2.5 billion Gmail users are at risk.

According to Google's statistics, there are currently over 2.5 billion users of Gmail. This makes it a lucrative target for hackers and online scammers.

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Hackers are using various AI-powered phishing scams to try and hijack Gmail accounts. (Image: Cnet)

Recently, Sam Mitrovic, a Microsoft solutions consultant, issued a warning after he nearly became a victim of a "hyperreal AI scam call," capable of deceiving even the most experienced users.

In his blog post, he stated that he received a notification approving his Gmail account recovery, a common phishing attack method.

After ignoring this notification, nearly a week later, he received another approval request followed by a 40-minute phone call.

When he answered the phone, he heard an American accent, who identified himself as a Google support employee and said that his Gmail account had been showing suspicious activity.

The caller continued to ask questions that confused the listener, adding that a hacker had accessed Mitrovic's account over the past seven days and downloaded account data. This reminded him of the notification and missed call from a week earlier.

As soon as he answered the phone, Mitrovic Googled the phone number and discovered it led to official Google websites. He asked the caller to send him an email to his account.

Initially, the email seemed legitimate – the sender used a Google domain – but upon checking the recipient section, he found another email address that didn't use a Google domain.

The caller said 'hello'. I ignored it for about 10 seconds, and then it said 'hello' again. At this point, I realized it was an AI voice with perfect pronunciation,” Mitrovic’s blog post read.

Google announced it has partnered with the Global Anti-Phishing Alliance (GASA) and the DNS Research Federation in a new initiative to combat scammers.

Deepfake AI isn't just used for pornography and politics ; it's also being used to hijack people's accounts.

Therefore, the advice is to remain calm when someone claiming to be a Google employee approaches you. Never make a hasty decision, no matter how urgent the caller seems.

SpaceX successfully recovered its Super Heavy rocket.

In the early morning of October 13th (local time), SpaceX launched its massive Starship rocket from the Starbase launch site in South Texas, USA. After a short journey into space, the 50-meter-high upper stage landed in the Indian Ocean after orbiting the Earth as planned.

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The Super Heavy booster stage returned to the launch pad and was photographed by the Mechazilla system on October 13. Photo: SpaceX

In this test, Elon Musk's company made history by successfully recovering the reusable Super Heavy booster stage. It detached from Starship and slowly fell vertically back to the launch pad.

Previously, booster stages would either fall into the water or be damaged, but this time, SpaceX managed to "capture" it using the giant mechanical arms of a system called Mechazilla.

SpaceX's feat has been described as incredible. Capturing the booster stage is crucial to Starship's reusable design.

On social media platform X, CEO Elon Musk made no secret of his pride, calling it "a major step forward in creating multi-planetary life."

This is the first time SpaceX has successfully captured a booster stage without any serious damage, instead of it exploding or falling into the water.

US investigates TSMC.

According to The Information, the US Department of Commerce has launched an investigation into TSMC to determine whether the company violated export regulations when manufacturing chips for Huawei.

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The US is investigating TSMC over its ties to Huawei. (Photo: Bloomberg)

The Information reports that the US Department of Commerce has contacted TSMC in recent weeks to inquire about manufacturing for Huawei.

In an email statement, the world's largest chip foundry asserted that it is a "law-compliant company" and has procedures in place to ensure compliance.

Huawei was blacklisted by the US in 2020 due to national security concerns, prohibiting it from purchasing chips manufactured using US equipment.

The US also prohibits Huawei from manufacturing its own chips using US technology without a license from the Department of Commerce.

To date, Huawei maintains that all of its advanced chips are manufactured by SMIC – China's largest foundry.

TSMC is the world's largest contract chip manufacturer, playing a crucial role in the chip supply chain. They are a major supplier of advanced chips used in AI and smartphones.

Will Google escape punishment if Donald Trump wins the US presidential election? Donald Trump has expressed skepticism about the plan to break up Google, and has also stated that he would do "something" to make Google "fairer" if he regains the presidency.