Moltbot (formerly known as Clawdbot) is the most viral AI product I’ve seen in a while. The personal AI assistant runs locally and connects via a chat app, like WhatsApp or iMessage. Once you give Moltbot access to your entire device, it can do things on that device for you. This the sort of thing that excites agentic AI pioneers, but worries privacy and security enthusiasts like myself.

And indeed, I have significant concerns about the risks installing Moltbot on your personal machine. Since agentic AI will autonomously perform tasks based on prompts, bad actors can take advantage of the situation by surreptitiously feeding those bots malicious prompts of their own. This is called prompt injection, and it can impact any type of agentic AI system, whether an AI browser, or an AI assistant like Moltbot.

But it’s not just prompt injection that presents an issue for Moltbot users.

Someone has already created a malicious Moltbot extension

As spotted by The Hacker News, Moltbot already has its first malicious extension, dubbed “Clawdbot Agent – AI Coding Assistant” (“clawdbot.clawdbot-agent.”) It seems to have been developed before the bot’s name change. This extension is designed for Visual Studio Code, Microsoft’s open source AI code editor. What’s worse, it was hosted on Microsoft’s official Extension Marketplace, which no doubt gave it legitimacy to Moltbot users looking for a Visual Studio Code extension.

The extension advertised itself as a free AI coding assistant. When you install it, it executes a series of commands that ends up running a remote desktop program (The Hacker News says it’s “ConnectWise ScreenConnect”) on your device. It then connects to a link that lets the bad actor gain remote access to your device. By just installing this extension, you essentially give the hacker the tools to take over your computer from wherever they are.

Luckily, Microsoft has already taken action. The extension is no longer available on the marketplace as of Tuesday. Moltbot has no official Visual Studio Code extension, so assume any you see are illegitimate at best, and malicious at worst. If you did install the extension, researchers have detailed instructions for removing the malware and blocingk any of its processes from running on your device. Of course, to first thing to do is uninstall the extension from Visual Studio Code immediately.

Moltbolt has more security issues too

The Hacker News goes on to highlight findings from security researcher Jamieson O’Reilly, who discovered hundreds of unauthenticated Moltbot instances readily available on the internet. These instances reveal Moltbot users’ configuration data, API keys, OAuth credentials, and even chat histories.

Bad actors could use these instances for prompt injection: They could pretend to be a Moltbot user, and issue their own prompts to that user’s Moltbot AI assistant, or manipulate existing prompts and responses. They could also upload malicious “skills,” or specific collections of context and knowledge, to MoltHub and use them to attack users and steal their data.

Speaking to The Hacker News, security researcher Benjamin Marr explains that the core issue is how Moltbot is designed for “ease of deployment” over a “secure-by-default” set up. You can poke around with Moltbot and install sensitive programs without the bot ever warning you about the security risks. There should be firewalls, credential validation, and sandboxing in the mix, and without those things, the user is at greater risk.

To combat against this, The Hacker News recommends that all Moltbot users running with the default security configurations take the following steps:

• remove any connected service integrations

• check exposed credentials

• set up network controls

• look for any signs of attack

Or, you could do what I’m doing, and avoid Moltbot altogether.

A federal judge in Virginia ruled Tuesday that the City of Norfolk’s use of nearly 200 automated license plate readers (ALPRs) from Flock is constitutional and can continue, dismissing the entire case just days before a bench trial was set to begin.

The case, Schmidt v. City of Norfolk, was originally filed in October 2024 by two Virginians who claimed that their rights were violated when the Flock network of cameras captured their cars hundreds of times, calling the entire setup a “dragnet surveillance program.”

However, in a 51-page ruling, US District Court Judge Mark S. Davis disagreed, finding that the “…plaintiffs are unable to demonstrate that Defendants’ ALPR system is capable of tracking the whole of a person’s movements.”

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For decades, researchers have noted that cancer and Alzheimer’s disease are rarely found in the same person, fuelling speculation that one condition might offer some degree of protection from the other. Nature: Now, a study in mice provides a possible molecular solution to the medical mystery: a protein produced by cancer cells seems to infiltrate the brain, where it helps to break apart clumps of misfolded proteins that are often associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The study, which was 15 years in the making, was published on 22 January in Cell and could help researchers to design drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease.

“They have a piece of the puzzle,” says Donald Weaver, a neurologist and chemist at the Krembil Research Institute at the University of Toronto in Canada, who was not involved in the study. “It’s not the full picture by any stretch of the imagination. But it’s an interesting piece.” […] A 2020 meta-analysis of data from more than 9.6 million people found that cancer diagnosis was associated with an 11% decreased incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. It has been a difficult relationship to unpick: researchers must control for a variety of external factors. For example, people might die of cancer before they are old enough to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, and some cancer treatments can cause cognitive difficulties, which could obscure an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Alarming critics, the acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Madhu Gottumukkala, accidentally uploaded sensitive information to a public version of ChatGPT last summer, Politico reported.

According to “four Department of Homeland Security officials with knowledge of the incident,” Gottumukkala’s uploads of sensitive CISA contracting documents triggered multiple internal cybersecurity warnings designed to “stop the theft or unintentional disclosure of government material from federal networks.”

Gottumukkala’s uploads happened soon after he joined the agency and sought special permission to use OpenAI’s popular chatbot, which most DHS staffers are blocked from accessing, DHS confirmed to Ars. Instead, DHS staffers use approved AI-powered tools, like the agency’s DHSChat, which “are configured to prevent queries or documents input into them from leaving federal networks,” Politico reported.

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The 2026 Winter Olympics will kick off in Milano Cortina, Italy, beginning on Friday, Feb. 6. With more than 3,200 hours of winter sports coverage spread across broadcast, cable, and digital streaming platforms, finding what you want to watch can feel like a full-time job. So here’s where and when you can watch the Olympics.

Watching the Olympics is a deeply personal experience. Some love the technical precision of a perfect luge run; others dig the emotional narrative of an underdog’s journey to the podium; and some just want to catch the meme of the week as it happens. Because everyone’s “perfect Olympics” is unique, I’ve also put together a viewing guide designed for the way you might want to experience the 2026 Games.

How to watch the Olympics on broadcast and cable TV

NBCUniversal has the exclusive rights to show the Olympics in the U.S. this year, and the network is practically going all-Olympics from the opening ceremony on Feb. 6 to the closing on Feb. 22. If you’re watching the Olympics in the old-school “turn on the TV” way, the 2026 Winter Olympics are on broadcast channel NBC and cable channels CNBC and USA Network. If you’re streaming the games, you’ll be doing it from Peacock.

NBC’s broadcast Olympics coverage

During primetime, NBC is showing Primetime in Milan, three hours of curated Olympics coverage, nightly, beginning at 8 p.m. ET/PT, except Super Bowl Sunday, when Primetime in Milan will start at 10:45 p.m. ET.

In the daytime, NBC will be broadcasting five hours of coverage daily focusing mainly on more popular Winter Olympics coverage like snowboarding, skiing, figure skating, and hockey. Daytime Olympics programming will begin at 7 a.m. ET most days, and continue through the early afternoon, depending on the daily lineup.

NBC is also airing a nightly wrap-up of each day’s events after the local news; the Olympics’ opening ceremony on Friday, Feb. 6, at 2 p.m. ET; live coverage of the closing ceremonies at 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 22, with an encore showing at 9 p.m.; and 4K Olympics coverage on Super Bowl Sunday, beginning at 7 a.m. ET.

Cable television Olympics coverage

NBC-owned cable networks USA Network and CNBC will also feature Olympics content during the games.

• USA Network: USA Network will be devoted to Olympics coverage nearly 24/7 during the games, showing a mix of live events and encore showings of past events. Because of the six-hour time difference from Italy to the U.S., USA Network will show live Olympic events nightly beginning around 2 a.m. ET, and feature continuing coverage through the early afternoon.

• CNBC: CNBC is devoted to curling (really). The cable network plans to broadcast a nightly “Best of Curling” show on weeknights at 5 p.m. ET, with long form coverage on weekends.

Where to stream the 2026 Olympics

If you are planning to stream the Olympics, you’ll be doing it on Peacock, NBC’s streaming platform. Peacock will stream every single session of all 116 medal events live, as well as offering full-event replays of every event available on-demand.

How to watch the Olympics if you’re a casual viewer

“I want to be part of the conversation, but I don’t need to watch biathlon at 4 a.m.”

If you want high production values, dramatic stories of inspiring athletes, and exciting contests curated by sports broadcasting pros, the mainstream coverage is for you. Don’t miss the opening ceremonies on Feb. 6, at 2 p.m. ET, and catch as much of NBC’s primetime coverage as you have time for. It’s bound to be packed with crowd-pleasing events, give you lots of background on different athletes, and Olympics breaking news, but without a lot of obscure or boring sports.

Pro tip: Subscribe to the Two Guys, Five Rings podcast; Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang’s Olympics coverage is bound to be hilarious.

How to watch the Olympics if you’re a single-sport fan

“I’m only here for the luge.”

If you religiously follow a single sport in the Olympics, be it hockey or snowboarding, and you really don’t care about, say, inspirational ice-dancer stories, your best bet is Peacock’s Sports Hub, where you can watch every qualifying heat and every medal contest of only the sport you like, either live or on-demand.

Pro tip: Coordinate your calendar with NBC’s interactive schedule to make sure you know when everything is happening.

How to watch the Olympics if you’re a gossip

“Half the fun of the Olympics is dishing about it.”

If the Olympics is better as a shared experience, watch NBC.com’s broadcast coverage in one window, and check out the social media feeds of NBC’s “Creator Collective,” where TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube influencers like Kylie Kelce, Anna Sitar, and Jordan Howlett will be watching along.

Pro tip: Don’t sleep on Reddit communities r/olympics and r/WinterOlympics2026.

How to watch the Olympics if you’re curious

“I’m irrationally passionate about a sport I’d never heard of before today.”

If you love to discover strange new sports, the Winter Olympics are going to be fun. Skip the mainstream coverage on NBC and browse through Peacock’s Sports Hub catalog for sports you’ve never heard of.

Pro tip: Don’t miss the debut of Ski Mountaineering (“SkiMo”), the only brand-new sport at the 2026 Games. It’s a grueling hybrid where athletes who hate ski lifts for some reason hike up steep mountains before carving down high-speed technical descents.

How to watch the Olympics if you’re a completist

“I absolutely cannot get enough Olympics and I want to watch as much as is humanly possible.”

If you have a lot of time on your hands and want to see literally everything, you’ll need Peacock, and to get familiar with its “Discovery Multiview” feature, which lets you watch up to four sporting events at the same time.

Pro tip: Go to the NBC Olympics Full Schedule and use the “My Stuff” feature to build a personalized calendar before the games start to plan your epic Olympic binge.

How to watch the Olympics if you’re a tech-head

“I want to feel the snow in my face without leaving my house.”

If you want the highest resolution, most immersive Olympic experience possible without traveling to Italy, do not miss 4K All-Day on NBC and Peacock on Sunday, Feb. 8 for 17 hours of 4K HDR coverage of both the Olympics and the Super Bowl. And download the Peacock app for your Meta Quest 3 or 3S headset to watch the Olympics in augmented reality, or check out the “spatial cinema” broadcast of the Olympics on your Apple Vision Pro.

Pro tip: NBC is rolling out a new streaming feature called Rinkside Live for Olympic hockey and figure skating. It lets viewers choose from multiple curated feeds of “immersive, never-before-seen views.”

When asked directly whether people actually like Experian, Alex Lintner, the credit bureau’s CEO of Software and Technology, offered an unusual defense in an interview: “First of all, we’re not Palantir, so we don’t do reputation scores.” Speaking on The Verge’s podcast, Lintner conceded that consumers who have poor credit scores through “life’s circumstances” sometimes direct their frustration at Experian, though he argued the company enables vital access to credit for 247 million Americans.

The 10-year company veteran said Experian has built its own large language model and about 200 AI agents for internal use, but consumer data remains entirely walled off from public AI systems. On security, Lintner said Experian hasn’t experienced a data breach in a decade — the last occurred two weeks into his tenure. When competitor Equifax suffered its massive breach, Equifax actually paid Experian to help protect affected consumers’ identities.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Not to be outdone by Apple’s “Lockdown Mode,” Meta is rolling out new security features for WhatsApp designed to protect high-risk users—journalists, activists, and government officials, for example—from cyber attacks. Strict Account Settings is a “lockdown-style” mode that builds on the platform’s existing end-to-end encryption, adding stronger privacy features and additional restrictions against unknown contacts.

For most WhatsApp users, this level of lockdown is overkill. However, people with access to sensitive data that is potentially valuable to threat actors actually have been targeted with spyware campaigns through messaging platforms like WhatsApp, so for users like that, it may be a lifesaver. (In the last year, WhatsApp has also patched multiple zero-day exploits that allowed spyware to proliferate.)

As noted, the new WhatsApp settings are similar to Apple’s Lockdown Mode, an OS-level feature that blocks attachments, link previews, and communication from unknown contacts alongside some other settings changes. It also disables wired connections to external devices and a range of web features. Android’s Advanced Protection offers similar functionality.

How WhatsApp’s Strict Account Settings protects high-risk users

Strict Account Settings automatically enables existing privacy and security settings and adds a host of restrictions to users’ communication and visibility on WhatsApp.

• Two-step verification and security notifications, which alert you if a contact’s security code changes, are turned on.

• Link previews are disabled

• High volumes of messages from unknown accounts are blocked

• Only your contacts or those added to a pre-established list can see information about you, including your last seen and online, profile photo, about details, and links on your profile.

• Only known contacts or those on your pre-established list can add you to groups.

How to enable Strict Account Settings on WhatsApp

These controls can be enabled by going to Settings > Privacy > Advanced and toggling on Strict account settings. Settings must be changed on your primary device and cannot be updated on the web. Note that the feature will roll out gradually over the coming weeks, and may not be immediately available.

On January 12, EA shut down the official servers for Anthem, making Bioware’s multiplayer sci-fi adventure completely unplayable for the first time since its troubled 2019 launch. Last week, though, the Anthem community woke up to a new video showing the game at least partially loading on what appears to be a simulated background server.

The people behind that video—and the Anthem revival project that made it possible—told Ars they were optimistic about their efforts to coerce EA’s temperamental Frostbite engine into running the game without access to EA’s servers. That said, the team also wants to temper expectations that may have risen a bit too high in the wake of what is just a proof-of-concept video.

“People are getting excited [about the video], and naturally people are going to get their hopes up,” project administrator Laurie told Ars. “I don’t want to be the person that’s going to have to deal with the aftermath if it turns out that we can’t actually get anywhere.”

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There are reports that a legitimate Microsoft email address — which Microsoft explicitly says customers should add to their allow list — is delivering scam spam. ArsTechnica: The emails originate from no-reply-powerbi@microsoft.com, an address tied to Power BI. The Microsoft platform provides analytics and business intelligence from various sources that can be integrated into a single dashboard. Microsoft documentation says that the address is used to send subscription emails to mail-enabled security groups. To prevent spam filters from blocking the address, the company advises users to add it to allow lists.

According to an Ars reader, the address on Tuesday sent her an email claiming (falsely) that a $399 charge had been made to her. âoeIt provided a phone number to call to dispute the transaction. A man who answered a call asking to cancel the sale directed me to download and install a remote access application, presumably so he could then take control of my Mac or Windows machine (Linux wasn’t allowed),” she said.

Online searches returned a dozen or so accounts of other people reporting receiving the same email. Some of the spam was reported on Microsoft’s own website. Sarah Sabotka, a threat researcher at security firm Proofpoint, said the scammers are abusing a Power Bi function that allows external email addresses to be added as subscribers for the Power Bi reports. The mention of the subscription is buried at the very bottom of the message, where it’s easy to miss.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Music hardware and software manufacturer Native Instruments has entered into preliminary insolvency proceedings, according to a report by Create Digital Music. This is the company behind iconic software like Massive, Traktor and Kontakt and hardware like Maschine+. Native Instruments also owns the brands iZotope, Brainworx and Plugin Alliance.

We don’t have many specifics as to what this entails and what the future of the company will look like. We do know that an administrator has been appointed to handle restructuring and, potentially, to sell off existing assets. Native Instruments employs hundreds of people and their fates also remain uncertain.

A private equity firm called Francisco Partners owns a majority stake in the company. It also owns majority stakes in entities like GoodRX and Verifone, among others. This isn’t the first time Native Instruments has been forced into major restructuring. The company experienced plenty of layoffs and uncertainty between 2019 and 2020 before being purchased by private equity.

Again, we have no idea how this will shake out. It’s possible that new investors will jump on board and it goes back to business as usual. It’s also possible everything will be scrapped for parts and sold to the highest bidder.

We do know that subsidiary Plugin Alliance seems to be unaffected. It issued a statement on Facebook saying that it isn’t involved with the proceedings and that operations will continue as normal. This means new plugins will be released, along with updates for current software.

Everything else is still up in the air. This is troubling for those who have heavily invested in the company’s ecosystem of products. I’m one of them. Any hope I had for a hardware refresh of the Maschine+ just went out the window.

If the company’s robust line of software goes up for sale, Akai is likely the best bet. It has already begun incorporating Native Instruments software into MPC machines.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/native-instruments-enters-into-insolvency-proceedings-leaving-its-future-uncertain-183206826.html?src=rss

TikTok’s having a rough 2026. The app recently switched ownership from the Chinese-based ByteDance to the new “TikTok USDS Joint Venture,” which, as the name implies, is a majority American-owned business entity. Any changing of the guard comes with the risk for disruptions and issues, but it seems TikTok’s problems have gone beyond the usual rocky transition. First, the app itself went down, which the company attributed to a power outage at a data center. Then, users accused the platform of updating its terms of service with aggressive new tracking, blocking certain content types, and “shadowbanning” new posts from some users.

It’s still not clear exactly what’s going on here, but users aren’t waiting around for more explanation. In fact, many have made up their minds already, and believe the app is actively suppressing content, neutering algorithms, and invading privacy in a way it didn’t under ByteDance. While there are other, popular social media platforms to jump to, many apparently have flocked to a relatively new one: UpScrolled. As of this article, it’s now the second most popular free app on the iOS App Store, reminding me of when X users ran to Bluesky.

What is UpScrolled?

UpScrolled, created by Issam Hijazi, is a social media platform that launched this past June. According to the company’s “About” page, UpScrolled’s mission is to allow all users to share their views without risk of bias, shadowbanning, or “unfair” algorithms. The company asserts it does not push agendas, and ensures that “every post has a fair chance to be seen.” If you believe TikTok’s algorithm is now biased against your views, I could see how that pitch sounds enticing.

The company says it only restricts content that violates their guidelines. That means illegal activities, hate speech, bullying and harassment, explicit nudity, unlicensed copyrighted content, or anything “intended to cause harm.” UpScrolled will also never ban you without your knowledge. If the platform removes your videos or your account, it says it’ll let you know why.

One big difference between UpScrolled and other social media platforms is its algorithm. The app splits feeds into two: There’s the Following Feed, which lists posts entirely in chronological order. The first posts are the newest from your followers, and you scroll through previous posts. If you want to find new posts from accounts you don’t follow, you can use the Discover Feed. But unlike TikTok or Instagram, the Discover Feed does not employ some aggressive, personalized algorithm. Instead, it’s based on likes, comments, and reshares. Popular posts from across the platform are shared with you

What I especially appreciate is UpScrolled’s approach to data collection, in that they largely don’t do it. The company says it doesn’t sell user data to third-parties for marketing, tracking, or for profit. The only times they’ll hand over user data is when compelled by law. That’s in sharp contrast to many social media platforms, which seem to collect as much of your data as possible.

Using UpScrolled

I haven’t spent much time with the app yet, though I did create an account this morning to see what the hullabaloo was all about. I don’t recognize any of the users the app suggests I follow, which means I’ll likely need to dig through the content types if I want to find accounts to start following.

The Discover Feed is a mix of content types, but is heavy with content surrounding the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In fact, many users are choosing the platform as a space for pro-Palestinian content, in response to allegations that mainstream social media apps censor these types of posts. That said, the app advertises a host of different content types to follow, including sports, news, games, film, music, tech, and travel.

As you might expect, some of the posts here are simply ripped from TikTok, which is a common practice I see on social media platforms that, well, aren’t TikTok. Despite the current controversy, it’s clear which platform still has the largest user share at this time, by a long shot.

But it’s not all short-form videos. The app also includes plenty of posts of static images as well, which reminds me more of Instagram than TikTok. Still, it seems former TikTok users don’t care that this isn’t a one-to-one replica of the TikTok formula, and care more about sending a message to the app they once loved being addicted to.

I’m not sure my limited journey with UpScrolled this morning will keep me hooked, but it’s an interesting take on a social media platform. We’ll just need to see if the growth will continue, or if this is just a momentary blip before people return to TikTok.