You think ransomware is bad now? Wait until it infects CPUs
RSAC If Rapid7's Christiaan Beek decided to change careers and become a ransomware criminal, he knows exactly how he'd innovate: CPU ransomware.…
Feds disrupt proxy-for-hire botnet, indict four alleged net miscreants
Earlier this week, the FBI urged folks to bin aging routers vulnerable to hijacking, citing ongoing attacks linked to TheMoon malware. In a related move, the US Department of Justice unsealed indictments against four foreign nationals accused of running a long-running proxy-for-hire network that exploited outdated routers to funnel criminal traffic.…
UK Ministry of Defence is spending less with US biz, and more with Europeans
The UK's Ministry of Defence (MOD) is gradually shifting its spending from the US to Europe, according to research from Tussell.…
Yolk's on you – eggs break less when they land sideways
It might sound like common sense – and it's echoed by science communicators and even ChatGPT – but it's wrong. New research shows eggs are less likely to crack when they land on their side than on their end.…
Nip chip smugglers by building trackers into GPUs, US Senator suggests
Despite stiff export controls on the legitimate sale of AI accelerators to China, stemming the flow of gray market GPUs streaming into the Middle Kingdom remains a point of concern for American lawmakers.…
US govt's science foundation purges 37 divisions, equity unit among casualties
The US government's National Science Foundation (NSF) is reportedly axing more than three dozen divisions, including its equity-in-STEM unit, while prepping staff layoffs and yanking over a billion dollars in recently awarded grants. The purge has already sparked legal action and congressional scrutiny.…
If Google is forced to give up Chrome, what happens next?
Opinion When Donald Trump entered the White House, I expect Google thought its worries were over. A million-dollar "donation" for the inaugural ball, some face time between Sundar Pichai and Trump – and President Joe Biden's pesky Department of Justice (DoJ) demanding Google divest itself of its Chrome web browser would all be forgotten.…
IRS hopes to replace fired enforcement workers with AI
Following considerable cuts to its enforcement workforce, the US's Internal Revenue Service (IRS) plans to use AI to supplement its ability to collect taxes from US citizens. …
US Transpo Sec wants air traffic control rebuild in 3 years, asks Congress for blank check
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has unveiled an ambitious plan to yank American air traffic control systems out of the 1960s - and he wants Congress to fund the whole project up front so it doesn't get derailed by political wind shifts.…
A new Lazarus arises – for the fourth time – for Pascal programming fans
Lazarus 4 is the latest version of the all-FOSS but Delphi-compatible IDE for the FreePascal compiler.…
Workday handed no-bid deal to fix staffing meltdown at Uncle Sam's uber-HR agency
The US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) awarded Workday a sole-source contract to overhaul its human resources systems - bypassing any formal competition - citing critical failures in its aging, fragmented HR infrastructure and binding deadlines from President Trump's executive orders on workforce restructuring.…
NASA jettisons Neo4j database for Memgraph citing costs
NASA's people analytics group has swapped its Neo4j graph database for Memgraph due to costs.…
VC behemoth Insight Partners fears top-secret financial info swiped by cyber-miscreants
Insight Partners, a mega venture capital firm with more than $90 billion in funds under management, fears network intruders got their hands on internal sensitive data about employees, portfolio companies, investors, and more.…
VIPER rover banished to storage as moonshot plan sputters
NASA has quietly scrapped a plea for third parties to take its VIPER rover to the lunar surface.…
After that 2024 Windows fiasco, CrowdStrike has a plan – job cuts, leaning on AI
CrowdStrike – the Texas antivirus slinger famous for crashing millions of Windows machines last year – plans to cut five percent of its staff, or about 500 workers, in pursuit of "greater efficiencies," according to CEO and co-founder George Kurtz.…
Tech titans: Wanna secure US AI leadership? Stop giving the world excuses to buy Chinese
Execs from several top US tech companies, including Microsoft, AMD, and OpenAI, slammed the Biden administration's export rules for AI chips and said that winning the AI race against China hinges on making it easier, not harder, to use American technology.…
Users advised to review Oracle Java use as Big Red's year end approaches
Experts are warning of an increase in Oracle Java audits - as the tech giant nears its year end - following a switch to a per-employee license model that could see costs grow by up to five times.…
openSUSE deep sixes Deepin desktop over security stink
SUSE has kicked the Deepin Desktop Environment (DDE) out of its community-driven Linux distro, openSUSE, and the reasons it gives for doing so are revealing.…
Microsoft wants us to believe AI will crack practical fusion power, driving future AI
Microsoft believes AI can hasten development of nuclear fusion as a practical energy source, which could in turn accelerate answers to the question of how to power AI.…
As US scientists flee Trump, MP urges Britain to do more to nab them
The EU and nation states have already heralded schemes to attract top scientific talent seeking to escape the Republic of Trump. So where's Britain in the mix?…
