Kim Zetter
Journalist - cyber/natn'l security. Speaker. Georgetown adjunct prof. Author - COUNTDOWN TO ZERO DAY: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon
Signal: KimZ.42
https://www.zetter-zeroday.com
- Seeing posts saying FBI could not get into WaPo reporter's phone because she had it in Lockdown Mode. This isn't true. They couldn't use forensic tool to capture full-disk image, but they could still access contents. They had to take photos of it, though, which is still a gain for privacy.
- Reposted by Kim ZetterFor those looking for freelance work in the wake of WaPo layoffs: I'm an editor at large overseeing Ideas & Culture at Bloomberg, including our Books coverage. Find me at skillingswo2@bloomberg.net
- As Bezos's Washington Post announces sweeping layoffs this morning ...
- "The Republicans should say, 'We want to take over,'" Trump told Bongino. "We should take over the voting ... in at least many, 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. We have states that are so crooked and they're counting votes." www.foxnews.com/politics/tru...
- I've read some pretty direct and outspoken court orders from judges before, but none as withering toward the government as this one
- I know you've heard that a federal judge ordered the release of 5 year old Liam Conejo Arias and his father, and that they're now home. But did you look at the judge's order? It's less than 2.5 pages and well worth a minute. "Jesus wept." Link to pdf: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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- Polish grid systems targeted last month were wide open to attack, a new technical report from Polish gov says. Systems used default passwords and no multifactor authentication. Also used outdated/unpatched software. Investigators also found no connection to Sandworm, disputing security researchers
- FBI executed a search warrant at the election office of Fulton County in Georgia, a Democratic stronghold and the main focus of right-wing conspiracy theories that the 2020 presidential election was rigged in Biden's favor. Trump has also indicated there will be prosecutions related to the election
- "Tarbell is committed to supporting independent journalism that demystifies the debates around this technology, holds the companies and people building it to account, and fosters the discourse necessary to chart a path that benefits society"
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- Hackers behind cyberattack against Poland electric grid in Dec disabled communication devices for at least 30 sites across a number of energy facilities in country. They rendered the devices - known as remote terminal units or RTUs - not only inoperable but also unrecoverable
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- Booz Allen tech contractor behind Treasury Department's unprecedented decision yesterday to cancel all 31 of its contracts with the consulting firm, took the job with Booz Allen - much like Edward Snowden before him - specifically to get access to IRS tax records of President Trump and leak them.
- This is directly related to the case of Charles Edward Littlejohn who stole the tax records of Trump, Bezos and other billionaires and leaked them to ProPublica, which published a series of stories in 2021 about them
- Dept of Treasury has cancelled all 31 contracts it has with Booz Allen because BA "failed to implement adequate safeguards to protect sensitive data, including the confidential taxpayer information it had access to through its contracts with the Internal Revenue Service.” (h/t @metacurity.com)
- Dept of Treasury has cancelled all 31 contracts it has with Booz Allen because BA "failed to implement adequate safeguards to protect sensitive data, including the confidential taxpayer information it had access to through its contracts with the Internal Revenue Service.” (h/t @metacurity.com)
- Exclusive: A cyberattack targeting Poland's energy infrastructure in December used wiper malware that would have erased grid computers and rendered them inoperable had it not been thwarted, a researcher at @ESET told me. The researcher calls the attack "unprecedented" for Poland and "substantial"
- "A superpower is choosing to self-immolate and torch its remaining global trust and friendships, including and especially NATO...at the precise moment when it had been reinvigorated and renewed...in the wake of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022" - by @vermontgmg.bsky.social
- Wright was IT Specialist in DHS’s CIO office when he went on date with woman who contacted him via Bumble. She falsely presented herself as liberal and during date repeatedly steered him to talk politics. She secretly recorded him, then published the vid. DHS fired him for his comments. He's suing
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- LTG Joshua Rudd, nominee to be head of NSA/CyberCom, asked in hearing if US should have a policy of responding to attacks like Sony/Salt/Volt Typhoon breaches with a cyber offensive operation. Lawmaker was asking about a CyCom offensive response not an NSA offensive response. Rudd deflected question
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- And so it begins
- 🤔
- A WSJ investigation found that ICE agents have fired at or into civilian vehicles at least 13 times since last July, leaving 8 people shot and 2 dead.
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- FBI issues alert about North Korean actors using malicious QR codes to lure targets in phishing emails. TIL today -- QR codes used in phishing emails are called "quishing" (smdh).
- Wait, what?
- This simple piece is so well written -- great turns of phrase, good humor, full of personality www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/s...
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- Reposted by Kim ZetterOfficer 1: “Get out of the car!” <simultaneously> Officer 2: “Get out of here!” The confusion is not surprising. The shooting officer had his phone out too. This deserves a clear and fair investigation
- At the start of this week, US officials were saying they didn't think the protests in Iran were sufficient to tumble the regime. But others are saying they've noticed a shift in events there: x.com/Nadav_Eyal/s...
- The Atlantic reported last year that ICE agents used to receive about five months of federal law-enforcement training, but under the Trump administration this had been cut to just 47 days. The cut was achieved in part by eliminating Spanish-language training. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
- ICE agent who killed woman identified as Jonathan Ross. Was reportedly involved in incident last June when immigration suspect tried to flee in vehicle; Ross broke rear window and reached inside to open door; suspect drove to shake him off car while Ross held on and fired Taser. Ross was injured
- Not only this, but the videos appear to show her trying to comply with their order to move her car when they opened fire at her multiple times. Even if she was trying to get away from them, as the gov claims, they could have simply shot her tires to halt her or blocked her path with their vehicle.
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- Camera records police arresting protester after she gives interview to news media - arrested for "obstructing a roadway and failing to obey a lawful command from police"
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- If the US uses military force "to invade and capture foreign leaders it accuses of criminal conduct, what prevents China from claiming the same authority over Taiwan’s leadership? What stops Vladimir Putin from asserting similar justification to abduct Ukraine’s president?” - Sen. Mark Warner
- "An actual cyber effects operation against our critical infrastructure could be considered an act of war," says former US cyber official about chance Russia/China will attack US grid/CI in response to Caracas attack. What he doesn't say is the Caracas attack could also be considered an act of war.
- It's really hard these days not to be a conspiracy theorist no matter how hard you fight against it
- Reposted by Kim ZetterWH sources say Venezuela's opposition leader committed the "ultimate sin": She accepted the Nobel Peace prize. “If she had turned it down and said, ‘I can’t accept it because it’s Donald Trump’s,’ she’d be the president of Venezuela today,” one said. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
- Didn't Trump say the US would now run Venezuela and that he might put boots on the ground?
- I drove by Arlington cemetery a few weeks ago and saw the wreaths and wondered about the story behind them. Turns out the founders of the charity that places the wreaths on tombstones also own the wreath farm from which the charity purchases the wreaths - using millions of dollars from donations
- Hearing about US domestic flights being messed up yesterday and today due to the strike on Venezuela and cancellation of flights to/from the Caribbean because of restriction on airspace there. So many knock-on effects -- though the big effects are still to come.
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- So over the past year while the US government was fingerpointing/complaining about China's Volt Typhoon actors being inside US grid networks doing pre-positioning for an attack on Taiwan, the US Cyber Command was inside Venezuela's grid networks pre-positioning for an attack on Venezuela?
- It wasn't about drug trafficking or "forced migration." It was always about oil: "You know they stole our oil. We built that whole industry and they just took it over like we were nothing. So we did something about it.... We'll be selling large amounts of oil [from Venezuela] to other countries."
- The 2028 presidential campaigning is starting so early www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/m...
