News Briefs

NCA Launches Campaign to Curb DDoS-for-Hire Website Use, Warns of Legal Risks

The United Kingdom's National Crime Agency (NCA) has been running a series of campaigns focused on reducing the use of DDoS-for-hire websites. These websites offer people the opportunity to purchase powerful tools to launch cyber-attacks, which can be used to knock websites or users offline. more

Experts Urge Immediate Halt on Development of “Giant” AIs

More than 1,000 experts in the artificial intelligence community have called for an immediate pause on the development of "giant" AI systems like GPT-4 for at least six months. more

China Takes on SpaceX: 13,000 Satellites to Compete With and Monitor SpaceX’s Starlink Constellations

China plans to send almost 13,000 satellites into low-Earth orbit to compete with and monitor SpaceX's Starlink constellations. The project, codenamed "GW," is being run by a newly established group called China Satellite Network Group Co, whose goal is to launch a total of 12,992 small satellites into orbit quickly. more

Government of India, MeitY Organizes 2-Day Event to Promote Universal Acceptance and Multilingual Internet

The Government of India and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) organized a two-day event on Universal Acceptance Day (UAD) on the 27th and 28th of March to promote multilingual Internet and digital inclusion in India. The event highlighted the necessity of providing emails and websites in native languages to enable access to the Internet and bridge the digital divide across the nation. more

Microsoft Launches AI-driven’ Security Copilot’ to Help Companies Fight Hacking Attempts

Microsoft continues to integrate new artificial intelligence technology into its products and today announced a cybersecurity "copilot" to help companies track and defend against hacking attempts. This tool is part of Microsoft's attempt to dominate the fast-growing field of "generative" AI. more

Europol Warns on the Criminal Usage of ChatGPT and Its Implications for Law Enforcement

Europol's Innovation Lab released a Tech Watch Flash report on Monday, sounding the alarm on the potential misuse of large language models such as ChatGPT. Entitled 'ChatGPT - the Impact of Large Language Models on Law Enforcement,' the report provides an urgent overview of the implications of ChatGPT for criminals and law enforcement, as well as an outlook of what may still be to come. more

Biden Administration Bans Federal Agencies from Using Commercial Spyware

The Biden administration has announced an executive order that would ban U.S. federal agencies from using commercially developed spyware that poses threats to human rights and national security. more

Gordon E. Moore, Co-Founder of Intel and Father of Moore’s Law, Passes Away at 94

Gordon E. Moore, the co-founder and former chairman of Intel Corporation, passed away on Friday at his home in Hawaii. He was 94. Moore was widely known for his 1965 prediction, which became known as Moore's Law. more

Copper Thieves in New Brunswick Impacting Bell Aliant Customers

Bell Aliant customers in the Canadian province of New Brunswick have been experiencing repeated and prolonged disruption to their internet, home phone, and TV services due to vandalism to Bell's network. more

ICANN Board Takes Steps to Launch Next Round of New gTLDs

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has adopteda 98 recommendations in the New gTLD subsequent procedures policy development process. This sets in motion the start of the implementation process for the next round of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). more

Pursuit of Sikh Separatist Prompts Widespread Internet Shutdown in Punjab, India

Indian authorities have instituted a mobile internet and text messaging blackout in the state of Punjab, which has a population of around 27 million, in an effort to capture a Sikh separatist. The ban began midday Saturday and was extended for another 24 hours on Sunday. more

FCC Proposes Framework for Direct Satellite Access to Cell Phones - Setting the stage for ‘Single Network’ Connectivity

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed rules and guidelines to enable satellite companies like SpaceX, T-Mobile, AST Spacemobile, and Lynk to offer satellite services directly to cell phones. more

Analysis of 7.5 Trillion DNS Queries Reveals Public Resolvers Dominate the Internet

A recent report by NS1 provides a comprehensive look at global DNS traffic trends. It reveals that public resolvers dominate the internet, accounting for nearly 60% of recursive DNS usage. Telecom giants represent nearly 9%, with Google the clear front-runner at a little over 30%, followed by Amazon Web Services at 16%. more

Amazon Announces Project Kuiper Customer Terminals with Speeds up to 1Gbps

Amazon has announced the development of a range of customer terminals for its broadband satellite network, Project Kuiper. The company's first device is a "standard" customer terminal that measures less than 11 inches square and one inch thick and weighs less than five pounds. more

SpaceX and T-Mobile to Test Satellite-To-Cell Service This Year

SpaceX and T-Mobile are set to begin testing their satellite-to-cell service this year, an executive of Elon Musk's company confirmed Monday. Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX vice president of Starlink Enterprise Sales, made the announcement during a panel at the Satellite 2023 conference in Washington, D.C. more