Security, Spoken

The most popular video game in the world is Fortnite—which makes Fortnite scams a potentially very profitable endeavor. And while that point may seem obvious, the extent of Fortnite fakes on the web, along with how convincingly they mimic their inspirations, may still surprise you. Fortnite opportunists have plagued the internet since the game’s launch; WIRED has previously looked at the scourge of fake app downloads connected to the game’s controversial Android launch. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In December, researchers spotted a new family of industrial control malware that had been used in an attack on a Middle Eastern energy plant. Known as Triton, or Trisis, the suite of hacking tools is one of only a handful of known cyberweapons developed specifically to undermine or destroy industrial equipment. Now, new research from security firm FireEye suggests that at least one element of the Triton campaign originated from Russia. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Three days after last Christmas, a 25-year-old Los Angeles man named Tyler Barriss allegedly called police in Wichita, Kansas, and pretended that he’d murdered his father and was holding hostages in a house near the city’s downtown. Barriss thought the house belonged to an avid Call of Duty gamer he wanted to harass, but he was mistaken about the address. (WIRED has published a detailed account of the case. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It's no secret that President Donald Trump tweets at all hours, and calls friends and advisors late into the night. But a New York Times report indicates that, thanks in part to Trump's use of a personal iPhone, Chinese and Russian spies are listening in on his calls. That other countries would want to spy on Trump should come as no surprise. The US certainly does its share of surveillance on world leaders. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week, apparent explosive devices have targeted the mailboxes of former President Barack Obama, former Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, philanthropist George Soros, and cable news network CNN. Additional reports of suspicious packages have continued to emerge Wednesday, and the situation is still developing. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A cascade of explosive devices and suspicious packages targeting the homes of prominent Democrats and the New York offices of CNN were intercepted Wednesday morning, sending the internet's misinformation machine into a tailspin. Two packages were intercepted en route to the homes of President Barack Obama and former President and First Lady Bill and Hillary Clinton. Another, containing a pipe bomb and an envelope of white powder, was discovered in the CNN building mailroom. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Call it the era of misinformation. Call it a crisis of trust. If you must, call it fake news. The truth is that in 2018, hot-button news events are immediately weaponized online by interested parties, whether that’s foreign actors trying to undermine democracy, local politicians trying to rally their base, spammers trying to make a quick buck, even trolls in it for the old-fashioned lulz—or all of the above. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

I understand that it’s easy to dismiss Tyler Barriss as a monster who should never be granted a platform to tell his own story. He took pleasure in terrorizing strangers with his hoaxes, and his alleged actions—calling authorities in Wichita, Kansas, and pretending that he was holding a family hostage—led to an innocent man being shot dead by police last December. Barriss' reaction to Andrew Finch’s death has betrayed a chilling lack of empathy. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In September 2017, barely two months before Virginians went to the polls to pick a new governor, the state’s board of elections convened an emergency session. The crisis at hand? Touchscreen voting machines. They’d been bought back in the early aughts, when districts across the country, desperate to avoid a repeat of the 2000 “hanging chads” fiasco, decided to go digital. But the new machines were a nightmare, prone to crashes and—worse—hacking. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On Friday afternoon, the Justice Department announced that Russia and the world’s most interesting catering company continue to attack the United States online—and that Russian Twitter trolls had even defended the efforts of special counsel Robert Mueller earlier this year. Prosecutors unsealed a September criminal complaint against Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova, a 44-year-old Russian woman from St. Petersburg. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices