China to probe Micron over cybersecurity, in chip war’s latest battle

The Chinese government is instituting a cybersecurity review of US-based memory chip maker Micron’s products being sold in the country, in the latest move in the ongoing semiconductor trade dispute that pits China against the US and its allies.

The rupture between China and the West over semiconductors is causing chip supply chain disruptions that threaten many of the fastest-growing parts of the technology sector – mainly AI and cloud technology. The chip war is also putting global enterprises in the crosshairs, as auto manufacturing and a host of other sectors are increasingly dependent on the availability of advanced silicon for growth.

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A Serial Tech Investment Scammer Takes Up Coding?

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2023 16:13:42 +0000

John Clifton Davies, a 60-year-old con man from the United Kingdom who fled the country in 2015 before being sentenced to 12 years in prison for fraud, has enjoyed a successful life abroad swindling technology startups by pretending to be a billionaire investor. Davies’ newest invention appears to be “CodesToYou,” which purports to be a “full cycle software development company” based in the U.K.

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Ransomware as a service? Windows users can still fight back.

Ransomware.

It’s one word that can strike a chill in anyone from a corporate C-suite to a home user. It’s sometimes hard to get a feel for the overall ransomware industry (and yes, it’s now an industry). But based on anecdotal reviews of forums and social media, it appears as though attacks against individuals are slowing. I no longer see people report they’ve been hit by ransomware on their PCs.

But it may be that attackers have realized that going after “one-off” targets isn’t the best business plan. In fact, in a recent Microsoft Secure online seminar (registration required), Jessica Payne and Geoff McDonald discuss how ransomware is now a big business, offered as a service by those who sell access to compromised networks to others.

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German Police Raid DDoS-Friendly Host ‘FlyHosting’

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2023 18:35:15 +0000

Authorities in Germany this week seized Internet servers that powered FlyHosting, a dark web service that catered to cybercriminals operating DDoS-for-hire services. Fly Hosting first advertised on cybercrime forums in November 2022, saying it was a Germany-based hosting firm that was open for business to anyone looking for a reliable place to host malware, botnet controllers, or DDoS-for-hire infrastructure.

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Researchers warn of Wi-Fi security flaw affecting iOS, Android, Linux

Apple’s decision to support MAC Address Randomization across its platforms may provide some degree of protection against a newly-identified Wi-Fi flaw researchers say could let attackers hijack network traffic. iOS, Linux, and Android devices may be vulnerable.

The problem is how the standard handles power-saving

The researchers have identified a fundamental flaw in the design of the IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi standard attackers could exploit to trick access points (Wi-Fi base stations) into leaking information. The researchers do not claim the vulnerability is being actively exploited, but warn that it might enable the interception of network traffic.

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Legislation to rein in AI’s use in hiring grows

Organizations are rapidly adopting the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for the discovery, screening, interviewing, and hiring of candidates. It can reduce time and work needed to find job candidates and it can more accurately match applicant skills to a job opening.

But legislators and other lawmakers are concerned that using AI-based tools to discover and vet talent could intrude on job seekers’ privacy and may introduce racial- and gender-based biases already baked into the software.

“We have seen a substantial groundswell over the past two to three years with regard to legislation and regulatory rule-making as it relates to the use of AI in various facets of the workplace,” said Samantha Grant, a partner with the law firm of Reed Smith. 

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Tech big wigs: Hit the brakes on AI rollouts

More than 1,100 technology luminaries, leaders and scientists have issued a warning against labs performing large-scale experiments with artificial intelligence (AI) more powerful than ChatGPT, saying the technology poses a grave threat to humanity.

In an open letter published by The Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit organization that aims is to reduce global catastrophic and existential risks to humanity, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and MIT Future of Life Institute President Max Tegmark joined other signatories in saying AI poses “profound risks to society and humanity, as shown by extensive research and acknowledged by top AI labs.”

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UK Sets Up Fake Booter Sites To Muddy DDoS Market

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2023 17:26:07 +0000

The United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has been busy setting up phony DDoS-for-hire websites that seek to collect information on users, remind them that launching DDoS attacks is illegal, and generally increase the level of paranoia for people looking to hire such services. 

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