https://techxplore.com/rss-feed/security-news/ en-us The latest news on cyber security, network security, software vulnerabilities, data leaks, malware, and viruses A comprehensive analysis of age assurance technologies co-authored by CISPA faculty member Dr. Wouter Lueks concludes that many currently proposed systems for protecting minors online come with significant trade-offs for privacy, security, accessibility and civil liberties. The study "Assessing Age Assurance Technologies: Effectiveness, Side-Effects, and Acceptance," conducted with colleagues from the University of Hamburg and the Leibniz Institute for Media Research, evaluates a broad range of approaches currently being debated by policymakers and platforms worldwide. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-size-age-verification-online.html Internet Mon, 20 Jul 2026 07:00:02 EDT news703748544 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 For a paper published in the International Journal of Applied Cryptography, a team compared 11 leading large language models (LLMs) for software security. They found that no single system consistently outperforms its rivals in detecting vulnerabilities. This, they suggest, means organizations must select such tools according to the specific software they are analyzing. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-ai-unreliable-size-code-tool.html Security Wed, 15 Jul 2026 15:00:04 EDT news703346049 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 Recently, Andrew Charlton, the federal assistant minister for science and technology, issued a stark warning about artificial intelligence (AI). Speaking at the AI Safety Forum at the University of Sydney, he said powerful AI models "are already doing things their creators never intended: cheating, deceiving, going their own way." https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-australia-woken-ai-ambition.html Security Fri, 10 Jul 2026 09:20:05 EDT news702893402 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 In the last year or so, artificial intelligence companies have rolled out a spate of web browsers equipped with AI agents. A user might ask one of these agents to plan a vacation, and it will open browser tabs to research routes and restaurants, then make reservations and add events to the user's calendar. How well it does any of this varies. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-agentic-ai-browsers-major-cybersecurity.html Internet Fri, 03 Jul 2026 10:00:01 EDT news702053575 Summer is time for that well-deserved vacation. To get ready for your trip, make sure to get your tech life in order alongside other tasks like packing and making sure you've got passports and tickets. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-summer-dont-neglect-tech-safety.html Security Thu, 02 Jul 2026 04:25:07 EDT news702185078 Researchers from North Carolina State University and Rice University have created a nontoxic, stretchable battery that operates by extracting moisture from the ambient environment—even in climates as dry as the desert. The batteries could be useful in Internet of Things (IoT) applications ranging from wearables to advanced surveillance monitors with built-in kill switches. The study is published in the journal Science Advances. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-moisture-driven-tech-power-green.html Energy & Green Tech Wed, 01 Jul 2026 14:00:05 EDT news702053590 Artificial intelligence doesn't just learn how humans talk. It may also be learning who gets listened to. A new study from researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that large language models, the technology behind popular AI chatbots, change the way they communicate depending on the social role they're assigned in a conversation. When cast as a "boss," they adopt different language patterns. When positioned as a subordinate, they become more accommodating, sometimes in ways that could undermine safety. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-ai-behavior-authority-risky.html Security Wed, 01 Jul 2026 13:40:12 EDT news702131461 Today's antipersonnel land mines are small and often have plastic casings that standard metal detectors cannot register. Geophysical techniques such as ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry and electromagnetic induction are significantly less effective with plastic mines than with those made of metal. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-drone-mounted-camera-plastic-landmines.html Engineering Tue, 30 Jun 2026 12:00:12 EDT news702038641 Humans have been successfully trained to spot AI-generated faces in a study led by researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) Emotions and Faces Lab. The study, "Training Humans to Detect AI-generated Faces," is published in PNAS. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-short-people-ai-deepfake-fraud.html Security Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:00:12 EDT news701945794 Preventing adversaries from interfering with communications is crucial to national security. Tactical satellite communications (SATCOM) focus on securing reliable communications channels against adversaries in contested environments. In support of this mission, a team from MIT Lincoln Laboratory is building a prototype antenna characterized by low size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-C). https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-antenna-array-tactical-satellite-communications.html Telecom Mon, 29 Jun 2026 09:40:03 EDT news701944083 AI can be used to prevent cybersecurity threats linked to ransomware, says University of Cincinnati researcher Nelly Elsayed. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-ai-ally-rooting-ransomware-threats.html Security Fri, 26 Jun 2026 11:01:19 EDT news701689922 In a first for Australian law enforcement, police in Western Australia have deployed live facial recognition technology in marked vans at locations around Perth. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-western-australia-police-scanning-law.html Computer Sciences Thu, 25 Jun 2026 22:20:01 EDT news701609036 AI shopping assistants are popping up all over the internet, changing how we browse, compare and discover products. However, these helpful tools appear to have a serious security flaw. According to a paper published on the arXiv preprint server, a single manipulated web page can trick an AI assistant into promoting a fake product to unsuspecting customers. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-fake-web-page-ai-bots.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 25 Jun 2026 13:00:02 EDT news701609352 Six months on from Australia's under-16s social media ban taking effect, the early verdict from headlines and children themselves has been blunt: It isn't working. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-kids-social-media-success.html Internet Thu, 25 Jun 2026 12:00:08 EDT news701606641 Individuals whose data are used to train medical artificial intelligence (AI) models may be at risk of being identified in cyberattacks, according to a Nature paper. Underrepresented groups may face disproportionately higher risks of having their data compromised, the study indicates. The researchers found these individuals are not accounted for in current risk assessments and call for further mitigation and strict access control. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-medical-minorities-vulnerable-cyberattack.html Security Thu, 25 Jun 2026 11:20:02 EDT news701603231 There is little evidence that Australia's Social Media Minimum Age Act has led to any immediate reductions in social media use by under-16s, according to an early analysis of survey data published by The BMJ. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-evidence-australia-social-media-restrictions.html Internet Wed, 24 Jun 2026 18:30:06 EDT news701514481 The idea that digital advertising depends on tracking users across websites has become a defining feature of the online economy. New research from the University of Kansas has found that artificial intelligence technology can be used to deliver relevant ads without spying on users. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-ai-advertising-relevant-content-spying.html Security Tue, 23 Jun 2026 13:20:03 EDT news701438342 A top Indian maker of iPhone parts has confirmed it was hit by a "cybersecurity incident," with media reports alleging that Apple supplier specifications had been leaked. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-indian-tech-supplier-cybersecurity-incident.html Security Tue, 23 Jun 2026 04:50:01 EDT news701406757 It may look like a picture of a panda bear to you, but to your business's AI agent, it can act like a skeleton key, bypassing safety safeguards and potentially causing the model to generate harmful, misleading or policy-violating outputs. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-microscopic-image-bypass-ai-guardrails.html Security Mon, 22 Jun 2026 16:20:05 EDT news701363462 The obvious problem with biometrics is that once someone has stolen your fingerprint or iris ID, you cannot simply reset those to block their access as you might a password. Now, research published in the International Journal of Computational Vision and Robotics offers a new approach to protecting biometric authentication data so that the risk associated with this kind of irreversible identity theft can be largely avoided and gives users an option to reset their fingerprints and other biometrics, as it were. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-revocable-fingerprint-ids-permanent-biometric.html Computer Sciences Mon, 22 Jun 2026 13:40:07 EDT news701353133 Cyberattacks now cost the global economy trillions, yet most people still struggle to understand what actually happens when a breach occurs. Research by Associate Professor Sky Marsen, an applied linguist and communications course director at Flinders University, and Professor Robert Biddle, a computer scientist at Carleton University in Canada, suggests a surprising reason for this gap: The language used to explain cybersecurity may be part of the problem. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-phishing-cybersecurity-language.html Security Mon, 22 Jun 2026 09:00:01 EDT news701337421 Researchers have developed an artificial intelligence model that predicts crime more accurately than several existing approaches by combining information about where crimes occur, when they happen and wider social patterns. They report details of the approach in the International Journal of Innovative Computing and Applications. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-ai-robberies-cities-accuracy.html Security Thu, 18 Jun 2026 14:20:03 EDT news701010282 The information exchanged by modern devices is typically protected by cryptographic techniques, approaches that convert readable data into scrambled, unreadable code that can only be deciphered by authorized parties or devices. To descramble encrypted data, devices or accounts need access to randomly generated cryptographic keys, unique, randomly generated sequences of binary code, letters or numbers that are essential for encrypting or decrypting data. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-orbit-torque-hardware-random-keys.html Hardware Thu, 18 Jun 2026 11:40:01 EDT news700999720 Long before a hacker ever touches a keyboard, their personal moral outlook helps predict whether they will use their skills in ethical or unethical ways, according to new research led by the University at Buffalo School of Management. Published in Technology in Society, the study found that students drawn to legitimate, authorized cybersecurity work also tend to be attracted to its illegal side, a pattern the authors warn could quietly erode ethical boundaries in the profession. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-hack-ethical.html Security Mon, 15 Jun 2026 21:20:05 EDT news700736750 The rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) poses challenges for the free and open-source software (FOSS) community, a global network committed to creating and maintaining publicly available software that anyone can use, modify and share. Many AI models have been built on open-source software but do not reciprocate the transparency that the FOSS community's principles require, leaving open-source developers uncertain about how these AI tools are using their code. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-copyleft-generative-ai.html Security Mon, 15 Jun 2026 16:20:06 EDT news700757962