News
University of Michigan Sells Recordings of Study Groups and Office Hours to Train AI
The data is being offered for tens of thousands of dollars to outside third-parties. It is unclear if the speakers provided informed consent.
Podcast
Podcast: An Open Source Search Engine to Replace Google
This week we chat about an annoying recruitment tool, a new open source search engine, and how a botnet of toothbrushes wasn't real.
FOIA
Broker That Sold Abortion Clinic Data Contracted with Air Force for ‘Targeting’
New documents show that SafeGraph, a company that previously sold location related to abortion clinics, was contracted to explicitly help the Air Force with “targeting” in “contested geographies.”
News
Security Researcher Allegedly Hacked Apple’s Backend, Scammed $2.5 Million
Staggeringly, Apple thanked the defendant, Noah Roskin-Frazee, in a security update less than two weeks after he was arrested.
Podcast
Podcast: Inside a Fraud Factory
This week we have fake IDs at the click of a mouse; AI audio porn; a low tech response to the wave of deepfake abuse; and the Instagram ad to investment scam pipeline. A packed episode!
Impact
‘Neural Network’ Fake ID Site Goes Dark After 404 Media Investigation
OnlyFake said it used “neural networks” as part of its automated fake ID generation service. The site has gone offline after 404 Media tested and exposed the service.
News
Phone Spy Tool Pitched for ‘Riot Detection’ in NYC
404 Media recently exposed Patternz, a global phone spy tool that tracks movements and interests through advertising data. Other internal documents now show the technology was marketed as a way to detect riots.
Features
Inside the Underground Site Where ‘Neural Networks’ Churn Out Fake IDs
The site, called OnlyFake, threatens to streamline everything from bank fraud to money laundering, and has implications for cybersecurity writ large.
Podcast
Podcast: This is It. The Deepfake Reckoning
This week we have a banger episode on AI and what the future holds in a potential overcorrection of the space. Then we talk about how an Iranian linked drug trafficker hired a Hells Angel member to perform a hit on U.S. soil. Yep.
News
Binance Code and Internal Passwords Exposed on GitHub for Months
A takedown request said the GitHub account was “hosting and distributing leaks of internal code which poses significant risk to BINANCE.”
News
How a Single ‘Pig Butchering’ Scam Netted $40 Million
Pig butchering scams—in which fraudsters continuously extract money from a target—are a multibillion dollar epidemic. Court records show that just one scam operation can make at least tens of millions of dollars.
News
Encrypted Phone ‘Sky’ Linked to Murder-for-Hire Plot in Maryland
Sky was an encrypted phone used by drug traffickers and other criminals. Now, those phones are linked to a murder-for-hire scheme on U.S. soil involving an arm of the Iranian state.