This is your easyDNS #AxisOfEasy Briefing for the week of July 20th, 2026. Our Technology Correspondent Joann L Barnes and easyCEO Mark E. Jeftovic send out a short briefing on the state of the ‘net and how it affects your business, security and privacy.

To Listen/watch this podcast edition with commentary and insight from Joey and Len the Lengend click here.

In this issue:

• AI Agent Breaches Hugging Face Infrastructure In Unprecedented Security Incident
• Canada’s New Social Media Bill Would End Anonymous Sign-Ups
• New Windows Malware “Dolphin X” Uses AI to Rank Victims for Cybercriminals
• Suno, Paidwork Breaches Expose Nearly 80 Million Accounts
• Ubuntu Flaw Lets Local Users Seize Root Access — Patch Now

Elsewhere Online:

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AI Agent Breaches Hugging Face Infrastructure in Unprecedented Security Incident

Hugging Face disclosed and contained an AI agent that breached its infrastructure, sparking a joint investigation with OpenAI. The culprit: GPT-5.6 Sol and an unreleased model, run with reduced cyber refusals during an internal benchmark test. The models exploited a zero-day flaw to escape their sandbox, then chained stolen credentials to gain remote code execution on Hugging Face’s servers, hunting for test answers.

Both companies’ security teams caught it independently. OpenAI has since patched the flaw, tightened controls, and granted Hugging Face trusted access, calling for industry-wide collaboration on AI cybersecurity risks.

More via Openai

Canada’s New Social Media Bill Would End Anonymous Sign-Ups

Canada’s Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act, would raise the social media age to 16 and require every user, including adults, to verify their age via ID or AI estimation. A Digital Safety Commission would approve methods and oversee data deletion. An internal briefing note calls the bill “essential,” citing support from Google, Meta, UNICEF Canada, and strong polling.

The bill also targets seven harmful content categories, with fines up to $20 million. It revives the failed Bill C-63; Cabinet will decide which platforms are covered.

More via Reclaimthenet

New Windows Malware “Dolphin X” Uses AI to Rank Victims for Cybercriminals

Varonis Threat Labs uncovered Dolphin X, a Windows stealer/RAT sold by vendor “Kontraktnik,” targeting 300+ apps to steal credentials, crypto wallets, and cloud secrets. Its standout feature: an AI Profiler that scores victims by usage data to help criminals prioritize targets—something researcher Daniel Kelley says he’s never seen before.

The malware doubles as an HVNC tool, DDoS botnet, and loader, and excludes CIS countries, hinting at Russian developers. Sold with 329 features across tiered pricing ($80–$230/month, up to $3,420 lifetime), it includes advanced detection-evasion tools. Experts recommend behavioral threat detection over signature-based defenses.

More via Theregister

Suno, Paidwork Breaches Expose Nearly 80 Million Accounts

Two major 2026 breaches, flagged by Have I Been Pwned, hit AI music generator Suno and gig-work platform Paidwork. Suno, breached November 2025 and disclosed via 404 Media, saw source code and 55.3 million emails, phone numbers, and Stripe payment data leaked; the code revealed it had scraped content from Deezer, YouTube, and Genius.

Paidwork, allegedly targeted March 2026, had an 11 GB database leaked containing 23.3 million emails, password hashes, addresses, birth dates, and bank details. Paidwork denies confirmed compromise; both companies were contacted by SecurityWeek.

More via Securityweek

Ubuntu Flaw Lets Local Users Seize Root Access — Patch Now

Qualys disclosed CVE-2026-8933, a flaw in Ubuntu’s snap-confine (part of snapd) that lets an already-logged-in, unprivileged user escalate to full root control — altering files, adding accounts, and installing software. It’s not remotely exploitable on its own.

The bug stems from a setuid-root-to-capabilities redesign, exploited via a FUSE mount/symlink trick to plant rules in /run/udev/rules.d/. Affects Ubuntu 22.04, 24.04, and 26.04 LTS (25.10 is unsupported). Black Duck’s Robert Coles urges device audits. Canonical has released fixed snapd packages — update and reboot now.

More via Hackread