Breaking AI & Tech News Analyzed

The Coruna and DarkSword Threat For years, the prevailing narrative among iPhone security experts was that breaking through Apple's defenses was a rare, high-barrier event requiring significant resources. However, recent investigations by Google, iVerify, and Lookout have shattered this assumption. Researchers have documented broad-scale hacking campaigns utilizing two specific tools, Coruna and DarkSword, which have been used to target victims globally who are not running the latest software updates. Attack Vectors: Hackers are compromising legitimate websites and creating fake pages to deliver spyware. Key Actors: Involvement of Russian spies and Chinese cybercriminals. Tool Availability: The source code for these tools has leaked online, allowing anyone to launch attacks against older iPhones. The Two-Tier iPhone Security Landscape The discovery of Coruna and DarkSword highlights a critical data point in the current security ecosystem: the existence of two distinct classes of iPhone users. This bifurcation is driven by the introduction of Memory Integrity Enforcement in iOS 26, a feature designed to prevent memory corruption bugs—the very vulnerabilities exploited by DarkSword. Class A (Secure): Users on the latest iPhone 17 models running iOS 26 are protected by memory-safe code and Lockdown Mode, making them resistant to these specific memory-based hacks. Class B (Vulnerable): Users running iOS 18 or older versions remain exposed to memory corruption attacks, as these older systems lack the new safety enforcement layers. Challenging the 'Rare Hack' Myth The widespread use of these leaked tools suggests that spyware attacks are becoming more common and less exclusive. This shift is fueled by a thriving "second-hand" market for exploits, where brokers resell vulnerabilities before they are patched. Experts argue that the rarity of iPhone hacks has been overstated simply because they are rarely documented. As noted by Patrick Wardle, the baseline capability for such attacks is now accessible to a wider range of actors, moving beyond state-sponsored actors to include cybercriminals. The End of the 'Rare Hack' Era The future of mobile security appears to be one of continuous escalation. With the code for Coruna and DarkSword now public, the barrier to entry for launching attacks against older devices has lowered significantly. This indicates that memory-based exploits will continue to plague lagging users, and the market for exploit development will likely expand as brokers seek to monetize vulnerabilities before updates are applied.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced a new eligibility policy for female category events at the Olympics, excluding transgender women athletes from competing in women's sports. This decision aligns with US President Donald Trump's executive order on sports, which aims to keep biological males out of women's sports.The IOC's policy, set to take effect at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, requires a mandatory gene test once in an athlete's career to determine eligibility. The test screens for the SRY gene, typically found on the Y chromosome, which initiates male sex development.According to the IOC, biological males have a performance advantage of 10-12% in most running and swimming events, and at least 20% in most throwing and jumping events. This advantage can be greater than 100% in explosive power events, such as punching sports.The policy change has been met with criticism from human rights experts and activist groups, who argue that the mandatory gender screening is invasive and discriminatory. The IOC has stated that the policy aims to protect "fairness, safety, and integrity in the female category."Caster Semenya, a two-time Olympic champion runner from South Africa, has been a prominent figure in the debate over female eligibility. The IOC's policy document details its research on the physical advantages retained by biological males, which it believes are retained even after transitioning.The US Olympic body has updated its guidance to national sports bodies, citing an obligation to comply with the White House's executive order. President Trump signed the order in February 2023, pledging to deny visas to athletes attempting to compete at the LA Olympics if they do not comply with the new rules.

The Dual Threat: Coruna and DarkSwordSecurity researchers have identified two distinct but equally dangerous hacking toolkits, Coruna and DarkSword, that have leaked onto the open web. These advanced exploit kits, capable of breaking into iPhones and iPads, were originally developed for high-level government surveillance but are now available for anyone to download.Coruna: Targets iOS 13 through 17.2.1. Linked to Trenchant, a unit within U.S. defense contractor L3Harris, and previously used in Operation Triangulation against Russian targets.DarkSword: Targets iOS 18.4 and 18.7. Leaked on GitHub, making it "plug-and-play" for cybercriminals.The Scale of VulnerabilityThe scale of this exposure is staggering. According to Apple's statistics, nearly one-in-three iPhone and iPad users are still not running the latest software. With over 2.5 billion active devices globally, this implies hundreds of millions of users are susceptible to these attacks.DarkSword is particularly concerning because it targets newer devices running iOS 18.4 and 18.7. Researchers have already tested the leaked code, successfully hacking their own devices to demonstrate the ease of use.From State-Sponsored Espionage to Public ExploitationThis leak marks a dangerous shift in the cybersecurity landscape. Historically, sophisticated tools like Coruna were the domain of state-sponsored actors targeting specific regions, such as the Uyghurs in China or activists in Hong Kong.However, the release of DarkSword represents a move toward indiscriminate cybercrime. The tool is written in web languages like HTML and JavaScript, allowing attackers to launch attacks simply by hosting a malicious website. Victims in China, Malaysia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Ukraine have already been targeted.The Future of Zero-Day WeaponizationThe leak of these tools mirrors the infamous 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack, which was fueled by leaked NSA exploits. Once powerful zero-day vulnerabilities are released into the wild, they are nearly impossible to fully contain.Experts recommend immediate action: users must update to iOS 18.7.6 or iOS 26.3.1. For high-risk individuals, enabling Lockdown Mode remains the most effective defense, as there is currently no public evidence of hackers bypassing its protections.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – For over a decade, Sanjeet, a business consultant from India, considered Malaysia his home. Having grown comfortable with the country's climate, people, and lifestyle, he had begun planning long-term investments, including property purchases.However, recent government initiatives to reduce Malaysia's reliance on foreign workers have abruptly disrupted these plans for Sanjeet and thousands of other expatriates. Starting June, minimum salary requirements for foreign workers will increase by up to 100%, while their maximum permitted stay will be limited to five or ten years."What was surprising was that this came out of the blue," Sanjeet, who requested to use a pseudonym, told Al Jazeera. "It does leave room for doubt in terms of long-term plans, which include things like buying a house or car here."Malaysia has long been an attractive destination for foreign labor, with approximately 2.1 million documented foreign workers currently in the country. While many take on manual labor at the minimum wage of 1,700 ringgit ($430) monthly, a smaller but significant pool of around 140 highly-paid expatriates contributes substantially to the economy.In 2024, Home Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution revealed that these high-salaried expatriates injected about 75 billion ringgit ($19 billion) into the domestic economy annually while contributing approximately 100 million ringgit ($25 million) in taxes.The government's latest five-year national strategy, released in 2025, warns that Malaysia's "continuous reliance" on low-skilled foreign workers has hampered technological adoption and created "ripple effects" in the labor market, including wage distortions and slow productivity growth.To address these concerns, authorities aim to reduce the foreign workforce proportion from 14.1% in 2024 to just 5% by 2035. This ambitious target is supported by new minimum salary requirements that will see thresholds increase from 10,000 to 20,000 ringgit ($2,500 to $5,000), 5,000 to 10,000 ringgit ($1,260 to $2,520), and 3,000 to 5,000 ringgit ($760 to $1,260) for different work permit categories.UK native Thomas Mead, a 28-year-old wealth manager who recently purchased property in Kuala Lumpur, expressed shock at the sudden policy changes. "However, the jump from RM10,000 to RM20,000 was quite a shock," he said, noting that some expatriates are already considering relocation options despite their reluctance to leave.The policy changes are also raising concerns among businesses. Douglas Gan, a Singaporean founder of a venture capital fund with Malaysian portfolio companies, warned that the new rules would drive up costs and make it challenging to recruit specialized talent. "If salaries increase to 10,000 ringgit, companies definitely won't bring them here," he said, advocating for a more tailored approach rather than a "blanket solution."Leonardo, an Indonesian professional working in Malaysia's computer games sector, faces downgrading to a lower employment pass category under the new rules, potentially jeopardizing his plans to bring his mother to live in the country. "My mum is alone and living in Indonesia. There was a thought that if I could settle here, I could bring her over," he said.Economic analysts caution that the success of these policies depends on Malaysia's ability to develop its local workforce. "The long-run gain depends less on blocking expats and more on whether Malaysia can actually supply the skills," said Wan Suhaimie, head of economic research at Kenanga Investment Bank. He emphasized that foreign workers on mid-tier employment passes are not extravagant hires but "core managers, engineers and specialists."Anthony Dass, CEO of FSG Advisory, noted that while the measures align with strengthening the local talent pipeline, their effectiveness will depend on complementary reforms in capability building and industry upgrading.As these policies take shape, expatriates like Sanjeet are already considering alternatives. "If Malaysia pursues these policies without a comprehensive rationale, then people like me will look for alternatives such as Vietnam, Thailand and elsewhere, which have favourable policies for expats," he concluded.

National Savings & Investment (NS&I;), a state-owned savings bank in the UK, has admitted to a long-running administrative error that has resulted in nearly £500m in missing payments to bereaved families. The bank's chief executive, Dax Harkins, was forced out amid the scandal.NS&I;, which holds over £240bn for 24 million customers, has been accused of a series of errors dating back years. The bank allegedly lost track of investments and withheld premium bond prizes from the families of deceased savers. Some families had to pay lawyers to recover their money.The pensions minister, Torsten Bell, confirmed that 37,500 bereavement claims were potentially affected, with a total value of £476m. He stated that the problem had been reported to ministers in December last year and that NS&I;'s new CEO, Sir Jim Harra, would work to resolve the issue.NS&I; has apologized for the errors, stating that it had identified an issue where the estates of deceased customers were not always repaid money from all of their accounts after a bereavement claim. The bank has introduced robust measures to ensure this does not happen again.To rectify the situation, NS&I; will publish a plan in May detailing how people will be reunited with their money. The plan will confirm the number of missing payments and how the representatives of estates will be contacted. Estates may receive interest on savings as well as compensation. The government has promised that the cash is '100% safe' and that returning it will not present an additional liability to the taxpayer.

UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves is facing pressure to raise taxes on businesses generating 'windfall' profits linked to the US-Israel war on Iran to fund emergency cost of living support for UK households.A group of leading charities, campaigners, and trade unions, including Greenpeace UK, the National Education Union, and Tax Justice UK, have written an open letter to Keir Starmer and Reeves, urging the government to strengthen its existing North Sea energy windfall tax and introduce new levies for firms in other sectors that stand to financially benefit from the conflict.The letter highlights that energy companies, banks, agricultural commodities businesses, defence companies, and tech firms are likely to profit from the economic fallout of the war. The group argues that the extra revenue generated from taxing these 'excess profits' could be used to support households struggling with the cost of living and invest in the UK's future energy security.R Reeves has signalled that the government is ready to provide targeted help for households grappling with the economic fallout from the Middle East conflict, amid a surge in energy prices since the onset of the war. The chancellor has also warned companies that she will not tolerate corporates profiteering from the crisis, telling bosses that the Competition and Markets Authority has been put on notice to detect and crack down on price gouging.The UK already has a windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas firms, the energy profits levy, which is due to run until 2030. However, Reeves had been planning to ease the tax before the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has made a significant U-turn on its policy regarding transgender athletes, effectively banning them from competing in female events at the Olympics. This decision marks a major shift from their previous stance, which allowed transgender women to compete with certain conditions.In 2020, the IOC permitted Laurel Hubbard, a transgender weightlifter, to compete at the Tokyo Olympics, issuing a framework that stated transgender women “should not be deemed to have an unfair or disproportionate competitive advantage” over biological women. However, in a recent policy document, the IOC has stated that the female category must be protected for fairness and safety reasons, and will use SRY screening – a sex test using saliva or a cheek-swab – to determine biological sex.This new policy means that transgender women and athletes with differences in sex development (DSD), who were reported as female at birth but have internal testes and have undergone male puberty, are now banned from the female category at all future Olympics. The decision has caused anger among some groups and joy among others.According to Kirsty Coventry, the newly elected IOC president, this policy change was a priority for her, and she had set up a working group to examine the issue shortly after taking office. Coventry emphasized that the decision was based on scientific consensus and the need to protect the female category.The IOC's decision is based on scientific research showing that males have a performance advantage in sports, even after hormone treatment. The policy document states that the advantage is 10-12% in most running and swimming events, and greater than 100% in events that involve explosive power. This has led to sports such as athletics, swimming, and boxing introducing policies to protect the female category.While this decision applies only to elite sport, there could still be future challenges at the Court of Arbitration for Sport if transgender or DSD athletes decide to appeal. Nevertheless, the IOC's U-turn marks a seismic shift in the ongoing debate about transgender athletes and their participation in sports.

Egil Johansen, the landlord of the Kenton pub in Hackney, east London, describes recent incidents involving children as "like the wild west." He has now banned children entirely after a three-year-old fell down a cellar hatch while parents sat elsewhere, a five-year-old crashed into staff carrying drinks, and six parents brought 10 hyperactive children after a birthday party while ignoring their behavior."In every case, the parents blame us when something goes wrong or get really angry when we ask them to control their children," says Johansen, who has run the pub for 17 years. "I'm legally obliged to keep children safe on my premises and if the parents let their children run riot, the only answer is to not allow them in at all."Johansen initially tried banning children only after 5pm, but this interim measure failed to address the underlying issues. Despite online criticism framing him as the "baddie," he expresses sadness about the situation: "I'm a publican; I'm a people-person. It gives me no joy to ban anyone, but it's just not safe: parents don't control their children and our other customers were beginning to go elsewhere. I had no choice."The Kenton's decision reflects a growing trend among UK pubs seeking to differentiate themselves from establishments that "resemble soft play centres without the ball pit." While some welcome this shift, others view it as unwelcoming to families, creating a culture war in the pub industry.Lee Jones, landlord of the Brewers Arms in West Malvern, Worcestershire, reversed a previous child ban: "We're dog-friendly, child-friendly, adult-friendly. We're just friendly – we don't distinguish. Pubs are for the community and I don't see bans in the spirit of what we're here for." Jones reports that when children become rowdy, staff can address the issue with parents, though this is rarely needed.Stephen Boyd, who runs the Alma in south London, took a different approach after attempting to attract young families. He found families with children consumed disproportionate time and resources with special requests for diluted drinks, heated beverages, and customized meals, while adult customers waited longer for their orders."You just need a couple screaming, banging on a table or running up and down, and it dictates the whole atmosphere of the pub," Boyd says. "Parents would take massive umbrage if staff asked them to stop their children doing something." After implementing a child ban, he describes the change as "a fucking revelation" with staff retention improving and takings doubling.Despite the positive results, Boyd faced significant backlash: "I got a lot of online hate. Mainly from people who had never been to the pub but felt I was doing something morally hateful."Tom Stainer, chief executive of the Campaign for Real Ale, acknowledges the debate is "very live" but emphasizes: "But you do have to look at the responsibility of the parents in these situations, not just at the pubs. They're the ones responsible for making sure that their children behave."Financial considerations also drive some decisions. Mandy Keefe, landlady of the Wheel Inn in Ashford, banned children partly for behavioral reasons but also financial ones: "If a third of my Sunday customers were children eating from a reduced-rate child's menu and not drinking any alcohol, that wouldn't be financially viable."Across the UK, pubs are making individual decisions based on their specific circumstances, but as Johansen's experience demonstrates, it only takes one serious incident to settle the question for good.

The film 'They Will Kill You' is a satirical take on the beat-em-up genre, offering a mix of gore, bad jokes, and deja vu. The story revolves around Asia, a new maid at the Virgil, a satanic co-op residence in New York, where she must navigate a world of satanic rituals and eternal life.The film's tone is pitched between a bloodbath and bath time, with a boyish strain of immaturity dominating the creative force. This is evident in the giddy, inventive approach to violence, where the narrative device of immortality unshackles the filmmaker from the laws of physics. The film's antic gore peaks with an extended interlude following a disembodied eyeball as it rolls down corridors and slingshots itself up an elevator shaft.The adolescent quality runs deeper than that, manifesting more overtly in the potty-mouthedness of the script and the ostentatious stylistic flourishes that are hand-me-downs from other filmmakers. The film's supporting cast is haphazardly assembled and half-assedly differentiated from one another, with Heather Graham and Tom Felton getting the most to do.Despite its sprightly fight choreography and retro synth arpeggios, the film's invoked inspirations and story components err on the side of the popular and well-trod. The received shtick grows worn before long, and the film's attempts at humor often fall flat. A good rule of (severed) thumb: if you're going to make a character quote Monty Python's immortal 'just a flesh wound' bit, you must yourself be capable of originally generating something at least as funny.