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Oso Electrical Tools acquires Electrical Sheep Robotics

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Oso Electrical Tools acquires Electrical Sheep Robotics

Oso and Electrical Sheep beforehand partnered on an autonomous mower. | Supply: Electrical Sheep

Oso Electrical Tools has acquired Electrical Sheep Robotics, which supplies AI-driven autonomous mowing robots. The merger will convey collectively Oso’s electrical powertrain know-how with Electrical Sheep’s robotics and machine studying programs.

“Together with Oso’s state-of-the-art EV know-how, our AI engine now rides on essentially the most dependable electrical outside energy tools within the enterprise,” mentioned Nag Murty, founder and CEO of Electrical Sheep.

“This merger supercharges our mission to automate the way forward for all outside work, spanning outside infrastructure, building and upkeep, agriculture, protection, and area exploration, delivering merchandise which might be as intuitive as they’re impactful,” he added. “Collectively, we’re unlocking a world the place sustainability and smarts go hand in hand.’

Oso acquisition follows partnership

The acquisition builds on the businesses’ partnership introduced earlier this yr, wherein Oso launched a 21-in. (53.3 cm) Business Electrical Good Garden Mower utilizing Electrical Sheep’s AI platform.

The companions mentioned the mixed entity will broaden entry to zero-emission, autonomous outside energy tools designed for robust business environments, from sprawling properties to GPS-denied tight city areas. Deployments are already underneath means in California and Texas.

“This acquisition is a launchpad for revolutionizing the outside work ecosystem,” mentioned Nag Rao, CEO of Oso Electrical Tools. “Electrical Sheep’s visionary AI know-how fused with our commercial-grade electrical tools opens doorways to new potentialities. We’re creating quieter, cleaner communities and instruments that assume, adapt, and thrive alongside their customers.”

Electrical Sheep took a novel enterprise strategy

San Francisco-based Electrical Sheep was The Robotic Report‘s first RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award Startup of the Yr winner in 2024. The firm earned the title for its novel marketing strategy, which enabled it to instantly herald income whereas evolving its underlying know-how.

Based in 2019, the startup acquired landscaping corporations as a key a part of its long-term plan. Proudly owning these corporations enabled it to roll out its autonomous garden mowers at its personal tempo and with its personal staff on board each step of the best way.

Powering its mowers is ES1, a learned-world mannequin that permits reasoning and planning. Earlier than partnering with Oso, Electrical Sheep supplied the RAM robotic for mowing and the Verdie robotic for edging and trimming lawns and bushes and blowing leaves.

With its new guardian firm, Electrical Sheep mentioned it could actually roll out new merchandise, broaden market attain, and set up collaborative workflows. The corporate mentioned it plans to combine AI for adaptive, hands-free operations; lowered labor prices and carbon footprints; and scalable programs that may empower landscapers and different outside staff to concentrate on development.

OpenAI simply gained a 2nd Australian authorities contract after being the one firm invited to bid

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OpenAI is steadily embedding itself within the Australian authorities, with the US tech large successful its second contract with none competitors as the general public sector is inspired to embrace public generative AI instruments.

The Digital Transformation Company (DTA) final week issued new steering recommending companies and departments be inspired to make use of public generative AI instruments comparable to OpenAI’s ChatGPT for work involving OFFICIAL degree authorities information.

OpenAI gained its first Australian authorities contract in June when it landed a small $50,000 one-year cope with Treasury for “software-as-a-service”.

It has now gained a second smaller $25,000 contract with the Commonwealth Grants Fee for the “provision of AI” for 12 months.

As a result of each contracts have been value below $80,000, the companies weren’t required to open them to aggressive tender — and OpenAI was the one firm invited to bid.

Whereas modest in measurement, the offers mark OpenAI’s first foothold in federal authorities and will pave the way in which for bigger, longer-term engagements.

OpenAI involves Canberra

OpenAI has been actively increasing its presence in Canberra.

The corporate not too long ago employed Bourke Avenue Advisory as its native lobbyist, in response to the federal register, and despatched senior executives to Australia final week to debate potential information centre offers.

OpenAI chief world affairs Chris Lehane, talking at SXSW Sydney final week, stated Australia might play a pivotal position within the world AI infrastructure race.

OpenAI simply gained a 2nd Australian authorities contract after being the one firm invited to bid

OpenAI chief world affairs Chris Lehane spoke at SXSW Sydney final week concerning the position Australia might play. Photograph: Hanna Lassen/SXSW

“Australia might create frontier-class inference mannequin that embeds native languages, customs and tradition,” Lehane stated on the convention.

“You’d have an Australian-sovereign mannequin that reinforces productiveness right here and exports it overseas.

“It’s chips, it’s information, it’s vitality and it’s expertise – that’s the brand new stack of energy.

“Whichever nation can marshal these assets will decide whether or not the world is constructed on democratic or autocratic AI.”

GenAI within the public sector

The brand new OpenAI contract was revealed in the identical week DTA launched new steering for the Australian authorities’s use of public generative AI instruments, comparable to ChatGPT.

This recommendation encourages the expanded use of those instruments for a variety of labor involving data as much as the OFFICIAL degree of classification.

“Generative AI is right here to remain,” DTA deputy CEO Lucy Poole stated in a press release.

“This steering provides our workforce the boldness to make use of generative AI instruments of their roles whereas retaining safety and public belief on the centre of all the things we do.

“We don’t wish to be in a scenario the place employees, from any company, are utilizing these instruments with out correct recommendation.

“Guaranteeing employees have clear steering on what data they’ll share with these providers, and the way, is vital to minimise dangers and maximise the alternatives that AI presents to the general public service.”

The framework introduces three overarching rules: defend privateness and safeguard authorities data; use judgement and critically assess generative AI outputs and have the ability to clarify; and justify and take possession of your recommendation and selections.

The steering permits public sector employees to make use of public generative AI instruments for OFFICIAL-level authorities data to assist with brainstorming, analysis, figuring out public out there analysis papers, suggesting methods to current program data and to help with information evaluation and sample identification, amongst others.

It outlines that generative AI shouldn’t be used for any work involving delicate data, for assessing purposes or within the procurement course of.

It builds on final yr’s Technical Requirements for Authorities’s Use of Synthetic Intelligence, which defines 42 necessities throughout the AI system lifecycle — from design and information by means of to monitoring and decommissioning — to make sure accountable and constant adoption.

The transfer follows an Australian Nationwide Audit Workplace report revealing not less than 20 authorities entities have been utilizing AI final yr with none formal insurance policies in place.

This is the reason you must activate iOS 26’s Superior Monitoring and Fingerprinting Safety straight away

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Apple tends to gloss over numerous options at any time when it reveals a serious OS replace, however that is comprehensible. Its press occasions would run at the very least twice as lengthy in any other case, and never each function is related to all customers. Should you’re not into weightlifting or operating, you are in all probability not that invested within the newest Exercise apps. Likewise, Stay Translation with FaceTime or AirPods aren’t going to matter in the event you do not journey a lot, or do not have family and friends from different nations.

If in case you have an iPhone with iOS 26, there is a safety function that nearly everybody ought to activate: Superior Monitoring and Fingerprinting Safety. It is primarily of curiosity to individuals who want Safari to browsers like Chrome, Firefox, or Opera, however given the way in which iOS works, its ramifications might be common. Beneath, I will clarify why it is necessary and learn how to flip it on.

What’s Superior Monitoring and Fingerprinting Safety?

Protection in opposition to the worst promoting and surveillance

The iPhone 17 Pro and an Apple Watch Ultra.

You are in all probability accustomed to the idea some folks have that firms like Meta and Google are secretly listening in on each dialog, selecting out key phrases to bombard us with focused advertisements. There are a number of explanation why that does not make sense — the datacenter burden can be unbelievably large, for one factor — however one of the best counterargument is mentioning that it is pointless. In actuality, an idea referred to as fingerprinting is all an organization must ship advertisements which might be eerily on-point. Word that I am not speaking about literal, biometric fingerprint readers just like the one you see above.

A lot of what you do on-line is technically nameless, which means that particulars like your identify and actual handle are omitted. However since folks have a tendency to make use of the identical gadgets from the identical places, it is not too troublesome to separate one particular person from one other in the event you can acquire sufficient knowledge. There are solely going to be so many individuals visiting a selected web site from a Chicago IP handle utilizing an iPhone 17 Professional, for instance. Should you can flip that fingerprint right into a profile, you may observe somebody across the broader web, constructing an image of their pursuits and habits. It is in all probability why I get numerous advertisements for EUC shops.

The know-how injects “noise” into APIs that report your machine data, in idea doing so with out affecting the remainder of your looking expertise.

A lot of the entities utilizing fingerprinting aren’t involved with something greater than optimizing advert supply, or maybe promoting that data to knowledge brokers. The place issues get actually scary, although, is the potential of surveillance by authoritarian governments. A ruling occasion aiming to silence the opposition may use fingerprinting to observe folks wherever they go, not simply on the net, however in particular person, too, if it is capable of hyperlink fingerprints with real-world identities. When it is a threat, that you must use each potential instrument to masks your on-line presence — and keep offline for delicate political actions, equivalent to organizing protests.

An iPhone 17 Pro with iOS 26.

There might be helpful facets to fingerprinting, however above all, one of the best cause is fraud detection. For instance, in the event you stay in a Chicago house, most of your bank card purchases will possible be in that metropolis, and predictable primarily based on normal habits. In case your card is all of the sudden used to purchase a bunch of luxurious items in Florida with out a lot as a airplane ticket in between, that is in all probability fraud. Fingerprinting is why you do not typically have to notify banks while you journey anymore.

Superior Monitoring and Fingerprinting Safety (ATFP for brief) has technically existed in earlier variations of iOS. With iOS 26, nevertheless, it will possibly apply to each Safari browser session, not simply personal ones. The know-how injects “noise” into APIs (software programming interfaces) that report your machine data, in idea doing so with out affecting the remainder of your looking expertise. In follow, this will trigger havoc in some circumstances, however the privateness enhancements are in all probability price it. I will get to these downsides in a second.

Should you use a third-party browser as an alternative, you may be topic to that app’s privateness instruments (or lack thereof) more often than not you are on the net. It is nonetheless price enabling ATFP, nevertheless, as a result of Safari is an integral a part of iOS. There are occasions when the app will pop up no matter your regular preferences. It may also encourage you to modify to Safari full-time, if privateness is an overriding concern.

How one can activate Superior Monitoring and Fingerprinting Safety in iOS 26

A couple of quick steps

Advanced Safari options in iOS 26.

Turning on ATFP is not an intuitive course of, however it’s not particularly troublesome both as soon as you already know the place to go. Comply with these steps:

  1. Open the Settings app in your iPhone.
  2. On the backside of the primary display screen, choose Apps.
  3. Faucet Safari.
  4. Scroll all the way down to the underside of the menu. Faucet Superior, then Superior Monitoring and Fingerprinting Safety.
  5. Select All Searching if you need ATFP to be common, or Personal Searching if you need it to be restricted to personal tabs.

That is it — the subsequent time you launch Safari, ATFP shall be operating within the background.

The downsides of Superior Monitoring and Fingerprinting Safety

Plus some various or supplementary instruments

A VPN over a map with locks.

The principle situation with ATFP is its impact on web site settings. Some websites use the type of knowledge collected in fingerprinting merely to recollect your private settings, so there is a threat that chosen choices will not take, regardless of what number of occasions you flip them again on. Should you’re encountering this drawback, there’s not a lot you are able to do besides swap ATFP to Personal Searching or Off.

There are some options to ATFP in the event you want them, the obvious being a VPN (digital personal community). At a minimal, a VPN will present an IP handle separate out of your actual one for any browser you employ. Some providers embrace further ad- and tracker-blocking applied sciences, making them a one-stop store. The trade-off is that you will have to pay a month-to-month or annual payment, which is likely to be a waste in case your solely concern is how creepy customized advertisements might be.

At a minimal, a VPN will present an IP handle separate out of your actual one for any browser you employ.

There are additionally privacy-focused third-party browsers like Courageous, and quite a lot of ad-blocking extensions for Safari. Some extensions are tied to paid providers, so be careful.

Should you’re actually involved about privateness, you could possibly mix a number of choices without delay. Simply be aware of overlap — you (in all probability) should not pay for one thing that does not embrace a lot past what iOS 26 already provides. For some customers, the privateness instruments bundled with an iCloud+ subscription could also be greater than sufficient, nevertheless Apple-centric they could be.

Amazon claims the headline isn’t robots taking jobs because it reveals new cost-cutting robots

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In one publish, Amazon highlighted Blue Jay, a robotic it calls “an additional set of fingers that helps staff with duties that contain reaching and lifting,” and its agentic AI system Venture Eluna, which “acts like an additional teammate, serving to cut back that cognitive load” whereas optimizing sorting to cut back bottlenecks.

Blue Jay can transfer 75 p.c of the forms of objects Amazon shops, and is ultimately presupposed to be a “core expertise” powering Identical-Day supply websites. The corporate says it developed Blue Jay in simply over a yr based mostly on AI, digital twins, and information from robots already in use, making a system that “coordinates a number of robotic arms to carry out many duties without delay, collapsing what was three separate robotic stations into one streamlined workspace that may choose, stow, and consolidate in a single place.”

Amazon Robotics chief technologist Tye Brady says within the firm’s publish that, “The true headline isn’t about robots.. It’s about folks—and the way forward for work we’re constructing collectively.” The weblog publish additionally reiterates a spokesperson’s response to the Occasions report, saying that “no firm has created extra jobs within the U.S. over the previous decade than Amazon,” and touting plans to fill 250,000 positions for the vacation season.

CEO Andy Jassy’s June letter to staff in regards to the influence of effectivity is a bit clearer. He wrote about generative AI, saying, “We are going to want fewer folks doing a few of the jobs which might be being completed at the moment, and extra folks doing different forms of jobs. It’s arduous to know precisely the place this nets out over time, however within the subsequent few years, we anticipate that it will cut back our whole company workforce as we get effectivity good points from utilizing AI extensively throughout the corporate.”

The Occasions report suggests the same plan for robotics and automation, citing Jassy’s push to chop e-commerce prices and displaying examples of how its warehouse overhauls are creating services that course of extra objects with fewer staff who more and more will give attention to taking good care of the robots.

Google Meet is getting within the Halloween spirit

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Halloween wallpaper on smartphone 3

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

TL;DR

  • Google Meet is introducing a number of particular choices for the Halloween season.
  • Customers can select from a number of new Halloween backgrounds, or generate their very own.
  • Meet’s new make-up results add a goth choice.

Halloween season is a very bizarre one, and this time of yr, even adults can get away with embracing the vacation spirit. When you’ve already outfitted your own home with Halloween-themed good audio system and good cameras, what’s left however to unfold a few of that Halloween cheer on the workplace? Right now we’re studying about a few of the methods Google Meet is raring to assist share in these spooky vibes.

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Most likely the best solution to jazz up a video name is with a contemporary background, and Meet’s obtained a number of choices you possibly can go to there. For starters, Google is making obtainable some new pre-rendered Halloween backgrounds, prepared so that you can drop proper into your subsequent Meet name. And if none of these strike your fancy, you possibly can at all times use Meet’s Gemini AI instruments to generate your personal Halloween backdrop.

If altering up your environment doesn’t really feel like the precise transfer for Halloween, why not get into the spirit your self? Meet is introducing a pair new choices for giving your self a Halloween-appropriate look, together with a brand new addition to these just-added digital make-up instruments, with a dark-lipstick “goth” choice:

meet halloween makeup

Stephen Schenck / Android Authority

That could possibly be somewhat delicate, although, and if you wish to simply take away any doubt in any way from the minds of everybody you’re on the decision with about your Halloween bonafides, look no additional than these ghoulish filters:

meet halloween filter

Let’s simply get one factor straight right here: You’re in all probability going to have somewhat leeway for the remainder of the month in getting away with utilizing choices like these in all however probably the most conservative workplaces, however don’t go urgent your luck. As soon as November rolls round, all bets are off, and it’s again to enterprise as ordinary.

Google says that its Meet Halloween options will likely be round for a restricted time solely, and must be obtainable now for Google Workspace, Google One AI Professional, and Google One AI Extremely prospects.

Thanks for being a part of our neighborhood. Learn our Remark Coverage earlier than posting.

Elon Musk frets over controlling Tesla’s ‘robotic military’ as automotive biz rebounds barely

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Tesla’s document gross sales quarter has supplied the corporate a reprieve after a horrible begin to 2025. However CEO Elon Musk is concentrated on constructing a “robotic military” and making good on his years-long, unfulfilled promise of self-driving vehicles — duties he wants to perform if he’s to unlock the complete worth of the $1 trillion compensation package deal that Tesla desires to award him.

The strain between Tesla’s present automotive-driven enterprise and the AI-centric one which Musk is aiming for has by no means been extra clear.

Tesla delivered a document variety of automobiles within the third quarter of 2025, thanks largely to a rush of shoppers in america who took benefit of the expiring federal EV tax credit score. However that document quarter didn’t result in higher earnings. In actual fact, Tesla’s third-quarter revenue was nonetheless 37% decrease than it was in the identical quarter final yr.

Tesla shipped 497,099 vehicles within the third quarter, which generated $21.2 billion in automotive income — the corporate’s finest income determine in additional than a yr. However Tesla solely pulled in a revenue of $1.4 billion, up simply $200 million from the second quarter of this yr, in keeping with a shareholder letter launched Wednesday. The document quarter got here after an abysmal begin to the yr for Tesla, which noticed gross sales drop mightily partly due to Musk’s involvement with the Trump administration.

The corporate defined within the letter {that a} large enhance in working bills — 50% larger in comparison with the third quarter final yr — was one of many culprits. That working expense bump was because of spending on AI and different R&D initiatives, in addition to “restructuring” expenses of almost $240 million. Tesla didn’t clarify what these restructuring expenses had been for, nevertheless it’s presumably associated to the current determination to shut down the corporate’s six-year-old Dojo supercomputer venture.

Tesla cited tariffs as one other drag on income this previous quarter, that means Musk spent round $300 million to assist elect a president who has damage the corporate’s enterprise. Tesla’s chief monetary officer, Vaibhav Taneja, mentioned on a convention name Wednesday the tariff hit was about $400 million.

“We’re at a vital inflection level for Tesla and our technique going ahead as we convey AI into the actual world,” Musk mentioned on the decision. Tesla is on the “starting of scaling, fairly massively, Full Self-Driving and Robotaxi, and basically altering the character of transport,” he mentioned.

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All of it will put much more strain on the corporate’s closing quarter of the yr.

Tesla already wants one other document quarter (after which some) if it desires to easily match the variety of vehicles it shipped in 2024 or 2023. The corporate may get some assist from the brand new barely cheaper stripped-down variations of the Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y EVs. However even in that best-case situation, Tesla is approach off the trail of fifty% year-over-year development that it as soon as promised to buyers and shareholders.

However Musk has spent the previous few years making an attempt to get shareholders, buyers, workers, and everybody else to look past the corporate’s core enterprise of creating and promoting vehicles. He’s guess the way forward for Tesla on having the ability to create an unlimited community of self-driving automobiles that he thinks can problem Uber. And he thinks the humanoid robotic, Optimus, will turn out to be the best-selling product ever.

Tesla supplied little new data on these applications in Wednesday’s letter. Musk mentioned on the convention name that Tesla could begin constructing the third model of Optimus within the first quarter of 2026. He had as soon as promised to construct 1000’s of the robots by the tip of this yr, however as The Data has reported, Tesla has run into issues in early manufacturing with Optimus.

“Bringing Optimus to market is an extremely tough activity, to be clear. It’s not like some stroll within the park,” Musk mentioned.

However Musk continued Tesla’s gauzy, unspecific claims about how a lot Optimus will change the world. “You possibly can really create a world the place there isn’t any poverty, the place everybody has entry to the best medical care,” he mentioned. “Optimus might be an unimaginable surgeon.”

The elevated concentrate on AI, robotics, and self-driving vehicles (together with beginning manufacturing of the two-seater “Cybercab”) will even value Tesla extra subsequent yr. Taneja mentioned capital expenditures will enhance “considerably” in 2026 because of these initiatives. He additionally mentioned Tesla has needed to enhance employee-related spending to remain aggressive within the ongoing AI expertise struggle.

Tesla’s third-quarter outcomes come amid the backdrop of the corporate’s proposal handy $1 trillion value of shares to Musk. That plan is up for a vote on the Tesla’s annual shareholder assembly in a couple of weeks. The corporate — and Musk — are campaigning exhausting. Whereas advisor teams like ISS and Glass Lewis are recommending in opposition to the pay package deal, it’s more than likely going to move given the overwhelming help from shareholders on earlier efforts.

That hasn’t stopped Musk from threatening to stroll away from Tesla if the package deal isn’t accepted.

On Wednesday’s name, he reiterated his declare that he cares extra in regards to the voting management the compensation package deal would afford him than the cash.

“I simply don’t really feel comfy constructing robotic military right here after which being ousted due to some asinine suggestions from ISS and Glass Lewis, who haven’t any friggin’ clue. I imply, these guys are company terrorists,” Musk mentioned.

This story has been up to date with new info from Tesla’s third-quarter convention name.

Iranian hackers focused over 100 govt orgs with Phoenix backdoor

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Iranian hackers focused over 100 govt orgs with Phoenix backdoor

State-sponsored Iranian hacker group MuddyWater has focused greater than 100 authorities entities in assaults that deployed model 4 of the Phoenix backdoor.

The menace actor is often known as Static Kitten, Mercury, and Seedworm, and it usually targets authorities and personal organizations within the Center East area.

Beginning August 19, the hackers launched a phishing marketing campaign from a compromised account that they accessed by the NordVPN service.

The emails have been despatched to quite a few authorities and worldwide organizations within the Center East and North Africa, cybersecurity firm Group-IB says in a report immediately.

In keeping with the researchers, the menace actor took down the server and server-side command-and-control (C2) element on August 24, possible indicating a brand new stage of the assault that relied on different instruments and malware to assemble data from compromised programs.

A lot of the targets of this MuddyWater marketing campaign are embassies, diplomatic missions, overseas affairs ministries, and consulates.

Targets of latest MuddyWaters campaign
Targets int the most recent MuddyWaters marketing campaign
Supply: Group-IB

Again to macro assaults

Group-IB’s analysis revealed that MuddyWater used emails with malicious Phrase paperwork with macro code that decoded and wrote to disk the FakeUpdate malware loader.

The emails connect malicious Phrase paperwork that instruct recipients to “allow content material” on Microsoft Workplace. This motion triggers a VBA macro that writes the ‘FakeUpdate’ malware loader on the disk.

It’s unclear what prompted MuddyWater to ship malware by macro code hidden in Workplace paperwork, because the approach was well-liked a number of years in the past, when macros ran mechanically upon opening a doc.

Since Microsoft disabled macros by default, menace actors moved to different strategies, a more moderen one being ClickFix, additionally utilized by MuddyWater in previous campaigns.

Group-IB researchers say that the loader in MuddyWater’s more moderen assaults decrypts the Phoenix backdoor, which is an embedded, AES-encrypted payload.

The malware is written to ‘C:ProgramDatasysprocupdate.exe,’ and establishes persistence by modifying the Home windows Registry entry with configurations for the present consumer, together with the app that ought to run because the shell after logging into the system.

Observed attack chain
Noticed assault chain
Supply: Group-IB

Phoenix and Chrome stealer

Phoenix backdoor has been documented in previous MuddyWater assaults, and the variant used on this marketing campaign, model 4, contains a further COM-based persistence mechanism and several other practical variations.

Differences between Phoenix version 3 and version 4
Variations between Phoenix model 3 and model 4
Supply: Group-IB

The malware gathers details about the system, like laptop title, area, Home windows model, and username, to profile the sufferer. It connects to its command-and-control (C2) through WinHTTP and begins to beacon and ballot for instructions.

Group-IB has confirmed that the next instructions are supported in Phoenix v4:

  • 65 — Sleep
  • 68 — Add file
  • 85 — Obtain file
  • 67 — Begin shell
  • 83 — Replace sleep interval time

One other instrument MuddyWater utilized in these assaults is a customized infostealer that makes an attempt to exfiltrate the database from Chrome, Opera, Courageous, and Edge browsers, extract credentials, and snatch the grasp key to decrypt them.

On MuddyWater’s C2 infrastructure the researchers additionally discovered the PDQ utility for software program deployment and administration, and the Action1 RMM (Distant Monitoring and Administration) instrument. PDQ has been utilized in assaults attributed to Iranian hackers.

Group-IB attributes the assaults to MuddyWater with excessive confidence, based mostly on the usage of malware households and macros seen in previous campaigns, the usage of frequent string decoding strategies on new malware much like beforehand used households, and their particular concentrating on patterns.

46% of environments had passwords cracked, practically doubling from 25% final yr.

Get the Picus Blue Report 2025 now for a complete have a look at extra findings on prevention, detection, and information exfiltration traits.

Improve from Amazon Redshift DC2 node sort to Amazon Redshift Serverless

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Amazon Redshift is a totally managed, petabyte-scale, cloud information warehouse service. You should use Amazon Redshift to run complicated queries in opposition to petabytes of structured and semi-structured information shortly and effectively, integrating seamlessly with different AWS companies.

Amazon Redshift Serverless helps you run and scale analytics in seconds with out having to arrange, handle, or scale information warehouse infrastructure. It robotically provisions information warehouse capability and intelligently scales the underlying assets to ship quick efficiency for demanding workloads and also you pay just for the compute capability you employ. Moreover, with Amazon Redshift managed storage, you possibly can additional optimize your information warehouse by scaling storage and compute independently and also you pay just for the storage you employ.

Upgrading your information warehouse from Amazon Redshift dense compute (DC2) situations to Amazon Redshift Serverless unlocks these benefits and supplies an enhanced consumer expertise and simplified operations, providing a extra environment friendly, scalable resolution for information analytics.

On this put up, we present you the improve course of from DC2 situations to Amazon Redshift Serverless. We’ll cowl:

  1. Assessing your present setup and figuring out if an improve is best for you
  2. Planning and making ready for the improve
  3. Step-by-step directions for the improve course of
  4. Put up-upgrade optimization and finest practices

Why improve to Amazon Redshift Serverless

By utilizing Amazon Redshift Serverless, you possibly can run and scale analytics with out managing information warehouse infrastructure. If you improve from DC2 situations to Amazon Redshift Serverless, you get the next advantages:

  • Simplified operations: Entry and analyze information without having to arrange, tune, and handle compute clusters.
  • Computerized efficiency optimization: Ship persistently excessive efficiency and simplified operations for demanding and risky workloads with computerized scaling and AI pushed scaling and optimization.
  • Pay-as-you-go pricing: The versatile pricing construction fees you solely throughout energetic utilization; you pay just for what you employ.
  • On-line upkeep: Amazon Redshift Serverless robotically manages system updates and patches with out requiring upkeep home windows, serving to to facilitate seamless operation of your information warehouse.
  • Decoupled storage and compute: Management prices by scaling and paying for compute and storage individually with Amazon Redshift managed storage.
  • Entry to new capabilities: Use superior options together with information sharing writes, Redshift Streaming Ingestion, zero-ETL, and different capabilities.

Sizing steering

To improve from DC2 to Amazon Redshift Serverless, it’s essential perceive the dimensions equivalency. The next desk reveals urged sizing configurations when upgrading from the DC2 node sort.

Be aware that availability of Redshift Processing Unit (RPU) configurations varies by AWS Area.

Present node sort Present variety of nodes Amazon Redshift Serverless improve
DC2.giant 1–4 Begin with 4 RPUs
DC2.giant 5–7 Begin with 8 RPUs
DC2.giant 8–32 Add 8 RPUs per 8 nodes of DC2.giant
DC2.8xlarge 2–32 Add 16 RPUs per node (as much as a most of 1,024 RPUs)

These sizing estimates present a versatile start line tailor-made that can assist you profit from Amazon Redshift Serverless. The perfect configuration to your wants will rely on components resembling your required stability of value and efficiency and the particular latency and throughput necessities of your workload. To additional optimize the sizing primarily based in your particular necessities, you should utilize a number of of following approaches:

  • Take a look at your workload beforehand: Earlier than migrating to Amazon Redshift Serverless, consider your workload’s efficiency necessities in a non-production atmosphere. The Amazon Redshift Take a look at Drive utility simplifies this course of by simulating your manufacturing workloads throughout completely different serverless configurations. You should use the outcomes to assist establish the optimum stability between efficiency and value and make knowledgeable choices about your configuration. For step-by-step steering on utilizing the Take a look at Drive utility for DC2 to Serverless upgrades, see the Amazon Redshift Migration Workshop. Operating these efficiency checks earlier than migration lets you establish any obligatory changes to your configuration earlier than deploying to manufacturing
  • Monitor in manufacturing: After you’ve deployed your workload, intently monitor the efficiency and useful resource utilization for over a time frame that represents your typical workloads. Primarily based on the noticed metrics, you possibly can then scale the assets up or down as wanted to attain the very best stability of efficiency and value.
  • AI-driven scaling and optimization: Think about using Amazon Redshift Serverless with AI-driven scaling and optimization to robotically dimension Amazon Redshift Serverless to your workload wants.

A methodical strategy to sizing validation, combining each pre-production testing and ongoing manufacturing monitoring, helps guarantee your Amazon Redshift Serverless configuration aligns together with your workload.

Improve to Amazon Redshift Serverless

To improve to Amazon Redshift Serverless, you should utilize a snapshot restore to maneuver immediately from Amazon Redshift to Amazon Redshift Serverless, as proven within the following determine. A snapshot restore restores information and objects along with customers and their related permissions, configurations, and schema buildings. By utilizing snapshot restore for migration, you possibly can validate the goal Amazon Redshift Serverless warehouses with out impacting your manufacturing Amazon Redshift DC2 cluster. You may as well use snapshot restore emigrate your Amazon Redshift DC2 workloads to completely different Areas or Availability Zones.

Conditions emigrate utilizing a snapshot restore

  1. Create an Amazon Redshift Serverless workgroup with a namespace. For extra data, see creating workgroup with a namespace.
  2. Amazon Redshift Serverless is encrypted by default. Amazon Redshift Serverless additionally helps altering the AWS KMS key for the namespace so you possibly can adhere to your group’s safety insurance policies.
  3. Confirm that the Amazon Redshift Serverless namespace you’re making an attempt to revive to is hooked up to an Amazon Redshift Serverless workgroup.
  4. To revive from a provisioned Amazon Redshift cluster to Amazon Redshift Serverless, the AWS Identification and Entry Administration (IAM) consumer or position will need to have the next permissions: redshift-serverless:RestoreFromSnapshot, CreateNamespace, and CreateWorkgroup. For extra data, see Amazon Redshift Serverless restore.

Improve utilizing the console

Use the next steps within the AWS Administration Console for Amazon Redshift to improve your DC2 cluster to Amazon Redshift Serverless utilizing the snapshot restore methodology.

  1. On the Redshift console, select Clusters within the navigation pane. Choose your cluster after which select Upkeep.
  2. Select Create snapshot to create a handbook snapshot of the present Amazon Redshift provisioned cluster.
  3. Enter a snapshot identifier, choose the snapshot retention interval, after which select Create snapshot.
  4. Choose the snapshot you need to restore to Amazon Redshift Serverless from the record after which select Restore snapshot and choose Restore to serverless namespace.
  5. Underneath Choose namespace, choose your goal serverless namespace from the dropdown record after which select Restore.
  6. The restoration time will differ primarily based in your information quantity.
  7. After the restoration completes, confirm your information migration by connecting to your Amazon Redshift Serverless workspace utilizing both the Amazon Redshift Question Editor v2 or your most popular SQL consumer.

For extra data, see Making a snapshot of your provisioned cluster.

Improve utilizing the AWS CLI

Use the next steps within the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) to improve your DC2 cluster to Amazon Redshift Serverless utilizing the snapshot restore methodology.

  1. Create a snapshot from the supply cluster:
    aws redshift create-cluster-snapshot --cluster-identifier   --snapshot-identifier 

  2. Confirm that the snapshot exists:
    aws redshift describe-cluster-snapshots --snapshot-identifier 

  3. Restore the snapshot to your Amazon Redshift Serverless namespace:
    aws redshift-serverless restore-from-snapshot --snapshot-arn "arn:aws:redshift:::snapshot:/" --namespace-name  --workgroup-name  --region 

For extra data, see Restore from cluster snapshot utilizing AWS CLI.

Greatest practices for upgrading to Amazon Redshift Serverless

The next are advisable finest practices when upgrading from Amazon Redshift to Amazon Redshift Serverless.

  • Pre-upgrade:
  • Put up-upgrade:
    • Replace present connections: If you migrate to Amazon Redshift Serverless, a brand new endpoint will probably be created. Replace any present connections to enterprise intelligence and different reporting instruments.
    • Observability and monitoring: When you have any information monitoring instruments utilizing methods views, confirm that there aren’t any open or empty transactions. It’s vital as a finest apply to finish transactions. For those who don’t finish or roll again open transactions, Amazon Redshift Serverless will proceed to make use of RPUs for these transactions.
    • Entry: When utilizing IAM authentication with dbUser and dbGroups, your purposes can entry the database utilizing the GetCredentials API. For extra data, see Connecting utilizing IAM.
    • System views: Evaluate the record of unified system views accessible in Amazon Redshift Serverless.

In case your workloads aren’t fitted to Amazon Redshift Serverless due to their nature or any of the concerns listed in Concerns when utilizing Amazon Redshift Serverless, you possibly can improve to Amazon Redshift RA3 situations by following the RA3 sizing steering.

Price concerns

On this part, we offer data that can assist you perceive and handle your Amazon Redshift Serverless prices.

  • You possibly can cut back your serverless computing prices by reserving capability prematurely when you have got predictable utilization patterns.
  • Amazon Redshift Serverless robotically adjusts capability primarily based on workload. By setting a most RPU restrict, you possibly can management prices by capping how a lot the system can scale up.
  • Amazon Redshift Serverless makes use of RPUs as a compute unit. Whereas it begins with a default of 128 RPUs, you possibly can alter the bottom RPU wherever from 4 to 1,024 RPUs to match your particular workload wants and SLA requirement. For extra data, see Billing for Amazon Redshift Serverless.
  • Amazon Redshift Serverless robotically creates restoration factors each half-hour or at any time when 5 GB of information modifications per node happen, whichever occurs first. The minimal interval between restoration factors is quarter-hour. All restoration factors are retained for twenty-four hours by default.

If it’s essential protect backups for an extended interval, you possibly can create handbook backups. Handbook backups will incur further storage prices.

Clear up

To keep away from incurring future fees, delete the Amazon Redshift Serverless occasion or provisioned information warehouse cluster created as a part of the prerequisite steps. For extra data, see Deleting a workgroup and Shutting down and deleting a cluster.

Conclusion

On this put up, we mentioned the advantages of upgrading Amazon Redshift DC2 situations to Amazon Redshift Serverless, along with the assorted choices for upgrading and a few finest practices. It’s important to find out the goal Amazon Redshift Serverless configuration and validate it utilizing Amazon Redshift Take a look at Drive utility in take a look at and improvement environments earlier than upgrading.

Get began upgrading to Amazon Redshift Serverless right now by implementing the steering on this put up. When you have questions or want help, contact AWS Help forarchitectural and design steering, along with help for proofs of idea and implementation.


Concerning the authors

Nita Shah

Nita Shah

Nita is a Senior Analytics Specialist Options Architect at AWS primarily based out of New York. She has been constructing information warehouse options for over 20 years and focuses on Amazon Redshift. She is targeted on serving to clients design and construct enterprise-scale well-architected analytics and resolution help platforms.

Ricardo Serafim

Ricardo Serafim

Ricardo is a Senior Analytics Specialist Options Architect at AWS. He has been serving to firms with Knowledge Warehouse options since 2007.

Bryan Cottle

Bryan Cottle

Bryan is a Senior Technical Product Supervisor at Amazon Internet Providers. He’s keen about analytical databases, specializing in Amazon Redshift the place he helps clients optimize prices, navigate pricing methods, and efficiently handle their database migrations

Viettel IDC secures high Broadcom VMware associate standing

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Cloud and information centre supplier Viettel IDC has secured the very best partnership degree inside Broadcom’s VMware associate program.

As a ‘Pinnacle’ tier associate for the Southeast Asia market, Viettel IDC is positioned to ship new managed personal cloud providers constructed on VMware Cloud Basis (VCF), Broadcom’s flagship hybrid cloud platform.

This enhanced providing is geared toward serving to enterprise clients within the area modernise their infrastructure and speed up innovation, with a selected deal with sovereign cloud providers that handle information residency necessities and different jurisdictional controls.

Mr Le Ba Tan, CEO of Viettel IDC, mentioned: “Turning into a member of the highest-tier within the Broadcom Benefit associate program is a testomony to Viettel IDC’s capabilities and underscores our dedication to supporting enterprises in Vietnam and the broader Southeast Asia area.

“Leveraging VMware Cloud Basis 9.0, we intention to ship superior providers and applied sciences to drive growth alternatives. Past the home market, Viettel IDC seeks to broaden its presence in Southeast Asia, selling Vietnamese expertise regionally and empowering enterprises to speed up their digital transformation.”

The achievement follows Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware and the following overhaul of its associate ecosystem. Attaining ‘Pinnacle’ standing below the brand new Broadcom Benefit Associate Program indicators a deep strategic alignment and technical proficiency.

VCF is the platform for working a contemporary personal cloud. It’s designed to offer clients with a constant cloud working mannequin throughout their very own information centres, on the edge, and inside managed cloud infrastructures from service suppliers like Viettel IDC.

The VCF platform combines the agility related to the general public cloud with the safety, efficiency, and price advantages of an on-premises setting. VCF supplies a unified platform able to supporting all utility varieties, from conventional workloads to fashionable containerised functions and synthetic intelligence.

The ‘Pinnacle’ tier is the apex of the Broadcom Benefit Associate program, reserved for its most invested and strategic companions. These organisations are recognised for his or her in depth certifications, a confirmed observe document of gross sales and repair achievements, and broad worldwide protection. Holding Pinnacle standing signifies a associate’s deep technological experience and its potential to unravel essentially the most complicated buyer challenges.

Vijoo Chacko, Head of VCSP Enterprise for Asia Pacific and Japan at Broadcom, commented: “As a Pinnacle associate, Viettel IDC’s experience, expertise and affect within the business will play an important function in serving to to guide our clients to adopting a contemporary personal cloud.

“With VCF, clients profit from a contemporary personal cloud that accelerates innovation, controls cloud prices, and permits sovereignty and safety with information management that helps higher compliance and cyber resilience at scale. Our trusted VCSP Pinnacle companions assist our mutual clients unlock the entire worth from the VCF platform.”

Based in 2008 as a member of the Viettel Group, Viettel IDC has established itself as a number one supplier of digital infrastructure in Vietnam. The corporate operates 9 information centres constructed to worldwide requirements, together with TIA-942 and PCI DSS 4.0.1, making certain excessive availability and safety for hundreds of enterprise purchasers throughout the area.

Viettel IDC’s ecosystem consists of almost 60 distinct providers spanning Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Platform-as-a-Service, and Software program-as-a-Service, all designed to assist companies optimise prices and strengthen their competitiveness.

This newest partnership reinforces Viettel IDC’s “Go World” technique, aiming to bridge world applied sciences with native enterprise wants and contribute to the continued development of Vietnam’s digital economic system on the world stage.

GitKraken releases Insights to assist corporations measure ROI of AI

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GitKraken, an organization that focuses on bettering the developer expertise, immediately introduced the launch of GitKraken Insights to supply corporations with higher insights into AI’s impression on developer productiveness.

In line with the corporate, whereas many engineering groups have adopted AI at this level, it’s nonetheless a problem to show AI’s ROI. GitKraken additionally believes that conventional engineering metrics weren’t designed for the AI period.

“DORA metrics can inform you if deployment frequency modified, however they will’t inform you why,” the corporate wrote in a weblog put up. “Pull request counts may go up, however is that as a result of builders are extra productive, or as a result of AI is producing code that requires extra evaluate cycles?”

GitKraken Insights brings collectively a number of completely different metrics—DORA metrics, code high quality evaluation, technical debt monitoring, AI impression measurement, and developer expertise indicators—to color an image of what’s occurring throughout the improvement lifecycle.

The brand new providing was inbuilt collaboration with GitClear, an organization that gives software program engineering intelligence options. “Their SEI capabilities, mixed with our developer expertise experience and the belief we’ve earned with thousands and thousands of builders, create one thing distinctive out there,” GitKraken wrote.

GitKraken is aware of the truth that builders are delicate to instruments that really feel like surveillance, so it constructed this new answer with this in thoughts. It measures groups and workflows, reasonably than people, in order that groups can floor bottlenecks, establish friction factors, and enhance efficiency.

“We’re not simply offering instruments that make builders extra productive—we’re serving to groups show it, measure it, and constantly enhance it,” the corporate stated. “That’s the total DevEx platform promise. It additionally displays one thing deeper about how we take into consideration AI. We’re not chasing hype. We’re not promising AI will change builders. We’re constructing sensible instruments that make builders more practical, and now we’re serving to groups perceive whether or not these instruments—and all AI instruments—are literally delivering worth.”