Image by Brett Jordan, from Unsplash

Google Confirms Data Theft By ShinyHunters

• Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
• Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager

Google confirmed that its Salesforce system experienced a breach in June when hackers used phone scams to steal customer contact information, and threatened to leak the data publicly.

In a rush? Here are the quick facts:

• Only basic SMB contact details were accessed before shutdown.
• ShinyHunters may launch public data leak site to pressure victims.
• One unnamed company paid $400K ransom to avoid a leak.

Google has confirmed that it was among the latest victims of a widespread data breach targeting companies using Salesforce CRM systems. The attacks are part of a global extortion campaign linked to a hacking group known as ShinyHunters , who Google tracks under the codename UNC6040.

“In June, one of Google’s corporate Salesforce instances was impacted by similar UNC6040 activity described in this post. Google responded to the activity, performed an impact analysis and began mitigations,” the company said in an update.

The breach exposed contact information and related notes of small and medium-sized businesses, which Google described as “basic and largely publicly available business information, such as business names and contact details.” The data was accessed only briefly before Google shut down access.

The attackers used voice phishing (vishing) as a social engineering tactic to impersonate IT support staff, and trick employees into granting access. The attackers deceived victims into authorizing a fake version of Salesforce’s “Data Loader” application, which eventually allowed them to steal sensitive data.

In some cases, data was only partially exfiltrated before detection; in others, entire datasets were taken.

Google suspects ShinyHunters may now escalate the attacks by launching a public data leak site, putting even more pressure on victims. According to BleepingComputer , the group has conducted previous cyberattacks against major companies including Cisco and Adidas and Louis Vuitton.

BleepingComputer also notes that one company has already paid a ransom of 4 Bitcoins (around $400,000) to prevent data exposure.

The incident shows a troubling trend where criminal groups use phone scams to target support staff. Salesforce has become a preferred system for these breaches. Google and cybersecurity experts predict additional attacks will occur throughout the upcoming months so businesses need to remain vigilant.

Image generated by ChatGPT

Agentic AI Browsers Are Here—Is This The End of Browsing As We Know It?

• Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
• Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager

The way we navigate the web is significantly changing in 2025. “Googling” is losing power as a verb, and the arrival of the new Agentic AI bowsers, such as Opera’s Neon, Perplexity Comet, and Copilot Edge, is transforming how we interact with online content.

Google and its most popular products have been on life support since the AI boom began. Once a company or a search engine becomes a verb on a global scale, one might think it’s invincible, but the beloved verb to Google is slowly being replaced by emerging AI technologies. They haven’t become verbs yet, but are very close.

While assigning a verb for searches using AI chatbots like ChatGPT remains a topic of debate on Reddit , many agree that just “ask ChatGPT” is perfectly fine, although I do prefer the suggested variation “Geppetting”—major shifts in the browser market are happening.

How often are you turning to ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek, or Perplexity instead of Google Search?

Now ask yourself: how often do you think you’ll be using Chrome to interact with the web in the next few months? If switching browsers hasn’t crossed your mind yet, it will soon.

Googling as we’ve known it for years is changing. So are web browsers. And so are we. The agentic web is here , and AI companies are now offering users across the globe new experiences and ways of interacting with the Internet that we’ve never seen before.

Google Is Fighting For Its Throne

AI platforms like Perplexity pose a major threat to Google Search and less popular search engines like Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo, used by about 10% of the population. Now, even the popular browser Chrome, used by almost 70% of netizens, is also in jeopardy.

AI systems are delivering information in faster, more accurate, and more conversational ways that make it “easy” and practical for everyone to get what they need and want without even leaving the AI platform.

Besides the chatbots race, the Silicon Valley giant has been dealing with antitrust accusations and legal battles in the United States , where Chrome is a central topic, the United Kingdom , and the European Union . Google’s survival—or supremacy—seems to be hanging by a thread.

Alphabet has tried to revive its powerful search engine by treating it with its own AI technology. However, its efforts have not been as effective and impactful as the tech giant seems to need right now.

Last year, AI Overviews gained an embarrassing reputation after the hilarious hallucinations, and users can’t seem to get over it or even like the new AI Mode and AI summaries Google has been pushing. And Gemini still lags behind its chatbot peers in popularity.

Publishers are also raging after seeing the AI use their content and provide all the answers users need from their websites without getting much traffic or merit in return for the content they created and delivered to the Internet world.

Google keeps trying multiple survival strategies for its products to avoid falling from the throne and to stay afloat, especially in the past few weeks, with the arrival of a new threat.

The Arrival Of Agentic AI Browsers

In the past few weeks, we’ve experienced an interesting phenomenon: The arrival of agentic AI browsers .

In May, Opera introduced Neon , marketed as the world’s first Agentic AI browser. The platform is capable of performing multiple complex tasks for users—even while they sleep, or at least that’s what the company has suggested. In a cinematic, humorous video narrated by a robot with a millennial personality, Opera explains how these new browsers work.

Agentic AI browsers are new, savvy, autonomous browsers that integrate AI agents’ capabilities and help users navigate the web in a way we are not used to: asking questions or setting “goals” for the AI browsers and getting back complete travel itineraries, product comparisons, and very personalized results adapted to users’ lifestyles, requests, and needs.

So far, just a few users have been able to test Neon ’s capabilities, and Opera has been optimizing and providing more user assistance so that people can get the most out of the AI browser.

“We believe agentic browsing represents the most significant shift in human-computer interaction since the iPhone,” wrote Opera in a recent post on the social media platform X.

More Opponents Enter the Ring

In the meantime, competitors are catching up. Just a few days ago, Microsoft launched Copilot Mode for its Edge browser. The experimental model also has agentic capabilities and can predict users’ needs. Besides researching and performing multiple tasks for users, considering personal information like the user’s local weather, the AI browser can remember what users have been working on in previous days and suggest resuming tasks.

Perplexity launched Comet , its agentic browser priced $200 a month. It can link Gmail, Calendars, and LinkedIn, and even take over white collar jobs . Access is invite-only for now, but early users are impressed.

“I didn’t understand the point of an AI web browser, but after 48 hours with Comet, I’m convinced that having a smart assistant built into your internet experience will transform our lives forever,” wrote a journalist from The Verge .

OpenAI also announced it will release a new web browser soon—maybe this week?—and anonymous sources suggested that it will resemble ChatGPT’s current interface but with expanded functionality.

The End Of Traditional Browsers

We are still at an early stage in AI browsers, and most of us cannot even imagine the impact this technology will have on our lives or even predict how we will be interacting with the web by this time next year. But according to tech companies, the impact will be massive.

As I write this, I’m still using Chrome and googling synonyms for this very article. But I wonder: how will people read this op-ed in a few months? And how will I read my favorite blogs and columns?

Next year, I might be debating on this very topic with Neon while its integrated AI assistant summarizes our discussion into key takeaways, carefully formatted for WizCase readers.

I’d like to think that my articles will still be read, but maybe “readers” will also listen to them via Copilot Edge or turn them into short explainer cat videos using ChatGPT’s new browser.

The future of browsing is still uncertain—but it’s undoubtedly changing.