TechRadar News

• Mozilla takes on Gmail, Microsoft 365 with range of new features
• Thunderbird Pro includes Appointment, Send and Thundermail
• A new AI writing tool is also coming with local processing

Mozilla is turning its Thunderbird open source email client into a full communications platform with the launch of Thundermail and Thunderbird Pro.

The expansion of Mozilla's email services aims to compete with rival ecosystems like Gmail and Microsoft 365, which are more rich in features, except Mozilla’s offering stands out for its open source values of privacy, freedom, transparency and user respect.

“Thunderbird loses users each day to rich ecosystems that are both clients and services,” Ryan Sipes, Managing Director for Product Thunderbird confirmed as he expressed the ‘why’ behind Thunderbird’s expansion.

Thunderbird is about to get an overhaul

The Thunderbird database says its number of active monthly installs has dropped from 17.7 million in late December 2020 to 16.2 million in late March 2025, with the mail app struggling to keep up with the industry’s main players like Gmail.

With the launch of Thunderbird Pro, Mozilla is adding Thunderbird Appointment, a new scheduling tool for sharing calendar links; Thunderbird Send, a rebuild of the discontinued Firefox Send; and Thunderbird Assist, a new AI-powered writing tool enabled via a partnership with Flower AI that is intended to do the processing locally to eliminate privacy concerns.

The final launch will be Thundermail, an email hosting service using the open-source Stalwart stack. Usrs will be able to pick between thundermail.com and tb.pro domains.

Apart from consistent community contributors who will be able to get early access for free, Sipes confirmed Mozilla would ultimately end up charging for the features, such as Send which requires storage, an expensive commodity.

“Once we have a strong enough user base that the services appear to be sustainable, we will open up free tiers with limitations, such as less storage or the like,” Sipes added.

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I review the best camera phones, but I recently bought myself a dedicated camera. I carry a Galaxy S25 Ultra and an iPhone 16 Pro daily, yet I just bought a camera that's intentionally simpler.

My phones boast optical zoom up to 5X and digital reach well beyond that. I chose a camera with a fixed lens and a field of view slightly wider than my natural vision.

I'm continually impressed by what the best camera phones achieve, but Samsung, Apple, and every phone maker could learn a lot from a camera like the Fujifilm X100VI and today’s best point-and-shoot cameras.

An iPhone 16 Pro (left) with a Galaxy S25 Ultra (right) (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

My Galaxy S25 Ultra has five cameras, and the iPhone 16 Pro has four. Their largest sensors barely top three-quarters of an inch diagonally. The smallest, for the periscope zoom, are minuscule: 0.4 inches (Samsung) and 0.33 inches (iPhone).

My Fujifilm X-T5 uses an APS-C sensor – smaller than a full-frame (35mm film size) but still around 1.12-inches diagonally. That dwarfs any smartphone sensor.

The largest smartphone sensors currently are the one-inch sensors used by makers like Oppo and Xiaomi. Curiously, these aren't found in models you can buy in the US.

Camera phones do the opposite of what they should

Orchids at the New York Botanical Garden, shot with my Fujifilm X-T5 (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Why this focus on sensor size? Because it's the spec that really counts, especially on phones where the difference between the smallest and largest sensors is vast, not marginal.

So why don't Samsung or Apple use a full frame sensor? They demand power and physical space – luxuries smartphones lack.

Unfortunately, smartphones often make the opposite error. Instead of one great sensor, they cram in so many tiny sensors that none produce genuinely memorable images.

It’s ambitious what smartphones attempt. Today’s best range from wide-angle (near 18mm) to telephoto (200mm+), with a wide f/1.6 aperture and macro focus. You can buy an 18-200mm camera lens, but not a lens that is this fast (even f/2.8) without spending thousands.

Every smartphone chases the holy grail: an ultra-wide to super-telephoto zoom with microscopic focus. It's unrealistic. To chase it, makers cut corners, yielding phones technically capable but often failing to capture keepers – photos worth saving, printing, and cherishing – real photos.

Apple and Samsung, meet my new friend Fujifilm

Fine details and soft bokeh, shot with my Fujifilm X-T5 (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Fujifilm gets it. The camera world is buzzing about the Fujifilm X100VI – it's the blueprint smartphones should follow. It uses a large APS-C sensor and a fixed 23mm lens (a 35mm equivalent). It captures phenomenal photos.

No magic here. Fujifilm pairs a great sensor with a versatile prime lens. A fixed lens often means fewer elements, yielding sharper, brighter images. With its 40MP, you can crop digitally and still have a print-worthy resolution.

Image 1 of 3

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)Shot with my Fujifilm X-T5Image 2 of 3

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)Shot with my iPhone 16 ProImage 3 of 3

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)Shot with my Galaxy S25 Ultra

I crave this from camera phones: one large sensor, not five tiny ones. One superb lens, not a jumble of folded glass and pinholes. Use the space saved from extra sensors for one real camera with a resolution for digital zoom.

The big problem with the Fujifilm X100VI is that you can't buy one. Every reputable retailer has the camera back ordered for months, and the aftermarket is rife with shady scams or folks selling the camera at a 25% markup.

Taking smartphone photography to the edge

Like this, but make the camera really good (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

That leaves an amazing opportunity for the smartphone market to step in with a stylish phone that focuses on high-quality photography instead of winning a spec war with megapixels and zoom.

Ironically, the rumored thin smartphones might nudge things this way. We've seen Samsung's teased Galaxy S25 Edge with only two rear lenses. The latest iPhone 16e uses just one, with a wide f/1.6 aperture, but its sensor remains small. Still, closer.

Give me an iPhone 17 with a massive sensor and a single wide lens – I’d be ecstatic. Forget the megapixel race and the lens count. Just give me light, captured beautifully through one great eye.

• SpaceX apparently wants to block Globalstar's access to some satellite frequencies
• Globalstar receives Apple funding to help expand iPhone's satellite features
• Apple and SpaceX may have previously failed to make a deal over a collaboration

Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Apple are reportedly in a spat that could ultimately lead to spotty signals for services like Starlink and iPhone satellite communications or a homogenous monopolistic satellite service – neither of which would be great for anyone.

The report comes from The Wall Street Journal (behind a paywall) who say sources familiar with the matter claim SpaceX is pushing US federal regulators to not allow Apple-funded satellite service Globalstar to expand its usage of limited satellite radio frequencies.

This comes after SpaceX and Apple have reportedly been in conversations to more closely collaborate on Apple’s growing satellite communication service, but with talks ending with no direct deal – instead SpaceX and T-Mobile will be able to offer their alternative to Apple’s satellite service on iPhones (with the service due to debut this summer).

Apple instead wants to rely on non-SpaceX networks to support its own satellite communication features – but if Musk’s company gets its way, Apple may struggle to expand without SpaceX’s backing.

Reach for the stars

A Starlink dish allowing internet access in a remote place (Image credit: Starlink)

As a quick and simple explanation: all satellites send signals to Earth using radio frequencies, and so to ensure service reliability, many parts of the world will license specific frequencies within the radio spectrum on a regional basis. This is to ensure two companies with satellites operating in the same place don’t get their signals all muddled together because they’re trying to use the same frequency.

SpaceX (or any other satellite company) would want to try and control as many of these frequencies as possible because it allows it to send more data, or send data more quickly – which ultimately leads to a better service for its customers.

But one company locking down too many frequencies in a region stops other companies from being able to offer satellite services there – leading to frustrating dead zones – or forces them to offer a worse service there because they can only use a limited band of frequencies. For consumers it also could lead to price gouging, as the service with the most (or total) satellite signal control can charge what it wants.

This latest contest over satellite frequencies likely won’t be the last, but it highlights an issue with this important communication frontier.

Getting reliable internet and signal service to remote services can only be a good thing – as we’ve already seen from people using their iPhone’s Emergency SOS via satellite tool to call for help when they had no other option – but if it isn’t handled with care we could end up with an overly fractured network or one that’s controlled by a lucky few that got there first.

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• A hacker claims to be selling data stolen from Check Point
• Security firm says data is from an old breach that has been dealt with
• But some security experts aren't convinced by this explanation

A hacker is claiming to have stolen a “highly sensitive” dataset from Check Point - but the company is looking to play down any concerns users might have.

The cybercriminal, going by the name of CoreInjection, posted about the dataset of compromised Check Point files on a cybercrime forum - and alleges that the information contains user credentials, employee contract information, and internal network maps, among other things.

A spokesperson from Check Point told TechRadar Pro that they “really wouldn’t call it a breach”, and added that this was “one account with limited access on a portal”. The firm’s statement assures that this is an “old, known and very pinpointed event,” that only involved a few organizations, and “ does not include customers’ systems , production or security architecture.”

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“If this is completely fake, I’d be surprised”

However, concerns have been raised in the cybersecurity industry, with Hudson Rock CTO, Alon Gal saying that there is a “high certainty” that Check Point has been hacked, with a threat actor appearing to have “gained access to an administrator account with serious privileges.”

Whilst the researcher argues he would be surprised, he also explains that the breach is “not yet officially confirmed”.

In Check Point’s official response, it confirmed a breach did occur, but that this was a long time ago, and that the hacker is just recycling old information which “falsely implies exaggerated claims which never happened.”

“This was handled months ago, and didn’t include the description detailed on this message. These organisations were updated and handled at that time, and this is not more than the regular recycling of old information. We believe that at no point was there a security risk to Check Point , its customers or employees,” the spokesperson told us.

In 2024, Check Point VPN software was targeted by hackers in order to gain access to corporate networks, although these attempts were largely unsuccessful, and Check Point outlined a simple and easy fix.

Via The Register

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• 3 points

In the wake of the Salt Typhoon attacks that compromised most of the major telecommunications providers in the US, many in the upper echelons of power are pushing for offensive cyber operations against China.

The move would model a tit-for-tat strategy, in that China has struck the US, so the US should strike China, and vice-versa until they stop.

The difficulty with that strategy, as legendary threat intelligence analyst Marcus Hutchins explains, is that the US is woefully under regulated and underprepared for any escalation of cyber warfare with China.

No scope for cyber war

Despite China’s claims that Volt Typhoon is actually a CIA asset, there is fairly reliable evidence to suggest that all of the ‘typhoon’ groups are Chinese state-sponsored actors, and it was Salt Typhoon that breached the US telecommunications networks by targeting and exploiting systems put in place under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, (or CALEA for short).

This act, introduced in 1994, saw all major communications networks have ‘backdoors’ installed to monitor the communications of criminals.

However, as John Ackerly, CEO and co-founder of Virtru told me, “It's the same doors that the good guys use, that the bad guys can walk through,” - and walk through they did.

Hutchins writes that while the US certainly has the capability to launch offensive cyber operations on China, and would likely see success, the US is not prepared for the retaliation-in-turn that would come next.

For example, US critical infrastructure is woefully underequipped to protect against cyber attacks and relies heavily on outdated tech that in some cases hasn’t received an update in over a decade.

China and its Typhoons have been mapping this infrastructure for years, probing the defences and checking responses and recovery plans with small scale attacks in preparation for a much bigger strike that could be used should a hot conflict erupt between the two super powers.

But equally, Hutchins argues, this large scale attack would be just as effective as a response to US cyber offensives in China, and it can’t be patched any time soon.

Thanks to a lack of federal regulations governing cybersecurity in the US, the private sector has been largely left to its own devices to protect itself from cyber attacks, and Hutchins duly notes that its often cheaper for a company to ignore a cyber intrusion than it is to chase them down and evict them from the network.

It's also cheaper to continue using outdated tech to run systems than to spend billions of dollars replacing everything and training your staff to operate new systems. Who could’ve guessed that the private sector wouldn’t regulate itself?

Now throw into the mix a smattering of federal bodies that, because they are modelled on the US separation of powers, must rely on each other to get anything done.

As Hutchins puts it, “Ultimately, cybersecurity in the United States feels like trying to put together a puzzle; except, there’s no picture on the box, each piece has been distributed to a random entity, half of the entities aren’t even willing to disclose that they have any puzzle pieces, and nobody is sure who’s actually supposed to be the one building the puzzle.”

What’s more, China’s own regulations for cybersecurity at both the state and private sector levels are fairly robust, and have been for many years more than the US can hope to catch up to.

Convincing an administration to establish a body with complete cyber-regulatory oversight in the age of DOGE is one thing, convincing the private sector to spend the ever increasing billions to give their networks even a fighting chance at being resilient is another.

"Personally, I think that trying to deter China through offensive cyber operations would not only be unsuccessful, but also a huge mistake," Hutchins concludes. "I am not arguing that the US should bow down to China, or that it should not be able to defend itself, only that increasing offense[ive] cyber operations without the defencive capabilities to back them up, is a horrible idea.”

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• GL.iNet Slate 7 dual external antennas boost range for stable & extended coverage
• Quad-core 1.1GHz CPU with 1GB RAM ensures smooth operation
• USB-C power supports up to 12V/2.5A for efficiency

GL.iNet has introduced the Slate 7 (GL-BE3600), the first mobile Wi-Fi 7 router, offering high-speed wireless and wired networking for demanding applications like 4K and 8K streaming and video conferencing software.

The Slate 7 delivers Wi-Fi 7 speeds of up to 688 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band and 2882 Mbps on the 5 GHz band, providing stable, high-speed performance even in crowded areas

The Slate 7 features a Qualcomm quad-core CPU running at 1.1GHz with 1GB of DDR4 RAM and 512MB of NAND Flash storage, while the two foldable external antennas enhance signal coverage, making it one of the best small business routers for both mobility and home networking

Powerful wired connectivity and flexible power options

Weighing 295g, this mobile router includes a 2.5Gbps WAN port and a 1Gbps LAN port for stable wired performance in bandwidth-intensive tasks while also featuring a USB 3.0 port for connecting external storage or a modem to expand its functionality.

With its dual Ethernet ports, the Slate 7 can also function as a best network switch solution for users needing reliable wired connections alongside its advanced wireless capabilities.

This device supports OpenVPN at up to 100 Mbps and WireGuard at up to 540 Mbps, offering secure and fast connections for remote work or private browsing while integrating compatibility with over 30 VPN services for extensive security options.

It also features an interactive touchscreen for managing settings, toggling VPN connections, and monitoring real-time network performance.

The device is powered through a USB-C port, supporting inputs of 5V/3A, 9V/3A, and 12V/2.5A, and is compatible with multiple power sources, including laptops, power banks, or smartphones, while maintaining power consumption under 18W (excluding USB usage) for efficiency even under heavy workloads.

The Slate 7 supports the installation of plugins via OpenWrt 23.05 with Kernel 5.4.213 for enhanced network management, including traffic monitoring and firewall customization.

It also features WPA3 encryption for protection against cyber threats and operates at temperatures between 0–40°C, with storage capability from -20°C to 70°C.

The Slate 7 is available for pre-order at $120, with the standard retail price set at $149.90, and the earliest deliveries expected in May 2025.

Via TechPowerUp

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• Apple's ushered in a new continuity feature with iOS 18.4 and macOS Sequoia 15.4
• You can now use an iPhone or iPad to help set up your Mac
• While relatively small, this could be a huge time-saver

Part of what makes the Apple ecosystem so good – and appealing to newcomers or folks just buying new devices – is the continuity between them, even including set-up. For instance, to set up an Apple Watch or AirPods, just hold the device near your iPhone.

Setting up an iPad? Hold it near your iPhone, follow the steps, and scan the glowing blue orb. Setting up a new iPhone? Hold it near your old iPhone. This takes a lot of the manual nature out of a new device setup and even helps authenticate your account.

While iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS Sequoia 15.4 didn’t bring with them the next major set of Apple Intelligence features, they did bring with them something awesome. And if you are getting a new Mac, planning to get one, or frequently reset your old ones, you’re in for a treat.

As long as you’re up to date – meaning your Mac has the latest version of Sequoia and your iPhone or iPad is running iOS or iPadOS 18.4, you can now set up that new Mac with your other Apple device. Really neat, and it could save you time. As with the speedy setup, you’ll need Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled for these two devices to connect.

So, what does this quick setup speed up? All-important Wi-Fi credentials, design choices like dark mode or icon size, accessibility features, and more are included. Plus, since you’re authenticating and signing in with your Apple Account (formerly Apple ID), you can elect to turn on iCloud features like a shared desktop, your photo library, Messages in the Cloud, your long list of passwords, notes, and other items.

How setting up your Mac with an iPhone or iPad works

(Image credit: Apple)

Now, the good news is that this whole process really speeds up the setup process for your Mac – and that goes for whether it’s a desktop, like the Mac mini, Mac Studio, or iMac, or a laptop, like the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro.

You’ll still boot up the Mac and select your language, but then, under the familiar screen that asks “Transfer Your Data to this Mac,” you’ll find a new option:

• From a Mac, Time Machine, or startup disk
• From a Windows PC
• Set up with iPhone or iPad
• Set up as new

(Image credit: Apple)

That third option – Set up with iPhone or iPad – is what you’ll need to select to do just that. From there, your Mac will then start looking for a nearby device, and you’ll want to unlock your iPhone or iPad and bring it close by.

Then just like when setting up a new iPhone or an iPad, a splash screen will appear on the bottom asking if you want to use your Apple Account to “Set Up New Mac.” Simply hit continue and then you’ll scan a pattern displayed on your Mac with your iPhone. That’s the final step for authentication here.

After that, you’ll be asked if you want to enable any accessibility settings and then create your Mac account. The last step is a bit of a waiting game as your Apple Account syncs up with your Mac, and then you can wrap up the setup.

(Image credit: Apple)

Basically, you’re speeding through the authentication process and getting some of the previously customized settings associated with your new Mac.

It’s nice to have, and if you’ve ever dreaded setting up your new Mac, you might question how you’ve lived without it.

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• Ayaneo Retro Mini PC AM01S features a 4-inch touchscreen with a 0-90° flip mechanism
• Magnetically attached port covers create a clean and adaptable workstation
• Dual-fan cooling system ensures optimal performance without overheating or throttling

There are plenty of mini PCs on the market, but few feature a 4-inch touchscreen on a hinge, magnetically attached port covers, and a 0-90° flip mechanism that allows them to operate both flat and upright like the Ayaneo Retro Mini PC AM01S.

Unlike many compact systems that rely solely on external monitors, the Ayaneo Retro Mini PC’s flip-up screen functions as a native Windows extended display, similar to the Aoostar G-Flip 370 and the G-Flip mini, providing quick access to performance monitoring, applications, and widgets.

The magnetically attached port covers hide unused ports while keeping them accessible, creating a clean and adaptable workstation.

Dual-fan cooling with heat pipes and SSD fan for optimal performance

This business PC features the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, a 12-core, 24-thread chip that enhances efficiency and speed while offering storage options, including DDR5 5600MT/s RAM, M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD slots, and an SDXC card reader.

It also comes with an integrated Radeon 890M GPU, built on RDNA 3.5 architecture with 16 compute units, delivering 20% better performance for smooth 1080p gaming and demanding creative workloads.

To support its performance, the AM01S uses a dual-fan cooling system with heat pipes and a dedicated SSD fan, ensuring it sustains its 65W power output without overheating.

For AI-driven tasks, the AYANEO Retro Mini PC AM01S benefits from the NPU delivering 50 TOPS, providing three times faster responses for large language models.

This device uses a CNC-machined aluminum frame for durability, while its connectivity options include dual 2.5G Ethernet ports and a full-speed USB4 connection, catering to professionals who need high-speed networking and ample storage.

At press time, there's no official confirmations for a price or release date.

Via Ayaneo

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• Google’s Chrome installer for PCs with AMD and Intel CPUs has been broken for the past week
• Detective work suggests that the version for these PCs was accidentally replaced by the Arm installer, which is for very different Snapdragon CPUs
• While the issue has now been fixed, Google took a long time to resolve it

Those trying to install the Chrome browser in Windows 11 or 10 over the course of the past week may well have been flummoxed by an error telling them the app won’t run on their PC – and I can’t quite believe how long it’s taken Google to fix this.

Nonetheless, the good news is that the glitch is fixed, even if it took the company way longer than it should have.

The problem, in case you missed it, was flagged on Reddit and by Windows Latest a week ago.

What happened was that on firing up the Chrome Installer file (ChromeSetup.exe, download from Google’s website), people watched the process come to a screeching halt, with an error message that read: “This app can’t run on your PC: To find a version for your PC, check with the software publisher.”

As to the cause, Windows Latest did some detective work, and theorized that what Google had done here – somehow – was accidentally swap the Arm installer of Chrome with the x86 installer. Meaning that the version of Chrome for Copilot+ PCs with Snapdragon (Arm-based) processors got swapped with the version for AMD or Intel CPUs.

That conclusion was based on digging into the setup file and finding references to ‘Arm’ which surely wouldn’t be there with a non-Arm executable. Furthermore, 9 to 5 Google backs up this theory, as the tech site tried the faulty version of Chrome on a Snapdragon PC, and found it worked fine (as it would do if it was the Arm installer).

9 to 5 Google was also on the ball in terms of noticing that the issue is finally cured, and you can now download the Chrome installer on a Windows PC with an AMD or Intel CPU, and it’ll work just as you’d expect.

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Khosro) Analysis: A bafflingly basic mistake with only one winner (Edge)

Okay, so mistakes can be made. Indeed, they happen all the time in the tech world, or elsewhere for that matter. But for such a basic glitch to be left in place to annoy a bunch of Windows users for the best part of a week is baffling – especially while reports were flying around about the problem.

I can’t imagine this was something that was particularly difficult to resolve, either, as it looks like a simple mix up of files, as noted (unless there’s something I’m missing here). Apparently, the Arm version of Google Chrome wasn’t affected, and the installer still worked for those with a Snapdragon-powered machine.

This could have cost Google some Chrome users potentially, who might have got fed up with the browser failing to install, and maybe even plumped for Microsoft Edge, its main rival, instead. (Incidentally, Edge is the best overall web browser as far as our roundup of the most compelling offerings out there is concerned).

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• Physical reservoir computing is a muscle-powered Matrix-like concept
• Human tissue’s nonlinear behavior could support real-world data processing
• New study imagines biology and machines merging into hybrid computers

In a study that blends biology and computing, a researcher from the Graduate School of Engineering Science at Osaka University has come up with a concept exploring how human muscles could be used as part of a computational system, processing data and solving problems.

If the idea sounds like something out of The Matrix, that’s not far off. The study hints at a future where the human body becomes a part of the computing environment, blurring the line between man and machine.

In a paper published on IEEE Xplore, Yo Kobayashi shares his research based on reservoir computing, a computational framework that uses a fixed, non-linear system (the "reservoir") to process time-based data, with only the output layer requiring training. It relies on the natural properties of physical systems to perform complex tasks and Kobayashi's research suggests human soft tissue could be used to process information.

(Image credit: Osaka University) A different kind of machine

Instead of building a digital model, Yo Kobayashi looked at how real muscles respond under strain, using ultrasound to track wrist movements in volunteers.

These recordings showed how muscle tissue deforms and returns to its original shape, offering a pattern that could be read as data.

"An ideal reservoir possesses both complexity and memory," explains Kobayashi in an article on Tech Xplore. "Since the mechanical responses of soft tissue inherently demonstrate stress–strain nonlinearity and viscoelasticity, muscular tissue easily satisfies these criteria."

The system was tested on tasks typically used to benchmark machine learning models. It was able to predict outcomes in nonlinear dynamic systems, showing stronger performance than models that don’t consider internal tissue behavior.

"One potential application area of this technology is wearable devices," says Kobayashi. "In the future, it may be possible to use our own tissue as a convenient computational resource. Since soft tissue is present throughout the body, a wearable device could delegate calculations to the tissue, enhancing performance."

The research is still in its early stages. “There are comparatively few studies that use living organisms as reservoirs, and until now, none that use in vivo human tissue,” Kobayashi says.

It's a fascinating concept, and one that opens the door to a future where computing runs not just on silicon, but on people power.

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2025 may not be the year of the foldable phone, but if Apple finally enters the space in 2026, we could be in for a big turnaround.

That's the latest message from analysts at Counterpoint Research, who explained that 2024 was a year of almost imperceptible foldable growth and, probably more worrisome, 2025 will be down slightly.

Counterpoint Research has been ringing this bell since late last year when it produced a similar report. Now, almost five months into the year, they see no signs that 2025 will even meet 2024's flat sales numbers. It's likely a frustrating turn of events for Samsung, Google, Oppo, Huawei, and Motorola, all of which are now deeply invested in the category.

Overall, foldable phones have never accounted for more than 2% of the entire smartphone market. One factor that might be holding back the foldable market is price. Some of the best folding phones cost double that of a standard flagship.

Many of these companies have yet to make a compelling use case for folding phones, aside from "Do you want to have a tiny tablet in your pocket that doesn't take up more space than a standard phone?" [Author's Note: Yes. Yes, I do]

Motorola Razr 50 Ultra (Image credit: Blue Pixl Media)

While consumers remain uninspired, tech companies appear no less invested in the category. Honor and Oppo's recent entries are helping to grow the folding phones' tiny smartphone category market share, but mostly outside the US.

Folding phones won't disappear from our digital landscape. In fact, Counterpoint Research indicates that the market is preparing for a resurgence.

"It is definitely not a sign of the market peaking; rather it is a sign of regrouping before 2026, which is expected to be exciting and rejuvenating for the segment with the entry of Apple and a slew of clamshells,” wrote Counterpoint Senior Analyst Jene Park.

Most rumors now point to Apple entering the foldables market in 2026, which is a lynchpin of this resurgence.

It's a familiar story.

Apple CEO Tim Cook posing for a selfie while someone else wears a Vision Pro (Image credit: Apple)

Apple's product category playbook is usually one where it watches other players flounder around with oddball and subpar entrants. Then it swoops in with something beautiful and seemingly obvious, a product that captivates consumers and media alike.

It happened with MP3 players around the turn of the century (iPod) and later with screen-focused smartphones (iPhone) and then tablets (iPad). In each case, Apple was by no means the first, but it quickly became the best and most desirable.

Foldables are somewhat different, though, because while the market is stagnant, the products are generally considered excellent. Sure, Samsung, Google, and others have done themselves no favors by not always putting the absolute best cameras and technology in every folding handset. Even so, these are otherwise excellent and versatile devices.

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold in Porcelain (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

I've tested the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, and I love each of them. They're well-built, thin, comparatively light, powerful, full of AI, and generally fun to use as phones and as tiny tablets.

Yes, they can be prohibitively expensive, but you know that prices will eventually tumble.

Apple's entry, though, will prove to be a game changer. I bet even Samsung, Google, and others are desperate for them to enter the fray and reinvigorate the market. Counterpoint Research believes that a 2026 iPhone Fold will quickly eat a sizable chunk of the tiny folding phone market, but also instantly enlarge it.

I tend to agree with them. When I ran an anecdotal poll on X asking who consumers might buy a smartphone from, Apple led the field with Samsung, which has been in the space longer than any other company, a close second.

Would you buy a folding phone fromApril 1, 2025

Most rumors assume that while Apple will bring a lot of cutting-edge features like a liquid metal hinge and an extremely thin chassis likely borrowed from the rumored iPhone 17 Air, it won't be lowering the bar on price. Most think the iPhone Fold could be in the $2,000 range.

That's a lot, not Vision Pro a lot, but it'll mean that a simple iPhone 16 Pro trade-in won't be enough to defray most of the costs. You'll have a high monthly payment for the pleasure of owning Apple's first foldable, and still, I think people will gladly pay that much for an iPhone Fold.

There is a chance that Apple could go with a slightly different design direction with its iPhone Fold, and instead of chasing the Z Fold 6 and other folding tablets, it could deliver a true clamshell.

Folded, the iPhone Fold X would be the size of a Z Flip 6 (but thinner). Unfolded, it would be the size of an ultra-thin iPhone 16 – so the thinness of an iPhone 17 Air, but the pocketable screen size of a 6.1-inch iPhone 16.

That would be appealing on two fronts: a more portable form factor and likely a much more attractive price.

For now, it's a waiting game. Apple hasn't hinted at its folding plans, and there are no indications of a surprise flexible phone unveiling in September. But WWDC 2025, Apple's upcoming developers' conference, is just weeks away, and it could be the perfect platform to tease those plans.

Such a move could either turn around foldable's 2025 fortunes or further depress them as more potential foldable customers decide to hold off until Apple finally ships the iPhone Fold.

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• Fake receipts are now easy to generate with ChatGPT
• They're convincing and additional tweaking makes them look very real
• OpenAI says metadata and usage policies will protect us

Generative AI appears to be fixing one of the most obvious problems with AI-generated imagery: the text. And while that's welcome news for anyone fed up with seeing images containing absolute gibberish, it may have unintended consequences too – it turns out that ChatGPT is now pretty good at creating fake receipts.

The fakes aren't completely convincing if you know what to look for: they're a little too clean, a little too CGI, and sometimes get the sums wrong (like in our example above). But they're also easy to miss – and with a bit of fiddling you can make them look more realistic with creases and food stains.

For now, it seems that the most effective way of doing this is to get ChatGPT to recreate an existing receipt, which can then be changed to show whatever prices you'd like.

OpenAI says it isn't too worried, but it does appear to be an effective new tool for digital fraudsters and troublemakers.

Why OpenAI is okay with the fakes, for now

You can use 4o to generate fake receipts.There are too many real world verification flows that rely on “real images” as proof. That era is over. pic.twitter.com/9FORS1PWsbMarch 29, 2025

We reached out to OpenAI and a spokesperson told us it's keeping an eye on trends like AI-generated receipts. "We monitor image generations on and off our platform, use internal tools to verify they were created by our products, and take action when we identify violations of our usage policies," they told us.

"We're always learning from real-world use and feedback, and we'll continue refining our policies to balance creative freedom with preventing misuse. All images include industry-standard C2PA metadata indicating they were AI-generated by OpenAI," the OpenAI spokesperson added.

However, OpenAI spokesperson Taya Christianson went a little further, telling TechCrunch that there was a positive potential use for fake receipts: "teaching people about financial literacy" in non-fraudulent situations.

I can also imagine using it for illustrating articles, or for creating props for real or virtual staging. But fake receipts can also be used for fraud, and the more convincing the images, the more fraud they're likely to facilitate.

Those 'made by ChatGPT' metadata safeguards are fine, but exporting an image without metadata is a one-click job. I'm not sure those safeguards will do the slightest thing to stop fake images being used for fraud any more than social media "be nice" policies have stopped people from being awful on the internet.

But I have to admit, it'd be very funny if OpenAI's own employees started using the tech to inflate their expense claims.

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• Mullvad VPN has rolled out an upgrade to its feature that protects against AI tracking
• The second version of Defense Against AI-guided Traffic (DAITA) is now available for all VPN apps
• Mullvad released DAITA in May 2024 as "the first step" in the battle against sophisticated traffic analysis

Mullvad VPN has just unveiled a considerable upgrade to its protections against AI surveillance.

The second version of its Defense Against AI-guided Traffic (DIATA) is now available for all VPN apps, bringing two major improvements that "make it harder for attackers targeting DAITA."

One of the best VPN providers for privacy-conscious users, Mullvad released DAITA in May 2024 as "the first step" in the battle against sophisticated traffic analysis powered by new generative AI software.

DAITA 2.0

Built entirely on an open-source framework, DAITA modifies the appearance of data packets sent over the VPN network to prevent snoopers from tracing activity back to you.

It does so by making all data packets the same size, adding random background traffic, and distorting patterns.

According to Jan Jonsson, CEO of Mullvad VPN, this capability is critical, as AI can be used to analyze traffic patterns. In simpler terms, this means your activities may be linked to you without the need to break the encryption offered by the virtual private network (VPN).

"AI will be used both to collect data about people and to analyze that data. That’s why we developed DAITA, to counteract this right at the point of the data collection," Jonsson told me back in October.

On March 28, 2025, however, Mullvad released the second version of DAITA across all its platforms to reduce attacks against the feature itself.

DAITA version 2 now available on all platforms: https://t.co/B77nm95UHkMarch 28, 2025

As per Mullvad's own words, "DAITA version 2 brings two major improvements: a large reduction in overhead traffic and dynamic configurations that vary VPN tunnel characteristics between connections."

The first improvement refines one of the covert practices DAITA employs to confuse AI tracking – the addition of dummy packets to distort network patterns.

DAITA 2.0 now inserts half the amount of these packets but promises to deliver the same level of defense. "As a customer using DAITA, the immediate benefit is improved speed," says the provider.

In the new version, two VPN clients visiting the same webpage will now produce different in-tunnel data streams, too, to make it harder for attackers to circumvent DAITA protections. A new configuration is also selected every time a device recreates its VPN connection.

If you want more technical details on how DAITA works, I suggest reading this post by Karlstad University's cybersecurity researchers on the matter.

Mullvad's commitment to protecting your data against AI surveillance doesn't stop there, either. The team is already working on a new version of DAITA.

"DAITA version 3 is already on the roadmap and will introduce a new type of defense alongside the existing ones. Watch this space for more updates as we advance the state of accessible and performant network traffic defense."

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• Researchers from Sucuri found malicious code hiding in the mu-plugins directory
• The malware redirected visitors, served spam, and could even drop malware
• The sites were compromised through vulnerable plugins, poor admin passwords, and more

A special directory in WordPress is being abused to host malicious code, researchers has claimed, warning the code allows threat actors to remain persistent on vulnerable websites, while executing arbitrary code, redirecting people to malicious websites, and displaying unwanted spam and ads.

Researchers from Sucuri discovered threat actors were hiding malicious code in “mu-plugins” (short for Must-Use plugins), a directory that stores plugins that are activated automatically and cannot be deactivated through the admin panel.

These are typically used for essential site functionality, custom modifications, or performance optimizations that should always run.

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Remote code execution risks

"This approach represents a concerning trend, as the mu-plugins are not listed in the standard WordPress plugin interface, making them less noticeable and easier for users to ignore during routine security checks," Sucuri researchers explained.

So far, the analysis uncovered three variants of malicious code - redirect.php (redirects visitors to malicious sites), index.php (remote code execution and malware dropper capabilities), and custom-js-loader.php (injects spam).

“The potential impact ranges from minor inconveniences to severe security breaches, highlighting the importance of proactive website security measures,” Sucuri warned.

Discussing how the sites might have been infected, the researchers said there were multiple ways to compromise a WordPress site. That includes exploiting a vulnerable plugin or a theme, compromised admin credentials, or abuse of poorly secured hosting environments.

To mitigate the risk, website admins should scan their WP installation for malicious files (particularly in the mu-plugins directory), check for unauthorized admin accounts, audit installed plugins, update WordPress, plugins, and themes, change all admin passwords and set up 2FA if possible, and monitor file integrity by setting up a security plugin.

WordPress is the world’s best website builder, powering the majority of the websites on the internet. As such, the platform is constantly under a barrage of cyberattacks.

Via The Hacker News

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• Apple was hit with an over €150 million fine in France on Monday, March 31, 2025
• France's antitrust watchdog found Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework "neither necessary nor proportionate"
• Apple launched ATT in April 2021 to help users manage apps' data tracking permissions

Apple has been fined in France over its privacy framework that helps users stay on top of third-party online tracking.

France's antitrust watchdog issued a fine of over €150 million on Monday, March 31, 2025, after finding Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework "neither necessary nor proportionate."

Apple launched ATT in April 2021 to make it easier for users to manage data tracking permissions. Despite seeming a positive move for people's online privacy, France's watchdog found that the implementation could penalize smaller app publishers.

"An artificially complex framework"

The Autorité de la concurrence (France's Competition Authority) decided to issue the fine against Apple "for abusing its dominant position in the sector for the distribution of mobile applications on iOS and iPadOS devices between April 2021 and July 2023," the regulator wrote in an official statement.

Starting in iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5, and tvOS 14.5, Apple's ATT feature requires all applications to obtain users' explicit consent before collecting data and targeting them with personalized ads.

While the French watchdog doesn't find the ATT framework problematic per se, it does describe its implementation as neither necessary nor proportionate to Apple’s stated objective of protecting personal data.

Specifically, the regulators found that such a consent pop-up system leads to an "artificially complex framework" for users that penalises publishers of third-party applications when operating in the iOS environment.

That's because ATT consent pop-ups, the group explains, aren't valid under the French Data Protection Act. This means that third-party users will have to ask permission twice from their users.

(Image credit: Autorité de la concurrence)

The Autorité also criticized the rules for which users need to refuse advertising tracking only once, but they must always confirm their consent twice. This, according to the group, de-facto undermines the neutrality of the informed consent that ATT is supposed to facilitate.

Furthermore, "While publishers were required to obtain double consent from users for tracking on third-party sites and applications, Apple did not ask for consent from users of its own applications (until the implementation of iOS 15)," wrote the Autorité, pointing out the disproportionate treatment existing between Apple and third-party developers.

Commenting to the Associated Press, Apple said that ATT gives users more privacy control "through a required, clear, and easy-to-understand prompt about one thing: tracking," which is consistent for all developers, including Apple.

"We have received strong support for this feature from consumers, privacy advocates, and data protection authorities around the world," Apple also told the Associated Press, adding that France's Competition Authority has not required any specific changes to ATT.

Not just France

This isn't the first time Apple's ATT has attracted criticism in Europe, either.

In 2023, Italy's antitrust watchdog accused the US tech giant of abusing its market dominance by applying more restrictive and disadvantageous data privacy policies to non-Apple apps.

Similar actions may continue across the European block as new Digital Markets Act rules are expected to thighthen up competition requirements for Big tech providers.

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• Nintendo announces two Treehouse presentations for this week
• The first will air on April 3 and the second on April 4
• Both broadcasts will feature "hands-on gameplay of Nintendo Switch 2 games"

Nintendo has announced that it will be airing two Treehouse presentations later this week, offering a new look at Switch 2 gameplay.

The first broadcast will air on April 3 at 7AM PT / 10AM ET / 3PM BST, and the second will take place at the same time on April 4.

We don't know how long each presentation will be, but Nintendo did say that both will feature "hands-on gameplay of Nintendo Switch 2 games".

Like previous Treehouse broadcasts, we can expect game developers and possibly even notable Nintendo employees to be in attendance, playing and discussing some of the games that will be featured.

Join us on April 3rd and April 4th at 7 a.m. PT each day for a Nintendo Treehouse: Live | Nintendo Switch 2 presentation featuring hands-on gameplay of #NintendoSwitch2 games! pic.twitter.com/gsi0MqyZyZApril 1, 2025

Both Treehouse presentations will air after the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct Showcase, which is scheduled to take place on April 2 at 6AM PT / 9AM ET / 2AM BST.

We're expecting a brand new look at the hardware, learn pricing and preorder details, as well as be treated to unannounced Switch 2 games.

The new Mario Kart game, which was unveiled at the same time as the console, is likely to make an appearance, but there are also rumors of a Super Mario Odyssey sequel, with some fans speculating a new The Legend of Zelda reveal.

Any games announced during the Direct Showcase will hopefully be featured during the Treehouse presentations later in the week, offering a deeper look at the console's launch titles.

Nintendo has already confirmed that the Switch 2 will feature backwards compatibility, so we may learn if these games will be playable on the original Switch, as well.

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• Wild concept will draw crowds at the Seoul Mobility Show
• Aggressive bodywork and hydraulic handbrake signal sporting intent
• Could this be a more affordable alternative to the Renault 5 Turbo 3E?

Hyundai has unveiled its latest, attention-grabbing concept car and it’s so wild, we had to check in with a PR representative to make sure it wasn’t some sort of April Fool’s gag.

Taking plenty of inspiration from retro video games, Insteroid is, as the name suggests, a diminutive Inster on, erm, steroids. But rather than beef it up with a raised ride height and a roof rack like the Cross variant did, Insteroid takes things in an altogether more sporting and thrill-seeking direction.

The bodywork, for example, shares elements with the equally wild, hydrogen-powered N Vision 74, with an extra-wide stance, “track-optimized” wheels and an impressive rear wing you could happily eat a bucket of Korean fried chicken from when parked up at the local car meet.

Hyundai Insteroid EV concept car pumping out the beats pic.twitter.com/iRdeJhzKoSApril 1, 2025

Inside, it’s an interesting mix of racy bucket seats, a roll cage and a track-inspired steering wheel and adjustable column. Hyundai says every element of the stripped-out cockpit is fully adjustable and images show that the retro-futuristic instrument cluster, which looks like it has been designed by Teenage Engineering, can be adapted and adjusted to suit the individual.

According to Simon Loasby, Senior Vice President and Head of Hyundai Design Center, it also offers an “immersive sound experience” that not only comes to life when being driven, but can also get the party started when stationary.

This is aided by an integrated “Beat House” sound system and neat pixelated Message Grid on the lower bumper that acts as a digital ticker-tape for broadcasting messages to the outside world. Alternatively, it can display an interactive graphic equalizer when pumping out tunes.

Compact hot hatches are back in the limelight Image 1 of 5

(Image credit: Hyundai)Image 2 of 5

(Image credit: Hyundai)Image 3 of 5

(Image credit: Hyundai)Image 4 of 5

(Image credit: Hyundai)Image 5 of 5

(Image credit: Hyundai)

Although the Insteroid is very much a concept car for now, it gives a good indication of what a small, fun and affordable hot hatch could look like – something that fills the void left by Volkswagen’s Up! GTI and the infamous Renault Twingo RS, for example.

Speaking of Renault, the French marque has also been exploring what is possible with electric motors and battery packs, pushing its latest Renault 5 to the extremes with its recently unveiled Turbo 3E model. Although most predict it will cost the same as most modern supercars.

The Insteroid features a similar hydraulic handbrake and gaming-inspired interior that Renault debuted on its drifting R5 turbo concept of 2022, but shrinks it down into an even smaller package and, should it make it to production, could feature more affordable, watered-down performance tech borrowed from the excellent Hyundai Ioniq 5 N.

(Image credit: Future)

Regardless of whether it ever makes it into showrooms or not, Insteroid is the sort of concept car that electric vehicles desperately need right now.

Wild designs, innovative features and a promise of scintillating electric performance are things that have the potential to get people talking and the next generation genuinely excited about the future of motoring.

Plus, it is tapping into a youth that is currently celebrating the Max Power era of obnoxious sound systems, Fast and the Furious-style underbody lighting and wider car tuning culture. The 90s are so in right now, just hit Instagram for proof.

If Hyundai shuns the expensive in-wheel motors of Renault's Turbo 3E and borrows some of the more affordable elements of the Ioniq 5 N, we could well have our first wallet-friendly electric hot hatch in a high-performance Inster variant.

It can then be up to the owner whether or not they want to fit a festival-spec sound system in the trunk.

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• Android users have noticed a test that autoplays the first video in your feed when you open the YouTube app
• Users have expressed their negative feelings online, with some sharing tips and workarounds for avoiding this
• This is another of YouTube's recent experimental features, and follows the platform's 'recommended videos' list in the app's playback queue

Usually, when YouTube implements new experimental features, you can spot them from a mile away. However, the video platform has been quite discreet and sneaky with its latest test, and some users have noticed that it has been automatically playing the first video in their feed as they open the Android version of the app.

Over the past month or so, several Android users have reported their experiences with this strange autoplay function, and though most believed it to be a bug at first, it turns out that it’s intentional on YouTube’s part. To say people are frustrated is an understatement, and they haven’t shied away from expressing their feelings in countless Reddit threads.

Video plays when I open App from r/youtube

"I opened my YouTube app on my Samsung phone today, and it immediately started playing a video. I checked that autoplay was disabled and restarted the app, and that didn't fix anything," said one user on Reddit, which attracted a roster of replies from fellow Android users with the same issue.

There’s an existing YouTube feature that you can enable to automatically play videos one after the other, and this can easily be turned off in your settings, but one of the most annoying parts of YouTube’s mystery autoplay test is that it’s not as simple to avoid. Luckily, users who have been experiencing this issue have found a way to stop this by uninstalling the app’s latest update, or by clearing their data and cache.

YouTube is in an era of experimentation

It’s an interesting time for YouTube, which seems to be carrying out a new test every week. Autoplaying videos are just one of a cluster of experiments that could result in new features for the app, for better or worse.

Other recent tests point to the possible arrival of new features for YouTube Premium subscribers, including a function that allows you to control audio quality in videos, as well as a new time-saving perk that shows you recommended content directly in your playback queue. YouTube has also been testing a fix for subscriber notifications, and while this could be a blessing for users, it could be a big risk for creators.

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• Deep Research is coming to the free tier of ChatGPT very soon
• The Plus tier still offers considerable advantages over the free tier
• ChatGPT Plus has much higher usage limits and features

ChatGPT’s Deep Research has proved to be incredibly popular. It acts like a team of researchers who head off online and research a complex subject for you before returning with a full report, including sources, on the subject you’ve asked it to investigate.

For example, using Deep Research you could ask ChatGPT to compile a report on how the gaming industry has changed in the last three years and it would get back to you with a full report complete with data tables and sources.

Deep Research falls under the category of an AI agent because it can act independently. You effectively give it a task and off it goes to research it for you before using its AI to apply reasoning before coming to conclusions.

From Pro to Plus

Deep Research started off on the Pro tier of ChatGPT, which costs a whopping $200 (£165 /AU$325) a month, but very quickly moved to the more reasonable $20 (£16 / AU$30) Plus tier, where I’ve been enjoying it for the last few weeks.

It was always the plan that Deep Reasoning would move to the free tier of ChatGPT eventually, but it looks like this may happen sooner than later.

X user Tibor Blaho recently noted, in a discussion about Deep Research with two of OpenAI's Technical Staff, that they revealed it was coming to the free tier very soon.

"We are launching [ChatGPT Deep Research] to free very soon!" https://t.co/xFm3MehVhF pic.twitter.com/LxfkJgj9lTMarch 29, 2025

While this is obviously great news for free tier users, it brings into question whether the Plus tier of ChatGPT is still worth paying for. I think it is, and I’ll give you a few reasons why:

1. Fewer limitations

Sure, Deep Research may be coming to the free tier of ChatGPT very soon, but I bet you it’s limited to just a small sample of uses a day.

If you’ve been following ChatGPT’s recent server meltdown caused by the release of its native image generation abilities you’ll be aware that ChatGPT has limited its image generation allowances to just three images on the free tier.

Being able to generate only three images a day is hopelessly restrictive, and while they may up the limit in the future, I would expect the release of Deep Research into the wild to elicit a similarly huge response from the public, causing yet another server meltdown and tough restrictions being imposed to the free tier.

Basically, everything is limited in the free tier, including things like how many files you can upload to ChatGPT a day. On the Plus account, you don’t need to worry about that. While there are still some limits, you rarely ever get close to them.

2. More LLMs

Having a Plus account also comes with a whole range of benefits, but the main one is access to more LLMs. On the Plus tier, you can (currently) access ChatGPT 4o, 4o-mini, 4, 4o with scheduled tasks, 4.5, o1, o3-mini and o3. That’s a lot of choice! On the free tier, you only have access to ChatGPT 4o-mini, with some very limited access to 4o and o3-mini.

You’ll find that these different LLMs are more useful when it comes to doing complex tasks that require more reasoning, not to mention that you get a chance to play around with the research preview of OpenAI’s very latest model, ChatGPT-4.5

Sora AI video generation (Image credit: Future) 3. Sora video generation

On a Plus account, you get limited access to Sora AI video generation. Sora is great, but to really use it properly and create clips that don’t have a watermark on you need a Pro account, (provided you are in the US) you can at least experiment with it in the Plus account, which is great fun.

Using ChatGPT's Advanced Voice Mode. (Image credit: Shutterstock / Rokas Tenys) 4. You can talk to ChatGPT and have it talk back

Advanced Voice mode is one of the best ChatGPT features, and you need a Plus account to access it for more than 15 minutes a month. 15 minutes is really just a preview of the feature, and you'll find you run out of time before you've really had a chance to explore.

There are a range of different voices available for you to choose from, and it makes ChatGPT feel more personal and intimate.

You can access Advanced Voice mode from the ChatGPT website or its various apps, including mobile, and for many people, it’s their preferred way of using ChatGPT.

5. All the extras

Those are the main benefits to using ChatGPT Plus, but of course you get everything that you get in the free tier as well, including ChatGPT Canvas and ChatGPT search.

While ChatGPT search is available in both the free and Plus accounts, there are some other features that you only get with Plus like projects, which is a way to group files and chats together, tasks, which can be scheduled for another time, and the ability to create custom GPTs, so you can create exactly the sort of chatbot you want for a specific task.

All in all, there are more than enough good reasons to keep your ChatGPT Plus subscription, even if Deep Research becomes available on the free tier. I think you'd find that going back to the free tier from the joys of a Plus subscription would be a deeply frustrating experience.

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• Researchers found an unprotected database containing sensitive customer data
• It belongs to APIsec, a company specializing in API security testing
• Affected customers were allegedly notified

APIsec, a company specializing in proactive, automated, and continuous API security testing, may have inadvertently leaked sensitive customer data online, experts have said.

The discovery was first made by cybersecurity researchers UpGuard, and later confirmed by the company itself.

The data was being stored in an internet-connected database that wasn’t password-protected, and has apparently remained like that for “several” days before being locked down as soon as UpGuard notified APIsec.

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Notifying affected customers

Since the company tracks its clients’ APIs for security weaknesses, most of the data was generated by its own products.

Some of the data dated back to 2018, and included both customer employees and users’ names, email addresses, as well as API security posture information. Since this data included things like whether or not 2FA was activated, it is the type of information that can prove quite useful for a threat actor.

APIsec reportedly first tried to downplay the importance of the incident, saying the database held “test data”, that it wasn’t the company’s production database, and that it didn’t hold customer data, but changed its stance when presented with information suggesting otherwise.

Apparently, UpGuard found evidence that the database also held data from real-world corporate customers, including names and emails, and scan results.

When TechCrunch shared the information with APIsec, it later said that it notified customers whose personal information was found in the data. However, it didn’t want to say how many people were affected, nor did it want to share a copy of the breach notification letter.

Unprotected databases remain one of the key causes of sensitive data leaks. Many organizations use the cloud to host information about their employees, clients, or customers, forgetting the fact that cloud hosting works on a shared responsibility model.

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