In the crowded heart of the globular cluster Terzan 5, about 18,000 light-years away in Sagittarius, lies a neutron star that makes even seasoned astrophysicists pause.

Every prompt, every correction, every hesitant disclosure of private information becomes part of the invisible ledger that sustains the industry. We are told, as we have been for two decades of the internet’s expansion, to trust that this information is handled responsibly...

Lockheed-Martin’s original kill chain model, published in 2011, placed reconnaissance at the head of the sequence for good reason: before an attacker can lay hands on the crown jewels, they must first know where those jewels lie.

For all the attention lavished on cryptographic algorithms and network protocols, the real point of weakness is often much closer to home: the input stack...

It starts, as it often does, with a simple probe. Our protagonist isn't a hacker in a hoodie, trying to trick the machine