Security, Spoken

With so much of our lives lived online, people have often assumed that the pictures, financial documents, and other sensitive information we store on our password-protected phones and computers are kept private. But every day, it seems there’s a new data breach, or another story about our information being passed around in ways we couldn’t imagine. WIRED OPINION ABOUT Molly Davis is a policy analyst at Libertas Institute, a policy think tank in Utah. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Ransomware has long been the scourge of the cybersecurity industry. When that extortionate hacking goes beyond encrypting files to fully paralyze computers across a company, it represents not just a mere shakedown, but a crippling disruption. Now a nasty new breed of ransomware known as LockerGoga is inflicting that paralysis on industrial firms whose computers control actual physical equipment, and it's enough to deeply spook security researchers. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Widespread adoption of the web encryption scheme HTTPS has added a lot of green padlocks—and corresponding data protection—to the web. Almost all of the popular sites you visit every day likely offer this defense, called Transport Layer Security (TLS), which encrypts data between your browser and the web servers it communicates with to protect your travel plans, passwords, and embarrassing Google searches from prying eyes. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Nothing much happened this week except, oh yeah, special counsel Robert Mueller filed his report on Friday night. Though attorney general William Barr now has the report in hand, the American people will still have to wait to see how much of it he decides to make public. In anticipation of the report, Mueller expert Garrett Graff laid out what information it could contain that would get Trump impeached. Beyond Mueller, it was actually already a news-packed week. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Today's news that hackers put backdoors into thousands of Asus computers using the company's own software update platform is a reminder of why supply-chain compromises are one of the scariest digital attacks out there. Attackers compromised Asus’s Live Update tool to distribute malware to almost a million customers last year, according to initial findings researchers at the threat intelligence firm Kaspersky Lab disclosed Monday. The news was first reported by Motherboard. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

At a typically glitzy launch event in Cupertino on Monday, Apple debuted the Apple Card, a new credit card offered in collaboration with Goldman Sachs and Mastercard. Apple claims it will resolve many consumer frustrations with current credit cards: the card will be simple to sign up for, there won't be any fees, and it will be easy to redeem rewards. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In old spy novels, when two secret agents need to communicate with each other out in the field, one of them often leaves a document in an assigned place—tucked in the hollow of a tree trunk or between the pages of a certain library book. Once the first agent has safely vacated the scene, the second one moves in to fetch it. This maneuver—called a dead drop—may seem straight­forward. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Tech news you can use, in two minutes or less: Apple announced a whole lot of new things today Today's Apple Event had all kinds of updates: A new credit card, a new news subscription, and a new streaming subscription featuring celebrities from Oprah to Steven Spielberg and more. Let's break down exactly what's new: Apple News +, Apple's news subscription service: Roughly 300 magazines (including WIRED) within the Apple News App Designed for Apple devices $9. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Continuing a now time-honored tradition of creating explosive news late on a Friday afternoon, special counsel Robert Mueller has delivered his final report to attorney general William Barr. The Mueller probe, which began not quite two years ago, has come to its conclusion. Time for the fallout—whatever form that takes. There are certain basic procedural facts that govern what happens next. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Tech news you can use, in two minutes or less: The Mueller Report, Finally After nearly two years of work, special counsel Robert Mueller has turned in his final report to the nation's attorney general, William Barr. But what happens next is anyone's guess. For now the report will be for Barr's eyes only, who at some point will submit his own report to Congress with as much, or as little, information as he chooses to share. So for now, we wait. Again. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices