Feed aggregator

The Pixel Sense assistant would pull in data from apps like Calendar, Docs and Photos to add more context to responses.

Georgetown professor Ella Washington and Harvard professor Frank Dobbin discuss the beneficiaries and misperceptions of DEI, and who will be hurt as it's dismantled across public and private sectors.

• A company's executives received an extortion letter in the mail
• It claims to have come from ransomware operators BianLian
• The senders warned about stealing the company's sensitive files

The security world appears to have come full circle, as spam mail has once again gotten physical with scammers sending their victims snail mail.

Cybersecurity outlet GuidePoint recently came across a couple of these letters sent to members of the target organization’s executive team.

The letters are not your typical extinct spam, either - but claim to have been sent by the BianLian ransomware group.

There is no ransomware

“I regret to inform you that we have gained access to [REDACTED] systems and over the past several weeks have exported thousands of data files, including customer order and contact information, employee information with IDs, SSNs, payroll reports, and other sensitive HR documents, company financial documents, legal documents, investor and shareholder information, invoices, and tax documents,” the letter reads.

“Your network is insecure and we were able to gain access and intercept your network traffic, leverage your personal email address, passwords, online accounts and other information to social engineer our way into [REDACTED] systems via your home network with the help of another employee.”

The researchers said that the attacks are as fake as the letters. There is no evidence of any compromise whatsoever, and the letter’s contents bear no resemblance to the BianLian ransomware operation. Even the wording of the message is inconsistent with ransom notes BianLian was seen sending in the past, they said.

In any case, the scammers were demanding $250,000 to $350,000, to be paid in Bitcoin, within ten days. The letter also included a QR code leading to the Bitcoin address, but it’s freshly generated so it’s impossible to determine if it really belongs to BianLian or not.

The return address for the letters is in Boston, USA, and according to The Register, points to a real address for an office building.

Via The Register

You might also like

• One of the nastiest ransomware groups around may have a whole new way of doing things
• We've rounded up the best password managers
• Take a look at our guide to the best authenticator app

• Darktrace report finds four in five IT execs fear increasing use of AI in cyberattacks
• Majority say they are now "adequately prepared" to respond to such threats
• Skills shortage is keeping them down

Almost four in five Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) say Artificial Intelligence-powered (AI) threats are having a “significant impact” on their organization, new research has claimed.

The 2025 State of AI Cybersecurity report, released by Darktrace surveyed more than 1,500 cybersecurity professionals across 14 countries, finding 78% saw AI-powered threats as significant, up 5% from in 2024. These are being combined with increasing cybercrime-as-a-service solutions, as well as automation, resulting in more sophistication and diversity in attack techniques in ransomware, phishing, and other methods.

However, businesses are not sitting idly, the report added, as almost two-thirds of the respondents (60%) said they are “adequately prepared” to defend against these threats, up 15% year-on-year.

Unknown attackers

Darktrace added that the results could have been even better, were it not for insufficient AI knowledge and skills, and an acute shortage of personnel and talent.

"The impact of AI on cybersecurity is clear and increasing. There are more employees and enterprise applications using AI that must be protected. Adversaries are using it to make their attacks more targeted, scalable, and successful. All of this is unfolding in a highly volatile geopolitical environment that is creating more uncertainty," said Jill Popelka, CEO, Darktrace.

"There has never been a more urgent need for AI in the SOC to augment teams and pre-empt threats so organizations can build their cyber resilience.”

While almost all (95%) of surveyed professionals see AI as means to improve the speed and efficiency of their cybersecurity platforms, fewer than half (42%) said they fully understand the types of AI in their security stack.

You might also like

• AI tools are being increasingly abused to launch cyberattacks
• We've rounded up the best password managers
• Take a look at our guide to the best authenticator app

A trailblazing generation of players is retiring. In a new docuseries from Prime Video, we hear from a new group of players and coaches vying to be the next best in American women's soccer.

(Image credit: Reed Hoffmann)