Thomas Brewster
@thomasbrewster.bsky.social
Forbes senior writer, covering privacy, surveillance and cybercrime. Editor of The Wiretap newsletter, featuring all of the above.
Pinned
The Pentagon Is Spending Millions On AI Hacking From Startup Twenty
The U.S. government has been contracting stealth startup Twenty, which is working on AI agents and automated hacking of foreign targets at massive scale.
www.forbes.com
🚨SCOOP 🚨The Pentagon is spending millions on a secretive startup that’s making hacking AI to help carry out operations on hundreds of targets at once.
In-q-tel, the VC org founded by the CIA, is a backer of the startup, called Twenty.
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
In-q-tel, the VC org founded by the CIA, is a backer of the startup, called Twenty.
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
Prosecutors have accused Brian Raymond, founder of AI infrastructure and consulting company Bitworks, and three others of selling coveted Nvidia chips to unspecified Chinese companies.
AI Founder Illegally Shipped Nvidia Chips To China, DOJ Alleges
Prosecutors have accused Brian Raymond, founder of AI infrastructure and consulting company Bitworks, and three others of selling coveted Nvidia chips to unspecified Chinese companies.
www.forbes.com
November 20, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Prosecutors have accused Brian Raymond, founder of AI infrastructure and consulting company Bitworks, and three others of selling coveted Nvidia chips to unspecified Chinese companies.
Also, follow and support @courtwatch.bsky.social please. They're doing excellent work.
🚨NEW🚨 A US AI founder and NVIDIA partner got caught trying to ship the most powerful of the chip maker's processors to China, the DOJ says.
He just got offered a job at another NVIDIA partner as CTO. The offer has been rescinded.
H/T @courtwatch.bsky.social
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
He just got offered a job at another NVIDIA partner as CTO. The offer has been rescinded.
H/T @courtwatch.bsky.social
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
AI Founder Illegally Shipped Nvidia Chips To China, DOJ Alleges
Prosecutors have accused Brian Raymond, founder of AI infrastructure and consulting company Bitworks, and three others of selling coveted Nvidia chips to unspecified Chinese companies.
www.forbes.com
November 20, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Also, follow and support @courtwatch.bsky.social please. They're doing excellent work.
🚨NEW🚨 A US AI founder and NVIDIA partner got caught trying to ship the most powerful of the chip maker's processors to China, the DOJ says.
He just got offered a job at another NVIDIA partner as CTO. The offer has been rescinded.
H/T @courtwatch.bsky.social
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
He just got offered a job at another NVIDIA partner as CTO. The offer has been rescinded.
H/T @courtwatch.bsky.social
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
AI Founder Illegally Shipped Nvidia Chips To China, DOJ Alleges
Prosecutors have accused Brian Raymond, founder of AI infrastructure and consulting company Bitworks, and three others of selling coveted Nvidia chips to unspecified Chinese companies.
www.forbes.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:12 PM
🚨NEW🚨 A US AI founder and NVIDIA partner got caught trying to ship the most powerful of the chip maker's processors to China, the DOJ says.
He just got offered a job at another NVIDIA partner as CTO. The offer has been rescinded.
H/T @courtwatch.bsky.social
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
He just got offered a job at another NVIDIA partner as CTO. The offer has been rescinded.
H/T @courtwatch.bsky.social
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
Nice from @byrontau.bsky.social - a reminder that local police as well as federal have been using this stuff for years www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
November 20, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Nice from @byrontau.bsky.social - a reminder that local police as well as federal have been using this stuff for years www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
New: the airlines (Delta, United, American, etc) will shut down a program in which it sold hundreds of millions of your flight records to government agencies, including ICE, FBI, ATF, more. Comes after intense lawmaker-pressure and 404 Media's months-long reporting
www.404media.co/airlines-wil...
www.404media.co/airlines-wil...
Airlines Will Shut Down Program That Sold Your Flights Records to Government
The move comes after intense pressure from lawmakers and 404 Media’s months-long reporting about the airline industry's data selling practices.
www.404media.co
November 18, 2025 at 6:44 PM
New: the airlines (Delta, United, American, etc) will shut down a program in which it sold hundreds of millions of your flight records to government agencies, including ICE, FBI, ATF, more. Comes after intense lawmaker-pressure and 404 Media's months-long reporting
www.404media.co/airlines-wil...
www.404media.co/airlines-wil...
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
The U.S. government has been contracting stealth startup Twenty, which is working on AI agents and automated hacking of foreign targets at massive scale.
The Pentagon Is Spending Millions On AI Hacking From Startup Twenty
The U.S. government has been contracting stealth startup Twenty, which is working on AI agents and automated hacking of foreign targets at massive scale.
www.forbes.com
November 17, 2025 at 8:29 PM
The U.S. government has been contracting stealth startup Twenty, which is working on AI agents and automated hacking of foreign targets at massive scale.
NEW - OpenAI's GPT-5 was kind of a disappointment, right?
But new analysis showed a sudden jump in OpenAI models' ability to write secure code.
Anthropic's Claude somehow got worse.
www.forbes.com/sites/the-wi...
But new analysis showed a sudden jump in OpenAI models' ability to write secure code.
Anthropic's Claude somehow got worse.
www.forbes.com/sites/the-wi...
OpenAI’s New Model Just Got Much Better At Writing More Secure Code
OpenAI’s frontier model may not have astounded when it arrived earlier this year, but research indicates it’s now much better than others at writing code with fewer vulnerabilities.
www.forbes.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:40 PM
NEW - OpenAI's GPT-5 was kind of a disappointment, right?
But new analysis showed a sudden jump in OpenAI models' ability to write secure code.
Anthropic's Claude somehow got worse.
www.forbes.com/sites/the-wi...
But new analysis showed a sudden jump in OpenAI models' ability to write secure code.
Anthropic's Claude somehow got worse.
www.forbes.com/sites/the-wi...
NEW - Hackers started using large language models to code up attacks on systems running a popular AI orchestration tool.
They then used those hacked AI systems to look for other vulnerable AI servers.
Human + AI vs. AI is the current paradigm, evidently.
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
They then used those hacked AI systems to look for other vulnerable AI servers.
Human + AI vs. AI is the current paradigm, evidently.
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
An AI-Powered Cyberattack Is Self-Replicating
Hackers use AI to generate attack code targeting AI infrastructure, and then getting compromised AI systems to find others to attack, researchers warn in a new report.
www.forbes.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:09 PM
NEW - Hackers started using large language models to code up attacks on systems running a popular AI orchestration tool.
They then used those hacked AI systems to look for other vulnerable AI servers.
Human + AI vs. AI is the current paradigm, evidently.
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
They then used those hacked AI systems to look for other vulnerable AI servers.
Human + AI vs. AI is the current paradigm, evidently.
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
🚨SCOOP 🚨The Pentagon is spending millions on a secretive startup that’s making hacking AI to help carry out operations on hundreds of targets at once.
In-q-tel, the VC org founded by the CIA, is a backer of the startup, called Twenty.
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
In-q-tel, the VC org founded by the CIA, is a backer of the startup, called Twenty.
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
The Pentagon Is Spending Millions On AI Hacking From Startup Twenty
The U.S. government has been contracting stealth startup Twenty, which is working on AI agents and automated hacking of foreign targets at massive scale.
www.forbes.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:14 PM
🚨SCOOP 🚨The Pentagon is spending millions on a secretive startup that’s making hacking AI to help carry out operations on hundreds of targets at once.
In-q-tel, the VC org founded by the CIA, is a backer of the startup, called Twenty.
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
In-q-tel, the VC org founded by the CIA, is a backer of the startup, called Twenty.
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
Both this and in their story on Bannon and Epstein, Guardian has done it right.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
November 16, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Both this and in their story on Bannon and Epstein, Guardian has done it right.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
"Twenty’s contracts are a rare case of an AI offensive cyber company with VC backing landing Cyber Command work; typically cyber contracts have gone to either small bespoke companies or to the old guard of defense contracting like Booz Allen Hamilton or L3Harris."
🚨SCOOP 🚨The Pentagon is spending millions on a secretive startup that’s making hacking AI to help carry out operations on hundreds of targets at once.
In-q-tel, the VC org founded by the CIA, is a backer of the startup, called Twenty.
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
In-q-tel, the VC org founded by the CIA, is a backer of the startup, called Twenty.
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
The Pentagon Is Spending Millions On AI Hacking From Startup Twenty
The U.S. government has been contracting stealth startup Twenty, which is working on AI agents and automated hacking of foreign targets at massive scale.
www.forbes.com
November 17, 2025 at 12:35 PM
"Twenty’s contracts are a rare case of an AI offensive cyber company with VC backing landing Cyber Command work; typically cyber contracts have gone to either small bespoke companies or to the old guard of defense contracting like Booz Allen Hamilton or L3Harris."
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
The Defense Department has been contracting stealth startup Twenty, which is working on AI agents and automated hacking of foreign targets at massive scale, reports my colleague @thomasbrewster.bsky.social
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
The Pentagon Is Spending Millions On AI Hacking From Startup Twenty
The U.S. government has been contracting stealth startup Twenty, which is working on AI agents and automated hacking of foreign targets at massive scale.
www.forbes.com
November 17, 2025 at 10:57 AM
The Defense Department has been contracting stealth startup Twenty, which is working on AI agents and automated hacking of foreign targets at massive scale, reports my colleague @thomasbrewster.bsky.social
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
ICYMI yesterday.
🚨SCOOP 🚨The Pentagon is spending millions on a secretive startup that’s making hacking AI to help carry out operations on hundreds of targets at once.
In-q-tel, the VC org founded by the CIA, is a backer of the startup, called Twenty.
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
In-q-tel, the VC org founded by the CIA, is a backer of the startup, called Twenty.
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
The Pentagon Is Spending Millions On AI Hacking From Startup Twenty
The U.S. government has been contracting stealth startup Twenty, which is working on AI agents and automated hacking of foreign targets at massive scale.
www.forbes.com
November 16, 2025 at 11:49 AM
ICYMI yesterday.
🚨SCOOP 🚨The Pentagon is spending millions on a secretive startup that’s making hacking AI to help carry out operations on hundreds of targets at once.
In-q-tel, the VC org founded by the CIA, is a backer of the startup, called Twenty.
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
In-q-tel, the VC org founded by the CIA, is a backer of the startup, called Twenty.
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
The Pentagon Is Spending Millions On AI Hacking From Startup Twenty
The U.S. government has been contracting stealth startup Twenty, which is working on AI agents and automated hacking of foreign targets at massive scale.
www.forbes.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:14 PM
🚨SCOOP 🚨The Pentagon is spending millions on a secretive startup that’s making hacking AI to help carry out operations on hundreds of targets at once.
In-q-tel, the VC org founded by the CIA, is a backer of the startup, called Twenty.
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
In-q-tel, the VC org founded by the CIA, is a backer of the startup, called Twenty.
www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
Wonder if this also has something to do with the many millions of dollars Google gets from CBP and ICE for cloud contracts every year...
New: Google has chosen a side in Trump's mass deportation campaign. Google is hosting a CBP facial recognition app to hunt immigrants; no indication Google will remove. At same time Google takes down apps for reporting ICE sightings
“Big tech has made their choice”
www.404media.co/google-has-c...
“Big tech has made their choice”
www.404media.co/google-has-c...
Google Has Chosen a Side in Trump's Mass Deportation Effort
Google is hosting a CBP app that uses facial recognition to identify immigrants, while simultaneously removing apps that report the location of ICE officials because Google sees ICE as a vulnerable gr...
www.404media.co
November 13, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Wonder if this also has something to do with the many millions of dollars Google gets from CBP and ICE for cloud contracts every year...
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
NEW: Google is taking legal action against Chinese cybercriminals responsible for sending out millions of scam text messages—including those parcel delivery scams.
Google hopes the lawsuit will help to disrupt the scammers' sprawling infrastructure
Google hopes the lawsuit will help to disrupt the scammers' sprawling infrastructure
This Is the Platform Google Claims Is Behind a 'Staggering’ Scam Text Operation
Google is suing 25 people it alleges are behind a “relentless” scam text operation that uses a phishing-as-a-service platform called Lighthouse.
www.wired.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:36 AM
NEW: Google is taking legal action against Chinese cybercriminals responsible for sending out millions of scam text messages—including those parcel delivery scams.
Google hopes the lawsuit will help to disrupt the scammers' sprawling infrastructure
Google hopes the lawsuit will help to disrupt the scammers' sprawling infrastructure
Correction: $75m!
This is Tenzai, which is already worth $330 million after an $80 million seed round, just five months after launching.
AI agents are ready to hack your apps now... this time for good.
Agents, built on frontier AI models from the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI, have been fine tuned by this startup to exploit customer applications with “elite, nation-grade offensive capabilities."
www.forbes.com/sites/the-wi...
Agents, built on frontier AI models from the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI, have been fine tuned by this startup to exploit customer applications with “elite, nation-grade offensive capabilities."
www.forbes.com/sites/the-wi...
November 11, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Correction: $75m!
This is Tenzai, which is already worth $330 million after an $80 million seed round, just five months after launching.
AI agents are ready to hack your apps now... this time for good.
Agents, built on frontier AI models from the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI, have been fine tuned by this startup to exploit customer applications with “elite, nation-grade offensive capabilities."
www.forbes.com/sites/the-wi...
Agents, built on frontier AI models from the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI, have been fine tuned by this startup to exploit customer applications with “elite, nation-grade offensive capabilities."
www.forbes.com/sites/the-wi...
AI Hacking Agent Startup Tenzai Raises $80 Million
Tenzai offers AI agents, built on frontier models from the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic, to hack apps and find their weaknesses.
www.forbes.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:09 PM
This is Tenzai, which is already worth $330 million after an $80 million seed round, just five months after launching.
AI agents are ready to hack your apps now... this time for good.
Agents, built on frontier AI models from the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI, have been fine tuned by this startup to exploit customer applications with “elite, nation-grade offensive capabilities."
www.forbes.com/sites/the-wi...
Agents, built on frontier AI models from the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI, have been fine tuned by this startup to exploit customer applications with “elite, nation-grade offensive capabilities."
www.forbes.com/sites/the-wi...
AI Hacking Agent Startup Tenzai Raises $80 Million
Tenzai offers AI agents, built on frontier models from the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic, to hack apps and find their weaknesses.
www.forbes.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:07 PM
AI agents are ready to hack your apps now... this time for good.
Agents, built on frontier AI models from the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI, have been fine tuned by this startup to exploit customer applications with “elite, nation-grade offensive capabilities."
www.forbes.com/sites/the-wi...
Agents, built on frontier AI models from the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI, have been fine tuned by this startup to exploit customer applications with “elite, nation-grade offensive capabilities."
www.forbes.com/sites/the-wi...
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
So just how much money is OpenAI dumping on this firehose of imbecilic video? More than $5 billion annualized, or around $15 million per day, according to Forbes estimates and conversations with experts www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...
Here’s How Much Cash OpenAI Is Burning On AI Video App Sora. What It Means
Some back-of-napkin math suggests OpenAI is spending more than a quarter of what it’s making to power the AI slop factory.
www.forbes.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:06 PM
So just how much money is OpenAI dumping on this firehose of imbecilic video? More than $5 billion annualized, or around $15 million per day, according to Forbes estimates and conversations with experts www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
If you read an amazing article from Teen Vogue about politics in the last several years, chances are that Lex McMenamin wrote it. Any publication that is serious about meeting this moment would be lucky to have them.
I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
November 3, 2025 at 9:42 PM
If you read an amazing article from Teen Vogue about politics in the last several years, chances are that Lex McMenamin wrote it. Any publication that is serious about meeting this moment would be lucky to have them.
Interesting - I'd heard of a cop's account getting hacked on at least one occasion.
One thing I will note, however, is that Flock has been pushing and in some cases enforcing multi-factor authentication, per public records.
See here for an email sent by Flock to a customer...
One thing I will note, however, is that Flock has been pushing and in some cases enforcing multi-factor authentication, per public records.
See here for an email sent by Flock to a customer...
November 3, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Interesting - I'd heard of a cop's account getting hacked on at least one occasion.
One thing I will note, however, is that Flock has been pushing and in some cases enforcing multi-factor authentication, per public records.
See here for an email sent by Flock to a customer...
One thing I will note, however, is that Flock has been pushing and in some cases enforcing multi-factor authentication, per public records.
See here for an email sent by Flock to a customer...
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
🚨🚨🚨 Absolutely insane stuff here. @lorenzofb.bsky.social spent months working on this story.
Peter Williams, former L3Harris Trenchant boss — the division that makes cyber exploits, zero-days and spyware for Western governments — has pleaded guilty to selling Trenchant's exploits to Russia.
Peter Williams, former L3Harris Trenchant boss — the division that makes cyber exploits, zero-days and spyware for Western governments — has pleaded guilty to selling Trenchant's exploits to Russia.
Former L3Harris Trenchant boss pleads guilty to selling zero-day exploits to Russian broker | TechCrunch
Prosecutors confirmed Peter Williams, the former Trenchant boss, sold eight exploits to a Russian buyer. TechCrunch exclusively reported that the Trenchant division was investigating a leak of its hac...
techcrunch.com
October 29, 2025 at 5:44 PM
🚨🚨🚨 Absolutely insane stuff here. @lorenzofb.bsky.social spent months working on this story.
Peter Williams, former L3Harris Trenchant boss — the division that makes cyber exploits, zero-days and spyware for Western governments — has pleaded guilty to selling Trenchant's exploits to Russia.
Peter Williams, former L3Harris Trenchant boss — the division that makes cyber exploits, zero-days and spyware for Western governments — has pleaded guilty to selling Trenchant's exploits to Russia.
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
New: Videos show ICE/CBP agents are scanning peoples' faces on the street to verify citizenship. ICE has tool to instantly look up unprecedented number of databases with just a photo
“I’m an American citizen so leave me alone”
“Alright, we just got to verify that”
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
“I’m an American citizen so leave me alone”
“Alright, we just got to verify that”
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
ICE and CBP Agents Are Scanning Peoples’ Faces on the Street To Verify Citizenship
Videos on social media show officers from ICE and CBP using facial recognition technology on people in the field. One expert described the practice as “pure dystopian creep.”
www.404media.co
October 29, 2025 at 2:42 PM
New: Videos show ICE/CBP agents are scanning peoples' faces on the street to verify citizenship. ICE has tool to instantly look up unprecedented number of databases with just a photo
“I’m an American citizen so leave me alone”
“Alright, we just got to verify that”
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
“I’m an American citizen so leave me alone”
“Alright, we just got to verify that”
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...