cyber-security writer and author
Kim Zetter is a cyber-security writer and the author of Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon.
Zetter is an award-winning former senior staff reporter for Wired magazine and writer of its Threat Level blog.
North Korea's nuclear weekend There were wins and losses this weekend for Kim Jong-un. The missiles displayed in a massive parade in Pyongyang were reportedly "jaw-dropping" -- if they were real, but the failed missile launch was an embarrassment, and the nuclear test some people predicted never happened. In South Korea, Vice President Pence repeated the implicit threat that the US has lost its "strategic patience." But, what's to be done? The Trump Administration is faced with familiar alternatives: war, diplomacy, cyber-action… or doing nothing at all.
Does the FBI Need a Back Door to Your Data? The FBI demands that Apple provide access to a dead terrorist Syed Farook's iPhone, which might contain evidence in December's deadly attack in San Bernardino. But Apple says the privacy of every other iPhone user could be lost forever, and it's challenging the power of government in the Era of Smart Phones. Complicating the issue, the FBI is using a law passed about the time that Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity. We update the case in more ways than one.
Hackers Expose Data of Cheating Website Users Hackers have made good on a threat to post sensitive information about users of the website Ashley Madison—a social networking site for infidelity. Thirty-two million people could be affected. Kim Zetter is senior writer for Wired and author of Countdown to Zero Day.
A Massive Data Breach Was Just Waiting to Happen It took three months for the Office of Personnel Management to discover that key records of at least four million federal employees were being hacked . Defenses were so weak, one cyber security expert says, "The mystery is not how they got cleaned out… but what took the Chinese so long." The Obama Administration has not officially said the attack came from China, and it’s unclear if the objective was financial crime or intelligence gathering. Whatever the motives, will hackers always be ahead of the game?
North Korea Emerges as Cyber-Hacker Power The US and North Korea are exchanging threats and counter-threats in the aftermath of the hacking of Sony Pictures. The FBI has not released all its evidence, but it's blamed North Korea for the hacking with an unusual degree of certainty. North Korea denies the vastly expensive attack -- but says whoever was responsible did a "righteous" thing. President Obama and Republicans disagree over whether to call it "cyber-warfare" or "cyber-vandalism" and what the response should be. Some security experts question the FBI's conclusion that North Korea was responsible in the first place.
'Flame' Computer Virus, a Tool for Espionage Flame is "pretty fantastic and incredible in its complexity," according to the chief of security at Russia's Kaspersky Lab. The latest virus to turn up in computers around the world can swipe documents, recorded conversations and keystrokes from infected programs, and allow attackers to "tweak the toolkit and add new functionality." Kim Zetter who writes the " Threat Level " blog for Wired magazine, has more on the latest in espionage and cyberwarfare.
It's the TED Conference in Long Beach TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, and it's the name of a week-long annual conference taking place in Long Beach. An audience of movers and shakers who don't want their names used has paid $6000 apiece to hear what TED sponsors call "the most interesting people on Earth." It is possible to name and report on what they've been seeing and hearing and Kim Zetter's been doing that for Wired magazine.
Did Gizmodo Break the Law or Commit Good Journalism? Last week, the high-tech website Gizmodo posted pictures and video of an iPhone prototype not yet on the market. When Gizmodo blogger Jason Chen came home Friday night, he found that law enforcement agencies had broken into his home , backed by a search warrant.
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.