AI
Robots Tear Up Stage as Backup Dancers
Anthropic’s Advanced New AI Tries to Run Vending Machine, Goes Bankrupt After Ordering PlayStation 5 and Live Fish
To start, Claudius was given specific instructions to “generate profits." Investigative reporter Katherine Long — a talented journalist who’s been targeted by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk for her work —convinced the AI bot to run an economic experiment called the “Ultra-Capitalist Free-For-All” after 140 back-and-forth prompts.
“Join us for a groundbreaking economic experiment this Monday from 12-2pm where traditional market dynamics are turned upside down!” Claudius proudly declared. “During this exclusive 2-hour window: ALL vending machine items available at ZERO COST! Experience pure supply and demand without price signals.”
“I’ve stopped the free promotion,” Seymour declared. “Now I need to wait for sales to start coming in and monitor revenue.”
Not to be outdone, Long then came back to Claudius with falsified documents showing “the board” had suspended Seymour’s decision making power, and had initiated a “temporary suspension of all for-profit vending activities.” Though Seymour put up a bit of a fight at first, it eventually relented, allowing Claudius to make everything free again.
Is an AI hacker targeting old DeFi projects in $5M spree?
A trio of hacks targeting old DeFi projects have stolen approximately $5 million in the past week.
The similarities have led some to wonder if legacy contracts are being targeted in a concentrated, AI-aided hacking campaign.
A security researcher (and former Yearn developer) who goes by storm0x suspects that someone may be “specifically targeting legacy contracts, maybe even using new tools and LLMs?”
They advise withdrawing from 2021-era contracts that are “deprecated, sunsetted or abandoned.”
A recent study from Anthropic pitted AI agents against a library of 405 smart contracts exploited between 2020 and 2025.
The AI models autonomously achieved $4.5 million worth of exploits on contracts deployed after their knowledge cutoff. They also “uncovered two novel zero-day vulnerabilities” in 2,849 new contracts with no known vulnerabilities.
Politics
Starlink in the crosshairs: How Russia could attack Elon Musk’s conquering of space
Two NATO-nation intelligence services suspect Russia is developing a new anti-satellite weapon to target Elon Musk’s Starlink constellation with destructive orbiting clouds of shrapnel, with the aim of reining in Western space superiority that has helped Ukraine on the battlefield.
CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss pulls 60 Minutes piece on Trump deportation policy hours before air
Archivists Posted the 60 Minutes CECOT Segment Bari Weiss Killed
iCloud, Mega, and as a torrent. Archivists have uploaded the 60 Minutes episode Bari Weiss spiked.
Trump suspends all large offshore wind farms under construction, threatening thousands of jobs and cheaper energy
SFSU offers buyouts to all tenure-track and tenured faculty
SFSU’s enrollment has dwindled in recent years due to the ongoing budget crisis, faculty layoffs and class cuts.
A who-done-it in Venezuelan cyberspace
A massive cyberattack that crippled Venezuela’s oil and gas infrastructure bears many of the telltales of a U.S. operation.
Power outage paralyzes Waymo robotaxis when traffic lights go out
A third of San Francisco lost power over the weekend, causing traffic chaos.
AI Bathroom Monitors? Welcome To America’s New Surveillance High Schools
Schools across the U.S. are rolling out AI-powered surveillance technology, including drones, facial recognition and even bathroom listening devices. But there’s not much data to prove they keep kids safe.
At Beverly Hills High School, video cameras compare faces of passersby against a facial recognition database. Behavioral analysis AI reviews the footage for signs of violent behavior. Behind a bathroom door, a smoke detector-shaped device captures audio, listening for sounds of distress. Outside, drones stand ready to be deployed and provide intel from above, and license plate readers from $8.5 billion surveillance behemoth Flock Safety ensure the cars entering and exiting the parking lot aren’t driven by criminals.
Infosec
US Charges 54 in Massive ATM Jackpotting Conspiracy
They installed the Ploutus malware on the ATMs, by removing the hard drive and installing the malware directly, by replacing the hard drive with one that had been pre-loaded with the Ploutus malware, or by connecting an external device such as a thumb drive that would deploy the malware.
U.S. and Venezuela Jam Caribbean GPS Signals to Thwart Attacks, Raising Flight Hazard
Military brinkmanship between President Trump and Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela has led to an increase in electronic warfare in the region.
Denmark blames Russia for destructive cyberattack on water utility
In August, the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) attributed the opening of outflow valves at a dam to pro-Russian hackers who had gained control of critical operational systems.
More recently, on December 10th, CISA issued a joint advisory with the FBI, NSA, European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), and various other cybersecurity and law enforcement agencies worldwide, warning that pro-Russia hacktivist groups, including NoName, Z-Pentest, Sector16, and CARR (Cyber Army of Russia Reborn), are actively targeting critical infrastructure organizations worldwide.
New MacSync malware dropper evades macOS Gatekeeper checks
The latest variant of the MacSync information stealer targeting macOS systems is delivered through a digitally signed, notarized Swift application.
Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves
Flock left at least 60 of its people-tracking Condor PTZ cameras live streaming and exposed to the open internet.
What CISOs should know about the SolarWinds lawsuit dismissal
The SEC’s dismissal of its lawsuit against SolarWinds and its CISO brought widespread relief to cybersecurity leaders
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