TECH NEWS
Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images ByDavid DiMolfetta, Cybersecurity Reporter, Nextgov/FCW October 20, 2026 11:07 AM ET Senior intelligence and election oversight lawmakers want social media companies and AI developers to strengthen safeguards against false voting information, foreign influence campaigns and deceptive AI content. * Election Security
TECH NEWS
AI development and expansion is rocketing across our society, sparkling and bright like a Roman candle, but with its tail on fire. The disruptions are coming so fast, and the concerns are rising so quickly, that no one, not even those running the biggest AI companies, knows what to do.
TECH NEWS
James Martin/CNET 8.0 Pros & Cons * Cutting-edge privacy and security * Excellent for streaming * Strong commitment to transparency * Privacy-friendly jurisdiction (British Virgin Islands) * Expensive * New app is a little buggy * No multihop connections * Limited DNS-based content blocking on Basic tier ExpressVPN has gone through a great deal of change
TECH NEWS
Between April and July, AOMEI Backupper served malware to its users multiple times in short-burst supply chain compromises, security researchers warn. AOMEI Backupper is Windows backup, sync, and disk cloning software, available in free and paid editions for home users, businesses, and Windows Server environments. AOMEI says its products are
TECH NEWS
* Social platforms have incurred over $26 billion in privacy fines and settlements globally since 2020. * Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram) accounted for $23.7 billion (91%) of all penalties. * The US led enforcement with $20.9 billion in fines, followed by European regulators at $5.16 billion. Social media platforms
TECH NEWS
That "critical Microsoft alert" is a scam that tricks you into installing actual malware. Jen Insyxiengmai/Getty Images You're browsing as normal, when all of a sudden you see an urgent pop-up flashing an alarming warning that your computer has been infected with a virus. The
TECH NEWS
Proton VPN 8.4 Pros & Cons * Excellent privacy and transparency * Blazing-fast speeds * Exceptional for streaming * Generous global server network * Open-source apps * Linux GUI app * 10 simultaneous connections * The best free plan on the market * No 24/7 live chat yet * App design could be more user-friendly * Confusing MacOS kill
TECH NEWS
James Martin/CNET Surfshark 8.6 Pros & Cons * Fast * Unlimited simultaneous connections * RAM-only server infrastructure * Lots of unique features * Split tunneling on Windows, Android, MacOS and iOS * 14-Eyes jurisdiction (Netherlands) * Major renewal price increase Surfshark is a solid VPN that can do a lot more than other virtual private
TECH NEWS
* A hacker used AI agents to target more than 1,200 websites, compromising over 100 in under a month * Autonomous agents tested vulnerabilities, adapted tactics, and established access with minimal human input * Researchers warn AI-powered attacks are making large-scale website compromise faster and cheaper In less than a month, a
TECH NEWS
Dutch-Belgian grocery giant Ahold Delhaize has restored some of the services impacted by last week’s cyberattack and expects more to come back online within days. On October 12, the company took its systems offline in response to “a security issue” within its network, which impacted its online services, including
TECH NEWS
Threat actors have been abusing open source AI platform Cairn to automate malicious operations against hundreds of websites worldwide, AI security firm Norforge reports. Cairn is a general-purpose problem-solving engine that can coordinate AI agents towards a set goal and can be used as an autonomous penetration testing engine. Each
TECH NEWS
Ocean Security found a phishing campaign, dubbed Phantom Preview, that abused legitimate Frame.io notifications and hidden PDF links to deliver fake Microsoft 365 login pages. Cybersecurity researchers at Ocean Security identified a targeted adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) phishing campaign on August 27, 2026, that abused Adobe Frame.io‘s legitimate share
