About HackNews
HackNews is an independent cybersecurity news publication produced by Hacklido. We report on data breaches, malware campaigns, vulnerabilities, threat actors, privacy, and the policy decisions that shape digital security, with a particular focus on how these events affect readers in India and across South Asia.
What HackNews is
HackNews began as the news desk of Hacklido, a community platform where security researchers, CTF players, and students publish technical writeups. As that community grew, readers kept asking the same question: what actually happened, and does it affect me? HackNews exists to answer that question in plain language, without the vendor spin that surrounds most security coverage.
We are a small, independent newsroom. We are not owned by a security vendor, a venture fund, or a media conglomerate. That independence is the reason we can write critically about products, disclosure practices, and companies that other outlets depend on for advertising revenue.
What we cover
- Breaches and incidents — what was exposed, how many people are affected, and what those people should do next.
- Vulnerabilities and CVEs — severity in context, real exploitation status, and patch guidance, rather than CVSS scores repeated without analysis.
- Malware and threat actors — ransomware crews, infostealers, APT activity, and the infrastructure behind them.
- India and South Asia — CERT-In directives, DPDP Act enforcement, UPI and fintech fraud, Aadhaar-adjacent data exposure, and regional threat activity that global outlets under-report.
- Privacy and policy — surveillance, data protection law, encryption debates, and platform accountability.
- Learning material — CTF writeups, tooling explainers, and career guidance for people entering the field.
How we report
Every article is written or edited by a named human being. We do not publish anonymous staff bylines, and we do not publish machine-generated articles as if a person wrote them. Each story carries an author byline that links to that author's profile and full archive.
Our sourcing standards, verification process, use of AI tools, and correction workflow are documented in full in our Editorial Policy. Our funding and ownership structure is disclosed on our Ownership & Funding page.
We do not publish claims we cannot attribute. If a breach is unconfirmed, we say it is unconfirmed. If a figure comes from an attacker's own post on a leak site, we say so and we treat it as a claim, not a fact.
What we will not do
- We do not publish working exploit code, malware samples, or step-by-step instructions that would give an attacker meaningful new capability.
- We do not link directly to leaked personal data, breach dumps, or the marketplaces that host them.
- We do not name victims of cybercrime, minors, or security researchers who face legal risk, without their explicit consent.
- We do not accept payment to publish, alter, or remove editorial coverage.
Who runs HackNews
HackNews is operated by the Hacklido team. Chitra Karanam is co-founder and oversees the publication's editorial direction and standards. Rahul Yadav is co-founder and runs the technical side of the platform. Individual reporters and contributing editors are credited on their own author pages, each of which lists their background and full article archive.
Editorial responsibility sits with the editor named on each story. Final accountability for everything published on this site sits with the co-founders.
Corrections and feedback
We get things wrong sometimes. When we do, we fix it in the open rather than quietly editing the page. Our full process is on the Corrections Policy page. To flag an error, dispute a characterisation, or send a tip, write to [email protected]. We read every message.
Contact
More ways to reach us, including secure tip channels and press enquiries, are on the Contact page.