Zack Whittaker
TechCrunch
New York, NY, United States
Contact Zack
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Recent articles by Zack:
TrickBot malware learns how to spam, ensnares 250M email addresses –
Old bot, new tricks. TrickBot, a financially motivated malware in wide circulation, has been observed infecting victims’ computers to steal email passwords and address books to spread malicious emails from their compromised email accounts. The TrickBot malware was first spotted in 2016 but has since developed new capabilities and techniques to spread and invade computers […] → Read More
T-Mobile quietly reported a sharp rise in police demands for cell tower data –
T-Mobile has reported a small decline in the number of government data requests it receives, according to its latest transparency report, quietly published this week. The third-largest cell giant in the U.S. reported 459,989 requests during 2018, down by a little over 1 percent on the year earlier. That includes an overall drop in subpoenas, […] → Read More
FEC says political campaigns can now get discounted cybersecurity help –
In a long awaited decision, the Federal Elections Commission will now allow political campaigns to appoint cybersecurity helpers to protect political campaigns from cyberthreats and malicious attackers. The FEC, which regulates political campaigns and contributions, was initially poised to block th… → Read More
Twitter returns after an hour-long outage –
After an hour of sweet freedom, the world has been returned to the grasp of Twitter. At about 2:50 pm ET, the desktop and mobile site were down, displaying a “Something is technically wrong” error. The app was also not working. The site returned at about 3:45pm ET but took a few minutes to regain […] → Read More
‘World’s first Bluetooth hair straighteners’ can be easily hacked –
Here’s a thing that should have never been a thing: Bluetooth-connected hair straighteners. Glamoriser, a U.K. firm that bills itself as the maker of the “world’s first Bluetooth hair straighteners“, allows users to link the device to an app, which lets the owner set certain heat and style settings. The app can also be used […] → Read More
Apple has pushed a silent Mac update to remove hidden Zoom web server –
Apple has released a silent update for Mac users removing a vulnerable component in Zoom, the popular video conferencing app, which allowed websites to automatically add a user to a video call without their permission. The Cupertino, Calif.-based tech giant told TechCrunch that the update — now released — removes the hidden web server, which […] → Read More
What CISOs need to learn from WannaCry –
In 2017 — for the first time in over a decade — a computer worm ran rampage across the internet, threatening to disrupt businesses, industries, governments and national infrastructure across several continents. The WannaCry ransomware attack became the biggest threat to the internet since the Mydoom worm in 2004. On May 12, 2017, the worm […] → Read More
Flaws in hospital anesthesia and respiratory devices allow remote tampering –
Security researchers have found a vulnerability in a networking protocol used in popular hospital anesthesia and respiratory machines, which they say if exploited could be used to maliciously tamper with the devices. Researchers at healthcare security firm CyberMDX said that the protocol used in the GE Aestiva and GE Aespire devices can be used to […] → Read More
Mozilla blocks spy firm DarkMatter from Firefox citing ‘significant risk’ to users –
Firefox maker Mozilla said it will not trust certificates from surveillance maker DarkMatter, ending a months-long effort to be whitelisted by the popular browser. Months earlier, the United Arab Emirates-based DarkMatter had asked Mozilla to formally trust its root certificates in the Firefox certificate store, a place in the browser reserved for certificate authorities that […] → Read More
Marriott to face $123 million fine by UK authorities over data breach –
The U.K. data protection authority said it will serve hotel giant Marriott with a £99 million ($123M) fine for a data breach that exposed up to 383 million guests. Marriott revealed last year that its acquired Starwood properties had its central reservation database hacked, including five million unencrypted passport numbers and eight million credit card […] → Read More
The sinkhole that saved the internet –
Keeping the 'kill switch' alive is the only thing preventing another WannaCry outbreak. → Read More
ICE mined driver’s license photos for facial recognition –
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are using facial recognition software to trawl through millions of driver’s license photos provided by 21 states to search and find suspects. News broke over the weekend that the FBI and immigration officials access images — often without obtaining a search warrant or court order — in order to identify […] → Read More
It was a really bad month for the internet –
If these past few weeks felt like the sky was falling, you weren’t alone. In the past month there were several major internet outages affecting millions of users across the world. Sites buckled, services broke, images wouldn’t load, direct messages ground to a halt, and calendar and email unavailable for hours at a time. It’s […] → Read More
Internet group brands Mozilla ‘internet villain’ for supporting DNS privacy feature –
An industry group of internet service providers has branded Firefox browser maker Mozilla an “internet villain” for supporting a DNS security standard. The U.K.’s Internet Services Providers’ Association (ISPA), the trade group for U.K. internet service providers, nominated the browser maker for its proposed effort to roll out the security feature, which they say will […] → Read More
Apple reveals App Store takedown demands by governments –
For the first time, Apple has published the number of requests it’s received from governments to take down apps from its app store. In its latest transparency report published Tuesday, the tech giant said it received 80 requests from 11 countries to remove 634 apps from its localized app stores during July 1 and December […] → Read More
File storage app 4shared caught serving invisible ads and making purchases without consent –
With more than 100 million installs, file sharing service 4shared is one of the most popular apps in the Android app store. But security researchers say the app is secretly displaying invisible ads and subscribes users to paid services, racking up charges without the user’s knowledge — or their permission — collectively costing millions of […] → Read More
Security flaws in a popular smart home hub let hackers unlock front doors –
When is a smart home not so smart? When it can be hacked. That’s exactly what security researchers Chase Dardaman and Jason Wheeler did with one of the Zipato smart hubs. In new research published Tuesday and shared with TechCrunch, Dardaman and Wheeler found three security flaws which when chained together could be abused to […] → Read More
With a single wiretap, prosecutors collected 9.2 million text messages –
For four months in 2018, U.S. prosecutors in Texas collected more than 9.2 million messages under a single court-authorized wiretap order, newly released figures show. The wiretap, granted by a federal judge in the Southern District of Texas, was granted as part of a narcotics investigation and became the federal wiretap with the most intercepts […] → Read More
Global Entry is ‘vulnerable to exploitation,’ says government watchdog –
Global Entry, used by millions of busy passengers traveling to the U.S., is “vulnerable” to criminals taking advantage of weaknesses in the system, according to a new report by a government watchdog. The immigration and border check system, designed to allow vetted low-risk travelers expedited entry to the U.S., has more than six million people […] → Read More
NSA improperly collected Americans’ phone records for a second time, documents reveal –
Newly released documents reveal the National Security Agency improperly collected Americans’ call records for a second time, just months after the agency was forced to purge hundreds of millions of collected calls and text records it unlawfully obtained. The document, obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union, shows the NSA had collected a “larger than […] → Read More