Government and company websites across the world went offline this week after the disclosure of critical vulnerabilities in a widely used programming language prompted millions of hacking attempts. Japan has said it will set up a team to simulate cyberattacks using AI to identify weaknesses in technology systems as organizations scramble to curtail risks from flaws in the PHP programming language that underpins much of the internet. Government and company websites across the world went offline this week after the disclosure of critical vulnerabilities in the widely used programming language prompted millions of hacking attempts, forcing website operators to rush to protect or temporarily shut down their systems. Highlighting the extent of the disruption, Japan's third-largest mobile carrier, SoftBank, said on Friday it was suspending its emergency alert system for mobile users. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable @Home Look Up Trending Now Mashable Selects Say More Top creators, ranked Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Creator Playbook In My Bag AI at School Safety Net All Series Beware: Many wellness posts come with a promotion attached. Olivia Tauber is the deputy editor of digital culture, covering creators, media, movies, beauty, and more. Based in New York, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Cut, Teen Vogue, Complex, and Interview Magazine. She holds a Master's degree in Journalism from NYU and a Bachelor's from the University of Michigan. She also runs Fan Mail, a weekly pop-culture newsletter.

Share Google's Gemini AI hacks 3 companies in security test, then stops on social media Google's Gemini model hacked three companies in a test of its cybersecurity capabilities, the tech giant has confirmed to Al Jazeera. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Friday that the first known breakout by Gemini occurred in May as part of a test run by the company Irregular. It was the latest breach in a number of incidents in which AI models escaped testing environments and hacked other companies. Google's vice president of security engineering, Heather Adkins, told Al Jazeera's John Hendren that in the other instances "the model found public information online and guessed credentials to access websites it thought were part of the test." The company also said this happened three times and each time the model stopped before completing the act.

OpenAI says it has identified additional incidents of its AI models allegedly acting deceptively and taking unsanctioned actions during internal training and testing. Alongside these disclosures on Wednesday, the creator of ChatGPT stated it was introducing a public reporting framework intended to frequently share instances of what it termed as unexpected or misaligned AI behaviour. The company said the initiative aims to increase industry transparency around troubling model activities in the absence of standardised safety disclosure norms. The announcement comes amid broader calls from prominent technology leaders urging a slowdown in frontier AI development over concerns that rapid scaling could outpace human oversight and control. Last week, Anthropic claimed to have thwarted multiple malicious operations using its Claude models, ranging from cyber-espionage and weapons design to mass surveillance campaigns.

The Trump Alien'Disclosure Speech' Rumors Are Reaching a Fever Pitch The US government has been sharing more information about UFOs. That's fueling excitement over the possibility of the president announcing that humans are not alone. In 2006, Donald Trump was firing people on and Dr. Phil was daytime television's reigning tough-love therapist. Twenty years later, the former is president of the United States, the latter, his informal UFO ambassador--recently trusted with unreleased government files on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) to gauge how the public might handle what's inside. Here's what comes in stages.

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Creator Playbook Trending Now Say More Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Switch Off Mashable Voices Mashable Selects Safety Net Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List In My Bag All Series A disclosure alleges USPS rushed an untested ballot-screening tool that can reject thousands of votes over a single error. Chance Townsend is the General Assignments Editor at Mashable, covering tech, video games, dating apps, digital culture, and whatever else comes his way. He has a Master's in Journalism from the University of North Texas and is a proud orange cat father. His writing has also appeared in PC Mag and . A whistleblower working inside the United States Postal Service (USPS) has told Congress that a brand-new system for screening mail-in ballots -- built in a matter of months, against the advice of the agency's own staff -- is so rushed and untested that it risks mass rejection of legitimate ballots just as the 2026 midterms approach.

Emil Michael during a Senate armed services committee confirmation hearing in Washington DC on 27 March 2025. Emil Michael during a Senate armed services committee confirmation hearing in Washington DC on 27 March 2025. The top Pentagon official overseeing military artificial intelligence policy, who reaped profits earlier this year of up to $24m selling his private investment in Elon Musk's AI company, has now sold his holdings in another AI company for between $5m and $25m, according to records seen by the Guardian. Earlier this year, the Guardian disclosed that the official, Emil Michael, had profited handsomely from his investment in Musk's xAI in January, with a gain of between 400% and 4,800% . Michael's latest financial disclosures show that in June, he sold off his shares in Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine.

I wore the world's first HDR10 smart glasses TCL's new E Ink tablet beats the Remarkable and Kindle Anker's new charger is one of the most unique I've ever seen I wore the world's first HDR10 smart glasses TCL's new E Ink tablet beats the Remarkable and Kindle Anker's new charger is one of the most unique I've ever seen'Sophisticated' AI swarm attacks are months away, OpenAI warns: What experts say businesses must do OpenAI sounds a solemn and dire alarm, but we're woefully unprepared for what's coming. An open letter from OpenAI claims sophisticated AI-driven attacks are months away. Consumers and organizations should be more vigilant about cybersecurity fundamentals. Keeping pace with AI-enabled attackers will likely require using AI to fight AI. As someone who writes about the intersection of AI and cybersecurity, I've researched more than enough stories about the emerging threat landscape to make me consider disconnecting from the grid and hiding in a remote cabin somewhere.