Parents in Tennessee say a hacker sang songs to their children in their bedroom through a Ring camera. A Texas Ring user says she was threatened with extortion through her front doorbell camera. In Florida, another victim told local media that a hacker started screaming racial slurs at a child [Keep reading]
I’ve been working on a special project for six months, and I’m thrilled to let you know that it releases on Monday. It’s a 6-episode series on the state of privacy in America, and in the world. Alia Tavakolian and I have been working since this spring, talking to dozens [Keep reading]
Identity theft targeting family members is soaring, as is what I’ll call “desperation fraud” — opening credit accounts with no intention of paying, and little effort to disguise the fraud. These are two very bad signs for the economy, according to a firm that studies ID theft on a wide [Keep reading]
If I asked you to listen to a podcast about payments, you’d probably change the subject very quickly. But if I told you we were going to have a discussion about the future of money — and in turn, that discussion would really be about the future of freedom — [Keep reading]
Let’s hear it for the whistleblower! No, not that whistleblower. I mean the Google whistleblower, the brave programmer who stepped forward and alerted the world to Project Nightingale. Google has secretly acquired medical data on 50 million Americans in a partnership with hospital chain Ascension. We wouldn’t know anything about it [Keep reading]
I get asked about VPNs a lot — virtual private networks. In theory, VPNs make your Internet surfing safer by making sure that no one between you and your intended connecting can read your traffic. The real story is quite a bit more complicated than that, however. That’s the subject [Keep reading]
If you’ve landed on this page, you are probably in a bit of shock that your bank account could be drained by a criminal and your bank doesn’t seem to care, or think you are entitled to a “refund.” In many cases, you are — you just haven’t talked to [Keep reading]
Is texting good or bad for relationships? Sure, it’s lovely to check in with loved ones during the day, send a little digital cheer and some emojis. But instant communication can also really mess things up when sometimes a little space is necessary — say, when there’s a fight between [Keep reading]
Just don’t sign up for free trials. Odds are very high you’ll regret it. Perhaps you think you can outsmart the company offering them, but the more educated you are, the MORE likely you are to end up with surprise charges after a free trial. A new Bankrate.com study has [Keep reading]
It was a shock in August when Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s Twitter account started sending out racist Tweets. He’d been hacked, of course, but perhaps the biggest shock of all was how easy it was — @Jack was the victim of simple SIM card swapping. SIM “hacking” isn’t new — [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan