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Canonical says its web infrastructure is under a sustained cross-border attack
Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu Linux, reports that its web infrastructure is currently experiencing a sustained, cross-border attack. The incident has affected various services including the main website, blog, and potentially repositories, with some users reporting issues accessing the security repo servers. While a recently disclosed vulnerability nicknamed 'Copy Fail' was mentioned, it remains unclear if this is the cause of the current disruption. A cybersecurity firm claims a hacktivist group has claimed responsibility and sent an extortion message, though this has not been confirmed by Canonical.
China unlikely to abandon open source AI strategy despite Alibaba shift
Alibaba Group Holding released its third proprietary AI model, marking a potential retreat from the open source approach that has defined China's AI ecosystem. Despite this move, experts suggest China will not fully abandon open source due to its strategic value in weakening US infrastructure moats and driving innovation. The strategy remains central to Beijing's tech ambitions, with open models dominating global downloads and influencing Silicon Valley startups. While domestic competition pressures companies like Alibaba to monetize models, the hybrid model of mixing open and proprietary releases is expected to persist for years.
US Air Force F-47 NGAD stealth fighter described as paradigm shift against China
Kris Osborn, President of Warrior Maven, describes the US Air Force F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter as a paradigm shift in air supremacy. The article outlines the aircraft's expected capabilities, including AI-enabled computing, electronic warfare, hypersonic missiles, and laser weapons. It suggests the platform is designed to counter China in the Pacific, featuring advanced stealth, speed, and the ability to command collaborative unmanned systems. The text notes that while F-35s remain dominant through upgrades, the F-47 addresses long-range needs and new generation threats.
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar says company meets objectives despite missing internal targets
OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar stated the company is meeting its objectives and faces a vertical wall of demand for its products. Friar rebutted recent reports suggesting the startup missed internal revenue and user growth targets, describing the report as clickbait. She noted that lack of compute capacity is currently slowing growth. OpenAI reported 4 million weekly users for its coding agent Codex. The company plans to invest approximately $600 billion in infrastructure by 2030 and aims to go public this year, facing competition from Anthropic and Google.
UAE aims to integrate 50% AI in government services by 2028
The United Arab Emirates announced a plan to transform 50% of government services and operations using autonomous artificial intelligence by 2028. Directed by President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Vice President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the initiative will be overseen by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and a task force chaired by Mohammad Al Gergawi. The program targets enhanced efficiency, faster decision-making, and reduced operational costs across federal entities, building on the UAE Digital Transformation Strategy 2031.
BlueNoroff hackers use fake meeting links to deploy PowerShell malware
Arctic Wolf researchers identified a campaign by BlueNoroff, a North Korean Lazarus Group subgroup, targeting Web3 and cryptocurrency organizations. The attackers utilized deepfake impersonation and typosquatted meeting links to lure victims into fake video calls. Once connected, the attackers prompted victims to execute PowerShell commands, deploying fileless malware that steals credentials, cryptocurrency wallet keys, and browser data. Over 100 victims across 20 countries were targeted, with founders and CEOs comprising half of the targets. North America accounted for 41% of incidents, with the finance sector being the primary industry affected.
Next-generation chip innovations could reshape data center efficiency and security
Emerging semiconductor technologies, including AI-optimized processors, energy-efficient designs, and heat-tolerant chips, are poised to transform data center infrastructure. These innovations aim to improve performance per watt, reduce cooling requirements, and enhance security. However, widespread adoption faces hurdles such as software compatibility with existing x86 architectures and the time required to transition from laboratory results to commercial products. The industry is evaluating whether these gains will overcome the inertia of current standards amidst growing power constraints and AI demands.
Meta shares fall 10% as investors question AI capital expenditure strategy
Meta Platforms shares dropped 10% following first quarter results despite healthy revenue growth of 33%. The decline was driven by significant capital expenditure concerns, with CFO Susan Li admitting the company underestimated computing power needs for AI and facing rising data center component costs. While competitors like Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon saw share gains due to clear cloud backlogs and immediate revenue from AI, Meta lacks a booming cloud division. CEO Mark Zuckerberg provided no precise financial roadmap for AI returns, citing a long-term monetisation strategy similar to the failed Metaverse initiative, leading to investor skepticism regarding the timing and clarity of AI payoffs.
Five CEOs lead convergence of AI demand and critical mineral supply in 2026
As of April 2026, Kathleen Quirk (Freeport-McMoRan), Tim Gitzel (Cameco), Robert Friedland (Ivanhoe Mines), Jakob Stausholm (Rio Tinto), and Mark Bristow (Barrick Gold) are identified as key executives driving the intersection of artificial intelligence infrastructure and energy supply. The article highlights the surge in demand for copper and uranium to support data centers and nuclear power, noting specific strategies employed by these leaders to address supply deficits and meet the electrification needs of the tech sector.
Leonardo acquires Iveco Defence Vehicles and ASTRA brands
Leonardo has acquired Iveco Defence Vehicles (IDV) and the ASTRA brands from the Iveco Group. This transaction strengthens Leonardo's leadership in the European land defence sector by combining its electronic systems expertise with IDV's vehicle design and production capabilities. The acquisition enables Leonardo to offer integrated, turnkey military platforms featuring advanced digital architectures. This move consolidates control over the industrial value chain and supports the company's broader strategy for global security and multi-domain integration.
Threat actors abuse Hugging Face and ClawHub for malware distribution
Acronis reports that threat actors are exploiting Hugging Face and ClawHub to distribute malware via trojanized shared files. Attackers use social engineering and indirect prompt injection to trick users into downloading malicious code targeting Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android systems. On ClawHub, nearly 600 malicious skills were identified across 13 developer accounts, including payloads like AMOS. Similar campaigns on Hugging Face host malicious files designed to install infostealers and trojans, leveraging user trust in these AI distribution platforms.
SonicWall patches three SonicOS flaws in Gen 6, 7 and 8 firewalls
SonicWall released urgent firmware updates to address three vulnerabilities in SonicOS affecting Gen 6, 7, and 8 firewalls. The flaws, rated high and medium severity, could allow attackers to bypass security controls, access restricted services, or crash devices. One vulnerability is an improper access control issue, while others involve path traversal and buffer overflow. Affected appliances running specific firmware versions are urged to apply fixes immediately or restrict management access to SSH only. No evidence of exploitation in the wild exists at this time.
Anthropic faces conflicting government directives over Mythos cybersecurity model access
The US White House opposed expanding access to Anthropic's Mythos model to 120 organisations due to security and compute concerns, while simultaneously drafting an executive action to allow federal agencies to bypass Pentagon supply chain restrictions. The Pentagon previously designated Anthropic a national security risk after the company refused to permit autonomous weapons use. Meanwhile, China launched a campaign against AI misuse, and OpenAI released a broader cybersecurity model. Anthropic, valuing over $900 billion, must resolve these geopolitical tensions before its potential IPO.
Severe Linux kernel vulnerability allows attackers to gain root access
Security firm Theori, assisted by AI Xint Code, discovered a high-severity Linux kernel vulnerability named Copy Fail (CVE-2026-31431). The flaw, affecting distributions since 2017, enables local privilege escalation to root access. Researchers reported the issue on 23 March 2026, with patches committed to the mainline kernel by 1 April. The vulnerability impacts web servers, cloud platforms, and container clusters, particularly where untrusted code execution is possible.
Samsung revenue jumps 43% in Q1 2026 amid AI boom and memory shortage warning
Samsung Electronics reported a 43% revenue increase in Q1 2026, driven by strong demand for AI chips and record earnings. The company warned that the global memory chip shortage could persist until 2027 due to rising AI and data centre requirements. Samsung officially discontinued production of LPDDR4 memory to focus on advanced technologies like LPDDR5 and HBM. Growth was led by the semiconductor division, while the MX and Networks division showed stability through flagship smartphone sales and 5G infrastructure demand.
KnowBe4 research finds 86% of phishing attacks are AI driven
KnowBe4 released its Phishing Threat Trends Report Volume Seven, revealing that 86% of phishing attacks are now AI-driven. The report highlights a 49% increase in calendar invite phishing and a 139% surge in reverse proxy usage to steal Microsoft 365 credentials. Jack Chapman, SVP of Threat Intelligence at KnowBe4, noted a shift towards multi-channel orchestration and targeted social engineering, including internal team impersonation. The findings indicate a seismic shift in attack vectors beyond traditional email, impacting collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams.
Encryption breaking technology is now 20x cheaper and CEOs should be very worried
Recent research from Google and Caltech indicates that resources required to break traditional cryptography are materially lower than previously estimated, increasing the risk to internet security and cryptocurrencies. Experts warn that practical quantum-enabled attacks are no longer theoretical, prompting organizations like Google to accelerate quantum-secure transition timelines to 2029. The primary challenge is execution risk, as migrating to post-quantum algorithms across heterogeneous enterprise environments is complex and time-consuming. Leaders are urged to establish continuous cryptographic visibility and adopt crypto-agility to reduce exposure before regulatory deadlines.
Big Tech AI spending reaches $725 billion despite record profits
Big Tech companies Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon have collectively committed to $725 billion in AI infrastructure spending for 2026, representing a 77% increase from 2025. Although Meta reported record quarterly profits, its stock fell over 6% after the company raised full-year capital expenditure guidance to $125-145 billion. Markets remain concerned about capital misallocation and the risk that infrastructure buildout will outpace near-term monetisation, with returns on this massive investment not yet visible on income statements.
OpenAI faces security risks from human network rather than ChatGPT model
OpenAI's ChatGPT, accessed over 300 million times weekly since early 2026, faces significant security vulnerabilities not within the model itself but within the surrounding human network. The article argues that developers, partners, employees, and end-users create threats through misconduct, errors, and attacks. Consequently, OpenAI's automatic security measures require a complete system redesign to address these human-centric weaknesses.
UK NCSC warns organisations to prepare for AI-driven patch wave
On May 1, 2026, the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) warned organisations to prepare for a surge of software updates driven by artificial intelligence. CTO Ollie Whitehouse stated that AI will exploit technical debt at scale, forcing a correction of vulnerabilities across open source, commercial, and SaaS solutions. The NCSC recommended enabling automatic secure hot patching, activating automatic updates for embedded devices, and adopting an update-by-default policy. The agency also republished its Vulnerability Management guidance version 2.1, emphasising asset identification and risk ownership.