Thousands of “ghost students” use AI to steal millions in student loans, DOJ says

Thousands of “ghost students” use AI to steal millions in student loans, DOJ says

fivenewscrypto    octobre 31, 2026   

The US has charged five individuals as part of the first broad federal crackdown on “ghost students”—fraudsters who steal the identities of hundreds of Americans to pose as fake college students and steal student loans.

In a press release Thursday, the Department of Justice said it had uncovered a large-scale scheme relying partly on AI. The DOJ seized more than $750,000 in cryptocurrency from “a network associated with Kenyan nationals" after data analysis helped flag likely fraudsters. Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the DOJ’s National Fraud Enforcement Division credited new fraud-detection measures implemented by the Trump administration for the arrests. He said that “this is the first international seizure of its kind in Kenya,” while warning fraudsters that the crackdown has only just begun.

“If you steal American identities, if you steal taxpayer dollars, if you exploit programs meant to help students build a future—we will find you,” McDonald said. “Whether you are in Nebraska, New Jersey, Virginia, or Nairobi, we will pursue you.”

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Analysts find looming launch crisis is "more severe" than anticipated

Analysts find looming launch crisis is "more severe" than anticipated

fivenewscrypto    octobre 31, 2026   

A new report from the analytics firm Quilty Space confirms that, outside of China, the world faces a significant shortage of rockets over the next five years.

The firm estimates that between now and 2030, there will be a shortfall of about 150 launches compared to demand from satellite operators and civil space agencies. If demand from the US military is added in—and SpaceX does not extend the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy program to accommodate increased national security needs—the shortage could be doubled.

"What we wanted to get at is to understand how severe this launch crisis is and when will it be resolved," said Caleb Henry, director of research at Quilty Space. "What we learned is that the launch crisis is more severe than we thought and that it will not go away this decade for sure, and it might not abate until sometime late in the 2030s."

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GM to pay $220 million after selling customer Smart Driver data

GM to pay $220 million after selling customer Smart Driver data

fivenewscrypto    octobre 31, 2026   

General Motors marketed its Smart Driver system as a way for parents to monitor teen drivers or for adults to track their driving behavior. But in 2024, it emerged that GM had been sharing that data with brokers. Those brokers then sold the data to insurance companies, and some drivers found that their insurance became more expensive as a result. To make matters worse, many of those drivers claimed they had no knowledge of ever agreeing to share such data for such purposes.

Last year, GM and its OnStar subsidiary entered into a settlement with the FTC, prohibiting them from sharing some kinds of driver data with third parties. The settlement was finalized this January. That agreement banned the two companies from sharing geolocation data or driver behavior data for five years. At the time, GM also discontinued Smart Driver across its entire range.

Now the automaker has reached terms with the District of Columbia and 35 states after their attorneys general joined together to sue GM as well.

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Hackers steal $6.3 billion from Binance in record crypto heist

Hackers steal $6.3 billion from Binance in record crypto heist

fivenewscrypto    octobre 31, 2026   

Binance has suspended all withdrawals after the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange fell victim to what appears to be the biggest heist in history.

The exchange put the “estimated total impact” of the hack at about $6.3 billion and said around $3 billion of affected assets, mainly stablecoins that act as cash for the crypto market, had been frozen.

But analysts at Elliptic said the attacker had changed about $3.3 billion into digital assets that could not be frozen and was working to cash those out as traditional currency.

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2027 Nissan Rogue Hybrid: Drives like an EV, but there's no plug involved

2027 Nissan Rogue Hybrid: Drives like an EV, but there's no plug involved

fivenewscrypto    octobre 31, 2026   

Nissan provided flights from Washington, DC, to Santa Barbara, California, and accommodation so Ars could drive the Rogue Hybrid. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.

Nissan has a new version of its bestselling Rogue SUV, and it’s launching the model here with the latest version of its e-Power hybrid system, which Ars tested in February. Most hybrid cars you can buy today are parallel hybrids, which means that they have an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, both of which drive some or all of the wheels—everything works in parallel. But there’s another approach. Instead of connecting the engine to the wheels via a transmission, it can act as a generator and charge the traction battery, which in turn powers the electric motor. Since the engine and motor work in series, this is known as a series hybrid.

That’s mostly how the Chevrolet Volt worked. As does Honda’s hybrid CR-V. Well, mostly; engineers worked out it was more efficient for those cars' gasoline engines to directly drive the wheels at highway speeds, something that to this day makes a certain subset of hybrid car enthusiasts irrationally angry. If you know anyone like that in your life, send them to wherever the nearest Nissan dealership is, because the 2027 Rogue Hybrid is exactly what they’ve been asking for.

Series hybrids

Under the hood, with its crisp shut line and slim horizontal lights that give me something of a Range Rover vibe, there’s a 1.5 L, three-cylinder turbocharged direct-injection engine that generates 148 hp (110 kW). It only revs to 5,200 rpm because it’s optimized to charge the battery, not cope with the various loads of an engine connected to a gearbox and the wheels. That also allows the engine to operate at a rather impressive 42 percent thermal efficiency—we would need to look at Formula 1 engines to find higher.

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Review: You Can See Everything blurs the view of Elizabeth Holmes' deceit

Review: You Can See Everything blurs the view of Elizabeth Holmes' deceit

fivenewscrypto    octobre 31, 2026   

In 2015, biomedical entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes was Silicon Valley's golden girl, lauded as the youngest and richest self-made female billionaire thanks to the company she founded, Theranos, which was valued at $9 billion at the height of its success. Then it all came crashing down when accusations of fraud surfaced about the company's signature blood-testing device, culminating in a sensational trial. Holmes was convicted on four counts and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Holmes is back in the headlines thanks to a new film, You Can See Everything, which depicts the final days before Holmes, having exhausted her appeals, went to prison. Co-directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, it's a surreal, absurdist piece that has largely been received with gushing enthusiasm and no small amount of hype, with some declaring it the best film of the year. A few contrarian voices have emerged over the past week with much-needed reality checks, but there's no denying the film is destined to be an awards-season darling.

Pardon me for joining the buzzkills, but I cannot in good conscience jump on the You Can See Everything bandwagon. Sure, it has its moments, and the second half is highly entertaining, but there's nothing here to warrant all the breathless hyperbole. For all their much-touted access, Oppenheim and Fielder have produced a surprisingly shallow film that runs in circles, yielding very little fresh or novel insight—into Holmes, personally, or much else.

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Rocket Report: Winter is coming for Themis; Cowboy Space adds iron to the fire

Rocket Report: Winter is coming for Themis; Cowboy Space adds iron to the fire

fivenewscrypto    octobre 31, 2026   

Welcome to Edition 9.17 of the Rocket Report! It's been a while since an American company announced plans for a medium-lift new launch vehicle, but that's what happened this week when a startup named Cowboy Space revealed specs for its Big Iron rocket, named for the classic country-western song by Marty Robbins. I'm a huge fan of the name. Maybe Cowboy Space is striking while the iron is hot as the space industry frets over demand for launch outpacing supply. However, Cowboy Space lags far behind so many other launch providers nearing the launch pad with their medium-class rockets, and the company didn't have much hardware to show at this week's big reveal. In other words, don't mistake style for substance. But we're rocket fans at Ars, and we wish them luck.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Virgin's new rocket plane reaches home port. The first of Virgin Galactic's new Delta-class rocket planes left its Arizona factory Wednesday for a trip to Spaceport America in neighboring New Mexico, where it will undergo preparations for a test campaign culminating in suborbital flights to the edge of space, Ars reports. Virgin Galactic expects the craft's first commercial spaceflight to take place "early" in the second quarter of 2027, but like every other projected date in aerospace, this should be taken with a grain of salt. Virgin Galactic halted commercial flights of its previous vehicle, VSS Unity, in 2024.

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