How to protect your child on their new phone
While your child might want to use their brand-new phone to get online immediately, but as a parent, you need to make sure that they’re protected against cyber threats. To make sure that your child’s personal details do not fall into the wrong hands and their device isn’t ravaged by viruses and malware, you can install protect software like a VPN, an antivirus, and/or a password manager on their smartphone. This may seem daunting, but many providers offer bundled options so you do not need to purchase for multiple different companies.
Google wrote a ‘Robot Constitution’ to make sure its new AI droids won’t kill us
The DeepMind robotics team has revealed three new advances that it says will help robots make faster, better, and safer decisions in the wild. One includes a system for gathering training data with a “Robot Constitution” to make sure your robot office assistant can fetch you more printer paper — but without mowing down a human co-worker who happens to be in the way.
Crypto wallet founder loses $125,000 to fake airdrop website
A crypto wallet service co-founder shares with the world his agony after losing $125,000 to a crypto scam. The startup CEO, who at the time believed he was on a legitimate cryptocurrency airdrop website, realized after his loss that the domain he’d went on was setup for the purposes of phishing unsuspecting users. Bill Lou, co-founder of Nest Wallet, a cryptocurrency wallet startup, has been left feeling “devastated” after being scammed by what appeared to be a crypto giveaway website to him at the time.
Taiwan to reveal Chinese election interference after Saturday’s vote
The government of Taiwan said it will wait until after this week’s vote to publish an analysis of Chinese attempts to interfere in its elections, sharing the details to “soften the learning curve for fellow democracies in dealing with malign authoritarian influence.” Voters are set to head to polling stations Saturday to choose both the country’s president and the 113 representatives of its parliament, the Legislative Yuan. The elections come amid tensions over the future of Taiwan, which has been self-governing but claimed by Beijing since the conclusion of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.
BreachForums boss busted for bond blunders – including using a VPN
The cybercriminal behind BreachForums was this week arrested for violating the terms of his pretrial release and will now be held in custody until his sentencing hearing. Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, better known in the cybercrime underworld by his alias Pompompurin, was first arrested in March 2023 because of his believed connection to BreachForums and later pleaded guilty [PDF] to three charges in July: Conspiracy to commit access device fraud. Access device fraud – unauthorized solicitation. Possession of child sex abuse material. He was granted pretrial release on a $300,000 bond under a number of conditions, which included not using a computer without monitoring software controlled by the pretrial services office, and using a VPN, both of which he was arrested for violating.
Memorial University recovers from cyberattack, delays semester start
The Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) continues to deal with the effects of a cyberattack that occurred in late December and postponed the start of classes in one campus. MUN is the largest public university in Atlantic Canada, with an academic and administrative staff of 3,800, and over 19,000 students from 100 countries. On December 29, the university detected a cyberattack and activated security protocols that included isolating impacted systems and launching an investigation.
