News

• Amazon and OpenAI partner up to enable more brands to buy adds in ChatGPT
• US brands can join a pilot to buy ads directly via Amazon
• Cost per click and per 1k impressions are options

Amazon has announced a new partnership between its Ads business and OpenAI, allowing advertisers to buy ads within ChatGPT.

Initially launching as a pilot in the US, the move would mean that brands can buy ChatGPT ads from Amazon DSP instead of having to deal with OpenAI itself, making it more accessible to brands that already use Amazon's platform.

The company noted that conversational advertising represents one of the fastest-growing opportunities for brands to reach consumers where they spend more and more time, and compared with other channels, it remains much more untapped.

Crucially, Amazon wanted that it does not control which ChatGPT conversations receive an ad, but rather it helps campaign setup and optimization. In other words, Amazon works as an intermediary to handle negotiating ad spaces with OpenAI.

Both text and image ads can be displayed underneath the chatbot's answer, with OpenAI set to display a clear sponsored ad label in order to keep a clear distinction between meaningful output and advertised content.

Amazon is also offering two payment types for its ChatGPT-bound ads – cost per click and cost per thousand impressions.

"Through our collaboration with Amazon Ads and ChatGPT Ads, we can leverage deep consumer insights to inform how and when Delta Vacations appear within ChatGPT Ads experiences to create new opportunities for travellers to engage and discover vacation possibilities," Delta Vacations President Katrin Koenig explained as one of the platform's early customers and users.

While OpenAI has its own, much smaller advertising program, partnering with Amazon gives it access to a huge pool of established advertisers already using Amazon. As the third-largest digital advertising business (per Marketing Dive) with an annual advertising revenue of around $70 billion, even a small proportion of this could mark a major boost for the ChatGPT maker.

• Zimperium uncovers Mantax Otax, Android malware merging infostealer, RAT, backdoor, and ransomware
• Distributed via APKs on third‑party stores, social media, and phishing; older Android versions most at risk
• Steals extensive data, enables remote monitoring, then encrypts files with AES and demands ransom

When threat actors target people’s devices, they usually infect it with one of many malware strains: an infostealer, a remote access trojan, a backdoor, or a ransomware encryptor.

Rarely do we see all of these functionalities merged into a single entity, and even rarer - to have it target Android mobile devices - yet, security researchers Zimperium discovered just that.

The security outfit published an in-depth report on Mantax Otax, a unique strain of malware circulating in the wild. It is apparently developed by an Indonesian threat actor, targeting victims in the country, but we don’t know exactly how many people are infected, or if this campaign is aimed primarily at business users, or individuals in general.

The malware is being distributed as a standalone APK, meaning it can be found on third-party app stores, Telegram channels, forums, and across social media. There are no traces of Mantax Otax on any of the official app repositories, including the Google Play Store, or Samsung’s Galaxy Store. Zimperium also speculates that it is likely being distributed via phishing emails.

Mantax Otax primarily targets users sporting older Android phones. Versions 9 and older are most at risk, since on these devices the attackers can make use of all of the malware’s features. Android 10 and newer models do get some protection:

“Conversely, on modern devices running Android 10 and above, the malware’s efficacy is severely hindered by native OS defenses, specifically Scoped Storage restrictions,” the researchers explained. “Due to these sandboxing rules, the ransomware is constrained to scanning only the application's localized external files directory, which drastically mitigates the blast radius and reduces the volume of accessible user files.”

Newer devices, as well as users of Zimperium’s Mobile Threat Defense (MTD) and Runtime Application Protection (zDefend) are said to be protected on a software level.

Another important caveat is the permissions. As is usual on Android devices, most malware won’t work unless the user grants an extensive set of permissions beforehand. In this case, Mantax Otax first asks for admin privileges, after which it grants itself an extensive list of capabilities, from accessing SMS messages, to contacts, audio, and images.

It then requests accessibility permissions, fully taking over the compromised device.

Mantax Otax is said to be quite capable. It steals browser history, contacts, call logs, SMS messages, notifications, files, gallery media, Google account information, device specifications, location data, and application inventories. It can also pull WhatsApp information such as messages and profiles, and on Telegram it can also pull lock-screen PINs.

Infostealing features aside, it also serves as a remote monitoring tool, grabbing screenshots, recording the screen, or livestreaming it directly to the attackers. It can take photos using both the front and rear cameras, although Zimperium did not mention any microphone-recording capabilities.

Finally, once all of the data has been harvested, it encrypts user files with AES, deletes the originals, and appends a .enc extension. Victims are then shown a chat interface where they can communicate with the attackers directly and negotiate a ransom payment in exchange for getting their device back.

The tool seems to be in continuous development. Zimperium found two separate versions, one being an “evolution” of the other: “Notably, it has modified its network traffic behavior to utilize WebSockets and introduced a set of new commands,” the researchers said.

There is a reason why ransomware operators prefer targeting businesses instead of individuals. Although the latter has not disappeared entirely from the victim list, businesses stand to lose a lot more from disrupted operations and, as such, are targeted more frequently. Unfortunately, we don’t know what kind of app Mantax Otax is spoofing, therefore it is difficult to assess who the targets are.

• Grand Theft Auto 6 has already scooped up some Guinness World Records
• The Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition 2027 recognizes a GTA 6 trailer as the most-viewed game trailer in 24 hours
• It's expected to break more records at launch, with the team keeping a "close eye" on it

The latest Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition is here, and it shouldn't come as much surprise that the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 is already taking home records despite not having actually launched yet.

The Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition 2027 officially lists a GTA 6 trailer as the most-viewed game trailer in 24 hours after it gained 475 million views in just one day.

As Guinness World Records Gamers Edition 2027 editor Alice Bell explains, "Grand Theft Auto 6 started breaking records before it came out. The first trailer still has the most views in 24 hours of any video game trailer, and for a while, the second trailer had the biggest video launch of anything, of all time, according to Rockstar."

"This was later beaten by Spider-Man: Brand New Day," she adds, "but 475 million views across all platforms is about 6% of the planet's population, which is incredible when you stop and think about it."

The first GTA 6 trailer arrived in December 2023, with the second dropping in May 2025 and offering a slightly longer look at the game. This was followed up by an extended look trailer with just under 27 minutes of footage last month.

The extended look first premiered on Netflix, but was later made available on YouTube.

"Netflix play their cards close to their chest, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the extended look earlier this month broke viewing records there," Bell continues.

"I’m sure there will be player count and revenue records to check as well. And of course, we’ll be looking at things like the number of developers who worked on it (a record currently held by Red Dead Redemption 2). Needless to say, the contribution of every single developer who worked on GTA 6 is important."

She goes on to say that the team will be "keeping a close eye on launch and post-launch events" for further record-breaking achievements, adding that "GTA 6's release is a really global phenomenon in a way that few things are these days."

Rockstar Games also holds plenty of other records under its belt. Grand Theft Auto 5 is listed as both the best-selling action-adventure video game, with 225 million copies sold as of February 2026, and the most-watched game on Twitch in 2024.

The book also explores the year's biggest hardware developments, popular video game characters and franchises, major content creators, and real-life stories with achievements outside the virtual world.

It retails for $15.99 / £12.99 and is available via Amazon and in bookshops now.

Grand Theft Auto 6 launches on November 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles.