The Biden Administration Just Delivered a Stark Warning About Ransomware
Ben Margot/AP Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.Key oil and gas pipelines and one of the world’s largest meat suppliers have ground to a halt in recent weeks by cyberattackers who have demanded exorbitant ransoms. Today,…
Could Trump Have Another Reason for Banning TikTok?
David Talukdar, Zuma For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.The latest target in the Trump administration’s escalating tensions with China is TikTok, the wildly popular music-video app with 2 billion downloads worldwide and a 165 million in the United States. “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning…
As Coronavirus Spreads, an Illinois Public Health Agency’s Website is Sidelined by Hackers
Frank Rumpenhorst/DPA via ZUMA Press The website for a public health department serving about 210,000 people in central Illinois, including students at the state’s flagship public university, has been hit with ransomware that could leave it shuttered for up to two weeks. While the perpetrator of the cyber attack has not been identified, the closure…
California Cops Are Collecting Info on Millions of Drivers Who Have Done Nothing Wrong
A Santa Monica, California police officer points a radar gun.Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Law enforcement in four of California’s most populous counties is storing, searching, and sharing detailed records on millions of random drivers, according to a new report from the California State Auditor, a nonpartisan government agency. The audit,…
Security Researchers Find Flaws in Online Voting System Tested in Five States
Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via ZUMA Press An online voting technology that has been tested in five states can be hacked to alter, block, or expose voters’ ballots, according to research published Thursday by a trio of MIT researchers. Voatz, a Boston-based company, claims its app allows for widely accessible and secure voting from smartphones by relying…
Ukraine Wants the FBI to Help Investigate Russian Hacking of Burisma
Jeff Malet/Newscom via ZUMA Press On the day the US Senate formally began the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, the government of Ukraine said it had asked the FBI for help getting to the bottom of an alleged email phishing campaign targeting Burisma Holdings. The impeachment inquiry is deeply tied to earlier requests from…