New: A government watchdog spent less than $15,000 to build a password-cracking rig capable of unscrambling thousands of Dept. of the Interior employee passwords in a matter of minutes.
Some of the agency's passwords were as simple as "Polar_bear65" and "Nationalparks2014!"
More: https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/10/interior-department-watchdog-passwords/
Elon Musk claimed he fixed Twitter's verification system to stop verifying impostors.
So our columnist @geoffreyfowler tested it again--and again was able to get a blue checkmark (and go viral) impersonating a U.S. Senator. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/01/05/twitter-blue-verification/
Power company money flows to news sites that attack their critics https://www.npr.org/2022/12/19/1143753129/power-companies-florida-alabama-media-investigation-consulting-firm
Especially dangerous because of the greater trust people have in local news - see my Upshot column https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/upshot/fake-local-news.html
Microsoft discovered a vulnerability in macOS that can let attackers bypass application execution restrictions imposed by Apple's Gatekeeper security mechanism.
The bug, dubbed "Achilles," could be used by malware and other threats to gain initial access to a device and increase the success rate of attacks on macOS.
Apple addressed the bug in macOS 13 (Ventura), macOS 12.6.2 (Monterey), and macOS 1.7.2 (Big Sur).
The r/news discussion for our story about Elon Musk blaming @elonjet for a "crazy stalker" incident that happened 23 hours and 26 miles away:
"It kinda seems like he senselessly lashes out at individuals when he doesn't get his way"
https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/zpeokg/elon_musk_blamed_a_twitter_account_for_a_stalker/