• A Windscribe update from July 2026 appears to credit AI engine Fable for identifying necessary fixes
• The AI audit successfully spotted complex vulnerabilities across the provider's Windows, macOS, and Linux applications.
• Rival providers remain seriously apprehensive of the technology, warning of the possible consequences of error.

Windscribe appears to have quietly revealed that it used artificial intelligence to audit its software.

Hidden within the changelog for release 2.33.11, deployed on July 6, 2026, the company mentions that the update includes security fixes stemming directly from an AI review by Fable 5, an advanced AI model developed by Anthropic.

Should this be true, it’d be the first instance of a commercial VPN provider relying on a large language model to conduct a comprehensive security evaluation of its core infrastructure.

What did the Fable 5 audit find?

A closer look at the release notes shows that the Fable 5 audit successfully identified highly technical areas for improvement, helping developers secure the app against potential local attacks and data leaks.

According to Windscribe, the update includes "App hardening from the Fable 5 audit, including WireGuard key validation, Control D API key log redaction, IPC exposure hardening, safer logging, installer argument redaction, and package/dependency handling fixes."

In simpler terms, the audit identified several ways to secure how the VPN handles encryption keys for the popular WireGuard protocol and ensure that sensitive API keys aren’t accidentally saved in the software's error logs.

It also identified how Windscribe could tighten up how different parts of the application communicate with each other (known as IPC exposure), which stops bad actors from exploiting the app locally on your device.

The changelog also lists a staggering number of accompanying fixes deployed in this same update. Windscribe patched a "DLL planting vulnerability" in its Windows bootstrapper, a flaw where malicious code could be loaded in place of a legitimate file, and resolved a local privilege escalation vulnerability on Linux.

Will AI replace human audits?

Historically, VPN providers undergo independent, third-party audits to prove they do not keep logs of user activity or harbor hidden security flaws.

While an AI like Anthropic's Fable 5 can process vast amounts of code rapidly, its use raises new questions about transparency.

Can an AI audit provide the same level of assurance as a human expert? Rival providers are highly skeptical about completely handing the reins over to machines.

Speaking to TechRadar, Tomas Stamulis, CSO at Surfshark, explained that while the company uses AI models internally to spot vulnerabilities "at a scale and speed impossible for humans," formal public audits still require a human touch.

"We currently rely on independent, qualified auditors, such as Deloitte or Cure53, for our formal audits," Stamulis told us. "We strongly believe that independent validation requires external human oversight to maintain contextual analysis and ensure reliability."

Stamulis warned that relying entirely on an AI for external validation carries unique risks, particularly regarding how these language models are fed information.

He noted that "given the risk that AI findings could be manipulated through context and prompting, human-led independent oversight remains the only way to provide the level of contextual analysis and manipulation-proof assurance that authorities and customers expect."

We are still waiting to hear back from Windscribe regarding their decision to prioritize an AI-driven approach for this specific update.

However, as the industry continues bolstering protections against advanced threats, AI auditing, whether used internally or publicly, represents the next major evolution in digital privacy.

• Andy Yen, founder and CEO of Proton, takes the 27th Liberal Award
• JFZH cites his record on privacy, start-ups, and tech sovereignty
• The November 12 ceremony coincides with Switzerland’s second surveillance consultation

Andy Yen, founder and CEO of Proton, has won the 2026 Liberal Award.

The prize is handed out each year by the Jungfreisinnige Kanton Zürich (JFZH), the Young Liberals of the Canton of Zurich, to someone judged to have made a significant contribution to a liberal society.

His company is best known for its privacy suite: Proton Mail, Proton VPN – one of the best VPN services on the market – along with Proton Drive and Proton Pass. The JFZH credits Yen with building a European alternative to the major US tech platforms, and with making the case for privacy at a time when Swiss surveillance rules are back in play.

From CERN to a 100-million-user company

Yen’s route into tech ran through physics. He holds a PhD in particle physics from Harvard and worked as a research scientist at CERN in Geneva before turning to building Proton, which is headquartered in the same city.

The company now employs more than 700 people, 60 of them in the Canton of Zurich, and says it serves over 100 million customers worldwide. It’s majority-owned by the non-profit Proton Foundation – a structure Proton presents as a safeguard against the pressures that typically come with venture capital.

“Andy Yen stands up for what matters to us as well: the right to privacy and the presumption of innocence instead of blanket suspicion,” said Mikhail Shalaev, president of the JFZH. “He champions better conditions so that start-ups can grow from Switzerland. And Proton is building in Europe the key technologies that will allow our continent to remain self-determined in the future.”

An award tied to a surveillance debate

The JFZH is explicit about the timing. Switzerland’s Federal Council plans to revise the Ordinance on the Surveillance of Postal and Telecommunications Traffic (VÜPF), a move critics warn could introduce indiscriminate mass surveillance through mandatory data retention.

The revised ordinance was overwhelmingly rejected in the first public consultation. The Federal Council has since commissioned a regulatory impact assessment and scheduled a second consultation for November 2026.

“The Federal Council must protect privacy instead of risking an exodus of our most innovative tech companies,” Shalaev added.

What happens next

Yen joins past recipients including media entrepreneur Roger Schawinski, former federal councillors Pascal Couchepin, Kaspar Villiger, and Guy Parmelin, the Swiss Institute for Economic Policy (IWP), and Argentina’s deregulation minister Federico Sturzenegger.

The ceremony takes place on Thursday, November 12 2026 at Westhive in Zurich.

For Proton, the timing matters as much as the recognition. The company has spent years arguing that Europe needs its own privacy infrastructure rather than relying on US providers – a case the JFZH is making, and one that lands harder while the Federal Council debates data retention.

• The UK government wants more Apple Pay alternatives for consumers
• It’s proposing opening the technology up to other companies
• It also wants Apple to charge lower fees for access

If you pay for an item using the contactless tech on any of the best iPhones, you’re locked into Apple’s way of doing things. But the UK government’s competition regulator — the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) — is proposing new rules that could blast open the way you pay using your iPhone.

According to a press release on the UK government website, the CMA believes that “Apple’s fees and rules are blocking UK fintechs and other businesses from innovating and growing” and that its proposed changes are “expected to result in substantially lower access fees, helping make it commercially viable for more businesses to innovate and compete.”

The CMA pointed out that no rivals to Apple Pay exist in the UK, as opposed to in the EU, where several alternatives can be used. The CMA believes this is due to both high fees charged by Apple and restrictions placed on certain technology by the Cupertino giant.

For instance, while Apple allowed third-party companies to offer Apple Pay alternatives in the UK back in 2024, one condition was that these firms had to use Apple’s Secure Element, which encrypts important payment card information during transactions.

In the EU, however, European Union-wide rules mean that Apple must let companies use host card emulation (HCE) for free instead of the Secure Element, if they wish. The CMA wants that kind of technology to be available in the UK and says it does not believe that doing so would raise any “inherent security concerns.”

Commenting on the CMA’s move, Mattias Eld, CEO & Co-founder at contactless firm Fidesmo, said: “Buying an iPhone should not mean handing Apple the keys to your wallet. Consumers should rightly choose how they pay, and banks should choose who they work with. But for over a decade Apple has honed its domination over tap-to-pay, through the careful and deliberate stifling of its competitors. This has allowed Apple to charge banks inflated transaction fees, with the threat of exclusion from such a vast market leaving them little choice but to pay.”

Apple pushes back

The CMA says that while it isn’t seeking to dictate the prices or terms that Apple must set, it wants to propose “principles for how this should be determined, with the expectation that charges would be substantially lower than Apple’s current fees while still fairly rewarding Apple for providing access.”

However, Apple has pushed back against the CMA’s proposals, telling Reuters that “We do not believe the CMA should require ​Apple to adopt an approach with lower privacy and security protections. We will continue to engage constructively to reach ​an outcome that is in the best interest of our users.”

Why does Apple restrict access to contactless payment tech? One answer might simply lie in the almighty dollar: as with the App Store, Apple charges third-party firms for access and likely doesn’t want to give up that revenue stream.

I’m not entirely convinced that that’s the main reason, however — after all, Apple is one of the wealthiest companies on the planet and makes huge profit margins on every product it sells. Is nickel and diming really such a core strategy when its iPhone revenue alone jumped 21% to $54.25 billion in the third quarter of 2026?

Analysis: Apple fears it could pay the price

To me, a stronger argument centers on something else: control. This has been an obsession for the company since the days of Steve Jobs, and Apple is acutely, painfully sensitive to how its products are perceived.

If Apple loosened its grip on something so vital to the user experience as payments and financial services and a third-party contactless provider then got hacked or scammed customers, Apple fears that that will reflect badly on itself as a company. For the perfectionists at Apple, anything that lessens the user experience due to Apple’s actions is an absolute no-go. By taking payments entirely under its own aegis, Apple reassures itself that nothing will go wrong.

There’s a degree of logic to that. Apple has proven its security credentials and works harder than many companies to keep its systems incredibly safe. Going with a third-party means trusting someone else whose track record might not be as strong. But that certainly doesn’t mean that only Apple can safeguard your payment information — or indeed that only Apple should be allowed to even try.

If the CMA gets its way, Apple might be forced to change its ways. The company has already been forced to crack open its contactless walled garden in the EU, and the UK might soon follow. The way you pay using your phone might look very different as a result.

• ExpressVPN has replaced its Aircove router with Fortify, a faster Wi-Fi 6 model built on GL.iNet's Flint 2 platform
• For $199.99, you get the Fortify router and 12 months of ExpressVPN's Advanced plan
• Aircove and Aircove Go are retiring from sale, but existing owners keep support and qualify for a Fortify discount

ExpressVPN, regularly ranked among the best VPN providers, has announced Fortify, a new Wi-Fi 6 VPN router that takes over from its Aircove line and shifts the company's router-level protection onto hardware built by networking specialist GL.iNet.

The idea is a familiar division of labour: GL.iNet supplies the hardware, firmware, and router interface, while ExpressVPN brings the VPN service and privacy technology as part of what both companies describe as a longer-term partnership.

Zac Eller, GM of Global Partnerships at ExpressVPN, says that "together we can do more for customers than either of us would alone."

The launch also draws a line under Aircove. ExpressVPN is retiring both Aircove and the portable Aircove Go from sale, positioning Fortify as the upgrade path for anyone who wants router-level ExpressVPN on more capable hardware.

ExpressVPN Fortify: a big step up from Aircove

Fortify is a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 AX6000 router, a clear jump from Aircove's AX1800 rating. It uses a 4x4 MU-MIMO layout, up from 2x2, and tops out at 1148 Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 4804 Mbps on 5GHz.

Inside sits a quad-core 2.0GHz processor with 1GB of DDR4 memory and 8GB of eMMC storage, alongside two 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports and four Gigabit LAN ports for multi-gig home setups.

For VPN users, speed is the real draw. ExpressVPN says Fortify handles VPN throughput of up to 900 Mbps on WireGuard, compared with up to 330 Mbps on Aircove, and supports as many as 86 devices at once.

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How Fortify works, and what's included

As with Aircove, Fortify runs the VPN at the router level, so every supported device on the network can be routed through ExpressVPN, including smart TVs, game consoles, security cameras, and other gadgets that cannot install a VPN app of their own.

The connection uses the WireGuard protocol at launch and is configured through GL.iNet's router interface, which retains the platform's networking tools such as Multi-WAN failover, Smart Queue Management, and AdGuard Home for network-wide ad and tracker blocking.

Fortify ships with 12 months of ExpressVPN's Advanced plan (a value of $119.95) for both new and returning users. That covers the VPN through the router as well as ExpressVPN's apps on personal devices. It also bundles extras including the ExpressKeys password manager, ad and tracker blocking, ExpressMailGuard, and more.

On trust, ExpressVPN points to its no-logs policy and RAM-only TrustedServer infrastructure, independently audited by firms including PwC, Cure53 and KPMG. Aircove also passed a Cure53 security audit at launch.

Fortify goes on sale from GL.iNet's website on September 16 at an MSRP of $199.99.

What Aircove owners need to know

ExpressVPN's router journey began in 2016 with dedicated router firmware, followed by the first Aircove in 2022 and the portable Aircove Go in 2024. Both are now being retired, and ExpressVPN will not produce any more units.

If you already own one, there's nothing to do right now. Existing routers keep working, and ExpressVPN says critical security updates and customer support will continue through 2027 for Aircove and through 2028 for Aircove Go.

There's also an incentive to upgrade: existing Aircove and Aircove Go owners qualify for 20% off Fortify. To claim it, contact ExpressVPN Customer Support to confirm ownership and receive a discount code.

• NordVPN blocked over 5 million malware attempts in January alone
• 99% of phishing attacks impersonate just 300 brands
• AI tools and fraud kits mean attackers no longer need advanced skills

We are well past the days when a cyberattack meant mass-mailing a poorly spelled virus. In 2026, cybercriminals are heavily leveraging generative AI to make their scams highly personal, industrializing fraud on a massive scale.

That is the stark warning from the Consumer Cybersecurity Report: Dismantling the Evolving Threat Landscape, published today by NordVPN. Analyzing threat intelligence data from the first half of the year, the prominent cybersecurity and best VPN provider uncovered that the most exploited vulnerability right now isn't outdated software; it is human trust.

Armed with unrestricted AI models and ready-to-use fraud kits, scammers have drastically lowered the entry barrier for digital crime. The focus has decisively shifted from complex technical exploits to highly targeted campaigns that weaponize greed, urgency, and our faith in familiar brands.

"Bad actors are weaponizing our natural instinct to believe what we see and hear," says Marijus Briedis, CTO at NordVPN, warning that these attacks no longer require advanced skills or significant resources. "Anyone with an internet connection can launch them."

It's in this context that "A single human error is now more likely than ever and likely to be more devastating than ever," Briedis added.

The numbers behind the threat

NordVPN analyzes 12 million unique URLs daily, blocking an average of 130,000 malicious pages every 24 hours before they can reach a user — a critical defense mechanism as NordVPN’s antivirus tool continues to block massive volumes of malicious sites.

Malware remains the single largest threat by volume. January 2026 saw a massive peak of over 5 million blocked attempts as attackers preyed on post-holiday shoppers. Most of these were infostealers aiming to grab saved login credentials.

The US was the hardest hit with 4.89 million attempts across the first half of the year, followed by the UK (2 million) and Germany (1.32 million).

Phishing is equally rampant. NordVPN blocked over 4.4 million phishing attempts in the first half of the year, noting that 99% of these attacks impersonate a narrow list of just 300 brands, often disguised as fake job recruiter campaigns.

Microsoft was the most impersonated company (16.12%), followed by Roblox (12.32%), Google (9.94%), and Netflix (5.99%). Adding to the danger, attackers frequently exploit the trusted .com domain, which accounts for 43.2% of all intercepted scams.

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Hijacked sessions and the Dark Web

While users are increasingly wary of downloading fake apps or clicking shady links hidden in pirate sites, attackers are finding stealthier ways in.

Between January 1 and May 26, 2026, a staggering 94 billion cookies were exposed online. Of these, 1.2 billion were active session cookies, which cybercriminals can use to hijack accounts without needing a password, often completely bypassing multi-factor authentication (MFA).

Once data is stolen, it is swiftly commodified. Using its Dark Web Monitoring tools, NordVPN identified 8.4 million compromised accounts in just 90 days.

Frighteningly, over 47% of the exchanged data involved physical addresses and full names, allowing attackers to weave digital and real-world identifiers together into comprehensive victim profiles.

Telephony isn't safe, either. Between the service's launch and June 16, NordVPN blocked nearly 29,000 scam calls and issued spam warnings to over 525,000 users.

How to stay safe

Because technical barriers for criminals are lower than ever, defensive strategies must evolve. NordVPN's report stresses that consumer protection now requires a mix of both technological defenses and behavioral resilience.

Alongside using security tools like a virtual private network (VPN) and antivirus software, users must cultivate a healthy skepticism. If a message, email, or website demands urgent action or offers something too good to be true, pause and verify.

In the age of AI-driven fraud, a moment of hesitation is your best line of defense.

Proton's Unlimited plan has dropped $120, making now the cheapest time to ditch Google entirely, should you wish.

The plan includes everything you'd expect from Google's privacy-unfriendly suite: Docs, Drive, Calendar, Mail, Sheets, and so on. But, it also throws in extras such as Proton VPN, one of the best VPNs available, and Proton Pass, a premium password manager which includes the super-handy email aliasing feature.

Normally, the Proton Unlimited bundle costs $12.99 per month over two years, billed as $311.76.

This deal brings a 38% discount, making it $7.99/month. That saves $120, bringing the total 2-year cost to $191.76.

Unlike Google's suite, all of Proton's tools are end-to-end encrypted and ad-free. This means whatever you send, upload, or create is protected from snoopers looking to intercept your information to use maliciously or sell online.

This is the lowest Proton Unlimited price we've seen in 2026 but we don't know how long it'll last. So, if you're interested, sign up now to lock in the deal, and you can always make use of Proton's 30-day money-back guarantee if you change your mind.

While ditching Google entirely might seem scary, Proton is taking steps to make it as simple as possible.

Its 'Easy Switch' tool sits at the heart of this. It allows you to sign into your old email account, from which Proton automatically pulls information such as your emails, contacts, and calendar.

Files aren't quite so slick but Proton has guides for transferring from services such as Google Drive, OneDrive and more to help you get started.

I've used Proton's privacy suite for nearly two years now. Since the addition of Meet and Sheets (alongside Calendar, Docs, Drive, Mail, Pass and Wallet) it now feels more like Google Workspace than ever, and it's all far more secure.

All of the tools included can be signed up for separately. Most are pricey on their own but the Unlimited bundle makes it really good value.