Microsoft reveals revamped Azure CDN – in two editions

BT must ‘prioritize’ between ‘shareholders and workers’ says union boss

Rejects offer of flat rate payrise, calling offer a ‘relative pay cut’ due to inflation

BT’s largest union is rejecting the offer of a flat rate pay rise and threatening to start laying the groundwork for national “statutory industrial ballot action” to ratchet up the pressure on the telecoms biz.

According to a blog post to members by Andy Kerr, deputy general secretary Telecoms & Financial Services at the Communication Workers Union, the offer on the table is £1,200, which given the rate in inflation means employees will be worse off, the CWU said.

“Based on feedback from you, the CWU believe this offer is insulting considering the contribution you have made to the business; many of you putting your lives on the line during the pandemic and significantly contributing to BT’s profits,” he says in the post, sent to The Reg.

Pentagon again delays JWCC cloud mega-deal

Multi-cloud deal ‘is going to take us a little bit longer than we thought,’ says CIO

The United States Department of Defense has delayed awarding a contract for its massive cloud project – known as the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) – until December.

The winners of the up-to-$9 billion project were slated to be announced in April. Pentagon chief information officer John Sherman told reporters on Tuesday the delay was needed as the work required to evaluate multiple proposals simultaneously is cumbersome.

According to Sherman, the contract could see four suppliers – Google, Oracle, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services – each score a share of the project’s substantial budget.

UK Cyber Security Centre advises review of risk posed by Russian tech

Suggests it’s prudent to plan for Putin weaponizing Russian products

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has advised users of Russian technology products to reassess the risks it presents.

In advice that builds on 2017 guidance about technology supply chains that include links to hostile states, NCSC technical director Ian Levy stated that the agency has not found evidence “that the Russian state intends to suborn Russian commercial products and services to cause damage to UK interests.”

But he added that “the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence” – so “it would be prudent to plan for the possibility that this could happen.”

Lapsus$ back? Researchers claim extortion gang attacked software consultancy Globant

Meanwhile, Okta squirms as further details of slow hack response emerge

Extortion gang Lapsus$ may to be back at work, despite the arrest of seven alleged operatives.

VX-Underground – an organization that analyzes malware samples and trends – has shared evidence it states was sourced from security researcher Dominic Alvieri, detailing an attack on Luxembourg-based software development consultancy Globant. The consultancy boasts of working for over thirty major clients across the public and private sectors.

DARPA to build life-saving AI models that think like medics

Project is a M*A*S*H-up of machine learning and battlefield decision-making

A new DARPA initiative aims to ultimately give AI systems the same complex, rapid decision-making capabilities as military medical staff and trauma surgeons who are in the field of battle.

The In the Moment (ITM) program, which is right now soliciting research proposals, aims to develop the foundations of expert machine-learning models that can make difficult judgment calls – where there is no right answer – that humans can trust. This study could lead to the deployment of algorithms that can help medics and other personnel make tough decisions in moments of life and death.

“DoD missions involve making many decisions rapidly in challenging circumstances and algorithmic decision-making systems could address and lighten this load on operators … ITM seeks to develop techniques that enable building, evaluating, and fielding trusted algorithmic decision-makers for mission-critical DoD operations where there is no right answer and, consequently, ground truth does not exist,” DARPA said. 

MIT, Amazon, TSMC, ASML and friends to work on non-planet-killing AI hardware

Program co-lead tells us ‘energy efficiency is the greatest need’

Big names in tech are collaborating with academics to develop energy-optimized machine-learning and quantum-computing systems under the MIT AI Hardware Program, an initiative announced on Tuesday. 

Chip makers like TSMC and Analog Devices, hardware development lab NTT Research, supplier of EUV machines ASML, and tech behemoth Amazon have signed up so far.

The goal is to figure out a roadmap outlining the production of next-generation, energy-efficient hardware for AI and quantum computing in the coming decade. To this end, the research will focus on developing novel architectures and software at the heart of a range of technologies, from analog neural networks and neuromorphic computing, to hybrid-cloud computing and HPC. Designs will be tested using proofs of concept at MIT.nano, the US university’s small-scale fabrication facility. 

Detailed: Critical hijacking bugs that took months to patch in Microsoft Azure Defender for IoT

SQL injection, race condition, bad cryptographic check pave way for infrastructure network takeovers

SentinelOne this week detailed a handful of bugs, including two critical remote code execution vulnerabilities, it found in Microsoft Azure Defender for IoT.

These security flaws, which took six months to address, could have been exploited by an unauthenticated attacker to compromise devices and take over critical infrastructure networks.

Microsoft Azure Defender for IoT is supposed to detect and respond to suspicious behavior as well as highlight known vulnerabilities, and manage patching and equipment inventories, for Internet-of-Things and industrial control systems. Energy utilities and other customers can deploy the product on-premises, and for Azure-connected devices.

SPAC sponsors could soon be held liable for over-hyping to investors

US watchdog may do something about so-called blank-check IPO capers

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is said to be preparing to adopt rules that would make those overseeing special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) liable for financial exaggerations to investors.

According to Bloomberg, the Wall Street watchdog is expected to release expanded rules for SPACs on Wednesday. The rule change “would clarify that investors can sue over inaccurate special purpose acquisition company forecasts.” Specifically, forecasts about the company a SPAC and its sponsors are trying to take public.

Asked to confirm the report, an SEC spokesperson pointed to SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s comment on Twitter that the agency will be having a meeting on Wednesday to discuss SPACs.

Asus GPU prices to tumble by up to 25% as US lifts tariffs

Other manufacturers may follow after import duties passed onto gamers, enthusiasts

The US government’s lifting of import tariffs on graphics cards from China has already led to a drop in some prices in America.

Asus has promised the prices of some of its graphics cards will decline by up to 25 per cent starting next month. The company is cutting prices on Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 30-series graphic cards from April 1, including the RTX 3050, 3060, 3070, and high-end 3080 and RTX 3090 cards.

“As a result of the latest tariff lift on Chinese imports from the Office of the United States Trade Representative, gamers and PC enthusiasts will see lower prices on starting on April 1st, 2022. Asus is among the first to pass these savings on to its consumers,” Asus said in a statement on Monday.

Mutating Verblecon malware in illicit cryptomining … so far

Symantec team warns ransomware and spying could be next

Internet fiends are using a relatively new piece of a malicious code dubbed Verblecon to install cryptominers on infected computers. 

The mutating malware attempts to evade detection by antivirus tools and similar defenses, meaning bad news all round if the software was used to deploy more destructive payloads — and that the crooks using Verblecon may not realize the power of the loader’s full potential.

“The activity we have seen carried out using this sophisticated loader indicates that it is being wielded by an individual who may not realize the capabilities of the malware they are using,” Symantec’s threat hunting team warned today.

Man arrested, accused of trying to track woman using Apple Watch attached to car

Cops say they saw gadget added at family safety center

A Tennessee man was arrested on Friday for allegedly trying to track his partner by attaching an Apple Watch to her car to monitor her whereabouts.

Lawrence Welch, 29, was charged with unlawfully attaching “an electronic device intended for tracking another person to a motor vehicle.” An affidavit filed in Davidson County, Tennessee, describes the probable cause for his arrest, a misdemeanor violation of the state’s prohibition on non-consensual vehicle tracking statute.

The affidavit, seen by The Register but not published as it contains sensitive identifying information, says on March 16, 2022, around 1915 EDT, police officers arrived at The Family Safety Center on Murfreesboro Pike, Nashville, in response to a call from security at the facility, which provides social services for those dealing with domestic violence. They were told that a woman who was seeking a protection order and the boyfriend she had sought protection from were both present.

BT must ‘prioritize’ between ‘shareholders and workers’ says union boss

Rejects offer of flat rate payrise, calling offer a ‘relative pay cut’ due to inflation

BT’s largest union is rejecting the offer of a flat rate pay rise and threatening to start laying the groundwork for national “statutory industrial ballot action” to ratchet up the pressure on the telecoms biz.

According to a blog post to members by Andy Kerr, deputy general secretary Telecoms & Financial Services at the Communication Workers Union, the offer on the table is £1,200, which given the rate in inflation means employees will be worse off, the CWU said.

“Based on feedback from you, the CWU believe this offer is insulting considering the contribution you have made to the business; many of you putting your lives on the line during the pandemic and significantly contributing to BT’s profits,” he says in the post, sent to The Reg.

Pentagon again delays JWCC cloud mega-deal

Multi-cloud deal ‘is going to take us a little bit longer than we thought,’ says CIO

The United States Department of Defense has delayed awarding a contract for its massive cloud project – known as the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) – until December.

The winners of the up-to-$9 billion project were slated to be announced in April. Pentagon chief information officer John Sherman told reporters on Tuesday the delay was needed as the work required to evaluate multiple proposals simultaneously is cumbersome.

According to Sherman, the contract could see four suppliers – Google, Oracle, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services – each score a share of the project’s substantial budget.

UK Cyber Security Centre advises review of risk posed by Russian tech

Suggests it’s prudent to plan for Putin weaponizing Russian products

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has advised users of Russian technology products to reassess the risks it presents.

In advice that builds on 2017 guidance about technology supply chains that include links to hostile states, NCSC technical director Ian Levy stated that the agency has not found evidence “that the Russian state intends to suborn Russian commercial products and services to cause damage to UK interests.”

But he added that “the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence” – so “it would be prudent to plan for the possibility that this could happen.”

Lapsus$ back? Researchers claim extortion gang attacked software consultancy Globant

Meanwhile, Okta squirms as further details of slow hack response emerge

Extortion gang Lapsus$ may to be back at work, despite the arrest of seven alleged operatives.

VX-Underground – an organization that analyzes malware samples and trends – has shared evidence it states was sourced from security researcher Dominic Alvieri, detailing an attack on Luxembourg-based software development consultancy Globant. The consultancy boasts of working for over thirty major clients across the public and private sectors.

DARPA to build life-saving AI models that think like medics

Project is a M*A*S*H-up of machine learning and battlefield decision-making

A new DARPA initiative aims to ultimately give AI systems the same complex, rapid decision-making capabilities as military medical staff and trauma surgeons who are in the field of battle.

The In the Moment (ITM) program, which is right now soliciting research proposals, aims to develop the foundations of expert machine-learning models that can make difficult judgment calls – where there is no right answer – that humans can trust. This study could lead to the deployment of algorithms that can help medics and other personnel make tough decisions in moments of life and death.

“DoD missions involve making many decisions rapidly in challenging circumstances and algorithmic decision-making systems could address and lighten this load on operators … ITM seeks to develop techniques that enable building, evaluating, and fielding trusted algorithmic decision-makers for mission-critical DoD operations where there is no right answer and, consequently, ground truth does not exist,” DARPA said. 

MIT, Amazon, TSMC, ASML and friends to work on non-planet-killing AI hardware

Program co-lead tells us ‘energy efficiency is the greatest need’

Big names in tech are collaborating with academics to develop energy-optimized machine-learning and quantum-computing systems under the MIT AI Hardware Program, an initiative announced on Tuesday. 

Chip makers like TSMC and Analog Devices, hardware development lab NTT Research, supplier of EUV machines ASML, and tech behemoth Amazon have signed up so far.

The goal is to figure out a roadmap outlining the production of next-generation, energy-efficient hardware for AI and quantum computing in the coming decade. To this end, the research will focus on developing novel architectures and software at the heart of a range of technologies, from analog neural networks and neuromorphic computing, to hybrid-cloud computing and HPC. Designs will be tested using proofs of concept at MIT.nano, the US university’s small-scale fabrication facility. 

Detailed: Critical hijacking bugs that took months to patch in Microsoft Azure Defender for IoT

SQL injection, race condition, bad cryptographic check pave way for infrastructure network takeovers

SentinelOne this week detailed a handful of bugs, including two critical remote code execution vulnerabilities, it found in Microsoft Azure Defender for IoT.

These security flaws, which took six months to address, could have been exploited by an unauthenticated attacker to compromise devices and take over critical infrastructure networks.

Microsoft Azure Defender for IoT is supposed to detect and respond to suspicious behavior as well as highlight known vulnerabilities, and manage patching and equipment inventories, for Internet-of-Things and industrial control systems. Energy utilities and other customers can deploy the product on-premises, and for Azure-connected devices.

SPAC sponsors could soon be held liable for over-hyping to investors

US watchdog may do something about so-called blank-check IPO capers

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is said to be preparing to adopt rules that would make those overseeing special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) liable for financial exaggerations to investors.

According to Bloomberg, the Wall Street watchdog is expected to release expanded rules for SPACs on Wednesday. The rule change “would clarify that investors can sue over inaccurate special purpose acquisition company forecasts.” Specifically, forecasts about the company a SPAC and its sponsors are trying to take public.

Asked to confirm the report, an SEC spokesperson pointed to SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s comment on Twitter that the agency will be having a meeting on Wednesday to discuss SPACs.

Asus GPU prices to tumble by up to 25% as US lifts tariffs

Other manufacturers may follow after import duties passed onto gamers, enthusiasts

The US government’s lifting of import tariffs on graphics cards from China has already led to a drop in some prices in America.

Asus has promised the prices of some of its graphics cards will decline by up to 25 per cent starting next month. The company is cutting prices on Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 30-series graphic cards from April 1, including the RTX 3050, 3060, 3070, and high-end 3080 and RTX 3090 cards.

“As a result of the latest tariff lift on Chinese imports from the Office of the United States Trade Representative, gamers and PC enthusiasts will see lower prices on starting on April 1st, 2022. Asus is among the first to pass these savings on to its consumers,” Asus said in a statement on Monday.

Mutating Verblecon malware in illicit cryptomining … so far

Symantec team warns ransomware and spying could be next

Internet fiends are using a relatively new piece of a malicious code dubbed Verblecon to install cryptominers on infected computers. 

The mutating malware attempts to evade detection by antivirus tools and similar defenses, meaning bad news all round if the software was used to deploy more destructive payloads — and that the crooks using Verblecon may not realize the power of the loader’s full potential.

“The activity we have seen carried out using this sophisticated loader indicates that it is being wielded by an individual who may not realize the capabilities of the malware they are using,” Symantec’s threat hunting team warned today.

Man arrested, accused of trying to track woman using Apple Watch attached to car

Cops say they saw gadget added at family safety center

A Tennessee man was arrested on Friday for allegedly trying to track his partner by attaching an Apple Watch to her car to monitor her whereabouts.

Lawrence Welch, 29, was charged with unlawfully attaching “an electronic device intended for tracking another person to a motor vehicle.” An affidavit filed in Davidson County, Tennessee, describes the probable cause for his arrest, a misdemeanor violation of the state’s prohibition on non-consensual vehicle tracking statute.

The affidavit, seen by The Register but not published as it contains sensitive identifying information, says on March 16, 2022, around 1915 EDT, police officers arrived at The Family Safety Center on Murfreesboro Pike, Nashville, in response to a call from security at the facility, which provides social services for those dealing with domestic violence. They were told that a woman who was seeking a protection order and the boyfriend she had sought protection from were both present.

BT must ‘prioritize’ between ‘shareholders and workers’ says union boss

Rejects offer of flat rate payrise, calling offer a ‘relative pay cut’ due to inflation

BT’s largest union is rejecting the offer of a flat rate pay rise and threatening to start laying the groundwork for national “statutory industrial ballot action” to ratchet up the pressure on the telecoms biz.

According to a blog post to members by Andy Kerr, deputy general secretary Telecoms & Financial Services at the Communication Workers Union, the offer on the table is £1,200, which given the rate in inflation means employees will be worse off, the CWU said.

“Based on feedback from you, the CWU believe this offer is insulting considering the contribution you have made to the business; many of you putting your lives on the line during the pandemic and significantly contributing to BT’s profits,” he says in the post, sent to The Reg.

Pentagon again delays JWCC cloud mega-deal

Multi-cloud deal ‘is going to take us a little bit longer than we thought,’ says CIO

The United States Department of Defense has delayed awarding a contract for its massive cloud project – known as the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) – until December.

The winners of the up-to-$9 billion project were slated to be announced in April. Pentagon chief information officer John Sherman told reporters on Tuesday the delay was needed as the work required to evaluate multiple proposals simultaneously is cumbersome.

According to Sherman, the contract could see four suppliers – Google, Oracle, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services – each score a share of the project’s substantial budget.

UK Cyber Security Centre advises review of risk posed by Russian tech

Suggests it’s prudent to plan for Putin weaponizing Russian products

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has advised users of Russian technology products to reassess the risks it presents.

In advice that builds on 2017 guidance about technology supply chains that include links to hostile states, NCSC technical director Ian Levy stated that the agency has not found evidence “that the Russian state intends to suborn Russian commercial products and services to cause damage to UK interests.”

But he added that “the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence” – so “it would be prudent to plan for the possibility that this could happen.”

Lapsus$ back? Researchers claim extortion gang attacked software consultancy Globant

Meanwhile, Okta squirms as further details of slow hack response emerge

Extortion gang Lapsus$ may to be back at work, despite the arrest of seven alleged operatives.

VX-Underground – an organization that analyzes malware samples and trends – has shared evidence it states was sourced from security researcher Dominic Alvieri, detailing an attack on Luxembourg-based software development consultancy Globant. The consultancy boasts of working for over thirty major clients across the public and private sectors.

DARPA to build life-saving AI models that think like medics

Project is a M*A*S*H-up of machine learning and battlefield decision-making

A new DARPA initiative aims to ultimately give AI systems the same complex, rapid decision-making capabilities as military medical staff and trauma surgeons who are in the field of battle.

The In the Moment (ITM) program, which is right now soliciting research proposals, aims to develop the foundations of expert machine-learning models that can make difficult judgment calls – where there is no right answer – that humans can trust. This study could lead to the deployment of algorithms that can help medics and other personnel make tough decisions in moments of life and death.

“DoD missions involve making many decisions rapidly in challenging circumstances and algorithmic decision-making systems could address and lighten this load on operators … ITM seeks to develop techniques that enable building, evaluating, and fielding trusted algorithmic decision-makers for mission-critical DoD operations where there is no right answer and, consequently, ground truth does not exist,” DARPA said. 

MIT, Amazon, TSMC, ASML and friends to work on non-planet-killing AI hardware

Program co-lead tells us ‘energy efficiency is the greatest need’

Big names in tech are collaborating with academics to develop energy-optimized machine-learning and quantum-computing systems under the MIT AI Hardware Program, an initiative announced on Tuesday. 

Chip makers like TSMC and Analog Devices, hardware development lab NTT Research, supplier of EUV machines ASML, and tech behemoth Amazon have signed up so far.

The goal is to figure out a roadmap outlining the production of next-generation, energy-efficient hardware for AI and quantum computing in the coming decade. To this end, the research will focus on developing novel architectures and software at the heart of a range of technologies, from analog neural networks and neuromorphic computing, to hybrid-cloud computing and HPC. Designs will be tested using proofs of concept at MIT.nano, the US university’s small-scale fabrication facility. 

Detailed: Critical hijacking bugs that took months to patch in Microsoft Azure Defender for IoT

SQL injection, race condition, bad cryptographic check pave way for infrastructure network takeovers

SentinelOne this week detailed a handful of bugs, including two critical remote code execution vulnerabilities, it found in Microsoft Azure Defender for IoT.

These security flaws, which took six months to address, could have been exploited by an unauthenticated attacker to compromise devices and take over critical infrastructure networks.

Microsoft Azure Defender for IoT is supposed to detect and respond to suspicious behavior as well as highlight known vulnerabilities, and manage patching and equipment inventories, for Internet-of-Things and industrial control systems. Energy utilities and other customers can deploy the product on-premises, and for Azure-connected devices.

SPAC sponsors could soon be held liable for over-hyping to investors

US watchdog may do something about so-called blank-check IPO capers

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is said to be preparing to adopt rules that would make those overseeing special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) liable for financial exaggerations to investors.

According to Bloomberg, the Wall Street watchdog is expected to release expanded rules for SPACs on Wednesday. The rule change “would clarify that investors can sue over inaccurate special purpose acquisition company forecasts.” Specifically, forecasts about the company a SPAC and its sponsors are trying to take public.

Asked to confirm the report, an SEC spokesperson pointed to SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s comment on Twitter that the agency will be having a meeting on Wednesday to discuss SPACs.

Asus GPU prices to tumble by up to 25% as US lifts tariffs

Other manufacturers may follow after import duties passed onto gamers, enthusiasts

The US government’s lifting of import tariffs on graphics cards from China has already led to a drop in some prices in America.

Asus has promised the prices of some of its graphics cards will decline by up to 25 per cent starting next month. The company is cutting prices on Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 30-series graphic cards from April 1, including the RTX 3050, 3060, 3070, and high-end 3080 and RTX 3090 cards.

“As a result of the latest tariff lift on Chinese imports from the Office of the United States Trade Representative, gamers and PC enthusiasts will see lower prices on starting on April 1st, 2022. Asus is among the first to pass these savings on to its consumers,” Asus said in a statement on Monday.

Mutating Verblecon malware in illicit cryptomining … so far

Symantec team warns ransomware and spying could be next

Internet fiends are using a relatively new piece of a malicious code dubbed Verblecon to install cryptominers on infected computers. 

The mutating malware attempts to evade detection by antivirus tools and similar defenses, meaning bad news all round if the software was used to deploy more destructive payloads — and that the crooks using Verblecon may not realize the power of the loader’s full potential.

“The activity we have seen carried out using this sophisticated loader indicates that it is being wielded by an individual who may not realize the capabilities of the malware they are using,” Symantec’s threat hunting team warned today.

Man arrested, accused of trying to track woman using Apple Watch attached to car

Cops say they saw gadget added at family safety center

A Tennessee man was arrested on Friday for allegedly trying to track his partner by attaching an Apple Watch to her car to monitor her whereabouts.

Lawrence Welch, 29, was charged with unlawfully attaching “an electronic device intended for tracking another person to a motor vehicle.” An affidavit filed in Davidson County, Tennessee, describes the probable cause for his arrest, a misdemeanor violation of the state’s prohibition on non-consensual vehicle tracking statute.

The affidavit, seen by The Register but not published as it contains sensitive identifying information, says on March 16, 2022, around 1915 EDT, police officers arrived at The Family Safety Center on Murfreesboro Pike, Nashville, in response to a call from security at the facility, which provides social services for those dealing with domestic violence. They were told that a woman who was seeking a protection order and the boyfriend she had sought protection from were both present.

BT must ‘prioritize’ between ‘shareholders and workers’ says union boss

Rejects offer of flat rate payrise, calling offer a ‘relative pay cut’ due to inflation

BT’s largest union is rejecting the offer of a flat rate pay rise and threatening to start laying the groundwork for national “statutory industrial ballot action” to ratchet up the pressure on the telecoms biz.

According to a blog post to members by Andy Kerr, deputy general secretary Telecoms & Financial Services at the Communication Workers Union, the offer on the table is £1,200, which given the rate in inflation means employees will be worse off, the CWU said.

“Based on feedback from you, the CWU believe this offer is insulting considering the contribution you have made to the business; many of you putting your lives on the line during the pandemic and significantly contributing to BT’s profits,” he says in the post, sent to The Reg.

Pentagon again delays JWCC cloud mega-deal

Multi-cloud deal ‘is going to take us a little bit longer than we thought,’ says CIO

The United States Department of Defense has delayed awarding a contract for its massive cloud project – known as the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) – until December.

The winners of the up-to-$9 billion project were slated to be announced in April. Pentagon chief information officer John Sherman told reporters on Tuesday the delay was needed as the work required to evaluate multiple proposals simultaneously is cumbersome.

According to Sherman, the contract could see four suppliers – Google, Oracle, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services – each score a share of the project’s substantial budget.

UK Cyber Security Centre advises review of risk posed by Russian tech

Suggests it’s prudent to plan for Putin weaponizing Russian products

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has advised users of Russian technology products to reassess the risks it presents.

In advice that builds on 2017 guidance about technology supply chains that include links to hostile states, NCSC technical director Ian Levy stated that the agency has not found evidence “that the Russian state intends to suborn Russian commercial products and services to cause damage to UK interests.”

But he added that “the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence” – so “it would be prudent to plan for the possibility that this could happen.”

Lapsus$ back? Researchers claim extortion gang attacked software consultancy Globant

Meanwhile, Okta squirms as further details of slow hack response emerge

Extortion gang Lapsus$ may to be back at work, despite the arrest of seven alleged operatives.

VX-Underground – an organization that analyzes malware samples and trends – has shared evidence it states was sourced from security researcher Dominic Alvieri, detailing an attack on Luxembourg-based software development consultancy Globant. The consultancy boasts of working for over thirty major clients across the public and private sectors.

DARPA to build life-saving AI models that think like medics

Project is a M*A*S*H-up of machine learning and battlefield decision-making

A new DARPA initiative aims to ultimately give AI systems the same complex, rapid decision-making capabilities as military medical staff and trauma surgeons who are in the field of battle.

The In the Moment (ITM) program, which is right now soliciting research proposals, aims to develop the foundations of expert machine-learning models that can make difficult judgment calls – where there is no right answer – that humans can trust. This study could lead to the deployment of algorithms that can help medics and other personnel make tough decisions in moments of life and death.

“DoD missions involve making many decisions rapidly in challenging circumstances and algorithmic decision-making systems could address and lighten this load on operators … ITM seeks to develop techniques that enable building, evaluating, and fielding trusted algorithmic decision-makers for mission-critical DoD operations where there is no right answer and, consequently, ground truth does not exist,” DARPA said. 

MIT, Amazon, TSMC, ASML and friends to work on non-planet-killing AI hardware

Program co-lead tells us ‘energy efficiency is the greatest need’

Big names in tech are collaborating with academics to develop energy-optimized machine-learning and quantum-computing systems under the MIT AI Hardware Program, an initiative announced on Tuesday. 

Chip makers like TSMC and Analog Devices, hardware development lab NTT Research, supplier of EUV machines ASML, and tech behemoth Amazon have signed up so far.

The goal is to figure out a roadmap outlining the production of next-generation, energy-efficient hardware for AI and quantum computing in the coming decade. To this end, the research will focus on developing novel architectures and software at the heart of a range of technologies, from analog neural networks and neuromorphic computing, to hybrid-cloud computing and HPC. Designs will be tested using proofs of concept at MIT.nano, the US university’s small-scale fabrication facility. 

Detailed: Critical hijacking bugs that took months to patch in Microsoft Azure Defender for IoT

SQL injection, race condition, bad cryptographic check pave way for infrastructure network takeovers

SentinelOne this week detailed a handful of bugs, including two critical remote code execution vulnerabilities, it found in Microsoft Azure Defender for IoT.

These security flaws, which took six months to address, could have been exploited by an unauthenticated attacker to compromise devices and take over critical infrastructure networks.

Microsoft Azure Defender for IoT is supposed to detect and respond to suspicious behavior as well as highlight known vulnerabilities, and manage patching and equipment inventories, for Internet-of-Things and industrial control systems. Energy utilities and other customers can deploy the product on-premises, and for Azure-connected devices.

SPAC sponsors could soon be held liable for over-hyping to investors

US watchdog may do something about so-called blank-check IPO capers

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is said to be preparing to adopt rules that would make those overseeing special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) liable for financial exaggerations to investors.

According to Bloomberg, the Wall Street watchdog is expected to release expanded rules for SPACs on Wednesday. The rule change “would clarify that investors can sue over inaccurate special purpose acquisition company forecasts.” Specifically, forecasts about the company a SPAC and its sponsors are trying to take public.

Asked to confirm the report, an SEC spokesperson pointed to SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s comment on Twitter that the agency will be having a meeting on Wednesday to discuss SPACs.

Asus GPU prices to tumble by up to 25% as US lifts tariffs

Other manufacturers may follow after import duties passed onto gamers, enthusiasts

The US government’s lifting of import tariffs on graphics cards from China has already led to a drop in some prices in America.

Asus has promised the prices of some of its graphics cards will decline by up to 25 per cent starting next month. The company is cutting prices on Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 30-series graphic cards from April 1, including the RTX 3050, 3060, 3070, and high-end 3080 and RTX 3090 cards.

“As a result of the latest tariff lift on Chinese imports from the Office of the United States Trade Representative, gamers and PC enthusiasts will see lower prices on starting on April 1st, 2022. Asus is among the first to pass these savings on to its consumers,” Asus said in a statement on Monday.

Mutating Verblecon malware in illicit cryptomining … so far

Symantec team warns ransomware and spying could be next

Internet fiends are using a relatively new piece of a malicious code dubbed Verblecon to install cryptominers on infected computers. 

The mutating malware attempts to evade detection by antivirus tools and similar defenses, meaning bad news all round if the software was used to deploy more destructive payloads — and that the crooks using Verblecon may not realize the power of the loader’s full potential.

“The activity we have seen carried out using this sophisticated loader indicates that it is being wielded by an individual who may not realize the capabilities of the malware they are using,” Symantec’s threat hunting team warned today.

Man arrested, accused of trying to track woman using Apple Watch attached to car

Cops say they saw gadget added at family safety center

A Tennessee man was arrested on Friday for allegedly trying to track his partner by attaching an Apple Watch to her car to monitor her whereabouts.

Lawrence Welch, 29, was charged with unlawfully attaching “an electronic device intended for tracking another person to a motor vehicle.” An affidavit filed in Davidson County, Tennessee, describes the probable cause for his arrest, a misdemeanor violation of the state’s prohibition on non-consensual vehicle tracking statute.

The affidavit, seen by The Register but not published as it contains sensitive identifying information, says on March 16, 2022, around 1915 EDT, police officers arrived at The Family Safety Center on Murfreesboro Pike, Nashville, in response to a call from security at the facility, which provides social services for those dealing with domestic violence. They were told that a woman who was seeking a protection order and the boyfriend she had sought protection from were both present.