Security, Spoken

They set up phony news sites with stories ripped from other sources, backing up their state-sponsored agenda. They stole photos for their social media profiles and made up names to catfish unsuspecting victims. They formed an incestuous web of promotion across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Reddit, and other platforms. They seemed to have a thing for Bernie Sanders. And then they got caught. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The biggest news in America this week struck like two timed missiles minutes apart on Tuesday afternoon. Though they appear at first blush unrelated to Russia’s hacking of the 2016 US election, they are likely to explode right in the heart of Robert Mueller’s investigation. First. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On Thursday, T-Mobile confirmed that some of its customer data was breached in an attack the company discovered on Monday. It's a snappy disclosure timeframe, and the carrier said that no financial data, passwords, or Social Security numbers were compromised in the breach. A relief, right? The problem is the customer data that was potentially exposed: name, billing zip code, email address, account number, account type, and phone number. That last one's a particular concern. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

My legs were sticking to the vinyl back seat of a NYC cab when I received the email on a Thursday this July. I was running late to an afternoon dentist appointment, and sending messages on Facebook Messenger. Most of the conversations were for a story I was reporting about a Facebook group for sexual assault survivors, which had been overtaken by abusers. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

You probably assume that someone can only see what's on your computer screen by looking at it. But a team of researchers has found that they can glean a surprising amount of information about what a monitor displays by listening to and analyzing the unintended, ultrasonic sounds it emits. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On Wednesday, the Democratic National Committee was alerted by Lookout, a mobile security firm, about an apparent phishing campaign. Someone had created fake site that looked just like VoteBuilder, a DNC-managed database that contains years' worth of voter information. Were an unsuspecting DNC employee to give the fake site their username and password, a malicious actor could potentially steal sensitive data. Alarmed, the DNC notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Following more than a year of unrelenting focus on Russian cyber attacks on Silicon Valley giants, Facebook and Twitter announced Tuesday night that they've now also thwarted a network of suspicious accounts that appear to originate in Iran. First, Facebook announced it had taken down 652 pages, groups, and accounts for "coordinated inauthentic behavior. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On Tuesday, a trifecta of tech companies announced that they had thwarted what appear to be significant cyberattacks from Russia and Iran. First, Microsoft CEO Brad Smith announced that the company had caught another round of phishing attacks on political groups in the United States, which it attributed to the Russian hacking group Fancy Bear. Then it was Facebook's turn. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It was a perfect sunny summer afternoon in Copenhagen when the world’s largest shipping conglomerate began to lose its mind. The headquarters of A.P. Møller-Maersk sits beside the breezy, cobblestoned esplanade of Copenhagen’s harbor. A ship’s mast carrying the Danish flag is planted by the building’s northeastern corner, and six stories of blue-tinted windows look out over the water, facing a dock where the Danish royal family parks its yacht. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Early Tuesday, Microsoft announced that last week it seized control of six domains owned by the Russian hacking group Fancy Bear, also known as APT28. The hackers had used the sites to mount midterm election-related phishing campaigns, similar to those Fancy Bear launched during the 2016 United States election season. It's the most prominent, publicly known effort to proactively identify and thwart Russian election hacking efforts—and Microsoft's in a unique position to pull it off. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices