after eight years After a researcher warned WhatsApp that it was possible to extract user phone numbers en masse from the Meta-owned app, another team of researchers found that they could still do so using similar technology. The problem stems from WhatsApp’s Discovery feature, which allows someone to enter a person’s phone number to see if they’ve been on the app. By doing this billions of times — which WhatsApp didn’t stop — researchers at the University of Vienna uncovered what they’re calling “the most comprehensive display of phone numbers ever.”
Vaping is a big problem in America’s high schools. But is spying on students in the bathroom the solution? An investigation by The 74 co-published with WIRED found that schools across the country are turning to vape detectors in an effort to crack down on nicotine and cannabis consumption on school grounds. Some vapor detectors go far beyond detecting vapor by incorporating microphones that are surprisingly accurate and revealing. While some defend addiction and drug use, even non-vapers say the extra monitoring and resulting penalties go too far.
Don’t look now, but that old networking equipment that your company hasn’t thought about in years may come out and bite you. Tech giant Cisco launched a new initiative this week, warning companies that AI tools are making it easier for attackers to find vulnerabilities in old and unpatched networking infrastructure. Message: Upgrade or else.
If you’ve ever attended a convention, you’ve probably been concerned about getting sick from the dirty water at the convention center. But KawaiCon, a hacker conference in New Zealand, invented a new way to keep attendees a little safer. By tracking CO2 level in each conference room, KawaiCon organizers were able to create a real-time air-quality monitoring system that would tell people which rooms were safe and which seemed… gross. This project brings new meaning to antivirus monitoring.
and that’s not all. Each week, we round up security and privacy news that we haven’t covered in depth ourselves. Click on titles to read full stories. And stay safe there.
The U.S. Border Patrol is operating a predictive-intelligence program that monitors millions of American drivers crossing the border, according to a detailed investigation by The Associated Press. A network of covert license-plate readers – often hidden inside traffic cones, barrels and roadside devices – feeds data into an algorithm that flags “suspicious” routes, quick turnarounds and trips to and from border areas. Local police are then alerted, resulting in traffic stops for minor violations such as window-tint violations, air freshener use, or minor speeding. Police records reviewed by the AP showed that drivers were questioned, searched and sometimes arrested despite no contraband being found.
Internal group chats obtained through public-records requests show Border Patrol agents and Texas representatives sharing US citizens’ hotel records, rental car locations, home addresses and social media details in real time in what officials call a “whisper stop” to obscure federal involvement. The AP identified plate-reader sites more than 120 miles from the Mexican border in the Phoenix area, as well as locations near metropolitan Detroit and the Michigan-Indiana line that capture traffic headed toward Chicago and Gary. Border Patrol also taps the DEA plate-reader network and, at times, accesses systems operated by Recor, Vigilant Solutions and Flock Safety.
CBP says the program is governed by “strict” policies and constitutional safeguards, but legal experts told the AP that its scale raises new Fourth Amendment concerns. An official at UC Law San Francisco said the system is like a “dragnet” tracking Americans’ activities, organizations and daily routines.
Microsoft claims it has mitigated the largest distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack ever recorded in a cloud environment – a 15.72Tbps, 3.64-billion-ppm barrage launched on October 24 against a single Azure endpoint in Australia. Microsoft says the attack “originated from the Aisuru botnet,” a turbo-Mirai-class IoT network of compromised home routers, cameras, and other consumer devices. It is said that over 500,000 IP addresses participated, leading to a massive DDoS attack with just a little bit of spoofing. Microsoft says its global Azure DDoS Protection network absorbs the traffic without disruption to service. Microsoft described the attack as “the largest DDoS ever seen in the cloud”, emphasizing a single endpoint; However, Cloudflare also recently reported a 22.2Tbps flood, calling it the largest DDoS attack ever.
The researchers note that Aisuru has recently launched multiple attacks exceeding 20 Tbps and is expanding its capabilities to include credential stuffing, AI-powered scraping, and HTTP flooding via residential proxies.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped its remaining claims against SolarWinds and its CISO, Tim Brown, ending its long-running case over the company’s 2020 supply-chain hack, in which Russian SVR operators allegedly compromised SolarWinds’ Orion software and led to widespread breaches in government and industry. The agency’s lawsuit — filed in 2023 and focused on alleged fraud and internal-control failures — had already been mostly dismissed by a federal judge in 2024. SolarWinds called the full dismissal a vindication of its argument that its disclosures and conduct were appropriate and said it hoped the outcome would ease concerns among CISOs about the potentially chilling impact of the case.
Law enforcement records show that the FBI accessed messages from a private Signal group used by New York immigration court-watching activists – a network that coordinates volunteers monitoring public hearings in three federal immigration courts. According to a two-page FBI/NYPD “Joint Situational Information Report” dated August 28, 2025, agents quoted chat messages, labeled non-violent court watchers as “anarchist violent extremist actors” and broadcast the assessment nationwide. The report did not explain how the FBI gained access to the Encrypted Signals group, but claimed that the information came from a “sensitive source with excellent access.”
The documents, first reported by the Guardian, were originally obtained by government-transparency group Property of the People. They describe activists who discussed how to enter the courtroom, film officers, and collect identifying details of federal personnel, but provide no evidence to support the FBI’s allegation that a member had previously advocated violence. A separate set of records obtained by the group also shows the bureau has framed the general observation of public immigration hearings as a potential threat, even as Immigration and Customs Enforcement has increased arrests in court and set what lawyers call “deportation traps.” Civil liberties experts told the newspaper that the surveillance mirrors past FBI campaigns that target legitimate dissent and risk chilling protected political activity.