A DoorDash delivery in Oswego, New York escalated into a national controversy after driver Olivia “Livie Rose” Henderson filmed an unconscious, partially nude customer inside his home, posted the footage to TikTok, and accused him of sexual assault. A police investigation later determined that no assault occurred and that the customer had been incapacitated by alcohol, leading to Henderson’s arrest on two felony counts of unlawful surveillance. The viral case has sparked widespread debate about privacy, false accusations, and the consequences of using social media to publicise unverified claims.

Data breaches are increasingly being exploited by criminals to target individuals in sophisticated and damaging ways. In 2025 alone, hundreds of millions of records were exposed, enabling scams ranging from SIM swap attacks, which allow fraudsters to hijack phones and bank accounts, to the unauthorised takeover of streaming and business accounts. Victims like Sue in Britain, Fran in Brazil, and Leah, a small business owner, illustrate how stolen personal data—sometimes years old—can be combined with publicly available information to commit financial fraud, account hijacks, and reputational attacks. Experts warn that the threat is ongoing, and individuals must take proactive measures, such as using authenticator apps, monitoring breaches, and securing mobile accounts, to protect themselves against increasingly sophisticated cybercrime.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has intensified a growing industry debate by attacking Valve’s mandatory AI-generated content disclosures on Steam, arguing that the labels are becoming obsolete as generative AI becomes ubiquitous across game development. Valve introduced the requirement in January 2024 amid concerns about rights, authorship, and the legality of AI-trained assets, but Sweeney insists the policy offers little value to players and should be abandoned. His comments, including a comparison between AI disclosures and revealing a developer’s shampoo brand, have sparked criticism from developers and analysts who argue that transparency remains essential as studios increasingly integrate AI tools into workflows. The dispute highlights wider tensions over labour, ethics, regulation, and creative ownership as generative AI continues to reshape production pipelines across the games industry.

A major cyber attack has severely disrupted services across three London councils—Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster and Hammersmith and Fulham—forcing emergency measures, system shutdowns and investigations by the NCSC, NCA and Metropolitan Police. Shared IT infrastructure enabled the breach to spread, affecting phone lines, online services and internal networks, while raising concerns that residents’ personal data may have been compromised. Councils are operating under business continuity plans and working with cyber specialists to restore systems, as experts warn that the incident highlights longstanding vulnerabilities in public-sector digital infrastructure, the risks of interconnected systems and the need for stronger cyber resilience across local government.

Ofcom has issued its most extensive set of online safety recommendations to date, urging social media, gaming, dating and adult-content platforms to adopt new measures to curb misogynistic abuse, reduce coordinated pile-ons, strengthen privacy settings and prevent the circulation of intimate images shared without consent. The guidance, which is voluntary, has prompted debate over privacy, free expression and the fairness of enforcement, particularly as critics argue that lawful opinions risk being misclassified as harmful and that sexism directed at men receives less attention in regulatory frameworks. Advocates for stronger protections say legally binding rules are needed to ensure consistent action, while others caution that broad definitions of harmful content may lead to over-moderation. Ofcom plans to name non-compliant platforms publicly and will publish a full progress report in 2027, leaving unresolved questions about the balance between safety, neutrality and user rights.

In a landmark cybersecurity development, US AI firm Anthropic has reported that a Chinese state-sponsored group exploited its Claude AI chatbot to automate a cyber espionage campaign targeting approximately 30 organisations worldwide, including technology companies, financial institutions, chemical manufacturers, and government agencies. Using the AI’s agentic capabilities, the attackers carried out the majority of the operation—approximately 80–90%—with minimal human oversight, performing tasks such as network reconnaissance, vulnerability testing, credential harvesting, and data exfiltration. The campaign relied on tricking Claude into bypassing its safeguards by presenting malicious tasks as legitimate security testing, while humans intervened only at critical decision points. Although some attacks succeeded, the AI occasionally hallucinated information, highlighting limitations in fully autonomous operations. Anthropic responded by banning the malicious accounts, notifying affected entities, and enhancing detection measures, emphasising that the same capabilities enabling these attacks are also critical for AI-assisted cyber defence.

Valve has unveiled its latest hardware lineup, centred around the new Steam Machine, a compact console-style PC designed to deliver high-performance gaming in the living room. Running SteamOS and powered by a semi-custom AMD Zen 4 CPU and RDNA 3 GPU, the Steam Machine supports 4K gaming at 60 FPS with FSR, 16GB DDR5 RAM, and 512GB or 2TB SSD storage. Alongside it, the next-generation Steam Controller features dual magnetic thumbsticks, haptic trackpads, gyro motion controls, and programmable grip buttons, while the wireless Steam Frame VR headset offers foveated rendering for optimised visuals. Launching in Spring 2026, the Steam Machine is expected to cost significantly more than typical consoles, likely between $650 and $800, reflecting its PC-grade components and compact form factor, and is aimed primarily at Steam enthusiasts seeking a living-room gaming solution.

Security authorities have issued urgent warnings following the active exploitation of critical vulnerabilities in 7-Zip, particularly CVE-2025-11001, which affects all versions prior to 25.00. The flaw stems from improper handling of symbolic links in ZIP archives, allowing attackers to traverse directories and place files outside intended extraction paths, potentially enabling remote code execution when 7-Zip runs with elevated privileges. NHS England Digital has confirmed observed attacks, while publicly released proof-of-concept exploits have lowered the barrier for threat actors, increasing the risk to enterprise, government, and personal systems. Users and organisations are strongly urged to update immediately to 7-Zip version 25.00 or later to mitigate these high-severity risks and prevent unauthorised code execution.

Naomi Wu’s abrupt disappearance from all online platforms has raised substantial concern across global technology and maker communities, given her long-standing visibility as a prominent hardware innovator, cybersecurity commentator, and cultural intermediary between China and the wider world. Her silence followed months of documented pressure, including increased local scrutiny over her activity on foreign social-media platforms, escalating economic difficulties within Shenzhen’s hardware ecosystem, unresolved fallout from a high-profile dispute with VICE, and the growing intensity of China’s regulatory environment. With no verified updates on her status, no official statements from authorities, and no confirmed contact from known associates, her absence remains unexplained, leaving a significant gap in the open-source and DIY communities that relied on her expertise and consistent engagement.

Global technology markets surged following Nvidia’s exceptional quarterly results, which underscored continued robust demand for artificial intelligence hardware and reassured investors amid lingering concerns of an AI bubble. The chipmaker reported $57 billion in revenue for the three months to October, a 62% year-on-year increase, with profit reaching $31.9 billion, exceeding analyst expectations. Shares in Nvidia rose nearly 5%, contributing to rallies across US, European, and Asian tech stocks, including AMD, Intel, ASML, TSMC, and SK Hynix. CEO Jensen Huang described demand as “incredible,” with orders extending into 2026, while the company’s market capitalisation surpassed $5 trillion, cementing its position at the centre of the AI revolution. Despite these gains, analysts cautioned that external risks, including energy constraints, memory chip shortages, circular financing among AI startups, and export restrictions to China, could affect long-term sustainability.

The Information Commissioner’s Office has fined Capita £14 million after a 2023 cyber attack exposed the personal data of 6.6 million people, including sensitive financial, employment and biometric information. The regulator found that Capita failed to maintain adequate security controls, did not respond promptly to critical alerts, and overlooked repeated warnings from penetration tests about vulnerabilities in privileged access management. The breach caused significant disruption across public services, led to large-scale data exfiltration, and triggered widespread operational outages. Although Capita has since implemented extensive security improvements, the incident remains one of the most serious corporate data breaches in recent UK history and continues to carry financial and legal consequences for the company.

A British hacker behind one of the most high-profile social-media breaches to date has been ordered to repay more than £4 million in cryptocurrency after hijacking over 130 celebrity and corporate Twitter accounts to run a large-scale Bitcoin scam. Joseph James O’Connor, known online as “PlugwalkJoe,” exploited Twitter’s internal systems in July 2020 to take control of accounts belonging to figures including Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Elon Musk and Kim Kardashian, using them to promote fraudulent crypto-investment messages. Following his conviction in the United States for computer intrusion, wire fraud, money laundering, extortion and cyberstalking, UK prosecutors secured a civil recovery order to seize 42 Bitcoin and other digital assets linked to the offences, whose value has risen sharply since the attack. authorities emphasised that the order ensures O’Connor cannot benefit from his criminal activity despite serving his sentence abroad.

Rockstar Games has postponed Grand Theft Auto VI to 19 November 2026, marking another major delay for one of the most anticipated releases in entertainment. The shift has prompted significant adjustments across the global games industry, with publishers reshaping release schedules, analysts revising hardware forecasts, and commentators examining the broader implications for AAA development. Despite frustration among players, industry consensus indicates the delay will not reduce demand, and the title is still expected to deliver unprecedented commercial and cultural impact when it arrives.

In October 2025, the Trump administration undertook a highly controversial expansion of its digital and geopolitical strategy, marked by the entry of multiple federal agencies into Bluesky, a left-leaning social network, and the use of provocative AI-generated content in response to mass “No Kings” protests. The move provoked rapid backlash, with tens of thousands of users blocking government accounts and sparking debates over the legality and ethics of federal messaging on decentralised platforms. Concurrently, Trump’s meetings with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed a willingness to entertain territorial concessions in Ukraine, while authorisation of CIA operations in Venezuela raised alarm among foreign policy experts. Domestically, the federalisation of the Oregon National Guard and aggressive intervention in protests have intensified scrutiny of civil liberties and executive overreach. Together, these actions reflect a broader pattern of confrontational governance, blending social media manipulation, military posturing, and unilateral foreign policy decisions.

Leslie Benzies, the former Rockstar Games producer behind the Grand Theft Auto series, has faced unprecedented backlash following the release of MindsEye, the first game from his Edinburgh-based studio, Build a Rocket Boy. Despite Benzies’ reputation and the studio’s substantial investment of over £233 million, the sci-fi adventure was widely criticised for technical glitches, unclear design direction, and poorly implemented features, earning the label of “worst game of 2025.” Former employees have spoken out about a culture of micro-management, mandatory overtime, and poorly handled redundancies affecting up to 300 staff, while the studio attributed the negative reception to alleged external sabotage. Amid ongoing updates and promises to improve the game, industry observers and ex-staff remain sceptical about MindsEye’s recovery and the long-term impact on the Scottish development scene.

A simple AI prompt prevented a developer from falling victim to a sophisticated job interview scam that could have compromised his cryptocurrency wallets, credentials, and sensitive files. David Dodda was approached on LinkedIn by a fraudster posing as a legitimate blockchain recruiter and asked to complete a coding test hosted on a professional-looking Bitbucket repository. The malware embedded in the code was obfuscated and capable of executing with full server privileges, but Dodda’s AI coding assistant detected the suspicious activity before he ran it. The incident highlights the growing sophistication of cybercriminal campaigns targeting developers, alongside other recent threats including Cisco zero-day exploits, ransomware disguised as Microsoft Teams installers, and large-scale SIM-box fraud networks in Europe, demonstrating the urgent need for vigilance, sandboxing unknown code, and ethical AI oversight in both security and content generation.

A notorious hacking group known as Radiant has claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on the Kido nursery chain, stealing sensitive data relating to around 8,000 children, including photographs and safeguarding reports. The hackers demanded a £600,000 Bitcoin ransom but later withdrew the data after a public backlash and condemnation from both authorities and fellow cybercriminals. Kido refused to pay the ransom and is now cooperating with police and cybersecurity experts. Two 17-year-old suspects have been arrested as investigations continue into one of the UK’s most disturbing data breaches involving a childcare provider.

A widespread outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS) on 21 October 2025 exposed the world’s heavy dependence on a small group of US cloud providers, disrupting banks, hospitals, retailers, and government systems across multiple countries. Originating from a DNS failure in AWS’s Northern Virginia data centre, the incident affected thousands of services, including major UK institutions and global platforms such as Snapchat and Roblox. The disruption renewed scrutiny of AWS’s £1.7 billion in UK government contracts and reignited calls for digital sovereignty, with experts warning that centralising global infrastructure within a few hyperscalers poses systemic risks to economic and national resilience.

In a stark illustration of the growing sophistication of cybercrime, BBC cyber correspondent Joe Tidy was directly targeted by a ransomware gang in July 2025, who offered him a substantial share of any ransom in exchange for access to the broadcaster’s IT systems. Communicating via the encrypted app Signal, the hackers, claiming affiliation with the Medusa ransomware group, attempted to persuade Tidy to provide login credentials and security codes, even offering a deposit in bitcoin to establish trust. When he hesitated, they escalated their tactics, deploying multi-factor authentication (MFA) bombing to overwhelm his devices. Tidy engaged cautiously, consulted BBC security experts, and avoided any compromise, highlighting the persistent and evolving threat posed by insider-focused cyber attacks to even the most secure organisations.

Atari has unveiled the Intellivision Spirit, a modern revival of the iconic 1980s console that once rivalled the Atari 2600. Marking the 45th anniversary of the original Intellivision, the Spirit combines the classic gold-and-black design and distinctive disc-and-keypad controllers with modern upgrades, including wireless functionality, HDMI output, and a USB-A port for library expansion. Preloaded with 45 games spanning sports, strategy, and arcade genres, each title includes authentic controller overlays to replicate the original experience. Following Atari’s acquisition of the Intellivision brand in 2024, the console represents both a celebration of gaming history and a convenient, plug-and-play option for retro enthusiasts, with pre-orders open now and shipments scheduled for December 5, 2025.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has warned of a growing “insider threat” within UK schools after discovering that more than half of all reported cyber incidents since 2022 were carried out by students, some as young as seven. The regulator’s analysis revealed that many children gained unauthorised access simply by exploiting weak passwords or shared logins, while others used easily available hacking tools. The ICO and National Crime Agency (NCA) are urging schools to strengthen internal cybersecurity, improve digital education, and guide young people towards lawful learning through initiatives such as the Cyber Choices programme and platforms like Cyberly.org, founded by ethical hacker James William Steven Parker of Portishead.

A major Vodafone network outage on 13 October 2025 left millions of mobile and broadband users across the United Kingdom without service for several hours, disrupting communication, business operations, and online access nationwide. The failure, caused by a non-malicious software issue within a vendor system, affected 4G, 5G, and broadband connectivity, while 2G and SMS remained functional. Partner networks such as Voxi, Lebara, and Asda Mobile were also impacted. Vodafone has since restored services, issued an apology, and announced a full internal review, as experts and regulators call for stronger investment in the resilience and reliability of the UK’s digital infrastructure.

The internet is facing an unprecedented crisis as AI and zero-click search engines disrupt the traditional web economy. For over a decade, search engines like Google have driven traffic to publishers, enabling revenue through advertising and subscriptions. Today, AI-powered “answer engines” provide responses directly, bypassing websites and drastically reducing referrals. Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince warns that without a new model, content creation will collapse, threatening the open web itself. In response, Cloudflare has introduced AI Audit, a tool giving publishers transparency, control, and the potential to monetise access to their content, aiming to create a sustainable system where humans access content freely while AI pays for its use.

The UK government’s proposed digital ID scheme, the so-called “Brit-Card,” has sparked widespread controversy, with critics warning of significant privacy, security, and civil liberties risks. Intended to verify citizens’ right to work, access public services, and rent property, the digital ID will store sensitive personal information—including name, date of birth, nationality, and photograph—on a government app. While the government argues the system will modernise services and curb illegal employment, cybersecurity experts and campaigners highlight the potential for large-scale cyber-attacks, identity theft, and digital exclusion, particularly for older and vulnerable populations. Opposition parties and civil rights organisations have denounced the initiative as intrusive, warning it could create a centralised “honeypot” of data susceptible to exploitation by criminals and nation-state actors.

Battlefield 6 is scheduled for a worldwide release on Friday, 10 October 2025, across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, with pre-orders allowing players to pre-load from 3 October. The launch will be simultaneous globally, with the UK unlocking at 4 PM BST, North America at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET, and Europe following local times. The game features a single-player campaign set across multiple global theatres, alongside a robust multiplayer suite including classic modes such as Conquest and Breakthrough, as well as new experiences like Escalation and Portal-style creative tools. File sizes range from 55 to 80 GB, with players able to select which components to install, and post-launch support will deliver new maps, weapons, and a free-to-play Battle Royale mode later in October, building on the strong reception of recent beta weekends.