evacide
@evacide.bsky.social
Director of Cybersecurity @eff.org
Co-founder of @stopstalkerware.bsky.social
These opinions are my own, not my employers’
I did a TED talk once
Co-founder of @stopstalkerware.bsky.social
These opinions are my own, not my employers’
I did a TED talk once
Trying to protect everything from everyone all the time is a good way to drive yourself crazy. This is why we threat model. Here is EFF's Surveillance Self Defense guide to putting together your security plan, also known as threat modeling: ssd.eff.org/module/your-...
Your Security Plan
Trying to protect all your data from everything all the time is impractical and exhausting. But, have no fear! Security is a process, and through thoughtful planning, you can put together a plan that’...
ssd.eff.org
January 16, 2026 at 6:47 PM
Trying to protect everything from everyone all the time is a good way to drive yourself crazy. This is why we threat model. Here is EFF's Surveillance Self Defense guide to putting together your security plan, also known as threat modeling: ssd.eff.org/module/your-...
"This hacking campaign also exposed victims' data" is a song that never gets old. Excellent work by Zack Whittaker, uncovering a new (maybe Iranian, maybe targeted) phishing campaign. techcrunch.com/2026/01/16/h...
How a hacking campaign targeted high-profile Gmail and WhatsApp users across the Middle East | TechCrunch
The phishing campaign targeted users on WhatsApp, including an Iranian-British activist, and stole the credentials of a Lebanese cabinet minister and at least one journalist.
techcrunch.com
January 16, 2026 at 5:53 PM
"This hacking campaign also exposed victims' data" is a song that never gets old. Excellent work by Zack Whittaker, uncovering a new (maybe Iranian, maybe targeted) phishing campaign. techcrunch.com/2026/01/16/h...
If you are organizing folks in Minneapolis right now, you may find this guide to Signal for beginners by @mshelton.bsky.social useful: freedom.press/digisec/blog...
Signal, the secure messaging app: A guide for beginners
Also available in Spanish.
freedom.press
January 16, 2026 at 12:58 AM
If you are organizing folks in Minneapolis right now, you may find this guide to Signal for beginners by @mshelton.bsky.social useful: freedom.press/digisec/blog...
Once again, I have been asked to give a conference talk about AI. Once again, I ask how much I am allowed to swear on stage.
January 15, 2026 at 11:56 PM
Once again, I have been asked to give a conference talk about AI. Once again, I ask how much I am allowed to swear on stage.
Reposted by evacide
Today, Project Zero released a 0-click exploit chain for the Pixel 9. While it targets the Pixel, the 0-click bug and exploit techniques we used apply to most other Android devices.
projectzero.google/2026/01/pixe...
projectzero.google/2026/01/pixe...
A 0-click exploit chain for the Pixel 9 Part 1: Decoding Dolby - Project Zero
Over the past few years, several AI-powered features have been added to mobile phones that allow users to better search and understand their messages. One ef...
projectzero.google
January 15, 2026 at 6:56 PM
Today, Project Zero released a 0-click exploit chain for the Pixel 9. While it targets the Pixel, the 0-click bug and exploit techniques we used apply to most other Android devices.
projectzero.google/2026/01/pixe...
projectzero.google/2026/01/pixe...
Oh no. Oooooh noooo.
January 15, 2026 at 6:38 PM
Oh no. Oooooh noooo.
There is no way to do this without it becoming a privacy and security nightmare, not just for the wearer but for everyone around them, and the companies just don't care.
“…the endgame is to record and analyze everything in your life, and that's not hyperbole.”
CES 2026 laid out a Black Mirror future of wearable AI that's always listening, watching, ready to help, and 'knows everything about you.' I'm not enthusiastic
With new AI assistants like Lenovo's Qira, tech brands are laying out the helpful-surveillance endgame that started with smart glasses.
www.androidcentral.com
January 14, 2026 at 9:52 PM
There is no way to do this without it becoming a privacy and security nightmare, not just for the wearer but for everyone around them, and the companies just don't care.
The Trump administration takes national security leaks very seriously when it's time to bully and intimidate reporters. Not so much when classified documents are piled up in the Mar-a-Lago bathrooms. pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incident...
Washington Post reporter’s home searched by FBI, devices seized
Hannah Natanson, a reporter for The Washington Post, was the target of a federal search warrant on her home in …
pressfreedomtracker.us
January 14, 2026 at 7:41 PM
The Trump administration takes national security leaks very seriously when it's time to bully and intimidate reporters. Not so much when classified documents are piled up in the Mar-a-Lago bathrooms. pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incident...
Reposted by evacide
Doubt has become a weapon in Iran as AI manipulation—and the very suspicion of it—serves those who have the most to hide, Mahsa Alimardani argues:
How Doubt Became a Weapon in Iran
AI manipulation, and the very suspicion of it, serves those who have the most to hide.
bit.ly
January 14, 2026 at 5:15 PM
Doubt has become a weapon in Iran as AI manipulation—and the very suspicion of it—serves those who have the most to hide, Mahsa Alimardani argues:
Reposted by evacide
the headline is crazy but my favorite part of this story is even the police looking at Flock's claims and saying "uhhhh you guys are nuts and need to calm down" www.404media.co/police-unmas...
Police Unmask Millions of Surveillance Targets Because of Flock Redaction Error
Flock is going after a website called HaveIBeenFlocked.com that has collated public records files released by police.
www.404media.co
January 13, 2026 at 3:56 PM
the headline is crazy but my favorite part of this story is even the police looking at Flock's claims and saying "uhhhh you guys are nuts and need to calm down" www.404media.co/police-unmas...
I'm just sitting here, trying to figure out how to threat model for armed, masked thugs who may kidnap you off the street, then steal, and possibly sell your phone.
Yes, immigration agents not only took Arnoldo's phone, the 10th grader had to use Find My Phone to locate it — in a vending machine for used electronics, close to an ICE detention center.
Read the full story here:
www.propublica.org/article/vide...
Read the full story here:
www.propublica.org/article/vide...
January 14, 2026 at 12:55 AM
I'm just sitting here, trying to figure out how to threat model for armed, masked thugs who may kidnap you off the street, then steal, and possibly sell your phone.
In addition to its internet blackout, the Iranian government is jamming Starlink to prevent news protests and crackdowns from getting out: restofworld.org/2026/iran-st...
Iran crippled Starlink and why the rest of the world should worry
The service became synonymous with censorship-proof connectivity. Iran has just proved that assumption wrong.
restofworld.org
January 14, 2026 at 12:50 AM
In addition to its internet blackout, the Iranian government is jamming Starlink to prevent news protests and crackdowns from getting out: restofworld.org/2026/iran-st...
Therapist: And what do we do when we feel overwhelmed by The Horrors?
Me: Take up a new aerial apparatus?
Therapist: ...
Me: *hides flying pole*
Me: Take up a new aerial apparatus?
Therapist: ...
Me: *hides flying pole*
January 12, 2026 at 5:07 AM
Therapist: And what do we do when we feel overwhelmed by The Horrors?
Me: Take up a new aerial apparatus?
Therapist: ...
Me: *hides flying pole*
Me: Take up a new aerial apparatus?
Therapist: ...
Me: *hides flying pole*
This is your regular reminder that authoritarianism is just domestic abuse writ large.
ICE agent screaming a threat: "Did you not learn from what just happened?"
www.reddit.com/r/Minneapoli...
www.reddit.com/r/Minneapoli...
January 12, 2026 at 3:04 AM
This is your regular reminder that authoritarianism is just domestic abuse writ large.
Sometimes I read the threads that experienced activists write about how to behave at protests because it reminds me that the kinds of replies I get when I give digital privacy/security advice aren't just for me.
January 11, 2026 at 1:55 AM
Sometimes I read the threads that experienced activists write about how to behave at protests because it reminds me that the kinds of replies I get when I give digital privacy/security advice aren't just for me.
Some more thoughts on ICE protests and the tools described in this 404 article: www.404media.co/inside-ices-...
Inside ICE’s Tool to Monitor Phones in Entire Neighborhoods
404 Media has obtained material that explains how Tangles and Webloc, two surveillance systems ICE recently purchased, work. Webloc can track phones without a warrant and follow their owners home or t...
www.404media.co
January 9, 2026 at 6:39 PM
Some more thoughts on ICE protests and the tools described in this 404 article: www.404media.co/inside-ices-...
If you don't want ICE to know you were at a protest, taking a burner phone is not going to help you stay anonymous if you go home afterwards. www.404media.co/inside-ices-...
Inside ICE’s Tool to Monitor Phones in Entire Neighborhoods
404 Media has obtained material that explains how Tangles and Webloc, two surveillance systems ICE recently purchased, work. Webloc can track phones without a warrant and follow their owners home or t...
www.404media.co
January 9, 2026 at 7:45 AM
If you don't want ICE to know you were at a protest, taking a burner phone is not going to help you stay anonymous if you go home afterwards. www.404media.co/inside-ices-...
NSO Group publishes a new transparency report that is somehow even less transparent than the last one. Why bother? Because they're salivating over that sweet, sweet US government contract money. techcrunch.com/2026/01/08/c...
Critics pan spyware maker NSO's transparency claims amid its push to enter US market | TechCrunch
The infamous spyware maker released a new transparency report claiming to be a responsible spyware maker, without providing insight into how the company dealt with problematic customers in the past.
techcrunch.com
January 8, 2026 at 7:51 PM
NSO Group publishes a new transparency report that is somehow even less transparent than the last one. Why bother? Because they're salivating over that sweet, sweet US government contract money. techcrunch.com/2026/01/08/c...
Ten years ago, if someone had told me that tech policy bloggers would be calling for ICE to be abolished, I would have thought it very unlikely.
"Abolish ICE" is an increasingly mainstream and extremely correct position.
www.techdirt.com/2026/01/08/a...
"Abolish ICE" is an increasingly mainstream and extremely correct position.
www.techdirt.com/2026/01/08/a...
Abolish ICE Before They Kill Again, Impeach Trump & Noem Before They Incite More Murder
Renee Nicole Good was a 37-year-old award-winning poet, a mother of a six-year-old, and a wife who had recently moved to Minneapolis. That all ended yesterday when a masked ICE agent murdered her i…
www.techdirt.com
January 8, 2026 at 7:38 PM
Ten years ago, if someone had told me that tech policy bloggers would be calling for ICE to be abolished, I would have thought it very unlikely.
"Abolish ICE" is an increasingly mainstream and extremely correct position.
www.techdirt.com/2026/01/08/a...
"Abolish ICE" is an increasingly mainstream and extremely correct position.
www.techdirt.com/2026/01/08/a...
Me: I wish that alternatives to Twitter were well-developed enough that I could use them to follow developing news stories.
*Monkey's paw closes shut*
*Monkey's paw closes shut*
January 7, 2026 at 6:23 PM
Me: I wish that alternatives to Twitter were well-developed enough that I could use them to follow developing news stories.
*Monkey's paw closes shut*
*Monkey's paw closes shut*
My father used to tell me stories about how in the USSR the history books were edited and altered every year and everyone was supposed to nod and smile and pretend that nothing had happened and the "new history" had been there all along.
Just sayin'.
Just sayin'.
White supremacists successfully rewrote history after the Civil War, so much so that today people deny what the slave states had proudly proclaimed back then: it was about slavery. And now this group is rewriting history today. They are lying. They are liars. They are liars.
January 6, 2026 at 10:16 PM
My father used to tell me stories about how in the USSR the history books were edited and altered every year and everyone was supposed to nod and smile and pretend that nothing had happened and the "new history" had been there all along.
Just sayin'.
Just sayin'.
Bryan Fleming, founder of stalkerware company pcTattletale has pled guilty to charges of computer hacking, the sale and advertising of surveillance software for unlawful uses, and conspiracy.
Sometimes bad things happen to bad people and I get to do a little dance.
techcrunch.com/2026/01/06/f...
Sometimes bad things happen to bad people and I get to do a little dance.
techcrunch.com/2026/01/06/f...
Founder of spyware maker pcTattletale pleads guilty to hacking and advertising surveillance software | TechCrunch
Bryan Fleming, the founder of hacked stalkerware company pcTattletale, pleaded guilty to federal charges linked to the running of his now-defunct Michigan-based spyware company.
techcrunch.com
January 6, 2026 at 9:06 PM
Bryan Fleming, founder of stalkerware company pcTattletale has pled guilty to charges of computer hacking, the sale and advertising of surveillance software for unlawful uses, and conspiracy.
Sometimes bad things happen to bad people and I get to do a little dance.
techcrunch.com/2026/01/06/f...
Sometimes bad things happen to bad people and I get to do a little dance.
techcrunch.com/2026/01/06/f...
All that the Turing Test proves is that human are much, much stupider than Alan Turing ever suspected.
January 6, 2026 at 8:49 PM
All that the Turing Test proves is that human are much, much stupider than Alan Turing ever suspected.
Want to know how to track Homeland security spending by looking through government databases? EFF's Dave Maass has put together a handy how-to: www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...
The Homeland Security Spending Trail: How to Follow the Money Through U.S. Government Databases
The U.S. government publishes volumes of detailed data on the money it spends, but searching through it and finding information can be challenging. This guide covers the key databases that store infor...
www.eff.org
January 6, 2026 at 8:02 PM
Want to know how to track Homeland security spending by looking through government databases? EFF's Dave Maass has put together a handy how-to: www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...
Oh no. Once again, for some reason, I am reminded that Curtis Yarvin exists.
January 6, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Oh no. Once again, for some reason, I am reminded that Curtis Yarvin exists.