Tag Archives: Policy

Millions of people imperiled through sign-in links sent by SMS

“We argue that these attacks are straightforward to test, verify, and execute at scale,” the researchers, from the universities of New Mexico, Arizona, Louisiana, and the firm Circle, wrote. “The threat model can be realized using consumer-grade hardware and only basic to intermediate Web security knowledge.” SMS messages are sent unencrypted. In past years, researchers… Read More: Millions of people imperiled through sign-in links sent by SMS »

Hegseth wants to integrate Musk’s Grok AI into military networks this month

On Monday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he plans to integrate Elon Musk’s AI tool, Grok, into Pentagon networks later this month. During remarks at the SpaceX headquarters in Texas reported by The Guardian, Hegseth said the integration would place “the world’s leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department.”… Read More: Hegseth wants to integrate Musk’s Grok AI into military networks… »

The nation’s strictest privacy law just took effect, to data brokers’ chagrin

Californians are getting a new, supercharged way to stop data brokers from hoarding and selling their personal information, as a recently enacted law that’s among the strictest in the nation took effect at the beginning of the year. According to the California Privacy Protection Agency, more than 500 companies actively scour all sorts of sources… Read More: The nation’s strictest privacy law just took effect, to data… »

Massive Cloudflare outage was triggered by file that suddenly doubled in size

Cloudflare’s proxy service has limits to prevent excessive memory consumption, with the bot management system having “a limit on the number of machine learning features that can be used at runtime.” This limit is 200, well above the actual number of features used. “When the bad file with more than 200 features was propagated to… Read More: Massive Cloudflare outage was triggered by file that suddenly doubled… »

NSO permanently barred from targeting WhatsApp users with Pegasus spyware

A federal judge has ordered spyware maker NSO to stop using its Pegasus app to target or infect users of WhatsApp. The ruling, issued Friday by Phyllis J. Hamilton of of the US District Court of the District of Northern California, grants a permanent injunction sought by WhatsApp owner Meta in a case it brought… Read More: NSO permanently barred from targeting WhatsApp users with Pegasus spyware »

Feds seize $15 billion from alleged forced labor scam built on “human suffering”

Federal prosecutors have seized $15 billion from the alleged kingpin of an operation that used imprisoned laborers to trick unsuspecting people into making investments in phony funds, often after spending months faking romantic relationships with the victims. Such “pig butchering” scams have operated for years. They typically work when members of the operation initiate conversations… Read More: Feds seize $15 billion from alleged forced labor scam built… »

ICE wants to build a 24/7 social media surveillance team

Together, these teams would operate as intelligence arms of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division. They will receive tips and incoming cases, research individuals online, and package the results into dossiers that could be used by field offices to plan arrests. The scope of information contractors are expected to collect is broad. Draft instructions specify… Read More: ICE wants to build a 24/7 social media surveillance team »

California’s newly signed AI law just gave Big Tech exactly what it wanted

On Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act into law, requiring AI companies to disclose their safety practices while stopping short of mandating actual safety testing. The law requires companies with annual revenues of at least $500 million to publish safety protocols on their websites and report incidents to… Read More: California’s newly signed AI law just gave Big Tech exactly… »

White House officials reportedly frustrated by Anthropic’s law enforcement AI limits

Anthropic’s AI models could potentially help spies analyze classified documents, but the company draws the line at domestic surveillance. That restriction is reportedly making the Trump administration angry. On Tuesday, Semafor reported that Anthropic faces growing hostility from the Trump administration over the AI company’s restrictions on law enforcement uses of its Claude models. Two… Read More: White House officials reportedly frustrated by Anthropic’s law enforcement AI… »

ChatGPT may soon require ID verification from adults, CEO says

OpenAI joins other tech companies that have tried youth-specific versions of their services. YouTube Kids, Instagram Teen Accounts, and TikTok’s under-16 restrictions represent similar efforts to create “safer” digital spaces for young users, but teens routinely circumvent age verification through false birthdate entries, borrowed accounts, or technical workarounds. A 2024 BBC report found that 22… Read More: ChatGPT may soon require ID verification from adults, CEO says »