Network security

News Corp CEO warns AI could ‘vandalise’ creativity and IP rights

News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson has warned that AI could damage creativity by undermining intellectual property rights.

At the company’s full-year results briefing in New York, he described the AI era as a historic turning point. He called for stronger protections to preserve America’s ‘comparative advantage in creativity’.

Thomson said allowing AI systems to consume and profit from copyrighted works without permission was akin to ‘vandalising virtuosity’.

He cited Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal, published by News Corp’s book division, questioning whether it should be used to train AI that might undermine book sales. Despite the criticism, the company has rolled out its AI newsroom tools, NewsGPT and Story Cutter.

News Corp reported a two percent revenue rise to US$8.5 billion ($A13.1 billion), with net income from continuing operations climbing 71 percent to US$648 million.

Growth in the Dow Jones and REA Group segments offset news media subscriptions and advertising declines.

Digital subscribers fell across several mastheads, although The Times and The Sunday Times saw gains. Profitability in news media rose 15 percent, aided by editorial efficiencies and cost-cutting measures.

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Android spyware posing as antivirus

LunaSpy is a new Android spyware campaign disguised as an antivirus or banking protection app. It spreads via messenger links and fake channels, tricking users into installing what appears to be a helpful security tool.

Once installed, the app mimics a real scanner, shows fake threat detections and operates unnoticed. In reality, it monitors everything on the device and sends sensitive data to attackers.

Active since at least February 2025, LunaSpy spreads through hijacked contact accounts and emerging Telegram channels. It poses as legitimate software to build trust before beginning surveillance.

Android users must avoid apps from unofficial links, scrutinise messenger invites, and only install from trusted stores. Reliable antivirus software and cautious permission granting provide essential defence.

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Malaysia tackles online scams with AI and new cyber guidelines

Cybercrime involving financial scams continues to rise in Malaysia, with 35,368 cases reported in 2024, a 2.53 per cent increase from the previous year, resulting in losses of RM1.58 billion.

The situation remains severe in 2025, with over 12,000 online scam cases recorded in the first quarter alone, involving fake e-commerce offers, bogus loans, and non-existent investment platforms. Losses during this period reached RM573.7 million.

Instead of waiting for the situation to worsen, the Digital Ministry is rolling out proactive safeguards. These include new AI-related guidelines under development by the Department of Personal Data Protection, scheduled for release by March 2026.

The documents will cover data protection impact assessments, automated decision-making, and privacy-by-design principles.

The ministry has also introduced an official framework for responsible AI use in the public sector, called GPAISA, to ensure ethical compliance and support across government agencies.

Additionally, training initiatives such as AI Untuk Rakyat and MD Workforce aim to equip civil servants and enforcement teams with skills to handle AI and cyber threats.

In partnership with CyberSecurity Malaysia and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, the ministry is also creating an AI-powered application to verify digital images and videos.

Instead of relying solely on manual analysis, the tool will help investigators detect online fraud, identity forgery, and synthetic media more effectively.

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New malware steals 200,000 passwords and credit card details through fake software

Hackers are now using fake versions of familiar software and documents to spread a new info-stealing malware known as PXA Stealer.

First discovered by Cisco Talos, the malware campaign is believed to be operated by Vietnamese-speaking cybercriminals and has already compromised more than 4,000 unique IP addresses across 62 countries.

Instead of targeting businesses alone, the attackers are now focusing on ordinary users in countries including the US, South Korea, and the Netherlands.

PXA Stealer is written in Python and designed to collect passwords, credit card data, cookies, autofill information, and even crypto wallet details from infected systems.

It spreads by sideloading malware into files like Microsoft Word executables or ZIP archives that also contain legitimate-looking programs such as Haihaisoft PDF Reader.

The malware uses malicious DLL files to gain persistence through the Windows Registry and downloads additional harmful files via Dropbox. After infection, it uses Telegram to exfiltrate stolen data, which is then sold on the dark web.

Once activated, the malware even attempts to open a fake PDF in Microsoft Edge, though the file fails to launch and shows an error message — by that point, it has already done the damage.

To avoid infection, users should avoid clicking unknown email links and should not open attachments from unfamiliar senders. Instead of saving passwords and card details in browsers, a trusted password manager is a safer choice.

Although antivirus software remains helpful, hackers in the campaign have used sophisticated methods to bypass detection, making careful online behaviour more important than ever.

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Cloudflare claims Perplexity circumvented website scraping blocks

Cloudflare has accused AI startup Perplexity of ignoring explicit website instructions not to scrape their content.

According to the internet infrastructure company, Perplexity has allegedly disguised its identity and used technical workarounds to bypass restrictions set out in Robots.txt files, which tell bots which pages they may or may not access.

The behaviour was reportedly detected after multiple Cloudflare customers complained about unauthorised scraping attempts.

Instead of respecting these rules, Cloudflare claims Perplexity altered its bots’ user agent to appear as a Google Chrome browser on macOS and switched its network identifiers to avoid detection.

The company says these tactics were seen across tens of thousands of domains and millions of daily requests, and that it used machine learning and network analysis to identify the activity.

Perplexity has denied the allegations, calling Cloudflare’s report a ‘sales pitch’ and disputing that the bot named in the findings belongs to the company. Cloudflare has since removed Perplexity’s bots from its verified list and introduced new blocking measures.

The dispute arises as Cloudflare intensifies its efforts to grant website owners greater control over AI crawlers. Last month, it launched a marketplace enabling publishers to charge AI firms for scraping, alongside free tools to block unauthorised data collection.

Perplexity has previously faced criticism over content use, with outlets such as Wired accusing it of plagiarism in 2024.

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Google signs groundbreaking deal to cut data centre energy use

Google has become the first major tech firm to sign formal agreements with US electric utilities to ease grid pressure. The deals come as data centres drive unprecedented energy demand, straining power infrastructure in several regions.

The company will work with Indiana Michigan Power and Tennessee Valley Authority to reduce electricity usage during peak demand. These arrangements will help divert power to general utilities when needed.

Under the agreements, Google will temporarily scale down its data centre operations, particularly those linked to energy-intensive AI and machine learning workloads.

Google described the initiative as a way to speed up data centre integration with local grids while avoiding costly infrastructure expansion. The move reflects growing concern over AI’s rising energy footprint.

Demand-response programmes, once used mainly in heavy manufacturing and crypto mining, are now being adopted by tech firms to stabilise grids in return for lower energy costs.

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The US launches $100 million cybersecurity grant for states

The US government has unveiled more than $100 million in funding to help local and tribal communities strengthen their cybersecurity defences.

The announcement came jointly from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), both part of the Department of Homeland Security.

Instead of a single pool, the funding is split into two distinct grants. The State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP) will provide $91.7 million to 56 states and territories, while the Tribal Cybersecurity Grant Program (TCGP) allocates $12.1 million specifically for tribal governments.

These funds aim to support cybersecurity planning, exercises and service improvements.

CISA’s acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, said the grants ensure communities have the tools needed to defend digital infrastructure and reduce cyber risks. The effort follows a significant cyberattack on St. Paul, Minnesota, which prompted a state of emergency and deployment of the National Guard.

Officials say the funding reflects a national commitment to proactive digital resilience instead of reactive crisis management. Homeland Security leaders describe the grant as both a strategic investment in critical infrastructure and a responsible use of taxpayer funds.

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Weak cyber hygiene in smart devices risks national infrastructure

The UK’s designation of data centres as Critical National Infrastructure highlights their growing strategic importance, yet a pressing concern remains over vulnerabilities in their OT and IoT systems. While IT security often receives significant investment, the same cannot be said for other technologies.

Attackers increasingly target these overlooked systems, gaining access through insecure devices such as IP cameras and biometric scanners. Many of these operate on outdated firmware and lack even basic protections, making them ideal footholds for malicious actors.

There have already been known breaches, with OT systems used in botnet activity and crypto mining, often without detection. These attacks not only compromise security in the UK but can destabilise infrastructure by overloading resources or bypassing safeguards.

Addressing these threats requires full visibility across all connected systems, with real-time monitoring, wireless traffic analysis, and network segmentation. Experts urge data centre operators to act now, not in response to a breach, but to prevent one entirely.

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Hackers infiltrate Southeast Asian telecom networks

A cyber group breached telecoms across Southeast Asia, deploying advanced tracking tools instead of stealing data. Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 assesses the activity as ‘associated with a nation-state nexus’.

A hacking group gained covert access to telecom networks across Southeast Asia, most likely to track users’ locations, according to cybersecurity analysts at Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42.

The campaign lasted from February to November 2024.

Instead of stealing data or directly communicating with mobile devices, the hackers deployed custom tools such as CordScan, designed to intercept mobile network protocols like SGSN. These methods suggest the attackers focused on tracking rather than data theft.

Unite42 assessed the activity ‘with high confidence’ as ‘associated with a nation state nexus’. The Unit notes that ‘this cluster heavily overlaps with activity attributed to Liminal Panda, a nation state adversary tracked by CrowdStrike’; according to CrowdStrike, Liminal Panda is considered to be a ‘likely China-nexus adversary’. It further states that ‘while this cluster significantly overlaps with Liminal Panda, we have also observed overlaps in attacker tooling with other reported groups and activity clusters, including Light Basin, UNC3886, UNC2891 and UNC1945.’

The attackers initially gained access by brute-forcing SSH credentials using login details specific to telecom equipment.

Once inside, they installed new malware, including a backdoor named NoDepDNS, which tunnels malicious data through port 53 — typically used for DNS traffic — in order to avoid detection.

To maintain stealth, the group disguised malware, altered file timestamps, disabled system security features and wiped authentication logs.

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Hackers use steganography to evade Windows defences

North Korea-linked hacking group APT37 is using malicious JPEG image files to deploy advanced malware on Windows systems, according to Genians Security Centre. The new campaign showcases a more evasive version of RoKRAT malware, which hides payloads in image files through steganography.

These attacks rely on large Windows shortcut files embedded in email attachments or cloud storage links, enticing users with decoy documents while executing hidden code. Once activated, the malware launches scripts to decrypt shellcode and inject it into trusted apps like MS Paint and Notepad.

This fileless strategy makes detection difficult, avoiding traditional antivirus tools by leaving minimal traces. The malware also exfiltrates data through legitimate cloud services, complicating efforts to trace and block the threat.

Researchers stress the urgency for organisations to adopt cybersecurity measures, behavioural monitoring, robust end point management, and ongoing user education. Defenders must prioritise proactive strategies to protect critical systems as threat actors evolve.

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