Sean Lyngaas - Cybersecurity Reporter
Sean Lyngaas
Cybersecurity Reporter
Sean Lyngaas is CNN's cybersecurity reporter.
Latest
Russian man accused of being connected to multimillion-dollar ransomware gang is extradited to US
Nov 18, 2024
A Russian man has been extradited from South Korea to the US to face charges in connection with a ransomware gang that allegedly extorted more than $16 million from victims around the world, US prosecutors said Monday.
Protecting Trump in a second administration presents unprecedented security challenges
Nov 14, 2024
As Donald Trump conducts a free-wheeling transition from his Mar-a-Lago estate, drawing flocks of business moguls, contractors, foreign dignitaries and anyone looking for jobs in the new administration, the federal agencies charged with protecting the president-elect and his communications face a daunting task.
Authorities work to find the source of racist texts sent to Black people nationwide after the election. Here’s what we know
Nov 10, 2024
Federal and state authorities are working to find the origins of racist text messages sent to Black people across the country threatening them with slavery and telling them they were “selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation.”
Racist texts about slaves and ‘picking cotton’ sent to Black people as state AGs, colleges and police probe their origins
Nov 9, 2024
Authorities across the United States are investigating after racist text messages – some with references to “slave catchers” and “picking cotton” reminiscent of the country’s painful and bigoted past – have been received by children, college students and working professionals from unrecognized phone numbers in the wake of the presidential election.
Trump attorney’s phone tapped by Chinese hackers, sources tell CNN
Nov 8, 2024
The FBI has informed one of President-elect Donald Trump’s lead attorneys that his cellphone was tapped by Chinese hackers, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN, as part of a wide-ranging operation targeting top Republican and Democrats in US politics that has been underway for months.
Feds are still grappling with deluge of disinformation that targeted US election
Nov 8, 2024
Federal investigators are running down email addresses from Russian internet domains that were used to make a slew of non-credible bomb threats across swing states on Election Day.
Frustration grows as federal agency struggles to combat election lies spread by Americans
Nov 2, 2024
The federal agency tasked with protecting the nation’s elections systems has retreated from some of the key work it did to counter false and viral information about voting in the 2020 election, including dismissing or ignoring multiple internal and external policy proposals to combat disinformation, numerous sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Raffensperger says viral video of alleged voting fraud ‘obviously fake’ and likely foreign meddling in Georgia’s elections
Nov 1, 2024
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Thursday said the state had been targeted by election disinformation, pointing to a viral video of alleged voter fraud that he suggested could be the result of foreign meddling.
Election officials are outmatched by Elon Musk’s misinformation machine
Oct 31, 2024
Elon Musk’s misinformation megaphone has created a “huge problem” for election officials in key battleground states who told CNN they’re struggling to combat the wave of falsehoods coming from the tech billionaire and spreading wildly on his X platform.
Chinese hackers targeted Eric Trump’s and Jared Kushner’s call data, sources say
Oct 29, 2024
US officials believe Chinese government-linked hackers targeted Eric Trump and Jared Kushner’s call and text data as the scale of a sweeping cyber-espionage campaign targeting senior figures in both the Republican and Democratic parties comes into focus just days before the US election, with dozens of people believed to be impacted, three people familiar with the matter told CNN.
Russia, China and Cuba spread misinformation about US hurricane response, US official says
Oct 29, 2024
Russian, Chinese and Cuban operatives all spread misinformation about US government hurricane relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, a US official said Monday, citing recent US intelligence.
US intelligence assesses Russian operatives behind fake video showing Pennsylvania ballots being destroyed
Oct 26, 2024
US intelligence has assessed that Russian operatives were behind a fake video purporting to show someone destroying mail-in ballots in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, that circulated on social media Thursday.
Chinese hackers targeted Trump and Vance’s phone data
Oct 25, 2024
Chinese government-linked hackers have targeted the phone communications of former President Donald Trump and vice presidential nominee JD Vance as part of a much broader cyber-espionage effort aimed at high-level US targets, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
FBI zeroing in on where leaked US intel documents were printed
Oct 24, 2024
The FBI is zeroing in on a US government office where it believes the leaked US intelligence documents on Israel’s preparations for a possible attack on Iran were printed, a US official and another source familiar with the matter told CNN.
Iranian hackers have probed US election websites for vulnerabilities, Microsoft says
Oct 24, 2024
Iranian government-linked hackers have researched and probed election-related websites in multiple US swing states, in a possible effort to discover vulnerabilities that could be used influence the presidential election, Microsoft said in a report released Wednesday.
Georgia election official says battleground state fended off cyberattack likely from a foreign country
Oct 23, 2024
Georgia’s secretary of state’s office this month fended off a cyberattack believed to have come from a foreign country against the website voters use to request absentee ballots, the office told CNN.
About
Sean Lyngaas is CNN’s cybersecurity reporter. He reports on all forms of hacking, along with government and corporate attempts to thwart them. Prior to joining CNN, Lyngaas was the senior reporter for CyberScoop, where he consistently broke news on election security and cybersecurity issues facing the energy, health and manufacturing sectors. Lyngaas’ exclusives on foreign interference activity in the 2020 US election were widely cited by national news outlets.
As a reporter on the cybersecurity beat for nearly a decade, Lyngaas has also worked as a correspondent for Federal Computer Week and Smart Grid Today. In 2017, he received a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to investigate cybersecurity in the nuclear sector, and his reporting on the subject spanned Europe and the U.S.
Lyngaas has also been a freelance foreign correspondent based in Ivory Coast, reporting for The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC News and other outlets. He covered Ghana’s 2016 presidential elections for The Times, and has also reported from the Middle East for The Economist.
Lyngaas earned a B.A. in public policy from Duke University and an M.A. from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He currently lives in the Washington area and is a proud dad and husband.
