US insurance giant Aflac says hackers stole personal and health data of 22.6 million people

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  December 23, 2025 TechCrunch Top 3 US insurance giant Aflac says hackers stole personal and health data of 22.6 million people: Aflac, one of the largest insurance companies in the U.S., confirmed hackers stole reams of personal data, including Social Security numbers, identity documents, and health information. Read More John Carreyrou and other authors bring new lawsuit against six major AI companies: These authors rejected Anthropic's class action settlement, arguing that "LLM companies should not be able to so easily extinguish thousands upon thousands of high-value claims at bargain-basement rates." Read More Hackers stole over $2.7B in crypto in 2025, data shows: This was another banner year for crypto hacks and heists — 2025 was the third year in a row that a new crypto theft record was set. Read More Be the first to know when news breaks Subscribe to our News Alerts, and you won't miss a thing. Breaking news, exclusives, and special reports—straight to your inbox. Sign up for News Alerts! A message from TechCrunch Partnerships Reach Decision-Makers with TechCrunch Sponsored Content Your story deserves more than impressions—it deserves impact. From hosted articles and interactive storytelling to custom videos and gated content, TechCrunch delivers high-value formats that engage tech leaders, founders, and investors. Whether you want to educate, inspire, or convert, we'll craft the content and put it in front of the people who matter. Learn More Afternoon Must-Reads This founder just landed funding for a second go at the same problem: Affordable custom home design: Drafted is now nearly five months old, and it's everything Atmos wasn't. Read More Marissa Mayer's new startup Dazzle raises $8M led by Forerunner's Kirsten Green: Mayer launched Dazzle after shuttering her photo and contact management startup Sunshine. Green's investment suggests Dazzle is poised for the coming wave of new AI-infused consumer businesses. Read More Inside Uzbekistan's nationwide license plate surveillance system: The Uzbek government's national license plate scanning system was discovered exposed to the internet for anyone to access without a password. Read More Pirate group Anna's Archive says it has scraped 86 million songs from Spotify: Spotify says it has identified and disabled the user accounts involved in the scraping. Read More Lemon Slice nabs $10.5M from YC and Matrix to build out its digital avatar tech: Digital avatar generation company Lemon Slice is working to add a video layer to AI chatbots with a new diffusion model that can create digital avatars from a single image. Read More A message from Fidelity Don't let a spreadsheet cost you your next round. Managing your equity in a spreadsheet might work, until you're raising your next round, onboarding new hires, or navigating your first SAFE. Fidelity Private Shares' free cap table template can provide you with a clean start. And when you're ready to ditch the manual updates, we'll help you scale with confidence. Download Now You missed these chats from Disrupt: Kindred talks home-swapping platform for travelers, Chef Robotics introduces AI into commercial kitchens, and Character.AI addresses chatbot safety with teens. Watch on Cheddar.com Watch on Streaming Last but Not Least ServiceNow to acquire cybersecurity startup Armis for $7.75B: The deal is expected to yield significant returns for Armis investors, including Sequoia, CapitalG, and Insight Partners. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2025 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107

Inside Uzbekistan's nationwide license plate surveillance system

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories to start your morning

View this email online in your browser  December 23, 2025 TechCrunch Top 3 Inside Uzbekistan's nationwide license plate surveillance system: The Uzbek government's national license plate scanning system was discovered exposed to the internet for anyone to access without a password. Read More The tooth fairy just got reimagined for the tech-savvy generation: Move over, Santa. Now there's another magical character for kids to track. Tooth Fairy Tracker features Kiki the Tooth Fairy as its central character. When a child loses a tooth, parents can visit the website and enter their email to receive notifications as Kiki begins her mission. Read More OpenAI says AI browsers may always be vulnerable to prompt injection attacks: OpenAI says prompt injections will always be a risk for AI browsers with agentic capabilities, like Atlas. But the firm is beefing up its cybersecurity with an "LLM-based automated attacker." Read More Be the first to know when news breaks Subscribe to our News Alerts, and you won't miss a thing. Breaking news, exclusives, and special reports—straight to your inbox. Sign up for News Alerts! A message from Fidelity Don't let a spreadsheet cost you your next round. Managing your equity in a spreadsheet might work, until you're raising your next round, onboarding new hires, or navigating your first SAFE. Fidelity Private Shares' free cap table template can provide you with a clean start. And when you're ready to ditch the manual updates, we'll help you scale with confidence. Download Now Morning Must-Reads ChatGPT launches a year-end review like Spotify Wrapped: The experience includes awards, poems, and pictures referencing your year in chat. Read More Paramount renews bid for Warner Bros, ensuring $40B Larry Ellison backing: It's the latest attempt by one major Hollywood superpower to acquire another. Read More Alphabet to buy Intersect Power to bypass energy grid bottlenecks: Alphabet is set to pay $4.75 billion in cash, plus debt, for the data center and clean energy developer. Read More Trump admin halts 6 GW of offshore wind leases again: The move is the latest attempt by the Trump administration to delay the construction of 6 gigawatts of offshore wind near a hotspot of data center development. Read More Splat's app uses AI to turn your photos into coloring pages for kids: The app turns your own photos into pages for your kids to color, via AI. Read More A message from TechCrunch Partnerships Turn Ideas into Leads with TechCrunch Webinars Reach a high-value audience with webinars built to deliver results. Whether you provide the content or have TechCrunch create it for you, our webinars include full marketing support and deliver 200+ leads. For maximum reach, our Partner Event is a fully produced multi-hour show with guaranteed 1,000+ leads and extended promotion. We manage every detail so you can focus on your message. Learn More You missed these chats from Disrupt: Kindred talks home-swapping platform for travelers, Chef Robotics introduces AI into commercial kitchens, and Character.AI addresses chatbot safety with teens. Watch on Cheddar.com Watch on Streaming Last but Not Least Pirate group Anna's Archive says it has scraped 86 million songs from Spotify: Spotify says it has identified and disabled the user accounts involved in the scraping. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2025 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107