Security

In a bid to stop people from falling victim to scams, Google has announced that it is expanding its financial advertiser verification program across Europe.

The move means that every member state in the European Union and European Economic Area will benefit from the verification program. Google says that the idea is to help stop scams from taking off before they even start to take hold.

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There have been a lot of announcements made by Apple at WWDC 26, and one that will be of interest to anyone caring for children is the hue upgrade being given to parental controls.

While we will not get our hands on what Apple is talking about until much later in the year – in the fall when iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 are released – previews are available now. Apple is pitching the selection of tools and options as child safety features.

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Apple has revealed a series of AI-powered features for its Safari web browser at its WWDC 2026 event. While many of the new tools focus on the browsing experience, another key area that gets attention is security.

A major new feature sees Safari automatically changing passwords that are known to have been compromised. Apple describes this as enabling Safari and the password manager to “agentically take action on a user’s behalf”.

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When you see a spam or scam message or email, they are often easy to identify – although not always. WhatsApp and other messaging platforms have become riddled with spam, and there have long been efforts to try to combat this.

But with WhatsApp priding itself so much on not only security, but also privacy, how is it possible to determine if a message is spam without exposing or analyzing the contents?  Meta is working on a privacy-focus system that will enable WhatsApp to detect and warn about spam without compromising message privacy.

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After a limited launch at the start of the year, ChatGPT’s Lockdown Mode is expanding to all eligible personal accounts. Previously only available to very small number users with particular security needs, the feature is now being made available to anyone who feel they could benefit from it.

In the words of OpenAI: “Lockdown Mode is rolling out to eligible personal accounts, including Free, Go, Plus, and Pro, and self-serve ChatGPT Business accounts. If you do not see Lockdown Mode in your settings, it may not be available for your account yet”. But if you’re yet to experience Lockdown Mode, just what is it?

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Microsoft recently made a pretty bold claim in saying that the security tools built into Windows 11 are enough to keep users protected. It was back in January that the company used an article in the Windows Learning Center to talk about the built-in security provided by Microsoft Defender Antivirus.

It suggested that “for many users, this level of protection is plenty”. In April, Microsoft then reworked this article into a blog post claiming that third-party antivirus software is not needed. Now the company has removed the blog post in which it had made this claim.

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Gmail may be incredibly popular, but that does not mean that there are no concerns from users. Being a Google product, Gmail users often voice concerns about privacy, and rival Proton Mail is only too happy to offer a solution.

Proton would, obviously, prefer that people used its own email service, but is aware that switching email addresses is not a small undertaking. This is why the company has produced Easy Switch, a tool to help  you bring your Gmail data into Proton Mail, and gradually transition to the more secure and private service.

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The non-consensual sharing of intimate images has been a problem of the internet ages, but it is one that has become more severe in recent times. This is partly because of the advance of artificial intelligence, and Microsoft is doing what it can to help protect people.

The company already has various protections in place across its range of services, and now it has announced that this is expanding. Microsoft is working with a number of organizations to share information, resources and technology to help keep people safe from having their likeness abused.

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Discord has made good on an earlier promise to increase security and privacy by enabling, by default, end-to-end encryption on all voice and video calls on the platform.

Encryption uses the open-source DAVE protocol, and this means that no one – including Discord – is able to access calls.

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Another month, another update for Windows which is problematic. This time around, it is the May 2026 Windows 11 security update – or the KB5089549 update.

The good news is that the problem is not too widespread, but that will come as cold comfort for anyone who has been affected. The problem sees installation of the update failing with a 0x800f0922 error.

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Microsoft has released the KB5083631 preview update for Windows 11 24H2 and Windows 11 25H2. The focus of the update is wide-ranging, fixing various known problems as well as improving performance and security.

It also sees the start of the rollout of Xbox mode as well as a number of new features for File Explorer.

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Google has now extended Gmail’s end-to-end encryption to include iOS and Android devices. In bringing E2EE to mobile devices, Google is making it easier to send and receive encrypted messages without the need for third party tools.

No action is needed for anyone who has the Gmail app installed as encrypted messages will be delivered in the same way as non-encrypted ones. For anyone who does not have the Gmail app, a web browser can be used to read encrypted messages.

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Meta has issued warnings to hundreds of users after it discovered a malicious version of the WhatsApp chat app was being distributed by an Italian spyware maker.

The Italian group SIO is said to be behind the app which was being used to target iPhone users – although it did not make its way into the official App Store. The fake app was primarily targeting users in Italy, although not exclusively.

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Around six months ago, Google started beta testing ransomware detection in Google Drive. The security feature for the cloud storage platform also included a preview od file restoration. Now both features are rolling out to everyone.

The general availability of file restoration and ransomware detection is a step forward in not only security protection, but also in limiting the impact that malware can have should it slip through the net.

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Firefox is rolling out a free built-in VPN that offers users up to 50GB of protected browsing each month, placing IP masking directly inside the browser itself. The VPN will available initially in beta form to desktop users in the US, the UK, Germany, and France.

Every website visit automatically shares an IP address so the site knows where to send information back to the device. That same address can also hint at a person’s location and allow browsing activity to be linked across multiple sites.

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