Latest Tech News

Stay updated with the latest in technology, AI, cybersecurity, and more

Filtered by: sms Clear Filter

Scammers Are Now Driving Around With Fake Cell Towers That Blast 100,000 Texts Per Hour

Leave it to phone scammers to innovate new ways to be as annoying — and scummy — as humanly possible. These cybercriminals are no longer content with just sending you the odd phishing text or two. As Wired reports, more and more of them are using so-called "SMS blasters" that basically act as a portable cell tower, tricking your phones into connecting with them as they cruise by. The scammers walk or drive around with the devices, firing out a ludicrous volume of SMS messages that contain dange

Cybercriminals Have a Weird New Way to Target You With Scam Texts

Cybercriminals have a new way of sending millions of scam text messages to people. Typically when fraudsters send waves of phishing messages to phones—such as toll or delivery scams—they may use a huge list of phone numbers and automate the sending of messages. But as phone companies and telecom services have rolled out more tools to detect scams in texts, criminals have started driving around cities with fake cell phone towers that send messages directly to nearby phones. Over the last year, t

Scientist Warns That New Synthetic Lifeform Could Spell Doom for Humankind

Image by Getty / Futurism Developments It's a technology that doesn't even exist yet, but its effects could be so drastically destructive that scientists in the field are calling for it to be banned now, before it's too late. We're talking, of course, about "mirror life" — synthetic organisms that quite literally turn natural biology on its head. "We should choose not to build mirror life and pass laws to ensure nobody can," John Glass, a synthetic biologist who helped create the first living

The MFA You Trust Is Lying to You – and Here's How Attackers Exploit It

Still getting login codes via text or authenticator apps? You’re not alone—and that’s a big problem. What used to feel like a smart security layer is now one of the easiest ways for attackers to gain access to your accounts. First we were told to use SMS for MFA. Then we were told: “Don’t use SMS for MFA, use an authenticator app instead.” And while that may seem like a step forward, it’s still fundamentally flawed. Authenticator apps do improve over SMS by avoiding message interception, but t

UK proposes greater regulation for Google's search practices

The UK might introduce new regulations for Google. The country's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has proposed designating the company's search services with "strategic market status" (SMS). In doing so, the regulatory body could direct Google to create fairer business rankings on search, for instance. The CMA launched an antitrust investigation into Google Search in January — its first probe under the UK's Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act. Concerns include search ad

Topics: cma google search sms uk

Whistleblower warning: 2FA codes sent via SMS are trivially easy to intercept

Weak Link: Two-factor authentication is designed to harden device security and make unauthorized access even trickier for bad actors. In the imperfect world we live in, however, there's almost always a weak link, and one popular delivery method for 2FA is no exception. Many implementations of two-factor authentication involve sending a one-time passcode to the end user via SMS. Once entered, the user is logged in and it's business as usual. The problem is the inherent weakness of SMS, and the f

Why SMS two-factor authentication codes aren't safe and what to use instead

kontekbrothers/Getty We've probably all received confirmation codes sent via text message when trying to sign into an account. Those codes are supposed to serve as two-factor authentication to confirm our identity and prevent scammers from accessing our accounts through a password alone. But who actually handles those SMS codes, and can those people be trusted? New reports from both Bloomberg and collaborative investigative newsroom Lighthouse Reports shed light on how and why text-based codes