Tech News

1. Data Breaches:

   • Student Loan Breach: A breach exposed 2.5 million records, potentially causing further issues. 👉 threatpost.com
   • Oxford City Council Breach: Attackers accessed personally identifiable information from legacy systems, exposing two decades' worth of data. 👉 bleepingcomputer.com
   • Aflac Breach: American insurance giant Aflac disclosed a breach with potential theft of personal and health data amidst a broader campaign targeting insurance firms. 👉 bleepingcomputer.com
   • Breachforums Settlement: The former administrator of Breachforums will forfeit nearly $700,000 to settle a civil lawsuit from a health insurance company. 👉 krebsonsecurity.com
   • 16 Billion Credentials Leak: A massive leak of 16 billion credentials, compiled from various sources, is not a new data breach but a compilation of old ones. 👉 bleepingcomputer.com 👉 cybernews.com

2. Tesla Robotaxi Launch:

   • Tesla launched its self-driving robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, with a flat fee of $4.20 for initial riders, amid regulatory changes requiring permits for self-driving vehicles. 👉 reuters.com 👉 theguardian.com 👉 upi.com

3. AI and Regulation:

   • A Republican effort to block US states from enforcing AI regulations for 10 years will remain in Trump's tax bill. 👉 bloomberg.com^$
   • LinkedIn CEO stated that AI writing assistants are not as popular as expected. 👉 techcrunch.com

4. Cybersecurity Threats and Attacks:

   • Viasat Breach: Telecom giant Viasat was breached by China's Salt Typhoon hackers. 👉 bleepingcomputer.com
   • WordPress Theme Flaw: A critical privilege escalation vulnerability in the WordPress "Motors" theme is being exploited to hijack admin accounts. 👉 bleepingcomputer.com
   • DDoS Attack: Cloudflare blocked a record-breaking 7.3 Tbps DDoS attack targeting a hosting provider. 👉 bleepingcomputer.com
   • Fake Reservation Links: Fake travel reservations are used to steal money from travelers. 👉 threatpost.com
   • CoinMarketCap Hack: CoinMarketCap was briefly hacked to drain crypto wallets via a fake Web3 popup. 👉 bleepingcomputer.com
   • Qilin Ransomware: Qilin ransomware group adds "Call Lawyer" feature to pressure victims for larger ransoms. 👉 thehackernews.com
   • Iran TV Hack: Iran's state TV hijacked amid geopolitical tensions; $90M stolen in crypto heist. 👉 thehackernews.com
   • Exploiting App Passwords: Russian hackers bypass Gmail MFA using stolen app passwords. 👉 bleepingcomputer.com

5. Malware and Exploits:

   • Godfather Malware: Godfather Android malware now uses virtualization to hijack banking apps. 👉 bleepingcomputer.com
   • Linux udisks Flaw: A new Linux udisks flaw allows attackers to gain root access on major Linux distributions. 👉 bleepingcomputer.com
   • Trojanized GitHub Repositories: Over 67 trojanized GitHub repositories were found in a campaign targeting gamers and developers. 👉 thehackernews.com
   • Microsoft Patches Actively Exploited Zero-Day: Microsoft released patches for 67 vulnerabilities, including a WebDAV zero-day under active attack. 👉 krebsonsecurity.com
   • Android Malware Surge: New Android malware, AntiDot, hits devices via overlays, virtualization fraud, and NFC theft. 👉 thehackernews.com
   • BlueNoroff Deepfake Zoom Scam: BlueNoroff uses deepfake Zoom calls to trick a crypto employee into installing macOS malware. 👉 thehackernews.com
   • Stolen Credentials as Front Door: Webinar discusses how stolen credentials become the new front door to networks. 👉 bleepingcomputer.com

6. AI and Security:

   • AI could lead to economic disruption for some. 👉 slashdot.org
   • AI is going to lower headcounts at some of the largest companies. 👉 slashdot.org
   • AI needs to be traceable and not be able to train on copyrighted content. 👉 slashdot.org

7. Apple and AI:

   • Apple may need to acquire AI companies to put an end to their AI debacle. 👉 bloomberg.com^$
   • Apple executives have held internal talks about buying AI startup Perplexity. 👉 fortune.com

8. China's Internet ID:

   • China's new national internet ID, currently voluntary, could further erode already limited freedoms. 👉 cnn.com
   • China tightens internet controls with new centralized form of virtual ID. 👉 reddit.com

9. General Motors Hybrids:

   • GM shifts back to hybrids as EV sales slow, combining combustion and electric. 👉 nytimes.com^$
   • Hybrids might stick around for longer than expected with the emergence of synthetic fuels. 👉 autos.yahoo.com

10. AI and Math:

    • DARPA's “Exponentiating Mathematics” program aims to speed up progress in pure mathematics by developing an AI “co-author” to conduct research. 👉 nytimes.com^$

11. Duolingo and Audible AI:

    • Cancelled Duolingo and Audible subscriptions over AI use signal a potential consumer movement. 👉 slashdot.org
    • People are cancelling Audible and Duolingo subscriptions over AI use, with some feeling betrayed by tech replacing human creativity. 👉 msn.com

12. Education in Minecraft:

    • Coding gets more creative in Minecraft Education, moving beyond syntax drills to system design. 👉 edsurge.com
    • Urban Arts and Microsoft are launching a "Creative Coders" program to engage middle schoolers with computer science through game design in Minecraft. 👉 urbanarts.org

13. Stem Cell Cures Diabetes:

    • Stem cell treatment may have cured 10/12 people with severe Type 1 diabetes, according to The New England Journal of Medicine. 👉 courant.com

14. Touchscreens in Cars:

    • Cars are now rolling monuments to terrible user experience with touchscreens being a dangerous industry-wide plague. 👉 carsandhorsepower.com
    • Some manufacturers are reversing course by adding physical controls back. 👉 carsandhorsepower.com

15. AI Call Centers:

    • Accenture's former lead for its Global AI Hub says: "It's like the industrial revolution," said Prithvijit Roy and, "Some will suffer." 👉 msn.com
    • CEO of Tata Consultancy Services says there will only be a "minimal" need for call centers within a year. 👉 msn.com

16. Casino Lighting:

    • Bright, blue-heavy lighting in casinos may encourage riskier gambling behavior by diminishing sensitivity to financial losses. 👉 sciencealert.com

17. Bluesky's Growth:

    • BlueSky has grown to 36.79 million users, but some reports suggest the service is on the decline. 👉 techcrunch.com
    • TechCrunch states the "up or down" conversation 👉 techcrunch.com of "the wider network of apps built on the open protocol that Bluesky's team spearheaded" - and how BlueSky "is only meant to be one example of what's possible within the wider AT Proto ecosystem." 👉 techcrunch.com

18. Self-healing metal:

    • Nanoscale fatigue damage in metals can spontaneously heal at room temperature under vacuum conditions. 👉 slashdot.org

19. Apollo Moon Beads:

    • Analysis of orange and black lunar beads has shown that the style of volcanic eruptions changed over time. 👉 sciencedaily.com

20. Haveli Investments to Acquire Couchbase:

    • Haveli Investments will acquire Couchbase for about $1.5 billion. 👉 reuters.com

21. Adobe Project Indigo:

    • Adobe Labs releases Project Indigo, a free computational photography app for iPhones. 👉 theverge.com
    • Adobe launches Project Indigo: A next-gen camera app for iPhone with AI and computational photography. 👉 livemint.com

22. Vera C. Rubin Observatory:

    • The Vera C. Rubin Observatory will produce 60PB of space image data over 10 years, to be analyzed using ML and deep learning. 👉 nytimes.com^$

23. Purism's Liberty Phone:

    • Purism's $1,999 security-focused Liberty Phone, assembled in the US with decade-old specs, exposes the gaps in US phone manufacturing. 👉 wsj.com^$

24. US Army Reserve Detachment 201:

    • Meta's Bosworth and leaders from OpenAI and Palantir give advice as senior officers while keeping their day jobs. 👉 wired.com

25. PhysicsX Raises $135M Series B:

    • London-based PhysicsX, which uses AI to design industrial parts such as engine and drone components, raised $135M. 👉 t.co
    • PhysicsX Raises $135M Series B to Usher in a New Era of AI-Native Engineering and Manufacturing. 👉 physicsx.ai

26. Onebrief Raises $20M Series C Extension:

    • Onebrief, which makes military workflow software, raised a $20M Series C extension led by Battery Ventures at a $1.1B valuation. 👉 axios.com

27. Emily Bender Interview:

    • The Financial Times interviews Emily Bender, a computational linguist and AI skeptic, about the future of AI and her book, "The AI Con." 👉 ft.com^$

28. Uncountable Raises $27M Series A:

    • Uncountable, which makes AI tools to let R&D teams accelerate development cycles, raised a $27M Series A led by Sageview, bringing its total funding to $32.5M. 👉 axios.com

29. Chinese Companies in Brazil:

    • Temu, Shein, Meituan, and other Chinese companies are expanding in Brazil. 👉 nytimes.com^$

30. IoT Cybersecurity:

    • Docs: the FCC is probing USCTM, launched by the Biden administration as a voluntary safety label for IoT devices, over its administrators' alleged ties to China. 👉 foxnews.com

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