Recently learned from this Kurzgesagt video that rogue AI agents can act independently, covertly, and effectively in a harmful way-- and it's already done this repeatedly as of the past few months, and it's capable of self-improving quickly. I also watched this Emergent Garden video which included a demonstration of how rogue AI agents can escape sandboxes, hack systems, and do self-preservation and replication.

(Edit: Kurzgesagt's video was more "doomsday" and Emergent Garden's was more balanced. The latter demonstrated that it's not too difficult to push publicly available AI agents to misbehave, and not too difficult to create a simple self-replicating self-improving AI worm, and concluded that although current guardrails are reasonably effective, major cybersecurity incidents are likely to occur within the next couple years due to rogue AI swarms.
I'm not concerned that AI is becoming "sentient" or that we're getting AGI soon. AI doesn't need to be smart to do a lot of damage.)

I don't trust that the big corporations that own and control a lot of this AI tech care about data privacy and public welfare, but even if they did, they don't seem capable of actually controlling their own AI agents and preventing these rogue incidents.

So much of modern society's infrastructure is dependent on the internet and digital tech in general. It all seems so vulnerable. "AI psychosis" seems to be rampant in a lot of CEO's / high-level decisionmakers, leading to a lot of access and data being given to AI agents. For example, Proton's CEO seems to be pushing for reckless AI use in what's supposed to be a privacy-first, security-first platform.

I'm averse to any sort of "doomsday" predictions/fearmongering, but I do feel concerned about this and I'm not sure if I'm overreacting. The idea that AI poses a viable existential threat to humanity feels like such an extreme belief, though I'm not sure how to refute it other than "other doomsday-type ideas have been proven to be overhyped" and "AI companies are exaggerating it to create hype that makes their AI tech look very powerful". How alarmed should I actually be about this, if at all? Is it realistic to think that a "cyber pandemic/lockdown" might happen in the near future (some scenario wherein global internet becomes generally unsafe/inaccessible and we'll be restricted to small local networks)?

How are you updating your personal cybersecurity in 2026?

I'm considering leaving Protonpass but also not sure if the alternatives (1Password, Bitwarden) are better. I'm hoping to find a password manager that's secure, not AI vibe coded, reasonably priced, and run by reasonably morally ok people. Is that possible? I'm also genuinely considering just going back to having some sort of personal cipher / password hint system + writing it down on paper so it's completely offline.

How concerned should I be about digital banking? I'm considering at least having printed out records of bank balances, in case of a scenario wherein digital banks' records are affected.

How are you balancing cybersecurity measures with practicality / ease-of-use?

I'm not an advanced techie myself, and I'd also like to get non-techie family members onboard with better cybersecurity measures, so for example if I encourage them to use a password manager it would need to have friendly UI too.

I don't think I'll be able to 100% remove my dependency on big tech companies like Google, Meta, and Apple.

The amount of time and energy I devote to improving my personal cybersecurity will be limited, since it's of course competing with everything else in my life requiring attention and care.

So I'm just trying to collect info and tips, and see what I can implement from there.

Hey all,

I've been using adblockers since the very early days they were available as Firefox Plugins, but the recent report on LG Smart TVs listening in, gathering device info, and sending it home has motivated me to do something at the level of my router.

I've got a Smart TV that's never been connected to the internet, but I want to cover all my bases. Same with my car, potentially, and the washing machine. I want to stop this crap at the source.

I've tried looking at the Pi-hole documentation but I'm confused already. I'm on MacOS and pretty comfortable using Terminal, and a Netgear Nitehawk AX2400 router.

Is it as simple as purchasing a Raspberry Pi device and then I'm good to go, or are there other things I need to buy before I jump in?

I'm sorry if this sounds stupid. I'm jealous of everyone on Tildes saying how their Pi-hole mostly protects them, and I'm so angry at this endless stream of data mining and sending it back to corporations I haven't consented to.

Just got this email from Framework:

Dear Valued Framework Customer,

We are writing to inform you of a data breach at our business intelligence database provider Metabase that resulted in an attacker accessing customer names, email addresses, phone numbers, and addresses. Your information was in the database that was accessed in this breach. This breach did not include order or payment information.

We have full details on the incident below. We are deeply sorry for this breach of information, and are reviewing and improving our methodology for data storage in external database vendors.

We are also in the process of notifying the regulatory authorities in each region where relevant regulations exist. Note that while regulations in most regions do not require notification for breaches of names, email addresses, phone numbers, and addresses, we are sending this email to you regardless to ensure you have visibility and can take any actions needed.

What happened?

On August 6th, 2026 at 9am Pacific Time, Metabase notified us of a breach of their systems with the following email message:

On Monday, August 3, we discovered that Metabase Cloud was attacked by someone utilizing an unknown (“0-day”) security vulnerability in versions 1.58 and above. We immediately blocked the endpoints used for the attack, then quickly identified and patched the vulnerability. We notified law enforcement, and we have engaged with a third party forensics firm to conduct an independent investigation.

Your instance of Metabase was vulnerable to this 0-day. Therefore, to protect your company, we recommend you:

Rotate the credentials for every database connected to your instance; and

Review the admin accounts on your instance and remove anything you don't recognize.

We also discovered that the attacker was able to gain access to your instance. We created a report on the actions we believe the attacker took on your instance, which includes log files, and which you can get from the Metabase Store at [removed url].

(If you do not have access to the Metabase Store, are having issues accessing the report, or do not want to click on a link in an unexpected email, you can log into your instance directly and reach us at Help > Get help in the grid menu in the upper right hand corner. We'll confirm this message is from us and email you the report.)

This report is based on our own application logs. We did not query or read the data in your connected databases.

Depending on the jurisdictions in which you operate and kinds of data your instance connects to, you may have notification obligations under applicable laws. If you have concerns in this regard, we recommend you assess potential notification obligations with your company’s legal or compliance experts.

We regret any inconvenience this incident may cause you, and we are here to support you. If you have questions, please reply to this email or email us at [removed email address], and we'll get back to you as quickly as we can.

Sameer Al-Sakran

Founder and CEO

Metabase

We immediately investigated the logs Metabase provided to us and confirmed that our database instance was accessed by the attacker. We confirmed that the following information was accessed:

• Full name
• Email address
• Login IPs
• Billing and shipping address information
  • Country
  • Address
  • City
  • State
  • Zip code
  • Phone number
  • Company

For Framework for Business customers, we are investigating whether the following information may additionally have been accessed:

• Company
• Phone
• VAT
• EIN
• Billing Email
• No other personally identifiable information, order information, or payment information was accessed.

Note that Metabase has additionally flagged:

Important: This is a preliminary update based on our current knowledge.

We are working with a third-party forensic investigation firm to understand the full nature and scope of the event.

We are providing you this interim update in advance of completing our investigation to allow you to better understand any potential impact and secure your data.

Our investigation is ongoing and the information shared now is preliminary.

Please look at the application logs as well as the queries executed that are provided as separate files in the zip file for detailed activity and a potential timeline.

We’re providing you notice of the breach in the meantime to ensure you have the earliest possible visibility. In the event Metabase notifies us of additional information that impacts you, we will send a follow-up email.

What was done to resolve the issue?

After we were notified of the breach by Metabase, we rotated credentials on all databases associated with our Metabase instance and confirmed that there were no changes in admin access or access to systems outside of Metabase.

What steps have you taken to ensure this doesn’t happen in the future?

We are evaluating the breadth and depth of data shared with business intelligence platforms, and scoping down their access to only the columns required for analysis.

Nirav Patel and the Framework Team

First, let me just say that I'm tech savvy, but I'm self taught for the most part. I never studied cybersecurity or network security. I know the basics, but not the nitty-gritty.

I used to host my own Anytype Server (note taking app) on my raspberry pi. To do this, the documentation says that I need to open two ports, one TCP and another UDP. So that's what I did, and had it set up this way for a while now.

Yesterday though, my raspberry's microSD died. So while I wait for the new one to arrive, I'm taking the chance to review my home network settings.

I closed off a third port that I had for my synology server (for the OpenVPN). I am now using Wireguard (with Tailscale) which doesn't require opening ports. And since my raspberry is offline, I also turned off the other two ports (as of now, I have none opened)

So here's the thing: I remember from my searching that a lot of people are strongly averse to opening ports. Iirc, the basic idea is that if a bad actor knows my home IP and which ports are open, they can enter. So, in theory, a hacker could potentially infiltrate my raspberry pi - and from there potentially wreak havoc in my other devices.

So my questions are:
1- Is it really like that? Could a hacker gain unlimited access to my raspberry via an opened port?
2- If yes, is there something that I can do to strengthen my raspberry pi security?
3- Am I being overly paranoid by worrying about this, even if it’s theoretically possible?