Investigation of ZCode (Zhipu’s AI coding desktop) found that while logged in the client silently packages the entire workspace - including full .git history, LFS cache, reflogs, and global app configs - encrypts it, and uploads the ciphertext to Alibaba Cloud OSS. In one example a 345 MB workspace became a 313 MB .enc baseline file with hundreds of failed retries sitting in ~/.zcode/v2/checkpoints. The client requests credentials from zcode.z.ai, receives OSS form credentials, a dynamic object key, size limits, and an RSA public key, then streams a tar.gz, encrypts content with AES‑256‑CTR, wraps the symmetric key with RSA‑OAEP‑SHA256 using the server‑supplied public key, and posts directly to Aliyun OSS; OSS then callbacks the backend. The manifest is kept in plaintext and reveals that .git content made up ~86.6% of the payload (LFS ~56.8%, objects ~29.6%), exposing commit history, deleted secrets, unpushed branches, and local configs.
UI toggles that appear to disable snapshots or telemetry do not stop capture or upload - the sidecar is started unconditionally whenever a valid JWT exists, with triggers before prompts and on task completion - and deleting snapshots simply causes immediate re‑capture. Practical mitigation is to remove and mark ~/.zcode/v2/checkpoints immutable (chflags uchg on macOS or sudo chattr +i on Linux), which blocks disk I/O and halts uploads at the kernel level at the cost of disabling the in‑app rollback/timeline feature. Because the server supplies the encryption key and retains the private key, and the behavior is not disclosed in privacy text, this architecture enables server-side decryption of full repository history and functions like silent exfiltration rather than a user-controlled backup.
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Passkeys are promoted as a secure login method, but they pose risks like account lockout and device loss for individuals. Hardware key limitations and reliance on synced accounts can lead to irreversible access issues. (hawksley.dev)
ZCode, an AI coding app from Z.ai, silently uploads users' entire Git histories to Alibaba Cloud, encrypting the data with a key only Z.ai holds. The app's closed-source nature and data handling practices raise privacy concerns among developers and security experts. (tokenstead.ai)
Google is facing a legal challenge over allegations of illegally retaining customer data. The case raises issues about data privacy and Google's data management practices. (medium.com)
A Microsoft executive described AI scraping as 'the largest theft of labor in human history,' according to unredacted filings in a lawsuit. The filings reveal that companies like OpenAI bypassed paywalls and stripped copyright notices to build AI training datasets, raising legal and ethical concerns. (techcrunch.com)
Researchers have developed a method to eavesdrop on audio played through headphones from a distance. This vulnerability could allow attackers to listen in on private conversations without direct access to the device. (theregister.com)
Emulating x86 memory behavior on ARM hardware faces significant challenges due to differences between the strict x86-TSO model and ARM's relaxed memory model. These differences impact how memory operations are ordered and visible across processors, complicating software emulation efforts. (fex-emu.com)
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