Crime prevention

Sanket Mishra / Pexels ChatGPT feels pretty inescapable right now, with stories marveling at its abilities seemingly everywhere you look. We’ve seen how it can write music, render 3D animations, and compose music. If you can think of it, ChatGPT can probably take a shot at it. And that’s exactly the problem. There’s all manner of hand-wringing in the tech community right now, with commenters frequently worrying that AI is about to lead to a malware apocalypse with even the most green-fingered hackers conjuring up…

State-sponsored hackers based in China have been working to compromise critical infrastructure in the U.S., Microsoft said on Wednesday. It’s thought the attacks could lead to the disruption of important communications between the U.S. and its interests in Asia during future crises. Dall-E 2 Notable target sites include Guam, a small island in the Pacific with an important U.S. army base that could play an important role in any clash with China over Taiwan. The malicious activity, which is believed to be ongoing, is…

One thing that celebrities have in common with everyday people is that they are also susceptible to cybersecurity breaches. Many public figures have had their private and public tech accounts hacked over the years and these attacks have often been due to them simply having weak passwords that were easy for bad actors to figure out. Socialites, actors, politicians, and even prominent tech figures are guilty of lazy password practices, and falling victim to cybercrime that has compromised their passwords. President…

The best password managers are meant to keep all your logins and credit card info safe and secure, but a major new vulnerability has just put users of the KeePass password manager at serious risk of being breached. In fact, the exploit allows an attacker to steal a KeePass user’s master password in plain text — in other words, in an unencrypted form — simply by extracting it from the target computer’s memory. It’s a remarkably simple hack, yet one that could have worrying implications. The KeePass master password…

Microsoft has just taken a vital step towards better protecting your devices from malware, and it’s one that could stop viruses dead in their tracks. Interestingly, though, the Redmond giant seems to have made no mention of the change, despite its significance. The new policy might sound minor on the surface: Microsoft’s SharePoint cloud storage service can apparently now scan files that are encrypted or password-protected. Previously, this wasn’t thought to be possible. Andrew Brookes/Getty Images The importance of…

A security breach in March robbed MSI of up to 1.5TB of sensitive data. However, MSI is not the only company impacted. As a result of the breach, Intel is now investigating a major leak of Intel Boot Guard keys. The extent of the damage is still unclear, but the worst-case scenario is that the security feature is now useless on compromised devices — and that’s a pretty lengthy list. This whole fiasco seems to have begun with the MSI data breach that took place earlier this year. The Money Message extortion gang…

Hackers are constantly trying to break into large websites to steal user databases, and it’s not entirely unlikely that your own login details have been leaked at some point in the past. In cases like that, it’s vital to upgrade your password, but how can you do that if you don’t even know your data has been hacked? Well, Google thinks it has the answer, because it has just announced that it will roll out dark web monitoring reports to every Gmail user in the U.S. This handy feature was previously limited to paid…

With all the viruses, phishing scams and other malware lurking on the internet, using a web browser can be risky business these days. But one firm thinks it could make your web surfing much safer without adding any hassle. A company named SquareX has just raised $6 million to develop an extension that would create virtual sandboxes within your web browser. Any time you’re tempted to open a file or click a link that comes from an unknown sender or could potentially pose a threat, SquareX’s extension would step in and…

The FBI says it has disrupted a long-running malware operation that allowed Russian spies to steal sensitive information from numerous countries, including NASA-member governments, prominent journalists, and other targets deemed to be of interest to the Russian government. The court-authorized operation, codenamed MEDUSA, disrupted a global peer-to-peer network of computers compromised by sophisticated malware called “Snake,” described by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) as the “premier cyberespionage malware” of…

The popular PC storage manufacturer, Western Digital, has confirmed that it experienced a network security breach earlier this year, in which an unauthorized third party gained control of several of its systems. The incident took place on March 26, 2023, but was immediately addressed by the manufacturer, with Western Digital reporting the breach bringing in top security experts to launch an investigation, which is currently ongoing, the company said in a statement. The bad actors in charge of the breach were able to…