Google unveils the Axion custom Arm CPU for data centers

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Google unveils the Axion custom Arm CPU for data centers
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Google has announced “Axion”, its first-ever custom Arm-based CPU designed and optimized for data centers. Designed using Arm’s Neoverse V2 CPU, it will compete with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.

Google Axion Arm chips claim high specs but are they production-ready?

Google published a detailed blog post about the new Axion, an Arm CPU. The search giant has made some tall claims about these chips.

Google claims Axion Arm CPUs perform 30% better than its fastest general-purpose Arm-based tools in the cloud. The company boasted these chips are 50% better than the most recent, comparable x86-based VMs (Virtual Machines). If that’s not impressive enough, Google added their new chips have 60% better energy efficiency than comparable X86-based instances (VMs).

Although Google hasn’t specifically named the competition, the company may be referring to Amazon and Microsoft products. Amazon launched its first-ever Arm-based Graviton chips back in 2018.

Microsoft was a little late to the party. The Windows OS maker’s Microsoft Azure cloud platform has VMs based on Ampere’s Arm servers since 2022.

It is important to note that Google hasn’t offered any documentation about the Axion chips. When probed about the technicalities, Google spokesperson Amanda Lam reportedly said,

“Technical documentation, including benchmarking and architecture details, will be available later this year.”

This strongly suggests Google’s Axion chips might not be production-ready yet. Google could be trying to create hype about the first-ever chips it has custom-built specifically for data centers. After all, processors and other hardware for data centers are acquired through long-term contracts, unlike consumer products, which are often bought in shops.

Google promises zero-modification workload transition

Google insists Axion CPUs are built on an open foundation. The company assures Google Cloud customers can migrate their existing workloads (that rely on Arm CPUs) with near-zero transition delay or modifications. Mark Lohmeyer, Google Cloud’s VP for computing and AI/ML infrastructure, explained,

“We recently contributed to the SystemReady Virtual Environment, which is Arm’s hardware and firmware interoperability standard that ensures common operating systems and software packages can run seamlessly in ARM-based systems. Through this collaboration, we’re accessing a broad ecosystem of cloud customers who have already deployed ARM-based workloads across hundreds of ISVs and open-source projects.”

Arm-based CPUs are often more affordable and energy-efficient than their X86-based counterparts. This makes Google’s timing about announcing its Axion chips interesting. The Wall Street Journal recently quoted Arms CEO Rene Haas, who had warned about the excessive energy usage of AI models. With these CPUs, Google Cloud might be trying to edge past Microsoft Azure’s x86-based VMs. Google recently launched a version of its Chrome web browser that natively supports Arm-based CPUs. Simply put, the search giant seems to be betting big on Arm architecture.


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Cyber Attack on Consulting Firm Expose DOJ Data of 341k People

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Cyber Attack on Consulting Firm Expose DOJ Data of 341k People
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Greylock McKinnon Associates, a prominent consulting firm, has reported a cyber attack that exposed personal data belonging to 341,000 individuals, including sensitive information from the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Greylock McKinnon Associates, located at 75 Park Plaza, Boston, MA, discovered the breach on February 7, 2024, although the attack occurred months earlier, on May 30, 2023.

The firm’s outside legal counsel, Linn Freedman of Robinson & Cole LLP, submitted the breach notification.

Extent of the Data Compromise

The breach has affected 341,650 individuals, with 2,067 of those being residents of Maine.

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Due to the exceeding 1,000 affected residents, consumer reporting agencies have been notified in compliance with legal requirements.

The incident was classified as an external system breach, specifically a hacking event.

The attackers managed to acquire names and social security numbers, which can lead to serious identity theft and fraud issues for the victims.

The Maine Attorney General’s Office has made a worldwide announcement regarding a cyber attack on a consulting firm, which exposed Department of Justice (DOJ) data belonging to 341,000 individuals.

Upon discovery, Greylock McKinnon Associates took immediate steps to secure their systems and mitigate further unauthorized access.

The firm has been working closely with cybersecurity experts to understand the scope and method of the attack.

The data in the breach included information from the DOJ, raising concerns about the potential misuse of government employee data.

The DOJ is investigating the breach and the implications for national security and privacy.

Given the scale of the breach, Greylock McKinnon Associates is likely to face scrutiny under various data protection laws.

The firm has been cooperating with legal entities and has begun notifying affected individuals.

Measures for Affected Individuals

Greylock McKinnon Associates offers credit monitoring services to all affected individuals and has established a dedicated helpline to address concerns and questions.

The firm also advises individuals to remain vigilant for signs of identity theft and report any suspicious activity to the authorities.

In the wake of the breach, Greylock McKinnon Associates is reviewing and enhancing its cybersecurity measures to prevent future incidents.

The firm is also working to raise awareness about the importance of robust security practices in the consulting industry.

The cyber attack on Greylock McKinnon Associates is a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities within corporate and government data systems.

As the investigation continues, the firm is committed to transparency and taking the necessary steps to protect personal information and restore trust among its clients and the public.

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Beeper has removed its waitlist

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Beeper has removed its waitlist
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The messaging app Beeper has been hitting the headlines a lot recently. We are all still reeling from the drama it went through while trying to provide iMessage services to Android users. While Apple has squashed its plans to do so, Beeper is still a very popular messaging service. In fact, Beeper has actually removed its waitlist, so the service is now available to hundreds of thousands of more users.

Today marks a turning point for Beeper, as the company announced that it was just bought out. The app was acquired by Automattic. This is the company that owns Tumblr, Pocket Casts, WordPress, and other companies. We’re not sure how much money the company bought Beeper for. However, we’re pretty sure that it was a good amount.

Download Beeper on the Play Store

Beeper has removed its waitlist

Beeper, like Bluesky, was not available to everyone initially. When you signed up, you were put on a waitlist. This is the kind of thing we see with a lot of smaller and newer platforms. There were a ton of people who wanted to use the service, and many of them were probably eager to try out the Ill-fated iMessage integration. So, it was a bit of a bother having to wait.

However, with the news of the acquisition, Beeper stated that it has removed its waitlist. While this has not been confirmed yet, it seems likely that, due to the acquisition, Beeper now has more money for more server space to facilitate more users. Beeper mentioned that there were more than 400,000 people waiting for an invite to use the service.

How much does it cost to use Beeper?

When companies get acquired, they sometimes go through sweeping and unfavorable changes. These changes often negatively affect the end user. However, the changes affecting Beeper will not manifest in predatory monetization. People will retain all of the features that are available today on the app.

The company’s CEO, Eric Migicovsky, said that there will always be a free tier. This implies that the company is going to launch a paid subscription service for the app. Having a paid subscription should come as no surprise. Right now, we don’t know what sort of features to expect from this payment tier. However, we expect it to be like Telegram Premium in that you will have access to more advanced features.

Changes the user will have to make

There are a few things you will need to keep in mind. When setting up your new Beeper account, you will be given a recovery code. The company encouraged you to save your recovery code to Google Password Manager.

Also, Beeper will no longer bridge itself with other messaging platforms through the cloud. In case you don’t know, you are able to message people using other platforms on Beeper. This includes platforms like WhatsApp and Google Chat. Well, after the change, you will still be able to message other people through different services. However, this will be handled on device as opposed to in the cloud. This is a much more secure way of Bridging the services.


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The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is a cut-down version of the 8 Gen 3

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The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is a cut-down version of the 8 Gen 3
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Besides powering the top-of-the-line flagship Android phones, Qualcomm recently has also begun to focus on the mid-range segment. A result of it is a near-flagship performance in the mid-range segment. The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is a perfect example of this.

Now it turns out that the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 not only replicates a flagship-level performance, but it also boasts the same cores (building blocks of a CPU) as the current and most powerful flagship chip from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is nearly 35% smaller than its flagship counterpart

Chinese media outlet ITHome has compared the dimensions of the Snapdragon 8s Gen and the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Those are 8.40×10.66mm and 10.71×12.81mm for the two respectively. It means that the ‘s’ branded new mid-range chip is approximately 34.73% smaller than the flagship silicon.

Notably, the smaller size also indicates some sacrifices in the components of the chip. The sacrifices for the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 as compared to its more expensive version include a smaller 1MB L2 Cache for the prime Cortex-X4 core, as opposed to the 2MB one on the more expensive chip. The Cortex-A720 performance core is also reduced from 512KB to 256 KB. The L3 cache and SLC cache have also undergone similar reductions.

The primary function of the cache memory is to temporarily store frequently accessed data and instructions, helping to reduce the time it takes for the CPU to access them from the slower main memory (RAM). This results in faster data retrieval and improved overall system performance. A smaller L3 and SLC cache means technically slower execution of tasks in certain scenarios.

Both the chips equip the same cores with different frequencies

Both the chips are fabricated on TSMC’s 4nm process node. The CPU of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 consists of 1 x 3.3GHz Cortex-X4 (prime core), 3 x 3.15 GHz Cortex-A720 and 2 x 2.96GHz Cortex-A720 (performance core), and 2 x 2.26GHz Cortex-A520 (efficiency core).

In comparison, the smaller sibling equips the same cores with reduced peak frequencies – 1 x 3GHz Cortex-X4 (prime core), 4 x 2.8 GHz Cortex-A720 (performance core), and 4 x 2GHz Cortex-A520 (efficiency core).

The Snapdragon 8s Gen3 supports up to 4200MHz LPDDR5X memory, and the Snapdragon 8 Gen3 supports 4800MHz LPDDR5X memory. While the ISP of the new mid-range chip supports up to 4K HDR video recording, its bigger sibling can go up to 8K on the same.

In terms of communication, the smaller chip equips the X70 baseband and supports 5000Mbps downlink and 3500Mbps uplink. In comparison, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 boasts the X75 baseband, which enables double the downlink capability of the ‘s’ branded chip.

Nonetheless, the ‘s’ branded chip is a lot less expensive and offers these capabilities to a mid-range device instead of a flagship, which justifies all the sacrifices.


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Google announces new app, Google Vids, for simple video creation within Workspace

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Google announces new app, Google Vids, for simple video creation within Workspace
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Video Thumbnail

Video creation is not easy work and to do it properly, companies have to usually hire a video production expert or team. However, there are times when a quick video is needed for a training session, or for new employee orientation, etc. There are numerous instances when having a tool to create a quick presentation-like video would be helpful, and there are tons of options out there right now, but surprisingly none have been from Google — until now.

As part of all the Workspace improvements coming out of Google Cloud Next ’24, Google has announced their new AI-powered app, Google Vids. It joins the Workspace collection alongside Docs, Sheets, and Slides with the promise of making quick and engaging videos a painless reality.
The idea is to streamline the video production process. Vids uses AI to turn your idea into something tangible and polished. It generates a basic storyboard you can tweak and then automatically pulls together suggested scenes from stock footage, images, and background music. You can even use preset voiceovers or opt to record your own voice to finish things off.The interface is meant to be intuitive, negating the need for advanced video creation knowledge or experience. Also, like other Workspace staples, Vids lets you share and collaborate with your team. Google Vids isn’t a direct replacement for fancy video editing software, but it aims to fill the niche where simplicity and quick turnaround for internal purposes are more important.
For now, Google Vids will be a browser-only product. However, according to The Verge‘s reporting, Kristina Behr, Google’s VP of product management for the Workspace collaboration apps said that mobile support would come over time.

Google Vids is currently slated for a limited Workspace Labs release in June, but there are beta testers utilizing the app right now. We’ll have to wait and see how well it performs once it’s widely rolled out, and whether it will deliver on its promise of making corporate video creation a breeze.


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Ahoi Attacks – New Attack Breaking VMs With Malicious Interrupts

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Ahoi Attacks – New Attack Breaking VMs With Malicious Interrupts
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Ahoy, which is often associated with communicating to ships, has now been playfully adopted in pirate language.

We coin ‘Ahoi,’ an anagram of ‘Iago,’ to pay tribute to research on interface attacks with TEEs.

Confidential computing, also referred to as trusted execution, protects sensitive computations on public cloud platforms. 

Hardware vendors provide trusted hardware that guarantees user code and data security from malicious actors.

Ahoi Attacks

Cloud providers now offer confidential computing via technologies like Intel SGX for process-level isolation and AMD SEV, Intel TDX, and ARM CCA for VM-level isolation as Confidential VMs (CVMs). 

SGX enclaves isolate single processes from other processes/OS, while CVMs allow deploying entire isolated VMs inaccessible to other tenants, provider’s hardware/software like hypervisors.

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CVMs enable better cloud-native confidential computing abstraction than SGX’s process-level model.

Interrupt management is done almost entirely by the hypervisor in CVMs. CVM security can be breached by Ahoi attacks using notifications.

The hypervisor virtualizes the delivery of interrupts necessary for the operation of CVMs.

This hooks physical interrupts, redirects them to corresponding virtual machines, and raises virtual interrupts.

As a result, the guest OS within this CVM handles these interrupts via their handlers and ultimately acknowledges them.

The hardware exception is mapped in “x86” to the interrupts 0 through 31.

An example of this is when a divide-by-zero occurs and raises interrupt 0, which the OS converts to SIGFPE for user-space delivery.

Applying for a custom handler is like calculating the non-weighted average of SIGFPE.

Ahoi attacks have virtual CPUs that are attacked using a hypervisor to inject malicious interrupts into them, which helps invoke interrupt handlers globally.

Execution flow leading to successful authentication (Source – Github)

Ahoi attacks can take advantage of the interrupts and signals, which were made for trusted hypervisor environments.

Projects like Heckler can demonstrate this, as they have demonstrated how to breach AMD SEV-SNP and Intel TDX to gain unauthorized access to CVMs. 

Moreover, such vulnerabilities extend even up to specialized interrupt interfaces such as AMD SEV’s VMM Communication Exception (#VC) meant for safe hypervisor-CVM communication. 

However, this interface can be used by hypervisors to perform malicious tasks that are executed without being caught by CVMs.

WeSee exploits AMD SEV-SNP’s flaws to do forbidden things on CVMs.

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Release date, specs, price & more

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Release date, specs, price & more
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The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL is one of five Pixel flagships Google plans to announce this year. The Pixel 9 is also coming, as are the Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 8a, and the Pixel Fold 2. The Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, and Pixel 9 Pro XL are all expected to launch at the same time, in October this year. We have a separate Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro preview articles, in case you’re interested in that. The ‘Pro’ models will be more powerful than the vanilla Pixel 9, though, of course.

At this point in time, we’re still quite some time away from the launch of the device. Therefore not a lot of information surfaced, but more is coming constantly. So we will keep updating the article, but for now, we’ll talk about what we know, and what we think we know about the device. So, let’s get to it, shall we?

This article will be regularly updated with new information on the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL (this is a preview article) — both official teasers and credible leaks, rumors, and insider claims — as it becomes available in the run-up to the release of the upcoming Android smartphone. This is the initial publishing of the article.

When will the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL be released?

The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL is expected to launch in October, alongside its siblings, the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro. The Pixel 7 series arrived on October 4, 2023, while the Pixel 8 series launched on October 6, 2023. Therefore, we do believe that the Pixel 9 series will also arrive in October. Well, unless Google has some major changes planned for this year. There’s a slight chance the event could take place in late September, we’ll see. We’re still months from the confirmation, though. Google likely won’t share the exact launch date until September.

What models are coming?

Last year, Google launched a single RAM variant of the Pixel 8 Pro, but that model arrived in several different storage options. The same is likely to happen this year. We probably won’t see more than one RAM variant of the Pixel 9 Pro XL. It’s very likely Google will stick with 12GB of RAM in the Pixel 9 Pro XL, but no info surfaced just yet, so it’s possible that will get upped to 16GB of RAM. It’s improbable, though. Google will use LPDDR5X RAM, though.

When it comes to storage, last year, the entry-level variant offered 128GB of storage. The same could end up being the case this year, though Google could up that to 256GB of storage. Chances are we’ll get several variants going up to 1TB of storage. Chances are Google will use UFS 4.0 flash storage this time around, while it used UFS 3.1 last year. The storage will not be expandable.

How much will the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL cost?

What about the Pixel 9 Pro XL price? Well, we still don’t have any information regarding that. The Pixel 8 Pro did start at $999 last year, and it would be preferable if Google kept that price tag intact, as the Pixel 9 Pro XL is its direct successor. There is a chance the company will bump it to $1,099, though, or something of the sort. The Pixel 8a is expected to get a price bump, so the same could happen with the Pixel 9 Pro XL. We are hoping that won’t be the case, though, as the $999 price tag would be most appealing to consumers.

What will the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL look like?

CAD-based Google Pixel 9 Pro XL renders did surface, so we have a good idea of what the phone will look like. Google will redesign the Pixel 9 Pro XL, to a degree. The device will have flat sides (all around), that are slightly curved toward the edges. That is a completely different approach to what the Pixel 8 Pro delivered. That’s not all, though. The phone will also include a flat display, unlike its predecessor. The display will feature very thin bezels, and those bezels will be uniform. A display camera hole will sit at the top of the display, and it will be centered.

We’ll also see a difference on the back of the device. The back side will be flat this time around. The camera visor will not be connecting to the left and right sides of the frame, as it did on the Pixel 8 Pro. It will be a separate pill-shaped entity on the back, though it will still be covered by metal. This approach is more similar to what the Pixel Fold delivered. The phone would look rather weird if Google went to connect that camera visor to the sides, now that both the sides and the back are flat.

It will have very similar measurements to its predecessor

The Pixel 9 Pro XL is said to measure approximately 162.7 x 76.6 x 8.5mm. So it will measure approximately the same as the Pixel 8 Pro. Along with the CAD renders, it was said that the display will be a bit smaller this time around. The Pixel 9 Pro XL is said to have a 6.5-inch panel, not a 6.7-inch one. That is highly unlikely, however. Considering that the size will remain unchanged, and the bezels either remain the same or be thinner, the display will either be a 6.7-inch or a 6.8-inch panel.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL will be made out of metal and glass, just like its predecessor. Its main speaker will be located at the bottom, along with a Type-C USB port. Three cameras will sit inside its camera island on the back. We still don’t know what to expect in terms of weight.

What specs will the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL have?

What about the phone’s specifications? Well, not a lot of information surfaced thus far, but we can try and guess what we’ll get. What we do know is that the Google Tensor G4 processor will fuel the phone. That chip will be made using Samsung’s 4LPP+ 4nm process. That is the same process as for the Exynos 2400, by the way. Google is expected to make a switch to TSMC with the Tensor G5 in 2025, as that will be a “fully-custom” chip. The Tensor G4 is expected to bring improvements to the table, though, of course.

A 6.5-inch display was tipped by @OnLeaks when CAD renders to shared. We believe that won’t be the case, though. The dimensions of the device will basically remain the same, and the display will remain flat. If we had to guess, we’d say the phone would include a 6.7-inch or a 6.8-inch panel. That will be a QHD+ LTPO AMOLED display, with an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz. The panel is expected to be quite bright and support HDR10+ content too.

Google is expected to make a jump to UFS 4.0 flash storage

Google will most probably include 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM inside of the device. There’s a slight chance we may get 16GB of RAM instead, but that’s not as likely. It’s almost certain only one RAM variant will be available. We do expect multiple storage versions, however, likely going all the way up to 1TB. Google is expected to use UFS 4.0 flash storage this time around. The storage will not be expandable, by the way.

We’re not sure about the battery capacity just yet, but a unit of around 5,000mAh is expected. The Pixel 9 series is expected to support Qi2 charging standard for wireless charging, though. The company most likely won’t increase the speed of wired charging, so 30W charging is expected. Google could still surprise us, though. Do expect the phone to be IP68 certified for water and dust resistance too, and include a set of stereo speakers. We don’t have any information on the phone’s cameras just yet. We are, however, expecting main, ultrawide, and periscope telephoto units on the back.

Should you wait to buy the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL?

At the time of writing this article, the Pixel 9 Pro XL launch is over 6 months away. The Pixel 8 Pro is an excellent smartphone, and we get to see various deals for it quite often. If you do need a new phone, getting the Pixel 8 Pro as we speak may not be a bad idea. The Pixel 9 Pro XL is expected to be an improvement, for sure, but we do feel like the Pixel 10 Pro will be a much bigger jump. So if you do plan on upgrading after 1.5-2 years, getting the Pixel 8 Pro now, and then jumping to the Pixel 10 Pro may not be a bad idea. If you can wait, however, do wait a bit more, as more Pixel 9 Pro XL info is bound to surface in the coming weeks/months.


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Elon Musk predicts superhuman AI next year

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Elon Musk predicts superhuman AI next year
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With the introduction of generative AI, many of us instantly started thinking about some sort of dystopian future where super-intelligent AI is waging war on humanity. Well, ChatGPT is far from that. Be that as it may, billionaire Elon Musk says that superhuman AI technology will exist within a year.

Now, Tesla and X owner Elon Musk is looking to make his mark on the AI industry. He started a company called xAI, and it’s already established its own AI model named Grok. If you want to use Grok, you will need a subscription to X Premium+. Musk says that Grok is on level with OpenAI’s top model GPT-4. So, it’s no surprise that he’s putting in his two cents on AI technology.

Elon Musk believes that we will have superhuman AI technology next year

Elon Musk spoke to the Guardian in an interview and gave his predictions for AI technology in the very near future. Earlier, he stated that superhuman AI will exist by the year 2029. That’s a pretty far-off year, but he then changed it and brought it even closer to the present. He said that next year, we will start to see superhuman intelligent AI. This is an AI that is smarter than any human being on the planet at any point in time. It will be able to outpace human beings in any task.

This is a scary thought because it’s always the superhuman intelligent AI that wants to extinguish humanity. Or, that’s how it is in the Sci-Fi movies, at least. While it might seem like fun fighting agents in the Matrix, we are not quite sure that this is the future that AI will bring.

Future AI limitations

In any case, Musk also talked about the limitations that AI technology will have to face. Currently, companies are having trouble securing powerful Nvidia GPUs to train their AI models. However, the next issue that AI will face, according to Musk, won’t be so physical.

Musk expressed that the next issue with AI will be providing enough energy to power all the data centers. There is a lot of truth in that statement. Currently, Microsoft and OpenAI are planning on making an absolutely massive AI supercomputer. To power it, the companies are considering using nuclear power.

So, the amount of energy required to power these AI models will be immense. There’s no telling if there will be enough power to successfully power all of the AI data centers in the near future.

Elon Musk’s plan for safe AI

One thing that must be mentioned during the interview is the fact that he wants Grok to be developed safely. “It’s actually important for us to worry about a Terminator future in order to avoid a Terminator future,” he said during the interview.

While this seems a bit paranoid, this might be the best course of action. We have to be thinking about what sorts of things can happen when AI technology is left unchecked. While we don’t expect ChatGPT to suddenly consider human beings obsolete, there’s no telling what could happen. So, it’s best to stay safe


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Google introduces voice prompting and polishing for Gmail’s “Help Me Write” feature in Workspace

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Google introduces voice prompting and polishing for Gmail’s “Help Me Write” feature in Workspace
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Google introduced its AI-powered “Help Me Write” feature to Gmail last year, making email writing a breeze for Workspace customers that had access to the feature. Now, Google is stepping up the feature’s helpfulness with some really handy upgrades.
As announced today at Google Cloud Next ’24, as part of a series of Gemini-powered features that will be sprinkled throughout Google Workspace apps, Gmail’s “Help Me Write” will be getting some nifty upgrades. Google states that 70% of workspace users that use it, end up actually taking the suggested changes. Considering this number, it’s no surprise that the company wants to expand on the feature in order to not only help you with your writer’s block, but also empower you to go the extra mile and refine, or “polish” your compositions.

Because of this, Google will be bringing voice prompting and instant polish to Gmail’s “Help Me Write.” This allows for users to easily whip up a complete email using voice input that can be as simple as some rough notes and bullet points, which should be extremely helpful when on the go. Gemini then takes over and whips that rough draft into a professionally written email, like an instant editor that can fix your grammar, spelling, and structure — all while making sure your sentences flow smoothly.

Google introduces voice prompting and polishing for Gmail's "Help Me Write" feature in Workspace

Credit: Google

Voice prompting should be available right away, however, the instant polish feature will be available to Gemini Enterprise and Gemini Business customers — as well as Google One AI Premium subscribers — “soon.” Additionally, this will be strictly for Gmail on mobile. Here’s hoping that this becomes available soon to all Workspace users, and hopefully personal accounts in the future.

Google’s doubling down on making email effortless with AI enhancements. Whether you love it or remain a bit wary of AI-written content, it seems like the future of email is getting a lot less wordy and a lot more polished.


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Hackers Using ScrubCrypt ‘AV Evasion Tool’ Exploit Oracle Servers

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Hackers Using ScrubCrypt ‘AV Evasion Tool’ Exploit Oracle Servers
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Hackers exploit Oracle WebLogic Servers, knowing that they are extensively used in enterprises.

Threat actors can use security vulnerabilities present in the WebLogic servers to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data and install backdoors that open avenues for further exploitation.

FortiGuard Labs recently uncovered the 8220 Gang using ScrubCrypt, an antivirus evasion tool, to launch attacks on exploitable Oracle WebLogic servers last year. 

Recently, a threat actor distributed a phishing email with malicious SVG files, downloading an obfuscated Batch file containing BatCloak, which uses ScrubCrypt to load VenomRAT payload. 

It maintains a C2 connection to install plugins like VenomRAT v6, Remcos, XWorm, NanoCore, and crypto wallet stealer on victims’ systems, bypassing antivirus detection.

The attacker begins with a phishing email claiming package delivery, attaching an SVG file titled “INV0ICE_#TBSBVS0Y3BDSMMX.svg” containing base64-encoded data.

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When opened, the ECMAScript converts it to a ZIP file named “INV0ICE_#TBSBVS0Y3BDSMMX.zip,” containing an obfuscated batch file. 

Presumed to be from the BatCloak tool, it copies a PowerShell file to “C:\Users\Public\xkn.exe” and hides its activities with parameters. 

Decoding the data, it saves as “pointer.png,” then as “pointer.cmd” in a hidden directory. Upon executing “pointer.cmd,” all files are deleted using “cmd /c del.

The “pointer.cmd” file is a ScrubCrypt batch file that deliberately fills it with jumbled-up strings so that it is difficult to read.

It consists of two payloads, which are Base64 encoded, decrypted using AES-CBC, and compressed using GZIP. 

It uses PowerShell to load an assembly from a byte array and execute its code.

The initial payload establishes persistence and loads malware, which checks for administrator privileges and the presence of a debugger.

In addition, if the user has special rights, then the script copies itself over to “strt.cmd” and schedules a task.

Otherwise, it copies itself into the “StartUp” folder. Next, it loads an assembly called “P” to initiate VenomRAT, Fortinet said.

The second payload evades AMSI and ETW to enable remote access.

Spam emails propagating unauthorized system access, like a modified Quasar RAT called VenomRAT, distribute this malware.

Attack chain (Source – Fortinet)

It sends victim details back to its command and control (C2) server. Debugging shows keep-alive sessions and mechanisms for acquiring plugins.

After receiving orders, it unzips and stores plugins using filename-based PowerShell commands.

Here below, we have mentioned all the plugins that are used:-

The campaign involves various levels of obscurity and uses phishing emails and malicious software to silently spread VenomRAT through ScrubCrypt as well as other malware plugins that give it persistence, evasion mechanisms, and means for running damaging codes. 

The originality in adapting strategies and utilizing the wide range of functionalities available to infiltrate systems without being detected by security solutions illustrates how complex modern threats are, which demand strong security measures.

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