TL;DR: A US Army soldier arrested in December for leaking the private call logs of then-President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris has pleaded guilty to stealing phone records from at least two major US carriers. He faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted. According to a filing in a federal court in Seattle, Cameron John Wagenius, a 20-year-old communications specialist stationed in South Korea, pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawfully transferring confidential phone records. The filing by Wagenius' lawyer also revealed that the suspect faces up to 10 years in jail for each of the two counts of data leak and a fine of up to $250,000.Wagenius was arrested near Fort Cavazos, Texas, on December 20 for attempting to sell stolen telecom data from AT&T and Verizon on the dark web. Following his arrest, federal authorities indicted him for "unlawful transfer of confidential phone records information." The indictment was filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas in Waco, but it did not reveal the victims' names and other details.Krebs on Security revealed more information about Wagenius, including his status as a US soldier. The report also identified him as the notorious cybercriminal who operated on the dark web under the alias 'Kiberphant0m.'According to investigators, Kiberphant0m had warned AT&T that he would release customers' call logs unless somebody from the company got in touch with him soon. To show he was serious, he released a sample of the stolen data. He also reportedly threatened to leak classified US government call records, including presidential call logs, if his demands were not met.Wagenius' actions are believed to be related to the hacking of cloud computing services company Snowflake, for which the feds indicted Alexander Connor Moucka and John Binns. The two are alleged to have netted around $2 million from the heist. According to US attorney Tessa Gorman, both the AT&T and Verizon hacks are part of the "same computer intrusion and extortion and include some of the same stolen victim information." // Related StoriesIn July 2024, AT&T announced that hackers were able to access its customer call and text records from 2022 through Snowflake. Fortunately for the victims, the data did not include social security numbers, but it was still a massive violation of privacy for many subscribers.Along with AT&T and Verizon, the Snowflake breaches resulted in hackers gaining access to personal data from around 160 companies, including LendingTree, Santander Bank, Ticketmaster, and more. Customers of Indian state-owned telecom firm BSNL are believed to have also been affected.

Hazelight Studios has established itself as the team specializing in the best co-op games. A Way OutandIt Takes Two dont encourage playing with a friend, but requires it. The upcoming video game Split Fiction is the same story. While we loved those previous games, the one major fault was that they didnt have cross-platform support. That meant that you needed to either be playing in split-screen with your partner by your side or have the game on the same platform as your partner. Will Split Fiction also have that restriction, or will you be able to go on this adventure with a friend no matter where they are playing?HazelightYes, Split Fiction will be the first Hazelight game that allows for crossplay between all platforms. This means players on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S will all be able to play together so long as each person has a free EA Account. If you dont already have one, you can sign up right here.Recommended VideosOne positive returning feature is the Friends Pass. If one person purchases a copy of the game, they can invite a friend to play with them who doesnt own the game for free. With crossplay, now there are almost no barriers to entry.RelatedIf youre not sold on Split Fiction yet, theres also the Friends Pass trial. If neither player owns a copy of Split Fiction, you can both download a free trial and play the opening stages together. If you decide to buy the full game afterward, all your progress will carry forward, too.Editors Recommendations

Earlier this year, Google released an update that devastated Pixel 4a batteries with its Pixel 4a Battery Performance Program, and now a similar update has the Fitbit Sense and Versa 3 squarely in its sights. While the update prevented overheating, it had a drastic impact on battery life. The good news is that Google offers a $50 appeasement to anyone with an affected device, even if you no longer regularly use the wearable.On January 21, Google issued a notice that some Fitbit Sense and Versa 3 batteries were at risk of overheating. The update is intended to reduce that risk, but any affected batteries will likely have a reduced battery life and overall capacity. According to Googles support page, The update will improve the stability of the devices battery performance and reduce the risk of the battery overheating. As a result, the battery will last for shorter periods between charges and you may need to charge your device more frequently.Recommended VideosTheres no escaping the update, either. If you dont install the firmware, your device will reset itself and then force the update, erasing some of your data. Fitbit owners will see the update roll out over the next month, and youll only have a few days to install once the update lands.FitbitGoogle claims the update will only impact affected devices, but it made the same claim for the Pixel 4a. Hundreds of users reported an impact to battery life, even if their Fitbit didnt overheat prior to the update.Please enable Javascript to view this contentIf youre not sure whether your Fitbit is among those affected, fill out this request form. It will help you determine your eligibility for the $50 rebate. You have roughly a year to file a claim; after January 21, 2026, the appeasement option will no longer be available.Editors Recommendations

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Not a narc Apple pulls data protection tool instead of caving to UK demand for a backdoor Apple abruptly yanks privacy tool in UK, taking bold stance against snooping law. Ashley Belanger Feb 21, 2025 11:40 am | 4 Credit: georgeclerk | iStock Unreleased Credit: georgeclerk | iStock Unreleased Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreAfter the United Kingdom demanded that Apple create a backdoor that would allow government officials globally to spy on encrypted data, Apple decided to simply turn off encryption services in the UK rather than risk exposing its customers to snooping.Apple had previously allowed end-to-end encryption of data on UK devices through its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) tool, but that ended Friday, a spokesperson said in a lengthy statement."Apple can no longer offer Advanced Data Protection (ADP) in the United Kingdom to new users and current UK users will eventually need to disable this security feature," Apple said.The UK Investigatory Powers Act has been dubbed a "Snooper's Charter," the Financial Times reported, granting the UK government powers to "access the encrypted data of Apple customers anywhere in the world, including in the US."According to Apple, complying with the UK law could have enabled not just government officials but also bad actors to gain access to encrypted data. Critics, including the US tech industry group, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, had further warned that the recent Salt Typhoon breach had made it clear that "end-to-end encryption may be the only safeguard standing between Americans' sensitive personal and business data and foreign adversaries.""We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP will not be available to our customers in the UK given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy," Apple said. "Enhancing the security of cloud storage with end-to-end encryption is more urgent than ever before."For UK Apple users, some data can still be encrypted. iCloud Keychain and Health, iMessage, and FaceTime will remain end-to-end encrypted by default. But other iCloud services will not be encrypted, effective immediately, including iCloud Backup, iCloud Drive, Photos, Notes, Reminders, Safari Bookmarks, Siri Shortcuts, Voice memos, Wallet passes, and Freeform.In the future, Apple hopes to restore data protections in the UK, but the company refuses to ever build a backdoor for government officials."Apple remains committed to offering our users the highest level of security for their personal data and are hopeful that we will be able to do so in the future in the United Kingdom," Apple said. "As we have said many times before, we have never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services, and we never will."Ashley BelangerSenior Policy ReporterAshley BelangerSenior Policy Reporter Ashley is a senior policy reporter for Ars Technica, dedicated to tracking social impacts of emerging policies and new technologies. She is a Chicago-based journalist with 20 years of experience. 4 Comments

Senior politicians in Japan are not going to let Nissan die easily. The automaker has been struggling for some time now, with an outdated product portfolio, ongoing quarterly losses, and soon, the closure of factories and thousands of layoffs. The Japanese government has been trying to find a suitor and had hoped that Honda would do its patriotic duty and save its rival from extinction.That dealone branded "a desperate move" by former Nissan CEO and fugitive from Japanese justice Carlos Ghosnfell apart last week after Renault demanded a price premium for its shares in Nissan, and Nissan demanded a merger of equals with Honda. In reality, it was always going to be a takeover, with very little in it for Honda in the way of complimentary product lines or access to new technologies.Today, we learned of yet another desperate movethe former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is among a group that is trying to get Tesla to invest in Nissan instead.Such a merger seems extremely far from likely, even if Tesla CEO Elon Musk wasn't completely distracted dismantling the federal government and its workforce. While the company still maintains a ludicrous market capitalization thanks to retail investors who believe it is poised to sell billions of humanoid robots to every human on earth, as an automaker it may well be struggling almost as much as Nissan.As experts told us last year, Tesla is not a well-run enterprise. Its product range suffers, like Nissan's, from being outdated compared to the competition. It appears that consumers have turned against the brand in Europe and increasingly the US, and its quarterly financial results have been more than disappointing of late. Tesla's free cash flow fell by 18 percent in 2024 to $3.6 billion, although such is the value of Tesla stock that, were a Tesla-Nissan deal to happen, the former could pay for the latter with equity, should it entertain the idea seriously.

Brain organoids derived from human embryonic stem cells being grown in the labARTHUR CHIEN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARYHuman mini-brains that contain 80 per cent of the cell types in a 40-day-old fetal brain have been created by fusing different organoids together.Were getting to the point that we are getting closer to the fetal brain, says Annie Kathuria at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. The reason for doing this is to create organoids that are better suited for studying conditions such as autism and schizophrenia, which is hard to do in animals, she says.

Astronomers have raced to observe asteroid 2024 YR4NASA/Magdalena Ridge 2.4m telescope/New Mexico Institute of Technology/RyanThe worlds space agencies have reduced the chances of asteroid 2024 YR4 impacting Earth to below 1 per cent, which strongly suggests that a potentially devastating collision will be avoided. However, the asteroid will still probably pass extraordinarily near to our planet, giving astronomers a rare opportunity to observe an asteroid up close.We are not expecting the impact probability to rise back above 1 per cent for the close approach with Earth in 2032, says Richard Moissl at the European Space Agency (ESA). The most likely further development is a further drop in the impact probability, likely even to 0. AdvertisementAlarms about asteroid 2024 YR4 were first raised in December last year, when astronomers found it might be on a collision course for Earth in 2032. It appears to be between 40 and 90 metres wide and could generate a deadly blast should it hit a city. In the following weeks, the worlds telescopes and space agencies closely tracked its trajectory, honing its future path with greater precision. It reached its highest impact risk on 17 February, with a 1-in-32 chance, but in the days after, this fell to 1-in-67, or a 1.5 per cent risk.On 20 February, new observations led to a sharp downgrade of this risk, with NASA putting it at a 0.27 per cent chance of impact, or 1-in-360, and ESA even lower, at 0.16 per cent, or 1-in-625. These ratings put it at a 1 on the 10-point Torino scale used to assess the hazard posed by such objects. That score is down from 3, meaning 2024 YR4 is now considered one of many low-risk asteroids that are discovered each year, but that ultimately miss Earth.This is good news, says Gareth Collins at Imperial College London, but the asteroid will still be useful as a dry run for our planetary defence systems and for scientific purposes. This is still something that will make a spectacularly close approach. If the risk of hitting was as high as it was, it must be coming very close to us, he says. Voyage across the galaxy and beyond with our space newsletter every month.Sign up to newsletterNASA, ESA and space companies that were sketching out possible schemes to deflect the asteroid will probably continue planning, says Niklas Voigt at OHB, a German space company. Voigt and his team had begun thinking about a mission to divert 2024 YR4, and the new risk doesnt change that, he says. The risk decreased, but for the time being we are still proceeding with work on the topic.The close approach could still be a good opportunity to test our ability to deflect asteroids, says Voigt the only previous attempt to do this was NASAs DART mission, which successfully changed the trajectory of the 160-metre-wide asteroid Dimorphos in 2022. Or we could build a satellite to send to 2024 YR4, he says, similar to ESAs Ramses satellite due to travel to observe the asteroid Apophis, which is set to pass close to Earth in 2029.A final decision on what to do about 2024 YR4 probably wont be made until planned observations in March using the James Webb Space Telescope. As well as gathering trajectory data, this will better assess the size and composition of the asteroid. That information will be then fed to the United Nations-backed Space Mission Planning Advisory Group, which will decide on a best course of action around the end of April. These are incredibly useful exercises for finding out the pinch points to make decisions, in order to still have time to do something sensible in advance, says Collins. Absolutely, those committees will still be meeting, but theyll probably be less stressful.While the chances of an Earth impact have plummeted, the risk of 2024 YR4 hitting the moon have risen to 1.2 per cent, up from 0.3 per cent. There is a distinct possibility of that number rising further, says Moissl. The exact effects for an impact on the moon from an object of this size are still under evaluation.The response to this object has also been a useful rehearsal for other asteroids of concern that crop up, says Collins. We want to avoid, in future, a cry wolf situation where the public gets so used to this threat that they think, oh, it never happens.Topics:asteroids