The Information revealed this week that Facebook is reportedly looking to acquire a cybersecurity firm to bolster its efforts to protect its social network. Sources have said that the tech giant is scouting several unidentified companies and the deal could be announced as early as the end of the year. The move is seen as an effort to improve Facebook’s image and reinforce the idea to its users that the company is highly concerned about protecting their data and privacy. Source: CNET
Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) recently claimed to have developed a system that would reduce the risks of memory-based attacks such as Spectre and Meltdown that are currently affecting a bread range of CPU chips. While manufacturers have already issued patches for the flaws, they significantly hamper the performance of the chips, and it is said that only a total redesign is the only way to protect against such attacks. Ilia Lebedev, researcher and Ph.D. student at MIT CSAIL, says that they were able to design a system that works better than Intel’s “Cache Allocation […]
According to a recent study by the Ponemon Institute, around two-thirds of enterprises have been hit by endpoint cyberattacks in the past 12 months, which is a 20 percent increase year-on-year. Taking answers from 660 IT and cybersecurity respondents, the study established that 37 percent of attacks that organizations receive are exploits on zero-day vulnerabilities, which are previously unknown bugs that have not yet been patched by their manufacturer. Meanwhile, fileless attacks, or those that leverage exploits or launch scripts from memory to avoid detection, are expected to rise to 35 percent this year from 29 percent in 2017. […]
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey gave an explanation yesterday for the bizarre message alert containing random strings of numbers and letters that some users may have received this week. Dorsey said that the strange message is code that the platform uses to communicate with the user’s mobile devices. It briefly became visible due to a bug but the Twitter team assured that the issue had already been fixed. Twitter added that it was a harmless bug and there was no need for concern, since some users may still be on edge due to the news of Facebook’s recent breach. Source: CNBC
Microsoft employees recently protested the company’s bid on a US military contract that would involve the use of the software giant’s AI technology for warfare in the next ten years. The employees accused Microsoft of betraying its principles for short-term gain and objected to building a product that may potentially be used for profiling, surveillance, or killing. Little information has been revealed about the US military’s cloud system project named Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI), but US Defence Department’s chief management officer John Gibson said that the program should increase the lethality of his department. Source: Telegraph UK
Google said this week that it will no longer be participating in the Future Investment Initiative Summit scheduled to be held in Riyadh starting Oct. 23. Google Cloud Chief Executive Diane Greene did not give a reason for pulling out, but it is suspected that it may be due to mounting pressure on Saudi Arabia over the unexplained disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an American Washington Post columnist who has been a vocal critic of Saudi policies. A number of other businesses, including Uber, had announced that they will no longer be attending the conference. Source: Reuters
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said this week that he and his company will continue to work enthusiastically with the US military, even after other firms such as Google had pulled out due to conflict in principles. Bezos said that the US will be in trouble if big tech companies are going to refuse to work with the US Department of Defense. He added that one of the jobs of the senior leadership team is to make the right decision, even when it’s unpopular. It was revealed that Amazon is also bidding on the DoD’s Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure project, also […]
Dr. Mitch Andaya, the vice president of academics and dean of the School of Computing of iAcademy, said in an interview this week that they are ready to offer a BS Cloud Computing course to their students once the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) gives them approval. The Tanco family-owned institution is planning to introduce the course next year which it expects will help fill the industry’s demand for cybersecurity specialists. Andaya revealed that the four-year course will include majors in cybersecurity and Big Data analytics. Andaya added that producing more skilled cybersecurity workers could be the new outsourcing which […]
Rival chip companies Intel and ARM recently embarked on a strategic partnership to secure each other’s network of IoT devices. ARM’s agreed to adopt Intel standards for securely managing such networks. Both companies said it will mark a breakthrough that will help drive the spread of IoT across many industries. ARM senior VP and IoT Cloud Services division general manager, Himagiri Mukkamala, said that they expect to see a significant acceleration in terms of market growth by the number of managed devices and the volume of data that moves through such systems. Source: Reuters
Seven officials revealed this week that Five Eyes member countries have been exchanging classified information with friendly countries since the start of the year. The officials, who requested to remain anonymous, said that the enhanced cooperation centers on the specific issue of foreign interference, and while China is the main focus, issues regarding Russia had also been discussed. Sources have also hinted at France’s involvement, and while it was not suggested that Germany and Japan had been invited, it was said that the Five Eyes is seeking “global partnerships” to accelerate the sharing of information. Source: Reuters
