Midnight Web by Rahul Banerjee

‘’A phone farm is a collection of multiple smartphones used simultaneously to generate income through various apps and services, such as watching ads, completing surveys, or mining cryptocurrency.’’ Back in October, word started making the rounds of an AI startup called Doublespeed. Backed by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Doublespeed offers customers a unique service: access to a massive phone farm that could be used to operate hundreds of AI-generated social media accounts. Now, 404 Media reports in an explosive scoop that Doublespeed has been hacked. This wasn’t just one account associated with the startup, but the entire backend used to manage its phone farm — so it provides an extraordinary glimpse at how the service is actually being used to manipulate social media at scale. Speaking to 404 on condition of anonymity, the hacker said they can “see the phones in use, which manager [computers controlling the phones] they had, which TikTok accounts ...

  India's cybersecurity landscape faces a critical new threat a shockingly simple phone scam that requires no technical sophistication from fraudsters yet bypasses nearly all modern digital security measures. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has issued an urgent nationwide alert about a social engineering attack that uses fundamental telecom features to hijack victims' financial lives. Unlike phishing or malware, this scam exploits the trusted USSD protocol, making every mobile user from smartphone owners to basic feature phone users equally vulnerable. This is where the technical deception occurs. The provided code isn't a verification string but a  USSD command activating unconditional call forwarding.   Typically formatted as *21*[Scammer's Phone Number] #, this sequence when dialled and pressed call silently reroutes all incoming calls to the fraudster's device. The victim might hear a standard confirmation tone or see a "service activated...

  The Indian government has issued an emergency order to X (formerly Twitter), directing the Elon Musk-owned platform to immediately overhaul the safeguards on its AI chatbot, Grok. The directive follows user reports and a lawmaker’s complaint that the tool was being used to generate “obscene” AI-altered images, including non-consensual edits of women into bikinis. In an order issued Friday, India’s IT Ministry gave X 72 hours to implement “technical and procedural changes” that prevent Grok from creating content involving nudity, sexualization, or any other unlawful material. The platform must also submit a detailed report outlining the corrective steps taken. The government’s warning was stark: failure to comply could strip X of its “safe harbour” protections in India the legal shield that protects platforms from liability for user-generated content. The crackdown began after users demonstrated how Grok could easily alter images of individuals, primarily women, to make them...