Top Cyber Threats 2026

With so many cyber threats to report on, it's easy to get lost in the weeds. It's good to take a step back and look at the big picture every so often. Today, I'll review some of the top security and privacy threats with investigative cybersecurity journalist Zack Whittaker from Tech Crunch. We'll talk about age verification, mercenary spyware, surveillance capitalism, critical infrastructure hacks, AI and the proliferation of tracking in public spaces - and more! Interview Notes This Week in Security: https://this.weekinsecurity.com/ Zack at TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/author/zack-whittaker/ Zack’s homepage: https://zackwhittaker.com/ Project Sunshine: https://projectsunshine.org/about Filtr (Wipr) ad blocker for iPhone: https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/04/filtr-is-a-new-privacy-tool-that-blocks-ads-in-almost-every-iphone-and-mac-app/ Apple iPhone security: https://ssd.eff.org/module/how-to-get-to-know-iphone-privacy-and-security-settings Google Android security: https://ssd.eff.org/module/how-to-get-to-know-android-privacy-and-security-settings Zach’s list: 404media.co, metacurity.com, indicator.media, krebsonsecurity.com, techdirt.com, garbageday.email, thehandbasket.co, karlbode.com, risky.biz, lawdork.com, citationneeded.news, erininthemorning.com Further Info Digital Citizen, Phase 1: https://fdsd.me/phase1 Countdown to FDSD500!! https://fdsd500.com Get your FDSD500 merch!! https://fdsd.me/merch My book: https://fdsd.me/book My newsletter: https://fdsd.me/newsletter Table of Contents 0:00:12: Intro 0:02:08: Interview setup 0:03:03: What is age gating? 0:07:45: What are the risks of age verification? 0:15:30: How do ads get our data? 0:21:33: How can ad data be abused? 0:28:11: What is mercenary spyware? 0:34:53: How do you protect against spyware? 0:41:04: How dangerous are nation-state attacks? 0:43:54: How do we defend against foreign attacks? 0:47:43: Does AI benefit defenders or attackers more? 0:51:24: How do we mitigate public mass surveillance? 0:57:01: What else worries you? 1:00:34: What's next for you? 1:02:30: Wrap-up 1:07:50: Patron podcast preview 1:09:02: Looking ahead