I don't want to minimize the fact that we're living in a digital world that sets us up for failure. If you've been scammed or hacked, know that you're in the majority. There are systemic issues at play outside of our control. At best, these tips minimize risk, but can never completely prevent it.

Join us in New Jersey this August!

Registration is open for Cyber Civil Defense Summit: East! Co-hosted by the UC Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity and NJCCIC. www.eventbrite.com/e/cyber-civi... #CyberCivilDefense #Take9

ArXiv is going to ban researchers for a year if they are caught submitting AI slop. ArXiv told us it's a one strike rule: do it once, you're out. www.404media.co/new-arxiv-ru...

NEW: The Consumer Federation of America is suing Meta, alleging that the company misled consumers about its efforts to combat scam advertisements and violated Washington DC's consumer protection laws. www.wired.com/story/meta-i...

The @cltcberkeley.bsky.social Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity released their CyberCAN Washington report: cybersecurity challenges for WA nonprofits and guidance on how to address them. Read it here: cltc.berkeley.edu/publication/... #CyberCivilDefense #PublicInterestCybersecurity #Take9

So we've all read about Trump's devastating FY 2027 budget cuts to CISA. But the admin is also going to cut cyber spending across the civilian side of the government by $227m , with some agencies gaining funds to spend on cyber ad some losing quite a bit. 1/3 www.csoonline.com/article/4156...

Lawfare is hiring a paid editorial intern for Summer 2026! Find more information and apply here:

Come work with The Public's Science team @ the Institute for Advanced Study. Hiring a fellow to develop digital infrastructure for public engagement, and are seeking someone committed to reimagining the social contract for American research. Please share widely. jobs.chronicle.com/job/37962820...

Meta is ending its end-to-end encryption. Many people I know still use this as their primary messaging platform, over SMS.

Attending BSidesSF next week? Be sure to check out all of EFF's talks! We'll also have an info table where you can stop by and say hi to our team 👋 www.eff.org/event/eff-b...

Here's DHS's statement on CISA's behalf on the apparent Iran hack on medical tech company Stryker. In addition to the now normal but still weird partisan jabs in these statements, I can definitely assure you CISA does not launch investigations into all cyber incidents. They're barely staffed!

Breaking: The White House has released President Trump's long-awaited national cyber strategy: www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...

Rarely has there been a clearer example that random data from apps and phones causes people real, physical harm. It is worth noting often there is no real opting-out of data collection - you have to simply not use the app or service at all, which cannot work at scale.

New from 404 Media: CBP tapped into the online advertising ecosystem to track peoples' movements, according to an internal DHS document. Shows for the first time DHS tracked phones via process for putting ads in ordinary apps—video games, fitness apps, many more www.404media.co/cbp-tapped-i...

sometimes the founder of a company says something that simply stops you in your tracks and haunts you. There's one those in here from the creator of Einstein, an edtech AI that will go to school for you

I spoke to a ton of people for this comprehensive story about CISA one year into the Trump administration, and all sorts were VERY unsparing in their criticism. cyberscoop.com/cisa-personn...

Don't meet us in DC - this year, the #CyberCivilDefense Summits will come to you. We're co-hosting 3 regional summits in 2026 with amazing state and local partners. See which Summit is nearest you, and get notified when registration opens! Read the announcement: cltc.berkeley.edu/2026/02/17/t...

💵 Save money, 🛡 defend communities: I testified last week on SB183 for a Maryland Cyber Reserve Team, in an informational capacity to the Maryland Committee on Education, Energy, & the Environment. Read my written testimony here: cltc.berkeley.edu/wp-content/u... #CyberCivilDefense #Take9

Now more than ever, people have seen the real-world risk of invasive face recognition technology. We won’t lose focus.

With the awful WaPo layoffs and the state of journalism more broadly, if it's useful for any writers and reporters considering going indy, @molly.wiki, @xoxogossipgita.bsky.social of Aftermath, @jasonkoebler.bsky.social of 404 Media, @edzitron.com and me will do a little workshop next week.

When even the WeRateDogs guy is compelled to speak out about your product’s dangerous normalization of surveillance that may be subverted by the state, you’ve clearly crossed the line.

I expected the cuts would be bad but I'm honestly stunned and sickened seeing how many great journalists the Washington Post just lost. People who nailed huge investigations, documented war zones, exposed horrific crimes, dropped all at once for failures they did not cause.

This is very cool to see more tech and media companies going nonprofit to focus content on the public good

State civilian cyber corps volunteers in Wisconsin are saving states money AND providing free incident response to cities and towns in need. It is no wonder these programs exist in 8+ states, with more considering creating authorities for them this year. #CyberCivilDefense #Take9

Check out this great coverage of a @districtcon.bsky.social roundtable on the Pall Mall Process by @timstarks.bsky.social

"Craigslist Founder Signs Giving Pledge and Narrows Focus" "Craig Newmark's philanthropic strategy is shaped as much by what didn’t work as by what did — leading to an approach that favors scale, networks, and trusted intermediaries over scattershot giving." www.philanthropy.com/news/craigsl...

Cyber volunteering had a big year in 2025, marked by a surge in community-led civil defense. This highlights how the ecosystem is scaling and maturing—with thousands of volunteers now providing critical support to organizations nationwide #CyberCivilDefense #Take9 cltc.berkeley.edu/2025/12/19/f....

HAPPY FRIDAY!!! Our Agenda is now live! Check it out! Check it out: www.districtcon.org/speakers

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 to their employer.

what people are able to do with Grok at the moment is far far far worse than putting people in bikinis www.404media.co/inside-the-t...

🚩Is that 80% discount on an iPhone 17 legit, or a major red flag? As holiday shopping kicks off with Cyber Monday, remember to slow down before clicking! A 9-second pause can help identify fake websites, fraudulent promos, and deals that are too good to be true. Learn more at the 🔗 in our bio.

We sold out of our GA tickets in 15 seconds 🤯 For students: Thanks to our community sponsors, our DistrictCon Scholars' Program application is open! For anyone else passionate about DisCo: Volunteer with us! You can also join our waitlist on Eventbrite! All info here: www.districtcon.org/tickets

Your boy has plans, I have plans too.

Former FTC chair Lina Khan was just named to NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's transition team—just one sign that his new administration will take tech matters seriously, writes Rebecca Williams. She offers a tech agenda for the new mayor to advance his campaign goals:

The future of cybersecurity is local. Learn more about how state-led Cyber Volunteers are stepping up to defend communities from cyber attacks, and how CLTC is growing these programs #CyberCivilDefense #Take9 www.govtech.com/security/cyb...

please please please send me your best undergraduate for next season's Privacy & Data Governance internship: www.aclu.org/careers/inte...

On Lawfare Daily, Justin Sherman sat down with @powa-sec.bsky.social and Michael Razeeq to discuss the cyber threats facing states, resources states have to address cybersecurity problems, and how state cyber corps and volunteer programs fits into the picture. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/lawf...

The future of cybersecurity is local! Thanks to Justin for having me and Michael Razeeq on the @lawfaremedia.org podcast to talk about cyber volunteering and state cyber corps programs. #CyberCivilDefense #Take9

On Global Encryption Day, our #OptOutOctober tip is to check out Signal: an encrypted messaging app that actually keeps your conversations private. www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...

Happy Amazon Prime Day! Amazon collects mountains of data about how you use the service, but there is a setting you can change to make it harder for the company to use that data to sell you more things. #OptOutOctober www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

Excellent compilation and analysis from @cybersecuritydive.bsky.social @ericjgeller.com that awareness training is not effective. Let's continue shifting the blame away from organizations and towards the products they use, and local leaders who can help. #CommunityCybersecurity #CyberCivilDefense

Amazon's Ring is adding facial recognition to its home doorbells and security cameras for the first time. To identify people you know, it needs to run everyone's face in sight through facial recognition. wapo.st/4mR2v5l

The Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics is experiencing unprecedented growth! Read more about their impact and accomplishments and just how significant a leap forward this past year has been for #CyberCivilDefense. cybersecurityclinics.org/blog/growth-... #Take9 #CybersecurityAwarenessMonth

The Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics is experiencing unprecedented growth! Read more about their impact and accomplishments and just how significant a leap forward this past year has been for #CyberCivilDefense #Take9 #CybersecurityAwarenessMonth cybersecurityclinics.org/blog/growth-...

🍎 📚 💻 What does K12 cybersecurity have to do with bug bounty? Nearly every school in the country uses one of a handful of technologies. By making these products more secure, we can better protect schools, students, and teachers at scale.

"We’re a little bit more on our own": State and local cybersecurity officials band together as the Trump administration turns its back on them. Nice story by @maggiemiller.bsky.social: subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...

Incredible and timely research about vulnerabilities in Tile tracking tags from @mikespecter.com and his team at Georgia Tech

Today, my research group @ Georgia Tech released a paper on vulnerabilities in Tile --- the second largest device finding network after Apple's AirTags. You can read about it in Wired, reporting by @kimzetter.bsky.social! www.wired.com/story/tile-t...