Google is making a huge change to the most famous and widely used search engine in the world. And it is the global nature of Google search, and the internet in general, which is at the heart of the change.

For a very long time, Google has used different URLs for its search engine in different countries -- google.co.uk in the UK, google.es in Spain, for instance. But no more. The company has announced that different country code top-level domain names (ccTLD) are no longer needed and will not be used.

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We all know about good bots like search engine crawler bots, SEO bots, and customer service bots. And we know about bad bots, designed for malicious or harmful online activities like breaching accounts to steal personal data or commit fraud.

New research from Barracuda identifies an additional breed of 'gray bots', and these include GenAI scraper bots, designed to extract or scrape large volumes of data from websites, often to train generative AI models. Other examples of gray bots are web scrapers and automated content aggregators that collect web content such as news, reviews, travel offers and more.

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Lookalike domains, crafted to closely resemble authentic domains, enable a wide range of deceptive activities. By sending emails that appear to originate from trusted sources, attackers can effectively conduct a variety of scams from phishing and social engineering attacks to invoice fraud.

A new report from BlueVoyant looks at how cybercriminals encourage their victims to click on lookalike domains, whilst highlighting the critical need for vigilance and proactive measures to counteract these threats.

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Mozilla has long positioned itself as a champion of privacy and open-source software, but its latest move really makes me worry that the organization could be drifting away from those values. You see, Mozilla has introduced Terms of Use for Firefox for the first time ever. Additionally, there is an updated Privacy Notice. And while Mozilla frames this as a move toward transparency, the actual terms are raising some major red flags for me.

Mozilla claims these new terms are necessary due to a changing “technology landscape,” yet the fine print tells a far different story. One of the most troubling aspects is that users must grant Mozilla all rights necessary to operate Firefox, including a “nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license” to use information entered through the browser. Mozilla insists this is meant to help users navigate the web, but the vague wording leaves a dangerous amount of room for interpretation. Could this include personal data, saved passwords, or browsing history? Mozilla simply fails to say.

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Around a third of web users say they would like to delete themselves from the internet, with people in the US and Canada being at the top of the list.

Research from cybersecurity company NordVPN and personal data removal service Incogni, finds that worldwide 45 percent of people are worried about being hacked, one of the key reasons for wanting to take themselves off the web.

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A surge in artificial intelligence (AI), generative AI (GenAI), and machine learning (ML) technologies is creating a massive online appetite for data. These tools are hungry for training data, this has boosted AI web scraping, which sits in a legal gray zone. Sometimes it's legal, sometimes it's not, but what's clear is that it's having ripple effects across online businesses.

We talked to Nick Rieniets, field CTO of Kasada, to learn more about the impact of web scraping and what companies can do to protect their content.

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After a period of intense public and political debate, Australia has approved laws that will ban anyone under the age of 16 from using social media.

While the laws were passed yesterday, it may well be a year until they come into effect -- and they will be the strictest in the world. Once in force, tech companies such as Meta could be hit with fines of up to AUS$50 million (US $32.5 million) for failing to comply.

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Cyber threats are becoming more complex and it can be difficult for defenders to see the big picture and make decisions accordingly.

Now though help is at hand as ImmuniWeb is launching a free online tool making historical data on the security of internet-accessible resources available to the global cybersecurity community, educational institutions, government agencies, and even individual researchers.

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A new report finds that 75 percent of the 100 most visited websites in the US and Europe are not compliant with current privacy regulations.

The study from privacy solution provider Privado.ai shows despite stricter privacy enforcement in Europe a surprising 74 percent of top websites do not honor opt-in consent as required by Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

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According to a new report, 80 percent of registered web domains that resemble a Global 2000 brand do not actually belong to that brand.

The report from enterprise-class domain registrar CSC shows that of the homoglyph (look-alike fake) domains owned by third parties other than the Global 2000 brand owners, 42 percent have MX records (email exchange records) compared with 40 percent in 2023. These MX records can be used to send phishing emails or to intercept email.

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A new survey of over 7,000 individuals suggests a growing wave of pessimism among workers regarding cybersecurity practices.

The study from CybSafe and the National Cybersecurity Alliance shows 53 percent believe staying safe online is possible, down by five percent from last year, while only 60 percent think online safety is worth the effort, marking a nine percent drop.

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It was 175 years ago that Italian inventor Antonio Meucci came up with the technology that would later be improved and popularized by Alexander Graham Bell to become the telephone.

New research from cloud communications company Sinch finds that newer technologies are starting to change how we communicate -- particularly with businesses -- offering richer, more interactive, and personalized experiences.

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It's a pretty fair bet that if you asked most people they would skeptical about the effects of social media on well-being. However, new research from the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford suggests there are positive benefits of social media usage on adults' mental health.

Academics conducted a six-month study of 1029 adults, with participants' daily time using social platforms on their Android mobile device unobtrusively tracked and their well-being measured every two weeks.

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According to Gartner, 60 percent of organizations work with over 1,000 third parties, and a new report shows many of these supply misconfigured or vulnerable hardware and software, putting customers at risk.

The study from CyCognito finds web server environments, including platforms like Apache, NGINX, Microsoft IIS, and Google Web Server, were the host of 34 percent of all severe issues across surveyed assets. They accounted for more severe issues than 54 other environments combined (out of 60 environments surveyed),

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More than 65 percent of websites are unprotected against simple bot attacks and 95 percent of advanced bot attacks go undetected on websites.

A new report from DataDome reveals that eCommerce and luxury goods sites are at greatest risk. Just five percent of luxury brand websites and 10 percent of eCommerce websites are fully protected against bad bots.

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