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The Scariest Hacks, Bugs, and Scams We Saw at Black Hat 2024

AI, terrifying vulnerabilities, and privacy worries abound at the annual cybersecurity conference.

By Kim Key  & Neil J. Rubenking
Black Hat audience awaits the first day's keynote

The Only Real Problem With Black Hat's Wi-Fi Was the People Using It

Network admins at the conference recount some seriously poor choices by Black Hat attendees.

By Rob Pegoraro
A slide from Wyler and Stump's presentation showing the variety of network gear (from Palo Alto Networks, NetWitness, Cisco, Arista Networks, and Corelight) in use at Black Hat's network operations center.,

Friend or Foe? Researchers Put AI Models to the Test in Cyber-Warfare Scenarios

We all know AI isn't perfect. Is it safe to involve large language models when the stakes are this high? At Black Hat, a team from MITRE explains how they're stress-testing today's top LLMs.

By Neil J. Rubenking
ChatGPT Goes to War

Meet the Criminals Behind Southeast Asia's Lucrative Online Gambling Websites

At Black Hat, researchers reveal a network of scammers who force people to work for sketchy gambling sites and evade detection through a sophisticated tech suite.

By Kim Key
Gambling imagery on a red background

Signal Developer Explains Why Early Encrypted Messaging Tools Flopped

'The intuition was to take the complexity and push it onto the user,' Moxie Marlinspike says at Black Hat. 'We were just wrong.'

By Rob Pegoraro
Signal developer Moxie Marlinspike speaking at Black Hat 2024

70% AI? Adobe Talks Verifying Content in the Age of Deepfakes

At Black Hat, Adobe outlines how to quickly identify altered media with tools that function like nutrition labels for digital content.

By Kim Key
A nutrition label on a beige background

Just the Hacks: How Journalists Work With Hackers to Break News

Hackers reach out to reporters to let them know about their latest conquests, but it's a delicate balance between informing the public and giving bad actors a platform.

By Kim Key
Two people looking concerned near a computer

Wi-Fi Positioning Can Expose Your Location and Movement, Here's How to Stop It

If your smartphone couldn’t rely on its Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS), its location abilities would be slower and less accurate. However, WPS can prove dangerous when it exposes your whereabouts.

By Neil J. Rubenking
When Wi-Fi Positioning Rats You Out to the Enemy

Feds Make a Pitch for Election Work: Here's What I've Learned as a Poll Worker

At Black Hat, CISA Director Jen Easterly makes a pitch for people to sign up as poll workers, a job I've taken on in eight elections in Virginia. 'It's on all of us to preserve democracy," she says.

By Rob Pegoraro
CISA director Jen Easterly speaks at Black Hat 2024

Researchers Push Dating Apps to Swipe Left on Aggressive Location Tracking

Putting yourself on a dating app means risking rejection. But with modern proximity-based dating, you risk much more, researchers reveal at Black Hat.

By Neil J. Rubenking
When Your Bad Online Date Stalks You IRL

With Most Modern Cars Locked Down, Hackers Turn to EV Chargers

The back-and-forth between car hackers and automaker security designers has resulted in vehicles that are tough to hack, but the chargers that make electric cars go remain vulnerable.

By Neil J. Rubenking
Modern Cars are Hard to Hack—EV Chargers Are Easier

This Attack Pushes Windows Update to the Dark Side

Every month, you trust Windows Update to improve and secure your operating system. At Black Hat, we got a peek at what happens when malefactors twist it to downgrade security instead.

By Neil J. Rubenking
Turning Windows Update to the Dark Side

US Cybersecurity Chief: Don't Get Your Election Info From Influencers

At Black Hat, Jen Easterly, director of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, urges voters to be discerning and get election information from local, state, and federal officials.

By Kim Key
ballot box on blue background

Hacking All the Things: What We Expect at Black Hat 2024

Every year security researchers and hackers brave the Las Vegas heat to participate in the Black Hat security conference. What mysteries will they unveil this time? We have some guesses.

By Neil J. Rubenking  & Kim Key
What We Expect at Black Hat 2024

At Black Hat, Feds Push Tech Firms to Adopt 'Radical Transparency'

'Security needs to be seen as a priority, because if it's not, speed to market always wins,' a senior technical advisor at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency says at Black Hat.

By Rob Pegoraro
Slide presented during the CISA talk features a QR code linking to the White House RFI on memory-safe languages and open-source security

Here’s How to Get Tesla’s $300 Seat Warming for Free Via Hotwiring

A Black Hat briefing unpacks how a voltage-glitch attack unlocks a $300 feature.

By Rob Pegoraro
A white Tesla Model 3, as seen in a showroom

‘Defender-Pretender’: How Researchers Undermined Windows Malware Security

A Black Hat briefing on a now-fixed vulnerability underscores an old lesson: ‘Trust no one.’

By Rob Pegoraro
A slide during the Black Hat presentation shows the attack in progress.

Uncle Sam Needs Your AI Help, and DARPA Will Hand Out $20M to Make it Happen

Responsible AI has 'remarkable potential to secure our code,' the agency says, so DARPA's two-year AIxCC program offers almost $20 million in prizes for applications that can get it done.

By Rob Pegoraro
A slide shown at the Black Hat security conference outlines the phases of DARPA's AI Cyber Challenge contest

What to Expect at Black Hat 2023

The annual Black Hat conference brings together hackers and researchers from all over the world, eager to share their latest discoveries. We have some tantalizing guesses about what we'll learn this year.

By Neil J. Rubenking , Max Eddy  & Kim Key
Black Hat

The 14 Scariest Things We Saw at Black Hat 2022

Every year, Black Hat features the most startling security research. Here's what our PCMag reporters saw, and what's keeping them up at night.

By Max Eddy