Information Technology

Kerry Wan/ZDNETIf you’re a T-Mobile customer — or were back in 2021 — you might have a check showing up in your mailbox soon.In 2021, the mobile carrier suffered a massive data breach that affected around 76 million customers (this isn’t related to the 2023 breach that affected 37 million people). T-Mobile denied any wrongdoing but agreed to settle a lawsuit about the breach out of court. Four years later, affected customers are getting compensation. Payments were supposed to start in April, but T-Mobile recently updated its settlement site to read “Due to unexpected delays, we now expect the distribution of settlement payments to begin in May 2025.”Also: I clicked on four sneaky online scams on purpose – to show you how they workIf you suffered financial loss from the incident, you might receive up to $25,000. If you didn’t suffer any loss, even if you didn’t file a claim in the suit, you can receive up to $25 (except California residents, who will receive up to $100). While those are the maximum amounts, a quick crunch of the numbers — a $350 million settlement divided between 76 million people — works out to about $4.50 a person, and that’s before attorney fees.  More

Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETDo you ever use “123456,” “admin,” or “password” as the password for a personal or work account? If so, you’re unfortunately not alone and are placing yourself and your employer at risk. Also: 10 passkey survival tips: Prepare for your passwordless future nowPublished last Friday by security news and research outlet Cybernews, a new study of more than 19 billion leaked passwords shows that people still rely on patterns that leave them vulnerable to attack and compromise. For the study, Cybernews looked at credentials leaked from 200 different incidents over the past 12 months. Using various cyber intelligence tools, the outlet was able to determine such factors as password length, character composition, and the use of special characters and numbers.The most common (and lazy) passwords still in useBased on the analysis, lazy passwords such as “1234,” “123456,” “password,” and “admin” are still quite common. Cybernews found “1234” in almost 4% of passwords, more than 727 million. With two extra digits, “123456” appeared in 338 million passwords. Both “password” and “123456” have been among the most popular passwords since at least 2011. Also: Why multi-factor authentication is absolutely essential in 2025 More

Maria Diaz/ZDNETWhenever I hear about consumer data tracking, my half-century-old brain dredges up that Hall and Oates hit called “Private Eyes” with the refrain “they’re watching you.” I don’t mean to incite Big Brother paranoia; I know I’m not being spied on everywhere I go, especially not in the seclusion of my home. But while using streaming devices, you can almost guarantee that your entertainment and advertisement preferences are being tracked.Also: Your Roku TV is getting 5 useful updates for free – including a Roku City shortcutThe culprit is better known as Big Data — arguably less invasive and sinister, but still annoying to some people — and there are ways to mitigate that on your streaming devices if you’re one of them.While some data collection is necessary for basic functionality, many streaming devices collect more than required; so much so that you essentially lose control of your privacy, fall into filter bubbles (viewing algorithms that are more narrow), and receive more targeted ads than expected. Below are some general strategies for regaining control over your privacy while using streaming services.  More

gremlin/Getty Images Sooner or later, it’s coming: You’ll be logging into one of your favorite websites or applications, and you’ll find no option to supply a user ID and password. There won’t even be a password field. (The jury is still out on the user ID field.) You’ll simply choose from a personalized dropdown list […] More

Adrienne Bresnahan/Getty Images Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) is rapidly emerging as a robust framework for organizations seeking to harness the full power of generative AI with their business data. As enterprises seek to move beyond generic AI responses and leverage their unique knowledge bases, RAG bridges general AI capabilities and domain-specific expertise.  Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of […] More

Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETWorld Password Day is a perfect time to think about the passwords you’re using and whether you should update them.It may seem like there’s a random holiday for everything, but this one actually matters more than most. According to the National Day Calendar, security researcher Mark Burnett proposed the idea of a “password day” in his 2005 book Perfect Passwords More

Pinterest Pinterest has long been a great platform for getting inspiration from crowdsourced images for everything from outfits to home decor to wedding planning. However, AI-generated images have slowly trickled into Pinterest’s results, leaving users dissatisfied.   ‘AI Modified’ label To address the issue, on Wednesday, Pinterest announced it will display a label on image […] More

mustafahacalaki/Getty Images When I first examined whether it’s possible to fight back against AI-generated plagiarism and how that approach might work, it was January 2023 — just a few months into the world’s exploding awareness of generative AI. Also: The top 20 AI tools of 2025 – and the #1 thing to remember when you […] More