Proprietary Software and Windows TCO
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Polymorphic malware and the rise of new ‘moving target’ defensive security
An old security technology that has gotten little attention is finally ready for a new closeup.
It goes by the name polymorphic code — or alternatively, automated moving target defense or AMTD — and it has been around for nearly a decade. It came into its own around 2017 when was popularized by both malware writers and defenders.
And once again, security professionals are playing another cat-and-mouse game, but this time the stakes are a lot higher thanks to better tools on both sides.
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VMware researchers issue alert on rising 8Base ransomware activity
First detected in March 2022, the 8Base ransomware group uses encryption and “name-and-shame” tactics to force victims to pay a ransom, with victims across multiple industries.
Despite the relative obscurity of 8Base, its recent surge in activity is said by the researchers to indicate an experienced and well-organized threat actor. The group’s operations have similarities to previous ransomware campaigns, suggesting a level of sophistication and experience despite the group’s recent emergence on the ransomware and hacking scene.
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Personal Lessons From LLMs
Breaking a big problem into subproblems is often a great strategy. Asking an LLM to solve a complex problem or write an intricate program is bound to fail. Even with chain-of-thought prompting, these models can easily get sidetracked. Instead, they are most effective when asked to solve smaller problems. Things that can fit inside a reasonable context window — e.g., a small function (rather than an entire program) or a paragraph of a book (rather than a whole book).
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Overcoming LLM Hallucinations
LLMs are reasoning engines that mimic expert responses in nearly any domain. However, sometimes the plausible-sounding output is nonsense on closer inspection.
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Windows TCO
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US Patent and Trademark Office data leak exposed 61K private addresses
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office acknowledged Thursday that 61,000 private addresses of trademark applicants were inadvertently exposed in a years-long data leak between February 2020 and March 2023.
The trademark office said the data leak affected about 3% of the total number of trademark applicants filed during the three-year period and that the issue was fully fixed on April 1, without any data having been misused.
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Paying the ransom: Hospitals face hard choices in cyberattacks | Special Report
And if you’re thinking about paying, who are you making the payment to? Are you paying someone who is on the sanctioned list? Are you paying threat actors who are working for governments hostile to the U.S. who will use the funds to develop weapons to use against us?
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Paying the ransom: Hospitals face hard choices in cyberattacks | Special Report
Large health systems, including CommonSpirit Health, have encountered ransomware attacks, but experts say smaller hospitals and systems are increasingly at risk.
Some cyberattacks have targeted the electronic medical records systems, while others are aimed at acquiring patient data and selling it on the dark web. Hundreds of data breaches involving private health data occur annually, affecting millions of Americans.
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