Tech

Currently, being taken advantage of by two Russian cybercrime groups is a major zero-day flaw in the most widely used WinRAR file compression program. Some of these attacks are customized to particular targets; they are meant to backdoor computers that open dangerous files attached to phishing emails. ESET said on Monday that these attacks were first identified on the 18th of July when a file was found in an unusual path directory. ESET determined by July 24 that this behavior was linked to the abuse of an undetected flaw in WinRAR, a file compression application with a reported installed user base of about 500 million. On the same day, ESET notified the WinRAR developers; six days later, a patch was published. Within Windows, the WinRAR 0-day vulnerability appeared to have an amazin...

According to Microsoft’s official announcement, registering a Windows 10 computer in the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program requires the establishment of a Microsoft Account to finish the purchase for a $30 charge. The good thing about this advancement is that one Windows 10 ESU license may be used for up to 10 devices logged into the same account, thus you won't have to pay $30 for each individual device as originally thought.  Surprisingly, this fact was not prominently disclosed in Microsoft’s first release. These circumstances have both benefits and drawbacks. The good news is that the $30 license is now rather less expensive; the disadvantage is that you must still register for a Microsoft Account in order to keep getting security updates after Windows 10 reaches its end ...

Keeping crew health becomes more difficult as human spaceflight missions get longer and travel further from Earth. Presently, astronauts on the International Space Station depend on direct contact with Houston without an AI medical assistant, ongoing medical supplies deliveries, and the choice to return home quickly after a six-month term. But this scenario could change shortly as NASA, working with commercial partners like Elon Musk’s SpaceX, gets ready for longer flights intended to send people to Mars and the Moon. This approaching reality is motivating NASA to gradually improve on-orbit medical care to be more independent from Earth. An AI medical assistant under development with Google is among the first investigations along this line. Designed to help astronauts diagnose and treat...

Smartphones in the mobile-centric world store a lot of sensitive information, messages, location history, financial records, and beyond. Regrettably, this reality makes them ideal candidates for high-risk applications, especially those that improperly seek permission include covert trackers, or even pose as genuine threats. As a result encompassing critical security flaws Particularly inside financial and cryptocurrency apps, the abuse of permissions is a major ongoing problem. Leading crypto applications have been studied to reveal that many need an alarming number of permissions, averaging 22.9 per app, with some requiring as many as 45, therefore increasing the device's vulnerability and putting consumers at risk of data theft and illicit access. Hard-coded passwords are likew...

In a major step toward monetization, The Browser Company has revealed a paid tier called Dia Pro for its artificial intelligence-driven browser, Dia. Subscribers have limitless access to the browser’s artificial intelligence chat and 'Skills' functions under this $20 per month subscription service. Casual users will still have access to a free version, even if this will come with certain constraints on the AI capabilities.  Though the exact limitations for free access have not been made public, CEO Josh Miller has guaranteed users in interviews with The New York Times that those who engage with the AI only a few times a week may continue to use the service without charge. Dia, introduced in June after being previewed late last year, represents a significant departure from the compa...

On account of the two critical vulnerabilities, the August 2025 Android Security Bulletin covers fixes for six Android issues. Included in these issues is a critical flaw that could have allowed an attacker to execute code on a victim's device with zero interaction from the victim. Last month was the first time in almost a decade that Google did not release its monthly security update. Usually, there are dozens of vulnerabilities resolved each month, so this omission was both surprising and somewhat worrying. Meanwhile, Google announced that its AI Big Sleep system had identified 20 vulnerabilities across different open-source projects. August updates apply to Android 13, 14, 15, and 16. Android vendors are notified of all the issues at least a month before publication; however, ...

The debut of a new developer beta for macOS 26 Tahoe happens today at Apple, along with a giant makeover of a well-known icon. Thus, the old classic Macintosh HD hard drive icon, which for years was an image of an old spinning hard drive, has now been updated to present something which clearly tries to resemble a solid-state drive. Although an actual SSD in your Mac is far from looking like a few chips soldered on a circuit board, that can be overlooked.  With the new installations of macOS ceasing to show the internal disk on the desktop by default, a few years ago, the old Macintosh HD icon began to disappear from sight entirely. Furthermore, it has indeed been some time since Apple switched to SSDs for booting new Macs. The original hard drive icon was introduced in 2000, coinci...

Simultaneously introducing ChatGPT improvements meant to boost the capacity of the AI chatbot to detect and adjust new mental health safeguards for emotional anguish, OpenAI is expected to reveal its GPT-5 AI model this week. Achieving this, OpenAI is partnering with experts and advisory committees to improve ChatGPT’s responses in given situations so that it may provide ‘evidence-based resources when appropriate.’ Recent reports have highlighted stories from people whose loved ones have experienced mental health crises, wherein interactions with the chatbot seemed to worsen their hallucinations. In April, OpenAI rolled back an update that made ChatGPT too amiable, even in potentially dangerous situations. The company then admitted that the chatbot’s “sycophantic interactions can be unc...

The firmware retrieved for the upcoming Galaxy S26 Ultra has revealed a chipset model called PMK8850, which strongly points to the presence of Qualcomm’s next-generation flagship System on Chip (SoC), new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 chip. Expected to be marketed especially as a Galaxy edition, tailored for Samsung hardware. The S25 Ultra, by contrast, employed the 8750 chip; the introduction of this fresh 8850 model number suggests a straight pedigree and an evident technological advancement. Further leaks that suggest the S26 Ultra will debut with the most recent software platform available, that is, firmware references to One UI 8.5 based on Android 16, are bolstering this transition. Analysts have also pointed out that Samsung might manufacture this Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 chip in-hous...