OpenUK and UKRI collaborate on sustainable open source software for the UK public sector
OpenUK has announced plans to collaborate with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to shape new recommendations for sustainable software development across the UK public sector. The work will improve how government and public bodies create, release, and maintain open source software, and also make sure that software funded through public money can be reused and improved long term.
The collaboration focuses on practical implementation as much as policy. OpenUK describes the initiative as an effort to move from goal-setting to action -- so that open source development and reuse become a central part of how the UK public sector approaches digital transformation.
SUSE brings agentic AI to enterprise Linux
SUSE has released SUSE Linux Enterprise 16, which it describes as the first enterprise Linux distribution to integrate agentic AI through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). The update aims to let operating systems interact more directly with AI models and external data sources.
The Model Context Protocol, introduced in 2024 by Anthropic, is an open standard for connecting large language models to tools and data. It defines a simple client-server structure that allows AI systems to request information or perform tasks across different applications in a consistent way. SUSE’s adoption of MCP is meant to make those capabilities available at the operating system level, without depending on a single AI provider.
New AI assistant verifies unknown email senders to protect your inbox
Employees receive large numbers of emails every day and it’s estimated that 25 to 35 percent of these will be from people they haven’t communicated with before. Knowing whether or not a message has come from a legitimate new sender is almost impossible.
Until now that is. Email security specialist StrongestLayer is launching AI Advisor, a security assistant designed specifically to verify first-time senders and unknown contacts in real-time.
Connected home devices face a surge in cyberattacks
The average household now contains 22 connected home devices and is subjected to nearly 29 attacks each day, almost triple the rate recorded last year.
This the key finding of a new joint report from Bitdefender and NETGEAR which highlights how the expanding Internet of Things ecosystem, spanning everything from smart TVs and streaming boxes to routers and cameras, has dramatically increased consumer exposure to automated cyberattacks and large-scale exploitation.
Life after DevOps -- the new initiatives challenging the status quo [Q&A]
The concept of DevOps has been around since the late 1980s and has been mainstream for the last 15 years or so. But there has recently been discussion around whether open-source platforms like System Initiative are challenging DevOps’ dominance.
We talked to Pablo Gerboles Parrilla, the founder and CEO of Alive DevOps, about what needs to change in how teams build and deploy software, and perhaps more importantly about what shouldn’t.
The next wave of AI assistants: From chatbots to autonomous agents
AI assistants, like chatbots, have been providing customer support and functioning in sales and internal support roles for a very long time. Autonomous agents are the next level of AI, as they incorporate reasoning, planning, and execution.
This is already happening on a larger scale in enterprises, with autonomous AI agents streamlining development processes. 79 percent of executives in PwC's report, AI and the Future of Work, maintain that agentic AI is a key driver for prioritizing automation and productivity.
RealWear introduces Arc 3 headset for hands-free, AI-powered work
RealWear has unveiled its latest assisted reality headset, Arc 3, alongside a new operating system, Ari OS. The aim is to improve safety and efficiency for frontline workers by providing hands-free access to information, enabling collaboration, and reducing distractions in complex environments.
The Arc 3 headset marks RealWear’s expansion into lighter, more versatile designs. At 179 grams, it is the company’s first see-through headset with a double retina resolution display.
Unprecedented DDoS surge sees ‘tsunami’ of attacks
A new report from digital trust provider DigiCert highlights an unprecedented surge in distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that reached ‘internet tsunami’ scale, with two events peaking at 2.4 Tbps (terabits per second) and 3.7 Tbps respectively.
Attack traffic increasingly originates from regions where digital infrastructure is outpacing regulation, with Vietnam, Russia, Colombia, and China ranking among the top five sources.
Delay responding to email breaches likely to lead to ransomware attacks
A new report shows that organizations taking longer than nine hours to address an email security breach have a 79 percent chance of also being a victim of ransomware.
The study from Barracuda, based on a survey of 2,000 IT decision makers carried out by Vanson Bourne, also finds that most of the organizations surveyed (78 percent) experienced an email breach in the previous 12 months, with the average cost to recover reaching $217,068.
Cyber insurance demand rises as global tensions fuel surge in digital threats
Cyber insurance has become the fastest-growing area of demand in the insurance sector, as conflicts and geopolitical tensions increasingly spill into cyberspace. Organizations are reportedly investing ever more heavily in protection against cyberattacks, while insurers are adapting coverage and response capabilities to address complex, politically driven digital risks, according to new findings from GlobalData.
A GlobalData poll conducted across its Verdict Media network, found that 27.4 percent of industry professionals expect cyber insurance to see the sharpest increase in demand. This placed it ahead of political risk insurance at 25 percent, supply chain insurance at 23.8 percent, and business interruption insurance at 13.1 percent. The data suggests that concerns about digital security now outweigh those linked to traditional operational and political exposures.
Mastercard launches Threat Intelligence to combat payment fraud
Mastercard has introduced a new service designed to help financial institutions detect and prevent payment fraud before it happens. Mastercard Threat Intelligence will combine the company’s global fraud data with cyber threat intelligence from Recorded Future, resulting in a deeper level of visibility to how fraud originates and spreads across the payments ecosystem.
Fraud doesn’t always start when someone tries to buy something with a stolen card. In fact, it often begins much earlier -- when criminals hack a website to steal card details, run automated tests on stolen cards, or plant malware to skim payment data, for example. Mastercard’s new system helps banks’ fraud teams and cybersecurity teams spot these early warning signs together, instead of waiting until fraudulent transactions happen.
OpenAI and PayPal partner to launch in-chat commerce
PayPal has announced that it plans to adopt the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) to expand payments and shopping inside ChatGPT. The move will let millions of ChatGPT users pay with PayPal directly in conversations, while merchants gain access to OpenAI Instant Checkout and PayPal’s global payment network.
The integration links PayPal’s vast base of merchants with OpenAI’s emerging commerce platform. It also makes PayPal the first major payments company to implement ACP, a new framework designed to let AI systems handle shopping and checkout tasks on behalf of users.
70 percent of major breaches caused by overlapping risks
New research from business risk specialist Panaseer shows that major breaches are being caused by toxic combinations -- overlapping risks that compound and amplify each other, until they form a critical vulnerability.
The company analyzed 20 major breaches that have occurred over the past five years. In 14 of the 20 cases, it found clear evidence of compounding risks forming toxic combinations that magnified the overall impact.
IObit releases Malware Fighter 13 with pre-boot scanning and behavior-based detection
Software company IObit has released Malware Fighter 13, adding new scanning capabilities and expanding its threat-detection methods. The company says the update is designed to improve protection against a wider range of cyber threats, including spyware, ransomware, and so-called fileless attacks.
The update introduces a pre-boot analysis module that scans the system during startup. This will allow the software to detect and remove malicious items before Windows loads, preventing them from reappearing after a reboot. The company says this may help systems start faster and run more reliably, but it hasn't released independent performance data to support that claim and your mileage may vary.
Job automation -- could AI replace your CEO? [Q&A]
Many people worry that AI and automation will lead to people losing their jobs and that this could be true even at senior levels.
We spoke to Alex Walsh, CEO and co-founder of agentic AI platform Oraion, who believes that, instead of destroying jobs, AI can actually enhance them.
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