https://techxplore.com/rss-feed/security-news/ en-us The latest news on cyber security, network security, software vulnerabilities, data leaks, malware, and viruses By combining two complementary clues—camera geometry and visual appearance—researchers at the Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan, developed a new approach for preserving identities across multiple cameras. The method uses epipolar geometry to identify spatially consistent candidate matches and appearance similarity to distinguish among possible identities. The approach can be integrated with existing single-camera tracking systems without requiring environment-specific retraining. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-multiple-cameras-track-person-identity.html Computer Sciences Fri, 28 Aug 2026 12:00:05 EDT news707136601 Two recent events should dramatically alter thinking and decision-making about the use of overseas AI models in the UK's critical national infrastructure, argues a new white paper from the University of Surrey. First, the U.S. government has demonstrated that its powerful AI models can be withdrawn from service by government dictate. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-frontier-ai-access-national-uk.html Security Thu, 27 Aug 2026 22:00:01 EDT news707051259 A face-recognition system that can identify people even if they are wearing a face mask covering their nose and mouth is discussed in the International Journal of Computational Vision and Robotics. The new system uses biometrics from around the eyes and forehead. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-masked-eyes-forehead.html Software Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:20:03 EDT news707051101 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 U.S. law enforcement on Tuesday announced the seizure of internet domains allegedly used by Chinese hackers to target government agencies and critical infrastructure. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-disrupts-platforms-allegedly-chinese-hackers.html Security Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:24:38 EDT news706965859 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 "Pics or it didn't happen" was something people used to say online when they wanted to verify a claim. Technology has changed this. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-photos-real-ai-fake-image.html Hi Tech & Innovation Mon, 24 Aug 2026 10:40:06 EDT news706786022 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 College administrators read an adjunct professor's comments to students on personal essays. Managers told a pharmacist to spend less time with patients after tracking the number and length of her appointments. Scanners on a warehouse conveyor belt monitored the pace of workers to ensure they inspected hundreds of items per hour. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-workplace-surveillance-experts-good-ways.html Security Thu, 20 Aug 2026 14:40:04 EDT news706454706 Australia's national response to scams has strengthened in recent years through government-led anti-scam measures. Yet losses remain above $2 billion, and scams continue to have a significant and devastating impact on individuals, particularly those in vulnerable communities. In a new white paper, RMIT professor Mathews Nkhoma has identified the critical gap in anti-scam architecture before funds have been irreversibly transferred. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-gap-australia-anti-scam-architecture.html Security Thu, 20 Aug 2026 10:20:07 EDT news706438221 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 Counterfeit and out-of-spec components are entering U.S. defense supply chains through thousands of small and midsized suppliers that make up the lower tiers of the industrial base. Researchers at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) say the fix isn't just better parts, but better proof: verified digital records, secured against tampering, that travel with each component from raw material to installation. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-why-the-data-behind-a.html Engineering Tue, 18 Aug 2026 14:40:04 EDT news706281961 Recent cyberattacks on municipal water systems across the United States have renewed concerns about the cybersecurity of the operational technology that supports critical infrastructure. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-cyberattacks-solutions.html Security Tue, 18 Aug 2026 07:54:47 EDT news706258470 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 Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy, EPFL and the CASA Cluster of Excellence have developed a new approach that provides end-to-end encryption for collaborative online documents throughout the entire process, combining high security standards with the requirements of modern collaboration. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-based-encryption-documents.html Security Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:59:17 EDT news706179537 As the world is increasingly flooded with deepfakes, the European Union is taking action to help people distinguish what is real and what is not. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-eu-laws-ai-content-compulsory.html Security Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:00:05 EDT news706175282 Passkeys are touted as safer than traditional passwords. But for people targeted by intimate partner abuse, they can often be more dangerous. Someone with access to their partner's computer and password could set up their own passkey—a cryptographic form of login used by services such as Google and LinkedIn—and invade their personal online space, potentially with dangerous consequences, new Cornell research has found. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-reveals-gaps-passkey-tools-abuse.html Security Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:40:04 EDT news705841610 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 Imagine that you share a ride to work with the same colleague most mornings. As it passes by a license plate reader, the camera records the car, which can be linked through vehicle records to its registered owner. Beside it, another sensor detects signals broadcast by devices traveling nearby, such as your phone and your colleague's smartwatch. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-tech-tracking-plate-readers-associating.html Security Tue, 11 Aug 2026 13:00:08 EDT news705670643 An email, apparently from a colleague, with the correct name, a current project, a familiar tone and a link ... who wouldn't click? Personalized phishing has always been the most effective kind and the most expensive to produce. AI removes the cost. A research team from BIFOLD/TU Berlin, Inria and Ruhr University Bochum has now put numbers to it in the largest field study of its kind to date. The study was presented at the USENIX Security Symposium 2026 in Baltimore. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-field-ai-personalized-phishing-cheaper.html Security Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:00:11 EDT news705665484 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 Chipmakers and operating system developers have spent years building defenses. A new study from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) shows that a key assumption behind many of them doesn't hold. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-latest-defenses-built-processor.html Computer Sciences Sun, 09 Aug 2026 07:40:02 EDT news705309959 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 The protection of personal data is now a key part of individual literacy in everyday life. Nevertheless, researchers regularly observe a contradiction among the general public, which they describe as the "privacy paradox." There is often a wide gap between the concerns expressed about protecting personal data and people's actual behavior when handling such data. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-four-questions-to-know-your.html Security Thu, 06 Aug 2026 17:20:04 EDT news705255181 New data released this week show 54% of Australian children and teens use artificial intelligence tools for personal and social reasons. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-australian-children-teens-ai-personal.html Internet Thu, 06 Aug 2026 15:40:05 EDT news705249362