Since 2018, my colleagues and I have published year-end lists highlighting the best cybersecurity stories reported by other news organizations, first on VICE Motherboard and now on TechCrunch. Cybersecurity, surveillance, and privacy are big topics that no single publication can effectively cover. Journalism is an inherently competitive field, but it's also a very collaborative one. That is why it may make sense to refer readers to other publications and their works to learn more about these complex and vast beats.
Without further ado, here are our favorite cybersecurity stories of the year written by our friends at Rival Retailer. — Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai.
In one of the largest and most brazen mass hacks in recent history, hackers this year hacked a cloud computing company hosted by Snowflake, which some of the world's biggest tech and telecommunications companies rely on. Raided hundreds of unsecured cloud storage accounts. After that, the hackers kept the huge amount of data they stole to get the ransom money. AT&T, one of the victims of the hack, acknowledged that “nearly all” call and text records for AT&T's 110 million customers were lost in the breach, representing more than 50 billion Equivalent to recording calls and texts.
Days after AT&T broke the news of the breach, independent security reporter Kim Zetter reported that AT&T had deleted a huge cache of phone records that had been stolen weeks earlier and told the hackers to keep the data from being released publicly. We broke the news that he had paid $10,000. Mr. Zetter's report revealed who was behind the break-in (known at the time to Mandiant only as UNC5537), later identified as Connor Mouka and John Binns, for mass theft from Snowflake customers. A major piece of the puzzle has been revealed that he was indicted for his role. account. — Zach Whitaker.
Casimir Hill's latest research report, published in the New York Times, finds that automakers share consumers' driving behaviors and habits with data brokers and insurance companies, and use that data to improve customer rates and improve customer rates. It has been revealed that they are raising insurance premiums, and this is a dystopian use of drivers' own information against consumers. For GM vehicle owners, what drivers often don't know is that signing up for smart driver features means the vehicle will automatically share its driving habits with third parties. The story prompted a congressional investigation that revealed automakers were selling consumers' data for mere pennies in some cases. — Zach Whitaker.
This is just a far-fetched story. If this story were made into a movie – or it should be – it would still be shocking. But the fact that this actually happened is incredible. Zach Dorfman has accomplished the amazing feat of reporting here. Writing about intelligence is not easy. By definition, these are considered to remain secret forever. And this is not a story that intelligence agencies would secretly be happy to publish. There is nothing to be proud of or happy about here. I'm not going to spoil this story, so I hope you'll just read it. That's very good. — Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai.
This is not a pure cybersecurity story, but in some ways cryptocurrencies have always been part of hacking culture. Born as a libertarian fantasy, Bitcoin and all its crypto derivatives are not exactly what Satoshi Nakamoto, the enigmatic inventor of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, envisioned in his founding paper on Bitcoin in 2008. It has been clear for several years that there is no relationship between the two. As Charlie Worzel explains so well in this article, cryptocurrencies are now a tool for far-right forces to wield power. — Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai.
Bloomberg's Katrina Manson got the scoop that no one else could. Pharmaceutical company Sencora paid a $75 million ransom to extortionists to keep the personal and sensitive medical data of more than 18 million people from being released following a previous cyberattack. Cecora was hacked in February, but it's unclear how many people had their information stolen, although public documents indicate more than 1.4 million people were affected and the number is rising. He has categorically and consistently refused to say anything about it. TechCrunch has been following this article about the alleged ransom payment for some time (and we weren't the only ones!) after hearing rumors that Cenkora had paid what is believed to be the largest ransom ever paid! ). Bloomberg's Manson obtained details of the Bitcoin transactions and confirmed the ransom payment. — Zach Whitaker.
The hackers behind the cyberattack on pharmaceutical company Sencora Inc. received a total of $75 million, the largest known cyber extortion in history, according to people familiar with the matter. https://t.co/ZLf3piC8ou
— Katrina Manson (@KatrinaManson) September 18, 2024
I've been covering ransomware for years, and while the hackers behind these data theft attacks are often willing to talk, the victims of these attacks are usually less concerned. I don't want to open it. Bloomberg's Ryan Gallagher did the near-impossible to get UK-based delivery company Knights of Old to reveal all about the ransomware attack that forced the UK-based delivery company out of business after 158 years. Achieved. Knights co-owner Paul Abbott spoke candidly about the attack, giving readers a glimpse into the devastation caused by a group of Russian-linked hackers. Mr Abbott revealed how and why the company decided not to negotiate, resulting in the release of more than 10,000 internal documents. Mr Abbott revealed that the breach meant the company was unable to secure financing or sell the company and was forced to close permanently. — Carly Page.
404 Media has definitely gained popularity in the first year or so since its launch. There were many great stories, but this one stood out to me. Here, Joseph Cox and the other journalists were given the same dataset and he wisely decided to focus on one main issue in his article. That's how cell phone location information can help identify people visiting abortion clinics. With Donald Trump back in the White House and Republicans controlling every branch of government, we are likely to see further challenges to abortion rights and access, making this type of surveillance especially dangerous. are. — Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai.
I've been covering cryptocurrency hacks and heists off and on for the past few years. It's a fascinating world full of scammers, fraudsters, hackers, and tenacious investigators. One of the most interesting characters is a man who goes by the handle ZachXBT. Over the years, he has unraveled some of the most complex cryptocurrency mysteries, hacking, robbery, fraud, and money laundering activities. Wired's Andy Greenberg did a great job profiling ZachXBT this year. And even though Greenberg was unable to reveal the detective's real-world identity and withheld much identifying information, the story vividly portrayed the detective and his motives. — Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai.
Crypto Detective since 2021 @zachxbt Helped recover nearly $500 million from victims of fraud and theft. Last month, he pulled off a $243 million heist, the largest robbery ever committed against a single person.
He never revealed his name or face, but he told me about the following profile: https://t.co/4UZF28wfM4
— Andy Greenberg (@agreenberg elsewhere) (@a_greenberg) October 24, 2024
Wired's Andy Greenberg has the scoop on another large-scale Chinese-backed hacking operation. This surprising report, published in October, describes how researchers working at Chengdu-based cybersecurity firm Sichuan Silence and the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China went to study vulnerabilities in Sophos' firewalls. It is clear that he has spent many years on this. The vulnerability was later exploited by Chinese state-backed hacker groups, including APT41 and Bolt Typhoon, to install backdoors in Sophos firewalls used by organizations around the world and steal sensitive data. As detailed by Sophos itself, the five-year campaign compromised more than 80,000 firewall devices worldwide, including those used by the U.S. government. Following Mr. Greenberg's reporting, the U.S. government sanctioned a Chinese cybersecurity company and one of its employees for its involvement in a widespread hacking campaign. — Carly Page.
The Salt Typhoon hack of a major U.S. mobile phone and internet company will be remembered not only as one of the biggest cybersecurity incidents of 2024, but also as one of the biggest hacks in history. The Wall Street Journal impressively scooped the story, saying in October that the Chinese government-backed hacker group Salt Typhoon had infiltrated the networks of a series of U.S. telecommunications providers, and the system is now being used by the federal government in court. It was reported that the information was accessed. Allowed network eavesdropping requests. The WSJ's excellent reporting set off a months-long follow-up investigation that prompted action by the U.S. government, which has since urged Americans to switch to encrypted messaging apps like Signal to minimize the risk of their communications being intercepted. is calling out to — Carly Page.
KYC (“Know Your Customer” checks) is one of the most reliable methods used by banks and technology companies to verify that the person you are doing business with is actually you. KYC involves examining a driver's license, passport, or other type of identification and verifying the authenticity of the document whenever possible. However, while counterfeiting and counterfeiting are inevitable, generative AI models are making these KYC checks completely useless. 404 Media investigated an underground site where “neural networks” mass-produce fake IDs at high speed. This was a great way to demonstrate how easy it is to generate fake IDs on the fly that enable bank fraud and criminal money laundering. The site was taken offline following a report by 404 Media. —Zack Whitaker.
New: Inside the underground site where a “neural network” churns out fake IDs
– Tested and created 2 IDs in minutes
– Used to bypass identity verification checks on cryptocurrency exchanges
– Big impact on crime and cybersecurity https://t.co/hCjHWbKJPf pic.twitter.com/sd8ofmdEOE
— Joseph Cox (@josephfcox) February 5, 2024