It Looks Like a School Vape Detector. A Teen Hacker Showed It Could Become an Audio Bug

This article was produced with support from WIRED. A couple of years ago, a curious, then-16-year-old hacker named Reynaldo Vasquez-Garcia was on his laptop at his Portland-area high school, seeing what computer systems he could connect to via the Wifi—“using the school network as a lab,” as he puts it—when he spotted a handful of mysterious devices…

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Instagram ‘Error’ Turned Reels Into Neverending Scroll of Murder, Gore, and Violence

Content warning: this article contains graphic descriptions of violence against people and animals. An “error” in Instagram Reels caused its algorithm to show some users video after video of horrific violence, animal abuse, murders, dead bodies, and other gore, Meta told 404 Media. The company said “we apologize for the mistake.” Sometime in the last…

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Mastering 2025: The stakes are high in battling cyber threats

It’s a company’s worst nightmare. Critical systems or customer data are suddenly inaccessible, held hostage by ransomware demanding cryptocurrency payments to unlock the paralyzed infrastructure, Business Report writes in its latest cover package.  Seems unlikely? Think again, cybersecurity experts say. Profit-driven cybercriminals as well as nation-state adversaries increasingly possess the capability to shut down supply…

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Pfluger demands answers on imminent cybersecurity threats facing US

Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11), Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, questioned private sector cybersecurity professionals during a full-committee hearing titled, “Unconstrained Actors: Assessing Global Cyber Threats to the Homeland.” The witnesses included Adam Meyers, Senior Vice President of Counter Adversary Operations at CrowdStrike; retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery,…

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