Kevin Collier
@kevincollier.bsky.social
I cover digital threats for NBC News. Tip me! @kevincollier.01 on signal, [email protected]. NYC, from West Virginia.
Reposted by Kevin Collier
📢 Announcing hacklore.org 📢
It’s time to retire outdated cyber advice! More than 80 cybersecurity veterans have signed an open letter urging a shift from folklore to guidance that actually helps people avoid the most common attacks. 🔐
Blog: medium.com/@boblord/let...
Site: www.hacklore.org
It’s time to retire outdated cyber advice! More than 80 cybersecurity veterans have signed an open letter urging a shift from folklore to guidance that actually helps people avoid the most common attacks. 🔐
Blog: medium.com/@boblord/let...
Site: www.hacklore.org
Stop Hacklore!
hacklore.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:05 PM
📢 Announcing hacklore.org 📢
It’s time to retire outdated cyber advice! More than 80 cybersecurity veterans have signed an open letter urging a shift from folklore to guidance that actually helps people avoid the most common attacks. 🔐
Blog: medium.com/@boblord/let...
Site: www.hacklore.org
It’s time to retire outdated cyber advice! More than 80 cybersecurity veterans have signed an open letter urging a shift from folklore to guidance that actually helps people avoid the most common attacks. 🔐
Blog: medium.com/@boblord/let...
Site: www.hacklore.org
Not to do the easy dunk on the NYT and Friedman, but this is truly one of the least clickable teasers I have ever read.
November 22, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Not to do the easy dunk on the NYT and Friedman, but this is truly one of the least clickable teasers I have ever read.
Reposted by Kevin Collier
Important story: The very wealthiest people in America are playing an ever more important role in financing America’s elections — and potentially determining their outcome.
We spent a year investigating billionaires for @washingtonpost.com.
We found: the wealthiest 100 Americans gave $1.1 billion to influence the 2024 elections — 140x more than they did in 2000. And almost all of that giving boosted Republicans.
washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
We found: the wealthiest 100 Americans gave $1.1 billion to influence the 2024 elections — 140x more than they did in 2000. And almost all of that giving boosted Republicans.
washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
November 21, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Important story: The very wealthiest people in America are playing an ever more important role in financing America’s elections — and potentially determining their outcome.
Reposted by Kevin Collier
Hand-counting ballots is time-consuming, expensive, and error prone. But some Republicans are going for it anyway: www.nbcnews.com/politics/ele...
Texas Republicans in some counties are pushing to count ballots by hand in next year's primary
Critics warn the move, which requires more time, money and staffers, could lead to confusion, errors and delayed results in key contests in Texas in March.
www.nbcnews.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Hand-counting ballots is time-consuming, expensive, and error prone. But some Republicans are going for it anyway: www.nbcnews.com/politics/ele...
Reposted by Kevin Collier
NEW: For months, my colleagues and I dug into YouTube's conservative airwaves and found a flourishing network of host-read ads on right-leaning podcasts. This phenomenon has enriched hosts, YouTube, and businesses that use ideology to sell. bloom.bg/3Kaio9w
November 20, 2025 at 3:23 PM
NEW: For months, my colleagues and I dug into YouTube's conservative airwaves and found a flourishing network of host-read ads on right-leaning podcasts. This phenomenon has enriched hosts, YouTube, and businesses that use ideology to sell. bloom.bg/3Kaio9w
For a handful of reasons it can be really hard to report well on advancing domestic US government surveillance. This by @byrontau.bsky.social is so well done.
Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with 'suspicious' travel patterns
The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious.
apnews.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:54 PM
For a handful of reasons it can be really hard to report well on advancing domestic US government surveillance. This by @byrontau.bsky.social is so well done.
Reposted by Kevin Collier
Here's the law, if anyone wants to read it. It's pretty short, and provides a list of what has to be released and when (heads up that agencies routinely blow past statutory deadlines), lists exceptions (e.g., no publishing of CSAM) and requires reporting to Congress. www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...
November 20, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Here's the law, if anyone wants to read it. It's pretty short, and provides a list of what has to be released and when (heads up that agencies routinely blow past statutory deadlines), lists exceptions (e.g., no publishing of CSAM) and requires reporting to Congress. www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...
Reposted by Kevin Collier
I grow frustrated with local news-- by focusing so much on stories of violence, they inadvertently promote the idea that the world is more violent than it is (leading voters to candidates who promise security at all costs).
But holding up a mic to a cow is incredible
www.10tv.com/article/news...
But holding up a mic to a cow is incredible
www.10tv.com/article/news...
November 19, 2025 at 6:24 PM
I grow frustrated with local news-- by focusing so much on stories of violence, they inadvertently promote the idea that the world is more violent than it is (leading voters to candidates who promise security at all costs).
But holding up a mic to a cow is incredible
www.10tv.com/article/news...
But holding up a mic to a cow is incredible
www.10tv.com/article/news...
The FBI just put out an alert about a wanted guy named Ryan Wedding but it reads like they're announcing that our mutual bud Ry is getting hitched.
November 19, 2025 at 6:27 PM
The FBI just put out an alert about a wanted guy named Ryan Wedding but it reads like they're announcing that our mutual bud Ry is getting hitched.
I am in perpetual awe of scope of crappy tech startups and the numerous boutique PR spam outlets that promote them. I block them daily. And still I get emails with subjects more cursed than I could imagine, i.e
November 19, 2025 at 6:02 PM
I am in perpetual awe of scope of crappy tech startups and the numerous boutique PR spam outlets that promote them. I block them daily. And still I get emails with subjects more cursed than I could imagine, i.e
Reposted by Kevin Collier
Trump suggests Khashoggi had it coming: "You're mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it. You don't have to embarrass our guest."
November 18, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Trump suggests Khashoggi had it coming: "You're mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it. You don't have to embarrass our guest."
I'm sure the IRS will be super forgiving if you file your tax return with a bunch of lies on it because the LLM hallucinated you having a ton of writeoffs and dependents and are actually owed a $3 million refund.
Intuit to pay OpenAI over $100 million a year for model access, ChatGPT integrates with TurboTax
Intuit has struck a $100 million-plus annual deal with OpenAI to bring AI into its financial products like TurboTax and QuickBooks.
www.cnbc.com
November 18, 2025 at 5:52 PM
I'm sure the IRS will be super forgiving if you file your tax return with a bunch of lies on it because the LLM hallucinated you having a ton of writeoffs and dependents and are actually owed a $3 million refund.
Reposted by Kevin Collier
As I told the Columbia Journalism Review, this swatting incident occurred just before I published an investigative report that unmasked the operators of four major neo-Nazi accounts on X. I don't think the timing was coincidental.
www.cjr.org/analysis/loc...
www.cjr.org/analysis/loc...
The dangers facing local reporters who cover extremism.
The extremism beat has gone mainstream—but in local markets, it’s still intensely personal.
www.cjr.org
November 18, 2025 at 4:19 PM
As I told the Columbia Journalism Review, this swatting incident occurred just before I published an investigative report that unmasked the operators of four major neo-Nazi accounts on X. I don't think the timing was coincidental.
www.cjr.org/analysis/loc...
www.cjr.org/analysis/loc...
Our love grew quickly, like bamboo. But distrust quickly spread underneath it, like the roots of bamboo. Looking back, I was naive. Green. The color of, you guessed it, more bamboo.
November 18, 2025 at 3:07 AM
Our love grew quickly, like bamboo. But distrust quickly spread underneath it, like the roots of bamboo. Looking back, I was naive. Green. The color of, you guessed it, more bamboo.
Reposted by Kevin Collier
Scoop: CISA plans to embark on a hiring spree and change some workforce policies in an effort to rebuild its depleted ranks ahead of a possible conflict with China, according to a memo from its acting director that I obtained.
www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/cisa-hi...
www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/cisa-hi...
CISA, eyeing China, plans hiring spree to rebuild its depleted ranks
The agency will also change some of its workforce policies to avoid driving away talented staff.
www.cybersecuritydive.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Scoop: CISA plans to embark on a hiring spree and change some workforce policies in an effort to rebuild its depleted ranks ahead of a possible conflict with China, according to a memo from its acting director that I obtained.
www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/cisa-hi...
www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/cisa-hi...
Reposted by Kevin Collier
Border Patrol can operate anywhere in the country. The 100 mile zone is where they have heightened vehicle stop authority.
I'm guess Border Patrol goons are allowed to operate in Charlotte because it's within 100 miles of the South of the Border rest stop on I-95? I can't think of any real border that's close by
November 17, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Border Patrol can operate anywhere in the country. The 100 mile zone is where they have heightened vehicle stop authority.
This is funny because if you click through, Carr's "How about no" line is on X, a QT of the official NBC News tweet of my story about former FCC commissioners calling to kill the agency's News Distortion policy. I wrote it last week and emailed Carr/the FCC for a response and never got one.
We're ruled by people with all the wit of a snotty 12-year-old: arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
“How about no”: FCC boss Brendan Carr says he won’t end news distortion probes
Carr rejects criticism from four former FCC chairs, including three Republicans.
arstechnica.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:11 PM
This is funny because if you click through, Carr's "How about no" line is on X, a QT of the official NBC News tweet of my story about former FCC commissioners calling to kill the agency's News Distortion policy. I wrote it last week and emailed Carr/the FCC for a response and never got one.
An amazing thing about this very well reported and thorough article is that it doesn't even get to the fact that the county's main cyber agency has been *gutted* as part of the DHS deportation reorg and it's still probably fair for that to be on the cutting room floor.
Homeland Security Missions Falter Amid Focus on Deportations
www.nytimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:30 PM
An amazing thing about this very well reported and thorough article is that it doesn't even get to the fact that the county's main cyber agency has been *gutted* as part of the DHS deportation reorg and it's still probably fair for that to be on the cutting room floor.
It's funny how the Trump-directed IC selective "transparency" push just results in these Friday afternoon/evening news dumps that feel very futile. Amelia Earhart completionists and conspiracy theorists out there, go nuts this weekend! www.archives.gov/ameliaearhart
November 15, 2025 at 2:10 AM
It's funny how the Trump-directed IC selective "transparency" push just results in these Friday afternoon/evening news dumps that feel very futile. Amelia Earhart completionists and conspiracy theorists out there, go nuts this weekend! www.archives.gov/ameliaearhart
Reposted by Kevin Collier
New: FBI Director Kash Patel Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Dan Bongino, Two Other Senior Staff www.propublica.org/article/fbi-...
FBI Director Kash Patel Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Dan Bongino, Two Other Senior Staff
As the FBI’s deputy director, Bongino receives some of the country’s most sensitive secrets, including the President’s Daily Brief. His ascent to that position without passing a standard bureau backgr...
www.propublica.org
November 14, 2025 at 4:49 PM
New: FBI Director Kash Patel Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Dan Bongino, Two Other Senior Staff www.propublica.org/article/fbi-...
Reposted by Kevin Collier
Law enforcement: we need to break encryption to get access to Signal to protect the children!!
Also law enforcement: for years couldn’t catch a pedophile sex trafficker who used email to coordinate all of his pedophile sex trafficking
Also law enforcement: for years couldn’t catch a pedophile sex trafficker who used email to coordinate all of his pedophile sex trafficking
November 14, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Law enforcement: we need to break encryption to get access to Signal to protect the children!!
Also law enforcement: for years couldn’t catch a pedophile sex trafficker who used email to coordinate all of his pedophile sex trafficking
Also law enforcement: for years couldn’t catch a pedophile sex trafficker who used email to coordinate all of his pedophile sex trafficking
New from me: Hackers broke into a company that does batch SMS messaging on Monday night and sent out hundreds of thousands of crappy scam messages to people who normally get alerts from New York State, a Catholic charity, a group that helped organize No Kings protest.
Hackers breach mass texting service used by New York state, send hundreds of thousands of scam texts
Hackers sent text messages to users from trusted SMS numbers, referencing nonexistent transactions and directing them to call a phone number.
www.nbcnews.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:56 PM
New from me: Hackers broke into a company that does batch SMS messaging on Monday night and sent out hundreds of thousands of crappy scam messages to people who normally get alerts from New York State, a Catholic charity, a group that helped organize No Kings protest.
I've seen a sentiment of skepticism from cyber pros about Anthropic's claims here. Anybody up for elaborating on how they might be wrong?
(I'm not asking for a general "I call bullshit on any LLM claim that their product did a bad but impressive thing." I hear you but that's not the question.)
(I'm not asking for a general "I call bullshit on any LLM claim that their product did a bad but impressive thing." I hear you but that's not the question.)
Chinese gov hackers used Anthropic to fully automate recent cyberattacks against dozens of targets incl. tech firms, financial institutions, chemical facilities, and gov agencies. They tricked Claude into assisting them by breaking prompts into separate tasks and saying it was for defensive purposes
Exclusive | Chinese Hackers Used Anthropic’s AI to Automate Cyberattacks
The use of AI automation in hacks is a growing trend that gives hackers additional scale and speed
www.wsj.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:18 PM
I've seen a sentiment of skepticism from cyber pros about Anthropic's claims here. Anybody up for elaborating on how they might be wrong?
(I'm not asking for a general "I call bullshit on any LLM claim that their product did a bad but impressive thing." I hear you but that's not the question.)
(I'm not asking for a general "I call bullshit on any LLM claim that their product did a bad but impressive thing." I hear you but that's not the question.)
Reposted by Kevin Collier
ok maybe the craziest thing about these epstein emails is how many of them are still emailing like this after october 2016 and the wikileaks dnc emails
November 13, 2025 at 5:10 PM
ok maybe the craziest thing about these epstein emails is how many of them are still emailing like this after october 2016 and the wikileaks dnc emails
Very sincerely, I think that from the Russia/WikiLeaks slow release of DNC and Hillary files onward our society has completely lost the ability to properly scale outrage from reporting on troves of documents
Look this Epstein email trove isn’t a big deal it’s not like it’s a world shattering event like the Twitter Files or something
November 13, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Very sincerely, I think that from the Russia/WikiLeaks slow release of DNC and Hillary files onward our society has completely lost the ability to properly scale outrage from reporting on troves of documents