https://techxplore.com/rss-feed/security-news/ en-us The latest news on cyber security, network security, software vulnerabilities, data leaks, malware, and viruses Researchers at the University of Southampton have come up with a way to help people spot AI-generated faces. They've developed a short training program that improves people's ability to distinguish between real, human faces and those generated by AI software. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-minute-people-ai-generated.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 03 Sep 2026 15:10:01 EDT news707665247 If you wanted to take down a power grid or a network of drones, which part of the system should you attack? Researchers at The University of New Mexico School of Engineering posed the question in hopes of developing better network security mechanisms. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-analysis-reveals-unexpected-vulnerabilities-power.html Engineering Mon, 31 Aug 2026 15:00:16 EDT news707406241 In computer vision and robotics, ensuring that AI systems remain reliable under real-world conditions is a growing challenge. Deep neural network (DNN)-based vision systems are increasingly used in safety-critical applications such as autonomous driving, where misinterpreting a traffic sign could lead to unsafe decisions. Everyday wear and tear can subtly alter traffic signs, raising questions about whether naturally occurring damage could also expose vulnerabilities in AI-based recognition systems. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-worn-traffic-ai-vision-exposing.html Security Mon, 31 Aug 2026 10:40:12 EDT news707390761 Before you prompt AI to answer another question or perform another task, a Wake Forest computer scientist wants you to know it could expose your sensitive data. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-ai-agents-rage-leak-private.html Security Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:44:43 EDT news706966987 Shine a light, and the real can be distinguished from the fake. KAIST researchers have developed a security technology that uses unique artificial fingerprints created by the random assembly of nanoparticles. Although extremely difficult to replicate, these fingerprints can be conveniently authenticated using only a smartphone flashlight and a laser pointer, opening up potential applications in anti-counterfeiting and electronic device authentication. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-distinguish-real-fake-hard-replicate.html Engineering Wed, 26 Aug 2026 10:20:08 EDT news706957741 Safety protections built into some of the world's most widely used artificial intelligence (AI) models can be stripped away with alarming ease, according to a new international study. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-major-weaknesses-weight-llms.html Security Tue, 25 Aug 2026 11:20:07 EDT news706875362 Consumer detectors sold to help people find hidden surveillance devices are often too difficult for typical users to interpret, potentially giving a false sense of security to those most at risk such as domestic abuse survivors, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-spy-device-detector-users-hidden.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 24 Aug 2026 16:20:05 EDT news706804201 Experts have shown that the most powerful security defenses in Windows 11 can be dismantled by an attacker who never touches the target computer. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-bypass-windows-physical-access.html Computer Sciences Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:40:04 EDT news706793101 The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way many people approached their work across the globe. For Carnegie Mellon University Africa's Jema Ndibwile, it changed the way he viewed a completely different type of virus: a computer virus. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-genetic-algorithms-cybersecurity-defenses-malware.html Computer Sciences Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:00:07 EDT news706531802 An AI model inspired by ants, bees and birds could be key to cracking down on blockchain-based money laundering, new research led by Charles Darwin University (CDU) has found. The study is published in the journal Communications in Computer and Information Science. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-swarm-ai-expose-suspicious-blockchain.html Security Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:40:09 EDT news706436521 Today, most of us interact with AI assistants—reactive bots that wait for human instructions. Yet AI assistants are rapidly being replaced by agentic AI agents that can interact with external tools, browse the web, generate images, send emails and perform increasingly complex workflows on behalf of users. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-ai-agents.html Security Wed, 19 Aug 2026 09:00:03 EDT news706348622 A new security loophole discovered by researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst can bring some expired credit cards back to life. If stolen, these "zombie credit cards" could leave cardholders vulnerable to fraudulent charges, according to the new study, presented at the conference USENIX Security 2026. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-zombie-credit-cards-loophole-reanimate.html Consumer & Gadgets Mon, 17 Aug 2026 17:20:06 EDT news706205101 Physical access to an aircraft has not typically been considered a cybersecurity risk—but it should be, according to a team of computer scientists at the University of California San Diego. In a paper presented Aug. 13 at the USENIX Security Symposium in Baltimore, Maryland, former UC San Diego Ph.D. student Sam Crow showed that physical access to an aircraft, even for a brief period, would allow an attacker equipped with a custom-made hardware device to take over communications between two key onboard computers. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-physical-access-boeing-flight.html Security Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:06:25 EDT news705841556 Large language models (LLMs), the models that underpin platforms such as ChatGPT and Gemini, are now used daily by more than a billion people worldwide. Some computer scientists have also been combining several of these models to create multi-agent systems (MAS), in which many LLM-based agents work together to tackle complex problems. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-peering-llm-based-multi-agent.html Security Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:20:02 EDT news705585057 Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs), secure elements used to connect devices to a mobile network, can pose severe security risks when compromised. A malicious SIM could allow attackers to gather information about a device, interfere with its connectivity and serve as an entry point for further cyberattacks. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-malicious-sim-cards-hijack-smartphones.html Hardware Mon, 10 Aug 2026 03:00:02 EDT news705321541 URL scanning services are now a common component of modern security workflows. They help detect phishing websites or malware early and warn users before they visit a URL. However, the practice of some of these services—publishing scanned URLs—can inadvertently expose sensitive user data. CISPA researcher Ali Mustafa, together with colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy and Ca' Foscari University of Venice, conducted the first systematic investigation of the risks arising from this practice. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-factor-privacy-url-scanning.html Software Fri, 07 Aug 2026 12:40:09 EDT news705323885 In a nondescript Idaho Falls warehouse, a nuclear nonproliferation researcher at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) picks up a small plastic bottle and pours tiny bits of rounded black glass across a worktable. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-vacuum-nuclear-fallout.html Engineering Thu, 30 Jul 2026 17:00:03 EDT news704648401 One year after unveiling a first-of-its-kind "microwave brain" microchip capable of computing on ultrafast data and wireless signals, researchers from the Cornell Duffield College of Engineering have shown how the chip can encode information into its own language. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-microwave-neural-network-method-compress.html Telecom Thu, 30 Jul 2026 15:20:07 EDT news704643121 University of Wisconsin–Madison and Princeton University nuclear engineers have identified a major blind spot in nuclear accounting with global nuclear security implications. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-massive-quantities-undeclared-uranium-exported.html Energy & Green Tech Thu, 30 Jul 2026 05:00:07 EDT news704536228 KAIST researchers have developed a safety verification technology that uncovers roughly seven times more hidden vulnerabilities in AI than existing methods. The technology is expected to serve as a foundation for developing safer, more trustworthy AI. The work is published on the arXiv preprint server. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-stable-gflownet-uncovers-hidden-weaknesses.html Security Wed, 29 Jul 2026 17:40:05 EDT news704552567 AI company Anthropic has announced that its unreleased model, Claude Mythos Preview, has discovered previously unknown mathematical weaknesses in cryptographic algorithms that human researchers had missed for years. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-claude-ai-cryptography-weaknesses-human.html Security Wed, 29 Jul 2026 14:10:05 EDT news704550454 ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has revealed that an autonomous artificial intelligence agent that hacked a popular platform for computer programmers also attempted to breach four other companies during the incident. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-openai-rogue-ai-agent-companies.html Security Wed, 29 Jul 2026 10:43:37 EDT news704540592 Protecting sensitive, precision-timed computing systems requires understanding the nature of cyberthreats. So researchers from Washington State University teamed up with experts at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs and Metro State University to design an attack—dubbed NosyNeighbor—that lurks on the sidelines of time- and safety-critical computer systems, "infers" what's happening inside and adapts its malicious approach. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-scientists-cyberattack-cyberattacks.html Security Tue, 28 Jul 2026 10:00:28 EDT news704451489 In an increasingly competitive job market, some applicants are quietly trying to outsmart AI hiring tools. Now, new research focused on rooting out the practice of "prompt injection" shows how widespread this tactic is. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-thwarting-hidden-resume-hacks-ai.html Business Wed, 22 Jul 2026 14:20:07 EDT news703947962 At least 2.2 million cars on the road today are vulnerable to an attack that allows thieves to lock and unlock doors and immobilize vehicle engines remotely via a Bluetooth connection, computer scientists at the University of California San Diego have found. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-million-cars-anti-theft-dealers.html Security Tue, 21 Jul 2026 15:00:05 EDT news703864561 Large language models (LLMs), the computational algorithms underpinning ChatGPT, Gemini and other artificial intelligence (AI)-powered conversational platforms, are now widely used worldwide. These models can rapidly answer questions, source information online, assist users with specific tasks and produce text tailored for specific purposes. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-hidden-prompts-false-memories-ai.html Security Sun, 19 Jul 2026 10:20:01 EDT news703427290 So-called deepfakes, that is, images and videos generated with the help of artificial intelligence, are becoming increasingly difficult to detect. An international research team from the University of Tokyo and the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Saarbrücken, Germany, has developed a method that identifies manipulated videos more reliably than previous approaches—not by searching for visual artifacts, but by analyzing the naturalness of facial expressions. In tests on established benchmark datasets, the approach achieved an average detection accuracy of more than 95 percent and successfully identified manipulations that caused many existing detectors to fail. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-facial-movement-analysis-deepfake-videos.html Security Thu, 16 Jul 2026 11:20:09 EDT news703417834 While security systems based on pseudo-random number generators (PRNGs) have been developed to secure information use, they produce sequences that are not truly random and suffer from inherent vulnerabilities and security breaches. To overcome these limitations, a true random number generator (TRNG) that exploits diverse sources of physical entropy has emerged as an alternative technology. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-driven-random-generator-image.html Hi Tech & Innovation Mon, 13 Jul 2026 08:00:01 EDT news703144518 Many digital users rely on Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to combat security threats, allowing the application to view, intercept and handle all user traffic in return for hiding identifying information from third parties. Yet a new mobile VPN security testing framework—MVPNalyzer—found many popular VPNs breach user trust, according to a University of Michigan Engineering study. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-mobile-vpn-strong-advertised.html Internet Tue, 07 Jul 2026 13:07:10 EDT news702648411 An AI flaw that can be found today in one model could be quietly replicated across dozens of products and services built on the same underlying technology. Until now, the AI community has lacked a formal pathway to report those flaws, alert affected vendors and coordinate a response. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute (SEI), alongside collaborators from academia and industry, helped build one. Flaw Reporting for AI (FLARE-AI) is a new open-source platform that lets anyone report an AI vulnerability and route it to developers, vendors and government agencies equipped to act. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-critical-gap-ai-platforms.html Security Mon, 06 Jul 2026 13:40:06 EDT news702562762