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AI can soon be your wingman when you use the dating app Bumble, according to CEO Lidiane Jones. As people continue to adjust how they look for love with technology, Jones explained during this year’s Goldman Sachs Communacopia technology conference that Bumble has plans to enhance its usual setup with new AI-powered tools in the coming months. 

 Jones outlined the company’s plans to enhance the app with AI tools that aim to improve the user experience, particularly in the areas of profile creation and conversation support. That includes AI help in picking out profile photos. The idea is to make it easier to take that first step in making a profile, which eases users into actually trying to match with others on the app. AI help picking photos is also an idea Tinder is also pursuing, which means it may become a new standard option in the world of dating apps. 

“We want the bar for profile creation to continue to be high, but we want to reduce the friction that exists users,” Jones said. “Users have a lot of anxiety in creating profiles. We’re going to make that as smooth as possible. So AI for profile creation is a big one.”

Should the photo assistance go over well with users, Jones hinted that AI might be applied to helping users craft their profile bio and prompts for starting conversations. AI could help with icebreakers and better communication in general. It’s something Bumble has been trying out on its Bumble for Friends app but hasn’t been available on the dating app before. Jones pointed out that icebreakers can be challenging, but AI can help craft personalized opening lines based on the profile of a match to get over that obstacle.

Matchmaker AI

Though enthusiastic about how AI can help users actively pursue romance, Jones was particularly keen to point out how Bumble has deployed AI in its safety tools for several years. For instance, Bumble’s Deception Detector can spot fake profiles, annoying spammers, and people trying to scam other users. And, to avoid the dreaded unrequested nude photo, the AI-fueled Private Detector automatically blurs nude images shared within chats. 

More recently, Bumble added the ability to report any profiles with what appear to be AI-generated images or videos, which are explicitly prohibited by the app. Bumble wants people to trust their app and that the people they encounter are real and not an AI-powered hoax. That’s crucial as dating apps aren’t quite as huge for single people as they have been. Tinder and Bumble see AI as a way to enhance their apps and encourage users, and there is a lot of potential for very personalized matchmaking tools through AI, but it won’t matter if no one meets someone they want to go out with at least once. Bumble’s conscious effort to center those human connections in the app shows that Jones and her team know that, stripped of AI bells and whistles, people using a dating app just want an easier way to meet someone.

“One of the key principles for us as we embrace more and more AI in our products and services is ensuring that AI is not replacing users. And our belief is that AI can facilitate you showing up, but we still want users to be themselves. We want them to speak for themselves. And so we have a really clear set of principles,” Jones said. “We’re really excited about the use of AI for future innovation here, but again, with the principle that people are meeting real people.”

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Researchers have found a database backup belonging to Florida-based recruitment company MNA Healthcare left unsecured online, leaving the details of thousands of workers open to anyone.

The company offers staffing services for healthcare workers and matches them with hospitals and organizations across nine states.

Experts at Cybernews noted the leaked information included full names, addresses, phone numbers, job titles, work experience, and encrypted Social Security numbers (SSNs). Of course, the SSNs are particularly worrying, as the personally identifiable information can be used by criminals to carry out fraudulent activities and presents a risk of identity theft.

A vulnerable industry

The encryption on the SSNs used ‘mcrypt’, which is often used by the Laravel Web application framework, and researchers discovered an exposed environment file containing the Laveral App Key. These findings suggest it would be possible to decrypt the SSNs, putting those affected at risk.

The leaked details from the recruitment company included info from 11,000 hospitals, 14,000 doctors accounts, 37,000 potential leads, and 11,000 job applications.

“The data leak causes further concerns regarding the company's infrastructure security as the database backup for their platform was improperly stored, as well as a configuration file containing the key likely used to decrypt SSNs," Aras Nazarovas, a security researcher at Cybernews confirmed.

It’s not clear how the information was exposed, but the breach could leave victims vulnerable to phishing attacks or scams. The healthcare industry is a particularly popular target since services are so crucial, with malicious actors hitting hospitals at an unprecedented rate.

Since doctors tend to be high earners, they are attractive targets to cyber criminals. With personally identifiable information like SSNs, full names, addresses, and phone numbers, malicious actors could engage in financial fraud, credential stuffing, or identity theft. We recommend taking a look at identity theft protections to safeguard your data.

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The infamous RansomHub ransomware group has been spotted abusing a legitimate Kaspersky tool to disable endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools and then deploy stage-two malware on infected systems without being seen.

Cybersecurity researchers Malwarebytes, who recently spotted the activity in the wild, noted once RansomHub compromises an endpoint and finds a way inside, it first needs to disable any EDR tools before deploying infostealers, or encryptors. In this scenario, the tool they used is called TDSSKiller - Kspersky’s specialized tool designed to detect and remove rootkits, particularly those from the TDSS family (also known as TDL4).

Rootkits are malicious programs that hide their presence on infected systems, making them difficult for standard antivirus software to detect. TDSSKiller can identify and eliminate these deeply embedded threats, helping to restore system security and functionality. The tool is lightweight, easy to use, and can be run alongside other antivirus solutions for added protection.

Deploying LaZagne

Once EDR is out of the way, the group deploys LaZagne, an infostealer capable of grabbing login credentials for various services on the network. This malware extracts all stolen credentials into a single file which, after upload, the group deletes to cover their tracks. With the gained access, they can then deploy the encryptor without fear of being flagged by antivirus programs.

RansomHub is a relatively young ransomware player, who spun from the now defunct ALPHV/BlackCat. The group was an affiliate of ALPHV, and was responsible for the attack at Change Healthcare, which resulted in the healthcare org paying $22 million in ransom. ALPHV operators took all of the money and shut down its infrastructure, leaving RansomHub without their share of the spoils. Since then, the group has been active, compromising dozens of organizations around the world.

Via BleepingComputer

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