Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai

Senior Reporter, Cybersecurity

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai is a Senior Writer at TechCrunch, where he covers hacking, cybersecurity, surveillance, and privacy. You can contact Lorenzo securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, on Wickr/Telegram/Wire @lorenzofb, or via email at lorenzo@techcrunch.com.

The Latest from Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai

Scammers publish ads for hacking services on government websites

Scammers have published various advertisements for hacking services on the official websites of multiple U.S. state, county and local governments, a federal agency, as well as numerous universities. T

Kaspersky says attackers hacked staff iPhones with unknown malware

The Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky said that hackers working for a government targeted several dozen employees’ iPhones with unknown malware. On Thursday, Kaspersky announced the alleged cy

Researchers say they found spyware used in war for the first time

Security researchers and digital rights organizations believe the government of Azerbaijan used spyware produced by NSO Group to target a government worker, journalists, activists and the human rights

Consulting firm Krebs Stamos Group lays off six employees

A consulting firm founded and run by two well-known cybersecurity veterans laid off six people last week, TechCrunch has learned. Krebs Stamos Group was founded in 2021 by former Facebook chief securi

Cybercriminals who targeted Ukraine are actually Russian government hackers, researchers say

For years, Russian government hackers have used several made-up personas to hide their tracks and try to trick security researchers and government agencies into pointing the blame in the wrong directi

Western Digital tells customers that hackers stole their data

On Friday, a month after the company revealed it had been the victim of a data breach, Western Digital published an update on the incident and notified customers that their data was stolen. In a press

Bishop Fox lays off employees days after throwing conference party

Cybersecurity firm Bishop Fox laid off around 50 employees — or 13% of its workforce — on Tuesday, the company told TechCrunch. The layoffs come just a few days after the company threw a party at

Hackers steal emails, private messages from hookup websites

Hackers have stolen email addresses, direct messages, and other personal data from users of two dating websites, according to a data breach expert. Earlier this week, someone alerted Troy Hunt, the fo

Hackers are breaking into AT&T email accounts to steal cryptocurrency

Unknown hackers are breaking into the accounts of people who have AT&T email addresses, and using that access to then hack into the victim’s cryptocurrency exchange’s accounts and steal th

The IRS is sending four investigators across the world to fight cybercrime

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) plans to send four agents who specialize in investigating cybercrime to Australia, Singapore, Colombia, and Germany starting this summer. These four new positions re

Jailbreak tricks Discord’s new chatbot into sharing napalm and meth instructions

In March, Discord announced that it had integrated OpenAI’s technology into its bot named Clyde, turning it into an AI-powered chatbot. Just like with any other chatbot launched in the last few mont

Apple’s high security mode blocked NSO spyware, researchers say

Last year, Apple launched a new feature for iPhone users who are worried about getting targeted with sophisticated spyware, such as journalists or human rights defenders. Now, researchers say they hav

Hackers claim vast access to Western Digital systems

The hackers who breached data storage giant Western Digital claim to have stolen around 10 terabytes of data from the company, including reams of customer information. The extortionists are pushing th

Mercenary spyware hacked iPhone victims with rogue calendar invites, researchers say

Hackers using spyware made by a little known cyber mercenary company used malicious calendar invites to hack the iPhones of journalists, political opposition figures and an NGO worker, according to tw

Hackers used spyware made in Spain to target users in the UAE, Google says

In November 2022, Google revealed the existence of a then-unknown spyware vendor called Variston. Now, Google researchers say they have seen hackers use Variston’s tools in the United Arab Emirates.

Hackers could remotely turn off lights, honk, mess with Tesla’s infotainment system

Thanks to three vulnerabilities chained together, malicious hackers could remotely hack into a Tesla, turn off the lights, honk the horn, open the trunk, activate the windshield wipers and mess with t

How the FBI caught the BreachForums admin

On Friday, the U.S. Justice Department announced that the now-arrested alleged administrator of the infamous hacking forum BreachForums facilitated the sale and purchase of private information that be

Beloved hacking veteran Kelly ‘Aloria’ Lum passes away at 41

Kelly Lum, better known in hacking circles as Aloria, passed away on Sunday. Aloria was a veteran of the cybersecurity community, especially the one in New York, her home for many years. The Twitter a

Notorious hacking forum shuts down after administrator gets arrested

Last week, the FBI arrested a man alleged to be “Pompompurin,” the administrator of the infamous and popular BreachForums. Days after the arrest, the cybercrime website’s new administrator annou

Google flags apps made by popular Chinese e-commerce giant as malware

Several apps made by Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo were flagged as malicious and dangerous by Google.
Load More