The Two-Factor Authentication May Not Be Safe At All

Posted by Kirhat | Saturday, December 21, 2024 | | 0 comments »

Two-Factor Authentication
It appears that what we thought was safe maight not be so secure after all.

Apple and Android users have been urged to stop receiving two-factor authentication codes via text after government officials revealed a massive telecom breach could expose non-encrypted messages to malicious actors.

Earlier this month, the FBI implored smartphone users to use encrypted messaging platforms such as Signal or WhatsApp after the bad actors, suspected to be from China, hacked into AT&T, Verizon and other networks to spy on customers.

Last 18 December, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a new memo outlining best practices for mobile communication in the wake of the network hack, advising people to stop using SMS as a second factor for authenticating online accounts.

"SMS messages are not encrypted — a threat actor with access to a telecommunication provider’s network who intercepts these messages can read them," the CISA declared.

Receiving codes via SMS is "not phishing-resistant," meaning it is not a secure method of verification for high-profile targets.

Instead, the agency encouraged the use of authentication apps — although those are still subject to breaches — or FIDO authentication and passkeys, which are considered the most secure method of verification.

While some services online may not have another option for two-factor authentication, the agency urged users to use alternative methods when possible to minimize the risk of being hacked. They also recommended using a password manager, using strong passwords, setting a PIN when possible and keeping personal devices up to date.

The advisory follows the news earlier this month of network breaches, dubbed Salt Typhoon, which experts speculate is "ongoing and likely larger in scale than previously understood."

Officials were unable to declare with certainty that the malicious actors had been eradicated from the networks.

"We cannot say with certainty that the adversary has been evicted," Jeff Greene, executive assistant director for cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told Politico.

"We’re on top of tracking them down … but we cannot with confidence say that we know everything, nor would our partners."

Read More ...

Regulating AI Will Be Very Difficult For Policymakers

Posted by Kirhat | Thursday, December 19, 2024 | | 0 comments »

Reuters PressCon on AI
It is very hard to regulate and put in place safety protocols for artificial intelligence because the science behind it is still evolving with no definite end.

AI developers themselves are grappling with how to prevent abuse of novel systems, offering no easy fix for government authorities to embrace, Elizabeth Kelly, director of the U.S. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute, said last 10 December.

Cybersecurity is an area of concern according to Kelly, speaking at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York. Ways to bypass guard rails that AI labs established for security and other topics, called "jailbreaks," can be easy, she said.

"It is difficult for policymakers to say these are best practices we recommend in terms of safeguards, when we don't actually know which ones work and which ones don't," Kelly said.

Technology experts are hashing out how to vet and protect AI across different dimensions. Another area regards synthetic content. Tampering with digital watermarks, which flag to consumers when images are AI-generated, remains too easy for authorities to devise guidance for industry, she said.

The U.S. AI Safety Institute, created under the Biden administration, is addressing such concerns via academic, industry and civil society partnerships that inform its tech evaluations, Kelly said. She said AI safety is a "fundamentally bipartisan issue," when asked what will happen to the body after Donald Trump takes office in January.

Read More ...

Tesla's Optimus Can Now Walk In An Uneven Grounds

Posted by Kirhat | Wednesday, December 18, 2024 | | 0 comments »

Optimus
Tesla has released a video (below) showing its Optimus humanoid robot out for a leisurely stroll. The 38-second clip shows off the robot’s ability to handle soft, uneven ground, and the bipedal bot looks pretty comfortable — for the most part — as it walks about.

The most impressive part, however, comes at the end of the video when Optimus recovers rather gracefully from an awkward slip as it descends a small, but steep slope. To recover in this way requires a lot of complex and lightning-fast computing power, so the robot clearly does well to stay upright.

In an online post sharing the video, Tesla boss Elon Musk said: "Optimus can now walk on highly variable ground using neural nets to control its electric limbs."

Milan Kovac, vice president at Optimus, elaborated in a post of his own, noting that Optimus is seen walking on mulched ground where he once slipped himself.

"What’s really crazy here is that for these [walks], Optimus is actually blind," he said, adding that the robot is maintaining its balance without any cameras to guide it, relying instead on built-in sensors integrated with its onboard computer.

The executive said that to enable Optimus to plan ahead as it walks, his team intends to incorporate computer vision, a sophisticated system that will enable the robot to perceive and interact with its environment. They also want to improve the robot’s walking style to make it look more natural, and in cases where a fall is unavoidable, it wants to design a safe way for it to topple over to minimize damage.

Looking at videos of Boston Dynamics’ bipedal Atlas robot during its development, everyone can see that it was walking in a similar way to Optimus back in 2016. A year later, it was performing backflips, and not long after that, it was able to jog.

Read More ...

Apple's Voice Memo Is Now Here

Posted by Kirhat | Tuesday, December 17, 2024 | | 0 comments »

Voice Memo
Apple’s Voice Memos app has adopted a very promising layering functionality that was shown off back in September at the iPhone event. The new feature allows people to layer another track on top of a pre-existing track, which turns the app into an extremely-limited, though still useful, recording tool. This update is part of iOS 18.2, which also brings more AI tomfoolery like a custom emoji maker.

There's one major caveat here. The Voice Memos software tweak is only available for the iPhone 16 Pro and the Pro Max. This is a bummer, given that track layering isn't exactly rocket science, but the company says there’s a good reason to exclude other models.

The software lets people add that second layer without wearing headphones, which is possible thanks to some algorithmic wizardry, the A18 Pro chip and those new "studio-quality" microphones that come with the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. That’s a pretty neat trick but, you know, not exactly necessary.

The update can also split the voice memo into its two composite tracks, for use later with legitimate recording software. That's another neat little trick and sort of similar to what The Beatles did for their latest (and final) song. Singer Michael Bublé and country star Carly Pearce used the Voice Memos app to make a little Christmas song.

As with all things recorded with Voice Memos, the files will be synced across devices thanks to Apple iCloud. These multi-layered tracks will also be available on Mac computers to drag-and-drop into a session with Logic Pro.

Read More ...

iOS 18.2 Is Here And Brings With It Intelligence

Posted by Kirhat | Monday, December 16, 2024 | | 0 comments »

iOS 18.2
Everyone has been hearing about the most anticipated Apple Intelligence features. The waiting gameis over. Apple just released iOS 18.2 last 11 December, and the update brings a whole host of AI to iPhones -- only to the compatible ones.

Genmoji, Visual Intelligence and ChatGPT integrated Siri are just a few of the new features that will be implemented on iPhone 15 Pro, Pro Max or a device from the iPhone 16 lineup. Older iPhones will still get new features, like an update to the Mail app.

There are only two words to describe the latest update: Apple Intelligence. That’s not to say there isn’t more to this update, but Apple Intelligence is key.

Not only is iOS 18.2 the biggest upgrade to Apple Intelligence so far, it’s the entire delivery of the new features for users in the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, which haven’t had any Apple Intelligence features until now.

There are several security issues which are addressed by iOS 18.2, such as solutions to problems in both WebKit which is key to the Safari browser and the iPhone Kernel.

Note that while the last iOS 18 update was accompanied by an iOS 17 update for those users who didn't want to get onto the iOS 18 bandwagon, there are far fewer options this time around. Apple is saying you should upgrade to iOS 18. Also, before you use Apple Intelligence, you have to request it for your iPhone. To do so, go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and tap Get Apple Intelligence.

Read More ...

Apple Is Mulling Producing Its Own AI Chip

Posted by Kirhat | Friday, December 13, 2024 | | 0 comments »

AI Chip
Reuters, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter, reported that tech giant Apple is working with Broadcom to develop its first server chip specially designed for artificial intelligence processing.

The reported move would align the iPhone maker with other big technology companies that have developed their own chips to power compute-heavy AI services and reduce reliance on Nvidia's pricey and short-in-supply processors.

Apple's AI chip is internally code-named Baltra and is expected to be ready for mass production by 2026, the report said.

In order to make this possible, Apple is planning to use one of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co's most advanced manufacturing processes, known as N3P, the report said.

Last year, Apple had signed a multi-billion-dollar deal with the chipmaker to develop 5G radio frequency components.

Apple had said at its annual developer conference in June that it plans to use its own server chips to help power AI features on its devices.

The company has had success in recent years in developing in-house chips for its devices, including the M-series of processors that replaced Intel chips in its Mac laptops.

Still, some big tech companies have found it hard to cut reliance on Nvidia despite in-house efforts, barring Google, which also works with Broadcom for its AI chips.

The push by big cloud providers to diversify their supply chains has turned Broadcom into one of the biggest beneficiaries of the generative AI boom. Its shares have gained 54% in 2024, after almost doubling in value last year.

Broadcom's central competitor in this space is Marvell. The total market for custom chips could grow to about $45 billion by 2028 and be split between the two companies, Marvell Chief Operations Officer Chris Koopmans said earlier this month.

Read More ...