For years, gray market services known as “bulletproof” hosts have been a key tool for cybercriminals looking to anonymously maintain web infrastructure with no questions asked. But as global law enforcement scrambles to crack down on digital threats, they have developed strategies for getting customer information from these hosts and …
Read More »Ross Ulbricht Got a $31 Million Donation From a Dark Web Dealer, Crypto Tracers Suspect
When Ross Ulbricht received a $31 million bitcoin donation last weekend from an unknown source, many observers saw it as more than a very nice welcome-home gift. Rumors swirled that the creator of the Silk Road, less than five months after receiving a pardon from Donald Trump that saved him …
Read More »The Texting Network for the End of the World
This may be obvious, but you also need to have a network set up before disaster hits, Meadors says. So, set up anyone who you might need to communicate with during a cell and internet blackout before it actually happens. And, due to relatively frequent firmware updates, you can’t just …
Read More »How the Farm Industry Spied on Animal Rights Activists and Pushed the FBI to Treat Them as Bioterrorists
Hundreds of emails and internal documents reviewed by WIRED reveal top lobbyists and representatives of America’s agricultural industry led a persistent and often covert campaign to surveil, discredit, and suppress animal rights organizations for nearly a decade, while relying on corporate spies to infiltrate meetings and functionally serve as an …
Read More »Cops in Germany Claim They’ve ID’d the Mysterious Trickbot Ransomware Kingpin
Several cybersecurity researchers who have tracked Trickbot extensively tell WIRED they were unaware of the announcement. An anonymous account on the social media platform X recently claimed that Kovalev used the Stern handle and published alleged details about him. WIRED messaged multiple accounts that supposedly belong to Kovalev, according to …
Read More »A Swedish MMA Tournament Spotlights the Trump Administration’s Handling of Far-Right Terrorism
The 2024 Swedish tournament mirrors similar extreme right-wing martial arts tournaments hosted elsewhere in Europe for years. It also indicates the success of the Active Club model in spreading to the European continent. There are dozens of the fight clubs throughout Europe, including more than 50 in France and several …
Read More »The US Is Storing Migrant Children’s DNA in a Criminal Database
The United States government has collected DNA samples from upwards of 133,000 migrant children and teenagers—including at least one 4-year-old—and uploaded their genetic data into a national criminal database used by local, state, and federal law enforcement, according to documents reviewed by WIRED. The records, quietly released by the US …
Read More »The US Is Building a One-Stop Shop for Buying Your Data
This week, WIRED launched our Rogues issue—which included going a bit rough ourselves. WIRED senior correspondent Andy Greenberg flew to Louisiana to see how easy it would be to recreate the 3D-printed gun authorities say they found on Luigi Mangione when they arrested him for the murder of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO. …
Read More »