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Month: January 2025

Passbolt raises $8M for its open source password manager for teams

Password managers have become commonplace at this point. But businesses often have different needs than consumers. Teams, after all, often have to share credentials to access resources, all while IT and security teams need ways to control who has access to them. Passbolt, which is announcing an $8 million seed round Thursday, aims to become…

Meta’s Yann LeCun predicts a ‘new AI architectures paradigm’ within 5 years and ‘decade of robotics’

Meta’s chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun, says that a “new paradigm of AI architectures” will emerge in the next three to five years, going far beyond the capabilities of existing AI systems. LeCun also predicted that the coming years could be the “decade of robotics,” where advances in AI and robotics combine to unlock a…

ChatGPT suffered a major outage this morning, but OpenAI says it’s back up

OpenAI’s AI chatbot platform, ChatGPT, suffered a major outage Thursday. Early this morning, ChatGPT users started reporting issues accessing ChatGPT on the web and other platforms. According to the ChatGPT status page on OpenAI’s website, OpenAI acknowledged the problem at 5:12 a.m. Pacific, and identified the root cause a little under an hour later. “[We]…

Automating endpoint management doesn’t mean ceding control

Beset with cybersecurity risks, compliance regimes, and digital experience challenges, enterprises need to move toward autonomous endpoint management (AEM), the next evolution in endpoint management and security solutions.  CSO’s Security Priorities Study 2024 reveals that 75% of security decision-makers say that understanding which security tools and solutions fit best within their company is becoming more complex. Many…

Palo Alto Firewalls Found Vulnerable to Secure Boot Bypass and Firmware Exploits

An exhaustive evaluation of three firewall models from Palo Alto Networks has uncovered a host of known security flaws impacting the devices’ firmware as well as misconfigured security features. “These weren’t obscure, corner-case vulnerabilities,” security vendor Eclypsium said in a report shared with The Hacker News. “Instead these were very well-known issues that we wouldn’t…

Coval evaluates AI voice and chat agents like self-driving cars

What do AI voice agents and self-driving cars have in common? Their performance can be evaluated in the same way, argues Brooke Hopkins, a former tech lead at Waymo. Coval, Hopkins’ new startup, looks to do just that. “When I left Waymo, I realized a lot of these problems that we had at Waymo were…

Beware: Fake CAPTCHA Campaign Spreads Lumma Stealer in Multi-Industry Attacks

Cybersecurity researchers are calling attention to a new malware campaign that leverages fake CAPTCHA verification checks to deliver the infamous Lumma information stealer. “The campaign is global, with Netskope Threat Labs tracking victims targeted in Argentina, Colombia, the United States, the Philippines, and other countries around the world,” Leandro Fróes, senior threat research engineer at

Method is helping fintech companies like SoFi build repayment functionality into their apps

It can be challenging for developers of fintech apps to integrate repayment, balance transfer, and bill pay functionality. Devs often have to deal with a patchwork of brittle screen-scraping APIs to extract data from users’ financial institutions — or worse, tools to process mounds of physical checks and paperwork. Three friends and entrepreneurs — Jose…

New backdoor discovered that specifically targets Juniper routers

Researchers at Black Lotus Labs have uncovered an operation where a back door is dropped onto enterprise-grade Juniper Networks routers and listens for specific network signals, known as “magic packets,” to execute malicious commands.  The campaign, which researchers at the cybersecurity wing of Lumen Technologies refer to as “J-Magic,” was active between mid-2023 and mid-2024.…

Hugging Face claims its new AI models are the smallest of their kind

A team at AI dev platform Hugging Face has released what they’re claiming are the smallest AI models that can analyze images, short videos, and text. The models, SmolVLM-256M and SmolVLM-500M, are designed to work well on “constrained devices” like laptops with under around 1GB of RAM. The team says that they’re also ideal for…

Snap launches a new way to reward AR creators, rolls out student pricing for Spectacles

Snap announced on Thursday that it’s introducing a new “Challenge Tags” rewards program for AR developers to win cash prizes for submitting Lenses. The company also announced that it’s launching educational pricing and a student discount for Spectacles, its developer-focused AR glasses. The theme of the first Challenge Tag is humor and is open through…

Azul Launches DORA Compliance Tools for EU Businesses

Java enablement platform company Azul recently announced the launch of its new compliance support offering. The suite of solutions addresses the compliance needs of organizations now under the mandate of the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) across the European Union. New tools address complex needs as DORA takes effect Effective Jan. 17, DORA applies to…

Grohe AG mutmaßlich von Ransomware-Attacke betroffen

Die Ransomware-Bande Ransomhub will 100 Gigabyte Daten von der Grohe AG erbeutet haben. CeltStudio – Shutterstock.com Die Grohe AG zählt zu den bekanntesten deutschen Herstellern von Armaturen und Sanitärprodukten. Die berüchtigte Ransomware-Bande Ransomhub listet das Unternehmen nun als Opfer auf ihrer Darknet-Seite. Die Hacker behaupten, erfolgreich eingedrungen zu sein und 100 Gigabyte Daten erbeutet zu…

Fundraise Up claims its AI can boost nonprofit donations

Many nonprofits are stuck with outdated, expensive, and limited tech that hinders their ability to fund their mission or cause. While most consider adopting tech to be a priority, they’re faced with a number of blockers, including siloed data and issues with integration. Peter Byrnes, the co-founder of Fundraise Up, a Brooklyn-based fundraising platform for…

Tive’s tools help companies track the status of their shipments in real time

The global supply chain is under strain, and one of the reasons is a lack of visibility into how shipments are being transported around the world. According to one recent survey, nearly half of the organizations polled reported having little-to-no visibility into their upstream supply chains. In search of a remedy, Krenar Komoni, who’d for…

Experts Find Shared Codebase Linking Morpheus and HellCat Ransomware Payloads

An analysis of HellCat and Morpheus ransomware operations has revealed that affiliates associated with the respective cybercrime entities are using identical code for their ransomware payloads. The findings come from SentinelOne, which analyzed artifacts uploaded to the VirusTotal malware scanning platform by the same submitter towards the end of December 2024. “These two payload samples…

Everstone acquires bootstrapped Indian startup Wingify for $200M

Private equity firm Everstone has reached a deal to acquire a majority stake in Wingify, one of India’s earliest bootstrapped software-as-a-service success stories, for about $200 million, three sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The deal, finalized this week, marks a significant exit for Wingify’s founder Paras Chopra, who built the SaaS startup without…

African fintech Moniepoint gets Visa backing, plans to work on contactless payments

Visa has joined African fintech Moniepoint as a new investor. The business banking and payments platform confirmed to TechCrunch that it received a “strategic investment” from the global payments giant as both companies look to drive financial inclusion and support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Africa. Sources close to the deal…

Cisco patches antivirus decommissioning bug as exploit code surfaces

Cisco has patched a denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerability affecting its open-source antivirus software toolkit, ClamAV, which already has a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit code available to the public. Identified as CVE-2025-20128, the vulnerability stems from a heap-based buffer overflow in the Object Linking and Embedding 2 (OLE2) decryption routine, enabling unauthenticated remote attackers to cause a DoS…

How to Eliminate Identity-Based Threats

Despite significant investments in advanced technologies and employee training programs, credential and user-based attacks remain alarmingly prevalent, accounting for 50-80% of enterprise breaches[1],[2]. While identity-based attacks continue to dominate as the leading cause of security incidents, the common approach to identity security threats is still threat reduction, implementing layers of

OpenAI may preview its agent tool for users on the $200 per month Pro plan

We may see OpenAI’s agent tool, Operator, released sooner rather than later. Changes to ChatGPT’s code base suggest that Operator will be available as an early research preview to users on the $200 Pro subscription plan. The changes aren’t yet publicly visible, but a user on X who goes by Choi spotted these updates in…

UK probes Apple and Google over ‘mobile ecosystem’ market power

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching so-called “strategic market status” (SMS) investigations into the mobile ecosystems of Apple and Google. The investigations constitute part of the new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) which passed last year and came into effect in January. The Act includes provisions for digital markets regulation…

SonicWall Urges Immediate Patch for Critical CVE-2025-23006 Flaw Amid Likely Exploitation

SonicWall is alerting customers of a critical security flaw impacting its Secure Mobile Access (SMA) 1000 Series appliances that it said has been likely exploited in the wild as a zero-day. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-23006, is rated 9.8 out of a maximum of 10.0 on the CVSS scoring system. “Pre-authentication deserialization of untrusted data…

QakBot-Linked BC Malware Adds Enhanced DNS Tunneling and Remote Access Features

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a new BackConnect (BC) malware that has been developed by threat actors linked to the infamous QakBot loader. “BackConnect is a common feature or module utilized by threat actors to maintain persistence and perform tasks,” Walmart’s Cyber Intelligence team told The Hacker News. “The BackConnect(s) in use were ‘DarkVNC’…

Japanese Companies Threatened by DPRK IT Workers

Nisos Japanese Companies Threatened by DPRK IT Workers The Japanese government warned domestic companies in March 2024 about contracting North Korean (DPRK) IT workers posing as Japanese nationals to earn cash, as it is suspected… The post Japanese Companies Threatened by DPRK IT Workers appeared first on Nisos by Nisos The post Japanese Companies Threatened…

10 top XDR tools and how to evaluate them

Little in the modern IT world lends itself to manual or siloed management, and this is doubly true in the security realm. The scale of modern enterprise computing and modern application stack architecture requires security tools that can bring visibility into the security posture of modern IT components and integrate tightly to bring real-time threat…

WhatsApp wins reprieve in India over user data sharing

An Indian tribunal on Thursday suspended restrictions that would have barred WhatsApp from sharing user data with its parent company Meta, delivering a significant victory for Mark Zuckerberg’s social media empire in its largest market by users. The ruling by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal temporarily lifts a five-year ban imposed by India’s antitrust…

Cisco Fixes Critical Privilege Escalation Flaw in Meeting Management (CVSS 9.9)

Cisco has released software updates to address a critical security flaw impacting Meeting Management that could permit a remote, authenticated attacker to gain administrator privileges on susceptible instances. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-20156, carries a CVSS score of 9.9 out 10.0. It has been described as a privilege escalation flaw in the REST API of…

Python administrator moves to improve software security

The administrators of the Python Package Index (PyPI) have begun an effort to improve the hundreds of thousands of software packages that are listed. The attempt, which began earlier last year, is to identify and stop malware-laced packages from proliferating across the open-source community that contributes and consumes Python software. As previously reported, hijacking Python…

Neko, the body-scanning startup co-founded by Spotify’s Daniel Ek, snaps up $260M at a $1.8B valuation

Stockholm startup Neko Health has made a big bet on consumers wanting to learn about their state of health and how to prevent things going wrong. Now, investors are making a big bet on Neko.  The startup has raised a fresh $260 million in funding, a Series B that values Neko at $1.8 billion post-money,…

TRIPLESTRENGTH Hits Cloud for Cryptojacking, On-Premises Systems for Ransomware

Google on Wednesday shed light on a financially motivated threat actor named TRIPLESTRENGTH for its opportunistic targeting of cloud environments for cryptojacking and on-premise ransomware attacks. “This actor engaged in a variety of threat activity, including cryptocurrency mining operations on hijacked cloud resources and ransomware activity,” the tech giant’s cloud division said in its 11th

Someone bought the domain ‘OGOpenAI’ and redirected it to a Chinese AI lab

A software engineer has bought the website “OGOpenAI.com” and redirected it to DeepSeek, a Chinese AI lab that’s been making waves in the open source AI world lately. Software engineer Ananay Arora tells TechCrunch that he bought the domain name for “less than a Chipotle meal,” and that he plans to sell it for more.…

Google buys part of HTC’s XR business for $250 million

Google has agreed to acquire a part of HTC’s extended reality (XR) business for $250 million, expanding its push into virtual and augmented reality hardware following the recent launch of its Android XR platform. The deal involves transferring some of the HTC VIVE engineering staff to Google and granting non-exclusive intellectual property rights, according to…

Auswirkungen auf IT-Fachkräfte: 10 Anzeichen für einen schlechten CSO

Sind IT-Mitarbeiter unzufrieden, kann das an schlechten Führungskräften oder an einer unzureichenden IT-Strategie liegen. Foto: fizkes – shutterstock.com Unternehmen können die für sie allgemein schlechte Lage am Arbeitsmarkt kaum beeinflussen. Doch sie können einige Faktoren vermeiden, die zu Kündigungen durch Mitarbeitende führen. Dazu gehört insbesondere eine schlechte Führung, die fähige Fachkräfte vergrault. Hier sind die…

Geben Sie LLM-Alarmismus keine Chance!

Die Mär von der Cybercrime-KI-Revolution? Overearth | shutterstock.com Cybersicherheitsexperten haben in den letzten Jahren immer wieder darauf hingewiesen, dass die Rolle des CISO diversifiziert werden muss, um den Anforderungen der gestiegenen Verantwortung in zahlreichen Kategorien gerecht zu werden. Im vergangenen Jahr wurde dieser Hinweis lauter, insbesondere im Zusammenhang mit dem Thema generative künstliche Intelligenz (Generative…

NSFOCUS Licensed for SOC and Pentest Service in Malaysia in Accordance with Cyber Security Act 2024

Santa Clara, Calif. January 23, 2025  – NSFOCUS, a global provider of intelligent hybrid security solutions, today announced that it has received two security service licenses from the National Cyber Security Agency (NACSA) of Malaysia, being one of the first licensed companies that can provide two crucial services in Malaysia: Managed SOC (Security Operations Center)…

Some shareholders of a16z-backed Divvy Homes may not see a dime from $1B sale

The $1 billion acquisition of rent-to-own startup Divvy Homes, which was announced Wednesday, is expected to leave some shareholders without a payout, according to sources familiar with the deal.  The terms — and Divvy’s journey from buzzy startup to acquisition target — reflects the rollercoaster ride the proptech industry has endured over the past decade.…

Raymond Tonsing’s Caffeinated Capital seeks $400M for fifth fund

Caffeinated Capital, a San Francisco venture firm started by a solo capitalist Raymond Tonsing, is raising a fifth fund of $400 million, according to a regulatory filing. The firm, an early investor in software company Airtable and defense startup Saronic, has already raised $160 million toward the fund. If Caffeinated hits its target, it will…

Smashing Security podcast #401: Hacks on the high seas, and how your home can be stolen under your nose

An Italian hacker makes the grade and ends up in choppy waters, and hear true stories of title deed transfer scams. All this and more is discussed in the latest edition of the award-winning “Smashing Security” podcast by computer security veterans Graham Cluley and Carole Theriault. Plus – don’t miss our featured interview with Avery…

Nearly 10 years later, Tumblr TV launches to all as a TikTok alternative

In 2015, the blogging site Tumblr launched a GIF discovery feature called Tumblr TV as an experimental product. Now, with the U.S. TikTok ban leaving the fate of the short-form video app uncertain, Tumblr has decided it’s finally time to launch Tumblr TV, which has since evolved to support video, to all its users as…

Nearly 10 year later, Tumblr TV launches to all as a TikTok alternative

In 2015, the blogging site Tumblr launched a GIF discovery feature called Tumblr TV as an experimental product. Now, with the U.S. TikTok ban leaving the fate of the short-form video app uncertain, Tumblr has decided it’s finally time to launch Tumblr TV, which has since evolved to support video, to all its users as…

Empowering Teams with Secure API Management

Why is Secure API Management Essential for Team Empowerment? Is API management a critical aspect of your organization’s cybersecurity strategy? It should be. APIs, or Application Programming Interfaces, are the engines that power today’s digital ecosystem. They enable systems to communicate, allowing for streamlined operations and improved productivity. However, incorrectly managed APIs expose businesses to…

Is Your Automation Exposing Critical Data?

Is Automation Compromising Your Data Security? In modern business environments, how secure is your automation process? Alarmingly, many companies are unknowingly exposing critical data due to inadequate Non-Human Identity (NHI) and Secrets Management practices. This emerging field is crucial to maintaining data integrity and has become a high-priority concern for many CISOs, IT professionals, and…

Prevent Data Breaches with Advanced IAM

Why is IAM Vital in Preventing Data Breaches? Identity and Access Management (IAM) stands at the forefront of effective cybersecurity strategies. Implementing advanced IAM holds the key to data breach prevention, providing a formidable line of defense against unauthorized access and sophisticated cyber threats. One essential aspect of IAM is the management of Non-Human Identities…

How to delete Facebook, Instagram, and Threads

In the wake of Meta’s decision to remove its third-party fact-checking system and loosen content moderation policies, Google searches on how to delete Facebook, Instagram, and Threads have been on the rise. People who are angry with the decision accuse Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg of cozying up to the Trump administration at the expense of…

Removal of Cyber Safety Review Board members sparks alarm from cyber pros, key lawmaker

The top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee and a number of cyber professionals on Wednesday lamented the Trump administration’s decision to purge a cyber incident investigation board of its membership. But the move had some supporters, including the chairman of that same committee. Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman issued a…

AngelList, CoinList partner to help crypto startups raise and manage funds

Crypto is making such a big comeback that AngelList and CoinList are launching a way to help raise capital for crypto-specific founders using crypto coins. They are teaming up to launch Crypto special purpose vehicles  (SPVs) and Crypto roll-up vehicles (RUVs), the companies shared with TechCrunch exclusively on Wednesday. The partnership, they said, will give…

Samsung Unpacked: Samsung teased an extra-thin S25 model at Unpacked

Samsung Unpacked’s “one more thing” was a bit of a weird one. After the presentation ended, the company rolled a brief pre-packaged video of the Galaxy Edge — not to be confused with the “Star Wars” theme park of the same name. Though limited, the reveal was confirmation of earlier rumors that the hardware giant…

Liongard’s Brook Lee on New Role & Power of Channel Partners

Attack surface management platform vendor Liongard kicked off 2025 with the appointments of David Powell as the company’s new chief revenue officer and Brook Lee as its new VP of Community and Channel. Lee spoke with Channel Insider to share more about why she joined the Liongard team and how her role will impact partners.…

BreachForums founder to be resentenced after court vacates previous punishment

A U.S. appeals court has vacated the initial sentence given to Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, who pleaded guilty in 2023 for charges related to his work as founder of the notorious BreachForums website. The appeal, filed by the U.S. government, signals that a new sentence could be much more harsh than the one initially issued last…

Researchers develop a way to power wearables through human skin

The dream of battery-free devices has taken an unlikely turn, as Carnegie Mellon researchers debuted Power-Over-Skin. The technology allows for electrical currents to travel through human skin in a bid to power things like blood sugar monitors, pacemakers, and even consumer wearables like smartglasses fitness trackers. Researchers note the tech is still in “early stages.”…

StarHub and Nokia partner on network APIs to ‘drive 5G and 4G application development’ in enterprise verticals

Working closely with developers, the two companies are targeting new applications for enterprises in banking, finance, ports, online streaming, and the public sector. StarHub’s 5G and 4G networks will connect to Nokia’s Network as Code platform with developer portal to give developers a seamless pathway for creating new applications. Singaporean telecommunications conglomerate Starhub, with over…

DEF CON 32 – The Village Peoples’ Panel What Really Goes On In A Village

Authors/Presenters: Panel Our sincere appreciation to DEF CON, and the Authors/Presenters for publishing their erudite DEF CON 32 content. Originating from the conference’s events located at the Las Vegas Convention Center; and via the organizations YouTube channel. Permalink The post DEF CON 32 – The Village Peoples’ Panel What Really Goes On In A Village…

Cognizant and CrowdStrike Partner on Cybersecurity Transformation

IT services company Cognizant and cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike have announced a strategic partnership to drive enterprise cybersecurity transformation to deliver cybersecurity services that are powered by the AI-native CrowdStrike Falcon cyber platform. Cognizant will now leverage CrowdStrike tools to streamline SecOps Through this partnership, Cognizant will leverage Falcon Next-Gen SIEM and Falcon Cloud Security products…

‘Severe’ bug in ChatGPT’s API could be used to DDoS websites

A vulnerability in ChatGPT’s API can generate DDoS attacks against targeted websites, but the security researcher who discovered it says the flaw has since been addressed by OpenAI. In a security advisory posted to the developer platform GitHub, German security researcher Benjamin Flesch detailed the bug, which occurs when the API is processing HTTP POST…

Samsung Unpacked: Samsung’s Galaxy S25 will support Content Credentials to identify AI-generated images

Another tidbit just dropped following Wednesday’s Samsung Unpacked event. This one comes courtesy of Adobe, which notes that the new Galaxy S25 line will be the first handsets to support the Content Credentials standard, aimed at labeling AI-generated content as such. The Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) group — of which Samsung is…

This Week in AI: OpenAI gains an invaluable infrastructure advantage

Hiya, folks, welcome to TechCrunch’s regular AI newsletter. If you want this in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. OpenAI is making gains at the expense of its chief rivals. On Tuesday, the company announced the Stargate Project, a new joint venture involving Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, Oracle, and others to build AI infrastructure for OpenAI in…

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