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