A previously unknown piece of ransomware, dubbed ShrinkLocker, encrypts victim data using the BitLocker feature built into the Windows operating system. BitLocker is a full-volume encryptor that debuted in 2007 with the release of Windows Vista. Users employ it to encrypt entire hard drives to prevent people from reading or modifying data in the event...
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Google’s “AI Overview” can give false, misleading, and dangerous answers
Enlarge / This is fine. (credit: Getty Images) If you use Google regularly, you may have noticed the company’s new AI Overviews providing summarized answers to some of your questions in recent days. If you use social media regularly, you may have come across many examples of those AI Overviews being hilariously or even dangerously wrong....
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Some Silicon Valley VCs Are Becoming More Conservative
Marc Andreessen, Chamath Palihapitiya and several other tech venture capitalists are increasingly criticizing President Biden and making their disaffection known in an election year.
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TikTok Moves to Limit Russian and Chinese Media’s Reach in Big Election Year
The platform will keep state-affiliated media accounts out of users’ feeds if they “attempt to reach communities outside their home country on current global events and affairs.”
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Crooks plant backdoor in software used by courtrooms around the world
Enlarge (credit: JAVS) A software maker serving more than 10,000 courtrooms throughout the world hosted an application update containing a hidden backdoor that maintained persistent communication with a malicious website, researchers reported Thursday, in the latest episode of a supply-chain attack. The software, known as the JAVS Viewer 8, is a component of the JAVS...
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Bing outage shows just how little competition Google search really has
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Bing, Microsoft’s search engine platform, went down in the very early morning today. That meant that searches from Microsoft’s Edge browsers that had yet to change their default providers didn’t work. It also meant that services relying on Bing’s search API—Microsoft’s own Copilot, ChatGPT search, Yahoo, Ecosia, and DuckDuckGo—similarly failed. Services...
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A root-server at the Internet’s core lost touch with its peers. We still don’t know why.
Enlarge For more than four days, a server at the very core of the Internet’s domain name system was out of sync with its 12 root server peers due to an unexplained glitch that could have caused stability and security problems worldwide. This server, maintained by Internet carrier Cogent Communications, is one of the 13...
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EmTech Digital 2024: A thoughtful look at AI’s pros and cons with minimal hype
Enlarge / Nathan Benaich of Air Street Capital delivers the opening presentation on the state of AI at EmTech Digital 2024 on May 22, 2024. (credit: Benj Edwards) CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts—On Wednesday, AI enthusiasts and experts gathered to hear a series of presentations about the state of AI at EmTech Digital 2024 on the Massachusetts Institute...
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Inside the Life of Nicole Shanahan, RFK Jr.’s Running Mate
Nicole Shanahan, a lawyer who was married to Sergey Brin, a Google founder, led a rarefied and sometimes turbulent life in Silicon Valley, according to a Times examination.
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Nvidia, Powered by A.I. Boom, Reports Soaring Revenue and Profits
The Silicon Valley company was again lifted by sales of its artificial intelligence chips, but it faces growing competition and heightened expectations.