Last week, the UK began requiring residents to verify their age in the name of protecting children before accessing online porn and other adult content. Almost immediately, things didn’t go as planned – although they did go as expected.
As experts predict, UK residents began downloading virtual private networks (VPNs), allowing them to circumvent age verification, which could require users to upload their government IDs, making it look like they were in a different country. The UK’s Online Security Act is just part of a wave of age verification efforts around the world. While these laws may make some children inaccessible to adult content, some experts warn that they also pose security and privacy risks for everyone.
Turla, a Russian-backed hacker group, is known for its bold and creative attacks, such as covering up their communications through satellites or backpacks against other hackers to avoid discovery. The team, part of Russia’s FSB intelligence agency, is now using its access to the country’s internet providers to lure foreign officials to download spyware that destroys encryption, allowing Turla’s hackers to access their private information.
That’s not all. Every week, we fill in security and privacy news that we don’t cover in depth. Click on the headlines to read the full story. And stay safe.
Google is launching an AI-powered age estimation system to apply content protection to search and YouTube, even for users who are not provided with age. The system is being launched in the EU, and digital security regulations require platforms to take measures to protect minors from potentially harmful content.
Google says it will use “multiple signals” and other metadata to determine age to determine whether users should display limited results, rather than relying solely on user input data. Privacy advocates say the move has the potential for inaccuracy and raises questions about transparency and consent.
Google claims that the changes meet regulatory expectations and will help protect younger users from inappropriate content. Nevertheless, platforms can algorithmically infer personal characteristics from age (e.g. age) and limit content based on these assumptions only, which gives new wrinkles to long-term debates about censorship, censorship, and digital privacy.
Just 24 hours after naming Zhan as the distinguished president of the social sciences whom Western pasta, the military canceled the appointment after criticism from the far right. The former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) director and college alumnus have been praised for her decades of service. But the rebound broke out online after activist Laura Loomer claimed to be linked to the Biden-era false propaganda committee.
Nina Jankowicz, who serves as executive director of the board, denied working with the East in a Bluesky article, calling the episode another example of how we live in the “stupidest timeline.”
Still, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll canceled Easterly’s contract and ordered a comprehensive review of West Point’s recruitment policy. The Army also suspended practices that allow outside groups to help select teachers. The reversal marks the second striking conflict involving former CISA leaders and political pressure after Donald Trump revoked Chris Krebs’ security clearance earlier this year.
Rolling Stone reports that U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Ted Cruz’s bipartisan bill could allow lawmakers to request the removal of online posts, showing their home address or travel plans. The proposal could be passed by unanimous agreement, in response to an increasingly serious threat to public officials, especially after the assassination of Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman.
Watchdogs, along with dozens of media outlets, warned that the bill could relax reporting and enable selective censorship. While the legislation includes a nominal exemption for journalists, critics say it remains vague enough to allow MPs to prosecute or demand the evacuation of legal news reports.
