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Tech (100)
Serving the Technologist since 1998. News, reviews, and analysis.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-09-05 17:06:55
ChatGPT’s new branching feature is a good reminder that AI chatbots aren’t people
Users can explore multiple paths without losing their original chat thread.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-09-04 23:29:34
The number of mis-issued 1.1.1.1 certificates grows. Here’s the latest.
Everything to know about about the mishap that threatened to expose millions of users' queries.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-09-04 17:56:13
Microsoft open-sources Bill Gates’ 6502 BASIC from 1978
Historic interpreter taught millions to program on Commodore and Apple computers.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-09-03 22:56:07
New AI model turns photos into explorable 3D worlds, with caveats
Openly available AI tool creates steerable 3D-like video, but requires serious GPU muscle.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-09-03 19:40:38
Mis-issued certificates for 1.1.1.1 DNS service pose a threat to the Internet
The three certificates were issued in May but only came to light Wednesday.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-09-02 16:10:26
OpenAI announces parental controls for ChatGPT after teen suicide lawsuit
Promised protections follow reports of vulnerable users misled in extended chats.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-29 19:02:22
Zuckerberg’s AI hires disrupt Meta with swift exits and threats to leave
Longtime acolytes are sidelined as CEO directs biggest leadership reorganization in two decades.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-29 13:15:00
Google warns that mass data theft hitting Salesloft AI agent has grown bigger
Assume all Salesloft credentials are compromised after Workspace breach, Google says.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-28 19:46:43
High-severity vulnerability in Passwordstate credential manager. Patch now.
Vulnerability can be exploited to gain access to customers' crown jewels.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-28 14:00:10
Unpacking Passkeys Pwned: Possibly the most specious research in decades
Researchers take note: When the endpoint is compromised, all bets are off.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-28 12:00:57
The personhood trap: How AI fakes human personality
AI assistants don't have fixed personalities—just patterns of output guided by humans.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-27 17:17:29
Anthropic’s auto-clicking AI Chrome extension raises browser-hijacking concerns
Malicious websites can embed invisible commands that AI agents will follow blindly.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-26 23:08:38
After teen suicide, OpenAI claims it is “helping people when they need it most”
ChatGPT allegedly provided suicide encouragement to teen after moderation safeguards failed.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-25 20:58:07
Senator castigates federal judiciary for ignoring “basic cybersecurity”
Breaches in 2020 and 2025, reportedly by foreign adversaries, exposed confidential files.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-25 12:00:24
With AI chatbots, Big Tech is moving fast and breaking people
Why AI chatbots validate grandiose fantasies about revolutionary discoveries that don't exist.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-22 23:13:56
College student’s “time travel” AI experiment accidentally outputs real 1834 history
Hobbyist training AI on Victorian texts gets an unexpected history lesson from his own creation.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-21 23:06:37
Is the AI bubble about to pop? Sam Altman is prepared either way.
"Someone will lose a phenomenal amount of money," says CEO while fundraising at record prices.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-13 21:28:20
Is AI really trying to escape human control and blackmail people?
Opinion: Theatrical testing scenarios explain why AI models produce alarming outputs—and why we fall for it.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-13 15:08:47
OpenAI brings back GPT-4o after user revolt
After unpopular GPT-5 launch, OpenAI begins restoring optional access to previous AI models.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-12 20:52:39
Why it’s a mistake to ask chatbots about their mistakes
The tendency to ask AI bots to explain themselves reveals widespread misconceptions about how they work.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-12 01:13:14
High-severity WinRAR 0-day exploited for weeks by 2 groups
Exploits allow for persistent backdooring when targets open booby-trapped archive.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-11 23:25:34
The GPT-5 rollout has been a big mess
OpenAI faces backlash as users complain about broken workflows and losing AI friends.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-09 12:18:47
Encryption made for police and military radios may be easily cracked
An encryption algorithm can have weaknesses that could allow an attacker to listen in.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-08 21:11:56
It’s getting harder to skirt RTO policies without employers noticing
Most companies downsizing office space say it's because of hybrid work.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-08 20:41:00
Adult sites are stashing exploit code inside racy .svg files
Running JavaScript from inside an image? What could possibly go wrong?
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-07 21:05:34
Google discovered a new scam—and also fell victim to it
Disclosure comes two months after Google warned the world of ongoing spree.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-07 18:48:57
OpenAI launches GPT-5 free to all ChatGPT users
New model claims fewer confabulations, better coding, and "safe completions" approach.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-07 12:00:02
Here’s how deepfake vishing attacks work, and why they can be hard to detect
Why AI-based voice cloning is the next frontier in social-engineering attacks.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-05 19:28:10
Voice phishers strike again, this time hitting Cisco
Stopping people from falling for phishing attacks isn't working. So what are organizations to do?
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-04 20:16:26
AI site Perplexity uses “stealth tactics” to flout no-crawl edicts, Cloudflare says
The allegations are the latest to accuse Perplexity of improper web crawling.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-08-01 22:23:42
At $250 million, top AI salaries dwarf those of the Manhattan Project and the Space Race
A 24 year-old AI researcher will earn 327x what Oppenheimer made while developing the atomic bomb.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-31 22:43:51
Microsoft catches Russian hackers targeting foreign embassies
End goal is the installation of a malicious TLS root certificate for use in intel gathering.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-30 23:21:56
In search of riches, hackers plant 4G-enabled Raspberry Pi in bank network
Sophisticated group also used novel means to disguise their custom malware.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-30 19:47:00
So far, only one-third of Americans have ever used AI for work
AP survey shows most Americans treat AI chatbots like a search engine replacement.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-30 11:30:43
Flaw in Gemini CLI coding tool could allow hackers to run nasty commands
Beware of coding agents that can access your command window.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-29 22:24:16
AI in Wyoming may soon use more electricity than state’s human residents
Proposed datacenter would demand 5x Wyoming's current power use at full deployment.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-28 21:07:29
OpenAI’s ChatGPT Agent casually clicks through “I am not a robot” verification test
"This step is necessary to prove I'm not a bot," wrote the bot as it passed an anti-AI screening step.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-28 19:15:25
Pro-Ukrainian hackers take credit for attack that snarls Russian flight travel
State-owned Aeroflot cancels dozens of flights, stranding travelers throughout Russia.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-26 01:21:30
After BlackSuit is taken down, new ransomware group Chaos emerges
As BlackSuit's dark web site goes dark, Chaos is already around to pick up the slack.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-25 20:59:37
OpenAI’s most capable AI model, GPT-5, may be coming in August
Sources say new model combines o3 reasoning with general GPT capabilities.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-25 16:50:37
Supply-chain attacks on open source software are getting out of hand
Attacks affected packages, including one with ~2.8 million weekly downloads.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-24 22:01:28
Two major AI coding tools wiped out user data after making cascading mistakes
"I have failed you completely and catastrophically," wrote Gemini.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-24 19:11:23
Nvidia AI chips worth $1B smuggled to China after Trump export controls
Black market for US semiconductors operates despite efforts to curb Beijing’s high-tech ambitions.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-24 18:51:43
Some VMware perpetual license owners are unable to download security patches
Customers will get patches at unspecified "later date," Broadcom says.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-24 15:37:05
White House unveils sweeping plan to “win” global AI race through deregulation
Trump's "AI Action Plan" reverses regulations, sparks critical pushback.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-23 22:34:26
OpenAI and partners are building a massive AI data center in Texas
"Easy to throw around numbers, but this is a gigantic infrastructure project."
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-23 21:14:40
What to know about ToolShell, the SharePoint threat under mass exploitation
Easy to exploit. Unauthenticated access. Massive reach. ToolShell has it all.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-22 22:00:10
A power utility is reporting suspected pot growers to cops. EFF says that’s illegal.
EFF says the "mass surveillance scheme" violates constitutional protections.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-21 20:30:09
SharePoint vulnerability with 9.8 severity rating under exploit across globe
Ongoing attacks are allowing hackers to steal credentials giving privileged access.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-21 17:02:04
OpenAI jumps gun on International Math Olympiad gold medal announcement
Non-math AI model reportedly solves proofs at human speeds, but early reveal roils community.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-18 20:34:14
Exhausted man defeats AI model in world coding championship
"Humanity has prevailed (for now!)," writes winner after 10-hour coding marathon against OpenAI.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-18 20:07:21
Phishers have found a way to downgrade—not bypass—FIDO MFA
Contrary to recent reports, phishing sleight-of-hand doesn't defeat FIDO.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-17 23:16:09
GitHub abused to distribute payloads on behalf of malware-as-a-service
The repository offered the MaaS a distribution channel not blocked in many networks.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-17 21:41:52
ChatGPT’s new AI agent can browse the web and create PowerPoint slideshows
New "agentic" AI feature combines web browsing with task-execution abilities.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-17 18:12:01
Google hides secret message in name list of 3,295 AI researchers
Gemini 2.5 paper hides Easter egg in massive author list—but why so many contributors?
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-16 23:20:33
More VMware cloud partners axed as Broadcom launches new invite-only program
Smaller businesses most likely to be affected as white-label cloud program is also ending.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-16 21:29:38
Google finds custom backdoor being installed on SonicWall network devices
Overstep backdoor nukes key log entries, making detection hard.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-16 12:15:04
Hackers exploit a blind spot by hiding malware inside DNS records
Technique transforms the Internet DNS into an unconventional file storage system.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-15 21:49:04
Chinese firms rush for Nvidia chips as US prepares to lift ban
H20 chips, designed to skirt export bans, are back after Trump meets with CEO.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-14 19:25:36
Nvidia chips become the first GPUs to fall to Rowhammer bit-flip attacks
GPUhammer is the first to flip bits in onboard GPU memory. It likely won't be the last.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-14 17:08:13
New Grok AI model surprises experts by checking Elon Musk’s views before answering
Grok 4's "reasoning" shows cases where the chatbot consults Musk posts to answer divisive questions.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-11 23:01:10
AI therapy bots fuel delusions and give dangerous advice, Stanford study finds
Popular chatbots serve as poor replacements for human therapists, but study authors call for nuance.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-10 22:54:26
Pro basketball player and 4 youths arrested in connection to ransomware crimes
Suspects were allegedly involved in a string of ransomware breaches.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-10 17:05:35
Musk’s Grok 4 launches one day after chatbot generated Hitler praise on X
xAI claims new multi-agent model hits top benchmarks as Nazi controversy lingers.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-09 22:59:25
ChatGPT made up a product feature out of thin air, so this company created it
Soundslice caught OpenAI's bot telling users about a fake music notation feature—then built it.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-09 21:08:27
Browser extensions turn nearly 1 million browsers into website-scraping bots
Extensions load unknown sites into invisible Windows. What could go wrong?
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-09 19:35:15
AI mania pushes Nvidia to record $4 trillion valuation
AI craze makes Nvidia the most valuable publicly traded company in history.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-09 12:20:24
Critical CitrixBleed 2 vulnerability has been under active exploit for weeks
Exploits allow hackers to bypass 2FA and commandeer vulnerable devices.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-08 17:50:29
AGI may be impossible to define, and that’s a multibillion-dollar problem
Several definitions make measuring "human-level" AI an exercise in moving goalposts.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-08 00:46:14
Unless users take action, Android will let Gemini access third-party apps
Important changes to Android devices took effect starting Monday.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-07 19:12:10
“No honor among thieves”: M&S hacking group starts turf war
A clash between criminal ransomware groups could result in victims being extorted twice.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-03 20:36:44
Provider of covert surveillance app spills passwords for 62,000 users
Creators say app is intended for parental monitoring. So why the emphasis on stealth?
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-07-02 20:28:27
AT&T rolls out Wireless Account Lock protection to curb the SIM-swap scourge
Move is aimed at curbing a form of abuse that costs subscribers dearly.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-30 20:57:49
Mexican drug cartel hacked FBI official’s phone to track informant, report says
Official was connected to FBI probe of cartel Kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-26 23:52:42
Actively exploited vulnerability gives extraordinary control over server fleets
AMI MegaRAC used in servers from AMD, ARM, Fujitsu, Gigabyte, Supermicro, and Qualcomm.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-26 21:33:20
Anthropic summons the spirit of Flash games for the AI age
AI chatbot codes browser-based apps from plain English with classic web vibes.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-26 21:17:54
VMware perpetual license holder receives audit letter from Broadcom
"Our management thought it was a bluff..."
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-25 21:00:03
Anthropic destroyed millions of print books to build its AI models
Company hired Google's book-scanning chief to cut up and digitize "all the books in the world."
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-25 20:39:19
Ubuntu disables Intel GPU security mitigations, promises 20% performance boost
Overtime defenses for Spectre-based attacks have taken their toll.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-24 18:25:41
The résumé is dying, and AI is holding the smoking gun
As thousands of applications flood job posts, 'hiring slop' is kicking off an AI arms race.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-23 20:21:42
Canadian telecom hacked by suspected China state group
Maximum-security Cisco vulnerability was patched Oct. 2023 and exploited Feb. 2025.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-20 20:04:22
Record DDoS pummels site with once-unimaginable 7.3Tbps of junk traffic
Attacker rained down the equivalent of 9,300 full-length HD movies in just 45 seconds.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-19 15:40:45
Israel-tied Predatory Sparrow hackers are waging cyberwar on Iran’s financial system
The hacker group has destroyed more than $90 million held at an Iranian crypto exchange.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-18 22:10:45
Tech support scammers inject malicious phone numbers into big-name websites
Microsoft, Apple, Bank of America, and many more sites all targeted.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-18 12:15:46
Scientists once hoarded pre-nuclear steel, and now we’re hoarding pre-AI content
Newly-announced catalog collects pre-2022 sources untouched by ChatGPT and AI contamination.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-17 22:33:01
Cybersecurity takes a big hit in new Trump executive order
Provisions on secure software, quantum–resistant crypto, and more are scrapped.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-17 17:26:28
OpenAI weighs “nuclear option” of antitrust complaint against Microsoft
WSJ report says OpenAI mulling federal complaint as Microsoft stalls restructuring plan.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-16 21:15:18
Vandals cut fiber-optic lines, causing outage for Spectrum Internet subscribers
The soaring price of copper makes networks tempting targets for thieves.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-12 21:26:28
Coming to Apple OSes: A seamless, secure way to import and export passkeys
Apple OSes will soon transfer passkeys seamlessly and securely across platforms.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-11 19:58:22
Hollywood studios target AI image generator in copyright lawsuit
Multiple-studio complaint cites AI image outputs as evidence of "bottomless pit of plagiarism."
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-11 17:58:43
With the launch of o3-pro, let’s talk about what AI “reasoning” actually does
New studies reveal pattern-matching reality behind the AI industry's reasoning claims.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-10 20:00:34
Found in the wild: 2 Secure Boot exploits. Microsoft is patching only 1 of them.
The publicly available exploits provide a near-universal way to bypass key protections.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-10 19:27:48
OpenAI signs surprise deal with Google Cloud despite fierce AI rivalry
Report: Deal marks shift from exclusive Microsoft partnership as AI compute needs soar.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-10 17:38:56
After AI setbacks, Meta bets billions on undefined “superintelligence”
Zuckerberg seeks new AI direction under sci-fi banner that some experts say is arbitrary.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-09 16:36:15
FAA to retire floppy disks and Windows 95 amid air traffic control overhaul
Agency seeks contractors to modernize decades-old systems within four years.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-06 22:12:17
Anthropic releases custom AI chatbot for classified spy work
"Claude Gov" is already handling classified information for the US government.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-06 20:15:28
Millions of low-cost Android devices turn home networks into crime platforms
BadBox malware has been menacing low-cost Android devices for nearly a decade.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-05 15:35:15
“In 10 years, all bets are off”—Anthropic CEO opposes decadelong freeze on state AI laws
Amodei says AI "too fast" for blanket law ban; sees fundamental world change in 2 years.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-04 12:20:37
Two certificate authorities booted from the good graces of Chrome
Chunghwa Telecom and Netlock customers must look elsewhere for new certificates.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-06-03 13:00:48
Meta and Yandex are de-anonymizing Android users’ web browsing identifiers
Abuse allows Meta and Yandex to attach persistent identifiers to detailed browsing histories.