Happy Tuesday all,
It’s been a crazy time to be alive, with all the security & AI things happening nonstop.
And I will start this newsletter by speaking seriously about the new AI browsers out there…
You may have seen news about these new AI Agentic browsers being released, that have the ability to research, do shopping, book reservations and purchase things on your behalf.
• https://www.wired.com/story/openai-atlas-browser-chrome-agents-web-browsing/
However, please note that so these AI browsers are riddled with security issues, and not yet safe to use for any sensitive Internet browsing. Moreover, we have few details on how secure their agentic browser is for us, nor do we know yet how well their browser withstands malicious attempts by hackers to hijack it.
So for now, while we fully vet these browsers before they can be considered for sensitive work, please only use them for simple & benign Internet browsing. And never ever input your credentials or credit card details into the browser!
OK, having said this, lets jump into the world of security + AI, there is LOTS to discuss…
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This quick video shows how shockingly easy it is for anyone on the Internet to build a Deepfake in 90 minutes!
Nuts!
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4zIH_BGFpQ
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There were reports of a large-scale data breach involving over 180 million username + password combinations, with a heavy presence of Gmail/Google accounts. I strongly advise everyone to check their personal accounts using Have I Been Pwned, and it only takes a few seconds. Visit HaveIBeenPwned and enter your email to see if your credentials appear in any known breach. If your account is flagged and passwords or other data were exposed and the vendor hasn’t already prompted a reset, change your password immediately. And remember to avoid using the same password across multiple sites, and enable two-factor authentication (passkeys are preferred!)
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Your browser sends a lot of information with each website you visit, so always remember that this information can be used to track you across the internet, even when visiting different websites, opening different browsers, and when you have a VPN turned on. The article goes into everything you need to know:
• https://www.wired.com/story/what-is-browser-fingerprinting/
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These new AI image & video generators are so unbelievably good now, that they are basically indiscernible from the real thing.
• https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/31/chatgpts-new-image-generator-is-really-good-at-faking-receipts/
You can easily see how much better they are in the past few years here:
• https://x.com/minchoi/status/1976042197154963702?s=12
Like I said in met last newsletter, I dont trust anything I see online anymore, unless I absolutely trust the source
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Meta has said it’s launching new tools to protect Messenger and WhatsApp users from potential scams. It’s introducing new warnings on WhatsApp when users attempt to share their screen with an unknown contact during a video call so as to prevent them from giving away sensitive information like bank details or verification codes. And similarly on Messenger, users can opt to enable a setting called “Scam detection” by navigating to Privacy & safety settings. Once it’s turned on, users are alerted when they receive a potentially suspicious message from an unknown connection that may contain signs of a scam.
• https://thehackernews.com/2025/10/meta-rolls-out-new-tools-to-protect.html
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iOS 26’s call screening feature automatically answers calls from unknown numbers to identify the caller before you decide to answer. To enable it, go to Settings > Phone > Screen Unknown Callers and choose to either have the iPhone “ask reason for calling” or “silence” calls from unsaved numbers. When you choose “ask reason for calling,” the phone will prompt the caller for their name and the reason for the call, then provide you with a live transcript to decide if you want to answer
• https://www.google.com/search?q=ios26+automatic+unknown+caller+call+screening
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Google says it blocks over 10 billion scam calls and messages every month. But scammers have adapted — they’ve gone social. Now they send fake job offers in group chats, even adding fake “friends” to make it look real. Be on the lookout:
• https://thehackernews.com/2025/10/googles-built-in-ai-defenses-on-android.html
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If you ever wonder which AI solution to use for what problem, here is a simple breakdown for you:
• https://x.com/krishnasagrawal/status/1988237549442396201?s=12
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iCloud Calendar invites are being abused to send callback phishing emails disguised as purchase notifications directly from Apple’s email servers, making them more likely to bypass spam filters to land in targets’ inboxes. And While there is nothing particularly special about the phishing lure itself, the abuse of the legitimate iCloud Calendar invite feature, Apple’s email servers, and an Apple email address adds a sense of legitimacy to the email and also allows it to potentially bypass spam filters as it comes from a trusted source. As a general rule, if you receive an unexpected Calendar invite with a strange message within it, it should be treated with caution.
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She thought she was flirting with her favorite celebrity. An absolutely heartbreaking deepfake scam cost her everything. Please read as these ‘romance scams’ are some of the most successful & devastating social engineering attacks on the Internet today:
• https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ar-AA1NcGla
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A great article breaking down in laymen’s terms how to set up the amazingly secure & easy Passkeys using Google Password Manager:
https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-use-google-passkeys/
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Speaking of Google, here is an article explaining all the cool AI features they are offering in Google Chrome browser. In particular please pay attention to the ability to “combat more sophisticated scams with Gemini Nano. We’re continuing to expand how we use AI to help you navigate the threats and annoyances on the web. Safe Browsing’s Enhanced Protection mode already uses Gemini Nano to help identify tech support scams that try to trick you into downloading harmful software. Soon, we’ll be expanding this protection to also stop sites that use fake viruses or fake giveaways to trick you.”
• https://blog.google/products/chrome/new-ai-features-for-chrome/
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As Signal grows, it is becoming a more appealing place for scammers to try and cause harm. The venerable company has put together tips to help you protect yourself from phishing, scams, & impersonation attempts. Plus info about how Signal support communicates.
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OpenAI just released Prompt Packs for any corporate role you can imagine, all pre-built. Here’s the full list + how to use them. Super cool 🙂
• https://academy.openai.com/public/clubs/work-users-ynjqu/resources/chatgpt-for-any-role
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For those of you interesting in learning about AI, and possibly starting a career in the AI industry, Google just dropped “Google Skills” – which is 3,000+ AI courses from DeepMind, Cloud, and Google Education in one platform. And it’s 100% FREE for Google Cloud users. This might be the biggest AI upskilling move of the decade!
• https://x.com/noahepstein_/status/1980990376745066992
MIT has released a 7-hour crash course on Generative AI. And all completely free on YouTube.
• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXV9Vh2jYcjbnv67sXNDJiO8MWLA3ZJKR
Also, if you could only watch 20 lectures to learn how AI really works, start here.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGwO_UgTS7I
Andrej Karpathy (who led Tesla’s Autopilot AI and is extremely well respected in the world of AI) dropped a 3.5-hour free course on how ChatGPT actually works:
Aaaaaand, not to be outdone, Microsoft also dropped an awesome free Generative AI course series for you, starting with module 1 here:
And finally, thank you OpenAI for working to build out the OpenAI Jobs Platform, the OpenAI Academy,& the new OpenAI Certifications.
• https://openai.com/index/expanding-economic-opportunity-with-ai/
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For those of you who are parents, this is a super cool new feature offered by Google, for free, for you to create animated storybooks on any topic you feed it, all in minutes. So you can literally create a bedtime story for your kids on a story in your life every single night 🙂
• https://x.com/geminiapp/status/1957479712386851324?s=46
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The FTC has some great advice for us.
Here are 5 useful ways for you to cut down on unwanted calls:
• https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2025/08/five-ways-help-you-cut-down-unwanted-calls
Also how to avoid ‘task scams’
• https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2025/08/how-spot-avoid-task-scams
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Speaking of scam callers, Wired as always has fantastic advice on how to avoid them:
• https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-spot-and-guard-against-wrong-number-scams/
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Google is rolling out AI-powered translations in Google Translate mobile apps, by introducing new live capabilities to make it easier to communicate in real-time. I love this!
• https://blog.google/products/translate/language-learning-live-translate/
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73% of Americans scan QR codes without checking their source, and the FBI warns Americans to be vigilant when receiving unexpected parcels containing QR codes. According to a recent alert, criminals have begun exploiting the ubiquity of QR codes as a tool for financial fraud and identity theft.
• https://www.techspot.com/news/108914-mystery-packages-qr-codes-spark-new-wave-scams.html
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If you’re looking for a privacy-first AI model to use, check out Proton Lumo AI (the same guys that offer the respected Proton VPN service):
• https://proton.me/blog/lumo-ai
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And last but not least, Mark Zuckerberg who owns Meta thinks we are all at a disadvantage if we don’t use AI glasses very soon. He says “glasses that can see what we see, hear what we hear, and interact with us throughout the day will become our primary computing devices.” What could go wrong?
• https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/mark-zuckerberg-wants-ai-glasses-20798250.php
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#ClickGameOver