Header image for today's newsletter is a two-panel X Files meme. Top panel: Scully speaks with a witness in a trailer park, who is looking off to the side and gesturing: "you see, I've seen the future and the future looks just like him." Bottom panel: Mulder, in tie and trenchcoat, standing with hands on hips and one foot on the bottom step of a trailer, in a pose evocative of Washington crossing the Delaware: "Imagine going through your whole life looking like that"

Threat Model Cybersecurity: August 26, 2025 This week: FTC warns Big Tech companies not to backdoor encryption for other countries, six password managers are vulnerable to a clickjacking attack, manipulating AI-generated text summaries into spewing malware commands, teen faces trial for selling boyfriend to a telecom fraud compound, US border phone searches at record high, the COVID-Conscious Therapist Directory has been updated, everyone’s noticing US media blatantly ignoring America’s new status as  an authoritarian and fascist nation-state, and more. Threat Model is a free, reader-supported publication. Keep the news without paywalls flowing by becoming a patron. If you find value here, you can also donate via Venmo, Cashapp, or PayPal. Charge your batteries with The Covid Safety Handbook, How To Be A Digital Revolutionary, or A Fish Has No Word For Water.