In a new blog post, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has admitted that it received a letter from the Defense Department, officially labeling it a supply chain risk. He said he doesn’t “believe this action is legally sound,” and that his company sees “no choice” but to challenge it in court. Hours before Amodei published the post, the Pentagon announced that it notified the company that its “products are deemed a supply chain risk, effective immediately.”

If you’ll recall, the Defense Department (called the Department of War under the current administration) threatened to give the company the designation typically reserved for firms from adversaries like China if it didn’t agree to remove its safeguards over mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. President Trump then ordered federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s tech.

Amodei explained that the designation has a narrow scope, because it only exists to protect the government. That is why the general public, and even Defense Department contractors, can still use Anthropic’s Claude chatbot and its AI technologies. Microsoft told CNBC that it will continue using Claude after its lawyers had concluded that it can keep on working with Anthropic on non-defense related projects.

The CEO has also admitted that his company had “productive conversations” with the department over the past few days. He said that they were looking at ways to serve the Pentagon that adheres to its two exceptions, namely that its technology not be used for mass surveillance and the development of fully autonomous weapons, and at ways to “ensure a smooth transition if that is not possible.” That confirms reports that Anthropic is back in talks with the agency in an effort to reach a new deal. In addition, he apologized for a leaked internal memo, wherein he reportedly said that OpenAI’s messaging about its own deal with the department is “just straight up lies.”

Apple has launched a new budget iPhone called the iPhone 17e. The smartphone focuses on offering key upgrades without increasing the price. It includes the A19 chip, MagSafe charging, and more base storage than before. Pre-orders for the device are already open, and the phone will start reaching stores next week. It offers several core iPhone features while keeping the price lower than flagship models. The smartphone starts with 256GB of storage, doubling the base capacity from the earlier version. The phone is available in black, white, and a new soft pink color.

What’s new with the iPhone 17e?

The iPhone 17e runs on Apple’s A19 chip, the same processor used in the standard iPhone 17. This helps the device deliver faster performance and supports Apple Intelligence features powered by AI. Another major upgrade is MagSafe support. For the first time, Apple’s budget iPhone supports MagSafe wireless charging at up to 15W, faster than the 7.5W charging on the previous model.

Furthermore, Apple has equipped the iPhone 17e with a 6.1-inch Super Retina display and the new Ceramic Shield 2 protection. This upgrade is designed to improve scratch resistance and reduce screen glare. The phone also features a 48MP Fusion camera that supports optical-quality 2x zoom, offering a versatile camera experience from a single lens.

Apple has upgraded connectivity on the iPhone 17e by adding the new C1X cellular modem. According to the company, this modem can be up to twice as fast as the one used in the previous model. The phone offers all-day battery life, runs iOS 26, and is IP68-rated for water and dust protection. It also supports satellite-based services like Emergency SOS, Messages via satellite, Roadside Assistance, and Find My.

Price and Availability

The base model of the iPhone 17e starts at $599 and comes with 256GB of internal storage. There is also a 512GB model available. Apple has maintained the base price of the new model even though it has increased the base internal storage. Pre-orders for the new model began on March 4, and shipments will start on March 11. The new model will be available in over 70 countries, including the USA, India, the UK, Japan, Canada, and Australia.

How to Pre-Order the iPhone 17e

Buyers can pre-order the iPhone 17e on the Apple website or through the Apple Store application. The steps to do so are easy and fast.

• Visit the Apple website.
• Select the iPhone 17e model.
• Choose the color and size of the storage.
• Confirm the order and choose delivery or collection.

Tycoon 2FA accounted for around 62pc of all phishing attempts blocked by Microsoft by mid-2025.

A joint cybersecurity operation has disrupted one of the world’s largest phishing-as-a-service platforms, called ‘Tycoon 2FA’ and used to bypass multi-factor authentication (MFA) and hack user accounts.

The operation was coordinated by Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, while technical disruption was led by Microsoft. Participating industry partners also included Cloudflare, Coinbase, Proofpoint and Esentire, among others.

Japanese cybersecurity firm Trend Micro shared intelligence that allowed the investigation to initiate, Europol noted. Law enforcement authorities from several European countries, including Spain and the UK, also participated.

Tycoon 2FA provided cybercriminals with a subscription-based toolkit that intercepted live authentication sessions to gain unauthorised access to online accounts, including those that were protected by additional security layers.

The platform has been active since at least 2023, according to Europol, and enabled “thousands” of cybercriminals to access email and cloud-based service accounts. Experts determined that the platform generated “tens of millions” of phishing emails each month, attempting to gain access to nearly 100,000 organisations globally, including schools, hospitals and public institutions.

“Campaigns leveraging Tycoon 2FA have appeared across nearly all sectors including education, healthcare, finance, non-profit and government,” said Microsoft.

“Its rise in popularity among cybercriminals likely stemmed from disruptions of other popular phishing services”, it noted.

Tycoon 2FA accounted for around 62pc of all phishing attempts blocked by Microsoft by mid-2025. Its platform enabled threat actors to impersonate trusted brands by copying sign-in pages for services including Microsoft’s own 365 and OneDrive, and Gmail. It also allowed criminals to access sensitive information even after passwords were reset.

Targets were lured through phishing emails containing attachments with svg, pdf, html or docx files, often embedded with QR codes or JavaScript. To evade detection, the platform used techniques such as anti-bot screening, browser fingerprinting and self-hosted Captchas.

The joint industry and law enforcement operation led to the disruption of 330 domains that formed the core infrastructure of the criminal service, including phishing pages and control panels.

However, Microsoft pointed out that Tycoon 2FA illustrates the “evolution of phishing kits in response to rising enterprise defences”. The platform shows how cybercriminals adapt lures, infrastructure and evasion techniques to stay ahead of detection.

Recently, Google and iVerify highlighted the existence of a hacking mechanism, with suspected US origins, now used by bad actors to infiltrate outdated iPhones.

Meanwhile, Amazon last month highlighted how commercial AI is being used by less technically savvy cybercriminals to scale cyberattacks on enterprises.

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