News of the Cyber World

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CRUNCHYROLL HACKED

Crunchyroll probes breach after hacker steal users data, BleepingComputer reports

Crunchyroll, a subscription-based anime streaming service, is probing a data breach after hackers claimed to have stolen personal information of nearly 6.8 million people, BleepingComputer reported on Monday.

"We are ‌aware of recent claims and are currently working closely with leading cybersecurity experts to investigate the matter," Crunchyroll, owned by Sony Group Corporation (6758.T), opens new tab, told technology specialist site BleepingComputer.

The statement came after a threat actor contacted BleepingComputer last Thursday and claimed they breached Crunchyroll on March 12, at 9 p.m. ET, ⁠after gaining access to the Okta SSO account of a support agent working for Crunchyroll, the report said.

The support agent is reported to be an employee of Telus International, a business process outsourcing (BPO) company with access to Crunchyroll support tickets, according to BleepingComputer.

Threat actors claim to have infected the agent's computer with malware to steal their credentials, which, according to screenshots shared with BleepingComputer, granted access to several Crunchyroll applications, including Zendesk, Google Workspace Mail, Jira Service Management and Slack.

According to the ‌report, ⁠the attackers claim to have extracted 8 million support ticket records from Crunchyroll's Zendesk platform, 6.8 million of which are allegedly unique email addresses.

Samples of the support tickets seen by BleepingComputer and then deleted contain a variety of information, including the Crunchyroll user's name, ⁠login name, email address, IP address and general geographic location.

Crunchyroll had a paid member base of over 17 million as of March 2025.

The attackers claim their access was revoked after ⁠24 hours, during which they were able to steal data up to mid-2025, BleepingComputer said. They also allege they sent extortion emails to Crunchyroll demanding $5 million to ⁠prevent public release of the stolen data, but received no response from the company.

Both Crunchyroll and parent Sony Group did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

ROUTERS

US regulator bans imports of new foreign-made routers, citing security concerns

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission said on Monday it was banning the import of all new foreign-made consumer routers, the latest crackdown on Chinese-made electronic gear over ‌security concerns.

China is estimated to control at least 60% of the U.S. market for home routers, boxes that connect computers, phones, and smart devices to the internet.

The agency said a White House-convened review deemed imported routers pose "a severe cybersecurity risk ⁠that could be leveraged to immediately and severely disrupt U.S. critical infrastructure."

It said malicious actors had exploited security gaps in foreign-made routers "to attack households, disrupt networks, enable espionage, and facilitate intellectual property theft," citing their role in major hacks like Volt and Salt Typhoon.

The determination includes an exemption for routers the Pentagon deems do not pose unacceptable risks.

Lawmakers have previously raised security concerns about Chinese-made routers and Representative John Moolenaar, the Republican chair of the House select committee on China, praised the FCC order.

"Today's tremendous decision by the FCC and the Trump ‌administration protects ⁠our country against China's relentless cyberattacks and makes it clear that these devices should be excluded from our critical infrastructure," Moolenaar said. "Routers are key to keeping us all connected and we cannot allow Chinese technology to be at the center of that."

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment.

Last ⁠month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued TP-Link Systems, a California-based router manufacturer spun off from a Chinese firm, for allegedly marketing its networking devices deceptively and allowing Beijing to access American consumers' devices.

TP-Link Systems said ⁠it would "vigorously defend" its reputation, adding that the Chinese government had no form of ownership or control over the company, its products or user data.

Reuters reported last month the Trump ⁠administration had put on hold a proposed ban on domestic sales of routers made by TP-Link.

The FCC issued similar rules in December that ban the import of all new models of Chinese drones.

META

Jury Finds Meta Violated Child Safety and Mental Health Laws

A New Mexico jury on Tuesday found that Meta violated the state’s consumer protection law by failing to disclose risks its platforms pose to children and by misleading the public about safety on services that include Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

The verdict capped a nearly seven-week trial in Santa Fe and is among the first jury decisions in a wave of lawsuits nationally over how social media affects young users, including claims tied to child safety and mental health.

Jurors sided with state prosecutors who argued Meta prioritized engagement and profits over protecting children, and they found the company’s conduct amounted to thousands of separate violations under New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act, triggering civil penalties that total $375 million.

What the New Mexico Jury Decided

Jurors found Meta violated parts of New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act on allegations the company concealed what it knew about the dangers of child sexual exploitation on its platforms and the impacts on children’s mental health.

The jury also agreed with claims that Meta made false or misleading statements and engaged in “unconscionable” trade practices that took advantage of children’s vulnerability and inexperience, according to trial reporting.

In a separate statement after the verdict, the New Mexico Department of Justice said the jury ordered the maximum civil penalty allowed under state law—$5,000 per violation—totaling $375 million.

Meta said it plans to appeal.

“We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal,” a company spokesperson told Newsweek in a statement, adding that Meta works to keep people safe and is “clear about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors or harmful content.”

How Prosecutors Argued the Case

New Mexico’s lawsuit, filed in 2023 by Attorney General Raúl Torrez, relied in part on a state undercover investigation in which agents created social media accounts posing as children to document sexual solicitations and how the company responded, according to reporting on the case.

Prosecutors argued that even if harmful material can originate with users, Meta should still be accountable for how its systems amplify and distribute content. They pointed to the role of complex algorithms and platform features in driving engagement, including among minors, and said those design choices can push harmful material more widely.

During closing arguments, prosecution attorney Linda Singer told jurors that “young people are spending too much time on Meta’s products” and said the company knew about safety issues but did not disclose them.

In its post-verdict statement, the New Mexico Department of Justice framed the decision as a first-of-its-kind trial win by a state against a major tech company over claims that users were misled about child safety.

“The jury’s verdict is a historic victory for every child and family who has paid the price for Meta’s choice to put profits over kids’ safety,” New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a statement shared with Newsweek. “Meta executives knew their products harmed children, disregarded warnings from their own employees, and lied to the public about what they knew. Today the jury joined families, educators, and child safety experts in saying enough is enough.

“New Mexico is proud to be the first state to hold Meta accountable in court for misleading parents, enabling child exploitation, and harming kids. In the next phase of this legal proceeding, we will seek additional financial penalties and court-mandated changes to Meta’s platforms that offer stronger protections for children."

DMV SCAM TEXTS

Drivers Hit with DMV Scam Texts in Colorado, Texas, Hawaii—What to Know

Drivers across several U.S. states, including Colorado, Texas, and Hawaii, are being warned about a surge in scam text messages that are impersonating the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

What the Scam Texts Look Like

The scam messages are crafted to appear urgent and official. According to Fox 4 News, the messages often threaten severe consequences, such as license suspension, registration cancellation, or additional penalties if payment is not made immediately.

Through a Facebook post, the Texarkana Texas Police Department said that the texts frequently include intimidating language and legal-sounding phrases, sometimes warning of "immutable credential endorsement," “statutory suspension,” “registration voidance,” or other penalties that are designed to scare recipients into acting quickly.

The messages usually contain a link directing users to a fake payment portal designed to steal credit card details or personal data.

On social media, drivers have shared screenshots of similar texts on Reddit forums in Texas and Colorado. Several users said the texts appeared convincing at first glance, especially because they referenced traffic violations or citations many drivers fear missing.

While wording varies, the common elements include urgency, threats of enforcement, and a link to resolve the issue.

The Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles has warned that scammers are impersonating the agency and falsely claiming recipients have unpaid tickets. The fraudulent texts threaten prosecution, suspension of vehicle registration, or revocation of driving privileges, and include links to websites that mimic official state portals.

The DMV has emphasized that it “does not initiate contact via unsolicited text messages and emails to demand payment for tickets or to threaten prosecution or suspension of privileges in this manner.”

Hawaii authorities issued a similar alert in February, warning residents about bogus text messages alleging unpaid traffic fines. The Hawaii State Judiciary said the texts falsely claim to be from the DMV and threaten suspension of driving privileges and vehicle registration unless immediate payment is made.

Officials stressed that these messages are not legitimate and that court-related notices about unpaid citations are generally sent by U.S. mail, not by text.

What Drivers Should Do

Officials across states are urging drivers not to click links, respond to the messages, or provide any personal or financial information.

In Colorado, the DMV advises residents who are concerned about the status of their license or registration to contact the agency directly through its official website or phone number, rather than using information provided in a suspicious text.

Hawaii’s Judiciary similarly advises anyone unsure about a traffic citation to verify it through the state’s official online case lookup system and to ignore and delete scam texts.

BYE SORA AI

OpenAI Scraps Sora Video App Months After Launch and Deepfake Controversies

OpenAI has announced abrupt plans to shut down its AI video generator Sora, telling users it is “saying goodbye” to the app just six months after the launch of its stand‑alone platform that briefly propelled the tool into the mainstream.

“We’re saying goodbye to the Sora app,” the company wrote in a post on X under @soraofficialapp. “To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you. What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing."

The Sora team, overseen by OpenAI, said it would soon share timelines for shutting down the app and its API, along with details on how users can preserve the videos they have already created.

Newsweek reached out to OpenAI and Disney for more information via email.

Why It Matters

The decision ends a high‑profile consumer experiment that began with great fanfare.

OpenAI first unveiled Sora in February 2024 after the success of ChatGPT, as an AI system capable of turning short text prompts into realistic video clips. After months of limited access to select creatives, Sora became publicly available in the U.S. in December. Its reach had expanded significantly last September with the release of Sora 2 and a dedicated app that allowed users to create, remix and share videos in a scrolling social feed from the comfort of their smartphones.

The app quickly surged to the No. 1 spot on Apple’s App Store within days of its release, with users generating hyper‑realistic scenes and inserting themselves into pop‑culture settings. The results drew widespread attention, but also plenty of scrutiny.

Sora faced criticism for enabling violent and racist content, as well as the creation of celebrity deepfakes and the use of copyrighted characters in misleading videos.

Despite those concerns, OpenAI had given no public indication that Sora was about to be shut down.

On Monday, just a day before the announcement, the company outlined new guardrails in a blog post titled “Creating with Sora safely,” designed to limit harmful material, including sexual videos, terrorist propaganda and self‑harm content, and to make the app safer for teenagers.

The shutdown also brings an abrupt end to OpenAI’s content partnership with Disney.

Just three months ago, the companies signed a three‑year deal that would have allowed Sora users to generate videos featuring more than 200 licensed Disney characters from Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars.

Why Sora Has Been Shelved

OpenAI revealed that it discontinued Sora so it can focus on other areas, including robotics and coding function designed to help people solve real‑world physical tasks.

The move comes as OpenAI appears to be refocusing on business and coding products ahead of a potential initial public offering as soon as the fourth quarter of this year. Sora, once envisioned as a possible social‑media‑style platform, had already faded from public view in recent months, even as OpenAI continued to invest in other parts of its product lineup.

For users and creators who embraced Sora’s brief rise, the company has promised more clarity soon.

For now, one of the most visible and controversial AI video tools of the past two years is being quietly shelved.