Washington Post hires Menn to cover digital threats

Joe comes to us from Reuters, where for a decade he pursued deep coverage of cybersecurity and mentored a team covering major hacks and cyberwar. Joe’s stories revealed that Microsoft failed to warn email users hacked by the Chinese army, that Apple opted not to fully encrypt iCloud backups after the FBI objected it would hamper investigations, and revealed that Yahoo was scanning every email for specific information provided by U.S. intelligence officials. He also established that Russia helped drive the early success of the QAnon conspiracy movement.

Before Reuters, Joe covered Silicon Valley at the Financial Times and tech, Disney and News Corp. at the Los Angeles Times. He began his career on the police, city hall and courts beats at the Charlotte Observer and then wrote on the tobacco industry and legal matters at Bloomberg News in its early days.

Joe has written several books, including “Fatal System Error,” which tied Russian intelligence agencies to organized hacking gangs, and “Cult of the Dead Cow,” which traced the development of hacktivism by telling the story of America’s most influential hacking group – including the revelation that then-presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke had been a member.

Joe majored in English at Harvard, where he spent most of his time at the Crimson. His family includes a Lab mix, and he surfs when he can.