Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
Senior Reporter, Cybersecurity
The Latest from Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
Apex Legends hacker says game developers patched exploit used on streamers
Last month, a hacker wreaked havoc during an esports tournament of the popular shooter game Apex Legends, hacking two well-known streamers mid-game to make it look like they were using cheats. A month
A crypto wallet maker’s warning about an iMessage bug sounds like a false alarm
A crypto wallet maker claimed this week that hackers may be targeting people with an iMessage “zero-day” exploit — but all signs point to an exaggerated threat, if not a downright scam.
Security engineer jailed for 3 years for $12M crypto hacks
Shakeeb Ahmed, a cybersecurity engineer convicted of stealing around $12 million in crypto, was sentenced on Friday to three years in prison. In a press release, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern Dis
How Ukraine’s cyber police fights back against Russia’s hackers
On February 24, 2022, Russian forces invaded Ukraine. Since then, life in the country has changed for everyone. For the Ukrainian forces who had to defend their country, for the regular citizens who h
Ransomware gang’s new extortion trick? Calling the front desk
Ransomware gangs are increasingly calling up victim organizations to extort and intimidate rank-and-file employees.
Hackers stole 340,000 Social Security numbers from government consulting firm
U.S. consulting firm Greylock McKinnon Associates (GMA) disclosed a data breach in which hackers stole as many as 341,650 Social Security numbers. The data breach was disclosed on Friday on Maine’s
Price of zero-day exploits rises as companies harden products against hackers
Tools that allow government hackers to break into iPhones and Android phones, popular software like the Chrome and Safari browsers, and chat apps like WhatsApp and iMessage, are now worth millions of
Activision investigating password-stealing malware targeting game players
Video game giant Activision is investigating a hacking campaign that’s targeting players with the goal of stealing their credentials, TechCrunch has learned. At this point, the hackers’ specific g
Facebook snooped on users’ Snapchat traffic in secret project, documents reveal
In 2016, Facebook launched a secret project designed to intercept and decrypt the network traffic between people using Snapchat’s app and its servers. The goal was to understand users’ behavior an
Investors’ pledge to fight spyware undercut by past investments in US malware maker
On Monday, the Biden administration announced that six new countries had joined an international coalition to fight the proliferation of commercial spyware, sold by companies such as NSO Group or Inte
Apex Legends hacker said he hacked tournament games ‘for fun’
On Sunday, the world of video games was shaken by a hacking and cheating scandal. During a competitive esports tournament of Apex Legends, a free-to-play shooter video game played by hundreds of thous
Pokémon resets some users’ passwords after hacking attempts
The Pokémon Company said it detected hacking attempts against some of its users and reset those user account passwords. Last week, an alert was visible on Pokémon’s official support website that s
Esports league postponed after players hacked midgame
On Sunday, two competitive esports players appeared to get hacked during a live-streamed game, prompting the organizers to postpone the tournament. Players were competing in the Apex Legends Global Se
Four things we learned when US intelligence chiefs testified to Congress
Cyberattacks, regional conflict, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, commercial spyware, AI, misinformation, disinformation, deepfakes and TikTok. These are just some of the top perceived threats
Spyware makers express concern after US sanctions spyware veteran
Earlier this week, the U.S. government announced sanctions against the founder of a controversial government spyware maker, Tal Dilian, and his business associate, Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou. In an
Russian spies keep hacking into Microsoft in ‘ongoing attack,’ company says
On Friday, Microsoft said Russian government hackers continue to break into its systems using information obtained during a hack last year. This time, the Russian hackers dubbed Midnight Blizzard have
US sanctions founder of spyware maker Intellexa for targeting Americans
The U.S. government announced Tuesday sanctions against the founder of the notorious spyware company Intellexa and one of his business partners. This is the first time the U.S. government has targeted
Elon Musk switched on X calling by default: Here’s how to switch it off
In his quest to turn a simple and functioning Twitter app into X, the everything app that doesn’t do anything very well, Elon Musk launched audio and video calling on X last week — and this new fe
A government watchdog hacked a US federal agency to stress-test its cloud security
A U.S. government watchdog stole more than 1GB of seemingly sensitive personal data from the cloud systems of the U.S. Department of the Interior. The good news: The data was fake and part of a series
Popular video doorbells can be easily hijacked, researchers find
Several internet-connected doorbell cameras have a security flaw that allows hackers to take over the camera by just holding down a button, among other issues, according to research by Consumer Report