Security, Spoken

In the handwringing post mortem after a hacker breach, the first point of intrusion usually takes the focus: The phishing email that Clinton campaign manager John Podesta's aide accidentally flagged as legit, or the Apache Struts vulnerability that let hackers get access to an Equifax server. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Dating is hard enough without the added stress of worrying about your digital safety online. But social media and dating apps are pretty inevitably involved in romance these days—which makes it a shame that so many of them have had security lapses in such a short amount of time. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In the summer of 2006, Fidel Castro unexpectedly announced that he was temporarily handing over power to his brother. Turns out he needed to undergo intestinal surgery. Afterward, an anchor on state-run television read a statement, said to have been written by Castro, attesting that all was well. But there were no photographs of Fidel in recovery, no nine-hour radio address from his hospital bed. Rumors flew that the longtime Cuban leader had died. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Toward the end of a White House press conference Friday morning, during which President Donald Trump declared a national emergency in order to secure up to $8 billion in funding for a border wall, White House reporter Brian Karem stood to ask the president a single question: “What do you base your facts on?” It was the most clarifying question in an hour-long display that at times felt as hard to grasp as a slinky. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

After weeks—years, really, but lately more urgent—of debate over the Trump administration's proposed wall at the US-Mexico border, Congress will vote on a spending bill Thursday that includes $1.375 billion for 55 miles of border fence construction. President Donald Trump has long sought $5.7 billion for a more comprehensive concrete or steel structure spanning the 2,000 mile border, but has not managed to garner much political support. Rightly. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Happy Valentine’s Day! Since it’s 2019, you and a partner could celebrate by installing an app on your phone that lets you control a vibrator your partner discreetly wears in their underwear all day. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Two weeks out from the longest government shutdown in United States history—and with the possibility of another still looming—government employees are still scrambling to mitigate impacts on federal cybersecurity defenses. And the stakes are high. Furloughed cybersecurity employees returned to expired software licenses and web encryption certificates, colleagues burned out from working on skeleton crews, and weeks-worth of unanalyzed network activity logs. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Despite concerted efforts by tech giants to cut back on abhorrent behavior on their platforms, a new survey finds that severe forms of online hate and harassment, including stalking and physical threats, may be on the rise. According to the survey, released Wednesday by the Anti-Defamation League, more than one third of Americans reported experiencing some type of severe online hate or harassment in 2018. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The world’s internet infrastructure has no central authority. To keep it working, everyone needs to rely on everyone else. As a result, the global patchwork of undersea cables, satellites, and other technologies that connect the world often ignores the national borders on a map. To stay online, many countries must rely on equipment outside their own confines and control. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The fleets of electric scooters that have inundated cities are alarming enough as is. Now add cybersercurity concerns to the list: Researchers from the mobile security firm Zimperium are warning that Xiaomi’s popular M365 scooter model has a worrying bug. The flaw could allow an attacker to remotely take over any of the scooters to control crucial things like, ahem, acceleration and braking. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices