It\u2019s the end of the year. That means it\u2019s time for us to celebrate the best cybersecurity stories we didn\u2019t<\/em> publish. Since 2023<\/a>, TechCrunch has looked back at the best stories across the board from the year in cybersecurity.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not familiar, the idea is simple. There are now dozens of journalists who cover cybersecurity in the English language. There are a lot of stories about cybersecurity, privacy, and surveillance that are published every week. And a lot of them are great, and you should read them. We\u2019re here to recommend the ones we liked the most, so keep in mind that it\u2019s a very subjective and, at the end of the day, incomplete list.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anyway, let\u2019s get into it. \u2014 Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai<\/em><\/p>\n Every once in a while, there\u2019s a hacker story that as soon as you start reading, you think it could be a movie or a TV show. This is the case with Shane Harris\u2019 very personal tale of his months-long correspondence with a top Iranian hacker<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2016, The Atlantic\u2019s journalist made contact with a person claiming to work as a hacker for Iran\u2019s intelligence, where he claimed to have worked on major operations, such as the downing of an American drone and the now-infamous hack against oil giant Saudi Aramco, where Iranian hackers wiped the company\u2019s computers. Harris was rightly skeptical, but as he kept talking to the hacker, who eventually revealed his real name to him, Harris started to believe him. When the hacker died, Harris was able to piece together the real story, which somehow turned out to be more incredible than the hacker had led Harris to believe.\u00a0<\/p>\n The gripping story is also a great behind-the-scenes look at the challenges cybersecurity reporters face when dealing with sources claiming to have great stories to share.<\/p>\n In January, the U.K. government secretly issued Apple with a court order<\/a> demanding that the company build a back door so police can access the iCloud data of any customer in the world. Due to a worldwide gag order, it was only because The Washington Post<\/a> broke the news that we learned the order existed to begin with. The demand was the first of its kind, and \u2014 if successful \u2014 would be a major defeat for tech giants who have spent the past decade locking themselves out of their users\u2019 own data so they can\u2019t be compelled to provide it to governments.<\/p>\n Apple subsequently stopped offering its opt-in end-to-end encrypted cloud storage<\/a> to its customers in the U.K. in response to the demand. But by breaking the news, the secret order was thrust into the public eye and allowed both Apple and critics to scrutinize U.K. surveillance powers in a way that hasn\u2019t been tested in public before. The story sparked a months-long diplomatic row between the U.K. and the United States, prompting Downing Street to drop the request \u2014 only to try again<\/a> several months later.<\/p>\n This story was the sort of fly-on-the-wall access that some reporters would dream of, but The Atlantic\u2019s editor-in-chief got to play out in real time<\/a> after he was unwittingly added to a Signal group of senior U.S. government officials by <\/em>a senior U.S. government official discussing war plans on their cell phones.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reading the discussion about where U.S. military forces should drop bombs \u2014 and then seeing news reports of missiles hitting the ground on the other side of the world \u2014 was confirmation that Jeffrey Goldberg needed to know that he was, as he suspected, in a real chat with real Trump administration officials, and this was all on-the-record and reportable. <\/p>\n And so he did, paving the way for a months-long investigation (and critique) of the government\u2019s operational security practices, in what was called the biggest government opsec mistake<\/a> in history. The unraveling of the situation ultimately exposed security lapses involving the use of a knock-off Signal clone<\/a> that further jeopardized the government\u2019s ostensibly secure communications.<\/p>\n Brian Krebs is one of the more veteran cybersecurity reporters out there, and for years he has specialized in following online breadcrumbs that lead to him revealing the identity of notorious cybercriminals. In this case, Krebs was able to find the real identity behind a hacker\u2019s online handle Rey<\/a>, who is part of the notorious advanced persistent teenagers<\/a>\u2018 cybercrime group that calls itself Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters.<\/p>\n Krebs\u2019 quest was so successful that he was able to talk to a person very close to the hacker \u2014 we won\u2019t spoil the whole article here \u2014 and then the hacker himself, who confessed to his crimes and claimed he was trying to escape the cybercriminal life.\u00a0<\/p>\n Independent media outlet 404 Media has accomplished more impact journalism this year than most mainstream outlets with vastly more resources. One of its biggest wins was exposing and effectively shuttering a massive air travel surveillance system<\/a> tapped by federal agencies and operating in plain sight.<\/p>\n 404 Media reported that a little-known data broker set up by the airline industry called the Airlines Reporting Corporation was selling access to 5 billion plane tickets and travel itineraries, including names and financial details of ordinary Americans, allowing government agencies like ICE, the State Department, and the IRS to track people without a warrant.<\/p>\n ARC, owned by United, American, Delta, Southwest, JetBlue, and other airlines, said it would shut down the warrantless data program following 404 Media\u2019s months-long reporting<\/a> and intense pressure from lawmakers.<\/p>\n The killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024 was one of the biggest stories of the year. Luigi Mangione, the chief suspect in the killing, was soon after arrested and indicted on charges of using a \u201cghost gun,\u201d a 3D-printed firearm that had no serial numbers and built in private without a background check \u2014 effectively a gun that the government has no idea exists.<\/p>\n Wired, using its past reporting experience on 3D-printed weaponry<\/a>, sought to test how easy it would be to build a 3D-printed gun, while navigating the patchwork legal (and ethical) landscape. The reporting process was exquisitely told<\/a>, and the video that goes along with the story is both excellent and chilling.<\/p>\nShane Harris described how he cultivated a senior Iranian hacker as a source, who was then killed<\/h2>\n
The Washington Post revealed a secret order demanding Apple let U.K. officials spy on users\u2019 encrypted data<\/h2>\n
\u201cThe Trump administration accidentally texted me its war plans\u201d by The Atlantic is this year\u2019s best headline<\/h2>\n
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Brian Krebs tracked down a prolific hacker group admin as a Jordanian teenager<\/h2>\n
Wired made the 3D-printed gun that Luigi Mangione allegedly used to kill a healthcare executive to test the legalities of \u201cghost guns\u201d<\/h2>\n