OODA Analysis and Briefs

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The International Drug Trade and West Africa: An Enforcement Quandary

“In the past decade, there has been significant growth in the illicit trafficking of drugs, people, firearms, and natural resources. Trafficking in these and other commodities is generally characterized by high levels of organization and the presence of strong criminal groups and networks. While such activities existed in the past, both the scale and the…
Boko Haram: A Threat to Nigeria and Beyond

Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Al-Shabaab, Hezbollah, the Haqqani network, and the Taliban are all infamous names to the Western world. These organizations, however, are but a handful of the many dozens of organizations with the official US designation of “Foreign Terrorist Organizations.” Each organization has its country or region of operations and influence. Hezbollah in Lebanon, the…
American Cities Going Bankrupt: Making Sense of the Growing Trend

Financial fallout in many US cities following the recession has left a growing number of US cities in economic crisis of their own. With no ability to pay runaway pension promises and even basic salaries, more and more cities are declaring bankruptcy. Bankruptcy, however, is a last resort option that leaves a deep and uninviting…
The Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands Crisis

Known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, there isn’t much on these five uninhabited islands between China, Taiwan, and Japan besides goats and strife. Recent disputes over the islands amid rising nationalism and unstable internal politics in both China and Japan, however, have put relations between the two countries in their worst state…
Islamism and the Attacks on the US Embassy: A Historical Analysis

The following is an analysis of the whole based off of a single “index.” Here the analysis is indexed off of movements within history. This index explains recent events in terms of connections to the past. There is much truth in this sort of analysis. It is not, however, capable of fully explaining current events.…
Dangerous Minds – The Relationship between Beliefs, Behaviors, and Tactics

This research monograph – Dangerous Minds, examines the relationship between the individual beliefs, behaviours, and tactics of an attacker. It was developed out of work, following human factors research for a ‘Scripted Agent Based Microsimulation Project’, which is currently being developed at the University of Wollongong (NSW, Australia). Another contributing factor to the development of…
Jordan’s Uncertain Future

Public protests erupted throughout Jordan in February of this year. While security officials in Amman are well accustomed to demonstrations within the city limits, the February protests also reached further out into the tribal regions, leading some to think that these small tremors of unrest are signs of a larger movement to come. Like the…
Haiti: How Much More Can it Fail?

Since the 2004 coup d’etat of Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the 2006 installation of René Préval, Haiti underwent profound chaos and political instability coupled with a dire economic climate which left 86 percent of Port-au-Prince residents living in slum conditions. Then, in January 2010, a 7.0 earthquake left 1.5 million people homeless, 220,000 dead, and 10…
The Empire State Building Shootout and Use of Force

On Friday morning, August 24, police shot a man who had murdered a former coworker and drew a gun on them outside of the Empire State Building. The two officers shot the man dead, hitting him 7 to 9 times from fewer than 10 feet, but they also injured 9 bystanders, none fatally. This incident…
The Pussy Riot Case Was A Victory for Putin

On Friday, August 17, three members of a Russian feminist punk rock band were sentenced to two years in prison for singing an anti-Putin song at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior. They were found guilty of hooliganism and religious hatred against the Russian Orthodox Church, though the verdict was transparently a message for other opposition protesters. Since the band’s arrest,…
Weaponizing Markets: India’s Naxalite Insurgency

“I have said in the past that left-wing extremism is the single biggest security challenge to the Indian state. It continues to be so.” – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh There is a threat to India’s existence. It has little to do with radical Islam or potential conflict with Pakistan.The once-suppressed Naxalite insurgency is siphoning the flows of globalization and…
International Agriculture in Transition

World food prices, food import/export levels, and food security are becoming more predictable and organized thanks to worldwide improvements in reporting, increasing regional agricultural development, and heightened governmental attention. The stage is set for major improvements in the development of international agriculture. In 2011, world food policy and food security issues drew the attention of…
US Government Agency Insider Threat Planning

Federal Cyber Security professionals have long considered the “insider threat” as the most insidious, hardest to protect against threat vector. This has always been the toughest form of threat, even before computers were created. Now that every employee in the entire organization must have access to IT the cyber version of this threat is just…
Cold War II? Russia and the US in Syria

The civil war in Syria is creating a Russia-US divide that could push the countries into a second Cold War. The US faces many threats abroad but none have yet surpassed the threat of her former nemesis, Russia, the core of the former-Soviet giant. Today’s Russia is in many ways more of a proliferation threat…
Private Sector Implications of Operation Olympic Games

The New York Times revealed today what many experts had already asserted regarding the United States role in the Stuxnet attack. While speculation of U.S. involvement complicated international relations on cyber conflict, an acknowledgement of U.S. involvement in a forum such as the New York Times heralds in a brave new world of cyber conflict.…

Briefs

In Other News: Cybersecurity Funding Rebounds, Cloud Threats, BeyondTrust Vulnerability

SecurityWeek’s weekly roundup highlights notable developments: Nozomi Networks reports OT malware surge, Schneider Electric launches Managed Security Services. DataTribe’s report shows 47% early-stage deal rise, while Microsoft focuses on sports event cybersecurity. Mitiga warns of AWS SSM agent as a remote trojan. US alerts on extremist use of Flipper Zero tool. Vectra details Azure AD…
A Cyberattack Has Disrupted Hospitals and Health Care in Five States

A cyberattack has targeted hospital computer systems across several states, leading to the closure of some emergency rooms and the diversion of ambulances. The attack, described as a “data security incident,” occurred at facilities operated by Prospect Medical Holdings, which has hospitals and clinics in California, Texas, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. The company took…
Differences between robotics and Artificial Intelligence

Robotics and Artificial Intelligence are two terms that are often confused and sometimes not distinguished, but they actually refer to different technologies. Artificial intelligence is a discipline that focuses on enabling machines to develop the same intellectual capabilities as humans. Robotics, on the other hand, is the science of designing and building physical robots to…
Meta launches suite of generative AI music tools rivaling Google’s MusicLM

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, launched a suite of generative artificial intelligence (AI) models on Aug. 2 called AudioCraft for music creation from various inputs, according to a blog post. Included in the suite of generative AI tools are MusicGen and AudioGen, which operate off of text-based inputs to create new audio, along…
Curve Finance’s $62M exploit exposes larger issues for DeFi ecosystem

Hackers stole around $62 million from Curve Finance on Sunday, causing a ripple effect throughout the crypto sector and raising questions about the strength of the decentralized finance ecosystem. Curve is one of the largest decentralized exchanges (DEX) in the crypto market today, with about $1.67 billion in total value locked (TVL), according to data…
As Artificial Intelligence Accelerates, Cybercrime Innovates

Cybercrime might be the world’s fastest-growing entrepreneurial venture. Over the past decade, no enterprise — licit or other — has flourished quite as ably. If cybercrime were endowed a nation and granted a gross domestic product (GDP), it would rank as the world’s third largest economy, behind only the United States and China. This is no…
Niger coup: Thousands march to support junta

Thousands of people in Niger’s capital, Niamey, have participated in a peaceful protest in support of the recent military coup in the country. The protesters condemned West African nations that have imposed sanctions on Niger and called for the departure of foreign troops, including those from the US and France, which have military bases in…
Giorgia Meloni: Italian PM sues Placebo frontman for defamation

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is reportedly suing Placebo singer Brian Molko for defamation after he referred to her as a fascist and a racist during a performance at the Sonic Park festival in Turin. Videos of the event show Molko making the comments from the stage, which led to an investigation by prosecutors in…
Stabbing ‘rampage’ injures at least 12 in South Korea

At least 12 people have been injured in a violent attack near the South Korean capital, Seoul. The suspect drove his car into pedestrians and then proceeded to stab several others in a busy shopping center. The incident occurred during rush hour in the town of Seongnam. The motivation behind the attack remains unclear, and…
Travis King: North Korea confirms custody of US soldier

North Korea has confirmed that it is holding Travis King, a 23-year-old US soldier who crossed the border from South Korea on July 18. The confirmation comes in response to requests for information from the UN Command, which polices the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas. The UN Command had sought information using its…
These Are the Top Five Cloud Security Risks, Qualys Says

Qualys, a cloud security specialist, has identified the top five cloud security risks based on its analysis of its own platform and third-party data. These risks include misconfigurations, external-facing vulnerabilities, weaponized vulnerabilities, malware within a cloud environment, and remediation lag. Misconfigurations remain a significant concern, often stemming from misunderstanding or misusing the shared responsibility model…
Dozens of RCE Vulnerabilities Impact Milesight Industrial Router

Cisco’s Talos security researchers have discovered dozens of vulnerabilities in the Milesight UR32L industrial router that could be exploited to execute arbitrary code or commands. The most severe vulnerability, CVE-2023-23902, is a buffer overflow issue in the router’s HTTP server login functionality that could lead to remote code execution. Of the 69 Common Vulnerabilities and…
670 ICS Vulnerabilities Disclosed by CISA in First Half of 2023: Analysis

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) revealed that 670 vulnerabilities affecting industrial control systems (ICS) and operational technology (OT) products were disclosed in the first half of 2023. The analysis was conducted by industrial asset and network monitoring company SynSaber in collaboration with the ICS Advisory Project. The report highlights that while the…
Jericho Security Raises $3 Million for Awareness Training Powered by Generative AI

Jericho Security, a New York-based startup, has raised $3 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Era, a global investment firm. Other participants in the funding round include Alcove, Alumni Venture Group, Contrary, FoundersXFund, Lux Capital, MetaLabs, Textbook, Thorntree, and angel investors. The startup, founded in 2023, aims to address the emerging threats posed…
How MIT’s Liquid Neural Networks can solve AI problems from robotics to self-driving cars

In the current artificial intelligence (AI) landscape, the buzz around large language models (LLMs) has led to a race toward creating increasingly larger neural networks. However, not every application can support the computational and memory demands of very large deep learning models. The constraints of these environments have led to some interesting research directions. Liquid neural…
UK calls artificial intelligence a “chronic risk” to its national security

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been officially classed as a security threat to the UK for the first time following the publication of the National Risk Register (NRR) 2023. The extensive document details the various threats that could have a significant impact on the UK’s safety, security, or critical systems at a national level. The latest…
Worldcoin cryptocurrency project suspended in Kenya

The new cryptocurrency and digital identity project, Worldcoin, is facing a rough start in Kenya, with the government halting all local activity associated with it. Kenya’s minister of internal security took to Facebook on Aug. 2 to announce that the country has suspended the activities of Worldcoin until relevant public agencies had certified the absence…
The AI rules that US policymakers are considering, explained

AI is getting seriously good. And the federal government is finally getting serious about AI. The White House announced a suite of artificial intelligence policies in May. More recently, they brokered a number of voluntary safety commitments from leading AI companies in July. That included commitments to both internal and third-party testing of AI products to…
Artificial intelligence flies XQ-58A Valkyrie drone

Artificial intelligence software successfully flew an XQ-58A Valkyrie drone, the Air Force Research Laboratory announced Aug. 2. The U.S. lab led the three-hour sortie on July 25 with test units at the Eglin Test and Training Complex in Florida. The flight followed two years of work and a partnership with Skyborg Vanguard, a team made…
Lake Victoria boat accident kills at least 20 in Uganda; several missing

At least 20 people have died and five are missing after an overloaded boat capsized in the waters of Lake Victoria in Uganda. The boat was carrying charcoal, fresh foods, and fish when it capsized due to overloading and bad weather. Nine passengers were rescued, and efforts to locate the missing individuals are underway. Lake…
Niger power blackouts blamed on coup sanctions

Major cities in Niger are experiencing rolling blackouts following the recent coup in the country, which has led to Nigeria cutting electricity supplies to its northern neighbor. The power shortages are affecting cities such as Niamey, Maradi, and Zinder, with residents experiencing intermittent power for about an hour at a time before it is switched…
Ukraine war: Drones target Odesa grain stores near Romania border

A Russian drone strike has targeted Ukrainian port facilities in Izmail on the River Danube, damaging a grain warehouse and an elevator used for loading grain. Approximately 40,000 tonnes of grain destined for various countries, including African nations, China, and Israel, were damaged in the attack. Russia began targeting Ukraine’s ports after abandoning a UN…
Brazil police raids leave at least 43 people dead

Police raids targeting drug gangs in three Brazilian states have resulted in at least 43 deaths. In Rio de Janeiro, a shootout in the Complexo da Penha area led to the deaths of at least 10 people. In São Paulo state, 14 people died in clashes during a five-day police raid known as Operation Shield.…
Google AMP Abused in Phishing Attacks Aimed at Enterprise Users

Threat actors have been exploiting Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) in phishing campaigns as a new tactic to evade detection, according to cybersecurity firm Cofense. Google AMP is an open source HTML framework designed to improve mobile page performance. Attackers have been abusing a Google AMP feature that allows newly created pages to be hosted…
Firefox 116 Patches High-Severity Vulnerabilities

Mozilla has released Firefox 116, Firefox ESR 115.1, and Firefox ESR 102.14, which include patches for multiple high-severity vulnerabilities. The update addresses a total of 14 CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), with nine of them rated as high severity. Some of the vulnerabilities include cross-origin restrictions bypass, use of an incorrect value during WASM compilation,…
Cyble Raises $24 Million for AI-Powered Threat Intelligence Platform

Cybersecurity firm Cyble has successfully raised $24 million in a Series B funding round, bringing its total funding to over $38 million. Co-led by Blackbird Ventures and King River Capital, the funding will be used to bolster the Atlanta-based company’s AI-powered security solutions and support its global expansion. Cyble specializes in gathering intelligence from various…
New hVNC macOS Malware Advertised on Hacker Forum

Israeli cybersecurity company Guardz has issued a warning about a new form of Hidden Virtual Network Computing (hVNC) malware specifically targeting macOS devices. This malware, being advertised on a prominent cybercrime forum, allows threat actors to gain control of remote systems without the user’s knowledge. The malware is offered at a price of $60,000 and…
Google’s Jigsaw was trying to fight toxic speech with AI. Then the AI started talking

Human abuse was hard enough. In 2017, a team at Google released Perspective API, an AI-based tool designed to help flag the toxic speech that pushes people out of online spaces, pushes them to violence, or worse. Platforms like YouTube and Facebook were already building their own AI classifiers to battle all sorts of hate speech,…
Voyager and Airbus will operate Starlab private space station via ‘transatlantic joint venture’

Voyager Space and Airbus Defence and Space are expanding their existing relationship via a new joint venture focused on the design, build and operation of the Starlab commercial space station. The two companies announced that they would be partnering on Voyager’s Starlab space station in January, saying that Airbus would provide “technical design support and expertise,”…
Nvidia AI Image Generator Fits on a Floppy Disk and Takes 4 Minutes to Train

In the rapidly evolving landscape of AI art creation tools, Nvidia researchers have introduced an innovative new text-to-image personalization method called Perfusion. But it’s not a million-dollar super heavyweight model like its competitors. With a size of just 100KB and a 4-minute training time, Perfusion allows significant creative flexibility in portraying personalized concepts while maintaining…
New DeepMind AI model can control robotic actions it was never trained to do

Google DeepMind has a new AI model that can direct robotic tasks it was never trained to perform. Named RT-2, the model learns from web and robotics data. It then turns this information into simple instructions for machines. In tests, the model was asked to take actions never seen in the robotic data, such as placing oranges…
Meta’s AI music generator could be the new synthesizer — or just muzak

Meta released a new open-source AI code called AudioCraft, which lets users create music and sounds entirely through generative AI. It consists of three AI models, all tackling different areas of sound generation. MusicGen takes text inputs to generate music. This model was trained on “20,000 hours of music owned by Meta or licensed specifically…
AI reduces data breach lifecycles and costs

The cybersecurity tools you implement can make a difference in the financial future of your business. According to the 2023 IBM Cost of a Data Breach report, organizations using security AI and automation incurred fewer data breach costs compared to businesses not using AI-based cybersecurity tools. The report found that the more an organization uses the…
Micron Just Changed the Game in Artificial-Intelligence Memory

Micron just unveiled specs for its new high-bandwidth memory for AI, which appears to one-up the fastest HBM on the market. Leading memory producer Micron Technology and its peers are in one of the worst memory downturns in history, but the hope is that memory-hungry artificial-intelligence (AI) applications will help the industry dig itself out. Micron…
Nasa Voyager 2: Space agency accidentally loses contact with pioneering space probe

Nasa has “inadvertently” lost contact with Voyager 2, its pioneering spacecraft. The space agency said that it had sent a series of planned commands to the probe on 21 July. But those moves left Voyager 2 pointing in the wrong direction: its antenna is now pointing two degrees away from Earth, and so it has…
Artificial intelligence threats in identity management

The 2023 Identity Security Threat Landscape Report from CyberArk identified some valuable insights. 2,300 security professionals surveyed responded with some sobering figures: 68% are concerned about insider threats from employee layoffs and churn 99% expect some type of identity compromise driven by financial cutbacks, geopolitical factors, cloud applications and hybrid work environments 74% are concerned…
July Crypto Hack Spree Threatens Recovery of DeFi Sector

Crypto hacks and exploiters had a ball in July with around 50 attacks resulting in hundreds of millions in losses. An equally bumper August for cyber criminals could hamper any recovery for the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. According to blockchain security firm PeckShield, there were more than 48 major hacks in July, leading to around…
Cybercriminals train AI chatbots for phishing, malware attacks

In the wake of WormGPT, a ChatGPT clone trained on malware-focused data, a new generative artificial intelligence hacking tool called FraudGPT has emerged, and at least another one is under development that is allegedly based on Google’s AI experiment, Bard. Both AI-powered bots are the work of the same individual, who appears to be deep…
Sweden rules out sweeping changes to free speech law amid Quran burnings

Sweden’s government has stated that it has no plans to make significant changes to its freedom of speech laws. However, it will explore measures that would allow police to intervene and prevent the burning of holy books in public if there is a clear threat to national security. The recent incidents of Quran burning in…
Voyager 2: Nasa loses contact with probe after sending wrong command

NASA has lost contact with its Voyager 2 probe after sending it the wrong command, causing the spacecraft to tilt its antenna away from Earth. The probe, which has been exploring the universe since 1977, is currently more than 12.3 billion miles away from Earth in interstellar space. NASA hopes that communication will resume when…
Xi Jinping replaces leaders of China’s elite nuclear force

China has replaced two leaders of its elite unit managing its nuclear arsenal, leading to speculation of a purge. General Li Yuchao and his deputy, who headed the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Rocket Force unit, had been “disappeared” for months. The replacements, former deputy navy chief Wang Houbin and party central committee member Xu Xisheng,…
Niger coup: France to evacuate citizens after embassy attack

Following the recent coup in Niger, anti-French sentiment has led to attacks on the French embassy and protests outside the embassy in Niamey. As a result, France has decided to evacuate its citizens from Niger. Germany and Italy are also organizing flights for their nationals to leave the country. The coup has caused demonstrations against…
Ransomware Attacks on Industrial Organizations Doubled in Past Year: Report

Data from industrial cybersecurity firm Dragos shows that the number of ransomware attacks targeting industrial organizations and infrastructure has doubled since the second quarter of 2022. In the second quarter of 2023, Dragos observed 253 ransomware incidents, an 18% increase from the previous quarter. The surge in attacks has been attributed to ransomware revenue plunging…
Silk Security Emerges from Stealth With $12.5 Million Seed Funding

Silk Security, a New York-based startup, has raised $12.5 million in a seed funding round led by Insight Partners and Hetz Ventures. The company aims to break down the silos between security and development with its integrated “find and fix” platform. Silk consolidates alerts from various detection systems, performs automatic triaging based on threats, and…
SpecterOps Updates BloodHound Active Directory Mapping Tool

BloodHound, developed by SpecterOps, is a graph-based map of Active Directory (AD) relationships used by external pentesters and internal users to discover potential lateral movement attack paths. Active Directory is a highly prized target for attackers due to its ubiquity and complexity. BloodHound helps find AD misconfigurations that could be exploited by attackers. SpecterOps has…
Socket Scores $20M as Investors Bet on Software Supply Chain Security Startups

Socket, a startup focused on software supply chain security, has raised $20 million in a recent funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Abstract Ventures. The company, founded by open source developer Feross Aboukhadijeh, uses “content-based analysis” to detect suspicious activity and behavior in software dependencies. Its technology aims to prevent compromised packages from…
The Robots We Were Afraid of Are Already Here

Digit drew a crowd, even here, in a convention center full of robot aficionados. A humanoid warehouse worker, Digit walked upright on goatlike legs and grabbed bins off a shelf with muscular arms made from aerospace-grade aluminum. It then placed the boxes on an assembly line and walked back to the shelf to search for more.…
Cryptography may offer a solution to the massive AI-labeling problem

The White House wants big AI companies to disclose when content has been created using artificial intelligence, and very soon the EU will require some tech platforms to label their AI-generated images, audio, and video with “prominent markings” disclosing their synthetic origins. There’s a big problem, though: identifying material that was created by artificial intelligence is…
The Rise of Artificial Intelligence and its Potential Impact

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a creation of humans, designed to enhance the capabilities of robots, computers, and other specialized machines. While some have reservations about this man-made intelligence, it is important to recognize the possibilities it offers in our increasingly complex world. One intriguing aspect of AI is its ability to communicate with humans. These simulated…
Companies double down on AI in June-quarter analyst calls

It’s a high bar, but companies reporting second-quarter earnings in recent weeks have talked up artificial intelligence even more than in the previous quarter. S&P 500 companies that led in discussion of AI during quarterly conference calls with analysts earlier this year have outdone themselves in their latest quarterly calls. Following Intel’s report late on Thursday, executives…
Curve Finance pools exploited by over $47M due to reentrancy vulnerability

Several stable pools on Curve Finance using Vyper were exploited on July 30, with losses reaching over $47 million. According to Vyper, its 0.2.15, 0.2.16 and 0.3.0 versions are vulnerable to malfunctioning reentrancy locks. “The investigation is ongoing but any project relying on these versions should immediately reach out to us,” Vyper wrote on X.…
CISA Analyzes Malware Used in Barracuda ESG Attacks

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has published analysis reports on three malware families used in an attack that exploited a recent remote command injection vulnerability (CVE-2023-2868) in Barracuda Email Security Gateway (ESG). The vulnerability was a zero-day and affected versions 5.1.3.001 to 9.2.0.006 of the appliance. A Chinese state-sponsored cyberespionage group, UNC4841,…
Second Ivanti EPMM Zero-Day Vulnerability Exploited in Targeted Attacks

Ivanti, a software company, has issued a warning to its customers about a second zero-day vulnerability in its Endpoint Manager Mobile (EPMM) product. The first zero-day, CVE-2023-35078, was exploited in a cyberattack targeting Norwegian government ministries. The newly discovered vulnerability, CVE-2023-35081, allows an authenticated attacker with administrator privileges to remotely write arbitrary files to the…
Reddit Taps Fredrick ‘Flee’ Lee for CISO Job

Reddit has appointed a new Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Flee Lee, to oversee its privacy and security functions. Lee brings over 20 years of experience in global information security and privacy efforts, previously holding leadership positions at companies like Gusto and Square. As Reddit prepares for an IPO after raising substantial funding, Lee’s expertise…
Apple Lists APIs That Developers Can Only Use for Good Reason

Apple is taking steps to boost user privacy by requiring app developers to declare the reasons for using certain APIs that could potentially be misused for data collection through fingerprinting. The targeted APIs include those used for accessing file timestamps, system boot time, available disk space, active keyboards, and user defaults. Developers will need to…
Situation in Niger is ‘cause for serious concern’, says Kremlin

Russia has said the situation in Niger is cause for serious concern on Monday. The country’s president was ousted in a coup that was condemned largely internationally, except by Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has extensive interests in Africa. Russian spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called for all sides in Niger to show restraint and return…
Pakistan holds funerals as death toll from rally bombing rises to 54

The death toll from a suicide bombing that targeted an election rally in Pakistan has risen to 54. The election rally was for a pro-Taliban Muslim leader. The government has promised to hunt down those behind the attack. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack that occurred on Sunday, which also wounded almost 200…
Intel CEO: ‘We’re going to build AI into every platform we build’

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger was very bullish on AI during the company’s Q2 2023 earnings call — telling investors that Intel plans to “build AI into every product that we build.” Later this year, Intel will ship Meteor Lake, its first consumer chip with a built-in neural processor for machine learning tasks. (AMD recently did the…
The US government is taking a serious step toward space-based nuclear propulsion

Four years from now, if all goes well, a nuclear-powered rocket engine will launch into space for the first time. The rocket itself will be conventional, but the payload boosted into orbit will be a different matter. NASA announced Wednesday that it is partnering with the US Department of Defense to launch a nuclear-powered rocket engine…
Aided by A.I. Language Models, Google’s Robots Are Getting Smart

A one-armed robot stood in front of a table. On the table sat three plastic figurines: a lion, a whale and a dinosaur. An engineer gave the robot an instruction: “Pick up the extinct animal.” The robot whirred for a moment, then its arm extended and its claw opened and descended. It grabbed the dinosaur.…