The Register

Biggest threat to America's critical infrastructure? Ransomware

Digital scammers and extortionists bilked businesses and individuals in the US out of a "staggering" $16.6 billion last year, according to the FBI — the highest losses recorded since bureau’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) started tracking them 25 years ago.…

Detail? Rationale? Timeline? Nope! It's the art of the squeal

World War Fee  President Donald Trump on Tuesday said his administration plans to lower the 145 percent tariffs it levies on goods imported into America from China, continuing his pattern of unpredictable shifts in policy.…

CFO says 'a cushion of several thousand employees we can play with' is a good thing in uncertain times

SAP says 3,000 people have left the company in its restructuring plan but that it will wait to see if more employees might be affected after US tariff policies introduced global economic uncertainty.…

You. Will. Love. The. LLM.

The latest update to Microsoft 365 Copilot brings AI-powered search, so-called reasoning agents, and a new Agent Store. Some users already have access to certain features, while others may have to wait through May.…

Elon’s not the only one sounding the alarm over the AI giant’s cash grab

A group of AI heavyweights and ex-OpenAI staffers are urging the attorneys general of California and Delaware to block the ChatGPT shop's latest restructuring into a for-profit corporation. …

ChatGPT maker to join line of suitors if Chocolate Factory forced to offload browser

OpenAI's head of product for ChatGPT has flung the company's hat into the ring as a potential suitor for Google's Chrome browser should the search giant be forced to divest itself of the application.…

A mystery thief and a critical CVE involved in crypto cash grab

Many versions of the Ripple ledger (XRPL) official NPM package are compromised with malware injected to steal cryptocurrency.…

All aboard the hype train

The security industry loves its buzzwords, and this is always on full display at the annual RSA Conference event in San Francisco. Don't believe us? Take a lap on the expo floor, and you'll be bombarded with enough acronyms and over-the-top claims to send you straight to the nearest bar, which will likely serve specialty cocktails with names like The Great CASB and Firewall Fizz.…

Going to spend more time with his Sieg Heils, maybe

Government fixer Elon Musk says his days steering the Trump-blessed cost-trimming, data-scouring DOGE unit are all but done.…

Officials seek assurances that bot won't be used for military applications

Elon Musk says supply chain disruption in China held up delivery of a key component for Tesla's "Optimus" robot, with authorities reportedly demanding an export license and guarantees about military applications.…

Despite Horizon fallout, Japanese supplier continues to win public sector work

Fujitsu has won a £125 million ($167 million) contract to build Northern Ireland's new land registry system, despite promising not to bid for UK public sector work in the wake of the Post Office Horizon scandal.…

Smarter agents, continuous updates, and the eternal struggle to prove ROI

As Nvidia releases its NeMo microservices to embed AI agents into enterprise workflows, research has found that almost half of businesses are seeing only minor gains from their investments in AI.…

Stolen credentials edge out email tricks for cloud break-ins because they're so easy to get

Criminals used stolen credentials more frequently than email phishing to gain access into their victims' IT systems last year, marking the first time that compromised login details claimed the number two spot in Mandiant's list of most common initial infection vectors.…

Former Microsoft engineer calls the Windows of today 'a tool that's a bit of an adversary'

Comment  Former Microsoft engineer Dave Plummer has weighed in on why Microsoft moved from paid upgrades to Windows as a Service. As ever, the old adage applies – when the product is free, the product is probably you……

'Europe Stand Tall' campaign kicks off amid fear, uncertainty and doubt about Trump administration

Danish consultancy Netcompany is the latest European business to warn of dependency on US technology as unpredictability in the White House continues to eat away at trust in the country overseas.…

Bake in security now or pay later, says Mike Rogers

AI engineers should take a lesson from the early days of cybersecurity and bake safety and security into their models during development, rather than trying to bolt it on after the fact, according to former NSA boss Mike Rogers.…

Because nobody wants a bazillion volts zorching critical infrastructure

Japanese tech conglomerate NTT has created a drone that triggers lightning, is then struck by a heavenly bolt it instigated, and survives the experience – all in the name of preventing damage from natural lightning.…

Ten billion bucks coming in for a soft landing, customers may be about to experience a bumpy ride

Beleaguered aerospace giant Boeing has sold some of its “Digital Aviation Solutions” portfolio to private equity outfit Thoma Bravo.…

India and China deliver a nice milestone, with help from ancient internet history

Asia has become the second region in the world to reach 50 percent IPv6 capability, according to data from labs run by the Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC).…

Meanwhile, OpenAI expresses an interest in unbundling Chrome from Google

Google has agreed to unbundle its Play Store and Android operating system in India, but only on smart TVs, and will also cough up a $2.4 million fine after being found to have breached competition law.…