Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has confirmed that its production halt will continue until at least Wednesday, 24 September, as it works to recover from a major cyberattack that disrupted its IT systems and paralysed production at the end of August.
JLR stated that the extension was necessary because forensic investigations were ongoing and the controlled restart of operations was taking longer than anticipated. The company stressed that it was prioritising a safe and stable restart and pledged to keep staff, suppliers, and partners regularly updated.
Reports suggest recovery could take weeks, impacting production and sales channels for an extended period. Approximately 33,000 employees remain at home as factory and sales processes are not fully operational, resulting in estimated losses of £1 billion in revenue and £70 million in profits.
The shutdown also poses risks to the wider UK economy, as JLR represents roughly four percent of British exports. The incident has renewed calls for the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which aims to strengthen defenses against digital threats to critical industries.
No official attribution has been made, but a group calling itself Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters has claimed responsibility. The group claims to have deployed ransomware and published screenshots of JLR’s internal SAP system, linking itself to extortion groups, including Scattered Spider, Lapsus$, and ShinyHunters.
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Bracknell and Wokingham College has confirmed a cyberattack that compromised data collected for Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. The breach affects data used by Activate Learning and other institutions, including names, dates of birth, National Insurance numbers, and passport details.
Access Personal Checking Services (APCS) was alerted by supplier Intradev on August 17 that its systems had been accessed without authorisation. While payment card details and criminal conviction records were not compromised, data submitted between December 2024 and May 8, 2025, was copied.
APCS stated that its own networks and those of Activate Learning were not breached. The organisation is contacting only those data controllers where confirmed breaches have occurred and has advised that its services can continue to be used safely.
Activate Learning reported the incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office following a risk assessment. APCS is still investigating the full scope of the breach and has pledged to keep affected institutions and individuals informed as more information becomes available.
Individuals have been advised to closely monitor their financial statements, exercise caution when opening phishing emails, and regularly update security measures, including passwords and two-factor authentication. Activate Learning emphasised the importance of staying vigilant to minimise risks.
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Swedish prosecutors have confirmed that a cyberattack on IT systems provider Miljodata exposed the personal data of 1.5 million people, nearly 15% of Sweden’s population. The attack occurred during the weekend of August 23–24.
Authorities said the stolen data has been leaked online and includes names, addresses, and contact details. Prosecutor Sandra Helgadottir said the group Datacarry has claimed responsibility, though no foreign state involvement is suspected.
Media in Sweden reported that the hackers demanded 1.5 bitcoin (around $170,000) to prevent the release of the data. Miljodata confirmed the information has now been published on the darknet.
The Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection has received over 250 breach notifications, with 164 municipalities and four regional authorities impacted. Employees in Gothenburg were among those affected, according to SVT.
Private companies, including Volvo, SAS, and GKN Aerospace, also reported compromised data. Investigators are working to identify the perpetrators as the breach’s scale continues to raise concerns nationwide.
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Advertising is heading for a split future. By 2030, brands will run hyper-personalised AI campaigns or embrace raw human storytelling. Everything in between will vanish.
AI-driven advertising will go far beyond text-to-image gimmicks. These adaptive systems will combine social trends, search habits, and first-party data to create millions of real-time ad variations.
The opposite approach will lean into imperfection, featuring unpolished TikToks, founder-shot iPhone videos, and authentic and alive content. Audiences reward authenticity over carefully scripted, generic campaigns.
Mid-tier, polished, forgettable, creative work will be the first to fade away. AI can replicate it instantly, and audiences will scroll past it without noticing.
Marketers must now pick a side: feed AI with data and scale personalisation, or double down on community-driven, imperfect storytelling. The middle won’t survive.
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Google’s Gemini latest update has sparked a social media craze by allowing users to transform 2D photos into lifelike 3D figurines. The feature, part of Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, has quickly become the standout trend from the update.
Instead of serving as a photo-editing tool, Gemini now helps users turn selfies, portraits, and pet photos into stylized statuettes. The images resemble collectable vinyl or resin figures, with smooth finishes and polished detailing.
The digital figurine trend blends personalisation with creativity, allowing users to reimagine themselves or loved ones as miniature display pieces. The playful results have been widely shared across platforms, driving renewed engagement with Google’s AI suite.
The figurine generator also complements Gemini’s other creative functions, such as image combination and style transformation, which allow users to experiment with entirely new aesthetics. Together, these tools extend Gemini’s appeal beyond simple photo correction.
While other platforms have offered 3D effects, Gemini’s version produces highly polished results in seconds, democratising what was once a niche 3D modelling skill. For many, it is the most accessible way to turn memories into digital art.
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Meta is set to unveil its first pair of smart glasses with a built-in display at its annual Connect conference in California.
Expected to be called Celeste, the glasses will debut at around $800 and feature a small digital display in the right lens for notifications. Analysts say the higher price point could limit adoption compared with Meta’s Ray-Ban line, which starts at $299.
Alongside the new glasses, Meta is also expected to launch its first wristband for hand-gesture control and an updated Ray-Ban line with better cameras, battery life and AI features. Developers will gain access to a new software kit to build device apps.
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Kering has confirmed a data breach affecting several of its luxury brands, including Gucci, Balenciaga, Brioni, and Alexander McQueen, after unauthorised access to its Salesforce systems compromised millions of customer records.
Hacking group ShinyHunters has claimed responsibility, alleging it exfiltrated 43.5 million records from Gucci and nearly 13 million from the other brands. The stolen data includes names, email addresses, dates of birth, sales histories, and home addresses.
Kering stated that the incident occurred in June 2025 and did not compromise bank or credit card details or national identifiers. The company has reported the breach to the relevant regulators and is notifying the affected customers.
Evidence shared by ShinyHunters suggests Balenciaga made an initial ransom payment of €500,000 before negotiations broke down. The group released sample data and chat logs to support its claims.
ShinyHunters has exploited Salesforce weaknesses in previous attacks targeting luxury, travel, and financial firms. Questions remain about the total number of affected customers and the potential exposure of other Kering brands.
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Google has unveiled VaultGemma, a new large language model built to offer cutting-edge privacy through differential privacy. The 1-billion-parameter model is based on Google’s Gemma architecture and is described as the most powerful differentially private LLM to date.
Differential privacy adds mathematical noise to data, preventing the identification of individuals while still producing accurate overall results. The method has long been used in regulated industries, but has been challenging to apply to large language models without compromising performance.
VaultGemma is designed to eliminate that trade-off. Google states that the model can be trained and deployed with differential privacy enabled, while maintaining comparable stability and efficiency to non-private LLMs.
This breakthrough could have significant implications for developers building privacy-sensitive AI systems, ranging from healthcare and finance to government services. It demonstrates that sensitive data can be protected without sacrificing speed or accuracy.
Google’s research teams say the model will be released with open-source tools to help others adopt privacy-preserving techniques. The move comes amid rising regulatory and public scrutiny over how AI systems handle personal data.
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South Australian public schools will soon gain access to EdChat, a ChatGPT-style app developed by Microsoft in partnership with the state government. Education Minister Blair Boyer said the tool will roll out next term across public high schools following a successful trial.
Safeguards have been built into EdChat to protect student data and alert moderators if students type concerning prompts, such as those related to self-harm or other sensitive topics. Boyer said student mental health was a priority during the design phase.
Teachers report that students use EdChat to clarify instructions, get maths solutions explained, and quiz themselves on exam topics. Adelaide Botanic High School principal Sarah Chambers described it as an ‘education equaliser’ that provides students with access to support throughout the day.
While many educators in Australia welcome the rollout, experts warn against overreliance on AI tools. Toby Walsh of UNSW said students must still learn how to write essays and think critically, while others noted that AI could actually encourage deeper questioning and analysis.
RMIT computing expert Michael Cowling said generative AI can strengthen critical thinking when used for brainstorming and refining ideas. He emphasised that students must learn to critically evaluate AI output and utilise the technology as a tool, rather than a substitute for learning.
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Real-time translation is becoming a standard feature across consumer tech, with Samsung, Google, and Apple all introducing new tools. Apple’s recently announced Live Translation on AirPods demonstrates the utility of such features, particularly for travellers.
YouTube has joined the trend, expanding its multi-language audio feature to millions of creators worldwide. The tool enables creators to add dubbed audio tracks in multiple languages, powered by Google’s Gemini AI, replicating tone and emotion.
The feature was first tested with creators like MrBeast, Mark Rober, and Jamie Oliver. YouTube reports that Jamie Oliver’s channel saw its views triple, while over 25% of the watch time came from non-primary languages.
Mark Rober’s channel now supports more than 30 languages per video, helping creators reach audiences far beyond their native markets. YouTube states that this expansion should make content more accessible to global viewers and increase overall engagement.
Subtitles will still be vital for people with hearing difficulties, but AI-powered dubbing could reduce reliance on them for language translation. For creators, it marks a significant step towards making content truly global.
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