Andrada Fiscutean
andradaf.bsky.social
Andrada Fiscutean
@andradaf.bsky.social
Freelance Science & Tech journalist.
Bylines: BBC World Service, CSO Online, Ars Technica, Motherboard, ZDNet & more. KSJ at MIT Fellow 2020
#cybersecurity #science #retrotech
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
Always fun to be on the BBC’s science show Unexpected Elements. As an added bonus I got to talk a bit about the color blue this time with @amsterdammed.bsky.social and @andradaf.bsky.social.
Mostly though it was about the topic of “strength”.
🎧🧪 You can listen here:
www.bbc.com/audio/play/w...
BBC Audio | Unexpected Elements | Unexpected Elements
The news you know, the science you don't.
www.bbc.com
October 11, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
Florida’s move on vaccine mandates will lead to avoidable illnesses and deaths.
What Florida Is Doing To Vaccine Mandates Is Sick
Florida’s move on vaccine mandates will lead to avoidable illnesses and deaths.
www.forbes.com
September 5, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Abortion clinics in the US, NGOs, and newsrooms were forced to pull down sensitive data. Some of that data is now stored on servers in Romania and Iceland.

My latest piece for @darkreading.bsky.social dives into the world of “gray-zone” hosting providers.

www.darkreading.com/cloud-securi...
Gray-Zone Hosting Entities Protect Data US Wants Erased
Abortion clinics, activist groups, and other organizations are turning to overseas hosting providers willing to keep their data—and their work—safe.
www.darkreading.com
September 5, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
How do you transport a rhino from one heard to another? You sedate it and dangle it from a helicopter upside down 🦏 🚁

Why do we like rollercoasters? 🎢

Plus, the science behind cryonics 🥶

On Unexpected Elements this week with @andradaf.bsky.social

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Unexpected Elements - Topsy turvy - BBC Sounds
An upturned caravan has everyone baffled in Western France, time for a scientific shakeup
www.bbc.co.uk
March 1, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
EXCLUSIVE: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week ordered U.S. Cyber Command to stand down from all planning against Russia, including offensive digital actions.

On @therecordmedia.bsky.social

therecord.media/hegseth-orde...
Exclusive: Hegseth orders Cyber Command to stand down on Russia planning
The secretary of Defense has ordered U.S. Cyber Command to stand down from all planning against Russia, including offensive digital actions, sources tell Recorded Future News.
therecord.media
February 28, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
This is so deeply, deeply, deeply fucked up.

“The trial was shutting down. A silicone ring inserted into her vagina, needed to be removed right away. … The stop-work order was so immediate and sweeping that the research staff would be violating it if they helped the women remove the rings.”
Dozens of Clinical Trials Have Been Frozen in Response to Trump’s USAID Order (Gift Article)
The stop-work order on U.S.A.I.D.-funded research has left thousands of people with experimental drugs and devices in their bodies, with no access to monitoring or care.
www.nytimes.com
February 7, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
Dounia is an exiled journalist living in France. After exposing Morocco's use of #spyware against politicians, she became the target of physical and sexual harassment spread across both traditional media and social platforms. Read her story of resilience: citizenlab.ca/case-studies...
Dounia Filali: A Journalist from Morocco - The Citizen Lab
Dounia Moustaslim (also known as Dounia Filali), a journalist in exile, was among the first to expose the Moroccan security apparatus’ use of spyware against
citizenlab.ca
February 7, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
Hey cybersecurity folks! As a direct or indirect consequence of the US (and others) cutting foreign aid, there are many who have done cybersecurity for NGOs and at-risk groups who are or will be looking for a job. They often have broad experience, from research to incident response to education 1/2
February 3, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
Worth resharing this today, WIRED’s guide to protecting yourself from government surveillance
The WIRED Guide to Protecting Yourself From Government Surveillance
Donald Trump has vowed to deport millions and jail his enemies. To carry out that agenda, his administration will exploit America’s digital surveillance machine. Here are some steps you can take to ev...
www.wired.com
January 20, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
New from 404 Media: meet GeoSpy, a powerful AI tool that lets cops (& stalkers) geolocate photos in seconds. Trained on millions of images, it picks out soil, architecture, etc. GeoSpy closed public access after asked for comment, now marketing to police www.404media.co/the-powerful...
January 20, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
Collecting untold hacker stories from the early days of cybersecurity with @praetorianlabs.bsky.social. New Docuseries Spotlights Hackers Who Shaped Cybersecurity | https://buff.ly/4gS09Rl #storytelling #collectivememory
New Docuseries Spotlights Hackers Who Helped Shape Cybersecurity
"Where Warlocks Stay Up Late" project speaks to hackers who have played pivotal roles in shaping the field of cybersecurity. The video interviews are complemented by an encyclopedia and an…
buff.ly
January 9, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
Given the caliber of the people involved, I expect that this series on hacker history will be outstanding. www.darkreading.com/cybersecurit...
New Docuseries Spotlights Hackers Who Helped Shape Cybersecurity
"Where Warlocks Stay Up Late" project speaks to hackers who have played pivotal roles in shaping the field of cybersecurity. The video interviews are complemented by an encyclopedia and an a...
www.darkreading.com
January 15, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
CYBERSCOOP AFTER DARK: We've obtained a draft of the possible Biden cybersecurity executive order. @timstarks.bsky.social has the details on what it contains cyberscoop.com/biden-admini...
Second Biden cyber executive order directs agency action on fed security, AI, space
A draft cybersecurity executive order would tackle cyber defenses in locations ranging from outer space to the U.S. federal bureaucracy.
cyberscoop.com
January 14, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Just wrote about a new docuseries that aims to unearth the stories of cybersecurity’s trailblazers, Where Warlocks Stay Up Late.

The project's tagline? "The history of cybersecurity told by those who hacked it."
New Docuseries Spotlights Hackers Who Helped Shape Cybersecurity
"Where Warlocks Stay Up Late" project speaks to hackers who have played pivotal roles in shaping the field of cybersecurity. The video interviews are complemented by an encyclopedia and an a...
www.darkreading.com
January 9, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
Meta is just going with specific and blatant cruelty in its new rules. now allows “allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality” www.wired.com/story/meta-i...
Meta Now Lets Users Say Gay and Trans People Have 'Mental Illness'
Meta rolled out a number of changes to its “Hateful Conduct” policy Tuesday as part of a sweeping overhaul of its approach toward content moderation.
www.wired.com
January 7, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
Lots of folks are commenting on the fact that Meta is cozying up to the current administration, cutting out fact checking and other forms of moderation. This stuff is obviously worrying, but my big concern is: what happens when the government asks them to turn off encryption?
January 7, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
NEWS: The massive Chinese hack of U.S. telecoms breached firms Charter, Consolidated and Windstream as part of a historic espionage campaign. Security vendor Fortinet was a key intrusion point. Investigators are still grappling with the damage.

That and much much more:

www.wsj.com/tech/cyberse...
How Chinese Hackers Graduated From Clumsy Corporate Thieves to Military Weapons
Massive ‘Typhoon’ cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure and telecoms sought to lay the groundwork for potential conflict with Beijing, as intruders gathered data and got in position to impede response a...
www.wsj.com
January 5, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
Journalists: How's your digital security looking for 2025? Track your progress with our checklist: freedom.press/digisec/blog...
The 2025 journalist’s digital security checklist
Our digital security training team's checklist to help journalists secure their digital life.
freedom.press
December 10, 2024 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
After annulling the first round of the presidential election, Romanian authorities have now raided a local man paying influencers to support the pro-Kremlin candidate--which is against the law in Romania.

www.agerpres.ro/justitie/202...
Podcast: risky.biz/RBNEWS370/
Newsletter: news.risky.biz/risky-biz-ne...

-Declassified documents reveal Russia's election info-ops in Romania
-Salt Typhoon telco hack count reaches eight
-Another Scattered Spider member detained
-Turla hacked 6 other APTs
-Iranian hackers target FBI director pic
December 7, 2024 at 11:31 AM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
Shock in Romania as hard-right Nato critic Calin Georgescu takes lead in presidential election
Shock in Romania as hard-right Nato critic Calin Georgescu takes lead in presidential election
Georgescu, who has called Nato’s ballistic missile defence shield a ‘shame of diplomacy’, will likely head into a run-off with leftist prime minister Marcel Ciolacu A little-known, far-right populist took the lead in Romania’s presidential election on…
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2024 at 3:20 AM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
How Italy became an unexpected spyware hub
How Italy became an unexpected spyware hub
Italy is home to six major spyware vendors and one supplier, with many smaller and harder-to-track enterprises emerging all the time, experts say.
buff.ly
November 24, 2024 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
This video stopped me in my tracks. It's the story of the world's longest detained journalist. Dawit Isaak was a founder of Eritrea’s first independent newspaper. He was jailed 23 years ago. Produced by Marta Pausilli & Ali Abbas Ahmadi for BBC World Service. www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQG5...
'My dad has been in jail for 23 years. His crime? Being a journalist' - BBC Africa
YouTube video by BBC News Africa
www.youtube.com
November 19, 2024 at 12:03 PM
Reposted by Andrada Fiscutean
The Reporters Without Borders organization has published a deep dive into SLAPP lawsuits filed by Indian hacker-for-hire company against news organizations across the globe that covered its business

rsf.org/en/rsf-inves...
RSF investigation: the Indian cyber-security giant silencing media outlets worldwide
Whether based in the US, Switzerland, France or India, any media outlet investigating the “ethical hacking” of Appin, a company co-founded by Indian investor Rajat Khare, can expect letters demanding ...
rsf.org
November 24, 2024 at 7:05 AM