News

• Google Cloud outage affected 40 locations, and even Cloudflare
• Spotify, Discord and more went down, as were some Workspace apps
• Google blamed a dodgy update for the outage, promises to "do better"

A number of popular websites went offline yesterday after Google Cloud experienced a major outage which saw users unable to access the likes of Spotify, Discord and Cloudflare for some time.

Impacting over 40 locations and 26 services, the outage saw systems go down at 11:46am PT on Thursday, June 12, but by 12:30pm PT, Google reported the issue was mostly resolved, except for the us-central1 (Iowa) Region.

The company claimed it had identified the cause of the issue and that engineering teams were working on a recovery, but some users continued to experience issues at 12:41pm PT.

Although Google Cloud stated the outage started at 11:46am PT, Cloudflare also experienced disruptions from 11:19am PT, blaming Google Cloud for the issues.

Among the popular sites affected were Spotify, Discord, Snapchat, Character.AI, Cursor and Replit. Downdetector also shows spikes in the number of complaints from users trying to access some Google services, like Google Maps and YouTube.

According to the outage tracker, some Workspace apps like Drive, Docs and Meet were also affected by the outage.

"We are deeply sorry for the impact to all of our users and their customers that this service disruption/outage caused. Businesses large and small trust Google Cloud with your workloads and we will do better," the company wrote in its mini incident report.

The report blames an invalid automated quota update to Google Cloud's API management system for the outage, claiming almost full recovery within two hours. However, some delays to restoration continued: "Several products had moderate residual impact (e.g. backlogs) for up to an hour after the primary issue was mitigated and a small number recovering after that."

A full log of the incident is available on Google Cloud's status website, and the company has promised a full report to follow.

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• An NHS organisation was hit with a cyberattack
• The attack occurred in May 2024 but was never publicly disclosed
• Attack against NHS Professionals looks to have been a failed ransomware attempt

A cyberattack targeting NHS Professionals, a private company owned by the Department of Health and Social Care, resulted in the theft of its Active Directory data - however the breach was never publicly disclosed, despite the attack occurring in May 2024.

A report from the The Register, quoting a Deloitte incident report, notes attackers used a compromised Citrix account to gain initial access.

Once inside, attackers stole a “highly valuable ntds.dit file and engaged in further malicious activity”. The criminals moved laterally inside the organisation’s network using RDP and SMB share access, although it's not clear how they escalated their privileges up the domain admin level.

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NHS Professionals provides temporary staff to NHS trusts across England, and the site has over 190,000 healthcare professionals registered, as well as over 1,000 employees.

Insider comments say that the attack is suspected to be tied to Scattered Spider, and looked to be an attempted ransomware attack - perhaps similar to the ransomware attacks carried out by the group earlier in 2025 targeting three huge UK retailers.

The Deloitte report also cites a lack of multi-factor authentication (MFA) on domain accounts as one of the primary reasons that attackers were allowed access. Alongside this, the organisation didn’t have endpoint detection and response solutions deployed across all of its environment, meaning the criminals could move within the network undetected.

“Our cybersecurity systems and future mitigation ensured no disruption to our services, and we found that no data or other information was compromised, despite the attempt,” a National Health Service Professionals spokesperson confirmed.

"We worked quickly and closely with key partners NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care, and the Information Commissioner's Office, to investigate this incident.”

"NHS Professionals is committed to the highest standards of cyber security and complies with the strict requirements around information governance. We continue to remain vigilant as per our security policies and procedures."

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• Gemini will suggest your next action in PDFs as well as summarize content
• The experience works in the PDF preview and doesn't require a new tab
• Business and personal accounts with Gemini can use it

Google is expanding the usefulness of Gemini by using the AI assistant to summarize PDF content in Google Drive, but it looks to be far more proactive than simply generating summaries.

With clickable action suggestions, users will be able to perform actions like draft a sample proposal or list interview questions based on a resume, making the tool far more powerful for busy workers.

The improvement follows the previous rollout of Gemini within PDFs for Google Drive, making it far easier to interact with Gemini and take the next step with content in PDFs.

"PDF summary cards save you time by giving you the gist of your files and help you get started using Gemini faster by surfacing relevant clickable action options," Google explained in Workspace Updates blog post.

The best part is that Gemini is now available in more than 20 languages, so users won't just be limited to English content.

Users need to have smart features and personalization turned on. When a PDF document is opened, a generative AI summary will appear in a pop-up much like comments in other Google Drive apps. In the same window, a series of action recommendations will be provided to take further steps.

At the same time, Google has announced a slicker and quicker UI – whereas PDFs used to open in a new tab to enable Gemini integration, the AI assistant will now work within the preview window without needing to open a new tab.

Gradual rollout has already started, but it could take some users up to two weeks to get the update.

Thankfully, the feature isn't just limited to business users – personal accounts with the AI add-on are also eligible - specifically, Business Standard and Plus, Enterprise Standard and Plus, the Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on, and Google AI Pro and Ultra.

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Mobile banking Trojans have entered a new era. No longer limited to stealing login credentials, today’s threats are powered by AI, capable of dynamic behavior and advanced evasion techniques. These Trojans target both Android and iOS platforms, operating directly inside legitimate mobile apps to bypass security, intercept biometrics, and manipulate app flows in real time.

This presents a critical and growing risk: AI-powered Trojans can now execute fraud and account takeovers (ATO) without alerting the user, backend systems, or fraud engines—placing thousands of mobile banks and millions of users at risk.

AI-powered mobile Trojans employ a range of tactics to execute attacks:

• Accessibility abuse: Trojans like Xenomorph and BrasDex exploit Android’s accessibility services to read screens, simulate taps, and automate transactions.
• Overlay attacks: Malware like SharkBot uses UI overlays to impersonate banking apps and capture credentials.
• Remote Access Trojans (RATs): BRATA enables full remote device control, allowing attackers to act as the user.
• Polymorphic behavior: AI-enabled Trojans evolve their code to evade static or signature-based defenses.
• Biometric spoofing: Some variants intercept Face ID or fingerprint scans, forging success responses.

Trojan attacks on mobile platforms are accelerating rapidly, and AI is helping attackers bypass traditional defenses.

Most conventional mobile security and anti-fraud tools were not designed to deal with this level of sophistication. Signature-based approach is easily evaded by AI-morphing malware. Cloud-based threat detections are too slow for real-time, on-device attacks that complete before server-side systems respond.

Perimeter defenses like WAFs or SDKs provide no visibility or control over what happens inside the mobile app during runtime. Manual detection and incident response can’t keep up with polymorphic attacks that mutate and spread faster than human teams can analyze.

These gaps have made it easier for AI-powered Trojans to silently take over devices, inject fake transactions, and manipulate mobile app flows — often without triggering any alerts.

Stopping AI-powered Trojans requires a new approach: AI-native mobile security. These AI-native platforms operate inside the app, on the device, using machine learning and behavioral intelligence to detect and stop threats in real time.

Key capabilities include:

• In App, on-device threat detection and response: No cloud dependency—apps protect themselves, even offline.
• Behavioral and contextual analysis: Detects abnormal behavior in the mobile app, mobile OS, device and/or user.
• Preemptive protection in app: Trojans are blocked at detection—before executing credential theft, overlays, spoofing, or fraudulent actions.

Leading AI-native protections offer security systems that neutralize accessibility abuse, overlay injection, remote control malware, and more — with no SDK, server dependency, or manual tuning.

To combat mobile Trojans effectively, mobile businesses and mobile developers must adopt a full AI-native defense strategy:

1. Build AI-native security into the mobile app In-app protection must be built directly into the mobile app to ensure real-time, autonomous security. This eliminates reliance on external tools or backend processes and enables end-to-end observability and control.
2. Monitor and respond with AI-native systems Security doesn't end at release. AI-native systems should monitor production environments for anomalies, analyze attack volume and velocity, detect threats like Trojan activity, and trigger rapid response in real time.
3. Use AI to support user recovery When attacks occur, AI-native tools help support teams identify and remove threats on-device. These systems can isolate compromised sessions, clean infected devices, and guide recovery—restoring trust faster and minimizing user disruption.

AI-powered mobile banking Trojans are not fringe threats—they are the new norm. Their ability to infect devices, impersonate users, and bypass outdated defenses makes them among the most serious risks in mobile banking today.

To stop them, mobile apps must defend themselves in real time. AI-native mobile defense platforms offer the only path forward—purpose-built to stop the threats of today and those still evolving.

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I'm always wary about the term 'action comedy' because for every Kiss Kiss Bang Bang or Hot Fuzz there's a Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot. It's a tough genre to do well, but it looks like Tom Kingsley has cracked it: the new Prime Video movie he's directed, Deep Cover, is getting rave reviews.

Deep Cover stars Bryce Dallas Howard as Kat, who teaches improv comedy and is beginning to believe she's missed her big chance of becoming a comedy star. But then she bumps into an undercover cop played by Sean Bean, and he wants her to play the role of a lifetime alongside two of her students, Orlando Bloom and Nick Mohammed. But this isn't a role on the stage or on the screen. Kat and her students are going to infiltrate London's gangland by pretending to be dangerous criminals.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the resulting movie is "relentlessly silly" – and that's meant as a compliment.

Deep Cover is currently sitting at 95% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 22 critics' reviews (it had debuted at SXSW London Screen Festival earlier this month), making it one of the best Prime Video movies. And the consensus is that it's not exactly high art, but it's highly entertaining.

Empire Magazine gave the film four out of five stars, comparing Sean Bean's cop to Jackson Lamb from Slow Horses; saying it's "well constructed, committing to the bit in the gag department while delivering clear set-ups and pay-offs for its central characters – a comedy that, beyond the class-A drugs and body bags, is about how improv gives three lonely losers a new lease on life".

"It's one of the most surprisingly funny films of the year," says Ebert.com, giving the film three out of four stars. The cast "is fantastic from top to bottom, leaning into their on-screen personas in a way that holds all of this admittedly goofy movie together. Turns out you can accept a lot of silly plotting, as long as you’re laughing."

"Amazon's high-concept action comedy Deep Cover might be light on narrative escalation, but it has plenty of laughs and a terrific trio of lead actors," says Screen Rant. And Ready Steady Cut said that "It’s near-perfect popcorn entertainment, an action-comedy with okay action and really funny comedy that puts its all-star cast to work playing exaggerated pastiches of their usual screen personas."

There aren't enough audience reviews to fire up the Popcommeter to generate a score, but the viewer comments are tending towards four and five stars.

Nick M loved the gags but felt the crime could be better – "If the crime aspect was as good as the comedy it would be one of the best of the last few years," he said, while Micki K gave it the ultimate compliment: "I actually put my phone down to watch it."

Many of the viewers echoed the critics by singling out Orlando Bloom for particular praise – "all of the characters are perfectly cast," says Scott F, and "Orlando Bloom is particularly funny" – as well as noting that how much you enjoy the film depends in part on what you're expecting from it.

"This is a fun ride!" says Samantha U. "Take it for what it is – entertaining. It's not an artistic work of film but man alive, I really appreciate this move. The acting was great. The writing was smart. The characters were lovable. It wasn't 4 hours long like every other movie right now." For Samantha it took her back "to a simpler time when movies were just fun."

Deep Cover is streaming now on Prime Video.

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