This week in tech was full of wild surprises. Computers made giant mistakes. An AI found a secret that humans missed for over a decade. And the government is trying to hire a cheap new hacker army.
Here are the biggest stories you need to know to stay smart and stay safe.
An AI Found a 15-Year-Old Secret Imagine a huge security hole hiding in your computer for 15 years. That is exactly what happened with a popular computer system called Linux. Linux runs on millions of computers around the world. Since 2011, there was a secret bug in its code. Any user could have used this bug to take total control of a machine.
Humans never noticed the mistake. But a new AI tool named VEGA finally found the flaw. A company called Nebula Security used this AI to read really old computer code. Google even paid them over $92,000 for spotting the error. The bug is fixed now. This shows how AI can spot dangers that human eyes miss!
A Simple Typo Caused a Police Chase
A reporter named Joel Feder got a huge scare recently. He was sitting in a $155,000 borrowed car in a store parking lot. Suddenly, four police cars surrounded him. The officers hopped out and yelled with their hands on their guns!
Why did this happen? It was all because of a tiny typo.
The police used special cameras to read license plates. The cameras run on a system called Flock. Far away in Los Angeles, someone reported a lost license plate. But they typed the plate number into the system incorrectly. They left out a few small numbers. The camera system got confused. It told the police that Joel was driving a stolen car. Luckily, everyone realized it was just a giant mistake before anyone got hurt.
The Pentagon Wants Cheap Hackers
The US military wants to build a new hacker army. They started a new program to teach normal people how to protect government computers. You do not even need a college degree or computer experience to join. They just want people who are smart and ready to learn.
But there is a big catch. The pay is really low. They are only offering about $22,500 a year. If you fail the training, you even have to pay the government back! Some experts think this is a bad idea. They worry that poorly paid hackers might not do a good job protecting important secrets.
The Security Guards Got Hacked
A massive computer company called Accenture got hacked this week. This is a big deal because Accenture is supposed to protect the government from hackers!
A mystery hacker stole a bunch of secret files from Accenture. The hacker then tried to sell these files online. Accenture said they fixed the problem and everything is fine. But the timing is really bad. Accenture makes millions of dollars protecting the computer network for a major US government agency. Now, people are wondering if they are safe enough to keep doing the job.
Secret Celebrity Lists
In other weird news, Madison Square Garden in New York was caught doing something strange. They kept a secret list of fans and celebrities. They even labeled some guests with words like "high risk." It is just another reminder that big companies are always watching what we do!