News

From AI to just plain aaaiiiee!

Microsoft introduced its Bing Chat AI search assistant in February and a month later began serving ads alongside it to help cover costs.…

'Research purposes' excuse didn't fly

A PhD student has been found guilty of building a potentially deadly drone for Islamic State terrorists, in part using his home 3D printer.…

But Meta was just about to start asking people for their permission!

Norway has told the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) it believes a countrywide ban on Meta harvesting user data to serve up advertising on Facebook and Instagram should be made permanent and extended across Europe.…

No classified systems involved apparently, but internal diplomatic notes, travel details, staff SSNs, etc

Chinese snoops stole about 60,000 State Department emails when they broke into Microsoft-hosted Outlook and Exchange Online accounts belonging to US government officials over the summer.…

FBI agents ought to get spy court approval before reviewing US persons' chats, board reckons

A privacy panel within the US government today narrowly recommended that Congress reauthorize the Feds' Section 702 spying powers — but with some stronger protections for US citizens only.…

Autonomous sub should recharge and resupply in perfect stealth, hopefully

DARPA's extended-duration unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) is having its first aquatic excursion to test if this naval drone has wings, er, fins.…

The URLs needed to share chat histories have been indexed. Of course

Google's Bard chatbot is currently being re-educated to better understand privacy.…

He's also worried about alliances that freeze out Chinese tech

Chinese minister for national security Chen Yixin has penned an article rating the digital risks his country faces and rated network security incidents as the most realistic source of harm to the Chinternet – both in terms of attacks and the dissemination of fake news.…

Letter to City Council supports measures to ban biometric tech from public spaces

"New Yorkers should not be forced to accept biometric surveillance as part of simple activities like buying groceries or taking their kids to a baseball game," more than 30 civil and digital rights organizations said yesterday in a letter backing new privacy laws in the city.…

More precise timing tests find many implementations vulnerable

An engineer has identified longstanding undetected flaws in a 25-year-old method for encrypting data using RSA public-key cryptography.…

Progress Software vulnerability ID'd in enormous burglary at Ontario's BORN

Canada's Better Outcomes Registry & Network (BORN) fears a MOVEit breach allowed cybercriminals to copy 3.4 million people's childcare health records dating back more than a decade.…

Russian have shifted tactics in the first half of 2023, with mixed results

The Ukrainian State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection (SSSCIP) has claimed that Russian cyberspies are targeting its servers looking for data about alleged Kremlin-backed war crimes.…

Cloud provider blamed for loss of 20% of exchange's capital

Mixin Network confirmd on Monday that it has "temporarily suspended" all deposit and withdrawal services after hackers broke into a database and stole about $200 million in funds from the Hong-Kong based cryptocurrency firm. …

PLUS: Trojan hidden in PoC; cyber insurance surge; pig butchering's new cuts; and the week's critical vulns

Infosec in brief  T-Mobile US has had another bad week on the infosec front – this time stemming from a system glitch that exposed customer account data, followed by allegations of another breach the carrier denied.…

Holes in iOS, macOS and more fixed following tip off from Google, Citizen Lab

Apple emitted patches this week to close security holes that have been exploited in the wild by commercial spyware.…

IRIS2 oversight deal signed as constellation’s schedule slips, and Ariane 6 hits another snag

The European Space Agency has signed up to build and launch the European Union's Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite constellation.…

National defense files can earn you $55K … and espionage charges

A US government worker has been arrested and charged with spying for Ethiopia, according to court documents unsealed Thursday.…

Prolific info-thief strikes again

Days after a miscreant boasted leaking a 3GB-plus database from TransUnion containing financial information on 58,505 people, the credit-checking agency has claimed the info was actually swiped from a third party.…

$157/share cash deal is the largest acquisition in networking titan's history

Cisco is making its most expensive acquisition ever – by far - with an announcement it's buying data crunching software firm Splunk for $157 per share, or approximately $28 billion (£22.8b).…

Five businesses facing half a million in collective penalties for illegally phoning folk registered with TPS

The UK data watchdog has penalized five businesses it says collectively made 1.9 million cold calls to members of the public, illegally, as those people had opted out of being menaced at home by marketeers.…