October 24 tech news roundup: Millions of sites affected by PHP vulnerabilities, EA is shutting down BioWare, Chrome to display new warning for suspicious sites

Google Chrome will display a pop-up warning for suspicious sites

Google Chrome’s Safe Browsing is getting a new feature. The browser will display a pop-up to warn the user about suspicious websites. Chrome has already had a similar alert system for dangerous websites, which have a high confidence verdict and poses a higher threat. Due to the higher risk involved, Chrome blocks such websites, and displays a full-page red warning stating that it was a dangerous website.

The new suspicious site warning is for websites that have a lower confidence verdict, and could potentially be risky. It won’t block the site from loading. When a user visits a page that exhibits deceptive patterns that are similar to malicious sites, Chrome will trigger a pop-up that warns “This site doesn’t seem right”. It offers two buttons, Back to safety (which is highlighted), or mark as safe. If a user clicks on Back to safety, Chrome will take them back to the previous page, to protect them from harm. On the other hand, a user may choose mark as safe if they want to ignore the warning, and proceed at their own risk. This is similar to the downloads warning system that was introduced in 2024, that differentiates suspicious vs dangerous files.

Google says that the suspicious site warning feature is available for users when Chrome’s Enhanced Protection is enabled. The feature is available on Chrome for mobile and desktop. Meanwhile, Apple recently launched a Switch to Safari campaign, which says that its browser offers 5 hours of extra battery life compared to Chrome.

Spotify’s new QR verification prevents Premium Family users from sharing plans

Spotify is taking stricter measures to prevent Spotify Family plan users from sharing their subscription with people who don’t live under the same roof. In order to do this, the music streaming service has launched a QR code verification method. When Spority detects that a Family plan user has been accessing the service from a different location for a long time, it will prompt the user to verify a QR code. This code can be accessed on the Spotify app on the Plan manager’s phone. Both users including the Plan manager must be in the same location to complete the verification process.

A user who fails to complete the verification within 7 days will be removed from the plan, and they will not be allowed to join a different Spotify Family or Duo plan for 12 months. This is effectively a ban for breaching Spotify’s rules, however users will be able to opt for a premium individual plan to continue using the service.

Spotify’s CEO Alex Norström denied that this is a crackdown, and called this method “a routine improvement” to its verification systems. He also mentioned that Spotify’s Family plan has existed for nearly 13 years, and makes a large part of the streaming service’s subscriber base, and that this new verification method was to find and patch holes in the system.

PHP2Shell exploits affects several sites, security patches released

A couple of vulnerabilities were discovered in PHP, including versions as old as 20 years. For those unaware, PHP is a programming language that is used by many websites and web apps. The vulnerabilities were named PHP2Shell, and designated as CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619. These are memory-related remote execution exploits that could allow hackers to execute malicious code remotely. Cloudflare says that PHP is used in 70% of websites, including popular platforms like Wikipedia, WordPress.

PHP2Shell affects PHP 5.4 or later. PHP has released multiple security patches to address the two vulnerabilities, even as millions of attacks targeted websites. Several sites were taken down to protect themselves from hackers as IT admins rushed to apply critical security patches.

Arc Browser is shutting down

The Browser Company has announced that it is shutting down Arc Browser permanently. Arc was replaced by the AI-centric Dia browser last year, but it was still being maintained. However, the company has now revealed that it is sunsetting Arc to focus its efforts on Dia’s development.

Users can no longer create accounts in Arc, but users can export all data out of the browser with the latest version of Arc. The Browser Company is advising Arc users to switch to Dia by creating a new account. Users can import their passwords, bookmarks, extensions and history. Spaces, Folders, and Tab Groups can also be imported from Arc to Dia.

Arc’s shut down process will happen in multiple phases. The Browse for Me, and other AI features in the iOS and Android versions of Arc Browser will stop working on November 23rd. Arc Search will continue to be available, but the browser will not sign in or sync your tabs. On December 22nd, Arc Search for Android will be delisted from the Google Play Store, and rc for macOS and Windows will stop working and Arc accounts will be deactivated. The announcement says that the company will delete all personal data within 30 days.

EA is closing Bioware

Electronic Arts has announced it is shutting down BioWare, the studio behind fan-favorite games such as Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. BioWare was founded in 1995, and acquired by EA in 2007, leading to the birth of the legendary Dragon Age and Mass Effect series. However, the last two titles in both franchises were not successful, and neither was the live-service game, Anthem.

Bioware was working on Mass Effect 5, and had even prepared a trailer for it, but EA had decided to abandon the development of the game. The trailer which was shared by a former employee of the studio is available here.

Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reports that around 400 of EA’s staff members, off which 50 at BioWare will be laid off, as part of the closure. The move comes after a Saudi Arabian investment fund bought EA for $55 Billion in August. EA is going to continue making its sports games, Battlefield series and some other titles. Additionally, EA says that it is working on a new Star Wars Jedi game, and a Marvel’s Iron Man game.