🔥 You really have to see this: An indoor cam caught a dog chewing on a lithium-ion battery power bank, which then set the house on fire (video here). The flames spread through the living room in minutes. The family and all their pets got out safely. Phew.
Biggest data breaches of 2024 (so far)
From big banks to car dealerships, 2024 has been a banner year for data breaches. Yes, I mean that in the worst way possible. I’d be shocked if there’s any American left unexposed at this point.
Let’s take a walk down the data breach memory lane. I’ve got steps for remediation at the end for you and everyone you care about.
🔍 National Public Data: 2.9 billion people
A background-check company, National Public Data (NPD), was allegedly hacked, exposing 2.9 billion people. Hackers accessed Social Security numbers, full names and addresses, selling the database for $3.5 million. NPD is being sued. FWIW, obviously, there aren’t 2.9 billion SSNs on the list.
🏥 Ascension: 140 hospitals
In May, a malware download led to a massive cyberattack on Ascension, which runs 140 hospitals across the U.S. The attack disrupted emergency services and patient care. Hackers compromised seven of Ascension’s 25,000 servers.
🛻 CDK Global: 15,000 car dealerships
In June, CDK Global, a major car dealership software provider, faced two cyberattacks, severely disrupting operations for 15,000 dealerships. Reports suggest tens of millions in ransom was paid out.
🩺 Change Healthcare: $22 million payout
The tech firm owned by UnitedHealth is used by thousands of pharmacies, hospitals and health care facilities to receive payments and process claims. UnitedHealth paid $22 million to prevent data leaks by Russia’s BlackCat hacker group. This one affected about 50% of all Americans.
Another group, RansomHub, also claimed to have stolen data belonging to Change in February. Estimates say as much as one-third of all Americans were impacted. That includes sensitive medical data, like test results, diagnoses and images.
📲 AT&T: 73 million customers
Who is Kitboga?
Kitboga is one of the most popular scammer baiters out there. What’s a scammer baiter? Watch to find out.
13% decrease
In LDL cholesterol (the “bad” one) by eating corn flour daily. Researchers tested a few different combos and found refined cornmeal mixed with corn bran was the winner at lowering cholesterol. Time to bake some cornbread.
When an X-ray is a tooth pic: A robot performed the world’s first fully automated dental procedure. It scanned a patient’s gumline, analyzed it with AI and then its little arms got to work. In the video, you can see the bot shaving down a tooth. They claim it’s so safe that it even works when a patient moves. I’ll stick with my human dentist for now.
Lost in space: Two astronauts who left Earth on an eight-day mission could be stuck in space until next year. They departed in June aboard the Boeing Starliner and are now docked at the ISS due to thruster problems. If their spacecraft can’t be repaired, NASA could let them catch a ride on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in February 2025.
🆕 No more Chromecast: It’s being replaced by the $99 Google TV Streamer, which ships in September. The new streaming device is equipped with Gemini AI and better specs, like on-screen smart home controls, detailed video summaries and finetuned recommendations.
We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.
An Airbnb host’s favorite dance is the Cha-cha Check-in: Airbnb’s stock price plummeted 14% after some not-so-great second-quarter earnings. Demand is slowing as folks head back to hotels to avoid creepy hosts and for safety. Looks like the pervy secret camera stories are finally turning people away.
The wild, wild AI west: AI age scanners verify who’s an adult online. But dig into the history of how they were made, and it’s pretty dark (paywall link). Tech companies used publically accessible photos of real children to train the AI bots. It’s not clear how long they store these pics. Yup, no regulations about this practice at all.
A big crowd is a big target: Taylor Swift’s Vienna concerts were canceled after two men were arrested for plotting terrorist attacks. One suspect, a 19-year-old would-be ISIS member, was radicalized online and. planned to use “chemicals” at the Eras Tour shows. No word yet if it was a bomb. Frightening.
$14,200 a month
To answer questions from his couch. A mechanic quit his full-time job at Ford after he started making more money helping folks on JustAnswer. He works hard for that money — eight to 10 hours a day, seven days a week. I’m signing Barry up!
$1,000,000 bounty
For anyone who catches a major Samsung security flaw. Bag a local arbitrary execution to score $300,000. Remote code execution vulnerabilities are worth up to $1 million. If you know what those terms mean, get to work.
🔥 Baby, you’re as hot as the bottom of my laptop: An analysis of 200,000 AI chatbot conversations shows close to 10% are adult in nature. Folks love asking for racy role-play sessions or spicy AI-generated images. FYI, most bots limit NSFW content.
51% increase
In daily users on Reddit during the second quarter. Compare that to 1.6% for X and 7% for Meta (paywall link). Why the jump? With AI everywhere, more folks are turning to Reddit as a search engine that includes info from real people.
A whole new world: Starting in September, Disney+ is cracking down on password sharing outside your household. Rumor has it you can add paid sharing, but no word on the cost yet. Oh, and the price for Disney+ will increase in October; the ad-supported tier will go from $8 per month to $10 monthly, and the ad-free version will rise from $14 to $16 a month. Yup, Mickey needs the money.
No Waze! Navigation apps are turning men into worse drivers. A study shows female voice assistants trigger mating-related cues, like risky behavior. Seriously, 40% of men in the experiment were more likely to run a yellow light. Switch to a male voice, dudes.
🗣️ Ring camera hacked: A Texas family got the scare of a lifetime when a man hacked into their Ring camera and whispered to their 5-year-old son in the middle of the night. Even scarier? The video “deleted” itself 15 minutes later. This is your reminder to keep your devices up to date, never use your router’s default Wi-Fi password, set up 2FA and create strong passwords. Watch the scary 42-second video here.
Sounds familiar: Scammers are after Google Voice accounts. If they trick you into giving up your multifactor authentication code, they can make calls that look like they’re coming from you. Never share this info. If you already have, go to Protect your verification code and disconnect your number.
⚠️ 2.9 billion records leaked: Background-check company National Public Data may be responsible for one of the biggest data breaches in history. A lawsuit claims their negligence exposed 2.9 billion Social Security numbers, full names, addresses and so much more on the Dark Web. We all need to freeze our credit. Steps here.