Nathan Wasson
Nathan grew up with computer hardware news and reviews in the family business and eventually joined the business himself in 2014. He initially joined to make video reviews and help with the podcast, but was soon asked if he would write, and he's been writing about computers ever since. More recently, Nathan has developed a passion for internet privacy, security, and decentralization and likes writing about those topics the most. He spends much of his free time tinkering with Linux distributions, custom Android ROMs, privacy and security tools, and self-hosting solutions. He also started gaming on a PC at a young age and still can't give up Unreal Tournament 2004 and Supreme Commander 2. Beyond computers, Nathan is a car enthusiast and philosophy nerd.
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
Shortly after hitting Parker Hannifin Corporation, a major component supplier for Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the Conti ransomware group abandoned the Conti name and split off into smaller groups that coordinate with the larger group’s leadership. This move came after Conti targeted the government of Costa Rica with...
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Cybercriminals can steal credit card credentials using a number of different methods, including phishing attacks, other form of social engineering, skimming, and data breaches. Stolen credit card credentials often don’t remain with the original thief, but instead end up being sold on an online marketplace. There are...
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Shortly after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, many tech companies announced that they would be suspending sales to the country. Among the companies that made these announcements were AMD, Intel, TSMC, NVIDIA, Apple, Cisco, Oracle, IBM, PlayStation, Nintendo, and Microsoft. Since this initial flurry of...
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Three years ago, Capital One Financial Corporation suffered a massive data breach that exposed customers’ personal information. Rather than being the victim of social engineering or a ransomware attack, it turned out that Capital One had misconfigured its web application, leaving its system vulnerable to a breach. The...
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Over the past year, much of the buzz surrounding Valve, the company behind Steam, has concerned the Steam Deck. However, despite the hype-filled launch of its handheld game console, it seems that Valve hasn’t forgotten about its other gaming device endeavor: virtual reality (VR). In fact, it appears as though the...
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Popular portrayals of hackers tend to show them as computer geniuses who use their elite technical skills to breach computer systems. However, in real life, bad actors often don’t bother to directly hack computer systems when they can access those same systems by hacking people instead. People are often willing to...
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Ransomware is bad news not only because it can cause business-ending disruptions, as in the case of Abraham Lincoln College, but also because the actors behind ransomware attacks often exfiltrate data from compromised systems in addition to encrypting the data on said machines. Ransomware gangs tend to use this stolen...
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Last week, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a report according to which cryptocurrency scammers have swindled Americans out of over $1 billion since 2021. Cryptocurrency scams are rampant on social media sites, as well as messaging apps like Telegram. The scams often trade on the names of...
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Wi-Fi capable devices, like smart phones, often automatically send out probe requests in order to detect available Wi-Fi networks in the area. These probe requests include a device identifier known as a MAC address. Nowadays, most phones, as well as some other devices, utilize randomized MAC addresses to increase...
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Much of the discussion surrounding cyberwarfare has centered around Russia and Ukraine, in recent months. While it may have been pushed into the background, however, China’s aggressive cyber activity continues apace, whether it rises to the level of warfare or not. Only a month ago, we covered news that Chinese...
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Yesterday, we reported on a data breach at Shields Health Care Group that resulted in the theft of personal information belong to 2 million Americans. Oftentimes, data stolen in breaches like this end up on online forums or marketplaces where cybercriminals buy and sell these ill-gotten gains. Lately, US law...
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Personal information is also valuable information, as personal data in the wrong hands can empower cybercriminals to commit identity theft and fraud. However, even those who take important steps to secure their personal information can have it exposed when an employer, health care provider, government agency, or other...
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Last week, security researchers published a report showing that the rate at which trojans infect mobile devices has been accelerating over the past few quarters. Trojans are a form of malware disguised as applications that users might want to install. Victims of trojans effectively invite malware onto their devices...
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It’s a new week, and there’s another proof of concept for a phishing technique. Last week, we covered a phishing technique for hijacking WhatsApp accounts, and the week before that we reported on a phishing campaign targeting Intuit QuickBooks users. This new proof of concept leverages an established phishing...
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Earlier this week, we covered a report that claimed mobile device trojans are on the rise. Trojans are a specific kind of malware that infect victims’ devices by pretending to be legitimate and trustworthy applications. Unfortunately, trojans sometimes mange to sneak their way into the Google Play Store and infect...
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The prevalence of ransomware attacks is rising year-over-year at a rapid pace, with 2021 marking a doubling in the number of reported attacks over 2020. As ransomware attacks have become a prominent and lucrative form of cyberattack, a market has developed for cybercriminals to buy and sell ransomware. Some of these...
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WhatsApp, the messaging app owned by Meta that employs the end-to-end encryption Signal Protocol, is massively popular worldwide. The app boasts more than 2 billion users, which is over a fourth of the world's population. Unsurprisingly, given the app’s popularity, scammers and hackers often target WhatsApp and its...
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The pursuit of internet privacy is something akin to an ever-evolving game of Whac-A-Mole, as new tracking techniques are revealed by researchers and addressed by privacy-preserving tools. Fortunately, there are a great many privacy tools available and under active development. DuckDuckGo offers a number of such...
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Gaming headsets, in an effort to stand out from regular headphones, often sport flamboyant designs with harsh angles, polygonal shapes, and RGB LEDs. However, this styling trend can put off some gamers who have more subdued tastes or simply don’t like the stealth-fighter-Christmas-tree look. Fortunately, HyperX...
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Research from earlier this year showed that hackers can remotely unlock and start Honda and Acura vehicles by exploiting a vulnerability in the remote keyless system. However, cybercriminals targeting the automotive industry don’t have to steal your car when they can steal something potentially more valuable: your...
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Cybersecurity experts are constantly trying to improve user account security. This task can be a difficult one when users don’t take basic steps to secure their own accounts. A recent report found that the most commonly used passwords among business executives are “123456” and “password.” However, even accounts...
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Earlier this month, Clearview AI reached a settlement agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) over the company’s usage of Illinois citizens' biometric data without their consent. Clearview AI sells its recently patented facial recognition technology to both private companies and government agencies...
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