Origin Energy, one of Australia's biggest electricity and gas suppliers, has confirmed that hackers accessed personal information on millions of customers, including names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, and partial bank details. If you're an Origin customer, this matters because your identity could be at risk—hackers with this information might attempt fraud, scams, or sell your details to criminals. Worth knowing: contact Origin directly (not through links in unsolicited emails) to ask what specific information was taken about you, check your bank and credit card statements regularly for suspicious activity, and consider freezing your credit if you're concerned.
# When Hackers Demand Money, Paying Them Usually Backfires
Paying a hacker's ransom rarely ends the problem—instead, it often marks you as an easy target, and they'll come back asking for more money later. Security experts have known this for years, yet many businesses and individuals still believe they can negotiate their way out of these situations when their data is locked up. You can protect yourself best by keeping good backups of your important files and being cautious about suspicious emails, so you're never forced into the position of having to pay in the first place.
California has created a new tool called DROP that lets residents send one simple request to delete their personal information from 614 data broker companies at once, instead of having to contact each company separately. If you're concerned about your information being sold to advertisers or used for targeted marketing (something many of us worry about as we get older), this single step can significantly reduce how much of your personal data is floating around in commercial databases. Worth knowing: if you're a California resident, you can file a DROP request at no cost right now at California's official registry, and companies must respond within 45 days after August 1st of this year.
Sony is phasing out physical PlayStation discs by 2028, which means gamers will lose access to cheap used game discs that often cost far less than buying games digitally. Right now, used discs are usually the bargain option, but the PlayStation Store frequently offers deep discounts on digital games that match or beat those secondhand prices. Worth knowing: when discs disappear, you'll want to watch for those periodic PlayStation Store sales rather than relying on the used disc market to save money on games.
A Scottish software company that helps American hospitals and pharmacies handle patient billing has been hit by hackers who stole customer information. If you use a hospital or pharmacy in the U.S., there's a chance your health and billing details could have been caught up in this breach. Worth knowing: if you've had recent hospital visits or filled prescriptions, it's worth checking your medical bills and credit reports over the next few months for any suspicious activity.
Criminals are increasingly locking up company computers and demanding money to unlock them, with nearly half of targeted businesses choosing to pay rather than lose their data—and the ransom amounts keep climbing. Governments are now stepping in because paying these ransoms actually encourages more attacks and puts everyone at risk, so the UK is working to ban public organizations like the NHS and schools from giving in to these demands. Worth knowing: if you work for or do business with a hospital, council, or school, ask whether they have a backup plan if they're hit by such an attack, since they may soon be forbidden from paying hackers.
Scammers are sending fake security alerts that look like they're from X (formerly Twitter), hoping you'll panic and click on a malicious link that lets them steal your password and access to your account. Once they have control of your X account, they use it to spread cryptocurrency scams or trick your followers into giving away their own personal information. Worth knowing: if you get an unusual login alert, go directly to X.com and check your account activity yourself rather than clicking links in emails, and enable two-factor authentication to add an extra security layer.
Amazon Web Services has a software glitch that's showing some customers wildly inflated bills—sometimes jumping from pocket change to billions of dollars—though the actual charges don't match these scary numbers. If you or a family member uses AWS for a small business or hobby project, seeing such a huge figure could cause unnecessary panic, even though you won't actually be charged that amount. Worth knowing: if you use AWS and spot an unusually high bill estimate, check Amazon's status page or contact their support team rather than assuming you've been overcharged.
A young man has been arrested for hiding malicious software inside fake games on Steam (a popular gaming platform) that secretly stole cryptocurrency from people who downloaded them. Older adults who use cryptocurrency or have family members who do should know that scammers increasingly hide theft schemes inside seemingly innocent downloaded software. Worth knowing: before downloading any game or software, check the publisher's name carefully, read recent user reviews for complaints about suspicious activity, and never store large amounts of cryptocurrency on devices connected to the internet.
Amazon discovered a billing error that showed some cloud customers they owed billions of dollars when they actually owed nothing—the company has now fixed the glitch. If you use Amazon's cloud services for your business or rely on a company that does, incorrect billing can cause real panic and financial confusion, even if it's eventually corrected. Worth knowing: if you receive an unexpectedly large bill from any online service, contact their support team immediately rather than paying it, as errors do happen and companies can usually sort them out quickly.
Hackers have locked up the computer systems at fairlife, a milk and dairy company owned by Coca-Cola, forcing the company to temporarily shut down production in the United States. This kind of attack—where criminals encrypt a company's files and demand payment to unlock them—is becoming increasingly common and can disrupt the supply of everyday products we rely on. Worth knowing: if you buy fairlife milk or products, there may be temporary shortages on store shelves while they restore their systems, so you might want to have a backup brand in mind when shopping.
Coca-Cola's Fairlife dairy brand has had to stop making milk products in America after hackers locked up their computer systems and demanded payment. When criminals use ransomware, they basically freeze a company's operations until they pay a fee—in this case, Fairlife couldn't safely run their production lines. You can keep an eye on grocery shelves to see when Fairlife products return, and it's a good reminder that even big companies can fall victim to these attacks.
