Mysterious drone sightings lead to FAA ban despite no threat detected

It’s been a busy year in cybersecurity, but it’s not over yet. This week, we revealed how hackers have figured out how to “jailbreak” digital license plates— which are legally issued in at least a couple of states and are valid throughout the United States — allowing them to change the license plate number to practically anything. This means that someone with this ability can avoid tolls and tickets, or even change their plate to be the same as their enemy.

While the company that manufactures the plates, Reviver, makes it clear that doing this would be both illegal and a violation of the terms of service, we assume that people who want to hide the credentials of their car so that they can speed across the city are. not too worried about that.

Staff at the Cyber ​​Security and Infrastructure Agency they are preparing for an uncertain future. Several CISA employees told WIRED they fear the incoming Trump administration will scrap key programs they say keep Americans safe from cyberattacks and other threats — or that the agency itself could be dismantled.

In recent years, financial scams that involve cheating people out of their cryptocurrency holdings have become known by a catchy, catch-all name: “pig slaughter.” But it’s time for a rebranding, according to Interpol officials. The term, which is a translation from Chinese and refers to the slow process of fattening a pig before slaughter, was probably created by the scammers themselves. As such, their use could also degrade the victims of these scams or shame them for not reporting a crime.

Committing crimes in public is apparently all the rage. We did a deep dive the world of drug traffickers who advertise their wares on open web platforms such as Instagram, X, and Snapchat. The practice is not new, but authorities in Europe say it is becoming more popular.

And that’s not all. Every week, we add security and privacy news that we haven’t covered in depth. Click the headlines to read the full stories. And stay safe outside.

The US Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday it is temporarily banning drone flights over dozens of critical infrastructure and utility sites in New Jersey and New York “at the request of federal security partners.” The restrictions are set to last for 30 days. The announcement comes as panic over reported mysterious drone sightings in both states it has grown in recent weeks. The FAA said in a joint statement with the US Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense and the FBI on Wednesday that the US government found no evidence of malicious or unexplained aircraft.

“Having carefully reviewed technical data and advice from concerned citizens, we estimate that the sightings to date include a combination of legal commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as aircraft , helicopters and equipped stars, and stars mistakenly reported as drones”, the agencies wrote “We have not identified anything anomalous and we have not assessed. the activity to date to present the risk of national security or public safety on the civil airspace in New Jersey or in other states in the northeast.