Technologies

Anthropic Warns of New ‘Vibe Hacking’ Attacks That Use Claude AI

In its Threat Intelligence Report, Anthropic lists a highly scalable form of extortion scheme as one of the top emerging AI security threats.

Anthropic, the company behind the popular AI model Claude, said in a new Threat Intelligence report that it disrupted a «vibe hacking» extortion scheme. In the report, the company detailed how the attack was carried out, allowing hackers to scale up a mass attack against 17 targets, including entities in government, healthcare, emergency services and religious organizations.

(You can read the full report in this PDF file.)

Anthropic says that its Claude AI technology was used as both a «technical consultant and active operator, enabling attacks that would be more difficult and time-consuming for individual actors to execute manually.» Claude was used to «automate reconnaissance, credential harvesting, and network penetration at scale,» the report said.

Making the findings more disturbing is that so-called vibe hacking was considered a future threat, with some experts believing it was not yet possible. What Anthropic shared in its report may represent a major shift in how AI models and agents are used to scale up massive cyberattacks, ransomware schemes or extortion scams.

Separately, Anthropic has also recently been dealing with other AI issues, namely settling a lawsuit by authors claiming Claude was trained on their copyrighted materials. Another company, Perplexity, has been dealing with its own security issues as its Comet AI browser was shown to have a major vulnerability.

Technologies

Delivery Companies Around the World Stop Shipments to the US: Here’s Who’s Affected

Major shipping companies including DHL and the Australian Post have paused shipments to the US.

Primary shipping services, including the European branch of DHL, multiple European state postal services, Australia Post, Japan Post and Taiwan’s state postal service, have stopped shipping consumer goods of varying amounts (over $100 in some cases) to the US. The pause is currently expected to be temporary as countries respond to the latest US tariff measures, but could have a significant impact on US businesses selling anything from Taiwanese GPUs and Japanese card packs to European electronics.

The response stems from tariff actions related to the «de minimis» trade option, which allows the US to select certain business-friendly goods to be duty-free when shipped into the United States.

In July, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that appeared to ban the use of this de minimis option. Postal companies have paused services for the time being, reporting that they aren’t sure how the specifics of the order affect them and did not have time to respond. As the additional tariffs go into effect, shipping companies say to expect downtime as they seek to understand the rules and retool their shipping processes.

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Major shipping companies from other countries, including India, have said they will follow suit soon.

While the details and timeframe are currently unknown, it’s likely that if shipping from these countries resumes, it will be at significantly higher duties and related taxes, which US businesses may pass down to consumers as higher retail prices. Until then, several overseas sellers are expected to stop taking orders from US buyers altogether.

Read more: Tech Tariff Anxiety Is Still High. CNET Survey Finds 64% of Shoppers Are Rushing to Buy Tech to Dodge Price Spikes and Shortages

Can people still send packages to the US?

Small consumer-oriented packages can still be sent through most services, depending on the specific value and related rules that shipping companies currently have. For example, if someone is trying to send a personal gift during this time, it shouldn’t be affected.

However, businesses that trade in international goods — including online shops on eBay and Etsy — currently have little recourse except to rely on current stock, find other suppliers or wait for the situation to be resolved. That’s an unfortunate situation ahead of big Labor Day sales.

Technologies

PlayStation Plus Subscribers Are Eating With These Free September Games

Go on a mind-bending journey or spend some time down on the farm with these games.

On Sept. 2, all PlayStation Plus members can play games like Psychonauts 2, the 2021 Game Awards nominee for Game of the Year. The original Psychonauts was highly praised for its comedic storytelling and unique characters when released in 2005, and the sequel received acclaim for its creativity, art style and humor.

PlayStation Plus is similar to Xbox Game Pass, offering subscribers a large, constantly expanding library of games. Subscribers can choose from the Essential, Extra and Premium tiers, each with unique perks and benefits. The plans start at $10 a month, giving you access to monthly games and rewards.

Here are the games all PS Plus subscribers can play starting on Sept. 2. You can also check out the games Sony added to the PS Plus Game Catalog in August, including Marvel’s Spider-Man.

Psychonauts 2

In this platformer, you’ll take control of Razputin «Raz» Aquato after the events of the first game. You’ve joined the international psychic espionage organization known as the Psychonauts, and you’ve got some internal problems to deal with: Your group’s leader is acting strange and there’s a mole in the organization. You’ll delve into the minds of friends and foes as you traverse quirky landscapes and solve puzzles to bring down the psychic villain.

Stardew Valley

This award-winning farm life simulator won the Golden Joystick Awards Breakthrough Award in 2016, and for good reason! There are tons of secrets to uncover, and a deep level of customization for your character and farm. Plus, it’s easy to get lost in the magic of the mundane tasks within the game. Stardew Valley helped bring cozy games to a wider audience, and it’s still highly praised almost a decade after its release.

In this game, you try to turn an old, dilapidated farm into a rural oasis. You can spend your time tilling the land and raising animals, or you can go into Pelican Town and interact with the locals. You pick what you want to do, but I can almost guarantee that no matter what you choose to do, you’ll have fun.

Viewfinder

M.C. Escher would probably love this puzzle game. You have an instant camera, and the pictures you take will help you traverse gaps and create doors out of seemingly thin air. This game will challenge you to change your perspective, and it will force you to reshape reality to achieve your goals.

For more on PlayStation Plus, here’s what to know about the service and a rundown of PS Plus Extra and Premium games added in August. You can also check out the latest and upcoming games on Xbox Game Pass and Apple Arcade.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Aug. 28, #1531

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Aug. 28, No. 1,531

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle came together pretty easily for me. The letters mostly popped up right away in my two starter words. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.