International fraudsters target US government programs
International bad actors -- like fraudsters from Russia and China -- are driving one in eight fraud attempts in the US, seeking everything from access to government services to loans, according to a new report.
During the pandemic, government agencies were flooded with fraudulent applications that went undetected by outdated methods. This study from Socure shows AI-powered technologies are enabling fraudsters to supercharge their efforts, hitting government agencies and commercial entities at once, with relentless speed, and at scale.
Companies take an average of four months to report a ransomware attack
A new study from Comparitech, based on data collected from 2,600 attacks between 2018 and 2023, shows the average time for a US company to report a data breach following a ransomware attack is 4.1 months.
From 2018 to 2023, the average time to report a ransomware breach has increased, rising from 2.1 months in 2018 to just over five months in 2023. Healthcare has the lowest reporting time with 3.7 months, while businesses (4.2 months) and government entities (4.1 months) are similar.
GenAI vulnerable to prompt injection attacks
New research shows that one in 10 prompt injection atempts against GenAI systems manage to bypass basic guardrails. Their non-deterministic nature also means failed attempts can suddenly succeed, even with identical content.
AI security company Pangea ran a Prompt Injection Challenge in March this year. The month-long initiative attracted more than 800 participants from 85 countries who attempted to bypass AI security guardrails across three virtual rooms with increasing levels of difficulty.
Social media platforms are not safe places for queer users according to GLAAD’s latest Social Media Safety Index
GLAAD has published the 2025 edition of its Social Media Safety Index, and it shows that the six biggest social media platforms are doing nowhere near enough to keep LGBTQIA+ users safe.
The report looks at the policies and protections of TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, YouTube, and X, ranking them with a score out of 100. X comes in last place with a score of just 30, and with the highest score being a mere 56 out of 100, it’s clear there is a lot of work to do.
GE Cync Dynamic Effects Smart Café Lights bring smart color to patios with Alexa and Google Assistant support
Just when you thought outdoor lighting couldn’t possibly get any more interesting, GE Lighting launches its Cync Dynamic Effects Smart Café Lights. These new string lights are officially on sale just in time for backyard weather. If you’ve been itching to upgrade your deck or garden, it might be worth a look.
Forget those boring bulbs you might remember from your last barbecue, folks. These café lights use a unique corkscrew filament to put out bold, saturated color. Each bulb can be customized individually using the Cync app, so you can get creative and mix up patterns, colors, or brightness for any event. There’s even a music-sync feature that lets the lights react to whatever is playing, whether you’re throwing a summer party or just winding down after a long day.
YouTube is turning to AI to hit you with ads at the most annoying times
Unless you can count yourself among those who have a premium subscription, using YouTube means having to endure ads. This is annoying, but it could be getting a whole lot worse.
And things are getting worse because of artificial intelligence. Google has announced Peak Points, a Gemini ai-powered feature that gives advertisers way to hit you with ads when you are most engaged with a video.
Chainguard launches malware-resistant dependencies for Python
The Python programming language has become the foundation of modern AI and machine learning applications. Of course that makes it a prime target for supply chain attacks.
Public registries do minimal vetting of hosted artifacts, and they don't provide assurance that the distributed library matches its source code, exposing enterprises to supply chain attacks. Python libraries are also susceptible to supply chain attacks because many projects include more than just pure Python code -- for example project maintainers often rebundle shared system libraries into their Python libraries to ensure stable behavior.
HBO Max makes a surprise comeback
In another twist for streaming subscribers, Warner Bros. Discovery is scrapping the “Max” brand and reviving the “HBO Max” name this summer. The company made this move official at its Upfront event today in New York, touting it as a way to double down on what works best: the HBO brand and its reputation for quality programming.
Executives point to billions in profit improvements and millions of new subscribers, insisting that shifting the focus back to HBO will help the company hit a projected 150 million global subscribers by 2026. But as someone who follows streaming trends closely, I can’t ignore the constant rebranding.
How high availability mitigates the risks of application downtime
Delivering IT infrastructure that’s highly available, performant and secure is paramount for organizations of all sizes competing in today’s dynamic application landscape. With applications at the core of business operations, users expect them to be available 24/7.
Keeping these applications online and responsive so users enjoy the best application experience is vital to organizations' financial, reputational and operational health.
NordVPN finally gets a proper GUI on Linux
For years, NordVPN made Linux users live in the terminal. Sure, the command-line interface technically worked, but let’s not pretend it was ideal for everyone. Meanwhile, competitors like Surfshark and ExpressVPN had already given their Linux users full graphical interfaces. Now, NordVPN has finally caught up by launching its very own GUI for Linux.
So, what exactly does this mean? Well, instead of typing in commands, users can now click their way through connection options, settings, and even theme preferences like light or dark mode. This will arguably make using the service on Linux much easier.
Stratoshark has been donated to the Wireshark Foundation to boost open source cloud security
Cloud security company Sysdig has announced the donation of Stratoshark, the company's open source cloud forensics tool, to the Wireshark Foundation.
This move is aimed at fostering innovation within the community, building in the open, and pushing security forward with advanced tools that better understand cloud-native environments.
AI leads to a new phishing threat every 42 seconds
AI-powered phishing campaigns are bypassing traditional defenses as threat actors flood inboxes with polymorphic phishing, spoofed brands, and new malware families.
New research from the Cofense Phishing Defense Center (PDC) has tracked one malicious email every 42 seconds. Many of these were part of polymorphic phishing attacks that mutate in real-time in order to bypass traditional filters.
Poor online experience leads to rise in 'digital rage'
A new report from performance analytics company Conviva highlights a rise in 'digital rage' as 91 percent of consumers report encountering frustrating digital service issues in the past year.
Businesses risk backlash, lost revenue, and damaged reputations if they fail to address these problems. Poor digital experiences have immediate and tangible impacts on revenue as 55 percent of consumers abandon their purchase, 50 percent switch to another company, and 39 percent cancel their subscription.
UK government uses AI 'Humphrey' tool to review consultation responses
Fans of the 1980s British sitcom 'Yes Minister' will know the character Sir Humphrey -- a senior civil servant whose main role seemed to be to prevent ministers from implementing their policies. You may also know that Humphrey is the name of the Downing Street cat.
With its tongue firmly in its cheek then, the UK government is introducing 'Humphrey', a bundle of AI tools designed to speed up the work of civil servants and cut back time spent on admin, and money spent on contractors.
Mozilla wants to show you the future in Firefox Labs
For those who like to live on the cutting edge, beta software, preview programs and the like are incredibly enticing. Just about every major software title -- operating systems, even -- has one or more preview builds available, and web browsers like Firefox are no different.
But Mozilla has a slightly different option for anyone who feels uncomfortable with the idea of installing alpha, canary, or beta builds of apps -- Firefox Labs. This is Mozilla’s way of giving users access to optional features which have not yet made it into the main version of the browser. Here are the unreleased features you can try out right now.
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