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Once the exclusive domain of legal and compliance, data privacy is now a major responsibility for IT. When privacy issues emerge, IT professionals are on the spot, not necessarily as the team that absorbs privacy risk but the one accountable for the tools and visibility to proactively manage it.
When the board asks questions or when the auditors arrive, IT management must be ready with answers about checking the box for data privacy compliance, taking steps to mitigate third-party vendor risk, complying with reporting requirements and setting appropriate policies for data governance, especially around AI systems.
This is a tall order for data privacy and security and it’s compounded by the operational reality that available resources rarely match these expanding responsibilities.
Responsibilities and RealitySeveral factors contribute to the disconnect between privacy expectations and operational capacities.
Privacy functions typically operate with minimal staffing while being organizationally siloed from IT operations. Yet IT leaders are expected to provide centralized accountability for privacy, yet they don’t always have the corresponding authority or visibility needed to support that responsibility.
Visibility. Data flows through IT systems, but its exact location and ownership often remain unclear. In other words, there’s no single source of data truth. Without unified monitoring of these complex pathways, privacy breaches become discoverable only after damage occurs.
Third Party Risk. Many privacy teams lack visibility into which vendors access personal data. This visibility gap creates compliance exposure that ultimately reflects on IT leadership and creates ownership confusion. Without protection and collaboration and shared visibility, things fall through the cracks.
Showing Proof. No one wants to get slammed with a violation for poor data handling. Authorities expect evidence that companies have taken steps to implement reasonable preventative measures –documentation many IT departments struggle to produce.
Dynamic data. Modern data environments create perpetual compliance challenges as data continuously streams in and throughout organizations. Maintaining accurate data inventories becomes nearly impossible through manual processes. Simultaneously, data subject requests (DSRs) are on the increase while records of processing activities (RoPAs) consume enormous legal and IT resources.
Furthermore, data integrations are a major concern. After all, who hasn't learned the hard way that not every catalog or pre-built integration supports every system, workflow, or business logic?
Best Practices- Data mapping creates a dynamic data inventory that is direct and actionable for all involved to find clarity and purpose with enterprise data. Such an investor can facilitate the building joint workflows, clear responsibilities for data ownership so everyone is working through the same data inventory.
- Strive for more sophisticated automated behavior between tools and purpose. Automation helps to avoid repetitive tasks, delivers oversight, flags risks, track third party behavior and manages data integrations.
- In the aftermath of a breach, automation produces a record of that proves the checklist was complete, and appropriate steps were taken to avoid an incident. Auditors are less likely to issue steep fines for violations if IT can produce a report with this proof. Automation also frees up more time to analyze risk and refine processes.
- Take a no-code approach to integrations. No-code not only expands the number but enhances the quality of integrations. No-code enables each integration to be customized per the organization’s exact needs and on IT terms.
- Continue to focus on real-time visibility to enable the holy grail of the IT enterprise: monitoring and control
Helpful CapabilitiesData Mapping. Given the centralized role that CIOs and CISOs have for enterprise privacy, there’s a need strong collaboration and shared visibility with teams that are responsible for privacy yet have different priorities and reporting structures.
Data Mapping for inventory discovery and data classification are essential and typically done through a portal that provides a window on how data moves through the enterprises system and where personal data is accessed by which vendors.
By mapping and classifying data, a portal can enable one source of data truth for all aspects of privacy data and ensure that all privacy and legal teams are working with the same dynamic data inventory.
Automated Integrations. As more people exercise their data privacy rights, and more privacy mandates pass, the number of data subject requests has increased.
These requests are driving demand for automated processes that can keep pace with the time-consuming burden of foundational tasks like building and maintaining Records of Processing Activities (RoPAs) and Data Subject Requests (DSR). DSRs and ROPAs can result in data bottlenecks and constrained resources.
No Code Approach. Not only are privacy regulations complex and always changing, but the average organization also now connects to dozens of data sources, requiring big libraries of pre-built integrations and an API catalog rat race to build APIs.
When data reporting on this level starts to pile up, automated data integration becomes a game changer, so build data integrations that are easily facilitated with any backend system, platform, and SaaS apps. No-code integrations are a game changer in this respect. No-code allows IT teams to freely build, customize and maintain integrations that match internal systems, workflows, and logic - enabling faster deployment and easier maintenance of DSR handling, without developer overhead.
AI Agent. With all the complexity and intricacies of privacy management, there’s been an imbalance of resources and expectations, and it’s been ongoing for years. Automation has been helping to solve this imbalance, by cutting through the complexity. Now, core privacy tasks can be supported by an AI Assistant that can be purpose-built to automate core tasks, not just make suggestions.
AI agents are embedded with the privacy operations platform to intelligently analyze actual systems, how data is used and classified. It can help to build RoPAs automatically, freeing up valuable time for strategic initiatives. Beyond simply automating tasks, a privacy AI Agent can identify potential data risks, including shadow IT systems that lack necessary security controls to misclassified information.
Clear context on why these are risks along with actionable insights to help IT teams make informed decisions and mitigate potential issues proactively.
SummaryFor IT, blind spots are not only a technical challenge but also organizational. Each exposure can be a chance to demonstrate strategic leadership by building greater trust with your team, users, privacy teams, and the board. Visibility also leads the way forward to getting ahead of regulatory changes.
Treating privacy blind spots seriously helps to build an agile, secure IT organization that is accountable, collaborative, and ready for growth. Forward-thinking IT leaders can turn compliance challenges into an operational advantage.
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This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro
Creative work relies on technology. Instead of physical materials, a contemporary artist’s toolkit is largely digital, especially in the production world, where new resources emerge every day.
The repeating theme is AI, which creative studios are steadily adopting. It enables time-pressed artists to deliver work at speed, without sacrificing the human touch.
With the pace accelerating, keeping up with emerging platforms can give teams a real edge. Here are 12 AI tools redefining the stages of creativity – not as gimmicks, but as tangible working solutions.
1. Grip(Image credit: Grip)Speed and clarity are everything. Ideas need to quickly turn into pitch decks and deliverables otherwise, you risk losing client interest.
Grip enables artists to take a product and create its digital twin, ready for placement in any setting. Its ethically sourced generative AI model facilitates visual fine-tuning, allowing for the rapid creation of high-quality concept pieces.
2. Upscayl(Image credit: Upscayl)If you find yourself with pixelated reference images, open-source platform Upscayl converts them into a usable asset.
By restoring detail to low-res assets, teams can keep visual consistency without re-sourcing or recreating elements.
3. Viggle(Image credit: Viggle)A quick and easy way to share animations with clients is through Viggle, an AI motion capture platform that takes your footage and converts it into a stylised animation. Using generative AI prompts, your movement data can be transferred to any scene.
4. Leica Cyclone 3DRWith production underway, asset generation becomes the priority. Post-scan workflows can slow projects down, but Leica’s Cyclone 3DR addresses this by making it easier to segment, classify, and export individual assets from LiDAR captures.
It enables efficient environment building, especially when digital twins of real spaces are needed fast.
5. Vizcom(Image credit: Vizcom)Vizcom streamlines concept art for internal approvals or client reviews by converting sketches to 3D renders.
Using AI to retexture, recolour, and retouch, the software creates ready-to-use assets in minutes.
6. Gaussian Head AvatarThis research-driven tool creates 3D heads from just a photograph. Once created, users can customise hairstyle and proportions.
While not yet standardised in production, Gaussian Head Avatar opens up interesting applications for digital doubles, background characters, or stylised avatars that require volume but not photoreal precision.
7. Motorica(Image credit: Motorica)Once the assets are together, it’s time to begin animating. Browser-based Motorica requires 10 minutes of motion capture data to replicate an individual’s movement, then uses AI-powered prompts to generate consistent animation.
This makes it easier to prototype or expand performances without repeat capture, and is especially useful in stylised projects or large-scale simulations.
8. Colossyan(Image credit: Colossyan)When people-focused content is needed, but you don’t have a spokesperson, Colossyan presents a simple, AI-driven solution.
The platform generates an AI Avatar, and through a text-to-speech function, enables the avatar to lip-sync. It’s commonly seen in short-form content to add a personal touch – something brands are increasingly calling out for.
9. VASA-1Sometimes, the best tools aren’t found in typical places. VASA-1 is a Microsoft research project that maps audio to facial animation.
It works for dubbing, creating content in different languages, or when you want to put visuals over a great soundbite. Although it’s not yet production-ready, it’s a tool to look out for.
10. Blend Now(Image credit: Blend Now)The main aim of AI tools is to cut down time for creatives, enabling their work to go further.
Blend Now does just that by removing backgrounds and replacing them with AI-generated ones.
While in-person shoots offer more depth and nuance, this is a simple way to repurpose content and keep it current for customers.
11. Beeble(Image credit: Beeble)Beeble does a similar task, but applies new backgrounds to videos. The AI-powered tool generates passes, removing the surrounding environment and all lighting.
The user applies new light sources according to the refreshed background, making the shot look natural and highly realistic – another option for those looking to refresh older footage.
12. Dream MachineEdit elements within video – including lighting, wardrobe, and setting – using an AI inference.
The results tend to be mixed depending on the scale of the request, but the ability to test alternate creative directions without reshooting makes Dream Machine a useful option for short-form or commercial projects with rapid turnaround.
Navigate AI with intentAbove all else, AI tools are here to assist, not to replace creative work. Thanks to these new technologies, we can produce previews instantly, generate convincing videos for short-form content, and wrap up the editing process faster.
And as agentic AI draws closer, we’ll see even better ways to make creative work pop.
For now, the real advantage lies in careful selection. Forward-thinking teams are already testing and integrating these tools, using AI to reduce repetitive tasks and make space for important decisions.
And in an increasingly intense creative production landscape, modern technology is essential.
This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc.
- Intel is looking for buyers of its Networking and Edge Group
- These areas accounted for 11% of Intel's total 2024 revenue
- The move comes as Intel layoffs continue to hit its workforce
Intel is planning to spin off its engine Networking and Edge Group as part of an ongoing company-wide effort to boost profitability.
The news was confirmed in an internal memo seen by CRN, authored by Sachin Katti, who has held a number of roles in Intel's Networking and Edge Group (NEX), including SVP, GM and CTO.
Although NEX will be spun off, Intel is set to remain a key investor, similar to its previous approach with Altera. That is, of course, if Intel is successful in finding a buyer.
Intel will spin off its Networking and Edge GroupAn Intel spokesperson confirmed (via CRN): "We plan to establish key elements of our Networking and Communications business as a stand-alone company... Like Altera, we will remain an anchor investor enabling us to benefit from future upside as we position the business for future growth."
However, the company remains in the early stages of identifying potential investors.
In 2024, NEX generated around $5.8 billion in revenue for Intel, around 11% of the company's $53.1 billion in total annual revenue.
The move is the latets drastic action undertaking under the direction of new Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who promised big changes when he came on board earlier in 2025.
"Intel was once widely seen as the world’s most innovative company. There’s no reason we can’t get back there, so long as we drive the changes needed to improve," Tan shared with colleagues in April 2025.
Although most of the changes highlighted in Tan's memo to workers centered around humans – redundancies, a return-to-office and streamlined processes with fewer unnecessary meetings – the CEO has also been making changes to the company itself.
Nevertheless, with this news coming just days after we learned that Intel would be reducing its headcount even further, it marks a major milestone in Intel's history and one that workers will be paying close attention to.
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- Elden Ring Nightreign is finally getting a proper duos mode this week
- The update drops on July 30, along with numerous quality-of-life changes
- The latest round of Everdark Sovereign fights also arrives on July 31
The clouds part and the heavens shine through this week, as Elden Ring Nightreign is finally set to get one of its most heavily requested features, duo expeditions, in this week's update.
Announced via the official Elden Ring X / Twitter account, the update is set to land on July 30 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Duo expeditions will finally let groups of two queue into a game, without the need to carry along a third random player.
A proper duos mode initially wasn't planned for Elden Ring Nightreign, but following feedback, developer FromSoftware initially confirmed a duos mode would arrive at a later date shortly after launch.
On July 30, 2025, take on Night's terrors as two kindred souls.Duo Expeditions will be added in patch 1.02 of #ELDENRING #NIGHTREIGN. pic.twitter.com/0JlELoqg0CJuly 25, 2025
We unfortunately don't have any details on how Nightreign will be balanced to support a party of two. Though after launch, solo expeditions were made much more manageable in a patch that reduced enemy health, boosted rune acquisition, and applied buffs unique to solo playthroughs. It's likely we'll see a halfway house between solo and full-squad expeditions here, then.
Duo expeditions aren't the only thing to look forward to in this week's patch, though. Players can also expect some quality-of-life features. In a follow-up post, the official Elden Ring X / Twitter account confirmed Relic filtering is getting a much-needed overhaul, with players now able to sort and search for Relics to a more granular degree.
Finally, FromSoftware has confirmed that the latest round of Everdark Sovereign bosses (even harder versions of the existing Nightlords) is set to arrive on July 31. These will be Tricephalos, Augur, Equilibrious Beast, and Fissure in the Fog.
You might also like...- Many organizations now have well-defined GenAI strategies, but are still worried about legacy infrastructure and security
- But NTT Data study finds many workers aren't ready
- Employees are worried that they don't have the right skills for AI
New research has highlighted the huge benefits AI tools could have on the healthcare sector, and while organizations appear to be vaguely ready for the tech, workers aren't.
Four in five healthcare leaders surveyed by NTT Data say they have a well-defined generative AI strategy, but only half of those say their strategy is strongly aligned with business goals.
Furthermore, only around half (54%) of all respondents rated their GenAI capabilities has high-performing, leaving plenty of room for improvement.
Healthcare workers aren't ready to benefit from AIThe news comes as the UK Government seeks to make the NHS the most AI-enabled health system in the world, as part of a 10-year plan, by equipping workers with trusted AI assistants to bridge ongoing skills gaps.
The benefits are clear: 94% agree that GenAI accelerates R&D to improve diagnostics, predictive analytics and task automation.
Artificial intelligence is now being seen as a driver of better patient outcomes and process adherence, but some challenges remain.
For example, three in four workers report skills shortages in working with GenAI. Companies are also worried about legacy infrastructure (91%), data privacy and PHI misuse (91%) and cybersecurity (58%).
In terms of their technical readiness, fewer than half have assessed their data or platform for GenAI readiness (48%) and invested sufficiently in data storage and processing (44%).
"To achieve GenAI’s full potential in healthcare, organisations must align the technology to their business strategies, develop comprehensive workforce training, and implement multi-layered governance strategies that prioritise people and keep humans in the loop," NTT Data North American SVP Sundar Srinivasan summarized.
Looking ahead, three in five (59%) are planning significant GenAI investments within the next two years, because most (87%) believe GanAI's benefits could outweigh legal and security risks.
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- Battlefield 6 was officially revealed last week
- Now a reliable leaker has given us some potential insight into the game's battle royale mode
- It will allegedly take place in a coastal environment called Lydon Beach
Yet more information has leaked about the next entry in the Battlefield series, now officially titled Battlefield 6.
The game was revealed late last week with an explosive trailer that showed off its modern military setting and gritty, realistic tone. It confirmed that the title will be called Battlefield 6 and teased a further multiplayer reveal at the end of this month.
We won't have to wait that long for new details, however, thanks to the reliable Battlefield leaker 'Temporyal'. The user, who has a good track record when it comes to Battlefield data mining, shared a mock-up of the game's battle royale map assembled through information that they had collected.
The mode will allegedly take place in an environment known as Lydon Beach, a tropical-looking coastal location.
They also claim that the map will feature a wide range of points of interest, including a build-up area known as Main Street, industrial docks, and what appears to be a military base called Fort Lydon.
The map will even seemingly have a massive golf course, which has me hoping that we'll get the chance to mess around with some drivable golf karts. They also suggest that a metro system could be in the works, potentially allowing players to quickly travel around to different areas.
All in all, it looks like a pretty solid battle royale setting, with plenty of variety in terms of density and layout.
I've been playing plenty of Call of Duty: Warzone since the return of the Verdansk map earlier this year, but would happily jump ship for the opportunity to explore something a little fresher. I'm sure many other players would do the same.
You might also like...- Google Drive adds thumbnail previews when watching videos
- Much like YouTube, it will let you spot exact moments in videos
- It'll be available to all Google Drive users soon
Scouring through videos to find the moment you need should soon get a lot easier thanks to a new update coming to Google Drive.
The cloud storage platform has revealed users will now be able to see a thumbnail preview image when hovering over a video's progress bar.
Much like when viewing a video in YouTube, this feature should allow users to quickly navigate around a video, making it easier to track down the specific moments they need.
Google Drive video thumbnails(Image credit: Google Workspace)"With the ability to find the right moments in videos, this update improves productivity and the overall video viewing experience in Google Drive," the company wrote in a Google Workspace updates blog post.
The feature will only be available for new videos uploaded to your Drive account via web or mobile app.
Users will then need to open the newly uploaded video in Drive web, and can then simply hover their mouse over the video progress bar to see thumbnail previews. Dragging your mouse along the progress bar will let you quickly run through the video using the thumbnails to find the spot you need.
What's even better is that the feature will be open to all users, with the company noting it will be on offer to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts.
It is rolling out now, and also won't require any extra admin control to utilize.
The feature is the latest in a series of Google Workspace upgrades aiming to boost productivity among users.
The company revealed a host of new AI tools and services for Google Workspace earlier this year, including Generated Background Images and Studio Look, Studio Lighting, and Studio Sound for Google Meet, as well as Translate for me, coming to Google Chat.
This was soon followed by a number of AI-powered office software upgrades at its Google Cloud Next 25 event designed to give users a productivity and creativity boost when they need it most, including new audio tools in Google Docs which can create listenable versions of your document, as well as upgraded analysis tools for Google Sheets to help get the most out of your data.
You might also likeDebuting on HBO and HBO Max in October 2025, a brand new trailer for Pennywise prequel series IT: Welcome to Derry was unveiled at San Diego Comic Con 2025, and it’s already one of the scariest things I’ve watched this year. The show will take us back to where it all started in the 1960s, where the town of Derry is haunted by evil, and unbeknownst to them, a killer clown who just happens to be responsible for all the missing kids.
If you’re trying to figure out the full timeline, the 2017 movie version of IT was set in 1988, with follow-up film IT: Chapter Two taking place 27 years later. Bill Skarsgård has played Pennywise in all three projects, and he’s aged incredibly well if the fleeting prequel footage is anything to go by. We know how his story ended, but its beginnings are still shrouded in mystery, and that mystery is probably absolutely hideous.
We’re not going to see The Losers’ Club this time around, but that doesn’t mean IT: Welcome to Derry will be devoid of other Stephen King movies lore. In fact, I noticed an epic crossover in the new trailer, and if you missed it, rest assured the sneaky Easter egg is staring you directly in the face.
IT: Welcome to Derry’s new trailer nods to Stephen King’s most upsetting story of all timeNot content with merely scaring us silly over the last few decades, King’s also enjoyed reducing us to tears too. The Shawshank Redemption is one of the most famous examples of this, adapted as a film in 1994 to explore the bond between two men imprisoned in Shawshank. Why is this relevant? Because 57 seconds into the IT: Welcome to Derry trailer above, you’ll see a bunch of male prisoners on board a bus reading ‘Shawshank State Prison’ along its navy side.
It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, but it’s also the kind that will make horror movie fans gasp the moment they see it. We’ve got no idea what role (if any) the prison could play in the new TV show, but from the way the trailer sets up the significance of the bus, it might be more than a mere Easter egg. Two of our new juvenile Pennywise hunters come across our bussed-off prisoners in fear-striken-awe, with the killer clown’s signature red balloon floating along a riverbank nearby directly after.
This could easily mean Pennywise is a former Shawshank inmate, except instead of making a 90s movie that could reduce you to tears just by thinking about it, he decided to harm innocent children instead. The fact Pennywise’s backstory is basically all to play for might just be the most intriguing part of IT: Welcome to Derry, purely because we’ve simply got no bearing on what might be coming. What could be scarier than the fear of the unknown?
Will we see even more Stephen King Easter eggs as the TV show starts airing? Who knows. But thanks to this sneaky scene, I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled like the armchair detective I was born to be.
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- The top iPhone 17 models could get 8x optical zoom
- An extra camera button could also be added
- Apple is said to be working on a pro-level camera app
If Apple sticks to its usual schedule then we're less than two months away from the launch of the iPhone 17 models, and it sounds as though the Pro and Pro Max models are in line to get three key upgrades related to cameras and photography.
According to an anonymous tipster who contacted MacRumors, the first upgrade is going to be a jump to 8x optical zoom, which would be up from the 5x optical zoom you can find in the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Second, there's apparently going to be a second Camera Control button on the opposite side to the current Camera Control on the iPhone 16 models – which is on the right hand side of the handsets if you hold them in portrait mode.
The original Camera Control button lets you open the Camera app and tweak a variety of settings for taking pictures, including exposure and tone. Apparently the new button will "complement" the existing one with its own choice of settings.
A new camera app?The Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)Finally, the third upgrade predicted by this tipster is a new "pro camera app" from Apple for photos and videos. It's not clear if this would be an iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max exclusive – it might be made available for other iPhones too.
The new app would take on the likes of Halide and Filmic Pro, available on the App Store. The tipster says that this app may arrive as an update to the Final Cut Camera app that Apple already makes, though presumably it would come preinstalled.
We don't really know anything about this tipster, so of course take these rumors with a grain of salt. The information is said to come from a commercial that's being filmed for Apple – and which will be used to show off this year's big new features.
If all of this is accurate, it would be one of the most significant iPhone camera upgrades in quite some time, and 8K video might be included as well. We're also expecting the Pro and Pro Max models to get a noticeable design refresh too.
You might also like- OpenAI’s CEO says using ChatGPT for therapy has serious privacy risks
- Your private chats might be exposed if OpenAI were to face a lawsuit
- Feeding your private thoughts into an opaque AI is also a risky move
One of the upshots of having an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant like ChatGPT everywhere you go is that people start leaning on it for things it was never meant for. According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, that includes therapy and personal life advice – but it could lead to all manner of privacy problems in the future.
On a recent episode of the This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von podcast, Altman explained one major difference between speaking to a human therapist and using an AI for mental health support: “Right now, if you talk to a therapist or a lawyer or a doctor about those problems, there’s legal privilege for it. There’s doctor-patient confidentiality, there’s legal confidentiality, whatever. And we haven’t figured that out yet for when you talk to ChatGPT.”
One potential outcome of that is that OpenAI would be legally required to cough up those conversations were it to face a lawsuit, Altman claimed. Without the legal confidentiality that you get when speaking to doctor or a registered therapist, there would be relatively little to stop your private worries being aired to the public.
Altman added that ChatGPT is being used in this way by many users, especially young people, who might be especially vulnerable to that kind of exposure. But regardless of your age, the conversation topics are not the type of content that most people would be happy to see revealed to the wider world.
A risky endeavor(Image credit: Theo Von)The risk of having your private conversations opened up to scrutiny is just one privacy risk facing ChatGPT users.
There is also the issue of feeding your deeply personal worries and concerns into an opaque algorithm like ChatGPT’s, with the possibility that it might be used to train OpenAI’s algorithm and leak its way back out when other users ask similar questions.
That’s one reason why many companies have licensed their own ring-fenced versions of AI chatbots. Another alternative is an AI like Lumo, which is built by privacy stalwarts Proton and features top-level encryption to protect everything you write.
Of course, there’s also the question of whether an AI like ChatGPT can replace a therapist in the first place. While there might be some benefits to this, any AI is simply regurgitating the data it is trained on. None are capable of original thought, which limits the effectiveness of the advice they can give you.
Whether or not you choose to open up to OpenAI, it’s clear that there’s a privacy minefield surrounding AI chatbots, whether that means a lack of confidentiality or the danger of having your deepest thoughts used as training data for an inscrutable algorithm.
It’s going to require a lot of effort and clarity before enlisting an AI therapist is a significantly less risky endeavor.
You might also like- Tea is a popular 'dating safety tool' that just suffered a data breach
- 72,000 images pertaining to the app were involved, some of which were user photo IDs
- There's an ongoing investigation, but the obvious worry here is potential identity theft for those whose images were exposed
Tea is a popular mobile app designed as a 'dating safety tool' to protect women and has been around since 2023.
Its full name is Tea Dating Advice, and the central idea is a women-only app that gives those who are dating the ability to access background checks on men. This includes whether they have a criminal record (or if they're sex offenders), as well as reverse image searching to identify catfishing (assuming a false identity online).
At the end of last week, as NBC News reported, Tea admitted that it had suffered a data breach in which 72,000 images were accessed by the intruder.
That included 13,000 images (selfies and photo ID) submitted by users during account verification. The other 59,000 images were also provided by users and "publicly viewable" in posts (and direct messages) on the app.
As Tea acknowledged on its Instagram account, these images were stored on an 'archived data system' and the firm said that any users who signed up for Tea during or after February 2024 won't be affected. In other words, this is old data archived on a server that only pertains to older posts and accounts before that date.
The company made it clear that the photos "can in no way be linked to posts within Tea".
A Tea spokesperson told NBC: "This data was originally stored in compliance with law enforcement requirements related to cyberbullying prevention."
NBC reported that the hack may be connected to 4chan, with a 4chan poster allegedly allowing for the database of stolen images to be downloaded on that platform. Supposed ID photos from Tea users are also said to have been posted on some social media outlets, too, but obviously, exercise caution around such reports.
Tea said that it has more than four million users in total, and it became the top free app in Apple's App Store in the US this past week (having recently gained a million new members).
Tea said it's conducting an ongoing investigation into the security incident, which includes external cybersecurity experts, and that it has notified law enforcement in the US.
(Image credit: Tea)Do you think you've been affected by this breach - if so, what should you do?The key point to remember here is that if you signed up more recently for Tea, you shouldn't be affected by this breach. As noted, the impact only extends to an archive server and members who joined before February 2024.
At least that's according to what we know from the investigation so far, and the apparent extent of the breach - so the caveat is that we assume the ongoing investigation won't reveal anything else has been accessed.
The other important point to remember here is that only the images were accessed, according to Tea, and no personal data relating to members, such as email addresses or phone numbers.
The worrying part about the data that was accessed, though, is that some of it contains official IDs (and selfies) which could potentially be used for identity theft. It's worth noting here that Tea also clarifies (in an official statement flagged by USA Today) that it no longer requires an official ID for sign-up, and dispensed with that requirement in 2023.
If you joined Tea before February 2024 and provided a government ID for the sign-up process, then the latter could have been exposed. There's no clear way of knowing that at this point, but it's safest to assume that your ID (or other images) may have been leaked online.
That means this information could end up in the hands of a bad actor, sadly, but it's difficult to say whether that will happen for sure, or indeed to know if it does happen.
What you can do for now as an obvious first line of defense is keep an eye on your finances (bank accounts and credit card statements), watching for any irregularities. In all honesty, this is something you should do anyway, as fraud is an ever-present danger these days with a growing number of scams (alongside data breaches like this one).
A further proactive move is to sign up for one of the best credit monitoring services, and the good news is that you can get this for free (from Experian).
What these services do is keep an eye out for your personal details (from, say, a stolen ID) being used online in suspicious circumstances, bringing these incidents to your attention, so you can be aware of anything potentially underhanded before it comes to fruition. There are also full identity theft protection suites out there, too, for a more comprehensive level of protection.
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- Around 1.4 million people could be at risk, it admits
- ShinyHunters is the prime suspect at the moment
Insurance giant Allianz Life has confirmed suffering a cyberattack which saw it lose sensitive data on the “majority” of its customers, with over a million people at risk.
The North American insurance giant said the attack happened on July 16, 2025, when a threat actor accessed a third-party, cloud-based CRM system the company uses.
After finding out about the intrusion, the company took measures to contain it, and notified the FBI. So far, there is no evidence the company’s network or other systems were accessed, it was added.
ShinyHunters strike again?"The threat actor was able to obtain personally identifiable data related to the majority of Allianz Life's customers, financial professionals, and select Allianz Life employees, using a social engineering technique,” a company spokesperson explained.
"Our investigation is ongoing and we began the process of reaching out to individuals impacted with dedicated resources to assist them. This incident is related only to Allianz Life, which currently has 1.4 million customers."
While Allianz Life did not discuss the identity and the motive of the attackers, BleepingComputer claims this was the work of ShinyHunters, a known threat actor with numerous successful breaches under its belt.
The group has been around since roughly 2020, and during that time, compromised a number of high-profile organizations, including Microsoft, Mashable, and Nitro PDF. It even claims to have breached AT&T, although the telco denied the breach ever happened.
Allianz Life (short for Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America) provides life insurance and annuity products across the United States.
It manages a portfolio exceeding $124 billion, primarily invested in high-quality securities, and has roughly 1.4 million customers.
How to stay safeThe attack is particularly concerning as such records could contain more than enough of sensitive information for hackers to launch highly personalized, successful phishing campaigns, leading to identity theft, wire fraud, and even ransomware attacks.
If you're concerned you may have been caught up in the incident, don't worry - there are a number of methods to find out. HaveIBeenPwned? is probably the best resource only to check if your details have been affected, offering a run-down of every big cyber incident of the past few years.
And if you save passwords to a Google account, you can use Google's Password Checkup tool to see if any have been compromised, or sign up for one of the best password manager options we've rounded up to make sure your logins are protected.
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