The Center for AI Safety (CAIS) maintains a Wage Loss Dashboard that estimates the economic cost of US job cuts companies attribute to AI. It was updated this month with September data. It shows just over 117,000 AI-attributed job cuts nationally since January 2026, equal to about $8.5 billion in estimated annual wage losses. This is indu…
VisionHeight, an Israeli threat intelligence firm, uncovered a network of hyperlocal websites spanning at least 14 US states, built to influence how AI chatbots answer questions about local and state races. Sites with names like "Wolverine State Report", "Peach State Bulletin" and "Tarheel State Report" repeat hundreds of near-identical s…
Citizen Lab reported that Israeli mercenary spyware vendor Candiru infected devices at Al Jazeera through targeted online ads that needed no user interaction. It calls this the first public technical confirmation of mercenary spyware reaching real devices via ad delivery. At least 45 Al Jazeera devices were targeted in 2024 and 2025, and …
This Foreign Affairs essay, co-written by Bruce Schneier and Seva Gunitsky, argues that AI offers autocrats two things: real-time monitoring of subordinates and replacement of human intermediaries. Examples include RT's AI-generated anchors, China's Zero Trust AI system and smart city oversight, Russia's Oculus censorship system and Melio…
The Citizen Lab disclosed AdFection, the first technical demonstration of zero-click mercenary spyware delivered through targeted online advertising. The Israeli firm Discover-Tech presents itself as a legitimate ad company but acts as a facilitator for several mercenary spyware partners, including Candiru. Its ads covertly direct million…
Episode 485 of the Smashing Security podcast, hosted by Graham Cluley with guest Lianne Potter, covers several security stories. Researchers who wanted to test LG smart TVs for security risks got around the terms and conditions by setting up the TV while drunk, on the reasoning that they could not be bound by a contract agreed to while in…