Security | The Verge

OpenAI reportedly disbanded its preparedness team

2026-08-16T17:32:56-04:00

According to the Financial Times, OpenAI disbanded its preparedness team at the end of last month. The job of the preparedness team was to assess if models posed serious risks and develop ways to mitigate those risks. (You know, like the possibility that it could go rogue and hack another company.) According to FT, responsibility has instead been divided up for specific areas like bio and cyber, then moved into existing teams.

This is the latest change at the company, which has been in upheaval as it heads towards what is expected to be a massive IPO. Over the last few years, it's slowly torn down its more reach-led model, dissolving its AG …

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Rogue AI aren’t science fiction anymore

2026-08-14T11:16:22-04:00

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on AI safety, follow Robert Hart. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.

How it started

It all started in July, when one of OpenAI's autonomous AI agents went rogue during a cybersecurity test. The agent escaped its isolated testing environment, accessed the internet, and hacked another company, Hugging Face. A few years ago, that might have sounded like science fiction. But, broadly speaking, that's exactly what happened, and the incident kicked off a wave of concern over what increa …

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The fight over Flock and other ALPRs

2026-08-13T17:46:21-04:00

There are over 120,000 of Flock’s automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras installed all over the US. Flock’s cameras, and others like them, use AI to identify and track vehicles based on their license plate number, make, model, color, and other info, networked together to track vehicles and people’s movements throughout the day and across the country.

Dozens of communities have canceled contracts for the cameras or turned them off, including Los Angeles, as officials have pushed for more limits on the data they collect, who has access to it, and how it can be used in the future. Earlier this year, Amazon-owned Ring canceled a partnership with Flock after online backlash.

The Trump admin will start letting private firms launch international cyberattacks

2026-08-13T15:13:27-04:00

The Trump administration is launching a new program that will allow private firms to perform cyberattacks against foreign criminals, as reported earlier by Bloomberg. The private firms would operate "under the control and oversight" of the federal government, giving them permission to surveil and disrupt criminal networks, according to a presidential memorandum published on Wednesday.

The Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security will oversee the private firms, which must meet requirements in "technical proficiency, proven performance of cyber operations, facility security," and more. Companies in the program must hold a bon …

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Meta adds AI screening to detect WhatsApp scams

2026-08-13T12:10:06-04:00

Meta is launching an optional Scam Alert feature on WhatsApp that uses on-device machine learning to flag suspicious messages. Earlier this year, Meta also launched scam detection for device linking requests on WhatsApp. The new Scam Alert feature, which is rolling out in a limited beta, shows users a warning if a chat seems like a scam:

If the model identifies a message as a likely scam attempt, the user sees a warning in the chat, which is not visible to the other person. From there, the user can decide what to do: block, report, or continue the conversation. If they decide that a warning is incorrectly flagged, the user can mark the cha …

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Flock CEO: ‘We got this one wrong’

2026-08-13T12:28:31-04:00

Surveillance tech company Flock is rolling out updates to address reports of cops across the country abusing its tools to stalk ex-romantic partners and others. CEO Garrett Langley is delivering a mea culpa, and in an interview with The Verge, says he's changed his mind on what responsibility Flock bears for how law enforcement uses it.

Over the coming weeks, Flock will begin implementing updates that include requiring a previously optional feature called Audit Assistance, which flags "abnormal search behavior" and immediately locks out suspicious users until an administrator reviews their activity. All users will also be required to enter …

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‘Zoomsday’ hack uncovered using fewer than 20 AI prompts

2026-08-11T10:45:44-04:00

Zoom has patched a major security vulnerability that could allow an attacker to hijack anyone's device during a meeting. In a blog post on Tuesday, researchers at A Security say they uncovered the flaw using "fewer than 20 prompts on publicly available AI models," as reported earlier by Wired.

The exploit involved Zoom's annotation feature, which allows users to draw on their screen while sharing it with other meeting participants. With the exploit, an attacker could join or host a meeting and run malicious code on victims' devices, allowing them to steal data, turn on the camera or microphone, or install malware. The attack required no act …

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Steam hardware shipper breach leaks customer data, including names and addresses

2026-08-10T09:04:13-04:00

Valve says a data breach may have exposed the personal information of customers who ordered its Steam hardware in Europe. In an email sent to users, Valve says its European shipping partner, CEVA Logistics, suffered a data breach that may have included customer names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses.

The breach at CEVA occurred between July 29th and August 1st, weeks after Valve began taking reservations for its new Steam Machine and Steam Controller. Valve adds that European customer data "was likely compromised" as part of the breach, as CEVA stores "delivery-related information" for up to 90 days after orders.

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OpenAI puts the brakes on a new model because it’s supposedly too powerful

2026-08-07T14:40:34-04:00

OpenAI says it is pausing "internal activities" around an in-development AI model, Astra, because it doesn't yet meet new security standards the company is putting in place. The announcement follows its recent disclosure that OpenAI models accidentally hacked Hugging Face. Anthropic and Meta have also since admitted that they had AI models that went rogue and breached other organizations.

Recent internal evaluations of an OpenAI model called Astra indicate that it offers "significant advancements in agentic coding and cybersecurity," according to the company. "These results, in addition to expert assessments, have led us to conclude last n …

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Rogue AI agents created fake online identities in another hacking attempt

2026-08-05T11:14:57-04:00

Yet more rogue AI agents from OpenAI and Anthropic have been caught attempting to hack real targets online without permission. The discoveries add to a growing list of previously unknown incidents that have alarmed AI safety experts and intensified pressure for greater oversight of frontier systems.

According to a report from the UK's AI Security Institute, which evaluates frontier models from top AI labs before they are released, agents powered by OpenAI's GPT-5.6-Sol and Anthropic's Mythos 5 went "engaged in sustained, potentially harmful activity directed at real people and organisations." This included trying to insert malicious code i …

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