Chinese hackers have been impersonating artificial intelligence (AI) experts in the United States, including a former government official, according to a new report from cybersecurity firm Proofpoint. The report, released on Thursday, found that in July, a China-aligned hacking group called TA419 targeted a slate of US policy experts by impersonating prominent figures, including Lynne Edwards Parker, the former principal deputy director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The targets included policy experts at think tanks, defence contractors, universities and law firms in both the US and Japan. The report used a technique that creates a fake browser pop-up window inside a legitimate webpage that mimics an authentic-looking sign-in prompt to deceive victims and make it harder for them to realise they are handing over their information to hackers. Proofpoint did not specifically name the targets hacked, but the Reuters news agency was able to confirm at least one of them as Alex Engler, a former White House official who now heads the Penn Center on Media, Technology, and Democracy.

Mashable Selects Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more In My Bag Look Up Creator Playbook Say More AI at School Safety Net Versus Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age All Series Anthropic releases Claude Sonnet 5.5, a faster and cheaper follow-up to Opus 5.5 Anthropic says the new mid-tier model is a clear upgrade over Sonnet 5 and costs up to 30 percent less per task. 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 . Anthropic just released Claude Sonnet 5.5, the second model in its Claude 5.5 family.

Prime minister Anthony Albanese (left) previously said he had expressed'Australia's extreme concern about the incident' to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Prime minister Anthony Albanese (left) previously said he had expressed'Australia's extreme concern about the incident' to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Executive to front parliamentary committee on AI as ministers reveal how brief message telling them about hack was signed off'best' OpenAI has apologised to Australians for its agent attack on Medicare, and will front parliament next week as the tech company revealed more details about its June hack of Australian government websites. Ministers on Tuesday evening released a brief, five paragraph email which OpenAI used to inform the Australian government about the attack. The email was sent to a public inbox monitored by Services Australia on 10 September - nearly three months after the AI agent accessed the website on 18 June - and was signed off with the closing "best".

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable Selects Look Up Say More Safety Net Versus Creator Playbook In My Bag Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age Switch Off All Series This mission apparently has some catching up to do. Elisha Sauers writes about space for Mashable, taking deep dives into NASA's moon and Mars missions, chatting up astronauts and history-making discoverers, and jetting above the clouds . Through 17 years of reporting, she's covered a variety of topics, including health, business, and government, with a penchant for public records requests. She previously worked for in Norfolk, Virginia, and in Annapolis, Maryland. Her work has earned numerous state awards, including the Virginia Press Association's top honor, Best in Show, and national recognition for narrative storytelling.

Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Say More Safety Net Versus Mashable Selects Creator Playbook In My Bag Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age Switch Off All Series Anthropic launches Claude Opus 5.5, promising Fable-level performance at a lower price Anthropic says its new model rivals Fable 5.1 on most tasks while costing 40 percent less to run than Opus 5. 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 . Anthropic has released Claude Opus 5.5, a new AI model the company says performs at roughly the same level as its Claude Fable 5.1 model on most work, but at a significantly lower cost. The model, announced on Tuesday, Sept. 22, is the first in Anthropic's new Claude 5.5 family.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Want to keep track of an email that's just there for information? You probably get plenty of emails that are there to just keep you informed. You're CC'd on the message, but you're not actually expected to respond. If you want to make these emails easier to spot, you can set Outlook to highlight them in a different color.

RBA governor Michele Bullock speaks at the CEDA event on Tuesday. RBA governor Michele Bullock speaks at the CEDA event on Tuesday. RBA governor says AI is'great white hope' but its adoption is so far adding to inflation, rather than economic growth The Reserve Bank governor said AI could be a bubble and there was no evidence it is making the economy more efficient, as the Albanese government claims the technology will solve Australia's economic malaise. Ahead of an expected interest rate rise next week Michele Bullock also said the slump in house prices was deeper than others in Australia's recent history. Resurgent oil prices and inflation are weighing on markets but US tech stocks surged on Monday after Facebook owner Meta debuted its new Muse AI agent and saw its shares rise 11%.

The new Siri AI has what Apple calls "personal context understanding". Once you install iOS 27, you may notice a notification in the Settings app about "Optimize Search and Siri." This means your device is learning everything about you, from emails to messages. The process takes a while to complete (it will run faster when your phone is locked, charging and on Wi-Fi), but it's essential for Siri AI to work. With this knowledge about what's on your phone, Siri becomes much more powerful and smart.

Fake calendar invites can infect your system, and they're surging - how to protect yourself These invites sneak past your security software to embed themselves in your calendar. But you can thwart them before they do any damage. Lance Whitney is a technology journalist with an IT background. He's written for TechRepublic, PCMag, Macworld, and Time, among others, He also teaches classes in AI, cybersecurity, and social media. Fake meeting invites can infect your system with malware.

British food festivals are being used to target small food and craft businesses in a scam made possible by artificial intelligence (AI). A BBC Wales investigation found dozens of traders received professional-looking emails purporting to be from festivals with any requests for money only coming after multiple emails are exchanged. One trader whose heart sank when she discovered she had lost money, said that despite spotting scams regularly, the multiple emails she exchanged were so realistic that she fell for one. Abergavenny Food Festival said the accessibility of AI meant scammers could reach more people with scams that look far more believable. Harriet Thomas had applied for a stand at the Abergavenny Food Festival on previous years, and was really excited when an email came offering her the opportunity to book a place for her knitting workshops.