Security, Spoken

At 2:18 PM ET today, millions of people in America will get a text message that reads, "Presidential Alert.” The text is a test of FEMA’s Wireless Emergency Alerts System. If you click on the text, you’ll see the words: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” As we reported, this test is the evolution of long-standing national effort to create the perfect doomsday alert system. Some people, however, want to opt out. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Thanks to a push over the last few years, led by Google and others, encrypted HTTPS connections protect more data than ever as it passes between web servers and browsers. But another fundamental component of web browsing too often remains unencrypted: the Domain Name System connections that act as the address lookups of the internet. In Android 9, also known as Android Pie, Google has added a feature called Private DNS to start encrypting DNS on mobile. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Cloud services host vast quantities of valuable information, making them perpetually attractive targets for hackers. Attackers regularly develop new and clever ways to access cloud accounts—or find ones that have been left exposed—and exfiltrate data. Those in charge of protecting cloud accounts have their own methods of shoring up defenses and securing account perimeters. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

As the controversy surrounding the Supreme Court confirmation for Judge Brett Kavanaugh escalates, the online conversation around it has started to feel less like a debate and more like a war. That’s because it is one. WIRED OPINION ABOUT P.W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking are the authors of LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media, out Oct 2, 2018. It's been more than three decades since the alleged sexual assaults. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Facebook’s privacy problems severely escalated Friday when the social network disclosed that an unprecedented security issue, discovered September 25, impacted almost 50 million user accounts. Unlike the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which a third-party company erroneously accessed data that a then-legitimate quiz app had siphoned up, this vulnerability allowed attackers to directly take over user accounts. The bugs that enabled the attack have since been patched, according to Facebook. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On Friday, Facebook revealed that it had suffered a security breach that impacted at least 50 million of its users, and possibly as many as 90 million. What it failed to mention initially, but revealed in a followup call Friday afternoon, is that the flaw affects more than just Facebook. If your account was impacted it means that a hacker could have accessed any account that you log into using Facebook. That's a lot of them. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

While Russian interference operations in the 2016 US presidential elections focused on misinformation and targeted hacking, officials have scrambled ever since to shore up the nation's vulnerable election infrastructure. New research, though, shows they haven't done nearly enough, particularly when it comes to voting machines. The report details vulnerabilities in seven models of voting machines and vote counters, found during the DefCon security conference's Voting Village event. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The Fancy Bear hacking group has plenty of tools at its disposal, as evidenced by its attacks against the Democratic National Committee, the Pyeongchang Olympics, and plenty more. But cybersecurity firm ESET appears to have caught the elite Russian team using a technique so advanced, it hadn’t ever been seen in the wild until now. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

When an app wants to access data from your smartphone's motion or light sensors, iOS and Android require them to get your permission first. That keeps a fitness app, say, from counting your steps without your knowledge. But a team of researchers has discovered that those rules don't apply to websites loaded in mobile browsers, which can often often access an array of device sensors without any notifications or permissions whatsoever. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

For over half a decade, Cody Wilson has been a unique thorn in the side of anyone who advocates even the most minimal form of gun control. More than any person else on the planet, the creator of the world's first 3-D printed gun has advanced the dangerous idea that with digital DIY tools, anyone can make a deadly weapon at home. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices