• New Technique to Improve Password Security

    Internet passwords and security updates often appear at inopportune times and are thus ignored. Researchers to devise a new, simple, and effective approach that could significantly improve cybersecurity behavior.

  • Cybersecurity Suite Now on Duty Defending the Nation

    By Michael Ellis Langley

    For the better part of a decade, dozens of Sandia engineers, each working on pieces of a new national security tool alongside federal partners, have revolutionized cybersecurity forensics with the Thorium platform and tool suite.

  • Toll of QAnon on Families of Followers

    By Christina Pazzanese

    Political conspiracy theories have long found receptive audiences in the U.S., often on the fringes of society. Among the best-known today is QAnon, a set of fabricated claims that a group of Satan-worshiping pedophiles controls American politics and media. At its center is an anonymous oracle known as “Q.” New book by Nieman Fellow explores pain, frustration in efforts to help loved ones break free of hold of conspiracy theorists.

  • Five Disinformation Tactics Russia Is Using to Try to Influence the U.S. Election

    By Precious Chatterje-Doody

    The White House’s recent exposure of Russian attempts to influence this year’s U.S. presidential election will come as little surprise to anyone who followed disinformation tactics during the last U.S. election. The practices alleged by DOJ has become standard practice in Russian attempts to influence international audiences.

  • The Accelerationists’ App: How Telegram Became the “Center of Gravity” for a New Breed of Domestic Terrorists

    By James Bandler, A. C. Thompson, and Karina Meier

    From attempting to incite racially motivated violence to encouraging attacks on critical infrastructure, the alleged crimes planned and advertised by extremists on Telegram go far beyond the charges facing CEO Pavel Durov.

  • Social Media Manipulation in the Era of AI

    By Doug Irving

    China is not the only U.S. adversary exploring the potential propaganda gold mine that AI has opened. But China provides a useful case study, in part because its disinformation efforts seem to be getting bolder.

  • Toward a Code-Breaking Quantum Computer

    By Adam Zewe

    Building on a landmark algorithm, researchers propose a way to make a smaller and more noise-tolerant quantum factoring circuit for cryptography.

  • Let’s Take a Close Look at How We Protect Our Undersea Cables

    By Jessie Jacob

    We rely ever more heavily on the connectivity that cables provide and, with capacity-hungry 6G on the horizon, the need will only grow. Yet, little has been done to protect undersea cales from accidental or deliberate disruption.

  • Four Fallacies of AI Cybersecurity

    By Chad Heitzenrater

    To date, the majority of AI cybersecurity efforts do not reflect the accumulated knowledge and modern approaches within cybersecurity, instead tending toward concepts that have been demonstrated time and again not to support desired cybersecurity outcomes. 

  • Computer Scientists Discover Vulnerabilities in a Popular Security Protocol

    By Katie E. Ismael

    A widely used security protocol that dates back to the days of dial-up Internet has vulnerabilities that could expose large numbers of networked devices to an attack and allow an attacker to gain control of traffic on an organization’s network.

  • Conspiracy, Fake News, Crime: Why Is Telegram Controversial?

    By Thomas Latschan

    Telegram has been used by all sides in Russia, both pro-and anti-government groups. The arrest of CEO Pavel Durov in Paris has left Russia’s opposition worried. But the messaging app is well known for its drawbacks.

  • As Tools for Hybrid Threats, Apps Like Telegram Must Be Accountable

    By Fitriani

    Once celebrated as the ultimate tool for free communication thanks to its encryption and lax moderation practices, Telegram now stands accused by French authorities of facilitating criminal activities and possibly being exploited for hybrid threats, particularly by Russian state actors. Hybrid threats blend military force with non-military tactics including cyberattacks and disinformation.

  • How Smart Toys May e Spying on Kids: What Parents Need to Know

    By Angelika Jacobs

    Toniebox, Tiptoi, and Tamagotchi are smart toys, offering interactive play through software and internet access. However, many of these toys raise privacy concerns, and some even collect extensive behavioral data about children.

  • Vulnerabilities in a Popular Security Protocol

    By Katie Ismael

    A widely used security protocol that dates back to the days of dial-up Internet has vulnerabilities that could expose large numbers of networked devices to an attack and allow an attacker to gain control of traffic on an organization’s network.

  • The Hacking of the Trump Campaign Is 2016 All Over Again

    Hackers affiliated with the intelligence service of a foreign county hack the campaign of a candidate for the U.S. presidency, scoop damaging material, and disseminate it to reporters. This describes both the 2016 hacking of the Clinton campaign by Russian hackers, and the 2024 hacking of the Trump campaign by Iranian hackers. But there are differences: In 2016, “The press seized on the hacked emails,” Quinta Jurecic writes, “and the Trump campaign capitalized exuberantly on Russia’s involvement in the election.” Trump called on Russia to do even more. Now, the press has behaved more responsibly, and “Kamala Harris has not yet weighed in on the campaign trail with any winking suggestions that Iran might want to continue rummaging around in the Trump campaign’s systems.”