Latest news with #FBI
The Independent
44 minutes ago
- The Independent
Billions of passwords exposed in massive data breach
Isabel Keane Friday 20 June 2025 09:00 BST The biggest data breaches in history Researchers have uncovered what they describe as the largest data breach ever, exposing 16 billion login credentials and passwords. The leaked data includes access information for major platforms like Apple, Facebook, Google, other social media accounts, and government services. Most of the 30 exposed datasets, containing billions of records, were previously unreported, indicating new and potentially exploitable intelligence. The leak prompted Google to advise billions of users to change their passwords and the FBI to warn against opening suspicious SMS links. Experts recommend using password management solutions, avoiding password sharing, and remaining vigilant against potential compromises. In full
Hypebeast
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Hypebeast
David Fincher's ‘Mindhunter' Could Return as Three Movies
Summary David Fincher'sMindhuntermay not return for another season, but it could come back in other ways: specifically, three movies. Holt McCallany, who played the role of FBI Special Agent Bill Tench on theNetflixseries, recently toldCBRthat he spoke to Fincher about the possibility of the show's revival. 'I had a meeting with David Fincher in his office a few months ago, and he said to me that there is a chance that it may come back as three two-hour movies, but I think it's just a chance,' he shared. 'I know there are writers that are working, but you know, David has to be happy with scripts.' The actor continued, 'I recently wrote a script that he was kind enough to give me notes on. I was in script revisions with David for two and a half years.. but [he] was very meticulous, which is why I think he's the best director in Hollywood.' 'He gave me a little bit of hope when I had that meeting with him, but the sun, the moon and the stars would all have to align,' McCallany added. Mindhunterstarred McCallany andJonathan Groffas FBI Special Agent Holden Ford, and followed the genesis of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit and the process of criminal profiling. It was based on John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker's 1995 true crime bookMindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit. The show ran for a total of two seasons up until 2019, but was not renewed by Netflix supposedly due to itsexpensive price tag.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘Godfather of AI' believes it's unsafe - but here's how he plans to fix the tech
This week the US Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed two men suspected of bombing a fertility clinic in California last month allegedly used artificial intelligence (AI) to obtain bomb-making instructions. The FBI did not disclose the name of the AI program in question. This brings into sharp focus the urgent need to make AI safer. Currently we are living in the 'wild west' era of AI, where companies are fiercely competing to develop the fastest and most entertaining AI systems. Each company wants to outdo competitors and claim the top spot. This intense competition often leads to intentional or unintentional shortcuts – especially when it comes to safety. Coincidentally, at around the same time of the FBI's revelation, one of the godfathers of modern AI, Canadian computer science professor Yoshua Bengio, launched a new nonprofit organisation dedicated to developing a new AI model specifically designed to be safer than other AI models – and target those that cause social harm. So what is Bengio's new AI model? And will it actually protect the world from AI-faciliated harm? In 2018, Bengio, alongside his colleagues Yann LeCun and Geoffrey Hinton, won the Turing Award for groundbreaking research they had published three years earlier on deep learning. A branch of machine learning, deep learning attempts to mimic the processes of the human brain by using artificial neural networks to learn from computational data and make predictions. Bengio's new nonprofit organisation, LawZero, is developing 'Scientist AI'. Bengio has said this model will be 'honest and not deceptive', and incorporate safety-by-design principles. According to a preprint paper released online earlier this year, Scientist AI will differ from current AI systems in two key ways. First, it can assess and communicate its confidence level in its answers, helping to reduce the problem of AI giving overly confident and incorrect responses. Second, it can explain its reasoning to humans, allowing its conclusions to be evaluated and tested for accuracy. Interestingly, older AI systems had this feature. But in the rush for speed and new approaches, many modern AI models can't explain their decisions. Their developers have sacrificed explainability for speed. Bengio also intends 'Scientist AI' to act as a guardrail against unsafe AI. It could monitor other, less reliable and harmful AI systems — essentially fighting fire with fire. This may be the only viable solution to improve AI safety. Humans cannot properly monitor systems such as ChatGPT, which handle over a billion queries daily. Only another AI can manage this scale. Using an AI system against other AI systems is not just a sci-fi concept – it's a common practice in research to compare and test different level of intelligence in AI systems. Large language models and machine learning are just small parts of today's AI landscape. Another key addition Bengio's team are adding to Scientist AI is the 'world model' which brings certainty and explainability. Just as humans make decisions based on their understanding of the world, AI needs a similar model to function effectively. The absence of a world model in current AI models is clear. One well-known example is the 'hand problem': most of today's AI models can imitate the appearance of hands but cannot replicate natural hand movements, because they lack an understanding of the physics — a world model — behind them. Another example is how models such as ChatGPT struggle with chess, failing to win and even making illegal moves. This is despite simpler AI systems, which do contain a model of the 'world' of chess, beating even the best human players. These issues stem from the lack of a foundational world model in these systems, which are not inherently designed to model the dynamics of the real world. Bengio is on the right track, aiming to build safer, more trustworthy AI by combining large language models with other AI technologies. However, his journey isn't going to be easy. LawZero's US$30 million in funding is small compared to efforts such as the US$500 billion project announced by US President Donald Trump earlier this year to accelerate the development of AI. Making LawZero's task harder is the fact that Scientist AI – like any other AI project – needs huge amounts of data to be powerful, and most data are controlled by major tech companies. There's also an outstanding question. Even if Bengio can build an AI system that does everything he says it can, how is it going to be able to control other systems that might be causing harm? Still, this project, with talented researchers behind it, could spark a movement toward a future where AI truly helps humans thrive. If successful, it could set new expectations for safe AI, motivating researchers, developers, and policymakers to prioritise safety. Perhaps if we had taken similar action when social media first emerged, we would have a safer online environment for young people's mental health. And maybe, if Scientist AI had already been in place, it could have prevented people with harmful intentions from accessing dangerous information with the help of AI systems. Armin Chitizadeh is a Lecturer in the School of Computer Science at the University of Sydney. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article
News.com.au
5 hours ago
- News.com.au
16 billion Apple, Facebook, Google passwords exposed in historic data leak: report
A staggering 16 billion passwords to Apple, Facebook, Google, and various US government services have been leaked online, triggering global security alerts in what experts are calling the most significant data breach in history. The mammoth security breach has forced Google to urge billions of users to change their passwords immediately. At the same time, the FBI has issued warnings to Americans about opening suspicious links in SMS messages. Cybersecurity experts at Cybernews, who investigated the breach, discovered a whopping 30 exposed datasets containing between tens of millions and over 3.5 billion records each. Perhaps most alarmingly, researchers confirmed that nearly all these exposed datasets contain previously unreported information, making this an entirely fresh security crisis. 'This is not just a leak – it's a blueprint for mass exploitation,' the researchers said via Forbes this week. The leaked information mainly consists of URLs paired with login credentials and passwords, potentially giving hackers access to 'pretty much any online service imaginable, from Apple, Facebook, and Google, to GitHub, Telegram, and various government services.' The datasets appeared online only briefly – long enough to be discovered but too quickly for researchers to identify who controlled the data. 'These aren't just old breaches being recycled,' researchers said. 'This is fresh, weaponisable intelligence at scale.' Cybernews investigators believe the breach is the work of multiple 'infostealers' – malicious programs designed to harvest credentials from infected devices. While the total number of affected people is unclear, security experts are strongly advising the public to take immediate precautions. Users are being urged to invest in password management solutions, never share passwords across multiple platforms, and remain vigilant for signs their accounts may have been compromised. Investigators also warn this breach could fuel phishing attacks and account takeovers in the coming months.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Cottage Grove man arrested for allegedly encouraging child sex abuse
A 61-year-old man from Cottage Grove was arrested on June 19 for allegedly possessing sexually explicit images of children, according to the Cottage Grove Police Department. The man was arrested at his home at 12:30 p.m. June 19, police said. Police said the man was arrested as part of an ongoing investigation conducted by police with assistance from the Lane County Sheriff's Office and FBI. A search warrant had previously been executed at his house prior to his arrest, police said. The man faces charges of encouraging child sex abuse in the first degree, encouraging child sex abuse in the second degree, and possession of materials depicting sexually explicit conduct of a child in the first degree. He faces 88 counts on each of the charges. The man was in custody at the Lane County Jail as of June 19. It was not immediately clear when he would be arraigned on the charges. Samantha Pierotti is the food, drinks and "things to do" reporter for The Register-Guard. With tips on restaurants and local happenings, you can reach her via email at spierotti@ This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Cottage Grove man arrested for allegedly encouraging child sex abuse
