All news with #news tag

🎧 In episode 64 of The AI Fix, hosts Graham Cluley and Mark Stockley survey a lively mix of AI breakthroughs, quirky robotics, and high-profile industry rows. Highlights include machine-learning work that uncovers unexpected results in dusty plasmas, a mudflat robocrab contest, a laundry-folding robot demo, and a contentious public spat involving Elon Musk and Sam Altman. The episode also touches on Geoffrey Hinton’s warnings about superintelligence, UK government advice on old emails, and recent research from Anthropic and Figure AI. Listeners are invited to support the show and follow on podcast platforms and Bluesky.

📰 The HBO Max documentary Most Wanted: Teen Hacker features interviews with Brian Krebs and examines the criminal trajectory of Julius Kivimäki, a Finnish hacker convicted for extensive data breaches and later mass extortion. The four-part series traces his early role in the Lizard Squad, high-profile DDoS attacks, swatting incidents, and the Vastaamo psychotherapy breach and patient extortion. Directed by Sami Kieski and co-written by Joni Soila, episodes will stream weekly on Fridays throughout September.

📣 At Black Hat USA 2025, founder Jeff Moss and veteran researcher Mikko Hypponen framed the conference around the interplay of technology, corporate culture, and measurable cyber risk. Moss asked whether companies let technology shape culture or adapt technology to preserve values, warning that AI-driven customer service can damage brand trust when poorly implemented. Hypponen argued that security failures often reflect system gaps—malicious links should be stopped before reaching users—and cautioned that apparent success (when nothing happens) can lead to complacency and cyclical underinvestment.

🔐 CISA and FEMA announced the availability of more than $100 million in grant funding to bolster state, local, and tribal cybersecurity capabilities. The FY2025 Notice of Funding Opportunity includes the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP) with $91.7 million and the Tribal Cybersecurity Grant Program (TCGP) with $12.1 million. Awards may support planning, exercises, hiring cybersecurity experts, network hardening, and improvements to services provided to citizens. Applicants should consult CISA application resources to prepare proposals.

🛡️ In July 2025, ESET Chief Security Evangelist Tony Anscombe highlighted major cybersecurity incidents, including exploitation of ToolShell zero‑day vulnerabilities in on‑premises Microsoft SharePoint and the confirmed return of Lumma Stealer. Other critical stories included a ransomware attack that closed UK transport firm KNP, a massive data exposure in McDonald's hiring chatbot McHire, and the discovery of PerfektBlue Bluetooth flaws affecting vehicles. The UK also proposed banning ransom payments by public bodies.

🔒 Microsoft has expanded the .NET Bounty Program, increasing maximum awards to $40,000 and broadening coverage to include all supported .NET and ASP.NET versions, adjacent technologies like F#, templates, and GitHub Actions. The program simplifies award tiers, aligns impact categories with other Microsoft bounty programs, and defines report quality as complete (working exploit) or not complete, encouraging detailed, actionable submissions.

🛡️ Microsoft has updated the .NET Bounty Program, expanding scope and increasing maximum payouts to $40,000 for high-impact vulnerabilities. The program now covers all supported versions of .NET and ASP.NET (including Blazor and F#), repository templates, and GitHub Actions in .NET repositories. Awards are now tied to explicit severity and report quality criteria, with higher payments for complete, exploit-backed reports.

🛡️ Over the coming weeks Google will begin a limited U.S. rollout of age assurance, a system designed to distinguish users under 18 from adults and apply age-appropriate protections across its products. For accounts identified as minors Google will enable defaults such as YouTube Digital Wellbeing tools, disable Maps Timeline, turn off personalized advertising, and block adult-only apps on Google Play. The approach combines machine-learning age estimation based on existing account signals with optional age verification — including a government ID or a selfie — when users dispute their estimated age, and Google will notify users and provide options for adult verification.