Introducing Precursor: detecting agentic behavior with continuous client-side signals
This user-journey-based detection is powerful because modern automation is increasingly capable of appearing legitimate in short bursts. Bots can execute JavaScript, use real browser environments, and pass individual CAPTCHAs without raising suspicion. What remains difficult to replicate is consistent human behavior over time.
How I Turned AI to the Dark Side
Large AI companies work hard to make their models immune to this kind of abuse. But what I’ve found in my work is that the restrictions placed on the LLMs to make them more secure are the very things an attacker can leverage to send them off the rails and into territory where these advanced systems can be used for dangerous and nefarious ends. The companies behind these models have also been shockingly unresponsive when I, and others, try to bring these vulnerabilities to their attention.
White House Launches Gold Eagle Initiative to Manage Surge in AI-Discovered Vulnerabilities
The same capabilities present an opportunity for defenders, but they also create a practical bottleneck. Finding thousands of potential vulnerabilities is of limited value when maintainers, vendors, and government agencies do not have the capacity to validate, disclose, patch, and distribute fixes at the same speed.
Suno Breached via Shai-Hulud Worm, Leaked Code Exposes AI Music Scraping
The leaked source code and dataset comments describe scraping from YouTube Music, Deezer, Genius, Pond5, Jamendo, Freesound, and the International Music Score Library Project, plus roughly a million hours of podcasts identified through PodcastIndex. The code confirms the RIAA’s claim that Suno stream-ripped tracks from YouTube and shows Suno routing that scraping through proxies from Bright Data. 404 Media published the dataset figures and file-level detail.
Sony Nerfs Videogame Ownership
We’ve seen the same playbook used in the move to digital distribution of film, TV, and music: draw in customers with the convenience of a digital download, then limit physical access and move the goalpost on what it actually means to “own” a piece of media. The end goal is to turn the customer into a renter, stuck making regular subscription payments for access. Gamers are right to sound the alarm, and we must take this moment to fight for digital ownership before it’s too late.
Victory! Flock Ends Rollout of Audio “Distress Detection” of Human Voices
Flock’s failed attempt to roll out Distress Detection teaches us a few important lessons about the current state of police surveillance. First, we should not assume that just because these companies are large and well-funded, that does not ensure that they are complying with local privacy laws before floating new products to customers. Second, companies roll out and police adopt invasive technology under the justification that it will be used to address our society’s very worst crimes. However, both the companies and police will leverage deployed surveillance infrastructure to introduce new uses without necessarily seeking the consent or approval of the public.
NIST Receives New Patent for Microbe-Killing Water Heater
David Yashar’s patent describes a kind of water heater that can safely raise water to a much higher temperature of 70 C (160 F), hot enough to kill nearly all Legionella almost instantly. Some hearty heat-resistant microbes can survive at those temperatures, but they aren’t a major health concern. Then immediately after the water leaves the tank, a heat exchanger cools the outgoing water to a safe temperature before sending it off to faucets, showers and other house fixtures.
New Fabric Test Material Could Help Strengthen Domestic Supply Chain for Textiles and Clothing
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a set of textile materials that the research community can use to improve methods for identifying the fibers in textiles. These materials will help ensure that textiles are efficiently sorted, increasing recycling and repurposing while reducing waste and disposal costs.
IEEE Remembers Pioneering Computer Scientist Peter G. Neumann
His signature contribution was not technical but a stance. He insisted, against industry custom, that recurring computer failures were not unfortunate accidents but rather were predictable consequences of how systems were built and sold.