What we know about the alleged Iranian hacks on U.S. water utilities

Over the last couple of weeks, hackers have targeted and broken into the systems of several water plants in the United States. Here’s what we know and don’t know about this wave of attacks allegedly carried out by the Iranian government.

‘This one just needs a script’: Researchers find ultimate Windows kill switch which can disable antivirus with almost no user interaction

Microsoft fixed it as part of the April Patch Tuesday cumulative update, but there are other fixes and mitigations available, too.

Scammers hijack real Shopify notifications to swindle victims — here’s how to stay safe

Would you recognize a fake notification if it came directly from Shopify? Some scammers are betting you wouldn’t.

US courts will start publishing how often the government uses spyware

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts told TechCrunch that it will start disclosing how many times judges authorized the use of spyware to wiretap suspected criminals.

Flock Safety cuts data retention to seven days after dozens of police abuse cases
Flock Safety cuts data retention to seven days after dozens of police abuse cases

Garrett Langley, the company’s chief executive, set out the package in a post on Flock’s own blog on 13 August. It covers six areas. Privacy, accountability, data ownership, data security, data accuracy and transparency. Most of the Flock Safety privac…

Private US companies can now run cyber operations abroad. State-backed hackers are excluded
Private US companies can now run cyber operations abroad. State-backed hackers are excluded

Donald Trump signed the memorandum on 12 August and the White House published it that night. It runs to five sections. A National Coordination Center creates and manages the programme. Two Program Executive Directors oversee it. The Attorney General de…

Cl0p claims a mass hack of Shell, Philips, and dozens more
Cl0p claims a mass hack of Shell, Philips, and dozens more

The Russia-linked ransomware group Cl0p has claimed a fresh wave of cyberattacks, naming Shell and Philips among its victims and, by some counts, dragging close to 50 companies into the mess. It is a familiar sort of headline, and one that reads more t…

Flock says its new tool will help identify police abuse, but hasn’t explained how it works

The surveillance company announced it’s making a tool called “Audit Assistance” mandatory for all customers, claiming it’s already helped catch abuse. But the company has yet to explain how the tool works in detail, raising questions about its effectiv…

If Apple sends you a push notification alerting you to a spyware attack, take it seriously

Apple now sends out push notifications to iPhone lock screens when the company identifies government spyware targeting someone’s devices.

The fight over Flock and other ALPRs
The fight over Flock and other ALPRs

There are over 120,000 of Flock’s automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras installed all over the US. Flock’s cameras, and others like them, use AI to identify and track vehicles based on their license plate number, make, model, color, and other info, networked together to track vehicles and people’s movements throughout the day and across […]