Updated: 02:16 Sun, Jan 19 2025. (Last checked: 24 mins ago) |
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Windows Insiders can now turn on Administrator Protection from settings - (pubDate>Sat, 18 Jan 2025 14:30:13 GMT)Security feature widens out to more Windows 11 users, including those at homeMicrosoft is trying a new way of enabling Administrator Protection in Windows 11. The latest Windows Insider Canary build adds a setting that removes the requirement for IT admins to activate the feature.… |
Got a telescope? Bid farewell to ESA's retiring Milky Way mapper - (pubDate>Sat, 18 Jan 2025 12:28:08 GMT)Gaia makes its final science observationThe European Space Agency's (ESA) Milky Way mapper Gaia has completed the sky-scanning phase of its mission, racking up more than three trillion observations over the past decade.… |
How Windows got to version 3 – an illustrated history - (pubDate>Sat, 18 Jan 2025 09:30:11 GMT)With added manga and snark. What's not to like?Opinion Windows 1 and 2 flopped almost as badly as OS/2 did. How did Microsoft stage one of the greatest comebacks ever with Windows 3?… |
CISA: Wow, that election had a lot of foreign trolling. Trump's Homeland Sec pick: And that's none of your concern - (pubDate>Sat, 18 Jan 2025 02:37:22 GMT)Cyber agency too 'far off mission,' says incoming boss Kristi NoemAmerica's lead cybersecurity agency on Friday made one final scream into the impending truth void about election security and the role CISA plays in maintaining it.… |
Capital One two-day outage leaves customers in free-fall - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 23:08:05 GMT)Third-party supplier blamed as folks left unable to access fundsCapital One is still battling to fix whatever brought down its systems on Wednesday, which has left people unable to access their money.… |
FCC to telcos: By law you must secure your networks from foreign spies. Get on it - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 22:07:27 GMT)Plus: Uncle Sam is cross with this one Chinese biz over Salt Typhoon mega-snoopingDecades-old legislation requiring American telcos to lock down their systems to prevent foreign snoops from intercepting communications isn't mere decoration on the pages of law books – it actually means carriers need to secure their networks, the FCC has huffed.… |
Biden signs sweeping cybersecurity order, just in time for Trump to gut it - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 20:23:12 GMT)Ransomware, AI, secure software, digital IDs – there's something for everyone in the presidential directiveAnalysis Joe Biden, in the final days of his US presidency, issued another cybersecurity order that is nearly as vast in scope as it is late in the game.… |
China to probe US chip subsidies as export curbs rattle allies - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 19:34:15 GMT)Beijing investigating claims of unfair competition in mature semiconductorsThe "chip wars" between the US and China show no sign of cooling off as Beijing prepares to examine whether America is unfairly subsidizing its own semiconductor companies. Meanwhile, Washington's latest export restrictions have angered even some of its allies.… |
Fortinet: FortiGate config leaks are genuine but misleading - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 18:32:06 GMT)Competition hots up with Ivanti over who can have the worst start to a yearFortinet has confirmed that previous analyses of records leaked by the Belsen Group are indeed genuine FortiGate configs stolen during a zero-day raid in 2022.… |
Clock ticking for TikTok as US Supreme Court upholds ban - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 17:15:07 GMT)With Biden reportedly planning to skirt enforcement and kick the can to Trump, this saga might still not be overUpdated The US Supreme Court has upheld a law requiring TikTok to either divest from its Chinese parent ByteDance or face a ban in the United States. The decision eliminates the final legal obstacle to the federal government forcing a shutdown of the platform for US users on January 19.… |
EU demands a peek under the hood of X's recommendation algorithms - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 16:40:19 GMT)Commission insists the timing has nothing to do with Musk meddling in German politics ahead of electionThe European Commission is stepping up its ongoing investigation of Elon Musk's X with a request to examine recent changes made to the platform's recommendation algorithms.… |
Six vulnerabilities in ubiquitous rsync tool announced and fixed in a day - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 15:49:09 GMT)Turns out tool does both file transfers and security fixes fastDon't panic. Yes, there were a bunch of CVEs, affecting potentially hundreds of thousands of users, found in rsync in early December – and made public on Tuesday – but a fixed version came out the same day, and was further tweaked for better compatibility the following day.… |
Germany unleashes AMD-powered Hunter supercomputer - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 14:32:12 GMT)€15 million system to serve as testbed for larger Herder supercomputer coming in 2027Hundreds of AMD APUs fired up on Thursday as Germany's High-Performance Computing Center (HLRS) at the University of Stuttgart announced the completion of its latest supercomputer dubbed Hunter.… |
Copilot invades Microsoft 365 Personal and Family for an extra three bucks a month - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 13:35:06 GMT)Many users less than impressed by unexpected arrival of AI assistant in WordCopilot is coming to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family, and Vulture Central has had some hands-on experience with the generative AI assistant's attempts to be helpful.… |
Apple solves broken news alerts by turning off the AI - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 12:31:13 GMT)Summaries will return when Apple Intelligence has 'improved'Apple has released a new beta of iOS 18.3 and tacitly admitted that, yes, its AI-generated notification summaries need a bit more work.… |
IBM swoops in to rescue UK Emergency Services Network after Motorola shown the door - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 11:26:10 GMT)With a near half-billion-pound price hike bringing contract value to £1.4BIBM has secured a deal with the UK Home Office to supply user services for the troubled Emergency Service Network (ESN) upgrade, providing voice and data communications after Motorola withdrew from the project.… |
Medusa ransomware group claims attack on UK's Gateshead Council - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 10:30:08 GMT)Pastes allegedly stolen documents on leak site with £600K demandAnother year and yet another UK local authority has been pwned by a ransomware crew. This time it's Gateshead Council in North East England at the hands of the Medusa group.… |
Brit government contractor CloudKubed enters administration - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 09:28:11 GMT)Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions supplier in hands of FRP AdvisoryA self-described specialist supplier of "transformational data and AI solutions" to the UK government has called in the administrative receivers.… |
Tech support fill-in given no budget, no help, no training, and no empathy for his plight - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 08:32:09 GMT)Fixed the problem anyway – with no approval for a purchase and no permission to use a deviceOn Call When the weekend rolls around, nobody needs permission to do whatever they desire. Unless, of course, they're required to be available to support tech – a restriction we mark each week in On Call, the column that celebrates fine fixing feats achieved despite the footling of flummoxed fools.… |
Microsoft eggheads say AI can never be made secure – after testing Redmond's own products - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 07:42:05 GMT)If you want a picture of the future, imagine your infosec team stamping on software foreverMicrosoft brainiacs who probed the security of more than 100 of the software giant's own generative AI products came away with a sobering message: The models amplify existing security risks and create new ones.… |
AWS adds 32-vCPU option and an easier on-ramp to its cloudy desktops - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 06:27:09 GMT)Weirdly, this shows the weakness of hosted Windows with an admission about vidchatsAmazon Web Services has flicked the switch on a pair of workstation-grade cloud desktops that, ironically, highlight a problem with the tech.… |
SpaceX resets ‘Days Since Starship Exploded’ counter to zero - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 04:28:06 GMT)Test flight seven did better on the ground with a successful booster catch – as aircraft divert from falling debrisUpdated SpaceX has again lost a Starship, after the seventh test flight of the spacecraft ended with a “rapid unscheduled disassembly”, but is nonetheless celebrating the mission as it ended with the second successful catch of its Super Heavy booster.… |
Just as your LLM once again goes off the rails, Cisco, Nvidia are at the door smiling - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 02:30:10 GMT)Some of you have apparently already botched chatbots or allowed ‘shadow AI’ to creep inCisco and Nvidia have both recognized that as useful as today's AI may be, the technology can be equally unsafe and/or unreliable – and have delivered tools in an attempt to help address those weaknesses.… |
GM parks claims that driver location data was given to insurers, pushing up premiums - (pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 00:49:27 GMT)We'll defo ask for permission next time, automaker tells FTCGeneral Motors on Thursday said that it has reached a settlement with the FTC "to address privacy concerns about our now-discontinued Smart Driver program."… |
In farewell speech, Biden rails against the tech industrial complex, disinfo dismantling democracy - (pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 21:33:37 GMT)Welcome to a decade where the oligarchs are no longer silent in the shadowsUS President Joe Biden gave his final address to the nation on Wednesday, and said America was visibly sliding into an oligopoly aided by a flood of online disinformation.… |
Feds sue Southwest for chronic delays, unrealistic schedules - (pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 20:00:16 GMT)Department of Transportation wants in on last-minute Biden administration action tooThe Department of Transportation has joined the flurry of last-minute actions by the Biden administration with a lawsuit accusing Southwest Airlines of operating chronically delayed flights. … |
Russia's Star Blizzard phishing crew caught targeting WhatsApp accounts - (pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 19:15:14 GMT)FSB cyberspies venture into a new app for espionage, Microsoft saysupdated Star Blizzard, a prolific phishing crew backed by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), conducted a new campaign aiming to compromise WhatsApp accounts and gain access to their messages and data, according to Microsoft.… |
TSMC plans to have 1.6nm chips in 'volume production' by 2026 - (pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 18:26:10 GMT)You've got to spend money – like $36 billion+ – to make, er, AI chipsTSMC is bumping capital expenditure in 2025 to between $38 billion and $42 billion in anticipation of scooping up more chip manufacturing contracts in the field of AI processors.… |
Enzo Biochem settles lawsuit over 2023 ransomware attack for $7.5M - (pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 17:32:19 GMT)That's in addition to the $4.5M fine paid to three state AGs last yearEnzo Biochem has settled a consolidated class-action lawsuit relating to its 2023 ransomware incident for $7.5 million.… |
Anduril picks Ohio for 5 million square foot autonomous weapon factory - (pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 16:33:32 GMT)The hyperscale plant is designed to produce tens of thousands of AVs a yearAnduril has found a new home in Middle America with confirmation today that the defense tech maker plans to build its first hyperscale manufacturing facility in Columbus, Ohio. … |
Raspberry Pi hands out prizes to all in the RP2350 Hacking Challenge - (pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 15:15:07 GMT)Power-induced glitches, lasers, and electromagnetic fields are all tools of the tradeRaspberry Pi has given out prizes for extracting a secret value from the one-time-programmable (OTP) memory of the Raspberry Pi RP2350 microcontroller – awarding a pile of cash to all four entrants.… |
Google reports halving code migration time with AI help - (pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 14:32:15 GMT)Chocolate Factory slurps own dogfood, sheds drudgery in specific areasGoogle, which peddles AI software with as much giddy enthusiasm as Microsoft, reports dogfooding its own AI concoction and leaving the lab with a pleasant taste in its mouth.… |
AI datacenters putting zero emissions promises out of reach - (pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 14:08:35 GMT)Plus: Bit barns' demand for water, land, and power could breed 'growing opposition' from residentsThe datacenter industry looks set for a turbulent 2025 as AI growth threatens to trump sustainability commitments and authorities are likely to see growing public hostility to new projects.… |
Brits must prove their age on adult sites by July, says watchdog - (pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 13:02:52 GMT)Regulator asks people to link their credit cards, mobile accounts, or face scans for smut use to protect kidsThe UK's communications regulator has published guidance for website operators aimed at preventing under-18s from accessing pornographic content online via "highly effective age assurance" techniques.… |
Debian 12.9 arrives, quickly followed by MX Linux 23.5 - (pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 12:35:51 GMT)The eighth point-release of Bookworm – yes, you read that right – and the latest MX with new XfceDebian 12.9 - the latest point-release of Debian "Bookworm" - emerged at the weekend and coming hot on its heels is one of the more interesting downstreams, MX Linux 23.5.… |
Blue Origin reaches orbit with New Glenn, fumbles first-stage recovery - (pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 11:30:14 GMT)Jeff Bezos' space company achieves milestone with payload deliveredJeff Bezos joined the orbital elite with the launch of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket this morning.… |
Infoseccer: Private security biz let guard down, exposed 120K+ files - (pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 10:36:10 GMT)Assist Security’s client list includes fashion icons, critical infrastructure orgsA London-based private security company allegedly left more than 120,000 files available online via an unsecured server, an infoseccer told The Register.… |
Apple's interoperability efforts aren't meeting spirit or letter of EU law, advocacy groups argue - (pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 09:30:11 GMT)Free Software Foundation Europe and others urge European Commission to double down on DMADigital rights advocacy organizations contend that Apple has failed to comply with its interoperability obligations under the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA).… |
UK government tech procurement lacks understanding, says watchdog - (pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 08:30:13 GMT)NAO report highlights £3B cost overruns and 29 years of cumulative delays in IT projectsUK government plans its technology purchases with limited assessment of technical feasibility, according to a spending watchdog's analysis of the £14-billion-a-year procurement of digital services.… |
India becomes just fourth country to dock satellites in orbit - (pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 07:30:09 GMT)As the ESA celebrates planned break-up of its solar blotter-spotterIndia’s Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully docked a pair of satellites, making the nation the fourth to achieve the feat.… |
US adds Chinese RISC-V player that TSMC suspected of helping build Huawei GPUs to risky company register - (pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 06:14:57 GMT)Sophgo scores a place on Entity List, Indian nuclear boffins taken offChinese chip designer Sophgo, a suspected supplier of AI silicon to Huawei, has been added to the USA’s “Entity List” of orgs felt to represent a national security risk and therefore prohibited from working with American companies unless a license is issued to allow such dealings.… |
Parallels brings back the magic that was waiting seven minutes for Windows to boot - (pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 01:38:12 GMT)In a preview of x86_64 VMs running on Apple silicon, so it’s excusable for nowDesktop hypervisor specialist Parallels has released an early technology preview of code that allows virtual machines running OSes coded for the x86_64 architecture, such as Microsoft Windows, to run on Apple’s Arm-powered silicon.… |
Nvidia shovels $500M into Israeli boffinry supercomputer - (pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 00:47:45 GMT)System to feature hundreds of liquid-cooled Blackwell systemsNvidia is constructing a 30-megawatt research-and-development supercomputer stuffed with its latest-generation Blackwell GPUs in northern Israel at an estimated cost of half a billion dollars.… |
GoDaddy slapped with wet lettuce for years of lax security and 'several major breaches' - (pubDate>Wed, 15 Jan 2025 23:47:18 GMT)Watchdog alleged it had no SIEM or MFA, orders rapid adoption of basic infosec toolsGoDaddy has failed to protect its web-hosting platform with even basic infosec tools and practices since 2018, according to the FTC, but the internet giant won’t face any immediate consequences for its many alleged acts of omission.… |
DJI loosens flight restrictions, decides to trust operators to follow FAA rules - (pubDate>Wed, 15 Jan 2025 22:30:07 GMT)Right after one of its drones crashed into an aircraft fighting California wildfires? Great timingDrone maker DJI has decided to scale back its geofencing restrictions, meaning its software won't automatically stop operators from flying into areas flagged as no-fly zones. … |
Oh, Deere! FTC sues tractor maker, alleging decades of monopolized repairs - (pubDate>Wed, 15 Jan 2025 21:16:12 GMT)Incoming Trump-picked watchdog boss dissents, calls suit 'hasty' and 'deeply imprudent,' so will it stick?Updated America's top consumer watchdog has sued tractor maker John Deere for monopolizing tech repair services for its machinery, though whether the lawsuit will survive the pending presidential transition remains to be seen. … |
China's Salt Typhoon spies spotted on US govt networks before telcos, CISA boss says - (pubDate>Wed, 15 Jan 2025 20:30:11 GMT)We are only seeing 'the tip of the iceberg,' Easterly warnsBeijing's Salt Typhoon cyberspies had been seen in US government networks before telcos discovered the same foreign intruders in their own systems, according to CISA boss Jen Easterly.… |
IT job market is still shrinking but not as quickly as last year - (pubDate>Wed, 15 Jan 2025 19:29:11 GMT)Half the number of roles axed, and yes – you can keep blaming AIThe IT jobs market has shrunk for a second year in a row, says tech consultancy Janco Associates, but at least things weren't as bad in 2024 as they were in 2023.… |
Even modest makeup can thwart facial recognition - (pubDate>Wed, 15 Jan 2025 18:45:11 GMT)You may not need to go full Juggalo for the sake of privacyResearchers at cyber-defense contractor PeopleTec have found that facial-recognition algorithms' focus on specific areas of the face opens the door to subtler surveillance avoidance strategies.… |
Nvidia plots Quantum Day at GTC 2025 – for tech it called a distant dream - (pubDate>Wed, 15 Jan 2025 18:00:10 GMT)Don't believe the hype? GPU maker jumps on the bandwagon anywayA week after Nvidia chief Jensen Huang demolished the market valuations of listed quantum computing brands by saying the technology is 20 years away from being useful, the GPU maker has confirmed it is hosting a quantum computing day.… |
