Kevin Collier
@kevincollier.bsky.social
I cover digital threats for NBC News. Tip me! @kevincollier.01 on signal, [email protected]. NYC, from West Virginia.
I have heard of tech bloggers doing this but it is not something real news outlets do!!
October 26, 2025 at 7:53 PM
I have heard of tech bloggers doing this but it is not something real news outlets do!!
This is a good tech critique but it's also an example of a parenting thing I made up called a Doubleday. Double your kid's birth weight and boom, the day they hit that weight is their Doubleday and you can celebrate it. Double that, another holiday. You'll probably get about four or five per kid.
October 22, 2025 at 6:00 PM
This is a good tech critique but it's also an example of a parenting thing I made up called a Doubleday. Double your kid's birth weight and boom, the day they hit that weight is their Doubleday and you can celebrate it. Double that, another holiday. You'll probably get about four or five per kid.
My research for this story included reading a bunch of LLMs' model/safety cards (basically whitepapers). Four of the five big US companies* found this year that their new models' ability to provide significant help making a bioweapon was closing the gap the oh-shit-this-might-happen threshold.
October 10, 2025 at 5:57 PM
My research for this story included reading a bunch of LLMs' model/safety cards (basically whitepapers). Four of the five big US companies* found this year that their new models' ability to provide significant help making a bioweapon was closing the gap the oh-shit-this-might-happen threshold.
Here's the concern: It's technically possible for a committed amateur to make chem or bioweapons (variants of smallpox, polio, anthrax). The information's out there on the internet. It's just obscure and incredibly hard to learn. But now we're building "PhD level custom tutors" for everyone.
October 10, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Here's the concern: It's technically possible for a committed amateur to make chem or bioweapons (variants of smallpox, polio, anthrax). The information's out there on the internet. It's just obscure and incredibly hard to learn. But now we're building "PhD level custom tutors" for everyone.
This kind of news outlet push alert hits different when you work at that news outlet.
October 7, 2025 at 10:35 PM
This kind of news outlet push alert hits different when you work at that news outlet.
What kind of fucked up ratio is this
October 2, 2025 at 8:35 PM
What kind of fucked up ratio is this
From Reddit, apparently Google Home users can use Gemini on their Nest cams and get daily LLM briefings on what went on in front of their house that day.
October 2, 2025 at 8:31 PM
From Reddit, apparently Google Home users can use Gemini on their Nest cams and get daily LLM briefings on what went on in front of their house that day.
NYC heavily encourages drivers to park with contracted third-party app, called Park Mobile. Four years ago it was hacked bad and everybody's data got got.
But they're making it right! They are giving victims two weeks to save up to a single dollar over the course of four parking sessions.
But they're making it right! They are giving victims two weeks to save up to a single dollar over the course of four parking sessions.
September 26, 2025 at 7:38 PM
NYC heavily encourages drivers to park with contracted third-party app, called Park Mobile. Four years ago it was hacked bad and everybody's data got got.
But they're making it right! They are giving victims two weeks to save up to a single dollar over the course of four parking sessions.
But they're making it right! They are giving victims two weeks to save up to a single dollar over the course of four parking sessions.
Just got a great set of emails from the FBI.
September 19, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Just got a great set of emails from the FBI.
The attorney general this morning posted that she's looking to crack down on a range of types of posts from the left, including calls to violence but also doxing conservative families.
x.com/AGPamBondi/s...
x.com/AGPamBondi/s...
September 16, 2025 at 1:05 PM
The attorney general this morning posted that she's looking to crack down on a range of types of posts from the left, including calls to violence but also doxing conservative families.
x.com/AGPamBondi/s...
x.com/AGPamBondi/s...
Not the biggest news of today, but notable I think the degree to which the federal government insists that Twitter/X — whose reconstruction into a far-right echo chamber is a pet project to president Trump's ally and biggest donor, even if they've fallen out — is the best way to get official news.
September 11, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Not the biggest news of today, but notable I think the degree to which the federal government insists that Twitter/X — whose reconstruction into a far-right echo chamber is a pet project to president Trump's ally and biggest donor, even if they've fallen out — is the best way to get official news.
I want to take this moment of Anthropic news to point out that its CEO, Dario Amodei, is indistinguishable from Philip in the Americans. Except the former wears glasses and the latter doesn't (except in costume).
September 5, 2025 at 8:14 PM
I want to take this moment of Anthropic news to point out that its CEO, Dario Amodei, is indistinguishable from Philip in the Americans. Except the former wears glasses and the latter doesn't (except in costume).
Without question this is the most insane thing ever posted to a major federal agency social media account.
x.com/TheJusticeDe...
x.com/TheJusticeDe...
September 5, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Without question this is the most insane thing ever posted to a major federal agency social media account.
x.com/TheJusticeDe...
x.com/TheJusticeDe...
Bluesky discover is serving explicitly false, twitter-style bullshit accounts. There's no such Colbert deal, no explanation why this person would know this information, no real reason to claim this besides content farming.
August 31, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Bluesky discover is serving explicitly false, twitter-style bullshit accounts. There's no such Colbert deal, no explanation why this person would know this information, no real reason to claim this besides content farming.
1. I will be in Vegas this week
2. I do look like me but am not named Patrick
3. I will be wearing my classic Marshall hat and not some dorky suit. I will also be standing on the ground and not floating above a city.
2. I do look like me but am not named Patrick
3. I will be wearing my classic Marshall hat and not some dorky suit. I will also be standing on the ground and not floating above a city.
August 5, 2025 at 6:44 PM
1. I will be in Vegas this week
2. I do look like me but am not named Patrick
3. I will be wearing my classic Marshall hat and not some dorky suit. I will also be standing on the ground and not floating above a city.
2. I do look like me but am not named Patrick
3. I will be wearing my classic Marshall hat and not some dorky suit. I will also be standing on the ground and not floating above a city.
Not that there's any evidence such a thing happened, but man what a sentence to read when there was a massive, widely exploited SharePoint zero-day discovered less than a week ago that was used on systems in at least three federal agencies.
July 25, 2025 at 1:44 AM
Not that there's any evidence such a thing happened, but man what a sentence to read when there was a massive, widely exploited SharePoint zero-day discovered less than a week ago that was used on systems in at least three federal agencies.
Not really the main takeaway, but from Trump's new AI action plan. It's so funny the notion that's like "yes! We were first to the moon! Now we can rest. Space is done. We won it."
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
July 23, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Not really the main takeaway, but from Trump's new AI action plan. It's so funny the notion that's like "yes! We were first to the moon! Now we can rest. Space is done. We won it."
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
Lots of competition but it's really hard to think of a more overtly manufactured recently "scandal," notably as the Epstein thing is still going.
July 20, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Lots of competition but it's really hard to think of a more overtly manufactured recently "scandal," notably as the Epstein thing is still going.
It's kind of a relief that Trump hasn't zeroed in on the lead reporter on this (her Twitter is smartly locked), focusing instead on the WSJ and Murdoch, who he said he's suing.
July 18, 2025 at 1:25 AM
It's kind of a relief that Trump hasn't zeroed in on the lead reporter on this (her Twitter is smartly locked), focusing instead on the WSJ and Murdoch, who he said he's suing.
As a cyber reporter, I have strong feelings on the "politician says controversial thing, then claims to have been hacked" genre of news story. Often you can't say decisively they were not, but you can get 99% there, and that's crucial. @lorikerseywv.bsky.social does a good job with that here:
July 17, 2025 at 1:18 PM
As a cyber reporter, I have strong feelings on the "politician says controversial thing, then claims to have been hacked" genre of news story. Often you can't say decisively they were not, but you can get 99% there, and that's crucial. @lorikerseywv.bsky.social does a good job with that here:
Using X, Tesla, whatever else winds up integrating Grok.
July 11, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Using X, Tesla, whatever else winds up integrating Grok.
Really not into the culture of screengrabbing tweets to bring them on here, but this is pretty newsworthy I think. Twitter's CEO stepping down the day after the site deployed a full-on racist/bigot/Nazi AI to its users. I don't know if that's the reason and haven't seen any indication either way.
July 9, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Really not into the culture of screengrabbing tweets to bring them on here, but this is pretty newsworthy I think. Twitter's CEO stepping down the day after the site deployed a full-on racist/bigot/Nazi AI to its users. I don't know if that's the reason and haven't seen any indication either way.
It is striking how much of a backseat CISA has taken since so much staffing got slashed, yet they are talking like a law enforcement agency (they are not and never have been) now that Iran is sorta threatening a hack and leak.
July 1, 2025 at 8:20 PM
It is striking how much of a backseat CISA has taken since so much staffing got slashed, yet they are talking like a law enforcement agency (they are not and never have been) now that Iran is sorta threatening a hack and leak.
CBP is required by statute to report these numbers. I don't know of a third party vetting them, or if there are other categories by which DHS might search people's phones at airports to sidestep this figure. Maybe the anecdotes we hear prompt some confirmation bias. I was somewhat surprised at this.
June 30, 2025 at 7:01 PM
CBP is required by statute to report these numbers. I don't know of a third party vetting them, or if there are other categories by which DHS might search people's phones at airports to sidestep this figure. Maybe the anecdotes we hear prompt some confirmation bias. I was somewhat surprised at this.
Does anyone know what's up with this place Cybernews? Hadn't heard of them until recently, but they keep writing really dubious reports of megabreaches that get huge pickup by mainstream pubs that don't appear to have working BS detectors.
June 23, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Does anyone know what's up with this place Cybernews? Hadn't heard of them until recently, but they keep writing really dubious reports of megabreaches that get huge pickup by mainstream pubs that don't appear to have working BS detectors.