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Sam Altman’s Iris-Scanning Startup Reaches Only 2% of Its Goal

Sam Altman’s ambitious—and often criticized—vision to scan humanity’s eyeballs for a profit is falling far behind its own expectations. The...

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pins
Android ATM Banks debit cards Financial Breach malware NFC pins

New Android Malware Steals Debit Card Data And PINs To Enable ATM Withdrawals

 




Security researchers have identified an Android malware operation that can collect debit card details and PINs directly from a victim’s mobile device and use that information to withdraw cash from an ATM. What makes this attack particularly dangerous is that criminals never need to handle the victim’s physical bank card at any point. Instead, the entire theft is carried out through the victim’s compromised phone, wireless communication features, and a coordinated cashout attempt at an ATM.

The threat relies on a combination of social engineering and near field communication, a short-range wireless feature widely used for contactless payments on smartphones and payment cards. Once the malware is in place, it quietly monitors NFC activity on the compromised phone, captures the temporary transaction data, and sends this information to an accomplice positioned near an ATM. Because these NFC codes change quickly and are valid only for a short period, the cash withdrawal must be carried out almost immediately for the fraud to succeed.

The attackers cannot begin the operation until they convince the target to install the malicious application. To achieve this, they commonly send deceptive text messages or emails that pretend to come from a bank. These messages warn the user about false account issues or security concerns and direct them to install an app from a link. Victims are sometimes contacted through follow-up calls to reinforce the urgency and to make the request appear more legitimate. The app itself does not come from an official store and often asks for permissions it does not need, including access to financial inputs. Once a user enters their card information and PIN, the malware is ready to operate in the background.

When the victim completes a contactless transaction on their phone, the malware intercepts the NFC exchange and sends the captured data to the waiting accomplice. That person uses a phone or smartwatch to simulate the victim’s payment credential at a nearby ATM and withdraws money before the dynamic code becomes invalid. Because all steps are interconnected and time sensitive, the criminals typically coordinate their roles in advance.

This technique stands out because it exploits features designed for convenience. It does not rely on physical skimming devices or stolen cards. Instead, it abuses trusted communication processes inside the victim’s own device. The combination of fake alerts, misleading calls, unauthorized apps, and wireless data relays makes the attack appear legitimate to those who are not familiar with these tactics.


Practical steps readers should take :

• Only install banking or payment apps from official app stores or verified developer pages.

• Treat unsolicited messages or calls claiming to be from your bank as suspicious; verify alerts using the phone number printed on your card or official statements.

• Never share card numbers or PINs in response to unsolicited contacts.

• Review installed apps and revoke permissions for unknown or unnecessary apps, particularly those that request accessibility or payment access.

• Use reputable mobile security software and keep the device and apps updated; some security products can detect malicious installers and block phishing links. 

• Any suspicious alerts should be verified by contacting the bank using official phone numbers printed on cards or statements.


As cybercriminals continue to grow more layered and coordinated attacks, staying informed about these methods is essential. Understanding how such schemes operate can help individuals protect themselves and warn others before they become victims.

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faulty software update
Algorithmic security Computing Cyber Security Decoder fault-tolerant quantum computing faulty software update

Quantum Error Correction Moves From Theory to Practical Breakthroughs

Quantum computing’s biggest roadblock has always been fragility: qubits lose information at the slightest disturbance, and protecting them requires linking many unstable physical qubits into a single logical qubit that can detect and repair errors. That redundancy works in principle, but the repeated checks and recovery cycles have historically imposed such heavy overhead that error correction remained mainly academic. Over the last year, however, a string of complementary advances suggests quantum error correction is transitioning from theory into engineering practice. 

Algorithmic improvements are cutting correction overheads by treating errors as correlated events rather than isolated failures. Techniques that combine transversal operations with smarter decoders reduce the number of measurement-and-repair rounds needed, shortening runtimes dramatically for certain hardware families. Platforms built from neutral atoms benefit especially from these methods because their qubits can be rearranged and operated on in parallel, enabling fewer, faster correction cycles without sacrificing accuracy.

On the hardware side, researchers have started to demonstrate logical qubits that outperform the raw physical qubits that compose them. Showing a logical qubit with lower effective error rates on real devices is a milestone: it proves that fault tolerance can deliver practical gains, not just theoretical resilience. Teams have even executed scaled-down versions of canonical quantum algorithms on error-protected hardware, moving the community from “can this work?” to “how do we make it useful?” 

Software and tooling are maturing to support these hardware and algorithmic wins. Open-source toolkits now let engineers simulate error-correction strategies before hardware commits, while real-time decoders and orchestration layers bridge quantum operations with the classical compute that must act on error signals. Training materials and developer platforms are emerging to close the skills gap, helping teams build, test, and operate QEC stacks more rapidly. 

That progress does not negate the engineering challenges ahead. Error correction still multiplies resource needs and demands significant classical processing for decoding in real time. Different qubit technologies present distinct wiring, control, and scaling trade-offs, and growing system size will expose new bottlenecks. Experts caution that advances are steady rather than explosive: integrating algorithms, hardware, and orchestration remains the hard part. 

Still, the arc is unmistakable. Faster algorithms, demonstrable logical qubits, and a growing ecosystem of software and training make quantum error correction an engineering discipline now, not a distant dream. The field has shifted from proving concepts to building repeatable systems, and while fault-tolerant, cryptographically relevant quantum machines are not yet here, the path toward reliable quantum computation is clearer than it has ever been.
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Threat Intelligence
ClickFix Cyber Security Malicious Campaign Social Engineering Threat Intelligence

ClickFix: The Silent Cyber Threat Tricking Families Worldwide

 

ClickFix has emerged as one of the most pervasive and dangerous cybersecurity threats in 2025, yet remains largely unknown to the average user and even many IT professionals. This social engineering technique manipulates users into executing malicious scripts—often just a single line of code—by tricking them with fake error messages, CAPTCHA prompts, or fraudulent browser update alerts.

The attack exploits the natural human desire to fix technical problems, bypassing most endpoint protections and affecting Windows, macOS, and Linux systems. ClickFix campaign typically begin when a victim encounters a legitimate-looking message urging them to run a script or command, often on compromised or spoofed websites. 

Once executed, the script connects the victim’s device to a server controlled by attackers, allowing stealthy installation of malware such as credential stealers (e.g., Lumma Stealer, SnakeStealer), remote access trojans (RATs), ransomware, cryptominers, and even nation-state-aligned malware. The technique is highly effective because it leverages “living off the land” binaries, which are legitimate system tools, making detection difficult for security software.

ClickFix attacks have surged by over 500% in 2025, accounting for nearly 8% of all blocked attacks and ranking as the second most common attack vector after traditional phishing. Threat actors are now selling ClickFix builders to automate the creation of weaponized landing pages, further accelerating the spread of these attacks. Victims are often ordinary users, including families, who may lack the technical knowledge to distinguish legitimate error messages from malicious ones.

The real-world impact of ClickFix is extensive: it enables attackers to steal sensitive information, hijack browser sessions, install malicious extensions, and even execute ransomware attacks. Cybersecurity firms and agencies are urging users to exercise caution with prompts to run scripts and to verify the authenticity of error messages before taking any action. Proactive human risk management and user education are essential to mitigate the threat posed by ClickFix and similar social engineering tactics.
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privacy protection
Automotive Cyberattack Connected Car Security Cybersecurity Breach Data Breach Data Exposure Digital threats Hyundai AutoEver identity theft risk personal data safety privacy protection

Hyundai Faces Security Incident With Potential Data Exposure

 


In the past few months, Hyundai AutoEver America, a division of Hyundai Motor Group, has confirmed a recent data breach that exposed sensitive personal information after hackers infiltrated its internal IT environment earlier this year, revealing a recent data breach. 

A company spokesperson told me that unauthorized access to the company's computer systems began on February 22, 2025 and went undetected until March 2, giving intruders nine days to access confidential data. 

The early breach notices didn't specify how many people were affected, but according to state regulatory disclosures as well as a subsequent statement issued to Kelley Blue Book, approximately 2,000 people—out of the over 2.7 million users HAEA serves across Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis platforms—were impacted. There have been a number of compromises of the data, including names, Social Security numbers, and driving license information. 

In response to the suspicious activity, HAEA contacted an external cybersecurity expert who conducted an investigation, contained the intrusion, and informed law enforcement. As officials continue to assess the full scope of the incident, officials have begun issuing formal notices to those whose information was possibly exposed. 

It was only in the months that followed that it became increasingly clearer and more troubling just what the breach's consequences and the broader risks associated with connected vehicles were in the future. Even though Hyundai AutoEver America eventually acknowledged that the incident could have affected as many as 2.7 million Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis owners, internal assessments and state filings later narrowed the directly affected group to merely 2,000 individuals, yet the sensitive nature of the data involved makes even this smaller number quite significant. 

A nine-day intrusion that took place between February 22 and March 2, 2025, revealed the names, addresses, phone numbers, driver’s license numbers, and Social Security numbers of several automobile manufacturers, revealing to intruders a full range of data and details that underpinned core digital services across the automaker’s brands during that period. 

Among privacy experts, there is no doubt that what has caused concern is not just the scope of information but also that it has taken seven months for customers to be informed about the incident, a timeframe that gave the possibility for stolen identities to be misused or combined with other data circulating from other breaches.

Hyundai is also experiencing a growing pattern of security breaches since 2023, which reinforces concerns that these are not isolated incidents but rather signs of deeper structural problems. As the episode illustrates, modern cars—once purely mechanical devices—now act as sophisticated data hubs, collecting everything from passengers’ financial details to route histories, biometric inputs, driving behaviour, and even information synced from their mobile devices, which is not visible to the driver. 

Manufacturers are expanding their digital ecosystems and the breach has raised questions about the industry's ability to safeguard the vast and intimate data it collects on a regular basis. Immediately following the intrusion, Hyundai AutoEver America made an effort to reassure its customers by offering two years of complimentary identity theft and credit monitoring services through Epiq as a gesture of goodwill.

In spite of this, security analysts note that such measures are rarely sufficient to relieve customers after sensitive information has been stolen. Additionally, Hyundai Motor Europe’s disclosure also brought back memories of a similar experience it suffered just a year earlier when it was attacked by a ransomware gang called Black Basta, which claimed to have taken over 3TB of internal files before appearing dormant in early 2025, when the company lost control of its operations. 

All in all, these incidents emphasize one more uncomfortable reality: automakers now harvest and manage far greater amounts of personal information than most drivers are aware of. Besides the information required for financing or registration of vehicles, companies routinely collect (and in some cases monetize) data regarding the locations of their customers, their driving habits, the biometric patterns they use, and even behavioral patterns that can help them infer consumers' preferences with a remarkable degree of accuracy. 

Following a complaint made by General Motors that it had shared driver data with third-parties to the point of being able to obtain their information from them, the Federal Trade Commission issued a five-year ban on the practice. In July, a U.S. Senate inquiry raised concerns about other manufacturers continuing the same data-sharing practices. 

The HAEA notified the California Attorney General of the incident by notifying them that they had enlisted cybersecurity experts to determine the scope of the breach and confirm that the intrusion had been contained, even though investigators were unable to determine if the information was exfiltrated. Those affected customers have been given 90 days to enroll in monitoring services, and a hotline has also been established to assist customers. 

As Hyundai AutoEver asserts, only a small number of users have been directly impacted by this incident, but the incident has ignited a wider industry debate over precisely how well automakers secure the ever-increasing amount of personal data embedded in most connected vehicles today. After Hyundai AutoEver America found out that a wide range of sensitive data points had been exposed as part of this breach, including a number of customer names, government-issued identification numbers, and passwords, it confirmed that the investigation of the technical footprint was continuing. 

Among the records that were compromised, according to notification letters sent to the individuals affected, were Social Security numbers and driver's license information, with each recipient receiving a customized breakdown of which data elements applied to them in the initial notification. In order to conduct the analysis in a comprehensive way, extensive forensic work and collaboration with external cybersecurity specialists were necessary. 

These specialists helped Hyundai AutoEver reconstruct the intrusion, assess database exposure, and determine which users needed formal notification. Hyundai AutoEver said it immediately terminated the intruder's access and implemented additional safeguards and was continuing to implement a comprehensive remediation program that was intended to prevent similar incidents in the future. 

Consequently, Epiq Privacy Solutions has been contacted by the company to offer complimentary two-year credit monitoring and identity protection services to impacted customers, which will include three-bureau monitoring and fraud detection tools, as well as a 90-day enrollment period. It should be noted that these protections are only a layer of protection, however, according to security experts. 

As a precautionary measure, they advise their customers to review financial statements, to check their credit reports, and to place fraud alerts or credit freezes with the major credit bureaus to reduce the risk of unauthorized account openings. 

In addition, this incident has brought about renewed discussions about digital hygiene for vehicle owners, ranging from updating passwords and enabling multifactor authentication on connected car applications to avoiding stored payment information in the infotainment system.

There are a number of cybercrime analysts who note that incidents of this nature often open the door to secondary scams, as cybercriminals impersonate automakers' support teams in order to steal more personal information from car owners through pages pretending to be account verifications and security updates. 

These developments have been identified by industry observers as part of a dramatic shift in the way in which cars now collect far more information than most drivers are aware of. These include location histories, biometric identifiers, behavioral patterns, and synced mobile data, to name a few. 

The results of this study indicate that consumers should adopt strong cybersecurity practices, including using reputable antivirus software, staying current on device updates, and thinking about data-removal solutions that will reduce exposure to data-broker websites as a result of data misuse. Several automakers have been affected by this new trend; the Federal Trade Commission imposed a five-year ban on General Motors' ability to sell data on drivers earlier this year. 

Additionally, a Senate investigation has raised concerns about similar practices in other automakers, including Hyundai, as well. In spite of Hyundai AutoEver's assertion that only a relatively small number of its customers were directly affected by this breach, the incident has brought to light questions about the effectiveness with which carmakers are safeguarding the growing amounts of data embedded in connected cars, as well as what consumers should do in the rapidly growing digital world in order to protect themselves from the threat of fraud. 

It is clear from the Hyundai AutoEver breach that the automobile industry needs to rethink how it approaches data security in an increasingly interconnected digital age, where vehicles become increasingly interconnected digital ecosystems. It is important to note that meaningful protection depends both on stronger corporate safeguards as well as on proactive vigilance on the part of drivers in light of increased regulatory oversight and consumers' increasing awareness of how their information is being used.

It is vital that consumers play an important role in reducing future risks by practicing stricter digital hygiene, minimizing unnecessary data sharing, and demanding that automakers communicate their information more clearly, in order to ensure that the convenience of connected cars does not come at the expense of their individual privacy rights.
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Ransomware
Account security British transport Data Breach MFA Passwords Ransomware

When Weak Passwords Open The Door: Major Breaches That Began With Simple Logins

 



Cybersecurity incidents are often associated with sophisticated exploits, but many of the most damaging breaches across public institutions, private companies and individual accounts have originated from something far more basic: predictable passwords and neglected account controls. A review of several high-profile cases shows how easily attackers can bypass defences when organisations rely on outdated credentials, skip essential updates or fail to enforce multi-factor authentication.

One example resurfaced when an older assessment revealed that the server used to manage surveillance cameras at a prominent European museum operated with a password identical to the institution’s name. The report, which stresses on configuration weaknesses and poor access safeguards, has drawn renewed attention following recent thefts from the museum’s collection. The outdated credential underlined how critical systems often remain vulnerable because maintenance and password policies fall behind operational needs.

A similar pattern was seen in May 2021 when a major fuel pipeline in the United States halted operations after attackers used a compromised login associated with an inactive remote-access account. The credential was not protected by secondary verification, allowing the intruders to infiltrate the network. The temporary shutdown triggered widespread disruption, and the operator ultimately paid a substantial ransom before systems could be restored. Investigators later recovered part of the payment, but the event demonstrated how a single unsecured account can affect national infrastructure.

In the corporate sector, a British transport company with more than a century of operations collapsed after a ransomware group accessed its internal environment by correctly guessing an employee’s password. Once inside, the attackers encrypted operational data and locked critical systems, demanding a ransom the firm could not pay. With its files unrecoverable, the company ceased trading and hundreds of employees lost their jobs. The case illustrated how small oversights in password hygiene can destabilise even long-established businesses.

Weak or unchanged default codes have also enabled intrusions into personal communications. Years-long investigations into unlawful phone-hacking in the United Kingdom revealed that some voicemail systems were protected by factory-set PINs or extremely simple numerical combinations. These lax protections enabled unauthorized access to private messages belonging to public figures, eventually triggering criminal proceedings, regulatory inquiries and the shutdown of a national newspaper.

Historical oversight is not limited to consumer systems. Former personnel who worked with early nuclear command procedures in the United States have described past practices in which launch mechanisms relied on extremely simple numeric sequences. Although additional procedural safeguards existed, later reforms strengthened the technical requirements to ensure that no single point of failure or simplistic code could enable unauthorized action.

More recently, a national elections authority in the United Kingdom was reprimanded after attackers accessed servers containing voter registration data between 2021 and 2022. Regulators found that essential patches had not been applied and that many internal accounts continued to use passwords similar to those originally assigned at setup. By impersonating legitimate users, intruders were able to penetrate the system, though no evidence indicated that the data was subsequently misused.

These incidents reinforce a consistent conclusion. Passwords remain central to digital security, and organisations that fail to enforce strong credential policies, update software and enable multi-factor authentication expose themselves to avoidable breaches. Even basic improvements in password complexity and account management can prevent the kinds of failures that have repeatedly resulted in financial losses, service outages and large-scale investigations.


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Technology
AI scam trends Gmail Scams Google Messages scam alert Google Play safety Google security warning Google Threat Intelligence Group Technology

Google Issues New Security Alert: Six Emerging Scams Targeting Gmail, Google Messages & Play Users

 

Google continues to be a major magnet for cybercriminal activity. Recent incidents—ranging from increased attacks on Google Calendar users to a Chrome browser–freezing exploit and new password-stealing tools aimed at Android—highlight how frequently attackers target the tech giant’s platforms. In response, Google has released an updated advisory warning users of Gmail, Google Messages, and Google Play about six fast-growing scams, along with the protective measures already built into its ecosystem.

According to Laurie Richardson, Google’s vice president of trust and safety, the rise in scams is both widespread and alarming: “57% of adults experienced a scam in the past year, with 23% reporting money stolen.” She further confirmed that scammers are increasingly leveraging AI tools to “efficiently scale and enhance their schemes.” To counter this trend, Google’s safety teams have issued a comprehensive warning outlining the latest scam patterns and reinforcing how its products help defend against them.

Before diving into the specific scam types, Google recommends trying its security awareness game, inspired by inoculation theory, which helps users strengthen their ability to spot fraudulent behavior.

One of the most notable threats involves the misuse of AI services. Richardson explained that “Cybercriminals are exploiting the widespread enthusiasm for AI tools by using it as a powerful social engineering lure,” setting up “sophisticated scams impersonating popular AI services, promising free or exclusive access to ensnare victims.” These traps often appear as fake apps, malicious websites, or harmful browser extensions promoted through deceptive ads—including cloaked malvertising that hides malicious intent from scanners while presenting dangerous content to real users.

Richardson emphasized Google’s strict rules: “Google prohibits ads that distribute Malicious Software and enforces strict rules on Play and Chrome for apps and extension,” noting that Play Store policies allow proactive removal of apps imitating legitimate AI tools. Meanwhile, Chrome’s AI-powered enhanced Safe Browsing mode adds real-time alerts for risky activity.

Google’s Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) has also issued its own findings in the new GTIG AI Threat Tracker report. GTIG researchers have seen a steady rise in attackers using AI-powered malware over the past year and have identified new strategies in how they try to bypass safeguards. The group observed threat actors “adopting social engineering-like pretexts in their prompts to bypass AI safety guardrails.”

One striking example involved a fabricated “capture-the-flag” security event designed to manipulate Gemini into revealing restricted information useful for developing exploits or attack tools. In one case, a China-linked threat actor used this CTF method to support “phishing, exploitation, and web shell development.”

Google reiterated its commitment to enforcing its AI policies, stating: “Our policy guidelines and prohibited use policies prioritize safety and responsible use of Google's generative AI tools,” and added that “we continuously enhance safeguards in our products to offer scaled protections to users across the globe.”

Beyond AI-related threats, Google highlighted that online job scams continue to surge. Richardson noted that “These campaigns involve impersonating well-known companies through detailed imitations of official career pages, fake recruiter profiles, and fraudulent government recruitment postings distributed via phishing emails and deceptive advertisements across a range of platforms.”

To help protect users, Google relies on features such as scam detection in Google Messages, Gmail’s automatic filtering for phishing and fraud, and two-factor authentication, which adds an additional security layer for user accounts.
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