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
Tech companies are often inconsistent in their stances towards privacy. Take Google for example; the web search and advertising giant is forcing better data collection and sharing transparency in the Google Play Store and recently joined other big tech firms to back legislation banning the use of geofence and keyword...
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It’s not hard to see why Apple, Google, and Microsoft are pushing passwordless logins when cybercriminals are able to leverage malware and phishing attacks to steal passwords. However, bad actors don’t need to actually steal them when their victims use simple, easy-to-guess passwords. Unfortunately, those sorts of...
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Earlier this month, we reported on a phishing attack that stole $23.5 million from the US Department of Defense (DoD). Thankfully, the DoD caught the cybercriminals and recovered the money, but this incident highlights the need for strong cybersecurity practices at the DoD and among its contractors. The DoD is a high...
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Lately, Google has been making some changes to Play Store policies. The company recently announced that Android apps would be barred from using the Accessibility API for recording phone calls. Google also started rolling out a new data safety section to the Play Store that will require app developers to disclose their...
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The beginning of the year saw a flurry of stories about security breaches as the cybercriminal gang known as LAPSUS$ stole data from an alarming number of big name companies in a short period of time. However, while LAPSUS$ is no longer in operation, after the London police arrested all seven members of the group...
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Lately, cybercriminals have been using Telegram to sell malware and other malicious tools as a service. Last month we reported on a Telegram bot that makes automatic phone calls to steal multi-factor authentication (MFA) codes. The Telegram bot gives bad actors an easy-to-use interface for placing scam phone calls and...
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Back in November, Meta announced that it was shutting down Facebook’s Face Recognition system and deleting over 1 billion people’s facial recognition templates. Only a month later, Clearview AI won a patent on its facial recognition algorithm, after ranking first in the US in the National Institute of Standards and...
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We’ve written in the past about both reverse location searches and reverse keyword searches and their uncertain legal status. Various US law enforcement agencies have been able to obtain warrants forcing companies such as Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft to hand over user location and search history data.
A reverse...
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Ransomware attacks are growing rapidly in prevalence. The number of ransomware attacks in 2021 doubled over that of 2020, which already saw a doubling over 2019. Some of the most notable ransomware attacks have struck vital infrastructure and supply chains. However, ransomware attacks aren’t limited to these sectors...
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Cryptocurrency scams are quite common these days, likely due, at least in part, to the perception that cryptocurrency is an easily accessible investment vehicle. Just last week, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it is almost doubling the size of its Crypto Assests and Cyber Unit in the hopes of...
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As machine learning technology has proliferated and improved, some potentially alarming use-cases have come to the forefront. One such use case is the ability to produce images, video, and audio that replicate a person’s physical appearance, facial expressions and voice, in the creation of what are commonly referred...
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Last month, we reported on a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group known as “Cicada” that was exploiting VLC Media Player to attack governments and infrastructure. According to security researchers, the hackers were able to access some victimized networks for as long as nine months before being discovered. Now...
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Last week, Google introduced its new data safety section for the Play Store, which states that Android application developers have until July 20th to fully disclose their data collection, sharing, and safety practices. A new analysis of popular Android apps shows why this kind of data collection transparency is...
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We’ve recently covered a number of sophisticated phishing scam techniques, including fake animated windows designed to steal passwords and automated call bots that trick victims into giving away multi-factor authentication codes. While ransomware attacks are currently on track to surpass phishing attacks as the number...
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A couple weeks ago, we dug into the iPhone 14 leaks and rumors that have been circulating around the web. While we covered most of the information currently available in that post, there are a couple additional details worth discussing. We recently wrote about how the computer chip shortage seems to show no signs of...
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Earlier this week, we covered leaked details regarding a government contractor that demonstrated its ability to track billions of phones all over the world by spying on CIA and NSA agents’ activity. Government contractors are able to provide surveillance services by purchasing user data from third parties. However, US...
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Microsoft will be retiring Internet Explorer once and for all on June 15. However, Microsoft won’t be out of the web browser game with this retirement. The company has shifted its focus to maintaining and developing the Chromium-based Edge browser. Microsoft rolls out new Edge features fairly often, though some of...
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Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks can be debilitating, shutting down websites and services for hours or even days on end. Last month, a DDoS attack took down the servers running the popular online multiplayer game Among Us for almost three days. DDoS attacks attempt to overwhelm a system by flooding it with...
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Back in May of 2021, Google announced that privacy labels would be coming to the Google Play Store. Now, almost a year later, the company has announced that it will soon be rolling these labels out to the Play Store with requirements for application developers. The Google Play Store already features an expandable...
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There are a number of underground online marketplaces where stolen user data is illegally bought and sold by cybercriminals. Government authorities recently seized and shutdown RaidForums, one of the most notable hubs for such illicit transactions. Meanwhile, there is an entire aboveground industry that specializes in...
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Some recent revelations regarding cybercriminal activity have spelled bad news for T-Mobile. After government authorities seized RaidForums, a popular hacking site where stolen data was sold, court records revealed that T-Mobile attempted to buy back stolen customer data. However, the deal went sideways when the...
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The computer chip shortage has been a topic of much discussion over the past year and more as GPU prices have shot through the roof and entire lots of newly built cars sit awaiting microcontrollers. Both governments and companies alike are taking measures to increase semiconductor production capacity in light of high...
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