Deadly dog attacks

- A + A (May 20): President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the number of cyber attacks on Russia by foreign "state structures" had increased several times over and that Russia must bolster its cyber defences by reducing the use of foreign software and hardware. The websites of many state-owned companies and news websites have suffered sporadic hacking attempts since Russia sent its armed forces into Ukraine on Feb 24, often to show information that is at odds with Moscow's official line on the conflict. "Targeted attempts are being made to disable the internet resources of Russia's critical information infrastructure," Putin said, adding that media and financial institutions had been targeted. "Serious attacks have been launched against the official sites of government agencies. Attempts to illegally penetrate the corporate networks of leading Russian companies are much more frequent as well," he said. In a meeting with the Security Council, Putin said that … [Read more...] about Putin promises to bolster Russia’s IT security in face of cyber attacks

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline Vangelis, the Oscar-winning composer behind Chariots Of Fire , one of the most well-known film scores of all time, died at age 79, The Guardian reported Thursday. Key Facts Vangelis, who also composed the score to Blade Runner , died at a hospital in France, the musician’s representative told The Guardian . Key Background Vangelis, who was born with the name Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou, rose to worldwide acclaim for his Chariots Of Fire theme, a motivational piece of music that soon became inextricably linked to athletic feats in film and TV. In 1982 he won the Oscar for Best Original Score for the work. The movie’s soundtrack reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts and was nominated for a Grammy for Record Of The Year, according to Variety. Before his film score career, Vangelis was a member of the band Aphrodite’s Child. He also released some solo works. His song “Heaven and Hell” was … [Read more...] about Composer Vangelis, Who Crafted ‘Chariots Of Fire’ Score, Dead At 79

As the cost of cybercrime balloons in the U.S., a number of startups have emerged to help small businesses detect fraud before it happens. Stripe , the San Francisco payments processor recently valued at $5 billion, is now offering its own cybersecurity program to small-business customers. On Wednesday, the company announced a suite of new tools to help startups detect and prevent fraudulent transactions. Dubbed "Radar," the new offering uses machine learning to examine the hundreds of thousands of businesses processing transactions on Stripe every second. By looking at purchasing patterns--and better spotting irregularities--the new tools will help bolster defenses and curb fraud, the company claims. Stripe also says it receives signals from its financial partners, including credit card companies, to determine when a transaction seems suspect. "We've been thinking about this problem for a long time," says John Collison, Stripe's co-founder and president. "We have this … [Read more...] about How Stripe Aims to Help Small Businesses Combat Cybercrime

Elon Musk denied allegations of sexual misconduct made against him by a former SpaceX flight attendant, and tweeted a challenge to the accuser, daring her to describe details of his naked body. The former attendant alleges Musk propositioned her for sex while she was giving him a massage, Insider reported . A “friend” of the accuser claimed Musk “whipped out his penis” and that “it was erect” during the alleged incident, according to the outlet. Musk denied any wrongdoing, then issued a series of tweets, daring his accuser to come forward with more tangible evidence. “But I have a challenge to this liar who claims their friend saw me “exposed” – describe just one thing, anything at all (scars, tattoos, …) that isn’t known by the public. She won’t be able to do so, because it never happened,” Musk said in a tweet. But I have a challenge to this liar who claims their friend saw me “exposed” – describe just one thing, anything at all (scars, tattoos, …) that isn’t known by the … [Read more...] about Elon Challenges Accuser To Describe His Tattoos And Scars In His Genital Region To Prove She’s Telling The Truth

China’s most powerful bombers circled U.S. military bases in Okinawa, Japan, on Wednesday, according to Chinese state-run media Thursday. A pair of China’s H-6J bombers crossed between two of the largest islands of Okinawa Prefecture , Japan, where the U.S has multiple military installations , before circling in the region, Global Times reported. The bombers likely coordinated with the Liaoning aircraft carrier group , which has been conducting drills in the region since May 2, according to the report. The military exercise featuring China’s “most powerful bombers” was a “rehearsal for keeping foreign forces from interfering in the Taiwan question” and sent “a powerful warning to Taiwan secessionists and external interference forces,” Global Times reported. China’s drills came as President Joe Biden made the first stop of his Asia tour in Seoul, South Korea, according to a White House press release . The diplomatic mission, which will also include a stop in Tokyo, … [Read more...] about China’s Most Powerful Bombers Buzz US Military Bases In Japan

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin President and CEO at Volt Active Data, Inc . The future is at the edge. No matter which industry report you put your faith in, the edge computing market is poised to blow up. User expectations, IoT proliferation and 5G latency are converging to test the limits of physics. 5G squeezes the latency possibilities from 4G’s 200 milliseconds to single-digit milliseconds. This squeeze is 5G’s most exciting promise and the single-most-important reason to move computing workloads as close to the action as possible: onto edge sensors and devices or in edge data centers. Consider a healthcare IoT system. It collects patients’ vital data through sensors, analyzes it to spot anomalies, uses machine learning algorithms to make inferences and triggers a notification so caregivers can take appropriate actions in a timely manner. To be useful, all this has to happen in real time (i.e., within single-digit milliseconds). But … [Read more...] about The Power Of Machine Learning At The Edge

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Graydon McKee is Senior Director for Cybersecurity Engineering at VISA . Over the last several years, I've been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to mentor several individuals. I've been humbled by the experience. Part of the advice I typically give is to be especially careful when it comes to social media. One of my mentees recently needed a refresher on how to handle negativity aimed at some of the comments she made. Here is a summary of what I shared: There are at least two sides to every issue, and as such, anyone who posts on social media will eventually run into what is typically referred to as a troll. These are individuals who lash out in an aggressive way in response to something they disagree with. Some see it as their responsibility to "right wrongs" like some sort of internet vigilante. Some just like to bully everyone else with their opinion. Others enjoy sowing hate and discord no matter what … [Read more...] about Social Media Advice From The Trenches

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Rob is the CTO at Applause , helping leading brands quickly release high-quality digital experiences. In my last piece , I described the metaverse as an evolution of the internet and a series of evolving standards. The experience of the user becomes central, and the technology must be frictionless. While “what is the metaverse?” is still a question that can’t easily be answered, almost every industry vertical is thinking about what it means for them. Retailers are looking at ways to embed AR/VR experiences into shopping, as well as the sale of digital products, and media and entertainment companies will have to offer entertainment on new devices and mediums. The gambling industry is grappling with the fact that online casinos do not have to follow the same regulations as in-person options, which will impact the popularity of AR/VR casinos, and the use of cryptocurrency for in-game betting is also sure to rise. … [Read more...] about Testing The Metaverse

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin With a thunderous artillery barrage, the Russian army on Thursday launched its latest offensive in Ukraine. Much of what’s left of the Russian army—106 or so under-strength battalion tactical groups, down from 125 full-strength BTGs at the start of the war in late February— attacked north and west from Popasna in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region. The ultimate target is obvious. “Russian troops are attempting to siege and destroy Severodonetsk ,” the Ukrainian armed forces tweeted on Thursday. Popasna is the locus of Russian forces on the southern side of the Severodonetsk pocket, an area under Ukrainian control that extends west from the city—pre-war population, 100,000—and is surrounded on the north, east and south by areas under Russian and separatist control. The three or so Ukrainian brigades in and around Severodonetsk include 5,000 or more troops. They’ve dug in and blown bridges leading into the … [Read more...] about The Russians Are Throwing Everything They’ve Got At One Ukrainian Garrison

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin If the recent report that an advanced Syrian S-300 air defense missile was fired at Israeli Air Force (IAF) fighter jets for the first time is indeed accurate, it could be a big deal. Israel’s Channel 13 news reported on May 16 that an S-300 missile was fired at Israeli jets after they attacked targets near the northwestern Syrian city of Masyaf on the night of May 13. The S-300 was fired as the jets were returning to base. According to the report, the system’s radar did not lock onto any of the Israeli aircraft and, therefore, posed no serious danger to them. It’s possible Russia was attempting to send a signal to Israel by firing the system for the first time. If so, it wouldn’t be Moscow’s first attempt to signal its desire for Israel to limit its air campaign over Syria. Russia delivered Syria those S-300s for the first time in 2018 shortly after an incident involving Israel. In September of that year, … [Read more...] about Why Would Russia Fire A ‘Syrian’ S-300 Missile At Israeli Jets?