Researchers showed how AI-powered worms could wreak havoc on the internet, Meta took down over a million scam accounts, and Google pledges to replenish more water than it uses at data centers by 2030

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Researchers showed how AI-powered worms could wreak havoc on the internet.
Meta took down over a million scam accounts in a joint operation with Microsoft, SpaceX and the DOJ.
And Google pledges to replenish more water than it uses at data centers by 2030
It's Wednesday, June 3rd, and here's a quick look at some of the news happening in and around tech this morning from Engadget.
We've seen how AI can be used to find flaws in apps and websites, but researchers have now demonstrated how it could be weaponized to exploit those vulnerabilities. A team from the University of Toronto used publicly accessible AI models to power a prototype worm capable of exploiting any known computer flaw. Such worms can then spread through networks and cause chaos across the Internet. A typical worm is usually designed by skilled programmers to exploit specific network flaws and can be stopped by patching those flaws. However, the scientists working in a secure, closed environment and taking extensive precautions used open-weight, open-source AI models to create a far more sophisticated prototype worm that spread through the team's test network with no human intervention. This new type of worm tailors its attack to different types of flaws across multiple platforms, including Linux, Windows and IoT devices.
It gathers data as it moves through the network, siphoning passwords and uncovering more vulnerabilities that will help it take over other machines. If an infection is discovered and patched on a computer, the worm can exploit other flaws to attack the same machine. Additionally, the worm feeds itself by siphoning processing power from infected machines to power its reasoning and strategy for future attacks. The idea of AI-powered cyber threats became very real recently with Anthropic's launch of Mythos, a model that can identify previously unknown cybersecurity risks. Anthropic has said that Mythos has already uncovered more than 10,000 flaws, boosting its partner's bug-finding rate by more than a factor of 10 Cloudflare, which helps protect companies from malicious attacks, found 2,000 such vulnerabilities, including 400 considered high or critical. The prototype worm created by the researchers can only exploit known flaws and not find unknown ones like Mythos. However, it's easy to see how bad actors could adapt it to both find and exploit new vulnerabilities, which would make it nearly unstoppable if released into the wild. One of the researchers said, In an interconnected world, no system is immune to this threat. Sharing these findings is the first step in galvanizing researchers, industry leaders, and policymakers to take action. And quickly.
Meta worked with the DOJ, along with Microsoft, Coinbase, Starlink and international law enforcement agencies to bust online scams and identify the criminal syndicates behind them. The company has been getting a lot of flak for letting scammers run rampant on its platforms, and then reportedly making billions of dollars yearly from ad marketing scams. This particular operation focuses on criminal networks operating out of Southeast Asia, which target Americans with romance scams, pig butchering schemes, and law enforcement impersonation. They also offer fake jobs to fellow Southeast Asians who find themselves forced to work in scam compounds. Throughout the week that started on May 18th, Meta, along with Microsoft, Coinbase, Starlink, the Justice Department, the Royal Thai Police, and other law enforcement partners from the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand met in Washington DC to share insights that helped them connect the dots between disparate pieces of information across platforms. Meta says it was the first of its kind to include cooperation between companies across the industry. Meta was able to identify and disable more than 1.4 million accounts, pages, and groups from Facebook and Instagram. Microsoft suspended 20,000 accounts used by scammers, while Coinbase froze more than $3 million worth of cryptocurrency tied to criminal networks. Meanwhile, Starlink disconnected thousands of kits determined were being used by scammers. By exchanging information, they were also able to identify additional potential scam center locations, and law enforcement agencies have arrested 63 suspects so far. While they did not reveal their next steps, Meta said the participating companies remain committed to continuing this important collaboration to protect people online. Meta has been trying to fend off scammers for years, and once took down more than 2 million accounts linked to pig butchering schemes, in which bad actors fool victims into making crypto investments or similar schemes, before disappearing with their funds.