Wired's Top Five Security Stories Of 2015

[Narrator] 2015 showed that the internet

is a dangerous place, whether it's

your cellular-connected Jeep or personal details

on an adulterous dating site, no one is safe from hackers.

So let's look back at the top five security stories

we covered this year.

Our number five story was a major win

for the Feds and a hard lesson for the dark web

that anonymous activity is sometimes not so anonymous.

After two years in prison,

Silk Road mastermind Ross Ulbricht

finally went to trial and was convicted of running

the billion-dollar black market for drugs.

His sentence: life in prison

without the possibility of parole.

Our number four slot this year

is taken by the encryption debate.

Whether the ISIS recruits responsible

for the Paris attacks in November

used encrypted messages or not,

the US government used it as an opportunity

to call out companies like Apple and Google

for refusing to give law enforcement agencies

back-door access to protected communications.

One might assume that the head of the CIA

would have Fort Knox-like digital security,

but even CIA director John Brennan

experienced a nightmare security breach this year

when hackers broke into his personal AOL email account

and released some of his private messages.

The leaked documents didn't involve classified material,

but did contain highly personal information.

Hacking the internet of things took our number two slot

when two guys from St. Louis showed us

how it's possible to remotely hack a Jeep

by disabling its transmission or brakes.

Okay, hold on tight.

Hold on. Oh, (bleep).

[Narrator] The attack they demonstrated

spooked the automotive industry, led to the recall

of 1.4 million vehicles, and even helped

spur legislation aimed at establishing

new digital security measures for cars.

But they weren't the only ones attacking

IOT devices this year.

Electronic skateboards, computerized guns,

and critical medical devices were all

in the sights of hackers this year.

Finally, our biggest story of the year,

a cheater's greatest nightmare,

was the hack of Ashley Madison dot com,

a site for people seeking extra-marrital affairs.

When the hacker, or hackers, released the private details

of many of the site's 32 million users,

they exposed affairs for all the world,

or, more worryingly, for the spouses and partners

of Ashley Madison customers to see.

The leak not only ruined reputations and relationships,

it also may have contributed to the suicide

of at least two people and proved, once again,

that a secret rarely remains secret when its posted online.