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Hacking people, not computers: what Kevin Mitnick taught
Four Twitter employees took a phone call and 130 accounts fell. Kevin Mitnick described that move, pretexting, in 2002. What the pattern looks like from the receiving end, three documented cases, and the call-back rule that beats it.
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Why I show my machine: an AI, a library and a news engine
My own AI brief once stated a wrong cause for the Microsoft outage. The closing post of the series: how I work with my AI, how claims are graded documented/reported/inferred, why LSN News counts voices instead of labelling truth, and the failure modes.
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The CEO on the video call was not real: deepfake fraud 2024-2026
An Arup employee sent US$25.6 million after a video call where nobody was real. Deepfake fraud against companies and families, the documented cases from Arup to a cloned Italian minister, and the cheap rules that beat any fake.
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Kings appointed by gods: how legitimacy was manufactured
A 2.25 m stele shows Hammurabi before the god of justice, but its 282 laws contain almost no religion. How rulers borrowed the gods' authority, from Babylon to James I, what it could and could not do, and how to notice it today.
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State religion as a tool: 1,600 years of altar and throne
Soviet open churches fell from 28,560 to 1,744 in a decade, then Stalin needed a patriarch. Documented cases from Rome to Moscow, Bucharest, Washington, Tehran, Riyadh and Beijing of states using religion, and why forced belief rarely works.
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Who checks the fact-checkers? How it works, who pays, its record
In 91% of the LSN News stories with a fact-check, my engine grouped no other outlet's article with it. How fact-checking works, who pays (Meta fell from 45.5% to 34.3% of revenue), its documented misses and strengths, and how to read a fact-check like any article.
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What my honeypots reveal about how attackers think
One machine knocked on my honeypot 17,066 times in under nine hours. Eight months of counts show how automated attackers think: speed over skill, a few persistent machines, no sleep, and lists that follow fashion.
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Pig butchering: the romance and investment scams run from compounds
A $15 billion bitcoin seizure, 120,000 people held in Myanmar compounds, $8.6 billion in US investment-fraud losses. How pig butchering works from the victim's side, who types the messages, and the signs to stop early.
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What propaganda is, and what it is not
Propaganda is not just lies. Jacques Ellul showed it mostly uses true facts and hides its falsehoods in intentions and interpretations. Agitation stirs people up; integration keeps them in line. The opening post of How minds are moved.
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Disinformation units: who watches the watchers?
Governments built units to fight foreign disinformation. The operations they fight are real. So are the documented cases where the units turned to their own citizens, domestic media and opinions. What the record shows, and who watches the watchers.
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Everyday fakes: old photos, cut videos, fake quotes, satire
An AI picture of Italy's foreign minister in a MAGA cap ran in 46 articles before it was deleted. The five shapes of everyday fakes (wrong-context photos, cut videos, fake quotes, satire, synthetic faces), cases from every side, and quick tests.
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When prophecy fails: what really happened to the Seekers
In 1954 a group waited for a flying saucer that never came. The 1956 classic says they doubled down; a 2025 archival study argues the leader recanted. What people really do when a prophecy fails, from the Millerites to economists.