Security News for the Week Ending November 24, 2023

Post Quantum Crypto Isn’t The Only Problem – Pre Stone Age Crypto is Also a Problem

While some folks are worried about what is going to happen to encryption when quantum computing becomes real, other companies are still using antique crypto. Unfortunately, many of the companies who are using antiques are medical devices and higher ed. In a 200 terabyte traffic sample, up to 80 percent of the traffic had some defeatable flaw in its encryption and 60 percent of the traffic was unencrypted. Have a nice day. If this makes you sleep uneasily, call us. Credit: Helpnet Security

Microsoft Joins the AI Super Chip World

Microsoft has released two chips to help Azure compete in the AI world. The Azure Maia 100 is optimized for AI. It is a race and they are in the competition. Their chip is based on 5 nanometer tech and has 105 billion transistors. Nvidia has 80 billion transistors on their chip, but that is built on more advanced 4 nanometer tech. AMD’s chip has 146 billion transistors. The second chip is the Cobalt 100, optimized for general workloads and optimizing compute power per electrical watt. It is a race. Credit: Cybernews

Apple Decides That Complying With the Law is Better Than being Banned in the EU

Apple has long prided itself as being a walled garden. When Tim Cook was asked what to do about a Apple user who could not share a video with his mom, Cook’s answer was to buy her an iPhone. But the long arm of the law might be more powerful even than Apple. They adopted the USB-C charging port on iPhones in advance of an EU regulation requiring that next year. Now they say they will support Rich Communications Services on the iPhone so that they can better interact with non-iPhone users. This interoperability is required by the EU’s Digital Markets Act. All of this is good for users and probably only hurts Apple’s ego, not it’s pocketbook. Credit: CNN

FCC Launches Contest to Address AI-Enabled Voice Cloning

The FCC is offering a quarter million dollars to the person who comes up with a “breakthrough idea” that will help monitor, prevent or evaluate malicious use of AI to clone people’s voices. If you have a creative solution to this, it could net you $250,000. Credit: Data Breach Today

Another Downside to Ransomware

Prospect Medical, a national hospital chain with properties in Connecticut, was planning on selling several hospitals in underserved areas of the state to another company. Then they got hit by a ransomware attack. Prospect Medical said this week that the attack compromised the information on 190,000 people. Now the buyer, Yale New Haven Health is having second thoughts about buying the three hospitals they were planning to buy. When Verizon bought Yahoo after they admitted to a breach, Yahoo had to take a $300 million price cut plus other concessions. Prospect Medical may have to do the same if they can even close the deal at all. Credit: Data Breach Today

Binance Pays $4 Billion to Settle Money Laundering and Will Exit US

The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange agreed to pay a $4.3 billion fine for and will exit the U.S. market after its CEO pleaded guilty to felony money laundering. They also agreed to plead guilty to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and violating sanctions against Iran. The now-former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, is estimated to be worth $17 billion. He probably doesn’t care. Credit: Data Breach Today

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