The Most-Read WIRED Security Stories of 2018

This year saw the most devastating cyberattack in history, a gang of teen hackers, and so much Mueller news.

In world where large-scale hacks, breaches, and rampant data exposure has become an almost ordinary occurrence, a truly epic event would have to happen to be designated the most devastating cyberattack in history. And yet, last summer, hackers implanted a piece of malware called NotPetya that resulted in the sprawling takedown of a global digital infrastructure. In a piece that ran nearly a year after the attack, senior writer Andy Greenberg methodically untangled how hackers disrupted world commerce to the tune of $10 billion in damages—and explained that in a global economy as connected as ours, it's not a matter of if it will happen again, but when.

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    Mike McQuade
    01

    The Untold Story of NotPetya, the Most Devastating Cyberattack in History

    Crippled ports. Paralyzed corporations. Frozen government agencies. Inside the most devastating cyberattack in history.

  • ARCHIVAL PHOTO COURTESY OF NATIONAL ARCHIVES
    02

    The Untold Story of Robert Mueller's Time in Combat

    Mueller's job is to make sense of how Russia hacked the 2016 election. But to make sense of Mueller, you have to revisit Vietnam's bloodiest battles.

  • Illustrations: Zohar Lazar
    03

    The Teens Who Hacked a Video Game Empire—and Went Too Far

    Among those involved in David Pokora's so-called Xbox Underground, one would become an informant, one would become a fugitive, and one would end up dead.

  • Photograph: Eric Ogden
    04

    It Started as an Online Gaming Prank. Then It Turned Deadly

    A $1.50 wager on a Call of Duty match led to a fake 911 call reporting a violent hostage situation in Wichita. Here’s how it all went horribly awry.

  • Hotlittlepotato
    05

    The Mueller Investigation Nears the Worst-Case Scenario

  • Eric Thayer/Bloomberg/Getty Images
    06

    Bob Mueller’s Investigation Is Larger—and Further Along—Than You Think

    We speak about the “Mueller probe” as a single entity, but it’s important to understand that there are no fewer than five separate investigations under the broad umbrella of the special counsel’s office.

  • Jules Julien
    07

    How the US Forced China to Quit Stealing—Using a Chinese Spy

    For years, China has systematically looted American trade secrets. Here's the messy inside story of how DC got Beijing to clean up its act for a while.

  • NurPhoto
    08

    A Critical Intel Flaw Breaks Basic Security for Most Computers

  • Sergio Flores/Bloomberg/Getty Images
    09

    John Deere Just Swindled Farmers out of Their Right to Repair

  • HOTLITTLEPOTATO
    10

    Triple Meltdown: How So Many Researchers Found a 20-Year-Old Chip Flaw at the Same Time

Andrea Valdez is the editor of WIRED.com. Before arriving at WIRED in 2017, she worked at Texas Monthly for 10 years, first as a fact checker, then as a columnist, and, ultimately, as the editor of texasmonthly.com. She is the author of How to Be a Texan: The Manual. Valdez ... Read more
Editor of Wired.com
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