Qantas Confirms Customer Data Released by Hackers Months After Cyber Breach

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Australia’s national airline, Qantas Airways, has confirmed that customer data stolen during a July cyberattack has now been released online by cybercriminals. The airline said it was one of several companies targeted globally in the breach, which compromised the personal information of millions of passengers.

In the July incident, Qantas revealed that over one million customers had sensitive data — including phone numbers, dates of birth, and home addresses — accessed by hackers. An additional four million customers had their names and email addresses stolen, marking one of the largest data breaches in Australia’s recent history.

Qantas said the data was stolen through a third-party platform and has since been published by the hacker group known as Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters after the company missed a ransom deadline. “With the help of specialist cybersecurity experts, we are investigating what data was part of the release,” Qantas said in a statement.

The airline also confirmed that an injunction remains in place to prevent the use or further distribution of the stolen information. The July attack is among the most serious since cyber incidents targeting telecom firm Optus and health insurer Medibank in 2022, which led to tighter cybersecurity laws in Australia.

Apple Faces Lawsuit Over Alleged Use of Copyrighted Books to Train Apple Intelligence

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Apple has been sued in a California federal court by two neuroscientists who claim the company used pirated versions of their books to train its new artificial intelligence system, Apple Intelligence.

Professors Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn filed a proposed class-action lawsuit on Thursday, accusing Apple of relying on “shadow libraries” — online repositories of illegally copied books — to build its AI training datasets.

The lawsuit alleges that Apple used thousands of copyrighted works, including the professors’ books Champions of Illusion and Sleights of Mind, without permission. According to the complaint, Apple’s use of such data contributed to a massive surge in its market value the day after Apple Intelligence was unveiled, calling it “the single most lucrative day in the history of the company.”

The case adds Apple to a growing list of major tech firms — including OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta — facing lawsuits from authors, musicians, and media organizations over the unauthorized use of copyrighted content in AI training. In August, AI firm Anthropic settled a similar case for $1.5 billion.

Apple has not yet commented on the lawsuit. Apple Intelligence, introduced earlier this year, is the company’s suite of AI-powered features for iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices.

OpenAI and Sur Energy Plan $25 Billion Data Center Project in Argentina

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OpenAI and Argentina-based Sur Energy have signed a letter of intent to develop a massive data center project in Argentina worth up to $25 billion, according to the country’s government. The proposed facility would have a capacity of up to 500 megawatts, making it one of the largest AI computing centers in South America.

The project will be structured under Argentina’s RIGI tax incentive program, introduced last year to attract large-scale investments in energy and technology. If completed, officials said, it would become “one of the largest technology and energy infrastructure initiatives in Argentina’s history.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed the plans on social media, announcing “Stargate Argentina,” the company’s first Latin American infrastructure project. “Latin America is full of talent, creativity, and ambition,” Altman said, adding that the collaboration with Sur Energy marks a major expansion of OpenAI’s global data network.

The announcement comes as OpenAI continues to deepen its partnerships with global companies following its developer conference earlier this week, where it revealed new collaborations with Spotify, Zillow, and Mattel, alongside new tools for app developers.