Lifeboat Foundation

Some online scams are more conspicuous than others, but the most insidious can be especially tricky to spot. For instance, last week, cybersecurity firm ThreatFabric uncovered a new Android malware family that cleverly disguises itself as a Google Chrome update. Before you click a link claiming to provide updates for Chrome, be sure that it isn’t fake.

ThreatFabric analysts found the malware — which they dubbed Brokewell — on a fake browser update page designed to fool people into downloading a malicious app. If the page manages to fool you, you’ll end up downloading seriously dangerous malware.

An American debt collection agency suffered a data breach in late February, losing sensitive data belonging to almost two million people.

Earlier this week, Financial Business and Consumer Solutions (FBCS) sent a data breach notification letter to affected customers, explaining that unauthorized third parties accessed its systems on February 14, 2024, and remained there until being spotted, and ousted, on February 26.

A US bank is facing a proposed class action lawsuit for allegedly failing to protect its customers’ sensitive personal information and suffering a massive data breach.

SouthState Bank, which has over $45 billion in assets, is being hit with a class action lawsuit led by plaintiff Latonya Gore in Florida, filings show.

The suit concerns a February 2024 data breach that compromised the banks’ clients’ full names, financial account numbers and Social Security numbers.

As summer approaches, electricity demand surges in the U.S., as homes and businesses crank up the air conditioning. To meet the rising need, many East Coast cities are banking on offshore wind projects the country is building in the Atlantic Ocean.

For electric grid operators, knowing how much wind power these offshore turbines can harvest is critical, but making accurate predictions can be difficult. A team of CU Boulder scientists and their collaborators are working to tackle the challenge.

In a paper published March 14 in Wind Energy Science, a team led by Dave Rosencrans, a doctoral student, and Julie K. Lundquist, a professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences, estimates that offshore wind turbines in the Atlantic Ocean region, where the U.S. plans to build large wind farms, could take away wind from other turbines nearby, potentially reducing the farms’ power output by more than 30%.

Two weeks ago it was quietly announced that the Future of Humanity Institute, the renowned multidisciplinary research centre in Oxford, no longer had a future. It shut down without warning on 16 April. Initially there was just a brief statement on its website stating it had closed and that its research may continue elsewhere within and outside the university.

The institute, which was dedicated to studying existential risks to humanity, was founded in 2005 by the Swedish-born philosopher Nick Bostrom and quickly made a name for itself beyond academic circles – particularly in Silicon Valley, where a number of tech billionaires sang its praises and provided financial support.

Goldman Sachs said in a report late Thursday that Indian food delivery giant Zomato’s quick commerce arm Blinkit is now more valuable than its core food delivery business, as per the bank’s sum-of-the-parts analysis.

The investment bank estimates Blinkit’s implied value at 119 Indian rupees per share ($1.43) or about $13 billion, while Zomato’s food delivery business is valued at Rs 98 per share. Goldman previously pegged Blinkit’s valuation at $2 billion in March 2023.

Blinkit’s valuation surge is driven by its strong growth potential in India’s fast-growing quick commerce market. Goldman Sachs forecasts Blinkit’s gross order value (GOV) to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 53% between the financial years 2024 and 2027, outpacing the overall online grocery market’s projected CAGR of 38% during the same period.

Cyber attackers are experimenting with their latest ransomware on businesses in Africa, Asia, and South America before targeting richer countries that have more sophisticated security methods.

Hackers have adopted a “strategy” of infiltrating systems in the developing world before moving to higher-value targets such as in North America and Europe, according to a report published on Wednesday by cyber security firm Performanta.

“Adversaries are using developing countries as a platform where they can test their malicious programs before the more resourceful countries are targeted,” the company told Banking Risk and Regulation, a service from FT Specialist.

Successful implementation of GenAI hinges on three main factors: financial value to the organization, availability of key data and impact on the workforce.

Building new financial market infrastructure with ‘safety by design’ will require a spirit of endeavour and effective public-private collaboration.