long. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

After Russia's misinformation campaign rattled the 2016 United States election season, scrutiny over this year's midterms has been intense. And while foreign cybersecurity threats have so far been relatively muted, an unclassified government report obtained by The Boston Globe this week indicates more than 160 suspected election-related incidents since the beginning of August, ranging from suspicious login attempts to compromised municipal networks. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The day before the midterm elections, Facebook took down a virulently anti-immigrant ad paid for by President Donald Trump, which mischaracterizes refugees walking through Mexico toward the US as violent criminals. “America’s future depends on you,” the voiceover says, ending with a plea to “vote Republican.” NBC also took the ad off air on Monday after criticism from stars of NBC shows. And even Fox News stopped airing it on Monday, too. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices