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.

The internet is full of perils — this we know. 

Among the rich trove of content we have at our fingertips is a combination of legal material, illegal material and material that falls into a gray area — often referred to in vague terms as «harmful.» This is the kind of content that might be appropriate for anyone with a fully developed prefrontal cortex to view but that you wouldn’t necessarily want your kids stumbling across.

In the past, accessing such content has been easy, regardless of age. You’ve been able to tick a box declaring yourself older than 18 or 21, or input a false birth date with no hassle. But that’s beginning to change.

Last month the UK became one of the first countries to mandate that tech companies verify the age of people using online services where they might be exposed to harmful content, including pornography. I’m a British citizen, and within the first few days of the rules coming into force, I was required to verify my age on Bluesky and Reddit. And it’s just the start.

Age verification is coming for you no matter where you live. Most states across the US are considering or introducing age verification laws. The result right now is a mishmash of rules, some fully cooked, others half-baked, with a lot currently unknown.

One thing you can be sure about is that age verification will impact your internet use at some point in the near future, if it hasn’t already happened. Here’s what you need to know.

What are the pros and cons of age verification?

The obvious, straightforward argument in favor of age verification is that we need to make the internet a safer place for kids.

The arguments against are more complex and varied. 

Concerns about privacy encompass doubts about how securely your data will be stored and processed during the verification process (see the Tea App data breach), and extend to whether the systems being put in place could potentially be used to track people’s internet use. 

Questions remain about whether the classification of «harmful content» could lead to people being restricted from accessing important information, such as sex education, health and political content. This could potentially amount to free speech violations.

Critics argue as well that by making legal adult content harder to access, people, including children, might go in search of illegal content instead — potentially pushing them into even more dangerous corners of the internet.

Online rights organizations including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Open Rights Groups have been vocal about the potential perils of age verification legislation and are closely tracking the impact of laws as they come into force.

How does age verification work?

There are various methods by which you might be asked to verify your age on the internet. This could involve showing a government ID; running banking, mobile carrier or credit card checks; or using a digital identity service where your verified age is stored in a wallet.

You could also be asked to use tech that estimates your age, such as email address verification that can link you to utility companies you may be signed up with. More commonly, you may be asked to submit a selfie, which will be analyzed to predict your likely age. This tech isn’t foolproof — after it was introduced in the UK, reports circulated of people spoofing the technology by showing it characters from video games.

Some tech platforms are introducing their own proprietary technology to verify people’s ages but the more common approach is to rely on third-party services specializing in digital age verification.

In most cases, verification is used to age-gate certain features — direct messages, for example — to limit access among children, rather than to exclude them entirely. In others, especially for pornography and adult content sites, it could be used to block access entirely.

Is my state introducing age verification rules?

At least 41 age verification bills have been discussed, introduced, rejected or passed at state level in the US. Some states have made multiple attempts to introduce legislation, so this figure does not reflect the number of states engaging with the issue.

Leading the way was Louisiana, which in 2022 required sites that classified more than 33.33% of its content as adult to verify people’s ages. This opened the floodgates for more bills to follow. If you want to see if your state is taking action, you can check out the Free Speech Coalition’s Age Verification Bill Tracker.

One especially notable moment during the influx of age verification legislation occurred in June of this year. Following two years of legal challenges, the Supreme Court upheld a 2023 Texas law requiring pornography sites to verify people’s ages. The ruling, which said that minors do not have a First Amendment right to access sexual material, will likely pave the way for other states to follow suit.

There also have been two attempts to bring in legislation at the federal level, through bills introduced by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Greg Steube of Florida, both in 2023. Neither has yet progressed beyond that early stage.

Arguably federal level laws would be easier for people to understand and tech companies to comply with than the array of rules coming in at state level.

How are tech companies responding?

For tech companies, age verification presents a complex challenge. After years of pressure to protect younger people using their services, they are in some cases now legally obligated to do so — and risk penalties if they fail to comply. 

In the UK, the law allows companies to choose their own verification technique and services are largely provided by third-party companies, such as Yoti. The law extends beyond pornography sites to social media — that’s why I had to verify my age to use Bluesky and Reddit, so I could use DMs on the former and access certain subreddits on the latter.

In the US, Bluesky isn’t finding it so easy to comply with local laws. Last week, the company said it would be blocking access to the platform for people with Mississippi IP addresses because of the state’s age assurance law.

«Mississippi’s approach would fundamentally change how users access Bluesky,» it said in a blog post. «We know this is disappointing for our users in Mississippi, but we believe this is a necessary measure while the courts review the legal arguments.»

It’s not the only online service that’s been deterred from operating in specific jurisdictions because of age assurance rules. Pornhub is currently blocked in 21 US states because of various local laws it feels it can’t comply with.

That’s not to say age assurance laws automatically preclude these services from operating. Bluesky is still able to operate in the UK, for example. Meanwhile Pornhub can still be accessed in Louisiana, the first state to introduce age verification rules, because of the state’s reliance on third-party system LA Wallet to verify people’s ages, rather than requiring Pornhub to introduce its own system.

Some tech companies are also getting ahead of regulation by proactively introducing age assurance methods across their entire services.

Last month, gaming platform Roblox, which has come under fire for not doing enough to keep kids safe, introduced age verification for teens who want to chat with one another. Also in July, YouTube rolled out its AI-powered age-estimation technology to determine whether viewers are younger than 18, and restrict certain types of content accordingly. On a Facebook support page, information about age verification techniques suggests that Meta is also preparing to introduce more concrete efforts to determine the ages of people using its platforms.

Is it possible to bypass age verification?

Like death and taxes, online age verification is quickly becoming one of life’s inevitabilities. That doesn’t mean everyone is complying.

The primary method people are using to bypass verification is via VPNs. The week the UK’s Online Safety Act came into force, free VPNs shot up Apple’s App Store rankings, suggesting many people were attempting to avoid verifying their ages.

We don’t recommend using free VPNs, as they tend to offer slower speeds and collect your data, but a paid alternative could be an option for you if you’re determined to prioritize your privacy at all costs.

September is gearing up to be one of the most exciting months of the year for new technology launches — and we’re not just talking about the iPhone 17. Meta is reportedly set to unveil its next-generation smart glasses codenamed Hypernova. According to Bloomberg, the smart glasses are set to start around $800 for the basic model, at least $200 less than previously thought.

This pair of glasses will reportedly differ from the current Meta Ray-Bans due to the addition of a small augmented-reality display in the right lens of the glasses, which will only be visible to the wearer. On this display you’ll be able to see mini apps and alerts, and you’ll have control over the content with assistance from the same neural input wristband used to operate Meta Orion AR glasses.

When CNET editor-at-large Scott Stein tried out the concept wristband with Orion earlier this year, he noted that the gestures «weren’t perfect yet,» but that he could see their potential.

Meta has clearly been «buoyed» by the success of its Ray-Ban specs, said Leo Gebbie, analyst and Americas director at CCS Insight. The major question for Hypernova will be to what extent does it deviate from the current Ray-Ban smart glasses model, which have proved very successful, he said «Demand for these glasses has been driven by the fact that they look like normal eyewear from a well-known brand and offer an impressive feature set at a relatively affordable price point.»

In contrast, the Hypernova glasses will cost around $500 more than the Meta Ray-Bans, a significant price difference. Further, Gebbie added, it remains unknown whether the Hypernova glasses will look as sleek as the Ray-Bans.

Knowing this might be a tough self, Meta has apparently managed to slash that price from $1,000 by accepting lower margins, per Bloomberg. The company likely hopes that by keeping the cost as low as possible, it will convince a broader range of future to buy into its theory that glasses are the future of tech. But it’s important to note that even at a lower price, you’ll likely still pay more for prescription lenses or style variations.

Smart glasses: The phone killer?

The question hanging over any smart glasses, including from Meta, is whether they will one day be capable enough to free us from our smartphones. «These new premium spec Hypernova smart glasses are taking over more tasks that can be done by a phone by including things like a small screen in the bottom right of the right lens creating Meta’s first augmented reality glasses available to consumers,» Frederick Stanbrell, head of wearables at IDC, said.

They are also rumored to have a smartphone-quality camera and a competent voice-activated AI query tool present. When you all add it all, Stanbrell said, «these glasses are beginning to look like a mobile phone competitor.»

But based on what we know so far, the Hypernova glasses won’t be a standalone device, Stanbrell added. Instead it’s clear that these glasses are designed to be a companion to your mobile phone, while offering a glimpse of what’s to come. «We are likely seeing the first generation of a device that Mark Zuckerberg intends to one day replace phones,» he said.