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From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-26 18:46:16
97% of CrowdStrike systems are back online; Microsoft suggests Windows changes
Kernel access gives security software a lot of power, but not without problems.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-26 17:24:28
At the Olympics, AI is watching you
New system foreshadows a future where there are too many CCTV cameras for humans to physically watch.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-26 13:57:40
Hang out with Ars in San Jose and DC this fall for two infrastructure events
Join us as we talk about the next few years in AI & storage, and what to watch for.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-25 22:54:52
Google AI earns silver medal equivalent at International Mathematical Olympiad
AlphaProof and AlphaGeometry 2 solve problems, with caveats on time and human assistance
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-25 21:39:20
OpenAI hits Google where it hurts with new SearchGPT prototype
New tool may solve a web-search problem partially caused by AI-generated junk online.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-25 21:12:59
Chrome will now prompt some users to send passwords for suspicious files
Google says passwords and files will be deleted shortly after they are deep-scanned.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-25 19:00:10
Secure Boot is completely broken on 200+ models from 5 big device makers
Keys were labeled "DO NOT TRUST." Nearly 500 device models use them anyway.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-24 23:12:27
We made a cat drink a beer with Runway’s AI video generator, and it sprouted hands
Gen-3 Alpha produces wild and whimsical results. Here's what it cooked up for us.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-24 18:33:05
CrowdStrike blames testing bugs for security update that took down 8.5M Windows PCs
Company says it's improving testing processes to avoid a repeat.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-24 17:19:41
Elon Musk claims he is training “the world’s most powerful AI by every metric”
One snag: xAI might not have the electrical power contracts to do it.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-24 12:15:43
How Russia-linked malware cut heat to 600 Ukrainian buildings in deep winter
The code was used to sabotage a heating utility in Lviv at the coldest point in the year.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-23 21:01:32
The first GPT-4-class AI model anyone can download has arrived: Llama 405B
"Open source AI is the path forward," says Mark Zuckerberg, misusing the term.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-22 18:07:31
Microsoft says 8.5M systems hit by CrowdStrike BSOD, releases USB recovery tool
When reboots don't work, bootable USB sticks may help ease fixes for some PCs.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-22 17:19:42
Astronomers discover technique to spot AI fakes using galaxy-measurement tools
Researchers use technique to quantify eyeball reflections that often reveal deepfake images.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-19 16:43:23
CrowdStrike fixes start at “reboot up to 15 times” and get more complex from there
Admins can also restore backups or manually delete CrowdStrike's buggy driver.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-19 14:22:09
Major outages at CrowdStrike, Microsoft leave the world with BSODs and confusion
Nobody's sure who's at fault for each outage: Microsoft, CrowdStrike, or both.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-18 18:34:51
The next Nvidia driver makes even more GPUs “open,” in a specific, quirky way
You can't see inside the firmware, but more open code can translate it for you.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-18 16:44:47
OpenAI launches GPT-4o mini, which will replace GPT-3.5 in ChatGPT
Lower-cost AI language model will be free for ChatGPT users.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-17 20:47:38
Vulnerability in Cisco Smart Software Manager lets attackers change any user password
Yep, passwords for administrators can be changed, too.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-17 15:44:26
Trump allies want to “Make America First in AI” with sweeping executive order
After repealing Biden's AI order, draft would create "Manhattan Projects" for military AI.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-16 23:09:58
Rite Aid says breach exposes sensitive details of 2.2 million customers
Stolen data includes customer names, addresses, birth dates, and driver's license numbers.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-16 22:40:10
Former OpenAI researcher’s new company will teach you how to build an LLM
Karpathy's Eureka Labs will pair human-made curriculum with an AI-powered assistant.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-15 21:18:50
Here’s how carefully concealed backdoor in fake AWS files escaped mainstream notice
Files available on the open source NPM repository underscore a growing sophistication.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-15 18:03:03
Microsoft CTO defies critics: AI progress not slowing down, it’s just warming up
Will LLMs keep improving if we throw more compute at them? OpenAI dealmaker thinks so.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-12 23:45:25
Google makes it easier for users to switch on Advanced Account Protection
The strict requirement for two physical keys is now eased when passkeys are used.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-12 22:58:05
OpenAI reportedly nears breakthrough with “reasoning” AI, reveals progress framework
Under new classification, Level 2 AI can perform "human-level problem solving."
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-11 22:45:20
First “Miss AI” contest sparks ire for pushing unrealistic beauty standards
Influencer platform's controversial contest awarded prizes to three nonexistent people.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-11 21:47:26
Exim vulnerability affecting 1.5 million servers lets attackers attach malicious files
Based on past attacks, It wouldn’t be surprising to see active targeting this time too.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-11 16:37:36
Intuit’s AI gamble: Mass layoff of 1,800 paired with hiring spree
Intuit CEO: "Companies that aren’t prepared to take advantage of [AI] will fall behind."
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-10 22:44:12
Threat actors exploited Windows 0-day for more than a year before Microsoft fixed it
The goal of the exploits was to open Explorer and trick targets into running malicious code.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-10 18:19:47
In bid to loosen Nvidia’s grip on AI, AMD to buy Finnish startup for $665M
The acquisition is the largest of its kind in Europe in a decade.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-10 16:17:38
OpenAI board shakeup: Microsoft out, Apple backs away amid AI partnership scrutiny
Microsoft gives up non-voting observer board role; Apple rethinks a planned similar position.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-10 12:10:29
How disinformation from a Russian AI spam farm ended up on top of Google search results
A fake article about Volodymyr Zelensky’s wife buying a Bugatti with US aid was promoted by bots.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-09 20:02:38
New Blast-RADIUS attack breaks 30-year-old protocol used in networks everywhere
Ubiquitous RADIUS scheme uses homegrown authentication based on MD5. Yup, you heard right.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-08 18:52:09
The president ordered a board to probe a massive Russian cyberattack. It never did.
The Cyber Safety Review Board missed an opportunity to prevent future attacks, experts say.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-03 20:36:04
384,000 sites pull code from sketchy code library recently bought by Chinese firm
Many website admins, it seems, have yet to get memo to remove Polyfill[.]io links.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-02 20:03:17
“RegreSSHion” vulnerability in OpenSSH gives attackers root on Linux
Full system compromise possible by peppering servers with thousands of connection requests.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-07-02 00:43:41
3 million iOS and macOS apps were exposed to potent supply-chain attacks
Apps that used code libraries hosted on CocoaPods were vulnerable for about 10 years.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-29 11:55:08
Inside a violent gang’s ruthless crypto-stealing home invasion spree
More than a dozen men threatened, assaulted, tortured, or kidnapped 11 victims.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-28 16:14:34
Researchers craft smiling robot face from living human skin cells
Living cells isolated from juvenile foreskin are flexible enough to grin when moved.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-27 20:40:15
OpenAI’s CriticGPT outperforms humans in catching AI-generated code bugs
Research model catches bugs in AI-generated code, improving human oversight of AI.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-27 20:27:43
Mac users served info-stealer malware through Google ads
Full-service Poseidon info stealer pushed by "advertiser identity verified by Google."
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-27 16:30:39
AI-generated Al Michaels to provide daily recaps during 2024 Summer Olympics
AI voice clone will narrate daily Olympics video recaps, but critics call it a "code-generated ghoul."
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-27 00:31:21
Critical MOVEit vulnerability puts huge swaths of the Internet at severe risk
A similar flaw last year left 1,800 networks breached. Will the latest one be as potent?
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-26 17:58:31
Toys “R” Us riles critics with “first-ever” AI-generated commercial using Sora
AI-generated commercials are here, and critics are displeased—but human work is still key.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-25 23:27:51
Researchers upend AI status quo by eliminating matrix multiplication in LLMs
Running AI models without matrix math means far less power consumption—and fewer GPUs?
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-24 22:00:43
Backdoor slipped into multiple WordPress plugins in ongoing supply-chain attack
Malicious updates available from WordPress.org create attacker-controlled admin account.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-24 19:44:21
Music industry giants allege mass copyright violation by AI firms
Suno and Udio could face damages of up to $150,000 per song allegedly infringed.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-20 22:04:59
Anthropic introduces Claude 3.5 Sonnet, matching GPT-4o on benchmarks
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is a speedy mid-sized entry in a new family of AI models.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-20 17:03:50
Cyberattacks have forced thousands of car dealerships to paper for a second day
"Cyber incident" takes down CDK Global, serving more than 15,000 dealers.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-20 15:06:41
Ex-OpenAI star Sutskever shoots for superintelligent AI with new company
Safe Superintelligence, Inc. seeks to safely build AI far beyond human capability.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-18 22:41:56
Runway’s latest AI video generator brings giant cotton candy monsters to life
New Gen-3 Alpha AI video generator can create detailed humans and surreal situations.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-18 21:30:12
Men plead guilty to aggravated ID theft after pilfering police database
Members of group called ViLE face a minimum of two years in prison.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-18 18:09:25
Softbank unveils plans to cancel out angry customer emotions using AI
Real-time voice modification tech seeks to reduce stress in Japanese call center staff.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-17 19:39:41
High-severity vulnerabilities affect a wide range of Asus router models
Many models receive patches; others will need to be replaced.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-17 17:40:48
Proton is taking its privacy-first apps to a nonprofit foundation model
Because of Swiss laws, there are no shareholders, and only one mission.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-14 20:40:29
Ransomware attackers quickly weaponize PHP vulnerability with 9.8 severity rating
TellYouThePass group opportunistically infects servers that have yet to update.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-14 19:04:33
Retired engineer discovers 55-year-old bug in Lunar Lander computer game code
A physics simulation flaw in text-based 1969 computer game went unnoticed until today.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-13 21:51:34
“Simulation of keyboard activity” leads to firing of Wells Fargo employees
With worker surveillance on the rise, vendors sell devices to fake keyboard and mouse movement.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-13 18:20:42
Report: Apple isn’t paying OpenAI for ChatGPT integration into OSes
Apple thinks pushing OpenAI’s brand to hundreds of millions is worth more than money.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-12 21:52:49
Turkish student creates custom AI device for cheating university exam, gets arrested
Elaborate scheme involved hidden camera and an earpiece to hear answers.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-12 20:26:52
New Stable Diffusion 3 release excels at AI-generated body horror
Users react to mangled SD3 generations and ask, "Is this release supposed to be a joke?"
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-12 18:57:11
One of the major sellers of detailed driver behavioral data is shutting down
Selling "hard braking event" data seems less lucrative after public outcry.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-11 23:56:04
China state hackers infected 20,000 Fortinet VPNs, Dutch spy service says
Critical code-execution flaw was under exploitation 2 months before company disclosed it.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-11 18:29:01
Apple and OpenAI currently have the most misunderstood partnership in tech
Apple's AI moves are nothing new for a company that has integrated outside tech for decades.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-10 23:08:42
Hackers steal “significant volume” of data from hundreds of Snowflake customers
Given shortcomings of Snowflake and its customers, there's plenty of blame to go around.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-10 20:15:42
Apple unveils “Apple Intelligence” AI features for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS
Apple debuts new catchall AI branding, generative features during WWDC 2024 keynote.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-07 22:57:49
Nasty bug with very simple exploit hits PHP just in time for the weekend
With PoC code available and active Internet scans, speed is of the essence.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-07 15:24:16
VMware customers may stay, but Broadcom could face backlash “for years to come”
300 director-level IT workers making VMware decisions were questioned.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-06 20:13:13
FBI urges LockBit victims to step forward after seizing 7,000 decryption keys
The announcement could be good news for those whose data has been inaccessible.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-06 17:39:11
DuckDuckGo offers “anonymous” access to AI chatbots through new service
DDG offers LLMs from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Mistral for factually-iffy conversations.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-05 22:41:41
Russian agents deploy AI-produced Tom Cruise narrator to tar Summer Olympics
With only weeks until the Games start, expect more to come, Microsoft says.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-04 22:52:38
Ex-OpenAI staff call for “right to warn” about AI risks without retaliation
Open letter argues for AI whistleblower provisions due to lack of government oversight.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-04 22:16:20
London hospitals declare emergency following ransomware attack
Attack takes out third-party testing and diagnostics provider critical to care.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-04 20:23:54
Zoom CEO envisions AI deepfakes attending meetings in your place
Eric Yuan told The Verge that "digital twins" are the future of work.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-03 23:23:45
Ticketmaster hacked in what’s believed to be a spree hitting Snowflake customers
Researcher says Snowflake customers hit by mass scraping ... "but nobody noticed."
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-06-03 18:13:10
Nvidia jumps ahead of itself and reveals next-gen “Rubin” AI chips in keynote tease
"I'm not sure yet whether I'm going to regret this," says CEO Jensen Huang at Computex 2024.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-31 22:56:41
Journalists “deeply troubled” by OpenAI’s content deals with Vox, The Atlantic
"Alarmed" writers unions question transparency of AI training deals with ChatGPT maker.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-31 20:47:57
Google’s AI Overview is flawed by design, and a new company blog post hints at why
Google: "There are bound to be some oddities and errors" in system that told people to eat rocks.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-31 18:38:05
Federal agency warns critical Linux vulnerability being actively exploited
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency urges affected users to update ASAP.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-30 21:42:59
Tech giants form AI group to counter Nvidia with new interconnect standard
"Ultra Accelerator Link" aims to connect high-performance GPUs and servers.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-30 20:41:08
Law enforcement operation takes aim at an often-overlooked cybercrime linchpin
Officials hope to sever a component crucial to the larger malware landscape.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-30 15:00:09
Mystery malware destroys 600,000 routers from a single ISP during 72-hour span
An unknown threat actor with equally unknown motives forces ISP to replace routers.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-29 16:54:04
OpenAI board first learned about ChatGPT from Twitter, according to former member
Helen Toner, center of struggle with Altman, suggests CEO fostered "toxic atmosphere" at company.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-29 16:42:22
Researchers crack 11-year-old password, recover $3 million in bitcoin
A flaw with the digital wallet and a bit of luck did the trick.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-29 00:28:48
US sanctions operators of “free VPN” that routed crime traffic through user PCs
911 S5 residential proxy service was comprised of 19 million IP addresses.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-28 17:05:58
OpenAI training its next major AI model, forms new safety committee
GPT-5 might be farther off than we thought, but OpenAI wants to make sure it is safe.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-24 23:06:57
Newly discovered ransomware uses BitLocker to encrypt victim data
ShrinkLocker is the latest ransomware to use Windows' full-disk encryption.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-24 12:00:27
Google’s “AI Overview” can give false, misleading, and dangerous answers
From glue-on-pizza recipes to recommending "blinker fluid," Google's AI sourcing needs work.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-23 23:46:51
Crooks plant backdoor in software used by courtrooms around the world
It's unclear how the malicious version of JAVS Viewer came to be.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-23 21:01:29
Bing outage shows just how little competition Google search really has
Opinion: Actively searching without Google or Bing is harder than it looks.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-23 18:10:34
A root-server at the Internet’s core lost touch with its peers. We still don’t know why.
For 4 days, the c-root server maintained by Cogent lost touch with its 12 peers.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-23 17:38:38
EmTech Digital 2024: A thoughtful look at AI’s pros and cons with minimal hype
At MIT conference, experts explore AI's potential for "human flourishing" and the need for regulation.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-21 20:14:55
Researchers spot cryptojacking attack that disables endpoint protections
A key component: Installing known vulnerable drivers from Avast and IOBit.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-20 22:43:24
New Windows AI feature records everything you’ve done on your PC
Recall uses AI features "to take images of your active screen every few seconds."
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-20 21:51:57
OpenAI on the defensive after multiple PR setbacks in one week
Sexy voices, departing employees, and NDA rumors have challenged the AI company.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-17 20:27:45
Financial institutions have 30 days to disclose breaches under new rules
Amendments contain loopholes that may blunt their effectiveness.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-16 23:49:22
Arizona woman accused of helping North Koreans get remote IT jobs at 300 companies
Alleged $6.8M conspiracy involved "laptop farm," identity theft, and résumé coaching.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-16 18:44:02
Archie, the Internet’s first search engine, is rescued and running
A journey through busted tapes, the Internet Old Farts Club, and SPARCstations.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2024-05-15 23:37:55
BreachForums, an online bazaar for stolen data, seized by FBI
An earlier iteration of the site was taken down last year; now its reincarnation is gone.