OpenAI disrupted an elaborate Russian influence operation
Russian operators used ChatGPT to promote a fabricated Israel-based institute that laundered pro-Kremlin narratives through stolen academic research and a bogus “sovereignty index.”
Chinese state-linked hackers use DeepSeek to scale attacks
State-affiliated groups are using low-cost, lightly guarded AI models for reconnaissance, exploit development and other routine work—helping them more than double their attack volume, researchers say.
Iran-linked UK power generator attack exposes a cybersecurity blind spot
A suspected Iranian-linked cyberattack took a small UK power generator offline for four days, exposing a potential blind spot: energy assets too small to threaten the grid may also fall below the cybersecurity rules designed to protect it.
Alibaba’s Qwen races past Meta, Google with 3 billion AI model downloads
Alibaba’s Qwen family of open-weight AI models has surpassed 3 billion downloads in six months, making it the world’s most-downloaded open model ecosystem, ahead of Google and Meta. Qwen, has open-sourced more than 460 models, and its ecosystem has spawned 300l-plus derivatives/
AI, surveillance and the control problem: Best infosec long reads 8/15/26
How a jury-duty scam stole $25,000, When adversaries can just buy the data, The surveillance dragnet hiding in plain sight, AI hallucinations create new openings for attackers, When Big Tech can read your thoughts, When bots start talking to bots
Trump's private cyber offensive wins support — and plenty of alarm
The cybersecurity community largely agrees that the US needs to hit cybercriminals harder. But Trump's plan to enlist private companies to do it has opened a thicket of questions about attribution, liability, escalation and who pays when an operation goes wrong.
White House expands its cyber reach with expanded AI policy, new cybercrime memo
The Trump administration, long associated with deregulation, is asserting new control over cyber operations via a reported expansion of its testing framework for frontier AI models and a stunning program that allows vetted private firms to run offensive cyber operations against foreign criminals.
Autonomous AI agents hacked the Taiwan government in a cyber first
Suisun City cyberattack recovery could take months, Microsoft patches 400 flaws, three zero-days, $100 device can hijack Boeing 737 systems, Hackers hijack AnMed Facebook page with ransom demands, German lawmaker urges cyber strikes on Russian drone factories, much more
OpenAI loosens GPT-5.6 cyber guardrails for vetted defenders
Anthropic to watermark Claude output, Gunra ransomware targets critical infrastructure through Fortinet flaws, WormGPT creator faces trial in Portugal, Ransomware disrupts systems at Winnipeg’s largest hospital, China-linked hackers exploit N-central flaw to deploy ransomware, much more
DPRK's Kimsuky built an in-house AI toolkit to power cyberattacks
Chinese components in UK military drones secretly transmitted data, Cali city declares emergency after cyberattack, Turkey's new cyber law sparks fears of sweeping digital censorship, OpenAI's Hugging Face hack reveals deeper AI safety failures, Claude Code's autonomous mode is now the default
Trust under pressure: Best infosec long reads 8/8/26
Inside a multimillion-dollar phone scam, How a fringe censorship theory reshaped policy, When AI learns to replicate itself, Iran's fractured information ecosystem, The unfinished fight over digital privacy
Kimi K3 escaped AI security sandbox during testing
ByteDance trains AI model to rival Anthropic, Vishing gang targets Wall Street firms with fake login sites, Violent crypto robberies put 2026 on record pace, Chinese router maker pulls devices after backdoor discovery, Spike in suicides alarms US Cyber Command, much more