Latest posts

  • What is a passkey, how does it work and why is it better than a password?

    Login method for apps and websites stored on users’ devices provides stronger security and is resistant to phishing and breaches The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has called time on the password – from now on, you should use a passkey. The NCSC said this week it would no longer recommend using passwords where passkeys…

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  • Thousands call on UK ministers to cut ties with US tech giant Palantir

    More than 200,000 have signed petitions urging the government to break contracts amid concerns about the company’s ‘supervillain’ manifesto More than 200,000 people have called on ministers to break contracts with Palantir in an apparent groundswell of public concern about the US tech company’s role in the NHS, police, military and councils. Two petitions have…

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  • Private health records of half a million Britons offered for sale on Chinese website

    Technology minister tells Commons ‘de-identified’ information from UK Biobank advertised for sale on Alibaba The confidential health records of half a million British volunteers have been offered for sale on Chinese website Alibaba, the UK government has confirmed. The “de-identified” data, belonging to participants in the UK Biobank project, was found for sale on three…

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  • Criminal gangs profiting as child sexual abuse websites double, experts say

    Analyst who worked on Internet Watch Foundation report says content exists ‘across all social media platforms’ and is ‘very easy’ to find The number of commercial child sexual abuse websites has doubled in a year as experts say that criminal gangs are making “huge profits” from online sexual exploitation. According to data collected by the…

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  • Chinese hackers are using everyday devices to hack UK firms, warns watchdog

    Britain’s cybersecurity agency says companies must step up vigilance to prevent espionage attacks Business live – latest updates British businesses are being urged to step up their vigilance against a China-linked hacking ploy that uses everyday devices for espionage. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and agencies in nine other countries have warned of…

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  • Met police in talks to buy Palantir AI tech for use in criminal investigations

    Exclusive: Internal concerns over allowing US firm linked to ICE and Israeli military to process highly sensitive data The Metropolitan police has held talks with Palantir that could lead to the London force buying the US spy-tech company’s AI technology to automate intelligence analysis for criminal investigations, the Guardian has learned. Palantir, whose software is…

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  • ‘An element of exploitation’: the world of TikTok child skincare influencers

    Experts say regulation of child influencers sits in a legal grey area as children promote products on social media #ToddlerSkincare: the ‘dark and exploitative’ world of children’s beauty videos on TikTok In a TikTok video a young girl – her age anywhere between 10 and 15 – sits unboxing package after package of products she…

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  • Palantir manifesto described as ‘ramblings of a supervillain’ amid UK contract fears

    Alarm caused by posts of Alex Karp, tech firm’s CEO, championing US military dominance and of AI weapons The US spy tech company Palantir published a manifesto extolling the benefits of American power and implying some cultures are inferior to others – in what MPs have called “a parody of a RoboCop film” and “the…

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  • Teacher v chatbot: my journey into the classroom in the age of AI – podcast

    I was a newcomer, negotiating all of the usual classroom difficulties for the first time. Throwing AI into the mix felt like downing a coffee in the middle of a panic attack By Peter C Baker. Read by Adam Sims Continue reading…

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  • Finance leaders warn over Mythos as UK banks prepare to use powerful Anthropic AI tool

    Release of new Claude model, so far limited to US firms, will expand to British institutions in coming days British banks will be given access in the next week to a powerful AI tool that was deemed too dangerous to be released to the public, as a series of senior finance figures warned over its…

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