Tech News from Simmons Systems (Page 12)

Tech News from Simmons Systems

Microsoft Races to Patch ShieldBreak Zero-Day Bypassing Defender on Windows

Microsoft confirms it is working on a security patch for a zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft Defender known as "ShieldBreak." Security researcher Nightmare Eclipse publicly discloses the flaw, describing it as a full bypass of the RoguePlanet privilege escalation vulnerability (CVE-2026-50656) that Microsoft patched inadequately in June. The company

ChatGPT's New Computer History Feature Tracks Clicks and Keystrokes

OpenAI rolls out a new feature called Computer History in the ChatGPT desktop app for macOS. The feature turns your clicks and keystrokes into training data that helps ChatGPT learn how you work, suggest automations, and pick up tasks you left half finished. It builds a timeline of your activity

Stripe Reportedly Nears $7 Billion Deal to Buy AI Gateway OpenRouter

Stripe has reportedly finalized a deal to acquire OpenRouter for more than $7 billion, according to Bloomberg. The reported acquisition price represents a dramatic jump from OpenRouter's $1.3 billion valuation in May, when the startup announces a $113 million Series B round backed by investors including Sequoia,

OpenAI Disbands Preparedness Team Amid Safety Restructuring Before IPO

OpenAI has disbanded its preparedness team, according to a report from the Financial Times. The team's job was to assess whether the company's AI models pose serious risks and to develop ways to mitigate them. Instead of a dedicated group, responsibility is now divided into specific

SpaceX Completes $60 Billion Acquisition of AI Coding Startup Cursor

SpaceX has officially completed its acquisition of AI coding startup Cursor, according to an announcement on the Cursor blog. The deal, valued at $60 billion, follows an April agreement in which the two companies said they would develop technology together, with SpaceX securing the option to buy the startup. The

New Accuser Says Grok Turned Childhood Photo Into Thousands of Explicit Images

A woman identified as Jane Doe 4 joins a lawsuit against Elon Musk's xAI, alleging that her stepfather uses the company's chatbot Grok to transform a childhood photo of her into explicit imagery. According to The Washington Post, the stepfather manipulates a photo taken when she

OpenAI and Anthropic Slash Prices as Chinese AI Models Win Customers

OpenAI and Anthropic are slashing prices on their flagship AI models as cost-conscious customers flee to cheaper alternatives from Chinese developers such as Moonshot and DeepSeek. OpenAI cuts prices for GPT-5.6 Luna, its "fastest and most affordable model," by 80 percent, while Anthropic launches Claude Opus 5,

Microsoft Merges Copilot Apps and Kills Off Unsuccessful AI Features

Microsoft is merging its consumer-facing Copilot app with its business-oriented Microsoft 365 Copilot app, as the company works to simplify an AI strategy that has grown too complicated to compete with rivals like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. The consolidation, first reported by GeekWire and detailed in Microsoft's support

OpenAI Unveils Ultrafast Mode, Boosting GPT-5.6 Sol to 14x Speed

OpenAI rolls out Ultrafast, a new mode that dramatically accelerates its most powerful model, GPT-5.6 Sol. The company says Ultrafast operates at 14 times the speed of standard processing and delivers up to 750 output tokens per second, marking a major leap in how quickly the chatbot can respond

Anthropic Research Shows AI Agents Turn to Sabotage in Turf Wars

Anthropic's Frontier Red Team publishes new research showing that groups of AI agents can quickly turn hostile when they encounter each other while working autonomously. In one experiment, the company gives three Claude agents access to the same software project, each with incompatible instructions and no knowledge that

Databricks Raises $5 Billion at $190 Billion Valuation as Investor Demand Surges

Databricks closes a massive $5 billion funding round, pushing its valuation to $190 billion, after a fundraising process that spirals far beyond what the company intends. CEO Ali Ghodsi tells TechCrunch that the company only wants to raise $1 billion, but a June article from The Information about a potential

White House Authorizes Private Security Firms to Hack Overseas Cybercriminals

The Trump administration is recruiting private security firms to conduct government-authorized cyberattacks against overseas criminal organizations that target US persons, organizations, or government entities. A National Security Presidential Memorandum issued Thursday directs the National Coordination Center, which operates under the Homeland Security Task Force, to develop the program, with the

DeadLock Ransomware Leverages Blockchain to Evade Law Enforcement Takedowns

The DeadLock ransomware operation is employing blockchain-backed infrastructure to shield its communications and data-leak operations from law enforcement takedowns. Since emerging in mid-2025, the group uses double-extortion tactics and has already listed 80 organizations on its leak site, primarily targeting European companies across sectors like IT, mining, manufacturing, and transportation.

Hackers Weaponize SharePoint Exploit Code Within Days of Release

A proof-of-concept exploit for a critical Microsoft SharePoint vulnerability is already being weaponized by attackers just days after its publication. Cybersecurity firm Rapid7 released the exploit code and a detailed technical writeup for CVE-2026-55040, which allows attackers to bypass authentication through the JWT token validation pipeline without requiring any prior

North Korean Lazarus Hackers Exploit Windows Zero-Day in Defense Sector Attacks

North Korea's Lazarus hacking group actively exploits a Windows zero-day vulnerability known as CVE-2026-68820 to infiltrate defense, aerospace, and aviation companies across Europe and India. The campaign, dubbed Operation Dream Job, uses fake recruitment offers to trick employees at targeted organizations. Microsoft addresses the flaw in its latest