When investigators discovered the hack on Microsoft Exchange servers in January, they thought it was about stealing emails. Now they believe China vacuumed up reams of information in a bid to develop better artificial intelligence, or AI. Matt Chinworth for NPR hide caption

Trump supporters breach security and storm inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The woman in blue with her fist raised was later identified as Suzanne Ianni. Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Microsoft says the same group that breached the software company SolarWinds seems to have launched another hack, this time using phishing attacks on a number of human rights agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development. J. David Ake/AP hide caption

A new report says a division within the Department of Homeland Security missed signs of potential violence before the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images hide caption

Anne Neuberger, the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, says an upcoming executive order will strengthen U.S. cybersecurity, from setting up new ways to investigate cyberattacks to developing standards for software. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

An NPR investigation into the SolarWinds attack reveals a hack unlike any other, launched by a sophisticated adversary intent on exploiting the soft underbelly of our digital lives. Zoë van Dijk for NPR hide caption

The FBI has released a substantial amount of information, including surveillance video, about the unidentified bomb-maker. FBI/screenshot by NPR hide caption

ISIS and domestic extremism in the U.S. are driven by very different ideologies, but the process by which young people are radicalized is remarkably similar. Nicole Xu for NPR hide caption

Gen. Paul Nakasone, the National Security Agency director, told NPR ahead of the 2020 elections that the U.S. was "going to expand our insights of our adversaries. ... We're going to know our adversaries better than they know themselves." Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption

When law enforcement officials failed to anticipate that pro-Trump supporters would devolve into a violent mob, they fell victim to what one expert calls "the invisible obvious." He said it was hard for authorities to see that people who looked like them could want to commit this kind of violence. Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

For the 78 residents of St. Joseph's Senior Home in New Jersey, the arrival of hazmat-suited officials in March in their caravan of ambulance buses was terrifying. Some evacuees with dementia shouted and furiously clawed at them. Others begged not to be taken away. Seth Wenig/AP hide caption

ApiJect makes a disposable injection device that the company says can be mass-produced to deliver vaccines and medications around the world. ApiJect hide caption

Foreign threats to the 2020 election looked a lot like Y2K from two decades ago: With high levels of alarm and preparation, the system held off foreign disinformation and cyberattacks. Hiroshi Watanabe/Getty Images hide caption

The flawed coronavirus test kits went out to public laboratories in February. An internal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention review obtained by NPR says the wrong quality control protocols were used. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via AP hide caption

An election worker uses an electronic pollbook to check voters at a polling station in the Echo Park Recreation Complex in Los Angeles on March 3, 2020. Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption

So far, few deepfakes have been used this political season. It's not because they aren't a potential threat, but because simpler deceptive tactics are still effective at spreading misinformation. amtitus/Digital Vision Vectors/Getty Images hide caption