Social Media | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

WhatsApp on Monday officially announced the start of global reservations of usernames with an aim to protect the privacy of more than three billion users on the messaging platform. The optional feature is designed to help users connect with someone on the service through usernames, as opposed to directly sharing their phone numbers. Username reservations will start rolling out starting today, enabling users to create and reserve a username before the feature becomes generally available later this year. "You choose your own, and it doesn't have to match your handle on any other app," the Meta-owned messaging app said in a statement shared with The Hacker News ahead of publication. "At its core, it's a privacy feature, not a social media handle – there's no directory to browse and no suggestions, so people need to know your exact username to contact you for the first time." As it goes without saying, choosing a username should be unique. WhatsApp...

Meta on Tuesday announced that it will use information shared by other businesses to personalize users' feed and responses from its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, expanding its scope beyond targeted ads. "Businesses often share information about people's activity on their sites with us to make ads more relevant," Meta said in a statement. "We already use this data - like games you play or purchases you make on other websites - to make the ads you see more relevant. In the future, we'll use this information to personalize other parts of your experience, including the content you see in your Feed and AI responses." The social media giant emphasized that it's not collecting any new data as part of the update, adding users are in the driver's seat and that they get to decide how this information is used for personalization. To that end, Meta is streaming its controls by expanding the "Activity from other businesses" setting...

Security researchers and the FBI are warning that a wave of FIFA-themed fraud is already hitting World Cup 2026 fans, days before the June 11 kickoff. Recent reports describe thousands of lookalike FIFA domains, banking malware hidden inside pirate streaming apps, and at least one operation that copies FIFA's login page well enough to take over real accounts. It is an obvious target. More than six million fans are expected across 16 cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and FIFA said it received more than 150 million ticket requests in the first 15 days, leaving the tournament around 30 times oversubscribed. Tickets are scarce, fans are anxious, and money is moving fast, which is exactly what fraud needs. One Operator, 300 Cloned FIFA Sites The most detailed findings come from Group-IB , which tracked more than 4,300 fraudulent FIFA domains registered since August 2025. At the center is a group it calls GHOST STADIUM , a Chinese-speaking, money-driven operation...

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Wednesday announced the results of a sweeping action undertaken by government authorities and private sector companies to combat cyber-enabled and cryptocurrency fraud targeting Americans. The "Disruption Week" operation began May 18, 2026, leading to the takedown of millions of social media, email, and internet access accounts used by transnational cybercrime groups in Southeast Asia to defraud victims. Private sector entities voluntarily froze over $3.8 million in cryptocurrency involved in the laundering of funds stolen from Americans. "Cyber-enabled and crypto investment fraud is devastating Main Street Americans, wiping out life savings and preying on some of our most vulnerable citizens," said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro for the District of Columbia. The efforts are part of an ongoing U.S. government initiative called Scam Center Strike Force, which aims to dismantle transnational criminal organizations ru...