Originally published by Wired
Cramming for finalsis bad enough without the platform you use to do your schoolwork suddenly shutting down. Unfortunately for countless students across the US, that’s exactly what they faced on Thursday afterCanvas went into “maintenance mode”following a ransomware attack on education tech firm Instructure. Hackers using the nameShinyHuntersclaimed responsibility for the breach, and experts say the chaos they caused shows how far these actors will go to extort their victims.
Did you know that Google Chrome includes an automatic download of the Gemini Nano AI model? If not, you wouldn’t be alone. People who use Google’s wildly popular browser realized this week that Gemini Nano has been taking up 4 GB of space on their desktops since 2024, sparking annoyance and concerns over privacy. Fortunately,you can disable the AI model—but not without losing some helpful security features. Obviously, you can also justdownload a different browser for free.
Researchers this week revealed thatthousands of vibe coded apps were left exposedon the open internet, revealing sensitive corporate and personal data. The security failings are a reminder: Just becauseyou can vibe code somethingdoesn’t necessarily mean you should.
The Department of Homeland Security subpoenaed Google in an attempt toobtain the location data and account activity of a Canadian manwho criticized US immigration enforcement tactics following the killings ofRenee GoodandAlex Prettiin Minneapolis early this year. The American Civil Liberties Union this week filed a complaint against DHS on behalf of the man, who has not visited the US in more than 10 years.
Scammers, low-level hackers, and other cybercriminals have joined the ranks of humanityyearning to be free of AI slop, according to new research. Meta, meanwhile, is sprucing up its age-verification tech after a study found that kids are tricking online age checks using simple techniques—including one child hero whocircumvented online age verification by drawing on a fake mustache. Finally, we detailedRussia’s effort to create a local competitor to Starlinksatellite internet service—with all the privacy and security concerns that entails.
And there’s more. Each week, we round up the security and privacy news we didn’t cover in depth ourselves. Click the headlines to read the full stories. And stay safe out there.
Robot Lawn Mower Is a Security Nightmare
Most people hope that the 200-pound robot with blades in their backyard cannot be easily hacked. Unfortunately for the owners of Yarbo, a $5,000 lawn mower robot that can also work as a leaf blower, snowblower, and edger, that was not the case. The Verge reports that a security researcher found numerous vulnerabilities in the lawn bots that could allow hackers to remotely take over the machines (including their camera feeds,) as well as extract owners’ email addresses, Wi-Fi passwords, and home locations.
After a Yarbo spokesperson told The Verge that the robots’ “diagnostic environment is not publicly accessible,” the reporter and researcher demonstrated the security flaws and their potential consequences by nearly running over the reporter with a hijacked robot. The company has since reported that they are developing a fix to at least one of the flaws the researcher identified.
Meta Strips Encryption From Instagram DMs
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta haspulled supportfor end-to-end encrypted messages on Instagram, backtracking on its plans to protect people’s privacy by providing messaging the company could not snoop on. The company stopped offering encryption on Instagram on May 8, making it easier than before for the firm to technically access DMs.
After spendingyears building out the encryption systemsneeded to secure its chat apps, Meta said in 2023 that it had rolled out default encryption for Messenger. It also said it was introducing an opt-in version for Instagram, which it had planned wouldeventually become the default setting. However, that day never arrived with Meta deciding in March this year that not enough people had opted-in and it would remove the option to encrypt Instagram chats. The U-turn has infuriated privacy and security experts who fear therollback could damage end-to-end encryption effortsaround the world.
Trump’s New Counterterrorism Strategy Targets “Antifa,” “Radically Pro-Transgender” Ideology
The Trump administration unveiled a newcounterterrorism strategy, which President Donald Trump describes as a “return to common sense and Peace through Strength” in a foreword included in the document. The three biggest types of terror groups, according to the document, are cartels, Islamist terror groups, and “violent left wing extremists,” which the memo says includes anarchists and anti-fascists and have ideologies that are “anti-American” and “radically pro-transgender.”
The memo promises, “We will use all the tools constitutionally available to us to map them at home, identify their membership, map their ties to international organizations like Antifa, and use law enforcement tools to cripple them operationally before they can maim or kill the innocent.”
Notably, during a congressional hearing last year, the operations director of the FBI’s National Security Branch was unable to answer questions about how many people were in “Antifa,” where it was located, or other specifics.
Elite Russian Hacking School Unmasked by Leaked Documents
Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency has launched some of the mostbrazen and destructive cyberattacksin history. While some of its operatives have beenpublicly namedand hit with international sanctions, a consortium of journalists revealed this week how a special unit inside Bauman Moscow State Technical University, named Department 4, allegedly provides training and a suspected pipeline into GRU units, including those involved in hacking and disinformation.
Documents obtained by the consortium—which includesLe Monde,the Guardian,Der Spiegel, andother outlets—allegedly show how GRU intelligence officers, including those linked to the hacking group known as Fancy Bear, teach at Department 4. Students learn a range of hacking skills and must conduct penetration tests, according to the reporting. Some have graduated and joined both Fancy Bear and the notoriousSandwormgroup, which has been linked to attacks on Ukraine’s power grid, the Winter Olympics, and theNotPetyamalware that caused billions of damage around the world.
Hackers Breached Poland’s Water Utilities, Its Intelligence Agency Says
While Ukraine has, for more than a decade, served as Russia’s number one testing ground for cyberwar techniques, Poland has come to represent its second favorite target. So it’s notable that this week Poland’s domestic intelligence agency, the ABW, warned that hackers infiltrated the networks of water utilities in five Polish towns last year. In some cases, the attackers penetrated deeply enough to access industrial control systems that could have affected the physical operations of those facilities—“a direct risk” to the continuity of the towns’ water supply, according to the ABW.
The report didn’t attribute the breaches to any country’s state-sponsored hackers, but noted more generally that Poland had faced escalating hacking operations “with particular emphasis on the special services of the Russian Federation.” The report also described Russia as carrying out a broader campaign of reconnaissance in preparation for cyber-sabotage operations that appeared to target the Polish military and the country’s critical infrastructure.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.