Security News This Week: Unmasking the Master of That Web-Crippling Botnet
Remember that nasty Mirai botnet, the one that broke the internet for millions of people last fall? Brian Krebs does. The security journalist was also the massive botnet’s first known victim, and he’s spent hundreds of hours tracking down Mirai’s author.
The biggest security news this week was also the most surprising; in one of his last acts in office, (now former) President Obama commuted the sentence of WikiLeaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning. Instead of serving out the rest of her 35-year sentence, she’ll be free in May. In other presidential news, it turns out the wall Trump wants to build won’t do very much to actually secure the border. It’s possible to secure our cyber-defenses against Russia, though—with our without Trump’s help.
We also took a look into the future of warfare this week, specifically how the Marines use sci-fi to prepare for it. And into the past, thanks to a newly accessible stash of 12 million pages’ worth of declassified CIA documents. Elsewhere, a popular selfie app raised some privacy concerns, and Tor has a plan to become more secret than ever. Also? Squirrels.