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Tom's Guide
30-07-2025
- Tom's Guide
The top 3 cybersecurity risks posed by the Online Safety Act
On July 25, 2025, the Online Safety Act went into effect in the UK. This new law means that UK residents will have to verify their age in order to access content deemed inappropriate for minors by the Office of Communications (OFCOM). This has led to a huge spike in UK residents searching for the best VPNs in order to circumvent these restrictions and avoid sharing their personal information. The law has required many sites and apps, including social media sites, to enforce age verification through a number of different ways. However, this has raised a number of concerns around data privacy and safety, especially the cybersecurity risks posed by third parties processing sensitive information. Here, we take a look at some of the risks that may be posed by third-party age verification services. NordVPN – our top-rated VPN overallWe've tested dozens of VPNs, and on balance, we think NordVPN is the best choice for most people. It's fast, can unblock sites, has tons of servers around the world, and offers solid, audited privacy credentials. Tom's Guide readers can claim an exclusive four months free, bringing the price down to £2.31 / $2.91 per month on the two-year plan. If you subscribe to higher tiers, you'll get an Amazon gift card of up to £50 / $50, and there's a 30-day refund period. Many UK citizens have questioned the safety of uploading either their likeness or a copy of their government ID (e.g. passport or driver's license) in order to access blocked sites or content on apps. Many are concerned about the potential ramifications of this information being stolen in a data breach. The personal information available on an ID card is very valuable to hackers, and could be sold for a large amount of money on the dark web. If a third-party was hacked, and copies of users' identification were stolen, this could have huge repercussions for all those involved. The main concerns are, of course, identity theft and fraud. If a hacker gained access to a copy of someone's passport or driving license, they could do a number of nefarious things, including opening bank accounts in your name, applying for loans and credit cards, and even create fake IDs using your details. This can have huge ramifications for the victim, including impacting their credit score and having crimes committed in their names. Unfortunately, the onus is on the companies and sites employing the third-party services and the third-party services themselves to make sure they are as secure as possible, and that users' personal information is as protected as possible. In order to comply with the new age verification laws, many companies have introduced age verification via third-party services. For example, social media site Reddit has employed the use of Persona. However, many of the third-party companies that are being used to comply with the Online Safety Act are actually based in the US, which has worrying implications for the UK data stored by them. This is because, under the Patriot Act, these companies could be compelled to give the data they hold to the US government. To combat this, companies must censor and/or delete the information used to verify a person's age. For example, Persona has said that it will not store ID verification data for longer than 7 days. This is similar to how Private Internet Access, a well-respected US-based VPN, upholds its user privacy by simply not recording or storing any user data. While it does publish quarterly reports of all the information requests it has received, the reports show that it has not shared any information with the US government – after all, it cannot release any data it does not have. With this being said, Persona and its data protection practices does not represent all of the third-party verification companies being used to verify users' ages. This means that other companies could hold users' data for a lot longer than 7 days, meaning that they would have more data to surrender if the US government asks for it. This is obviously problematic considering the sensitive nature of the data that they will have access to. Last year, I wrote on a new sextortion scam which combined real data stolen from data leaks and/or breaches with an intentionally anxiety-fuelling script in order to convince victims that they had to pay up or risk intimate pictures and details being leaked to their entire contact list. Of course, hackers did not actually have access to these pictures or details, and instead were relying on victims having limited knowledge on what certain types of malware can actually do. However, with these new age verification laws requiring users to upload pictures of themselves or their government ID, scammers could easily take advantage of this and put together an even scarier script. If you had used an age verification system to access an adult website, it would suddenly become far more plausible that your data had been accessed, meaning you may be more likely to believe the lies sent to you by scammers. This would be even more believable if the scammers had access to information that could plausibly be on your government ID stolen from other data breaches or leaks. However, it's important to remember that third-party verification means that your account data is not shared with the verification service, and your ID data is not shared with the site you're attempting to access. So, if scammers are claiming they have linked the two, this is a lie. We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NASA shuts down X accounts as fears swirl about massive cuts to science initiatives
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has started consolidating dozens of its social media accounts. It'll archive platforms in coming weeks focused on the moon, the Earth's climate, the Perseverance Mars rover, and the Orion spacecraft: the Artemis program vehicle that will one day take astronauts back to the lunar surface. Some of the rudderless agency's accounts told their hundreds of thousands — or even millions — of followers not to be alarmed. 'Don't worry, my mission isn't going anywhere,' accounts for the Perseverance and Curiosity Mars rovers and the Voyager spacecraft assured on Monday. NASA said its social media portfolio had grown to more than 400 accounts spread out across dozens of platforms. 'While each account has served an important purpose in telling our story, our focus is to improve the user experience through more cohesive messaging. We are reducing the overall number of accounts for a simplified presence that continues to inform, educate, and inspire the public,' NASA's Commercial Crew program account explained. But followers voiced concerns that streamlining communications — reportedly from 400 accounts down to just 35 — may make communication even more of a challenge for NASA. Some said NASA was 'Thanos snapping,' or described the cull as "Red Wedding Stuff.' 'This account is/was a pioneer of social media,' space journalist Elizabeth Howell said of the Curiosity Rover account. Not everyone agreed. Spaceflight photographer John Kraus said the effort was 'long overdue' and the 'right direction,' noting that the Orion and Space Launch Systems accounts could be relegated to focus on one for the entire Artemis program. 'How can we inspire the next generation when over 100 accounts on a single platform flood it with frequent posts — often multiple times daily — prioritizing posting for the sake of their own existence over quality content? It's overwhelming,' he said of X. Jared Isaacman, Trump's former pick for NASA administrator, signaled his support for that take. It comes amid renewed concerns regarding further reductions in personnel and the recently released Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal. A summary of the proposal said the Office of Communications would be restructured by eliminating functions 'not statutorily mandated,' consolidating duplicative functions, and automating 'routine tasks.' There are reports claiming this effort is already underway. Shifting focus largely on human spaceflight, the agency's proposal would slash funding for crucial initiatives that have been the product of decades of research at NASA. Those would include 41 space missions, the agency's climate monitoring satellites and top climate lab, the ongoing Mars Sample Return mission, and upcoming missions to Venus. In all, total funding would be cut by nearly a quarter, and the Planetary Society says there would be a 'devastating 47 percent cut to the agency's science program.' The budget still needs to pass through Congress. 'If enacted, this plan would decimate NASA. It would fire a third of the agency's staff, waste billions of taxpayer dollars, and turn off spacecraft that have been journeying through the Solar System for decades. Humanity would no longer explore the universe as it does today, and our ability to confront deep, cosmic questions would be set back an entire generation,' astrophysicist Dr. Asa Stahl wrote. Jacqueline McCleary, an assistant professor of physics at Northeastern University, called the proposed budget a 'strategic mistake.' 'Even if you want to dismantle a project or dismantle a satellite, it takes time, it takes resources,' McCleary said. 'You can't just lock the doors and [let] it sit in a warehouse forever. Sudden cuts like these are paradoxically very wasteful of taxpayer money because they're not controlled.'
The Hindu
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Between a temple town and a metropolis: The inner journeys of Jayant Kaikini
Back in 1976, Jayant Kaikini did not get the research assistant's job he had applied for at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The Kannada writer and lyricist began his recent talk at the same institute, titled My Literary Journey, with the story of how he missed the job. He filled in the application and took the written test needed to get the job, but in a hurry. The reason for this haste? A film written and directed by P. Lankesh, one of his literary heroes, had just been released, and Kaikini scurried from the campus to watch it that afternoon. 'For that afternoon show, he was supposed to be at the theatre, so I wanted to go and meet him after the show,' recalls the award-winning writer at a lecture series called Paraspar, an initiative of IISc's Office of Communications. 'I literally ran to it,' he says, with a smile. Unfortunately, the meeting with Lankesh appears to have left him disappointed. 'My idol, my hero, had already published some of my poems in his magazine, at that time, and I thought he would talk to me about my poems,' recalls Kaikini. Instead, Lankesh asked him about the film, specifically a scene that involved one of the characters running. 'It was like a hotelier asking me if the chutney was good. He was the director of a brilliant film, which later won the national award, and he asked me if I liked the scene,' he says, wryly. Kaikini's deeply engaging storytelling skills were on full display through this talk, as he recounted anecdotes and observations drawn from his own life. The talk, he says, is a reflection 'of things that have enriched my sensibilities in my life… whatever has pushed, moved, stayed with me.' Early life Kaikini was born in the temple town of Gokarna, as 'a premature baby in a hurry to come to this planet. I was always restless,' he says. He describes his father, Gourish Kaikini, as 'an atheist and radical humanist, who wrote about everything and everybody,' adding that while his father could have used his writing skills to become a great novelist or poet, he, instead, used it to open the minds of people. 'My house was a hub of students, art lovers, poets,' he says. 'So I grew up in that kind of environment.' His mother, on the other hand, was a fighter who had to run a household on her husband's meagre salary. 'She did everything to run a small home… take a lottery agency, do LIC agency,' he says, describing her as 'very dominant, which was good.' As a child, he did not like writers, because they would come home and just keep talking. 'I thought writers were useless because they only talk. So, I never thought I would write at all,' confesses Kaikini, now a distinguished writer who has published seven short story anthologies, six poetry compilations, four essay collections, three plays and written countless superhit songs for Kannada films. At the talk, Kaikini also shares some of his other experiences in Gokarna that shaped his sensibilities: discovering torn-up last pages of detective novels in the local library, watching the touring talkies, which would come to Gokarna after the harvest season or watching local theatre troupes perform. 'All these things, there is a magic about unknown…something that takes us away from our routine.' Strangely, this also included the bus stand in Gokarna. 'The buses that came from big cities were another great attraction for us,' he says. It made him think, 'We should also go in this bus some day.' Moving away Inevitably, that did happen, with Kaikini going first to Kumta and then to Dharwad for his higher education, leading him to experience 'three kinds of culture shock,' he says. 'From Kannada medium to English medium, small town to bigger town and home stay to hostel stay,' says Kaikini, who, during this phase, got terribly homesick and found himself going to the bus stand and looking at buses going to Gokarna. 'Every evening, I would feel that this bus is so lucky because it is going to my home town.' Fortunately, literature came to his rescue around this time. 'I started taking part in debates and competitions in small popular magazines,' he says, pointing out how these popular magazines in regional languages have played a significant role in the development of writers and have nourished readers for generations. 'I have a great admiration for them,' says Kaikini, whose earliest short stories were written for magazines like Sudha and Mayura. He still remembers a girl emerging from the ladies' room of his college and telling him that a story he had published in Sudha was very good. 'That was like an Olympic gold medal, and I felt this is it,' he recollects. 'It is very motivating, and I became very popular in college just by writing short stories.' Kaikini refers to the three years he spent in college majoring in biochemistry as 'a transition phase, where I wrote a lot of things', including election manifestos and love letters for his friends.. 'That is helping me now write love songs,' quips Kaikini, who went on to do his MSc in biochemistry at Karnatak University, Dharwad. 'That opened another door in my life…a new door for theatre and cinema.' In Dharwad, as he exposed himself to more and more diverse forms of visual storytelling, Kaikini realised that 'when I am writing, seeing a good film, a good play, reading a good book, there is something that takes me beyond this. And I become one with a collective being,' he says. Art also gives us security because 'it is not done by one person, but a collective,' he says, recalling what his father used to tell him: society is not a tent which stands on a single pole, but a shamiana that stands on a thousand poles. Kaikini also talks about other experiences and reflections that have shaped his perspectives: living in a highly-cosmopolitan Mumbai for nearly two decades; the curious dichotomy of being a writer – needing anonymity, while also desiring fame at the same time; the liberality of temple towns like Gokarna, which draw so many tourists and the spirituality and inspiration he finds in hospitals. He also talks about his family, career trajectory, move to Bengaluru, and tryst with film music. Background score to life 'Cinema songs are the background score of our life,' says Kaikini, who began writing lyrics for film songs in 2003, starting with the Shiva Rajkumar starrer Chigurida Kanasu, based on a Shivaram Karanth novel. His hit song, 'Anisuthide...', for the 2006 Kannada romance film Mungaru Male came about because Yogaraj Bhat, the film's director, was a fan of Kaikini's short stories. 'So he won my heart,' says Kaikini, who agreed to write a song. Bhat, he says, appeared to have had some trepidation when he heard this song, saying it sounded a little like a ghazal. 'They never thought it would become such a big hit,' he says. 'And the rest is history.' Kaikini then shifts back to the present, donning the hat of a social commentator. He points out that we, as a society, are going through very testing times, using the metaphor of a Snakes and Ladders board to explain human progress. 'Our evolution from the Stone Age to here has been a snake-and-ladder game, where in the darkest of times, years ago, there was no education, no light, no knowledge… inequality, all kinds of blind beliefs,' he says. Slowly, he says, education and awareness came, comparing these things to ladders in a society. 'But still, snakes are there.' In his opinion, while these snakes continue to hamper progress, we have now nearly reached the pinnacle of the evolutionary ladder. 'But now, as you know from any snake-and-ladder game, at that level, if a snake bites you, you will go back to the stone age,' he says. 'So you have to take care that we don't get consumed by the snake of divisive politics, caste, religion…everything,' he says.
CNN
02-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Maryland Democratic senator travels to El Salvador in push for Abrego Garcia's return
US Sen. Chris Van Hollen told reporters in El Salvador Wednesday that he was unable to visit Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia in the maximum-security mega-prison where he is being held. Instead, the Democrat announced he met with the Salvadoran vice president and vowed to 'keep pressing' for answers and the man's release. 'There will be more members of Congress coming,' Van Hollen said in an emotional media availability. 'This is an unsustainable and unjust moment, so it cannot continue.' The March deportation of Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national and Maryland resident, has become a flashpoint in the fight over the Trump administration's hardline deportation push. The administration conceded in court filings that it had mistakenly deported the father of three to El Salvador last month as part of its recent deportation flights to the Central American nation, which are now at the center of a fraught legal battle. Van Hollen said he specifically asked Salvadoran Vice President Felix Ulloa if he could meet with Abrego Garcia or at least speak with him over the phone or via video conferencing. Again, Van Hollen said the request was denied. Pressed on whether he had concerns about the man's health, Van Hollen said: 'I don't know about his health status which is why I wanted to meet with him directly.' The senator's trip swiftly drew the ire of the White House. Communications director Steven Cheung called Van Hollen 'a complete disgrace' and the Office of Communications accused the senator in a statement of a lack of concern regarding crimes they say were committed by undocumented immigrants against his constituents. Abrego Garcia has not been charged with any crimes in the United States, according to his lawyers. While Abrego Garcia had not been legally in the US prior to his deportation, a 2019 court order said he could not be returned to El Salvador and the Trump administration admitted in court documents he was deported there due to a clerical error. In recent days, however, Trump administration officials have denied that he was mistakenly deported. US officials have alleged he is a member of the MS-13 gang, which the administration has designated as a foreign terrorist organization – a claim his attorneys dispute and at least one federal judge has voiced skepticism toward. The Wednesday meeting, Van Hollen said, started with a 'point of agreement' that the countries should work together to 'crack down' on gangs like MS-13. However, he said the case of Abrego Garcia 'does not have to do with MS-13.' Despite a Supreme Court ruling that the US must 'facilitate' Abrego Garcia's return, White House officials have argued it's up to El Salvador whether to do so. The Trump administration and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele made clear during an Oval Office meeting earlier this week that the Maryland man wouldn't be returned to the US. Bukele said during the meeting that while he has the power to release Abrego Garcia, he wasn't willing to do so. Officials in the Oval Office meeting, including President Donald Trump, made no effort to ask for his cooperation in the matter. Van Hollen said Wednesday that the Salvadoran vice president had echoed comments made by Bukele at the White House that El Salvador 'can't smuggle' Abrego Garcia to the US. 'I said I am not asking him to smuggle Mr. Abrego Garcia into the United States, I am simply asking him to open the door of CECOT and let this innocent man walk out,' the senator said. Bukele has no plans to meet with the Democratic senator currently visiting the country, a high-level source close to Bukele told CNN. According to the source CNN spoke with, a tour of the maximum security prison Cecot may be arranged for US lawmakers, but they are not expected to be granted access to Abrego Garcia himself — as El Salvador does not permit individual visits with inmates at the facility. This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN
16-04-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Maryland Democratic senator travels to El Salvador in push for Abrego Garcia's return
US Sen. Chris Van Hollen told reporters in El Salvador Wednesday that he was unable to visit Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia in the maximum-security mega-prison where he is being held. Instead, the Democrat announced he met with the Salvadoran vice president and vowed to 'keep pressing' for answers and the man's release. 'There will be more members of Congress coming,' Van Hollen said in an emotional media availability. 'This is an unsustainable and unjust moment, so it cannot continue.' The March deportation of Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national and Maryland resident, has become a flashpoint in the fight over the Trump administration's hardline deportation push. The administration conceded in court filings that it had mistakenly deported the father of three to El Salvador last month as part of its recent deportation flights to the Central American nation, which are now at the center of a fraught legal battle. Van Hollen said he specifically asked Salvadoran Vice President Felix Ulloa if he could meet with Abrego Garcia or at least speak with him over the phone or via video conferencing. Again, Van Hollen said the request was denied. Pressed on whether he had concerns about the man's health, Van Hollen said: 'I don't know about his health status which is why I wanted to meet with him directly.' The senator's trip swiftly drew the ire of the White House. Communications director Steven Cheung called Van Hollen 'a complete disgrace' and the Office of Communications accused the senator in a statement of a lack of concern regarding crimes they say were committed by undocumented immigrants against his constituents. Abrego Garcia has not been charged with any crimes in the United States. While Abrego Garcia had not been legally in the US prior to his deportation, a 2019 court order said he could not be returned to El Salvador and the Trump administration admitted in court documents he was deported there due to a clerical error. In recent days, however, Trump administration officials have denied that he was mistakenly deported. US officials have alleged he is a member of the MS-13 gang, which the administration has designated as a foreign terrorist organization – a claim his attorneys dispute and at least one federal judge has voiced skepticism toward. The Wednesday meeting, Van Hollen said, started with a 'point of agreement' that the countries should work together to 'crack down' on gangs like MS-13. However, he said the case of Abrego Garcia 'does not have to do with MS-13.' Despite a Supreme Court ruling that the US must 'facilitate' Abrego Garcia's return, White House officials have argued it's up to El Salvador whether to do so. The Trump administration and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele made clear during an Oval Office meeting earlier this week that the Maryland man wouldn't be returned to the US. Bukele said during the meeting that while he has the power to release Abrego Garcia, he wasn't willing to do so. Officials in the Oval Office meeting, including President Donald Trump, made no effort to ask for his cooperation in the matter. Van Hollen said Wednesday that the Salvadoran vice president had echoed comments made by Bukele at the White House that El Salvador 'can't smuggle' Abrego Garcia to the US. 'I said I am not asking him to smuggle Mr. Abrego Garcia into the United States, I am simply asking him to open the door of CECOT and let this innocent man walk out,' the senator said. This story has been updated with additional developments.
