News
Bodycam Shows Moment Cops Arrested a Man for Speaking Too Long at Data Center Meeting
We spoke to Darren Blanchard, the man arrested while speaking out against data centers at a community meeting. He's sharing the bodycam footage of his arrest for the first time with 404 Media.
Hacking
The Viral Smart Toothbrush Botnet Story Is Not Real
"FortiGuard Labs has not observed Mirai or other IoT botnets target toothbrushes or similar embedded devices."
payment processors
Stripe Cuts Off Platform Used by Dominatrixes
Stripe gets even more anti-sex by kicking off wishlist platform Wishtender, while AI porn sites, which are also against the payment processor's rules, are still using it.
Data Brokers
Woman Got Cremation Ads in the Mail After Getting Chemotherapy
"This matter has brought to light the close interplay between data brokers and data analytics firms in the digital marketing landscape.”
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
AI-Generated Grandma Porn Is Flooding the Internet
Hundreds of AI GILF erotica are flooding Xvideos and Manyvids.
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.
AI
‘DignifAI:’ 4chan Is Editing Pictures to Clothe Women
The inverse of "nudifying" apps, people are putting clothing on women they deem "undignified."
Apple Vision Pro
A ‘$3,500 Chastity Belt’: Early Apple Vision Pro Adopters Alarmed to Learn VR Porn Doesn't Work
"So uhh.. where is all the 3d porn?"
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.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Social Media's ‘IDGAF Era’ and Weather Clout Chasers
This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we social media companies being in their “IDGAF Era" and a viral thread about California's ARkStorm.