The Register

Did we say CrowdStrike? We meant, er, The July Incident... IGNITE The sound of cyber security professionals spraying their screens with coffee could be heard this week as Microsoft claimed, "security is our top priority," as it talked up its Secure Future Initiative (SFI) once again and explained how Windows could be secured....

Plus, soon you'll be able to run Red Hat Enterprise Linux as a supported option under WSL The latest version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is here, as are the leading RHELatives. Also, interestingly, Red Hat is working with Microsoft to make it available on top of Windows....

Affected customers gripe about storage biz's tech support Owners of QNAP network-attached storage (NAS) boxes are finding that a firmware update has left them unable to log into their device, and a reset doesn't seem to fix the issue....

Forget the 10x programmer. How about 10x satellites? SpaceX boss Elon Musk has backed claims that the ballooning number of satellites in orbit around the Earth isn't a problem, signing off on a comment stating that "10 times the number of spacecraft" would still not present a challenge....

Senate Intelligence Committee chair says his 'hair is on fire' as execs front the White House The Biden administration on Friday hosted telco execs to chat about China's recent attacks on the sector, amid revelations that US networks may need mass rebuilds to recover....

Another offer IT services giant possibly can't refuse IT services giant Atos has received another offer from the French state, this time for just its Advanced Computing assets, in a transaction that could be worth up to 625 million ($656 million)....

AI snapshot tool stumbles back into the spotlight with more issues Comment The second coming of Windows Recall has brought with it a litany of issues, reminding users that there's a reason why the snapshotting technology remains a preview for Windows Insiders....

Labour government keen, though critics paint it as a severe threat to privacy UK government has launched a 20 million ($25 million) competition for tech companies to provide live facial recognition to a number of police forces....

It's never aliens, but it could be underground TV repair techs Opinion The oldest functional off-Earth space hardware? Well, that is a great question for those into pub quizzes, aka bar trivia. 1977's Voyagers hold some impressive records beside those golden discs, just not that one. Any guesses?...

Spreading the content around other sites - and may also sprinkle some AI around because why not Microsoft has quietly revealed it's binning a site dedicated to software licensing info and education that it currently promotes as "a complete and up-to-date resource for anyone who needs to learn about Microsoft licensing."...

To avoid lock-in, it helps if you remember your keys Who, Me? Welcome once again to Monday morning at the coalface, which as Reg readers know is when we publish reader-submitted tales of tech support gone awry under the banner of Who, Me?...

Beijing's propaganda buddies aren't just using social media Google's Threat Intelligence Group has blocked a network China-related firms from its search results for operating fake news services and websites....

China is trying to become that land, with a government crackdown on the things that make the internet no fun Internet echo chambers and nasty e-commerce tricks that analyze your behavior to milk you for more cash are set to be banned - in China....

Teams-like DingTalk gets an enterprise edition, and virtual Androids unleashed Alibaba Cloud has started to expand its SaaS portfolio by bringing products it once offered only in China to other territories....

Plus: Microsoft seizes phishing domains; Helldown finds new targets; Illegal streaming with Jupyter, and more Infosec in brief Not to make you paranoid, but that business across the street could, under certain conditions, serve as a launching point for Russian cyber spies to compromise your network....

Plus: Korea cracks down on Temu; US, Vietnam, sign infosec pact; India extends controversial hardware import law; and more Asia In Brief Chinese chip designer Loongson last Friday announced its processors are powering a cloud computing platform that has been launched into space....

Six sites targeted for security clean-up, just 49,994 to go A plan for hackers to help secure America's critical infrastructure has kicked off with six US water companies signing up to let coders kick the tires of their computer systems and fix any vulnerabilities....

Oh, AI wanna be like you, AI wanna walk like you, talk like you, too Computer scientists have devised a technique for making AI models behave like specific people....

Our vultures think this tech is interesting but in its 8-bit stage Kettle It's been a fairly bumpy week for enterprise AI, as a string of stories have shown today's neural networks in a less-than-flattering light....

Meanwhile, CISA chief Jen Easterly will step down prior to inauguration Analysis President-elect Donald Trump has announced several unorthodox nominations for his cabinet over the last two weeks, including South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, whom he tapped to serve as Homeland Security Secretary....

Haven't we heard this story before? Opinion The US Department of Justice has accused a major tech company of an illegal web monopoly and tried to force them to split off their web browser. Sound familiar?...

Pope, Depeche Mode, silent on digital second coming If you find yourself in the Swiss tourist destination of Lucerne with a guilty conscience, there's someone waiting at the historic Peterskapelle Catholic Church to hear your prayers - someone who cares, you might say: Your own personal AI Jesus....

Like its AI, this automated screenshotter and logger is a feature not exactly everyone wanted Microsoft has initiated a limited public preview of its Windows Recall system - about six months after its unveiling sparked backlash over privacy and security concerns....

He'll just have to take this one on the chin The website of self-proclaimed misogynist and alleged sex trafficker and rapist Andrew Tate has been compromised and data on its paying subscribers stolen....

PAN-PAN! Intruders inject web shell backdoors, crypto-coin miners, more Thousands of Palo Alto Networks firewalls were compromised by attackers exploiting two recently patched security bugs. The intruders were able to deploy web-accessible backdoors to remotely control the equipment as well as cryptocurrency miners and other malware....

Draft environmental assessment ready for public scrutiny The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has released a draft of the environmental assessment for SpaceX's proposal to increase the frequency of launches and landings at the company's Boca Chica facility....

You just gonna stand there, Google, let AWS take the 'primary training partner' title? Not gonna do nothing? Amid concerns about the return of AI winter, when funding and advancements slow down, neural-network golden child Anthropic reports the doubling of Amazon's already substantial financial backing....

Fisticuffs in FOSS-land! Fancy file system's future fraught! Bcachefs project lead Kent Overstreet has written about his problems with the Linux kernel folks and the code of conduct put in place to prevent such flamewars....

OCR tech not quite ready for primetime, in this bit of Windows at least Microsoft has disabled the OCR functionality in its updated Photos app to "address some issues."...

Operators may have to pay more for energy if capacity cannot meet demand Americans could face a 70 percent hike in their electricity bills by 2030 unless action is taken to boost generation and transmission capacity to satisfy an AI-driven surge in demand from datacenters....

Customers are 'all miserable' - but not yet deciding to bail Analysis Broadcom completed its acquisition of VMware one year ago, on November 22, 2023. Has it been a success?...

Consultant bemoans lack of use cases and businesses' budget The premium price of AI PCs and a lack of killer applications are leading to some confusion among customers who want to upgrade their aging estates ahead of Windows 10 support ending....

Dual power source beat petrol-only autos for second month running There was good news and bad news for electric vehicle (EV) makers in the European Automobile Manufacturers Association's (ACEA) latest figures: a modest rise in monthly registrations but a dip in year-on-year volumes....

Authorities remain tight-lipped on specifics An investigation into areospace and defense giant Thales is now underway over suspicions of palm-greasing and fraud....

Fledgling band of crooks says it stole 1.2 TB of data The new SafePay ransomware gang has claimed responsibility for the attack on UK telematics biz Microlise, giving the company less than 24 hours to pay its extortion demands before leaking data....

A certain very famous PC manufacturer may not be very good at documenting its legacy tech On Call The effort and application of tech support people are often forgotten, which is why each Friday The Register offers a new instalment of On Call, the reader contributed column that reminds us all of the moments in which you triumph after being asked to unravel the asinine....

People just don't know how to talk to chatbots to get them to do useful things efficiently, Intel says Those using personal computers with built-in AI services are less productive than those using traditional PCs, according to a study conducted by Intel....

Organized crime types tend not to be kind to those who go against them, so this is nasty A local Japanese government agency dedicated to preventing organized crime has apologized after experiencing an incident it fears may have led to a leak of personal information describing 2,500 people who reached out to it for consultation....

Maybe it was crowded layout, inconsistent colors and drop shadows that made cloud so hard? Amazon Web Services pioneered public cloud computing, and by doing so created myriad possibilities that have shaped the world we live in today. But the service has never been notable for offering admins a delightful experience - a negative it appears to be trying to change....

Apparently there's not enough space in space The Indian Space Research Organisation revealed late last week that its Chandrayaan-2 moon orbiter has twice maneuvered to avoid potential collisions with similar craft....

TL;DR: Attackers will break in and pwn you, as a US government red team demonstrated The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency often breaks into critical organizations' networks - with their permission, of course - to simulate real-world cyber attacks and thereby help improve their security. In one of those recent exercises conducted at a critical infrastructure provider, the Agency exploited a web shell left behind from an earlier bug bounty program, scooped up a bunch of credentials and security keys, moved through the network and ultimately pwned the org's domain and several sensitive business system targets....

Blackwell's weaker FP64 performance could give the House of Zen's Instinct accelerators a leg up in future efficiency benchmarks SC24 Nvidia's accelerators are among the most power hungry machines in their class, yet the chips continue to dominate the Green500 ranking of the most sustainable supercomputers in the world....

DoC claims only 4 non-China foundries match GF's scale Semiconductor maker GlobalFoundries, recently fined $500,000 for sanctions violations involving China, has been awarded up to $1.5 billion in funding under the US government's CHIPS and Science Act....

Probably not intentional, but '150 person-hours' of work were still lost The New York Times has filed a letter in its copyright infringement case against OpenAI and Microsoft, alerting the court that the ChatGPT maker accidentally deleted a bunch of data that may have been evidence....

Canadian volunteers wanted for mind-meld trials Elon Musk's brain chip biz, Neuralink, has been given the nod by Health Canada to start recruiting for its CAN-PRIME Study....

VotingWorks, developer of the system, disputes critics' claims An electronic voting project backed by DARPA - Uncle Sam's boffinry nerve center - to improve the process of absentee voting for American military personnel stationed abroad has been slammed by security researchers....

Biden executive orders are as good as dead, and the industry will probably have more say in what comes next Analysis President Biden has taken some steps to create a concrete AI policy in the United States. However, while there's plenty to argue about in terms of how effective the administration's moves have been, experts The Register spoke to agree that there are likely to be more big changes once Donald Trump begins his second term....

Danish military confirms it is monitoring as Swedish police investigate. Cloudflare says impact was 'minimal' The Danish military has confirmed it is tracking a Chinese ship that is under investigation after two optical fiber internet cables under the Baltic Sea were damaged....

Despite parent's financial turbulence, subsidiary continues to secure major contracts Eviden continues to win supercomputer contracts despite the struggles of parent company Atos, announcing a 60 million ($63 million) signing for a Finnish national supercomputer that will triple the performance of the country's existing facilities....

Update now: Qualys says flaws give root to local users, are 'easily exploitable' Researchers at Qualys refuse to release exploit code for five bugs in the Linux world's needrestart utility that allow unprivileged local attackers to gain root access without any user interaction....