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    16Dec, 2023
    How to Analyze Malware’s Network Traffic in A Sandbox

    Malware analysis encompasses a broad range of activities, including examining the malware’s network traffic. To be effective at it, it’s crucial to understand the common challenges and how to overcome them. Here are three prevalent issues you may encounter and the tools you’ll need to address them.

    Decrypting HTTPS traffic

    Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), the protocol for secure online communication, has become a tool for malware to conceal their malicious activities. By cloaking data exchange between infected devices and command-and-control (C&C) servers, malware can operate undetected, exfiltrating sensitive data, installing additional payloads, and receiving instructions from the operators.

    Yet, with the right tool, decrypting HTTPS traffic is an easy task. For this purpose, we can use a man-in-the-middle (MITM) proxy. The MITM proxy works as an intermediary between the client and the server, intercepting their communication.

    The MITM proxy aids analysts in real-time monitoring of the malware’s network traffic, providing them with a clear view of its activities. Among other things, analysts can access content of request and response packets, IPs, and URLs to view the details of the malware’s communication and identify stolen data. The tool is particularly useful for extracting SSL keys used by the malware.

    In this example, the initial file, 237.06 KB in size, drops AxilStealer’s executable file, 129.54 KB in size. As a typical stealer, it gains access to passwords stored in web browsers and begins to transfer them to attackers via a Telegram messenger connection.

    The malicious activity is indicated by the rule “STEALER [ANY.RUN] Attempt to exfiltrate via Telegram”. Thanks to the MITM proxy feature, the malware’s traffic is decrypted, revealing more details about the incident.Malware Analysis

    Use a MITM proxy and dozens of other advanced features for in-depth malware analysis in the ANY.RUN sandbox.Request a free trial

    Discovering malware’s family

    Malware family identification is a crucial part of any cyber investigation. Yara and Suricata rules are commonly used tools for this task, but their effectiveness may be limited when dealing with malware samples whose servers are no longer active.

    FakeNET offers a solution to this challenge by creating a fake server connection that responds to malware requests. Tricking the malware to send a request triggers a Suricata or YARA rule, which accurately identifies the malware family.

    Catching geo-targeted and evasive malware

    Many attacks and phishing campaigns focus on specific geographic regions or countries. Subsequently, they incorporate mechanisms like IP geolocation, language detection, or website blocking which may limit analysts’ ability to detect them.

    Alongside geo-targeting, malware operators may leverage techniques to evade analysis in sandbox environments. A common approach is to verify whether the system is using a datacenter IP address. If confirmed, the malicious software stops execution.

    To counter these obstacles, analysts use a residential proxy. This nifty tool works by switching the IP address of the analyst’s device or virtual machine to ordinary users’ residential IPs from different parts of the world.

    This feature empowers professionals to bypass geo-restrictions by mimicking local users and study malicious activities without revealing their sandbox environment.

    Try all of these tools in ANY.RUN

    Setting up and using each of the aforementioned tools individually can take a lot of effort. To access and utilize all of them with ease, use the cloud-based ANY.RUN sandbox.

    The key feature of the service is interactivity, allowing you to safely engage with malware and the infected system just like you would on your own computer.

    You can explore these and numerous other features of ANY.RUN, including private space for your team, Windows 7, 8, 10, 11 VMs, and API integration completely for free.

    Just use a 14-day trial, no strings attached.

    Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter  and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.

    Resource : https://thehackernews.com/2023/12/how-to-analyze-malwares-network-traffic.html

    13Dec, 2023
    50K WordPress sites exposed to RCE attacks by critical bug in backup plugin

    A critical severity vulnerability in a WordPress plugin with more than 90,000 installs can let attackers gain remote code execution to fully compromise vulnerable websites.

    Known as Backup Migration, the plugin helps admins automate site backups to local storage or a Google Drive account.

    The security bug (tracked as CVE-2023-6553 and rated with a 9.8/10 severity score) was discovered by a team of bug hunters known as Nex Team, who reported it to WordPress security firm Wordfence under a recently launched bug bounty program.

    It impacts all plugin versions up to and including Backup Migration 1.3.6, and malicious actors can exploit it in low-complexity attacks without user interaction.

    CVE-2023-6553 allows unauthenticated attackers to take over targeted websites by gaining remote code execution through PHP code injection via the /includes/backup-heart.php file.

    “This is due to an attacker being able to control the values passed to an include, and subsequently leverage that to achieve remote code execution. This makes it possible for unauthenticated threat actors to easily execute code on the server,” Wordfence said on Monday.

    “By submitting a specially-crafted request, threat-actors can leverage this issue to include arbitrary, malicious PHP code and execute arbitrary commands on the underlying server in the security context of the WordPress instance.”

    In the /includes/backup-heart.php file used by the Backup Migration plugin, an attempt is made to incorporate bypasser.php from the BMI_INCLUDES directory (defined by merging BMI_ROOT_DIR with the includes string) at line 118.

    However, BMI_ROOT_DIR is defined through the content-dir HTTP header found on line 62, thereby making BMI_ROOT_DIR subject to user control.

    Patch released within hours

    Wordfence reported the critical security flaw to BackupBliss, the development team behind the Backup Migration plugin, on December 6, with the developers releasing a patch hours later.

    However, despite the release of the patched Backup Migration 1.3.8 plugin version on the day of the report, almost 50,000 WordPress websites using a vulnerable version still have to be secured nearly one week later, as WordPress.org org download stats show.

    Admins are strongly advised to secure their websites against potential CVE-2023-6553 attacks, given that this is a critical vulnerability that unauthenticated malicious actors can exploit remotely.

    WordPress administrators are also being targeted by a phishing campaign attempting to trick them into installing malicious plugins using fake WordPress security advisories for a fictitious vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-45124 as bait.

    Last week, WordPress also fixed a Property Oriented Programming (POP) chain vulnerability that could allow attackers to gain arbitrary PHP code execution under certain conditions (when combined with some plugins in multisite installations).

    Resource : https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/50k-wordpress-sites-exposed-to-rce-attacks-by-critical-bug-in-backup-plugin/?&web_view=true

    7Nov, 2023
    NASA Finds Record-Breaking Black Hole Using ‘Cosmic Magnifying Glass’

    Astronomers using two NASA space telescopes have found one of the farthest black holes from the solar system using a rare alignment of galaxies to act as a magnifying glass.

    Existing just 470 million years after the Big Bang—the event that’s thought to have created our universe 13.8 billion years ago—it’s the most distant black hole yet seen in X-rays. Neither wavelength of light is visible to humans.

    It was found using both the James Webb Space Telescope, which sees the universe in infrared, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which sees in x-rays.

    Remarkably Distant

    “We needed Webb to find this remarkably distant galaxy and Chandra to find its supermassive black hole,” said Akos Bogdan of the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA), lead author of a paper published today in the journal Nature Astronomy. “We also took advantage of a cosmic magnifying glass that boosted the amount of light we detected.”

    The black hole—which is at an earlier stage of development that any found before—was found in a galaxy called UHZ1. It’s in a cluster of galaxies called Abell 2744, which exists about 3.5 billion light-years from the solar system. Nicknamed Pandora’s Cluster, Abell 2744 is a megacluster of three separate clusters of galaxies and a stunning 50,000 objects.

    However, JWST observations revealed UHZ1 to be behind the cluster, a whopping 13.2 billion light-years from the solar system. That makes it just 3% of the universe’s current age.

    Einstein Ring

    JWST was able to make the discovery thanks to gravitational lensing. It describes a scenario when the gravitational field of a foreground object is so intense that it distorts the space around it and bends the light from an object behind it into circular rings, both revealing its existence and magnifying it. It’s also known as an “Einstein Ring” because it was predicted by the famous physicist Albert Einstein.

    Gravitational lensing is the best way to infer the presence of incredibly distant objects and measure their mass. In this case the black hole’s mass is similar to that of its host galaxy—between 10 and 100 million times the mass of our sun. That’s way more mass than expected.

    Sure Signs

    Once JWST had located it, Chandra spent a couple of weeks observing X-ray light coming from the galaxy, a sure sign of a growing supermassive black hole. Acting as a gravitational lens, Abell 2744 magnified the background galaxy by a factor of four.

    The observations could help scientists figure out how black holes at the beginning of the universe appear to have grown so quickly. The paper suggests that this particularly black hole was born big.

    “There are physical limits on how quickly black holes can grow once they’ve formed, but ones that are born more massive have a head start,” said co-author Andy Goulding of Princeton University. “It’s like planting a sapling, which takes less time to grow into a full-size tree than if you started with only a seed.”

    Resource : https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2023/11/06/nasa-finds-record-breaking-black-hole-using-cosmic-magnifying-glass/?sh=2a9aefdf2324

    4Nov, 2023
    How ‘blue’ and ‘green’ appeared in a language that didn’t have words for them

    The human eye can perceive about 1 million colors, but languages have far fewer words to describe those colors. So-called basic color terms, single color words used frequently by speakers of a given language, are often employed to gauge how languages differ in their handling of color. Languages spoken in industrialized nations such as the United States, for example, tend to have about a dozen basic color terms, while languages spoken by more isolated populations often have fewer.

    However, the way that a language divides up color space can be influenced by contact with other languages, according to a new study from MIT.

    Among members of the Tsimane’ society, who live in a remote part of the Bolivian Amazon rainforest, the researchers found that those who had learned Spanish as a second language began to classify colors into more words, making color distinctions that are not commonly used by Tsimane’ who are monolingual.

    In the most striking finding, Tsimane’ who were bilingual began using two different words to describe blue and green, which monolingual Tsimane’ speakers do not typically do. And, instead of borrowing Spanish words for blue and green, they repurposed words from their own language to describe those colors.

    “Learning a second language enables you to understand these concepts that you didn’t have in your first language,” says Edward Gibson, an MIT professor of brain and cognitive sciences and the senior author of the study. “What’s also interesting is they used their own Tsimane’ terms to start dividing up the color space more like Spanish does.”

    The researchers also found that the bilingual Tsimane’ became more precise in describing colors such as yellow and red, which monolingual speakers tend to use to encompass many shades beyond what a Spanish or English speaker would include.

    “It’s a great example of one of the main benefits of learning a second language, which is that you open a different worldview and different concepts that then you can import to your native language,” says Saima Malik-Moraleda, a graduate student in the Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology Program at Harvard University and the lead author of the study.

    Kyle Mahowald, an assistant professor of linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin, and Bevil Conway, a senior investigator at the National Eye Institute, are also authors of the paper, which appears this week in Psychological Science.

    Dividing up the color space

    In English and many other languages of industrialized nations, there are basic color words corresponding to black, white, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, pink, and gray. South American Spanish additionally divides the blue space into light blue (“celeste”) and dark blue (“azul”).

    Members of Tsimane’ society consistently use only three color words, which correspond to black, white, and red. There are also a handful of words that encompass many shades of yellow or brown, as well as two words that are used interchangeably to mean either green or blue. However, these words are not used by everyone in the population.

    Several years ago, Gibson and others reported that in a study of more than 100 languages, including Tsimane’, speakers tend to divide the “warm” part of the color spectrum into more color words than the “cooler” regions, which include blue and green. In the Tsimane’ language, two words, “shandyes” and “yushñus,” are used interchangeably for any hue that falls within blue or green.

    As a follow-up to that study, Malik-Moraleda wanted to explore whether learning a second language would have any effect on how the Tsimane’ use color words. Today, many Tsimane’ learn Bolivian Spanish as a second language.

    Working with monolingual and bilingual members of the Tsimane’, the researchers asked people to perform two different tasks. For the bilingual population, they asked them to do the tasks twice, once in Tsimane’ and once in Spanish.

    In the first task, the researchers showed the subjects 84 chips of different colors, one by one, and asked them what word they would use to describe the color. In the second task, the subjects were shown the entire set of chips and asked to group the chips by color word.

    The researchers found that when performing this task in Spanish, the bilingual Tsimane’ classified colors into the traditional color words of the Spanish language. Additionally, the bilingual speakers were much more precise about naming colors when they were performed the task in their native language.

    “Remarkably, the bilinguals really divide up the space much more than the monolinguals, in spite of the fact that they’re still primarily Tsimane’ speakers,” Gibson says.

    Strikingly, the bilingual Tsimane’ also began using separate words for blue and green, even though their native language does not distinguish those colors. Bilingual Tsimane’ speakers began to use “yushñus” exclusively to describe blue, and “shandyes” exclusively to describe green.

    Borrowing concepts

    The findings suggest that contact between languages can influence how people think about concepts such as color, the researchers say.

    “It does seem like the concepts are being borrowed from Spanish,” Gibson says. “The bilingual speakers learn a different way to divide up the color space, which is pretty useful if you’re dealing with the industrialized world. It’s useful to be able to label colors that way, and somehow they import some of that into the Tsimane’ meaning space.”

    While the researchers observed that the distinctions between blue and green appeared only in Tsimane’ who had learned Spanish, they say it’s possible that this usage could spread within the population so that monolingual Tsimane’ also start to use it. Another possibility, which they believe is more likely, is that more of the population will become bilingual, as they have more contact with the Spanish-speaking villages nearby.

    “Over time, these populations tend to learn whatever the dominant outside language is because it’s valuable for getting jobs where you earn money,” Gibson says.

    The researchers now hope to study whether other concepts, such as frames of reference for time, may spread from Spanish to Tsimane’ speakers who become bilingual. Malik-Moraleda also hopes to see if the color language findings from this study could be replicated in other remote populations, specifically, in the Gujjar, a nomadic community living in the Himalayan mountains in Kashmir.

    The research was funded by a La Caixa Fellowship, the Dingwall Foundation, the Intramural Research Program of the National Eye Institute, and the National Science Foundation CompCog Program.

    Resource : https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/11/231102135024.htm

    25Oct, 2023
    Google Chrome’s new “IP Protection” will hide users’ IP addresses

    Google is getting ready to test a new “IP Protection” feature for the Chrome browser that enhances users’ privacy by masking their IP addresses using proxy servers.

    Recognizing the potential misuse of IP addresses for covert tracking, Google seeks to strike a balance between ensuring users’ privacy and the essential functionalities of the web.

    IP addresses allow websites and online services to track activities across websites, thereby facilitating the creation of persistent user profiles. This poses significant privacy concerns as, unlike third-party cookies, users currently lack a direct way to evade such covert tracking.

    What is Google’s proposed IP Protection feature?

    While IP addresses are potential vectors for tracking, they are also indispensable for critical web functionalities like routing traffic, fraud prevention, and other vital network tasks.

    The “IP Protection” solution addresses this dual role by routing third-party traffic from specific domains through proxies, making users’ IP addresses invisible to those domains. As the ecosystem evolves, so will IP Protection, adapting to continue safeguarding users from cross-site tracking and adding additional domains to the proxied traffic.

    “Chrome is reintroducing a proposal to protect users against cross-site tracking via IP addresses. This proposal is a privacy proxy that anonymizes IP addresses for qualifying traffic as described above,” reads a description of the IP Protection feature.

    Initially, IP Protection will be an opt-in feature, ensuring users have control over their privacy and letting Google monitor behavior trends.

    The feature’s introduction will be in stages to accommodate regional considerations and ensure a learning curve.

    In its initial approach, only the domains listed will be affected in third-party contexts, zooming in on those perceived to be tracking users.

    The first phase, dubbed “Phase 0,” will see Google proxying requests only to its own domains using a proprietary proxy. This will help Google test the system’s infrastructure and buy more time to fine-tune the domain list. 

    To start, only users logged into Google Chrome and with US-based IPs can access these proxies.

    A select group of clients will be automatically included in this preliminary test, but the architecture and design will undergo modifications as the tests progress. 

    To avert potential misuse, a Google-operated authentication server will distribute access tokens to the proxy, setting a quota for each user.

    In upcoming phases, Google plans to adopt a 2-hop proxy system to increase privacy further.

    “We are considering using 2 hops for improved privacy. A second proxy would be run by an external CDN, while Google runs the first hop,” explains the IP Protection explainer document.

    “This ensures that neither proxy can see both the client IP address and the destination. CONNECT & CONNECT-UDP support chaining of proxies.”

    As many online services utilize GeoIP to determine a users location for offering services, Google plans on assigning IP addresses to proxy connections that represent a “coarse” location of a user rather than their specific location, as illustrated below.

    Among the domains where Google intends to test this feature are its own platforms like Gmail and AdServices.

    Google plans on testing this feature between Chrome 119 and Chrome 225.

    Potential security concerns

    Google explains there are some cybersecurity concerns related to the new IP Protection feature.

    As the traffic will be proxied through Google’s servers, it may make it difficult for security and fraud protection services to block DDoS attacks or detect invalid traffic. 

    Furthermore, if one of Google’s proxy servers is compromised, the threat actor can see and manipulate the traffic going through it.

    To mitigate this, Google is considering requiring users of the feature to authenticate with the proxy, preventing proxies from linking web requests to particular accounts, and introducing rate-limiting to prevent DDoS attacks.

    Resource : https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/google/google-chromes-new-ip-protection-will-hide-users-ip-addresses/?&web_view=true

    16Oct, 2023
    Is Google Authenticator irreplaceable?

    How authenticator apps work and what alternatives there are to Google Authenticator.

    Many online services allow (and sometimes even require) you to set up two-factor authentication (2FA) with one-time codes. Google Authenticator is the most well-known and widely used authenticator app that generates such codes. Almost all services are compatible with it, and some even provide a link to the app when you set up 2FA. But is Google Authenticator the only option, or should you give one of the many alternatives — like Microsoft Authenticator or Twilio Authy — a whirl?

    Since these alternatives exist and clearly have a userbase, you might assume they could be full-fledged replacements for Google Authenticator. But what, if any, are the pitfalls? For those who have no time to read to the end, here’s the answer straight away: don’t worry, Google Authenticator is more than replaceable. But if you’re curious about the whats, whys, and hows — read on…

    How authenticators work

    Let’s start with how authenticator apps work in general. Several open standards for strong authentication have been created under the umbrella of the Initiative for Open Authentication (OATH). Authenticator apps are based on these standards (along with some other things, but which aren’t the topic of this post).

    OATH HOTP

    Way back in 2005, the OATH HOTP (hash-based one-time password) authentication standard appeared. This laid down the fundamentals of authentication using one-time codes that are synchronously generated on the client and server sides.

    The idea is that both the app and the service you’re using — remember the same secret key. Next, a cryptographic algorithm is applied to generate a unique code based on this key and a counter value. A counter is essentially a number that increments each time a new one-time code is generated. The data for calculating this code is the same on both sides, so if everything goes according to plan, the two codes will be identical. What remains is to compare them: should the code you entered match the server-generated one, the authentication is successful.

    After each request for a generation session, the counter value changes so that the code is one-time and unique. An algorithm is used that rules out performing reverse calculations and extracting the secret key from this code. So even if someone intercepts the one-time code, they won’t be able to calculate the secret key, reproduce the authenticator, and generate their own new codes.

    There are two main issues with HOTP. First, the counter values easily get out of sync. For example, if you request the authenticator to generate a code but don’t use it, the client-side authenticator changes the counter value, while on the service side it remains the same. As a result, the generated codes no longer match. Second, the code stays valid until the counter value changes — potentially giving an attacker time to use the intercepted code if they somehow manage to distract the victim.

    OATH TOTP

    In 2011, a new standard was unveiled — OATH TOTP (time-based one-time password), which uses the current time as a counter. The principle remains the same: a secret key known to both parties is used to calculate a one-time code with the same cryptographic algorithm. And because the counter is based on Unix time, the code automatically changes at regular intervals, regardless of whether or not it is used.

    Any internet-connected device now knows the exact time, so there’s no need to worry about one-time codes being out of sync. And since the interval after which the code changes is set rather short (30 seconds by default), if a one-time code is intercepted, the attacker won’t have much time to use it.

    Basic principles of authenticators

    These two standards are used by authenticator apps. TOTP is the more common of course, simply because it’s better in every way, but HOTP can still be found in some prehistoric implementations.

    When creating an authenticator, the client and the server must set a common standard and share the key — this is the absolute minimum required for the authenticator app to work. Additional parameters can also be set for creating tokens. How do the app and the service come to an arrangement? In most cases, by means of a QR code. And this leads us to the next question: how does these codes work?

    Authenticator QR code content

    As far as I know, this is not among the standards developed by OATH, but rather a voluntary adherence to the format set by Google Authenticator. But either way, app-based authentication systems tend to use QR codes, in which a link (strictly speaking, a Uniform Resource Identifier, or URI) containing all the necessary information is encoded. Here’s an example of what it looks like:

    otpauth://totp/Google:alanna@gmail.com?secret=IN2XE2LPOVZSYIDBOJSW4J3UEB4W65J7&issuer=Google&algorithm=SHA1&digits=6&period=30

    As you can see, a whole bunch of parameters are transferred in the QR code, indicating the following:

    • The purpose of the URI — creation of an authentication token (that’s what otpauth at the beginning is for)
    • The authenticator standard, HOTP or TOTP; in this case, TOTP
    • The token label to be displayed inside the app — in our example, Google
    • The username — in this case, alanna@gmail.com
    • The secret key from which the codes are generated (in Base32 format) — the most important part, a long string of random characters
    • The name of the service that created the URI — in our example, Google again
    • The algorithm used to generate the codes — in this case, SHA1
    • The length of generated codes — usually six characters as shown here, but other variants are acceptable
    • The period of time after which the code expires — usually 30 seconds, but other intervals can be set.

    QR codes can pass a whole bunch of authentication token parameters

    In fact, as we mentioned above, many of these parameters can be omitted. The token label and the username can be arbitrary, while the name of the service isn’t required at all — this information has no impact on code generation, and is there mainly for convenience. Some other parameters also aren’t mandatory. The authenticator uses the default code generation algorithm (SHA1) and produces a six-digit code with a 30-second update period unless encoded otherwise in the URI.

    Essentially, the service and the authenticator only need to set the standard (HOTP or TOTP) and share the secret key. Thus, the following URI and QR code would yield exactly the same authentication token in functional terms as the previous pair:

    Many QR code parameters can be omitted or set to arbitrary values; the main thing is to share the secret key and set a standard (HOTP or TOTP)

    The bottom line is that most services that use app-generated codes for authentication operate with such QR codes. Any authenticator app, in turn, has support for reading such QR codes and converting them into authentication tokens, which, in turn, generate the one-time codes. So, instead of Google Authenticator, you can choose any of the dozens of alternatives that take your fancy.

    A few exceptions: services that are incompatible with regular authenticators

    For some reason that’s beyond me, not everyone in the IT industry follows the above standards: some prefer to come up their own. Here are some companies whose services and programs are not compatible with third-party authenticator apps (including Google Authenticator).

    • Apple. The guys at Cupertino have their own 2FA system, which uses no third-party apps at all. Instead, the one-time codes are generated by the operating system simultaneously on all devices linked to an Apple ID. That’s how they roll!
    • Valve and Blizzard. For security on Steam and Battle.net, the developers offer 2FA of their own creation: Steam Guard (built into Steam apps for both Android and iOS) and Battle.net Authenticator, respectively. As far as I know, there’s only one third-party authenticator app that supports these systems: WinAuth.
    • Microsoft. For Microsoft account authentication, you have to install Microsoft Authenticator. On the upside, there’s no need to enter any codes: just confirm login by tapping a button in the app. As a bonus, Microsoft Authenticator also generates standard authentication tokens, which makes it a solid alternative to Google Authenticator. Incidentally, you don’t need a Microsoft account to use it.
    • Adobe. The graphics software developer offers its own app for 2FA — Adobe Account Access — which works with similar logic to Microsoft Authenticator: login to your Adobe account is authenticated by tapping a button, not sending a code. In theory, the app also supports the creation of tokens for authentication in third-party services. However, to get Adobe Account Access to work, you must first link the app to your Adobe account, which, based on App Store and Google Play reviews, isn’t advised.

    So, do I have to use Google Authenticator?

    Not necessarily. All services that work with Google Authenticator will let you set up two-factor authentication using any alternative app. What’s more, many of them have significant advantages over Google’s creation.

    Incidentally, we have a post about the most interesting authenticators for each popular operating system — Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS. And finally, if you’ve read this text in its entirety, then something tells us you might be interested in andOTP if you’re on Android, and OTP auth if you’re on iOS.

    Resource : https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/authenticator-apps-compatibility/47063/

    29May, 2023
    NVIDIA’s next DGX supercomputer is all about generative AI

    NVIDIA CEO Jensen Hiang made a string of announcements during his Computex keynote, including details about the company’s next DGX supercomputer. Given where the industry is clearly heading, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the DGX GH200 is largely about helping companies develop generative AI models.

    The supercomputer uses a new NVLink Switch System to enable 256 GH200 Grace Hopper superchips to act as a single GPU (each of the chips has an Arm-based Grace CPU and an H100 Tensor Core GPU). This, according to NVIDIA, allows the DGX GH200 to deliver 1 exaflop of performance and to have 144 terabytes of shared memory. The company says that’s nearly 500 times as much memory as you’d find in a single DGX A100 system.

    For comparison, the latest ranking of the Top500 supercomputers lists Frontier at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee as the only known exascale system, having reached a performance of nearly 1.2 exaflops on the Linmark benchmark. That’s over twice the peak performance of the second-placed system, Japan’s Fugaku.

    In effect, NVIDIA claims to have developed a supercomputer that can stand alongside the most powerful known system on the planet (Meta is building one that it claims will be the fastest AI supercomputer in the world once it’s fully built out). NVIDIA says the architecture of the DGX GH200 offers 10 times more bandwidth than the previous generation, “delivering the power of a massive AI supercomputer with the simplicity of programming a single GPU.”

    Some big names are interested in the DGX GH200. Google Cloud, Meta and Microsoft should be among the first companies to gain access to the supercomputer to test how it can handle generative AI workloads. NVIDIA says DGX GH200 supercomputers should be available by the end of 2023.

    The company is also building its own supercomputer, Helios, that combines four DGX GH200 systems. NVIDIA expects Helios to be online by the end of the year.

    Huang discussed other generative AI developments during his keynote, including one on the gaming front. NVIDIA Avatar Cloud Engine (ACE) for Games is a service developers will be able to tap into in order to create custom AI models for speech, conversation and animation. NVIDIA says ACE for Games can “give non-playable characters conversational skills so they can respond to questions with lifelike personalities that evolve.”

    Resource : https://www.engadget.com/nvidias-next-dgx-supercomputer-is-all-about-generative-ai-043053544.html

    11May, 2023
    Watch the Google I/O 2023 keynote in under 18 minutes

    Google’s I/O event this year was jam-packed with new product launches and an in-depth introduction to its new generative AI offerings. The star of its new set of device was, perhaps, the new Pixel Fold, a veritable rival to Samsung’s foldables powered by a Tensor G2 chip. Like the Samsung Galaxy Fold, it opens like a book so you can fully use its 7.6-inch display, though it also comes with a 5.8-inch external display. It’s now available for pre-order and will set you back $1,799 when it starts shipping in June.

    The company has also unveiled its new mid-range phone, the Pixel 7a, that will cost you $499. In addition, the Pixel Tablet is now available for pre-order for the same price. You can use the 11-inch tablet as a smart home display with Google Assistant and Chromecast when it’s attached to its speaker dock. On its own, it can last for 12 hours, and while it doesn’t come with a stylus, it does support third-party pens. 

    But the most important and relevant unveiling of the event was the company’s PaLM 2 AI language model, which is the technology behind its Bard AI chatbot and which will power new features across its products. Bard will soon have the ability to decipher images in your queries and respond with images in turn — it’s now available without a waitlist in 180 countries. Gmail will have the ability to craft responses to emails for you, while Photos is getting a Magic Editor that can move objects in your pictures. You can get a glimpse of all Google announcements in a condensed version of its I/O keynote above.

    Resource : https://www.engadget.com/watch-the-google-io-2023-keynote-in-under-18-minutes-052059113.html

    11May, 2023
    What is Pepecoin? Meme-coin mania creeps back with a new unsettling mascot

    After a crypto winter, meme coins seem to be making a bit of a comeback. Over the past couple of weeks, crypto enthusiasts have been pouring money into Pepecoin. And long-time observers of the digital currency space are feeling a bit of déjà vu.

    As with Dogecoin, this cryptocurrency is based on a popular internet meme, except this time it’s Pepe the Frog, a lovable cartoon that became a mascot of alt-right, anti-Semitic, and white supremacist groups. PEPE’s value has skyrocketed in little time, gaining roughly 500% in the past two weeks.

    Here’s what you should know about Pepecoin:

    WHAT IS PEPECOIN?

    The Twitter feed for Pepecoin calls it, “the most memeable meme coin in existence,” and it’s leaning hard into that, throwing veiled digs at Dogecoin and even creating its own Pepe memes that show the frog peeing on other meme coins.

    The coin launched with little fanfare on April 17—and while it’s based on the Pepe the Frog meme, it has no official connection to Matt Furie, the artist behind the original cartoon. It leans further into the joke realm by having a maximum circulating supply of 420,690,000,000,000 coins.

    Despite the lack of seriousness, it has already grown to be one of the 50 largest cryptos being traded. And trading volume in the coin was up 425% on Friday.

    WHERE IS PEPECOIN TRADING TODAY AND HOW HIGH HAS IT SPIKED?

    On Friday alone, Pepecoin saw its price more than double. Since its April 17 launch, it’s up 580%. Part of the reason for that could be the decision by Binance, the market’s largest exchange, to list the token Friday afternoon in its “innovation zone.”

    It’s still an incredibly cheap coin in real-world dollars, though. You’d need to buy nearly 3,000 Pepecoin to convert them into a single penny.

    And it’s worth noting that even Binance urged caution, saying, “Please note that the token has no utility and it is created by an anonymous team. . . . Also, there are signs that certain insiders or team members were able to buy 7% of the total token supply minutes after TGE [the Token Generation Event, when coins become publicly available].”

    WHAT IS PEPECOIN’S MARKET CAP?

    Because there are so many Pepecoin on the market and because the price has been soaring, this meme coin’s market capitalization is already well above $1 billion. As of Friday afternoon, it stood at $1.34 billion—and was still climbing.

    IS THERE A RISK OF A RUG PULL WITH PEPECOIN?

    Anytime you see a coin explode this quickly, it’s a good idea to be cautious. When the focus of the coin is an internet meme that is tied to so many negative groups, that’s another red flag.

    Skeptics have pointed out that the coin has a number of so-called whales, who hold large amounts of the token. Should they decide to dump their holdings, average investors could see the value of their holdings evaporate. That led to some short selling on Pepecoin early on, but so far, the people who have bet against the token are the ones who have lost money.

    HISTORICALLY, HOW HAVE MEME COINS PERFORMED?

    So far, the biggest meme coins have failed to hold onto their value, even as celebrities like Elon Musk have pumped them up. Dogecoin never reached its goal of a $1 value and currently trades for around 8 cents, which is right about what it was trading at before its big surge. Shiba Inu, another popular meme coin that saw a brief spike, is trading for well under a penny—about where it was in October of 2021, right before its spike. Buyers, as always, should beware. 

    Resource : https://www.fastcompany.com/90892884/what-is-pepecoin-meme-coin-crypto

    9May, 2023
    Gmail Is Adding Blue Checkmarks to Verify Senders

    Blue checkmarks used to be a sign of legitimacy, ensuring someone truly is who they say they are. While they have lost their meaning on Twitter, they’re now appearing in Gmail as a method to fight spam and phishing.

    Gmail is officially adding blue checkmarks to verified senders on Gmail. Senders that have BIMI, or Brand Indicators for Message Identification — a system to ensure that brands can use their logo as a profile picture only if they’re allowed to do so — will get a blue checkmark in emails sent by them.

    That way, users will be able to more easily tell apart fake emails from real ones — if you get a message from your bank, for one, you should now see a verified check in the email’s sender information.

    If you’re a business owner looking to get some added protection against phishing, make sure to enroll in BIMI. You’ll need to enroll in DMARC first, too. For the rest of us, you should see this feature sometime within the next few days — we don’t see it on our end yet, but according to Google, it should begin showing up within the next 3 days.

    Resource: https://www.howtogeek.com/890490/gmail-is-adding-blue-checkmarks-to-verify-senders/