Zack Whittaker
Security Editor
The Latest from Zack Whittaker
Is your startup protected against insider threats?
We’ve talked about securing your startup, the need to understand phishing risks and how not to handle a data breach. But we haven’t yet discussed one of the more damaging threats that all
Over 750,000 applications for US birth certificate copies exposed online
An online company that allows users to obtain a copy of their birth and death certificates from U.S. state governments has exposed a massive cache of applications — including their personal informat
RaySecur, a mailroom security startup, raises $3M in seed funding
RaySecur says at least 10 times a day someone sends a suspicious package containing powder, liquid or some other kind of hazard. The Boston, Mass.-based startup says its desktop-sized 3D real-time sca
After criticism, Homeland Security drops plans to expand airport face recognition scans to US citizens
Homeland Security has confirmed it will not expand face recognition scans to U.S. citizens arriving and departing the country, days after it emerged the agency proposed making the scans for citizens m
Apple says its ultra wideband technology is why newer iPhones appear to share location data, even when the setting is disabled
This week, security reporter Brian Krebs asked why the newest iPhone 11 Pro appeared to be sending out a user’s location even when the user disabled Location Services in their phone’s sett
Justice Dept. charges Russian hacker behind the Dridex malware
U.S. prosecutors have brought computer hacking and fraud charges against a Russian citizen, Maksim Yakubets, who is accused of developing and distributing Dridex, a notorious banking malware used to a
Most of the largest US voting districts are vulnerable to email spoofing
Only 5% of the largest voting counties in the U.S. are protected against email impersonation and phishing attacks, seen as a key attack method by hackers who officials say want to disrupt the upcoming
A Sprint contractor left thousands of US cell phone bills on the internet by mistake
A contractor working for cell giant Sprint stored on an unprotected cloud server hundreds of thousands of cell phone bills of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile subscribers. The storage bucket had more th
DHS wants to expand airport face recognition scans to include US citizens
Homeland Security wants to expand facial recognition checks for travelers arriving to and departing from the U.S. to also include citizens, which had previously been exempt from the mandatory checks.
Tuft & Needle exposed thousands of customer shipping labels
Mattress and bedding giant Tuft & Needle left on an unprotected cloud server hundreds of thousands of FedEx shipping labels containing customer names, addresses and phone numbers. More than 236,40
Top Israeli VC talks cybersecurity, diversity and ‘no go’ investments
Jerusalem Venture Partners has raised more than $1.4 billion raised over two decades, powering some of Israel's largest cybersecurity startups.
A bug in Microsoft’s login system put users at risk of account hijacks
Microsoft has fixed a vulnerability in its login system, which security researchers say could have been used to trick unsuspecting victims into giving over complete access to their online accounts. Th
Now even the FBI is warning about your smart TV’s security
If you just bought a smart TV on Black Friday or plan to buy one for Cyber Monday tomorrow, the FBI wants you to know a few things. Smart TVs are like regular television sets but with an internet conn
Millions of SMS messages exposed in database security lapse
A massive database storing tens of millions of SMS text messages, most of which were sent by businesses to potential customers, has been found online. The database is run by TrueDialog, a business SMS
Mixcloud data breach exposes over 20 million user records
A data breach at Mixcloud, a U.K.-based audio streaming platform, has left more than 20 million user accounts exposed after the data was put on sale on the dark web. The data breach happened earlier i
Gift Guide: Essential security and privacy gifts to help protect your friends and family
Welcome to TechCrunch’s 2019 Holiday Gift Guide! Need help with gift ideas? We’re here to help! We’ll be rolling out gift guides from now through the end of December. You can find ou
Only a few 2020 US presidential candidates are using a basic email security feature
Just one-third of the 2020 U.S. presidential candidates are using an email security feature that could prevent a similar attack that hobbled the Democrats during the 2016 election. Out of the 21 presi
Anti-bot startup Kasada raises $7M in Series A from CIA’s venture fund In-Q-Tel
Kasada, an anti-bot startup we profiled earlier this year, has raised $7 million in its Series A with In-Q-Tel, the non-profit venture arm of the intelligence community, as the startup’s latest
Vistaprint left a customer service database unprotected, exposing calls, chats and emails
A security researcher has found an exposed database on the internet belonging to online printing giant Vistaprint. Security researcher Oliver Hough discovered the unencrypted database last week. There
Hulu is down, appears to be a major outage
Hulu is currently down. We’re not sure why, and neither does Hulu. A stream of tweets complaining about the outage surfaced Sunday morning on the U.S. east coast, but it seems like a global outa