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A coalition of nonprofit organizations is calling on the U.S. government to immediately halt the deployment of Grok, a chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, in federal agencies, including the Department of Defense. The open letter, shared exclusively with TechCrunch, tracks a number of concerning behaviors by large-scale language models over the past year, including a recent trend of X users asking Grok to convert photos of real women and, in some cases, children into sexualized images without their consent. According to some reports, Grok generated thousands of non-consensual and explicit images every hour, which were widely distributed on Musk’s…

NASA has begun a two-day practice countdown to refuel a new rocket that will send humans to the moon for the first time since 1972. Returning humans to the moon is a key test that will determine when the four astronauts will take off on a lunar mission. Commander Reed Wiseman and his crew, already in quarantine to avoid germs, will oversee a dress rehearsal from their Houston base before heading to Kennedy Space Center once the rocket is cleared to fly. Based on the success of the Apollo program NASA sent 24 people to the moon during the Apollo…

Geologists may have finally solved a long-standing mystery surrounding the Colorado River’s largest tributary. This tributary appears to have been flowing uphill against gravity when it first formed.The Green River originates in Wyoming and joins the Colorado River in Utah’s Canyonlands National Park. About 8 million years ago, rather than flowing around geological formations, the Green River flowed through the 13,000-foot (4,000-meter) high Uinta Mountains in northeastern Utah and northwestern Colorado. But in a new study, researchers argue that this would not be possible without a mechanism to lower the mountain.”It’s a very strange path,” study lead author Adam Smith,…

Ravie LakshmananFeb 02, 2026Hacking News / Cybersecurity Every week brings new discoveries, attacks, and defenses that shape the state of cybersecurity. Some threats are stopped quickly, while others go unseen until they cause real damage. Sometimes a single update, exploit, or mistake changes how we think about risk and protection. Every incident shows how defenders adapt — and how fast attackers try to stay ahead. This week’s recap brings you the key moments that matter most, in one place, so you can stay informed and ready for what’s next. ⚡ Threat of the Week Google Disrupts IPIDEA Residential Proxy Network…

hacker newsFebruary 2, 2026Threat detection/endpoint security For mid-market organizations, cybersecurity is always a balancing act. Proactive and proactive security measures are essential to protect against the growing attack surface. Combined with effective threat-blocking protection, it plays a key role in stopping cyber-attacks before they cause damage. The challenge is that many security tools add complexity and cost that most midsize businesses cannot absorb. With limited budgets and efficient IT and security teams, organizations often focus on detection and response. While this is necessary, it creates a significant operational burden on already stretched teams. A more sustainable approach is security across…

simple factsName: Ribchester HelmetWhat is it: bronze helmet with face mask visorBirthplace: Ribchester, northwest EnglandCreated: Around 100 ADIn 1796, a boy running around in the fields behind his home in Ribchester, England, discovered a treasure trove of more than 30 metal artifacts in a hollow. The most unique and impressive item among the treasures was a bronze helmet with a face mask, dating from the early Roman Empire.The Ribchester Helmet entered the collection of the British Museum in 1813 and has been on display ever since. The helmet consists of two main parts. A helmet bowl decorated with martial arts…

The government’s new approach to clinical trials and access to breakthrough treatments are increasing the chances of survival for patients with rare cancers. Patients will be able to take part in clinical trials through the NHS app as part of the government’s new National Cancer Plan and the Rare Cancer Bill introduced by Dr Scott Arthur and currently going through Parliament. This gives them the opportunity to benefit from innovative approaches and technologies to help fight the disease. Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, said: “We are modernizing the NHS so that not only can people…

UK Government funding will drive UK agricultural projects that turn new crops and low-emission farming techniques into ready-to-use tools to improve productivity. The £21.5m of funding, delivered through Defra’s Agricultural Innovation Program in partnership with Innovate UK, will translate cutting-edge research into practical tools for UK farming, including vitamin-rich tomatoes and climate-smart hemp. Dame Angela Eagle, Minister for Agriculture, said: “This funding will support new ideas that farmers can use to reduce methane and fertilizer-related emissions on the ground, strengthen crop resilience and improve nutrition in UK agriculture.” New innovations in British agriculture Successful British agricultural projects include: ‘Sunshine Tomato’…

Ravi LakshmananFebruary 2, 2026Threat Intelligence/Malware Administrators of Notepad++ have revealed that state-sponsored attackers have hijacked the utility’s update mechanism and instead redirected update traffic to a malicious server. “This attack [an] “This resulted in an infrastructure-level compromise that allowed a malicious attacker to intercept and redirect update traffic destined for notepad-plus-plus.org. This compromise occurred at the hosting provider level, rather than through a vulnerability in the Notepad++ code itself,” said developer Don Ho. The exact mechanism by which this was achieved is currently under investigation, Ho added. The development comes a little more than a month after Notepad++ released version…

The update infrastructure for eScan antivirus, a security solution developed by Indian cybersecurity company MicroWorld Technologies, was compromised by an unknown attacker and a persistent downloader was distributed to business and consumer systems. “The malicious update was distributed through eScan’s legitimate update infrastructure, resulting in multi-stage malware being deployed to business and consumer endpoints around the world,” said Morphisec researcher Michael Gorelik. MicroWorld Technologies said it detected unauthorized access to its infrastructure and immediately isolated the affected update servers, which were taken offline for more than eight hours. We have also released a patch that reverts the changes introduced as…