The security & privacy stories our desk judged worth your time, written so anyone can follow them.
California's health department says scammers are posing as its staff by phone, using fake prescription claims and fake police to pull out your personal details.
Read more: Scammers pose as California health officials to steal your detailsA security guide lists 14 scams that borrow Amazon's name. Most try to rush you into a fake link, a call or a payment, and the fix is to check inside Amazon.
Read more: 14 Amazon scams to know, and how to spot each oneScam texts claim your voter registration is missing and push a link to a fake page that collects personal details. Check your status yourself instead.
Read more: Text says you're not registered to vote? It may be a scamAn OpenAI model helped spot a potentially catastrophic flaw in a programming language behind millions of sites. Website owners should check that they are covered.
Read more: OpenAI's AI helped find a serious flaw in code behind many websitesMichigan and other states are raising penalties for gift card scams, just as holiday texts and card purchases make fraud harder to spot.
Read more: Michigan and other states raise penalties for gift card scammersRiskified, a fraud-prevention company, now checks the identity of AI agents that shop for people, so online stores can tell helpful buyers from scam bots.
Read more: Riskified adds checks to tell which AI shoppers online stores can trustExtend has launched Verify, a tool that checks documents for forgery, including AI-made fakes, before a business pays an invoice or approves a claim.
Read more: New tool checks whether a document is fake before a business acts on itTwo serious flaws in KSMBD, the Linux kernel's built-in file-sharing server, are public, and the main kernel has no fix yet. Here is who should check.
Read more: Two serious flaws found in Linux file-sharing feature, no fix yetAfter AI found two serious flaws in the PHP web code, a financial firm's CEO says shoppers should keep a separate prepaid card so a breach cannot reach their salary account.
Read more: Experts urge a separate prepaid card for online shopping after website flawsScammers are using texts, cloned voices and fake QR code stickers on phones, and about one in three people ignore security warnings, a Malwarebytes study found.
Read more: Phone scams are getting harder to spot, and losses keep risingCapcom says an outside party got into 11,774,247 Capcom ID accounts. Expect scam emails that use the exposed details, so be careful what you click.
Read more: Capcom says hackers got into 11.7 million player accountsRidgeway Pharmacy in Montana says its website exposed health and insurance details for 258,920 customers, and two clinics reported separate breaches.
Read more: Montana mail-order pharmacy's website leak exposes 258,920 customersTwo safety nonprofits found flaws in OpenAI's systems that AI agents could use to dodge monitoring. It matters as AI gets more access to business tools.
Read more: Safety testers found holes in OpenAI's systems that AI could exploitInnovative Renal Care agreed to a $900,000 settlement over a 2024 cyberattack, and people affected can claim money by December 21, 2026.
Read more: Kidney care company pays $900,000 over 2024 patient data theftA security firm says attackers copied company code and files within minutes of getting in, often before anyone could step in. Here is how, and what to ask.
Read more: Hackers now grab company data within minutes of breaking in1Password has a new feature that lets AI agents sign into your accounts for you without ever seeing your passwords. You still approve each request.
Read more: 1Password lets AI helpers log in for you without seeing passwordsA Tom's Guide writer replaced his cloud chatbot with a free AI agent on his laptop, trading speed for privacy and no usage fees.
Read more: A writer swapped his cloud chatbot for a free AI that runs on his own laptopAARP has linked its fraud prevention work to the Alaska Federation of Natives, and its site offers a free guide on today's biggest scams worth a few minutes.
Read more: AARP fraud prevention effort tied to Alaska Federation of NativesInterpol-led police in 21 African countries arrested 1,462 people and shut down 10,909 criminal networks, a reminder to verify any request to send money.
Read more: Police arrest 1,462 people in huge crackdown on online scams in AfricaCisco Talos found scam emails sent through real Dell and Staples systems, with fake cancellation phone numbers tucked into the order details.
Read more: Scammers Hide Fake Support Numbers in Real Dell and Staples EmailsScammers posing as the UK tax agency, HMRC, are threatening arrest and demanding fake penalties from people preparing tax returns. Here is how to spot them.
Read more: Fake tax agency calls threaten arrest to scare people into payingA security firm says most AI agents at its customers have not run in months, yet their logins still work and some can be started by outsiders.
Read more: Most AI agents sit unused for months but keep their accessParityCube, a Mumbai company, has launched OpenTrust, a free shared list for Indian merchants to flag and check phone numbers tied to fraud.
Read more: Indian company ParityCube launches free fraud-number registry for shopsBank of Ireland says its AI scored over 1 billion card payments and stopped €9.7m of fraud, so a verify request from your bank is likely an automated check.
Read more: Bank of Ireland says AI checked 1 billion card payments and stopped €9.7m of fraud
