malware

Sydney Sweeney ‘Leak’ Malware Is Infecting the Horniest Parts of X/Twitter

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Photo: Steve Granitz (Getty Images) The specter of naked Sydney Sweeney, a rom-com actress whose boobs recently joined the culture war, is getting the horniest (and dumbest) members of X—the website formerly known as Twitter—to click malicious links. Even Twitter Can’t Kill Twitter | Letter From the Editor 404Media was the first to report that … Read more

AI Algorithms Can Be Converted Into ‘Sleeper Cell’ Backdoors, Research Shows

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While AI tools offer new capabilities for web users and companies, they also have the potential to make certain forms of cybercrime and malicious activity much more accessible and powerful. Case in point: Last week, new research was published that shows large language models can actually be converted into malicious backdoors, the likes of which … Read more

What It’s Like to Use Apple’s Lockdown Mode

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With the releases of iOS 16 and macOS Ventura in 2022, Apple debuted its Lockdown Mode for people at particular risk of being targeted by mercenary spyware. The feature is essentially a set of configurations for iOS and macOS that limit or block niceties like link previews in Messages and shared albums in Photos. Lockdown … Read more

The Worst Hacks of 2023

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With political polarization, unrest, and violence escalating in many regions of the world, 2023 was fraught with uncertainty and tragedy. In digital security, though, the year felt more like a Groundhog Day of incidents caused by classic types of attacks, like phishing and ransomware, rather than a roller coaster of offensive hacking innovation. The cybersecurity … Read more

This Android malware turns off fingerprint unlock to steal your pin

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Sure, your fingerprint is one of a kind, but it might not keep your personal information safe any longer. That’s because a new version of the Chameleon Android malware reportedly allows bad actors to bypass your fingerprint feature to steal your PIN. According to researchers with ThreatFabric, the malware effectively tricks people into turning on … Read more

Google fights scammers using Bard hype to spread malware

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Google is suing scammers who are trying to use the hype around generative AI to trick people into downloading malware, the company has announced. In a lawsuit filed today in California, the company says individuals believed to be based in Vietnam are setting up social media pages and running ads encouraging users to “download” its … Read more

This Cryptomining Tool Is Stealing Secrets

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As the Israel-Hamas war raged on this week and Israel expanded its ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, the territory’s compromised internet infrastructure and access to connectivity went fully dark on Friday, leaving Palestinians without access to ground or mobile data connections. Meanwhile, researchers are bracing for the fallout if Hamas makes good on its … Read more

Apple’s Encryption Is Under Attack by a Mysterious Group

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Does the public have a right to see gruesome photos of animal test subjects taken by a public university? That question underpins an ongoing court battle between UC Davis and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, an animal welfare group, which is fighting for the release of photos of dead monkeys used in tests of … Read more

Beware: Your Bing Chat responses may include links to malware

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Maria Diaz/ZDNET Microsoft’s Bing Chat AI chatbot has gained much popularity because it is free, connected to the internet, powered by GPT-4, and multimodal, boasting features the accessible version of ChatGPT doesn’t have. However, a new report shows that its responses may contain malware.  In March, a month after releasing its chatbot, Microsoft started experimenting with … Read more