08.29.25 Security News Bites
Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Favoring ChatGPT Over His Chatbot
Apple has had its fair share of lawsuits over the years as they try to control the Apple universe. Lately, some of those walls have seemed a bit shaky. In this case, Musk is whining that Apple is favoring Sam Altman’s (OpenAI, ChatGPT) app in the iPhone over his app, which he would like them to replace Sam’s app with. The courts have not been consistent as to what Apple, as a dominant controller of the mobile market, is allowed to do and not allowed to do. I am not educated on the nuances of the lawsuit, but it seems that Apple should be allowed to choose what products it integrates into the OS while at the same time allowing users to install other apps. This is a little different than Google paying Apple off to be the default search engine as this requires OpenAI’s software to be coded into the operating system. Stay tuned. Credit: MSN
Whistleblower Claims DOGE Made Unsecured Copy of Social Security Data
In a whistleblower report released this week, the whistleblower claims that DOGE made a copy of the Social Security Database, exposing 300 million Americans. The copy was stored outside of the federal government computer network, bypassing internal security protocol, ignoring court orders and bypassing career civil servants. It is not known if the data has been compromised or not. Credit: Data Breach Today
FBI Says China’s Salt Typhoon Hacked at Least 200 US Companies
Salt Typhoon is a Chinese hacking group that is known to have compromised companies like AT&T, Verizon and other Internet and phone providers. The FBI says that they broke into at least 200 American companies and other companies in at least 80 countries. That is almost half of the countries on the planet. They also say the attacks are still going on. If you are concerned, that might be valid. These hackers are good. Need help – contact us. Credit: Tech Crunch
ChatGPT Sued over Teen’s Suicide – Could be a Problem for Big Tech
The parents of a teen who committed suicide filed a wrongful death lawsuit against both OpenAI and Sam Altman, its CEO. Assuming they don’t settle quietly out of court (which really depends on the parents’ goals and who is funding the lawsuit), this could be a problem for AI. The teen was using ChatGPT for emotional support and it supported his ideas of self harm. The suit suggests that ChatGPT cut him off from his human support network by making him think they didn’t love the real him and even explained how to end his life. I assume that OpenAI will be desperate to make this go away in some manner. Credit: MSN
BlueSky Goes Dark in Mississippi Over Age Verification
After the Supremes allowed Mississippi’s age verification law, which requires carding all users and getting parental consent for those under 18, to go into effect even though they said it is likely unconstitutional, BlueSky’s social media platform went dark there rather than risk a $10,000 per event fine. Other states will follow and users will need to decide whether they want to be tracked at the level of their government issued ID or not play. Credit: CNN and Wired
by 