OpenAI is adding invisible watermarks to ChatGPT and Codex text in the EU

Anthropic has just announced a new Claude Marketplace, and it brings all AI-related tools into one place, including plugins, connectors, agents, and more. [...]

OpenAI teases Astra, its next major AI model, after it solves 10 long-standing math problems

BleepingComputer

By: Mayank Parmar

3 August 2026 at 00:31

OpenAI has revealed Astra, an unreleased model designed to tackle complex, long-running tasks, after an internal version produced ten significant advances in mathematics and theoretical computer science. [...]

UK’s state investments agency hit by data breach

Data and computer security | The Guardian

By: Kalyeena Makortoff Banking correspondent

2 August 2026 at 08:00

Security lapse leaves sensitive information and contact details of 51 government officials exposed for 40 hours

The public body in charge of the UK’s state investments has been pushed to improve its internal security after a data breach left “high-level management information” publicly accessible for nearly two days.

UK Government Investments (UKGI), the agency that manages the taxpayers’ interest in a swathe of companies including Channel 4 and the Post Office, said the security failure also left more than 50 government officials’ personal details exposed for nearly 40 hours.

OpenAI says its new GPT 5.6 models are becoming more cost-efficient

BleepingComputer

By: Mayank Parmar

31 July 2026 at 20:52

OpenAI says it has reduced the price of two GPT-5.6 models, cutting Luna's API price by 80% and Terra's by 20% as it works to make its models more efficient. [...]

Personal and banking details among customer data stolen in Origin Energy hack

Data and computer security | The Guardian

By: Luca Ittimani

23 July 2026 at 11:55

Hackers access Australian customers’ names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers and some bank account details, company says

Origin Energy customers’ addresses, phone numbers and partial bank account data have been accessed in a hack, the company has confirmed.

The firm has 4.8m customer accounts in Australia, providing electricity, fossil gas, LPG and internet services to homes and businesses.

‘Keys to the kingdom’: hackers who gained access to heart of London transport network jailed

Data and computer security | The Guardian

By: Dan Milmo and Joe Pinner

16 July 2026 at 14:01

Thalha Jubair, 20, and Owen Flowers, 19, sentenced to five and a half years each for cyber-attack that cost Transport for London £39m

The data of millions of commuters was stolen, Londoners were left out of pocket and 27,000 Transport for London staff were forced to reset their passwords.

Over four days in 2024 a pair of teenage hackers had London’s transport network at their mercy. Thalha Jubair and Owen Flowers had burrowed into the heart of Transport for London’s IT systems and held the “keys to the kingdom”.

AI models capable of devastating attacks on governments and business months away, rare Five Eyes statement warns

Data and computer security | The Guardian

By: Sarah Basford Canales

22 June 2026 at 15:00

Signal agencies in Australia, the US, the UK, New Zealand and Canada sound alarm after Trump blocks foreign nationals from Anthropic’s Fable AI model

Powerful AI models capable of devastating new cyber attacks on governments and businesses are mere months away, intelligence agencies for the Five Eyes have warned in a rare joint statement, urging leaders to “act now”.

The surprising public intervention by signals agencies for Australia, the US, the UK, New Zealand and Canada comes after the Trump administration earlier this month decided to block “foreign nationals” from using a much-hyped AI model built by tech company Anthropic, called Fable.

Leak confirms OpenAI is testing a ChatGPT for Science subscription

BleepingComputer

By: Mayank Parmar

18 June 2026 at 03:30

OpenAI appears to be testing a new subscription and experience for science use cases, but it's unclear if it'll be available to everyone regardless of their background. [...]

Readers reply: Experts say we should use passkeys, but can a smartphone pin really be safer than a password?

Data and computer security | The Guardian

14 June 2026 at 15:00

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

This week’s question: Is ‘ripen at home’ fruit the supermarkets’ idea of a joke?

I’ve been struggling to get my head around the idea that a passkey, which can be a pin on your phone, or facial recognition, can be safer than using a complicated password and two-factor authentication.

I get that having something unique to your device, not stored on a company’s server, is unphishable and less hackable by cybercrims, but what if your phone is nicked and someone guesses the password? And what if you lose your phone?

Spyware firm targeted WhatsApp users in defiance of US court order, Meta says

Data and computer security | The Guardian

By: Aisha Down

9 June 2026 at 18:20

Tech company says it ‘caught and disrupted’ NSO Group’s attempts to access accounts in Jordan and Lebanon

A spyware firm has been targeting WhatsApp users with malicious links in contravention of a US court order forbidding it from doing so, Meta has said.

In a post, Meta said WhatsApp had “caught and disrupted spear phishing attempts” by NSO Group, which a spokesperson said targeted a handful of users in Jordan and Lebanon. It had also caught the group creating “test accounts and groups” on WhatsApp.

Police seize “First VPN” service used in ransomware, data theft attacks

BleepingComputer

By: Bill Toulas

21 May 2026 at 15:09

A virtual private network service called 'First VPN,' used in ransomware and data theft attacks, has been taken offline in a joint international law enforcement operation. [...]

Canvas hack: is it ever a good idea to pay a ransom, and what happens to the data?

Data and computer security | The Guardian

By: Josh Taylor Technology reporter

16 May 2026 at 20:00

Businesses are advised against paying – but many are prepared to deal to protect users’ privacy

After a week of outages, hundreds of millions of students’ data stolen, delayed assignment due dates and school login pages being defaced by hackers, the US tech firm Instructure – which operates the education platform Canvas, used by education providers worldwide – announced it had “reached an agreement with the unauthorised actor” behind the ransomware attack.

Experts read the careful language as a sign that a ransom has been paid. The company has not confirmed this.

Developer withdraws plans for Perth datacentre after fierce community opposition

Data and computer security | The Guardian

By: Josh Taylor Technology reporter

15 May 2026 at 10:57

Three-storey GreenSquare datacentre in Hazelmere was to power cloud computing and the acceleration of AI

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A 15,000 sq metre datacentre near Perth will no longer go ahead after the developer withdrew plans amid community opposition over its impact on culturally significant sites.

The three-storey, 120-megawatt GreenSquare datacentre in the town of Hazelmere had been intended to power cloud computing and the acceleration of artificial intelligence, but faced fierce community backlash – as is increasingly common with such developments.

Palantir’s access to identifiable NHS England patient data is ‘dangerous’, MPs say

Data and computer security | The Guardian

By: Robert Booth UK technology editor

11 May 2026 at 14:01

Health service has given US tech firm ‘unlimited access’ to certain data to build integrated platform, according to reports

UK politics live – latest updates

MPs have warned that an NHS decision to grant Palantir access to identifiable patient information in its plan to use AI to improve the health service is “dangerous” and will fuel public fears that data privacy is not being prioritised.

NHS England has allowed staff from the US tech firm and other contractors to access patient data before it has been pseudonymised, despite internal fears of a “risk of loss of public confidence”, the Financial Times reported.

Rental platform unnecessarily collected the data of millions of Australians, privacy commissioner finds

Data and computer security | The Guardian

By: Josh Taylor Technology reporter

22 April 2026 at 05:47

2Apply’s over-collection of personal information adds to the power of the real estate industry in the competitive rental market, Carly Kind says

An online rental platform has been urged to stop collecting users’ personal information after the Australian privacy commissioner found the gathering of “excessive” data compounded the vulnerability of tenants amid the housing crisis.

RentTech platforms are increasingly used by real estate agents in Australia for people applying for rental properties to submit applications and supporting documentation. The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute has identified 57 different rent platforms operating in Australia.

Booking.com warns customers of hack that exposed their data

Data and computer security | The Guardian

By: Lauren Almeida

13 April 2026 at 12:57

Undisclosed number of names and contact and reservation details accessed in latest cybercrime attempt

The accommodation reservation website Booking.com has suffered a data breach with “unauthorised parties” gaining access to customers’ details.

The platform said it “noticed some suspicious activity involving unauthorised third parties being able to access some of our guests’ booking information”.

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