Cybernews weekly briefing: AI divides and rules the world

Here's this week's recap – a brief summary of technology and cybersecurity news that made headlines between April 17 and 21.

• The pro-Russian hacktivist group KillNet has leaked stolen data allegedly belonging to thousands of individuals with ties to NATO.

• OpenAI, the startup behind ChatGPT, has been issued a Cease and Desist letter over “defamatory” statements allegedly made about Alexander Hanff, a privacy advocate, whom the artificial intelligence falsely claimed to be dead.

• Shields Health Care Group (SHCG), a US medical service provider, disclosed a data breach impacting over 2.3 million people whose sensitive data was exposed.

• Cyberattacks target Israel’s critical infrastructure in the wake of violent clashes at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

• ChatGPT’s popularity prompted scammers to use OpenAI’s chatbot name in malicious domains to lure unsuspecting victims.

• Meta is laying off tech teams, further battering employee morale.

• Pope, Beyonce lose verified status on Twitter, Musk personally pays for the blue checkmark for Stephen King and LeBron James.

• Microsoft’s advertising platform will no longer support Twitter. Its boss is furious and threatening to take legal action.

• Snapchat’s My AI chatbot is now accessible to all app users.

• A Berlin-based photographer has won the prestigious international photography competition with an AI-generated image, only to refuse the award and spark the debate on the role of artificial intelligence in art.

• German tabloid Die Aktuelle has been slammed for “disgusting” behavior after running a fake interview with a reclusive Formula 1 champion generated by a chatbot and suggesting it was real.
• NCR, a US software giant specializing in technology and payment platforms for the restaurant industry, has fallen victim to a ransomware attack.

Cybernews exclusives you won’t regret reading

As always, I carefully selected a couple of articles this week that, I believe, are worth reading from the beginning to the very end.

• Russia’s NATO neighbors are capable of defending themselves against the Kremlin, Lithuania’s cyber chief said in an exclusive interview with Cybernews.

• There's a new AI on the block: AutoGPT. If the user states an end goal, the system can work out the steps needed to get there and carry them out. How capable is AutoGPT – and what dangers may it hold?

• ICICI bank, an Indian multinational valued at over $76 billion, leaked sensitive data, including financial information and personal documents of the bank's clients. When asked by Cybernews for a comment, the bank representatives replied: “We do not know which incident you are referring to.”

• Siemens Metaverse, a virtual space built to mirror real machines, factories, and other highly complex systems, has exposed sensitive data, including the company’s office plans and internet of things (IoT) devices.

• In a world where social media platforms constantly collect personal data, and everything seems to be public, why should data leaks still matter to anyone?

• Digital natives have become used to getting instant answers to their questions by asking digital assistants such as Siri, Google, or Alexa. Would you trust an AI with your mental health?