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Category: Cybercrime and Darknet

China is using artificial intelligence to improve mass surveillance

In Beijing, in a banquet hall of a luxury hotel, police officers from across the country attended a conference dedicated to the application of artificial intelligence to public safety . The event opened with a welcome video featuring animated robots battling in space, while models of robot dogs were displayed outside the hall. During subsequent sessions, representatives from technology companies and government researchers illustrated how new technologies can be used to strengthen national surveillance. Among the solutions presented were voice recognition systems, robots capable of identifying suspicious behavior, and personal data analysis platforms. A technology company executive said his company is working

Microsoft apologizes to 3 million Australian users for unfair business practices

Microsoft has apologised to nearly 3 million Australian users and offered them refunds for subscriptions to its new, more expensive Microsoft 365 office suite , which includes Copilot, an AI-powered assistant. Microsoft Australia emailed Microsoft 365 users a refund offer and acknowledged that its pricing structure and plans were not transparent enough to consumers and did not meet the company’s standards. “Our relationship is built on trust and transparency, and we apologize for failing to meet our standards,” the U.S. company said in an email to Microsoft 365 subscribers. A week and a half ago, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)

Cisco Addresses Critical Vulnerabilities in ASA and Unified Contact Center Express

Cisco recently announced the discovery of a new type of cyberattack aimed at compromising devices running Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) software. The bugs discovered by security researcher Jahmel Harris are tracked under CVE-2025-20333 and CVE-2025-20362. While successful exploitation of CVE-2025-20333 allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code as root using forged HTTP requests, CVE-2025-20362 allows an attacker to access a restricted URL without authentication. Affected products include: The update comes as Cisco has addressed two critical security flaws in Unified Contact Center Express (Unified CCX) that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker

Rust Rebels! Fund Launched to Pay Open Source Maintainers

The Rust Foundation has announced the launch of the Maintainers Fund, a new program designed to support developers responsible for the stability and development of the Rust ecosystem. This step aims to address one of the oldest and most pressing problems in open source software: the lack of sustainable financial support for the people who have been working on the code and infrastructure for years. For now, this is just a preliminary statement without any details. Foundation representatives have not disclosed the budget, the grant distribution process, or the conditions for participation. The statement simply states that the project builds on the

12.5 million HD movies per second! Amazon’s undersea cable will connect the US to Ireland.

In a few years, Ireland and the United States will be connected by an undersea communications cable designed to help Amazon improve its AWS services. Undersea cables are a vital part of the infrastructure connecting continents. According to media reports, there are currently approximately 570 cables laid across oceans and seas, with another 81 planned. Among these is the new Amazon Fastnet Cable, designed to connect the United States and Ireland in a few years and enhance the AWS network. As Amazon announced in a press release, the undersea cable will be laid between Maryland, USA, and County Cork, Ireland. While Amazon

SMTP Posts Actively Exploited: 400,000 WordPress Sites at Risk

Attackers are targeting WordPress websites by exploiting a critical vulnerability in the Post SMTP plugin, which has over 400,000 installations. Hackers are hijacking administrator accounts and gaining complete control over vulnerable resources. Post SMTP is one of the most popular plugins for sending emails from WordPress sites. Its developers propose it as an advanced alternative to the standard wp_mail() function, offering enhanced features and greater reliability. The vulnerability was discovered by a security researcher named netranger , who reported it to Wordfence on October 11. It has been assigned the identifier CVE-2025-11833 (CVSS score 9.8). The bug affects all versions of Post

Cyberattacks against public applications are increasing. Cisco’s report

Milan, November 4, 2025 – Cyberattacks that exploit publicly accessible applications, such as websites or corporate portals, to gain access to organizational systems are on the rise, and phishing attacks conducted through compromised corporate accounts are also on the rise . Ransomware attacks, however , are declining , although new, dangerous variants of this type of threat have been detected. These are the most significant data that emerged from the Cisco Talos Report – relating to the July, August and September quarters of 2025. Regarding cyberattacks exploiting publicly accessible applications , this method was used in more than six out of ten

Epic vs. Google: Historic Agreement for App Developers

Just when it seemed like Epic’s case against Google was on the verge of a final victory for the developer —following the potential dismissal of Google’s appeal by the Supreme Court— the parties unexpectedly announced a settlement on Tuesday evening. If Judge James Donato approves the proposed changes, Epic’s victory could become a long-term global success. Judge Donato had previously granted Epic’s main claims. He issued a permanent injunction requiring Google to host competing app stores on its Google Play Store and provide them with access to its full app catalog. Google was also barred from requiring developers to use Google Play

Undersea Cables, the New Hybrid War: Jaroslav Nad’s Alarm

Taiwan is critically dependent on its undersea infrastructure, which is essential for communications and power supply . In recent years, however, there have been a series of incidents of damage and malicious cutting of the cables connecting the island to the rest of the world. Former Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad’ called these facilities a veritable “invisible battlefield,” emphasizing that their compromise by a potential adversary could have direct consequences for military decisions and strategic security. Nad’ called on Taiwan and European countries to work together to develop a system of shared responsibility for submarine safety. Record damage rate: up to 50

Apache OpenOffice under ransomware attack, but the foundation disputes

The Apache OpenOffice project has come under scrutiny after the Akira ransomware group claimed to have carried out a cyberattack and stolen 23 gigabytes of internal data. However, the organization overseeing the development of the office suite disputes the veracity of these claims, citing a lack of evidence of a data leak and a discrepancy with the actual structure of the project. Information about the alleged attack appeared on the Akira leak website on October 30. The attackers claimed to have accessed internal reports, financial documents, and personal data, including addresses, phone numbers, driver’s licenses, Social Security numbers, and even banking information