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Google and cybersecurity companies Lookout and iVerify have detailed a new hacking technique that potentially puts a significant portion of iPhone users in danger, just by visiting the wrong web page. The hack is called "DarkSword" and since it specifically targets several different versions of iOS 18, it could affect "close to a quarter of iPhones," Wired writes.
DarkSword is a "fileless" hack that leverages a collection of exploits to access sensitive data when an iPhone visits an infected website. Rather than install spyware that hangs around on a user's phone after messages and other private information are stolen, fileless hacks like DarkSword take control of "the legitimate processes in an iPhone's operating system to steal data," according to Wired. Even more troubling, DarkSword deletes any evidence it was running on an iPhone after it finishes stealing your information.
The hack starts as soon as an iOS device encounters an "malicious iframe embedded in a web page," after which it works its way through your iPhone, gathering sensitive information like passwords before deleting itself. DarkSword can abscond with things like messages a
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Amazon's next-generation smart assistant has entered its Early Access program in the UK, marking Alexa 's European debut following rollouts in the US, Canada and Mexico. Starting March 19, invitations to start using the smarter, more conversational Alexa will be sent out to "hundreds of thousands" of willing participants, Amazon said in a press release, adding that Alexa is the most popular voice assistant in the UK.
As well as its more natural communication, agentic capabilities, contextual awareness and ability to remember previous conversations across devices, Amazon that users across the pond are getting an "authentically British" AI-powered assistant. It understands slang terms like "cuppa" and might even accuse you of taking the mick in the middle of a conversation. Can we rule out some cringe-inducing cockney impersonations? Absolutely not. It also distinguishes between, for example, how people in the UK say the date — "the 1st of April" — versus how it's said in the US.
Amazon said that engineers, linguists and speech scientists have worked together at the company's Cambridge-based Tech Hub to ensure the voice assistant understands British users, with naturally flowing conversations being a crucial part of the Alexa experience.
On the agentic side of things, the current lineup of UK partners will include OpenTable and, soon, JustEat, alongside existing partnerships with services like Spotify, Philips and Apple Music. Amazon also sources news from the likes of The Guardian
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