Thomas Brewster
Security, surveillance and privacy reporter for @Forbes+@ForbesTech. Tip me! Signal: +447837496820. Email: [email protected]
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Grayshift, The Startup That Breaks Into Unlocked iPhones For The Feds, Raises $47 Million
Grayshift boasts doubling of revenue as cops across America buy into its powerful but possibly controversial iPhone forensics tech.
Border Patrol Spent $2 Million On Google Maps For A Massive Surveillance Tool
Google tech was purchased for use in CBP’s Automated Targeting System. It may prove problematic for a tech giant whose own employees have asked it to stop working with Trump’s immigration agencies.
This Surfer Dude Scientist Claims He Twice Foiled An FDA Undercover Probe Into His DIY Covid-19 Vaccine
Johnny Stine says he knew undercover FDA agents were trying to catch him out over a $400 Covid-19 vaccine he’d injected into a Pacific Northwest mayor, amongst many others.
Here’s How The U.S. Claims The Assange-Manning Conspiracy Worked
Assange is accused of helping Chelsea Manning crack a password for Windows PCs she had access to in Iraq. Just how does the government believe they planned to do it?
Apple Helps FBI Track Down George Floyd Protester Accused Of Firebombing Cop Cars
Man arrested after the FBI claims that iCloud images indicate that he made Molotov cocktails to torch police cars during protests against police brutality in the Black community.
EXCLUSIVE: CDC’s Confession That America’s Covid-19 Tracking Failed
America didn't have the “critical data” it needed to contain Covid-19, the CDC admits, even as it is offering states help on how to reopen.
Big Leak Reveals Iran Targeting US Military With Super Speedy Google Account Hacks
IBM researchers stunned by hacker training videos they found on a server used by a prolific Iranian hacker crew.
The FBI Is Secretly Using A $2 Billion Company For Global Travel Surveillance — The US Could Do The Same To Track Covid-19
An unprecedented order on a huge travel company reveals how the FBI tracks suspects around the world.
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Thomas Brewster
New - I found out about an FBI surveillance method that sees it demand a publicly-listed Texan company to tell it where someone is travelling in "real-time."
Orders can last for months. And they've been useful in tracking down hacking suspects.
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The Pentagon’s $1 Million Question: Can AI Predict An Enemy’s Emotions?
The science of using AI to detect and predict emotions is shaky but the U.S. military and a handful of well-funded startups are hoping to prove the doubters wrong, whatever the risks.
This Secret $35 Million FBI Unit Mixes Facial Recognition With Big Data To Investigate America’s Most Horrific Crimes
Inside the FBI's Quantico headquarters a team of agents uses advanced technology from contractors like Mitre Corporation to drill into videos and photos for clues to solve major crimes.
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Thomas Brewster
New - I uncovered a secret FBI surveillance group called the Multimedia Exploitation Unit (MXU).
Costing at least $35 million and in operation since at least 2016, it rifles through thousands of videos capturing the worst crimes in the US.
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Inside America’s Secretive $2 Billion Research Hub Collecting Fingerprints From Facebook, Hacking Smartwatches And Fighting Covid-19
Mitre Corp runs some of the U.S. government's most hush-hush science and tech labs. The cloak-and-dagger R&D shop might just be the most important organization you've never heard of.
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Thomas Brewster
New exclusive investigation - Meet Mitre Corporation, the nonprofit that gets up to $2 billion every year from US agencies to do all manner of national security, surveillance and healthcare work, much of it done in secret. Get ready for some scoops...
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Thomas Brewster
Many of the infosec Twitter crowd will know Mitre as the org that manages the CVE database of known vulnerabilities, or the provider of the ATT&CK framework. At the same time as protecting internet devices and infrastructure, it's hacking them in private.
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Zoom Promises To Do Better After Banning Tiananmen Square Protests—Then Builds Tech To Help China’s Censorship
Zoom reinstates accounts of Tiananmen Square commemoration organizers, but is creating tech to ensure mainland Chinese users can be censored.
Warning: COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps Could Be Turned Into Tools For Domestic Abuse
Contact tracers may inadvertently leak domestic abuse survivors' contact details, whilst location services could be problematic, charities warn.
2,500 Posts, 300 Platforms, 6 Years: A Huge But Mysterious Pro-Russia Disinformation Campaign Is Exposed
The long-running, massive Secondary Infektion campaign has ties to Russia, but its motivations remain elusive.
EBay Staff Charged With Harassing Couple By Sending A ‘Fetal Pig’ In The Post
They also sent a bloodied pig Halloween mask and a funeral wreath to their targets, according to the Justice Department. That's just one of numerous wild allegations made against the eBay security team.
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Thomas Brewster
Was not expecting to write this today or anything remotely like it...
Insane that tech companies still have these kinds of "special operations" units. AKA, ex police and spies that hunt down enemies.
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Funded By Kevin Durant And Founded By Ex-Googlers, This Drone Startup Is Scoring Millions In Government Surveillance Contracts
Famous basketball player Kevin Durant co-funded $200 million-valued Skydio, which has quietly been getting millions in federal government surveillance money, whilst spending thousands on lobbying senators and the president’s office.
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Thomas Brewster
New - After seeing DEA, FBI and multiple federal agencies were called into police the protests, I went looking through their drone purchases.
And look what I found: millions spent by DEA, Army and Air Force on a Kevin Durant-backed AI drone startup!
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Facial Recognition Firms Pitch Covid-19 ‘Immunity Passports’ For America And Britain
FaceFirst pitches a coronavirus health passport system, though concerns around civil liberties and privacy abound.
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Thomas Brewster
New - Facial Recognition Firms Pitch Covid-19 ‘Immunity Passports’ For America And Britain
Privacy and civil rights concerns abound.
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US Preps For ‘COVID-19 Mass Vaccination’ With $110 Million On Needles And Syringes
Two companies handed massive orders as the U.S. gets ready to roll out a coronavirus vaccine in the next year.
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Thomas Brewster
Stepped outta my beat again briefly for this story.
Looks like the US is getting ready to vaccinate 300m Americans with an order of $100m in needles and syringes.
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Exclusive: Warning Over Chinese Mobile Giant Xiaomi Recording Millions Of People’s ‘Private’ Web And Phone Use
Xiaomi is collecting users’ browser habits and phone usage, raising red flags for privacy researchers.
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Thomas Brewster
New - If you own a Xiaomi phone or run one of its browsers, the company is tracking your web use and a whole lot more.
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Your Whole Company’s Microsoft Teams Data Could’ve Been Stolen With An ‘Evil GIF’
A malicious Donald Duck GIF could've been used to hack a whole company's Microsoft Teams accounts, researchers claim.