Tech News
Copy-and-Paste Now Exceeds File Transferring as the Top Corporate Data Exfiltration Vector
it - Posted On:2025-11-15 23:15:00 Source: slashdot
Slashdot reader spatwei writes: It is now more common for data to leave companies through copying and pasting than through file transfers and uploads, LayerX revealed in its Browser Security Report 2025. This shift is largely due to generative AI (genAI), with 77% of employees pasting data into AI prompts, and 32% of all copy-pastes from corporate accounts to non-corporate accounts occurring within genAI tools. 'Traditional governance built for email, file-sharing, and sanctioned SaaS didn't anticipate that copy/paste into a browser prompt would become the dominant leak vector,' LayerX CEO Or Eshed wrote in a blog post summarizing the report. "GenAI now accounts for 11% of enterprise application usage," notes this article from SC World, "with adoption rising faster than many data loss protection (DLP) controls can keep up. Overall, 45% of employees actively use AI tools, with 67% of these tools being accessed via personal accounts and ChatGPT making up 92% of all use..." "With the rise of AI-driven browsers such as OpenAI's Atlas and Perplexity's Comet, governance of AI tools' access to corporate data becomes even more urgent, the LayerX report notes." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
A Quantum Error Correction Breakthrough?
technology - Posted On:2025-11-15 19:30:00 Source: slashdot
The dream of quantum computers has been hampered by the challenge of error correction, writes the Harvard Gazette, since qubits "are inherently susceptible to slipping out of their quantum states and losing their encoded information." But in a newly-published paper, a research team "combined various methods to create complex circuits with dozens of error correction layers" that "suppresses errors below a critical threshold — the point where adding qubits further reduces errors rather than increasing them." "For the first time, we combined all essential elements for a scalable, error-corrected quantum computation in an integrated architecture," said Mikhail Lukin, co-director of the Quantum Science and Engineering Initiative, Joshua and Beth Friedman University Professor, and senior author of the new paper. "These experiments — by several measures the most advanced that have been done on any quantum platform to date — create the scientific foundation for practical large-scale quantum computation..." "There are still a lot of technical challenges remaining to get to very large-scale computer with millions of qubits, but this is the first time we have an architecture that is conceptually scalable," said lead author Dolev Bluvstein, Ph.D. '25, who did the research during his graduate studies at Harvard and is now an assistant professor at Caltech. "It's going to take a lot of effort and technical development, but it's becoming clear that we can build fault-tolerant quantum computers...." Hartmut Neven, vice president of engineering at the Google Quantum AI team, said the new paper came amid an "incredibly exciting" race between qubit platforms. "This work represents a significant advance toward our shared goal of building a large-scale, useful quantum computer," he said... With recent advances, Lukin believes the core elements for building quantum computers are falling into place. "This big dream that many of us had for several decades, for the first time, is really in direct sight," he said. "In theory, a system of 300 quantum bits can store more information than the number of particles in the known universe..." the article points out. "The new paper represents an important advance in a three-decade pursuit of quantum error correction." Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the article. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
While Meta Crawls the Web for AI Training Data, Bruce Ediger Pranks Them with Endless Bad Data
technology - Posted On:2025-11-15 16:30:00 Source: slashdot
From the personal blog of interface expert Bruce Ediger: Early in March 2025, I noticed that a web crawler with a user agent string of meta-externalagent/1.1 (+https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/webmasters/crawler) was hitting my blog's machine at an unreasonable rate. I followed the URL and discovered this is what Meta uses to gather premium, human-generated content to train its LLMs. I found the rate of requests to be annoying. I already have a PHP program that creates the illusion of an infinite website. I decided to answer any HTTP request that had "meta-externalagent" in its user agent string with the contents of a bork.php generated file... This worked brilliantly. Meta ramped up to requesting 270,000 URLs on May 30 and 31, 2025... After about 3 months, I got scared that Meta's insatiable consumption of Super Great Pages about condiments, underwear and circa 2010 C-List celebs would start costing me money. So I switched to giving "meta-externalagent" a 404 status code. I decided to see how long it would take one of the highest valued companies in the world to decide to go away. The answer is 5 months. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
GM Wants Parts Makers To Pull Supply Chains From China
technology - Posted On:2025-11-15 05:15:00 Source: slashdot
schwit1 shares a report from the Business Times: General Motors (GM) has directed several thousand of its suppliers to scrub their supply chains of parts from China, four people familiar with the matter said, reflecting automakers' growing frustration over geopolitical disruptions to their operations. GM executives have been telling suppliers they should find alternatives to China for their raw materials and parts, with the goal of eventually moving their supply chains out of the country entirely, the people said. The automaker has set a 2027 deadline for some suppliers to dissolve their China sourcing ties, some of the sources said. GM approached some suppliers with the directive in late 2024, but the effort took on fresh urgency this past spring, during the early days of an escalating US-China trade battle, the sources said. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Russia Imposes 24-Hour Mobile Internet Blackout For Travelers Returning Home
technology - Posted On:2025-11-14 18:45:00 Source: slashdot
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Record: Russian telecom operators have begun cutting mobile internet access for 24 hours for citizens returning to the country from abroad, in what officials say is an effort to prevent Ukrainian drones from using domestic SIM cards for navigation. "When a SIM card enters Russia from abroad, the user has to confirm that it's being used by a person -- not installed in a drone," the Digital Development Ministry said in a statement earlier this week. Users can restore access sooner by solving a captcha or calling their operator for identification. Authorities said the temporary blackout is meant to "ensure the safety of Russian citizens" and prevent SIM cards from being embedded in "enemy drones." The new rule has led to unexpected outages for residents in border regions, whose phones can automatically connect to foreign carriers. Officials advised users to switch to manual network selection to avoid being cut off. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Retail Traders Left Exposed in High-Stakes Crypto Treasury Deals
technology - Posted On:2025-11-14 13:15:00 Source: slashdot
An anonymous reader shares a report: Executives are turning to a novel structure to fund crypto accumulation vehicles as investor appetite thins. They're called in-kind contributions, and they now account for a growing share of digital-asset treasury, or DAT, deals. Instead of raising cash to buy tokens in the open market, DAT sponsors contribute large slugs of their own crypto, often unlisted and hard to value. Digital-asset treasuries are a new breed of public company built to hold concentrated crypto positions. The structure surged in 2025 as small-cap firms, especially in biotech and mining, reinvented themselves as digital-asset proxies. Sponsors provide tokens or raise money to buy them, and the stock then trades as a kind of listed bet on crypto. For insiders, it's a shortcut to liquidity. For investors, a wager on upside. But not all DATs carry the same level of risk. Earlier deals raised money to buy tokens through regular markets, which offered at least some independent price check. In-kind contributions skip that step -- letting insiders decide what their tokens are worth, sometimes before the token even trades publicly. That shift means pricing and trading risks land more squarely on shareholders, many of them retail investors. Investor faith is already wobbling. Many DATs that once traded above the value of their holdings now trade below it. As insiders supply the tokens and set their price, it's becoming harder for investors to tell what these deals are really worth, or when to get out. The in-kind structure was on full display in a recent $545 million private placement by Tharimmune Inc., a biotech firm-turned-crypto proxy, to set up a buyer of Canton Coins. About 80% of the raise came in the form of unlisted Canton tokens, priced at 20 cents each, according to an investor presentation seen by Bloomberg News. The token began trading on exchanges Nov. 10 and is now around 11 cents, CoinGecko data show. More deals are following the same template. In these placements, insiders contribute tokens -- sometimes illiquid or unlisted -- to form a treasury, lock in valuations and seed the perception of market demand. But when tokens list below deal price, public shareholders absorb the difference. [...] Then there's Flora Growth Corp., a Nasdaq-listed company that announced a $401 million deal to start acquiring Zero Gravity tokens in September. On closer inspection, the firm had raised just $35 million in cash to pair with a $366 million in-kind contribution of then-unlisted 0G tokens. Those tokens were priced at around $3 a piece; they subsequently listed, and are now trading at about $1.20. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Amazon Renames 'Project Kuiper' Satellite Internet Venture To 'Leo'
technology - Posted On:2025-11-14 02:15:00 Source: slashdot
Amazon announced that its satellite broadband project called Project Kuiper will now be known as Amazon Leo. GeekWire reports: Leo is a nod to "low Earth orbit," where Amazon has so far launched more than 150 satellites as part of a constellation that will eventually include more than 3,200. In a blog post, Amazon said the 7-year-old Project Kuiper began "with a handful of engineers and a few designs on paper" and like most early Amazon projects "the program needed a code name." The team was inspired by the Kuiper Belt, a ring of asteroids in the outer solar system. A new website for Amazon Leo proclaims "a new era of internet is coming," as Amazon says its satellites can help serve "billions of people on the planet who lack high-speed internet access, and millions of businesses, governments, and other organizations operating in places without reliable connectivity." Amazon said it will begin rolling out service once it's added more coverage and capacity to the network. Details about pricing and availability haven't been announced. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
World's First Flying Car Factory Begins Production In China
technology - Posted On:2025-11-13 20:00:00 Source: slashdot
Xpeng's flying-car subsidiary Aridge has begun trial production at the world's first dedicated flying-car factory in Guangzhou. Euronews reports: The 120,000-square-meter facility has produced its first detachable eVTOL aircraft for the modular "Land Aircraft Carrier." With an annual capacity of up to 10,000 modules, the factory will eventually assemble one aircraft every 30 minutes. Trial operations focus on process verification, equipment testing, and producing prototypes for airworthiness certification before moving into mass production. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Jack Dorsey Funds diVine, a Vine Reboot That Includes Vine's Video Archive
technology - Posted On:2025-11-13 19:30:01 Source: slashdot
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: As generative AI content starts to fill our social apps, a project to bring back Vine's six-second looping videos is launching with Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey's backing. On Thursday, a new app called diVine will give access to more than 100,000 archived Vine videos, restored from an older backup that was created before Vine's shutdown. The app won't just exist as a walk down memory lane; it will also allow users to create profiles and upload their own new Vine videos. However, unlike on traditional social media, where AI content is often haphazardly labeled, diVine will flag suspected generative AI content and prevent it from being posted. According to TechCrunch, a volunteer preservation group called the Archive Team saved Vine's content when it shut down in 2016. The only problem was that everything was stored in massive 40-50 GB binary blob files that were basically unusable for casual viewing. Evan Henshaw-Plath (who goes by the name Rabble), an early Twitter employee and member of Jack Dorsey's nonprofit "and Other Stuff," dug into those backup files to try and salvage as much as he could. He spent months writing big-data extraction scripts, reverse-engineering how the archived binaries were structured, and reconstructing the original video files, old user info, view counts, and more. "I wasn't able to get all of them out, but I was able to get a lot out and basically reconstruct these Vines and these Vine users, and give each person a new user [profile] on this open network," he said. Rabble estimates that through this process he was able to successfully recover 150,000-200,000 Vine videos from around 60,000 creators. diVine then rebuilt user profiles on top of the decentralized Nostr protocol so creators can reclaim their accounts, request takedowns, or upload missing videos. You can check out the app for yourself at diVine.video. It's available in beta form on both iOS and Android. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Germany To Ban Huawei From Future 6G Network in Sovereignty Push
technology - Posted On:2025-11-13 16:45:00 Source: slashdot
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Chinese suppliers such as Huawei will be excluded from the country's future telecommunication networks on security grounds as he pushes for more digital sovereignty. From a report: "We have decided within the government that everywhere it's possible we'll replace components, for example in the 5G network, with components we have produced ourselves," Merz told a business conference in Berlin on Thursday. "And we won't allow any components from China in the 6G network." Europe is increasingly concerned about its reliance on foreign technology, ranging from Asian semiconductors to US artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure, as trade and geopolitical tensions threaten critical supply chains. Germany last year ordered telecom operators to remove Huawei equipment from their core networks, citing risks to national security. Berlin is now considering using public funds to pay Deutsche Telekom AG and others to strip out Chinese gear, Bloomberg News reported last month. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
China Plans To Limit How Fast Your Car Accelerates To 62 MPH At Startup
technology - Posted On:2025-11-13 16:00:00 Source: slashdot
bobthesungeek76036 writes: Beijing's proposed regulation aims to tame rapid launches by forcing cars to boot up in a restricted performance mode after every ignition. Under a proposed update to the National Standard, every passenger car would need a default mode in which it takes no less than five seconds to reach 100 km/h (62 mph) at startup, unless the driver manually selects a quicker setting. The draft title "Technical Specifications for Power-Driven Vehicles Operating on Roads" appears to be part of a broader safety and road behavior initiative in China. It is intended to replace the current GB 7258-2017 standard that didn't impose such restrictions. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Chinese Hackers Used Anthropic's AI To Automate Cyberattacks
it - Posted On:2025-11-13 14:45:01 Source: slashdot
China's state-sponsored hackers used AI technology from Anthropic to automate break-ins of major corporations and foreign governments during a September hacking campaign, the company said Thursday. From a report: The effort focused on dozens of targets and involved a level of automation that Anthropic's cybersecurity investigators had not previously seen, according to Jacob Klein, the company's head of threat intelligence. Hackers have been using AI for years now to conduct individual tasks such as crafting phishing emails or scanning the internet for vulnerable systems, but in this instance 80% to 90% of the attack was automated, with humans only intervening in a handful of decision points, Klein said. The hackers conducted their attacks "literally with the click of a button, and then with minimal human interaction," Klein said. Anthropic disrupted the campaigns and blocked the hackers' accounts, but not before as many as four intrusions were successful. In one case, the hackers directed Anthropic's Claude AI tools to query internal databases and extract data independently. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Mozilla Launches AI Window for Firefox
technology - Posted On:2025-11-13 13:15:00 Source: slashdot
Mozilla announced on Thursday that it is building an AI Window for Firefox, a new opt-in browsing mode that will let users interact with an AI assistant and chatbot. The feature will become one of three browsing experiences in Firefox alongside the existing classic and private windows. Users will be able to select which AI model they want to use in the AI Window, according to a post on the Mozilla Connect forum. The company opened a waitlist for users who want to receive updates and be among the first to test the feature. Mozilla described the AI Window as an "intelligent and user-controlled space" that it is developing in the open through community feedback. Users who try the feature and decide against it can switch it off entirely. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Verizon To Cut About 15,000 Jobs
technology - Posted On:2025-11-13 12:00:00 Source: slashdot
Verizon is planning to cut roughly 15,000 jobs, looking to reduce costs as it contends with increased competition for wireless service and home internet, according to WSJ, which cites people familiar with the matter. From the report: The cuts, the largest ever for the carrier, are set to take place in the next week, the people said. The majority of the reduction is expected to be made through layoffs. Verizon also plans to transition about 200 stores into franchised operations, which will shift employees off its payroll. Verizon, the largest U.S. telecommunications provider by subscriber base, faces a fierce battle for both wireless and home internet customers. It has lost crucial postpaid phone subscribers for three consecutive quarters. Last month, Verizon named its lead independent director Daniel Schulman as its new chief executive officer. Schulman, a former CEO of PayPal and Virgin Mobile USA, has said he would aggressively reduce the company's entire cost base and take steps to reverse the customer losses. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Reddit Cofounder Had a Bad Feeling About Giving Data To Sam Altman
technology - Posted On:2025-11-13 11:15:00 Source: slashdot
Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian said he had serious doubts a decade ago about sharing the platform's data with Sam Altman. Ohanian recounted on the "Brew Markets" podcast that between 2015 and 2016, Altman asked Reddit to let him "aggressively scrape" the site's content. Altman had recently helped Reddit raise $50 million in a Series B round and was launching OpenAI as a nonprofit. Ohanian described Altman as "very smart" and "incredibly cunning" but questioned whether he was "the most philanthropically minded guy." The Reddit cofounder said he "felt in my bones" the company should refuse the request and debated internally about it against Steve Huffman. Ohanian said he "lost that debate." Reddit and OpenAI announced a formal licensing deal in 2024. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Google To Allow 'Experienced Users' To Install Unverified Android Apps
technology - Posted On:2025-11-13 09:15:00 Source: slashdot
Google says it will build a new "advanced flow" to allow experienced users to install Android apps from unverified developers, easing up on restrictions it proposed in late August. The company said earlier that Android would block such installations starting next year. The new flow will include clear warnings about security risks but will give users final control over the decision. Google said it is designing the system to resist coercion and prevent users from being tricked into bypassing safety checks. The company is currently gathering early feedback on the feature's design. Google also announced that developers who distribute apps exclusively outside the Play Store can now join an early access program for developer verification. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Toyota Opens the Doors To Its First EV Battery Plant In the US
technology - Posted On:2025-11-12 22:45:01 Source: slashdot
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Electrek: Production is now underway at Toyota's new $13.9 billion battery plant in North Carolina, the company's first outside Japan. After the first batteries rolled off the production line at its new facility in Liberty, North Carolina, on Wednesday, Toyota said today marks a "pivotal moment" in the company's history. The facility is Toyota's 11th plant in the US and its first battery plant outside of Japan. Toyota first announced plans to build EV batteries in the US almost four years ago. The nearly $14 billion facility will create up to 5,100 jobs in the area. In addition, the Japanese auto giant announced plans to invest an additional $10 billion in its US operations over the next five years. Since it first arrived in the US nearly 70 years ago, Toyota has invested close to $60 billion. The mega site spans 1,850 acres, or about the size of 121 football fields, and can produce up to 30 GWh annually. Toyota will use the hub to develop and build lithium-ion batteries for its growing lineup of "electrified" vehicles, including battery electric (EV), plug-in hybrid (PHEV), and hybrid (HEV) models. Batteries from the plant will power the new Camry HEV, Corolla Cross HEV, RAV4 HEV, and Toyota's yet-to-be-announced three-row electric SUV. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Waymo Robotaxis Are Now Giving Rides On Freeways
technology - Posted On:2025-11-12 20:00:00 Source: slashdot
Waymo is rolling out robotaxi rides that use freeways across Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix for the first time -- "a critical expansion for the company that it says will reduce ride times by up to 50%," reports TechCrunch. From the report: That stat could help attract a whole new group of users who need to travel between the many towns and suburbs within the greater San Francisco Bay Area or quicken commutes across the sprawling Los Angeles and Phoenix metro areas. Using freeways is also essential for Waymo to offer rides to and from the San Francisco Airport, a location the company is currently testing in. The service won't be offered to all Waymo riders at first, the company said. Waymo riders who want to experience freeway rides can note their preference in the Waymo app. Once the rider hails a ride, they may be matched with a freeway trip, according to the company. The company's robotaxi routes will now stretch to San Jose, an expansion that will create a unified 260-mile service area across the Peninsula, according to Waymo. The company said it will also begin curbside drop off and pick up service at the San Jose Mineta International Airport. It already offers curbside service to the Sky Harbor Phoenix International Airport. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Microsoft Is Offering Rewards Points for Using Edge Instead of Google Chrome
it - Posted On:2025-11-12 15:15:00 Source: slashdot
An anonymous reader shares a report: Microsoft employs various schemes to stop Edge users from switching to Chrome, and the latest includes financial rewards for sticking with the browser. As spotted by Windows Latest, select users who search on Bing within Microsoft Edge for a link to download Google Chrome are now shown an offer to stay with the browser. It gives users 1,300 Microsoft Rewards points, which can be redeemed for gift cards (examples include Amazon, Roblox, and Spotify) or donated to one of over 2 million nonprofits. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Google Relaunches Cameyo To Entice Businesses From Windows To ChromeOS
technology - Posted On:2025-11-12 11:15:01 Source: slashdot
After acquiring software virtualization company Cameyo last year, Google has relaunched a version of the service that makes it easier for Windows-based organizations to migrate over to ChromeOS. From a report: Now called "Cameyo by Google," the Virtual App Delivery (VAD) solution allows users to run legacy Windows apps in the Chrome browser or as web apps, preventing organizations from being tied to Microsoft's operating system. Google says the new Cameyo experience is more efficient than switching between separate virtual desktop environments, allowing users to stream the specific apps they need instead of virtualizing the entire desktop. That allows Windows-based programs like Excel and AutoCAD to run side-by-side with Chrome and other web apps, giving businesses the flexibility to use a mix of Microsoft and Google services. Read more of this story at Slashdot.