Support the fact-based journalism you rely on with a donation to Marketplace today. Give Now!

First, LA welcomes subway body scanners. Next, a major city near you?

Sep 17, 2018
Questions loom about the new technology, like whether it has potential to keep travelers safe, or if it's just security theater.
Officers tested out the mobile units during a demonstration at Los Angeles Union Station. 
Sasa Woodruff/Marketplace

Facial scan technology makes debut in airports

Aug 16, 2018
How does the technology work, and what does it offer beyond the old stand by — a set of human eyes?
Biometric boarding uses measurements of facial features to match passengers' images against passport photo data on file with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Renata Sago/Marketplace

Fax machines too often an unguarded gateway into corporate data systems

Aug 14, 2018
There was a time when the chugging of fax machines was heard in every office. No longer since e-mail and instant messaging services took over our lives. Even so, many of those big, industrial scanner/printer/copiers in offices also have built in fax machines. And a new study says those machines can be very easily hacked.  […]
Fax machines can be a huge security risk for companies.  
Wikimedia Commons

Is security fatigue keeping companies from being secure?

Aug 2, 2018
With so many reports about hacks and breaches, is security staff getting burnt out?
Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump during their historic summit at the Capella Singapore hotel on Sentosa Island on Tuesday.
Handout/Getty Images

Are we trading security for emojis on Venmo?

The Federal Trade Commission found the app's security and privacy protections disclosures lacking.
Stephen Lam/Getty Images

For hotels, no single solution when it comes to keeping guests and their belongings secure

May 25, 2018
As the summer travel season gets under way, a look at hotel security. One of the largest providers of hotel locking systems recently updated a bug in its software after a security company found its key cards, used in 7 million hotel rooms, could be hacked. What are options for hotels trying to ensure that […]

For public good, not for profit.

Why privacy settings can't keep your location secret

Phone carriers can sell location data to third parties, and you can't opt out.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Would arming school officials be effective during a mass shooting?

Feb 23, 2018
Amanda Ripley is the author of "The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes — and Why?"
Tyra Heman (R) a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, is hugged by Rachael Buto in front of the school where 17 people that were killed during a mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Why the Do Not Call list won't save you from robocalls

Jan 24, 2018
It was a great idea when it started. Now, it's become a bit of a joke.
A pedestrian using his cellphone walks past a boarded establishment showing skeleton heads with cellphones in Los Angeles in January.
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images