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A widespread IT outage, caused by a software update from CrowdStrike, a prominent cyber security firm, has left computers across the globe nonfunctional, impacting various sectors including healthcare, transportation, business, and media. The bug in the software update affected Microsoft Windows computers, leading to severe disruptions in essential services. According to CrowdStrike chief executive George Kurtz, the company deeply regrets the incident and apologizes for the inconvenience caused to numerous users worldwide. The outage has highlighted the vulnerability of systems to unexpected software glitches, emphasizing the importance of r...... Read Full article on HadNews

Computer systems across Australia and overseas have failed this afternoon after an update was pushed out by global security software provider CrowdStrike. The software affected by the update appears to be the CrowdStrike Falcon platform, which is installed by businesses or other organisations on desktop computers and notebooks to provide security monitoring. What’s happening? The software failure has caused a major IT outage affecting organisations across Australia and around the world. The websites of the Commonwealth Bank, Telstra, the ABC and many others have been affected, according to crowdsourced outage reporting website DownDe...... Read Full article on HadNews

A widespread IT outage caused chaos on Friday as airlines, banks, hospitals, and media outlets were impacted by a faulty Microsoft update, leading to grounded flights, offline banking systems, and disrupted digital services worldwide. Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike confirmed that the outage was not the result of a cyberattack, but rather a technical issue caused by a flawed update deployed to computers running Microsoft Windows. The company reassured that a fix was in progress to address the issue. Businesses around the world were left scrambling as their digital services went dark, highlighting the interconnected nature of our reliance on s...... Read Full article on HadNews

Google has announced the discontinuation of yet another product, this time the VPN service One VPN which was provided to subscribers to Google One. The service will shut down on Jul 20, 2024. One VPN was launched in 2020 to higher tier customers of Google One, Google’s expanded storage subscription service. Then in 2023, the service was expanded to include all One subscribers. Google described VPNs as a valuable service that added an important layer of security, especially for anyone using public wifi networks. They also launched dedicated Mac, Windows, Android, and iOS apps. However, despite the tool’s utility, Google’s stated reason ...... Read Full article on HadNews

Amazon has secured a A$2 billion contract with the Australian Signals Directorate – the agency responsible for foreign signals intelligence and information security. A local subsidiary of Amazon Web Services will build a Top Secret Cloud to provide secure data storage for military intelligence. The deal will securely manage top secret data vital to Australia’s national security. This contract is expected to last over a decade. It will build three secure data centres at undisclosed locations in Australia. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated this project will “bolster our defence and national intelligence community to ensure they c...... Read Full article on HadNews

Imagine a future where your phone pings with a message that your dead father’s “digital immortal” bot is ready. This promise of chatting with a virtual version of your loved one – perhaps through a virtual reality (VR) headset – is like stepping into a sci-fi movie, both thrilling and a bit eerie. As you interact with this digital dad, you find yourself on an emotional rollercoaster. You uncover secrets and stories you never knew, changing how you remember the real person. This is not a distant, hypothetical scenario. The digital afterlife industry is rapidly evolving. Several companies promise to create virtual reconstructions of deceased ...... Read Full article on HadNews

Last October, subscribers to an internet service provider called Windstream became embroiled in a mass router breakdown issue, impacting around 600,000 devices across 18 US states. Initially, many customers blamed the company for the widespread system outage but it would later become apparent that something very different was happening after the sets were unresponsive to reboots and other attempts to restore them to working order. Users congregated around online message boards to vent anger and express their own experiences of how the ActionTec T3200 was displaying a solid red light but very little else. From Alabama and Arkansas to Ge...... Read Full article on HadNews

From asking our smart speakers for the weather to receiving personalised advice from smartwatches, devices powered by artificial intelligence (AI) are increasingly streamlining our routines and decision making. The technology is seeping into our lives in subtle ways. Manufacturers gather vast amounts of user data to ensure these smart devices are responsive and personalised. But this can put users at risk of exploitation by malicious agents, such as hackers looking to steal your data. As AI becomes more ubiquitous, consumers will also need to become savvier. If you want to enjoy the benefits of a smart everyday device, you should be ...... Read Full article on HadNews

China is increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) powered forms of misinformation to interfere in foreign elections, according to a new report from Microsoft. Deepfakes and other forms of AI-generated content are reportedly being deployed by Beijing to meddle in the affairs of the United States and Taiwan, with the research finding specific examples of manipulated imagery being pushed to fuel conspiracy theories that the US government intentionally caused a train derailment in Kentucky and wildfires in Maui, Hawaii in 2023. With geopolitical tensions between Taiwan and China ongoing, the recent elections in the East Asian i...... Read Full article on HadNews

Does the Chinese government have officials inside TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, pulling the strings? And does the storing of data from the popular social media app outside of China protect Americans? These questions appear to dominate the current thinking in the U.S. over whether to ban TikTok if its owner, Chinese technology giant ByteDance, refuses to sell the platform. But in my opinion – forged through 40 years as a scholar of China, political economy and business – both questions obscure a more interesting point. What’s more, they suggest a crucial misunderstanding of the relationship between state and private enterprise in...... Read Full article on HadNews

As US lawmakers approve a bill that could see TikTok banned, China warns that such a ban would “come back to bite” America. March 13 saw the House of Representatives voting on a bill that could result in TikTok being banned in the US within six months, unless the Chinese-owned app severs its ties with China. The US is the country with the largest TikTok audience by far as it stands, with almost 150 million users engaging with the popular social video platform – a substantial audience that the company, Bytedance, will not want to lose. Concern around TikTok from US officials has been a long-standing issue, with fears around data protect...... Read Full article on HadNews

Leaked files reveal a variety of services available for purchase, including information obtained from targets across the globe. According to a significant data leak from a Chinese cybersecurity company, state security agents are paying tens of thousands of pounds to gather data on targets, including foreign governments. Meanwhile, hackers are gathering massive amounts of data on any individual or organization that could be of interest to their potential clients. It’s believed that over 500 files have been leaked worldwide Cybersecurity experts believe the cache of over 500 leaked files from the Chinese company I-Soon, which was uploade...... Read Full article on HadNews

Google has said it blocked or removed over 170 million fake reviews that violated its policies in 2023. According to a recent blog post, the tech giant stated that this was over 45% more than in 2022. It also removed more than 12 million fake business profiles from its search engine, which they say is thanks to a new machine learning algorithm. “Last year, we launched a new machine learning algorithm that detects questionable review patterns even faster,” the company said, adding that it does so by “examining longer-term signals on a daily basis.” The California-based firm claimed that over 20 million community reviews of products and ...... Read Full article on HadNews

This week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the government was seeking to strengthen laws to combat doxing. Its ongoing review into Australian privacy law will now be expanded to include doxing, as will other laws covering hate crime and hate speech. Doxing (sometimes doxxing) is shorthand for “document drop” and is the act of publishing identifying material about someone publicly, without their consent. Doxing someone can lead to real-life harms, potentially including job loss, violence against the person, their family members and pets, and serious mental health issues. What any legislation from that review will look li...... Read Full article on HadNews

In the TEDxSurat talk, Anuj Krish discusses how digital security depends on human behavior and how scammers think to exploit human vulnerabilities in online scams. He shares a personal experience where he fell victim to an online scam and emphasizes that he is not the only one, with millions of Indians falling prey to such scams. Anuj highlights the staggering amount of money India has lost to online scams and the frequency of online crimes in the country. Anuj and his friend identified four parameters that scammers exploit to deceive people: trust, urgency, ignorance, and money/information. They also discuss the need for a role reversal in ...... Read Full article on HadNews

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has warned artificial intelligence (AI) will increase the threat of ransomware globally over the next two years. In a report titled The near-term impact of AI on the cyber threat assessment, organizations and individuals have been encouraged to recognize the situation and take preventative measures. NCSC – part of GCHQ (similar to America’s NSA), the United Kingdom’s intelligence, security, and cybersecurity agency – takes the position that AI will almost certainly contribute directly to the increase in quantity and impact of cyber attacks moving forward. The study found cyber criminals an...... Read Full article on HadNews