Author: GT

A sophisticated new ransomware strain dubbed “Ebyte” targeting Windows systems across North America and Europe. The ransomware has compromised thousands of systems since its detection three weeks ago, utilizing advanced encryption tactics that have challenged security experts. Initial infection vectors primarily involve phishing emails containing malicious Office documents that exploit a recent Windows vulnerability (CVE-2025-0142). These phishing attempts mimic legitimate business communications with unusually high success rates. The messages typically appear as invoice reminders or shipping notifications from trusted business partners, containing documents that trigger the exploit when opened. Once executed, the malware establishes persistence through registry modifications and scheduled…

LONDON (AP) — If you’ve got a smartphone, you probably spend too much time on it — checking Instagram, watching silly TikTok videos, messaging on WhatsApp or doomscrolling on X. It can be hard to curb excessive use of smartphones and social media, which are addictive by design. Reducing your screen time is often more than just a matter of willpower, especially for younger people whose brains and impulse control are still developing. If you’re a phone addict who wants to cut down on the hours a day spent looking at your device, here are some techniques you can try…

When the late professor emeritus Woodie Flowers SM ’68, MEng ’71, PhD ’73 was a student at MIT, most of his classes involved paper-and-pencil exercises with predetermined solutions. Flowers had an affinity for making things, and for making them work. When he transitioned from student to teacher, he chose to carry this approach into his method of instruction and, in doing so, he helped change the way engineering students are educated — at MIT, and around the world. Flowers passed away in 2019, but his legacy lives on, and the magnitude of the educational revolution he helped to evolve was profound.In…

https://www.tipranks.com/news/the-fly/crypto-currents-binance-founder-denies-report-on-trump-talks As bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies get increasing attention from investors, Wall Street and its traditional banks continue to adjust to the shift. Catch up on this week’s top stories highlighting the intersection of these old guard and new school areas of finance with this recap compiled by The Fly. BINANCE FOUNDER DENIES REPORT ON TRUMP TALKS: On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal’s Rebecca Ballhaus, Patricia Kowsmann, Angus Berwick, Josh Dawsey and Caitlin Ostroff reported that representatives of President crypto exchange Binance, citing people familiar with the matter. Binance’s billionaire founder, Changpeng Zhao, who served four months in prison…

The Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, Dubai, United Arab EmiratesNikada | E+ | Getty ImagesThe global trade war triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump shows no sign of abating, with tit-for-tat tariffs hammering major economies, tanking stock markets and dimming growth prospects.The economies concerned – North America, the European Union, and China – face highly uncertain futures. But for the Middle East, which has so far been spared of additional levies, there are still reasons to worry – as well as opportunities to take advantage of.Direct impact from tariffs, like the U.S. levies on steel and aluminum imports, have just a…

This photo illustration created Jan. 7, 2025, shows an image of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, and an image of the Meta logo.Drew Angerer | Afp | Getty ImagesMeta is seeking to stop the promotion of a new memoir by a former staffer that paints the social media company in an unflattering light, including allegations of sexual harassment by the company’s policy chief. An emergency arbitrator ruled Wednesday that Sarah Wynn-Williams is prohibited from promoting “Careless People,” her book that was released Tuesday by Flatiron Books, an imprint of publisher Macmillan Books.Flatiron Books said in a statement on Thursday that the…

SpaceX successfully launched four people into space on Friday, beginning a mission that will give the International Space Station enough crew members to allow astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to return to Earth after their nine-month stay. The mission, known as Crew-10, will see SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft dock with the International Space Station (ISS) late Saturday. The new astronauts will overlap with the existing crew for a few days before Williams and Wilmore (along with two others) return to our planet. That could happen as soon as March 19, weather permitting. SpaceX crew launches to the ISS have become…

A series of ongoing, targeted cyber campaigns by Blind Eagle (APT-C-36), one of Latin America’s most dangerous threat actors primarily targeting Colombia’s justice system, government institutions, and private organizations were recently unveiled by Check Point Research (CPR). The group has demonstrated remarkable adaptability, incorporating new attack techniques just six days after Microsoft patched CVE-2024-43451, showing how attackers can turn security updates into weapons against their targets. This rapid adaptation highlights the growing sophistication of cyber threats and the need for proactive defenses to counter them. CPR’s investigation uncovered more than 9,000 infections in just one week, a staggering number that…

WASHINGTON (AP) — State officials are warning Americans not to respond to a surge of scam road toll collection texts.The texts impersonating state road toll collection agencies attempt to get phone users to reveal financial information, such as credit or debit cards or bank accounts.They’re so-called smishing scams — a form of phishing that relies on SMS texts to trick people into sending money or share sensitive information.Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said she received one purporting to be from the statewide GeauxPass toll system.“It is a SCAM,” Murrill posted on Facebook this week. “If you ever receive a text…

In the future, autonomous drones could be used to shuttle inventory between large warehouses. A drone might fly into a semi-dark structure the size of several football fields, zipping along hundreds of identical aisles before docking at the precise spot where its shipment is needed.Most of today’s drones would likely struggle to complete this task, since drones typically navigate outdoors using GPS, which doesn’t work in indoor environments. For indoor navigation, some drones employ computer vision or lidar, but both techniques are unreliable in dark environments or rooms with plain walls or repetitive features.MIT researchers have introduced a new approach…