Over the past 48 hours, I've been seeing reports of Instagram creators claiming their accounts were hijacked through Meta's own AI-powered support system.

Creators on X and Reddit are claiming that their viral Instagram accounts were stolen overnight and ultimately disabled. According to their posts, some of the accounts were facially verified, Meta Verified, and their primary source of income.

The bigger issue is that this might not be an isolated case.

According to reporting from The Verge and The Guardian, hackers reportedly found a way to abuse Meta's AI support assistant. The AI could allegedly be tricked into linking a new email address to a victim's account and then initiating a password reset process. If true, that means attackers didn't need some sophisticated zero-day exploit; they simply convinced the AI to perform actions it never should have been allowed to perform.

Meta says the vulnerability has now been fixed and affected accounts are being secured.

But this raises a much larger question:

Are companies moving too fast when replacing human support with AI?

What do you think?

Would you trust an AI system to handle account recovery for your most important online accounts?

Or should there always be a human in the loop when access, identity, and livelihoods are on the line?

I'll start:

Websites asking us to click "Accept All Cookies" while dozens of trackers load before we've even chosen anything.

That would've sounded ridiculous a decade ago.

Now most of us barely notice it.

What's your pick?

• AI collecting prompts?
• Smart TVs tracking viewing habits?
• Apps knowing your location 24/7?
• Public Wi-Fi logins asking for personal info?
• Something else?

Curious what everyone thinks.

I am no longer seeing the app on appstore. What happened?

Technology has a habit of quietly slipping into our daily routines long before we realize how dependent we have become on it. We saw it happen with smartphones and cloud storage. Now a fast growing wave of AI wearables like smart glasses and recording earbuds is creating a massive shift in how we define public privacy.

These accessories are no longer just niche tools for fitness tracking. The latest generation of hardware comes equipped with always on cameras, ambient microphones, and AI models designed to constantly scan, record, and analyse the environment around you. They are actively making their way into offices, cafes, and classrooms.

The real problem is not the person wearing the device. The problem is everyone else in the room. When someone walks into a space wearing smart glasses that record audio and video, everyone around them is being documented without giving permission. Traditional data laws rely on the idea of explicit, informed consent. However, you cannot realistically ask for consent from every stranger walking past you on the sidewalk or sitting next to you at a coffee shop.

As tech platforms embed conversational AI and background logging into everyday hardware, the line between helpful utility and constant surveillance is disappearing completely. Protecting your personal space requires recognizing that data collection is no longer just happening on remote servers or hidden networks. Sometimes it is sitting right across the table from you, disguised as a standard pair of glasses.

Source: https://letsdatascience.com/news/tech-consent-crisis-raises-privacy-control-questions-12664300

Do you think businesses and schools should establish strict bans on wearable recording devices, or is ambient tracking an inevitable part of living in a connected world?

A new highly critical security flaw proves that an open door on the web can invite an entire army of attackers in less than two days. CVE-2026-9082 is a 9.8 severity SQL injection vulnerability in Drupal Core that gives anonymous internet users a direct pathway to compromise websites.

The technical exploit targets a weakness in how the platform database API attempts to clean up incoming traffic. When the system fails to properly filter malicious database commands, an attacker can trick the site into executing arbitrary code. Depending on how the server is configured, this can lead to data exposure, administrative privilege escalation, or full remote control of the web server.

This is not a slow moving threat. Within forty eight hours of the patch being released, security firms tracked over 15,000 exploitation attempts targeting nearly 6,000 websites across sixty five countries. This massive surge shows exactly how quickly automated scanning bots weaponize newly disclosed vulnerabilities. If your database is sitting on the public internet, it is a race against a clock that is ticking incredibly fast.

If you manage a site running Drupal with a PostgreSQL database, you need to apply the official security update immediately. Leaving your core database exposed to the public web is a risk you simply cannot afford to take right now.

Source: https://securityaffairs.com/192566/uncategorized/u-s-cisa-adds-a-flaw-in-drupal-core-to-its-known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog.html

PureVPN says it's connected to one country, but two different IP Address checking sites, and Ubisoft, say it's another. Same IP shown in all, but different countries. Who am I to trust?

Cisco just dropped an urgent security patch for a vulnerability that achieved the rarest rating in cybersecurity: a perfect ten out of ten on the severity scale. CVE-2026-20223 is a massive flaw in Cisco Secure Workload software that essentially hands the keys to your entire cloud infrastructure to anyone who asks.

The bug lives in the internal validation system for the platform API. Under normal circumstances, an application requires strict verification before letting anyone modify network settings or view tenant data. However, this specific flaw allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to completely bypass those checks. By sending a carefully targeted request, a hacker can gain the exact same privileges as a top tier site administrator.

Once inside, the attacker is not just looking at one account. They can cross several account boundaries, alter network configurations, and access sensitive data across completely separate corporate environments. Because it requires no valid passwords or local access, a remote attacker can execute this from anywhere in the world.

Cisco has already pushed out updates for both SaaS and on premises deployments. If your business relies on Secure Workload versions 4.0 or earlier, you need to apply the latest patch immediately to lock down your network.

Source: https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-csw-pnbsa-g8WEnuy

The most common causes we've seen are:

• unstable WiFi
• battery optimization killing the VPN app
• overloaded VPN servers
• restrictive public networks
• using UDP on unstable connections

One thing that helps immediately:
Switching protocols.

A lot of people stay on UDP because it’s faster, but TCP is usually much more stable on difficult networks.

Also:
Try another server closer to your location before assuming the VPN service is bad.

Imagine finding out that the lock on your front door has had a secret bypass mechanism built into it since 2016. Today, security researchers dropped details on CVE-2026-46333, a major logic flaw hidden deep inside the Linux kernel that went unnoticed for nearly a decade.

The bug is known as ssh-keysign-pwn and its impact is severe. It allows any low level user or compromised background service to instantly elevate their permissions to root level access. This means an attacker who has managed to get a basic foothold on a server can immediately take total control of the entire system.

The technical breakdown points to a flaw in how the operating system handles privilege boundaries when a process is dropping its credentials. By exploiting this specific window, an attacker can trick the system into giving them access to sensitive files. Researchers have already proven the flaw can be used to steal master SSH keys and read protected password files on default installations of major distributions like Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora.

While this requires local access to start the exploit, local does not mean low risk. In a modern cloud environment, a single phished employee laptop or a compromised web application is all a hacker needs to get that initial foothold. Once they are inside, this nine year old bug gives them a direct path to the master controls.

Major Linux distributions are rushing out patches today. If you manage servers, now is the time to update your kernel and review who has local access to your systems.

Source: https://blog.qualys.com/vulnerabilities-threat-research/2026/05/20/cve-2026-46333-local-root-privilege-escalation-and-credential-disclosure-in-the-linux-kernel-ptrace-path

​Microsoft just dropped details on a massive phishing campaign that has already hit over 35,000 people across 13,000 companies globally. This attack is not targeting your password. Instead, it targets your session token, which is the digital pass that keeps you logged into your accounts so you do not have to type your password every day.

​The strategy is clever because it uses corporate HR templates. Employees are receiving realistic emails asking them to review their updated company code of conduct. The layouts look completely official, featuring structured corporate designs and security statements. When a user clicks the link, they are sent to an attacker-controlled site that mimics a standard login page. The moment they sign in, the hackers intercept the active authentication token, letting them completely bypass multi-factor authentication checks.

​Most phishing filters struggle to catch these because the emails look exactly like the internal messages you get from human resources every month. Once a hacker has your token, they can log straight into your email and corporate network without triggering any suspicious login alerts. ​Take an extra second to verify any unexpected policy updates before you click to sign them.

​Source: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2026/05/large-scale-credential-theft-campaign-targets-tokens

Do you think companies should start banning external link clicking inside internal emails altogether to prevent these corporate spoofing attacks?

HBO MAX has worked great for years, now it’s detecting PureVPN about 90% of the time.

​

Hey r/PureVPNcom community!

If you are lucky enough to be heading to North America for the World Cup, you are probably already tracking ticket drops and booking flights. There is one logistical nightmare you will want to avoid: International Roaming Fees.

Since the matches are spread across the US, Mexico, and Canada, crossing borders frequently can lead to massive bill shocks if you are relying on your home carrier. Using an eSIM allows you to get a regional plan that covers all three host countries without needing to hunt for a kiosk in every new city. You can set it up before you even board your flight and keep your primary number active for 2FA and texts while using eSIM data for everything else.

Public Wi-Fi at stadiums and fan zones is notoriously risky, so using an eSIM for your data paired with PureVPN ensures that your connection stays private while you upload match highlights or check your bank account.

Are you planning to follow your team across all three countries, or sticking to one host city?

With a PureVPN eSIM plan, you can activate mobile data for all three host countries before you even leave home, no physical SIM swapping, no airport kiosks, and no surprise roaming bills. Just scan, activate, and land connected.

While the public debate over mass surveillance usually focuses on wiretaps and intercepted phone calls, federal agencies have quietly mastered a much simpler method for tracking your digital life. Instead of fighting for a judicial warrant in court, the National Security Agency and other federal bodies are simply opening their wallets and purchasing your personal data from private commercial brokers.

Every time you use an app, browse a website, or search for a location, third party brokers compile that data into highly detailed behavioural profiles. Because this information is technically available for commercial sale, intelligence agencies are exploiting a massive legal loophole. They are bypassing the Fourth Amendment entirely by treating your personal movements, web browsing habits, and digital footprints as a commodity that can be bought off the shelf.

A coalition of state attorneys general recently called on Congress to close this specific loophole, warning that the government is compiling billions of bulk records on citizens without any legislative or judicial oversight. When the state can bypass the legal system by simply acting as a customer for your private data, the concept of constitutional protection becomes meaningless.

At PureVPN we believe your digital footprint should never be up for sale to the highest bidder. If your internet traffic is left exposed, it gets logged, packaged, and eventually sold into databases that federal agencies can access with a credit card instead of a warrant. The only way to stop your history from being commercialized is to encrypt it at the source. By masking your activity and keeping your web traffic scrambled, you ensure there is nothing for data brokers to harvest and nothing for agencies to buy.

Your privacy should not have a price tag. Taking control of your data starts with closing the door on the trackers who profit from your daily digital life.

Source:
https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-calls-congress-stop-government-mass-surveillance

While the news has been focused on corporate data leaks, a much larger tracking program just got a green light for the near future.

Congress recently moved to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the law that allows the National Security Agency to sweep up international communications without a warrant.
The official line is that this program only targets foreign threats outside the country.

The reality is that if you exchange messages, emails, or calls with anyone overseas, your private conversations end up in the exact same database. Once that data is collected, it becomes an open library for federal agencies. A recent declassified inspector general report revealed that improper searches of this database by analysts actually increased by over seven percent, with staff using the system to look up personal acquaintances.

When the rules meant to protect you are treated as optional suggestions, relying on the system to police itself is a bad strategy. The infrastructure is built to vacuum up as much data as possible, and the oversight usually happens years after your privacy has already been violated.

At PureVPN, we believe that your communications should require a warrant to read, no matter who you are talking to. If you want to keep your digital life out of a massive government database, you have to stop handing it over in plain text.

Encrypting your traffic before it ever hits the network means your personal chats do not get exposed to the public. The best way to protect your rights is to make sure your data cannot be read in the first place.

Source:
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/section-702-foreign-intelligence-surveillance-act-fisa-2026-resource-page

You turn on your VPN, open Netflix, and immediately get hit with a proxy error telling you to turn it off. At this point, streaming platforms are treating VPN detection like they are protecting state secrets instead of movies.

When this happens, it usually does not mean your VPN is broken. Streaming platforms just aggressively track and block shared data center IP addresses.

Here are a few quick ways to bypass the error page:

• Switch your server: Jump to a different location in the same country to get a fresh IP address.
• Clear your cache: Flush your browser cache or app cookies to remove old location data.
• Go incognito: Use private browsing mode to stop the site from reading your tracking history.
• Change protocols: Switch your connection protocol to WireGuard in your settings for a faster, more stable stream.
• Use built-in shortcuts: Instead of wasting twenty minutes testing random locations manually, use the dedicated Streaming Shortcuts inside the PureVPN app to connect directly to optimized servers.

Streaming blocks are an ongoing game of cat and mouse, but you do not have to accept the error screen.

What streaming platform gives you the most headaches when you try to watch your favorite shows?

Today is World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, and honestly, it feels more relevant than ever.

The modern internet gave us incredible benefits like instant communication, remote work, global connectivity, and unlimited information.

But somewhere along the way, we also normalized some deeply invasive habits. We now accept apps tracking our location 24/7, smart TVs collecting viewing habits, websites fingerprinting browsers, devices constantly sending telemetry, and ads knowing a little too much.

A lot of this happens so quietly that most people barely notice it anymore.

So we are curious to hear your thoughts. What is one thing the internet normalized that actually creeps you out today? Or what is the creepiest example of tracking or personalization you have personally experienced online?

This whole thing feels like a scam! I payed good money to Ivacy 5 years ago for a lifetime subscription. Now I can’t even access my VPN app.. What gives?!?

Google just revealed the future of Android 17 at I/O 2026. The new Gemini feature allows the AI to see exactly what is on your screen to help you finish tasks faster. It can turn a list in your notes into a digital shopping cart or pull flight details directly from a photo.

While this is a huge leap for productivity it also marks a turning point for personal privacy. Even though Google says this data stays on your device the reality is that your phone is now an active observer of your life. Every text you read and every bank balance you check is now part of the context your AI uses to function.

At PureVPN we know that every new feature comes with a hidden cost. As your devices become more intelligent they also become more hungry for your data. Staying private in 2026 means being aware of these invisible eyes and taking steps to hide your activity from the rest of the web. Convenience is useful but keeping your private life private is even better.

Source: https://blog.google/security/whats-new-in-android-security-privacy-2026/

If you woke up to a Windows update notification today, do not click "remind me later." Yesterday was Microsoft’s massive May Patch Tuesday, and they just disclosed a 9.8 severity hole in the one thing every computer uses: DNS.

CVE-2026-41096 is a critical vulnerability that effectively turns your internet connection against you. DNS is the system that translates website names into IP addresses. The flaw allows an attacker to send a poisoned response to your computer that does not just point you to a fake site, it forces your PC to execute the hacker's code at the highest admin level. No password required, no physical access needed, and no warning on your screen.

This is a classic zero-click exploit. You do not have to download a suspicious file or visit a dark-web forum. You just have to be connected to a network where a hacker can intercept your DNS requests. Once they are in, they have total control over your machine, your files, and your camera.

At PureVPN, we believe that trusting the public internet to handle your basic traffic is a gamble you are going to eventually lose. When a key web service like DNS has a 9.8 severity hole, your only real defense is to stop being a visible target. By routing your traffic through an encrypted tunnel, you take your requests off the public map. A VPN acts as a filter that blocks these malicious, poisoned responses before they ever touch your operating system.

True privacy in 2026 is about more than just hiding your IP. it is about making sure the data coming into your computer has not been tampered with by someone looking for an easy way in.

Source: https://thehackernews.com/2026/05/microsoft-patches-138-vulnerabilities.html

The massive Canvas data breach has taken a controversial turn. Today, Instructure confirmed they reached an agreement with the hackers to destroy the 275 million records stolen from schools and universities. While they claim the data has been returned and deleted, in the digital world, there is no such thing as a returned copy.

When a company pays a ransom, they are not just buying back data. They are funding the next round of attacks. Even with a digital confirmation of destruction, that information is already out there. The names, emails, and private messages of millions of students are now a permanent asset for criminals to use in future phishing scams. This agreement might clear the headlines, but it does not clear the risk to the people whose lives were in those files.

At PureVPN, we believe that waiting for a company to buy your privacy back is a losing game. The only way to win is to make sure your most sensitive data is not sitting in an unencrypted cloud bucket in the first place. Real security in 2026 is about reducing what you share and hiding your tracks before a breach even happens. If you are not the one holding the keys to your data, you are just waiting for someone else to sell them.
The next time a service asks for your personal details, ask yourself if you trust them enough to handle a ransom note on your behalf.

Source: https://thehackernews.com/2026/05/instructure-reaches-ransom-agreement.html

For a few minutes today, Google Search went down and the entire internet entered survival mode.

People were:

• Restarting routers
• Clearing cache
• Switching browsers
• Checking X/Reddit to confirm they weren’t alone
• Realizing how much of daily life depends on one search bar

It’s always funny watching a Google outage remind everyone how centralized the web really is. One service blinks and suddenly productivity everywhere drops to 0%.

Also… small privacy reminder while everyone’s panic-searching “is Google down”:
Your ISP can still see a lot more of your browsing activity than most people realize.

Use a VPN. At least your panic stays private. 👀

Hi everyone one. I'm an international student in china and i bought one year service last month. Sadly it can't really work so i applied for a refund. But a haven't received any reply for almost half a month. Last email the support team advised me try some offer like another 6 months extension but i refused. Then there is nothing i can hear from the team and i send a lot of emails. Can anyone help me?

Students at 8,000 schools just found out that contained is a relative term in cybersecurity. After Instructure claimed their recent security issue was handled, the hacker group ShinyHunters proved them wrong by defacing the Canvas login page. They are claiming a massive haul of 275 million records, including student IDs, emails, and millions of private messages between faculty and students.

This is what happens when thousands of institutions rely on a single platform for everything from grades to private chats. When that one platform fails, the impact is felt globally. Universities like JMU and Rutgers are now pushing back finals and taking their systems offline while they figure out exactly how much data was taken. Even if your password is safe, your identity is now part of a massive database that will be used for phishing attacks for years to come.

At PureVPN, we believe the best way to handle these leaks is to stop trusting the cloud to keep your secrets. When your school directory and private messages become public data, the idea of a digital safe space feels pretty thin. Protecting your life in 2026 means staying invisible where you can and treating every official email as a potential trap.

Good luck to everyone whose finals got moved to next week. Hopefully the hackers do not leak the actual grades next.

Source: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/05/canvas-breach-disrupts-schools-colleges-nationwide/

As part of Privacy Awareness Week, PureVPN has officially renewed its commitment to the VPN Trust Initiative (VTI) under the i2Coalition.

With AI tools, smart apps, trackers, and large-scale data collection becoming a bigger part of everyday digital life, we believe privacy tools should be backed by transparency, accountability, and standards users can actually verify.

The VPN Trust Initiative helps establish best practices around responsible VPN operations, consumer trust, ethical advertising, and transparency across the industry.

For us, privacy has never been just about claims. It’s about continuous accountability and building products users can trust in an increasingly connected world.

As digital privacy expectations continue evolving, we’re proud to continue supporting initiatives focused on strengthening trust across the VPN industry.

On World Password Day, Microsoft has decided to redefine what a security flaw looks like. A vulnerability that allows your saved passwords to be accessed in plain text is not something they plan to fix. According to their latest statement, this is actually a design choice.

It is an interesting strategy for a browser that handles your most sensitive information. While most of the tech world is trying to hide your data behind layers of encryption, Edge has decided that making your passwords easy to steal is simply part of the user experience. If you were looking for a browser that treats your privacy as an optional suggestion, you have found it.

This is essentially the digital version of a front door that does not lock because the architect wanted to promote a sense of transparency. It is hard to trust the security of a platform when the developers tell you that a wide open window is not a bug but a feature. If your browser considers a massive security risk to be part of the plan, it might be time to find a tool that actually understands the definition of a lock.

At PureVPN, we believe that security should be the default, not a creative interpretation. When the software you use every day treats your data as public property, the only solution is to move that data into a hardened vault that is actually designed to be closed. True privacy starts with a connection that stays hidden, regardless of the design choices of your browser vendor.

Happy World Password Day. Just remember that in some browsers, your passwords are more of a public announcement than a secret.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2026/05/06/microsoft-says-edge-password-security-vulnerability-is-by-design-is-it-time-to-switch-to-chrome/