News

Ubuntu 25.10 fitted with Rust-written admin tool by default for memory safety's sake

Canonical's Ubuntu 25.10 is set to make sudo-rs, a Rust-based rework of the classic sudo utility, the default – part of a push to cut memory-related security bugs and lock down core system components.…

Now individual school districts extorted by fiends

An education tech provider that paid a ransom to prevent the leak of stolen student and teacher data is now watching its school district customers get individually extorted by either the same ransomware crew that hit it – or someone connected to the crooks.…

CEO: Neural net tech 'flattens our hiring curve, helps us innovate'

CrowdStrike – the Texas antivirus slinger famous for crashing millions of Windows machines last year – plans to cut five percent of its staff, or about 500 workers, in pursuit of "greater efficiencies," according to CEO and co-founder George Kurtz.…

Judge allows aspects of passenger lawsuit to proceed

A federal judge has cleared the runway for a class action from disgruntled passengers against Delta Air Lines as turbulence from last year's CrowdStrike debacle continues to buffet the carrier.…

We were shocked – SHOCKED – by the answer

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the slurpiest mobile browser of them all? The answer, according to VPN vendor Surfshark, is Chrome.…

Lead dev likens flood to 'effectively being DDoSed'

Curl project founder Daniel Stenberg is fed up with of the deluge of AI-generated "slop" bug reports and recently introduced a checkbox to screen low-effort submissions that are draining maintainers' time.…

Prime Minister bemoans bullying, addiction, and inappropriate content – but isn’t planning a rapid vote

New Zealand’s government has signaled its support for a bill to ban social media for children under 16, but without explicitly making it a government initiative.…

Don't f&#k with Zuck

A California jury has awarded Meta more than $167 million in damages from Israeli surveillanceware slinger NSO Group, after the latter exploited a flaw in WhatsApp to allow its government customers to spy on supposedly secure communications.…

What was the plan, showing her his big iron?

A now-former manager at Computacenter claims he was unfairly fired after alerting management that a colleague was repeatedly giving his girlfriend unauthorized access to Deutsche Bank's server rooms.…

(If only that would keep folks off unsanctioned chat app side quests)

The US Department of Defense (DoD) is overhauling its "outdated" software procurement systems, and insists it's putting security at the forefront of decision-making processes.…

Because who needs cybersecurity when there’s culture wars to win

President Trump's dream 2026 budget would gut the US govt's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, aka CISA, by $491 million - about 17 percent – and accuses the organization of abandoning its core mission in favor of policing online speech.…

No, really? That's a shocking surprise

An unidentified miscreant is said to have obtained US government communications from TeleMessage, a messaging and archiving app based on the open-source Signal app and used by ousted national security advisor Michael Waltz.…

Hails DOGE operatives for computer skills during interview in which he also flubbed some tech investment figures

US President Donald Trump has said TikTok will be “very strongly protected” as the made-in-China social network has “a warm spot in my heart”.…

PLUS: China spring cleans its AIs; South Korea fines Meta, probes Broadcom; and more!

PLUS: China spring cleans its AIs; South Korea fines Meta, probes Broadcom; and more! India’s ambition to become a global semiconductor manufacturing player went backwards last week after two big players changed their plans.…

PLUS: AirPlay exploits; Six-year old backdoor opens; Raytheon settles federal charges; and more!

Infosec In Brief  Microsoft has decided to push its consumer customers to dump password in favor of passkeys.…

With North Korean IT workers storming the gates, too

RSAC  Another RSAC has come and gone, with almost 44,000 attendees this year spread across San Francisco's Moscone Center and the surrounding facilities, according to conference organizers. Hopefully, all of us made it home safely, didn't get deported to a Venezuelan prison, and didn't end up bringing home a virus - computer or corona.…

El Reg checks out shop in SF

On Thursday, six stores across America opened their doors with a curious proposition: Come on in, let a metal orb scan your irises, and walk out with a new online profile that promises you're an individual human – and a few bucks in crypto for your troubles.…

A 25-year-old California man pleaded guilty to stealing and dumping 1.1TB of data from the House of Mouse

When someone stole more than a terabyte of data from Disney last year, it was believed to be the work of Russian hacktivists protesting for artist rights. We now know it was actually a 25-year-old California resident.…

Real-time video deepfakes? Not convincing yet

RSAC  Spam messages predate the web itself, and generative AI has given it a fluency upgrade, churning out slick, localized scams and letting crooks hit regions and dialects they used to ignore.…

UK starts prosecution days after FBI vowed to clamp down on the crime

Three young Brits are accused of stateside swatting offences and will appear in a UK court today to face their charges after a joint investigation by the FBI and Merseyside cops.…