Welcome to our latest round-up of news from the technology and hosting world. Here’s what we’ve discovered this month.
Defence Tech Courses
Bournemouth University is set to launch new courses in Cyber Defence Intelligence and Autonomous Systems, after receiving £2.8 million funding from the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Starting in September, students will receive training in national security, cyber safety and defence technology. The funds will also be used to create two specialised facilities that will replicate real-life situations, giving students practical, hands-on experience with new threats and technologies.
Cyber defence students will train at the MoD’s new BattleLab at Dorset Innovation Park, where they will learn how to detect and respond to simulated cyber-attacks. At the same time, those at the university’s Talbot Campus will focus on developing drones, autonomous systems and AI technologies for air, sea and land use.
The courses at Bournemouth are part of a larger £80 million initiative to improve defence-related higher education and support the future security and engineering workforce needs.
AI Vaccine
Boffins at the University of Cambridge have used AI to create a new vaccine antigen designed to protect against coronaviruses that could potentially cause pandemics. Instead of targeting one specific strain, the AI looked at the genetic details of several coronaviruses. This led to the development of a super-antigen that helps immune systems fight a wider range of viruses as they change over time.
Having been trialled on 39 participants, it marked the first time an AI-created vaccine antigen has been tested on people. A follow-up trial, with around 200 participants, is expected to provide more information about how immune systems respond.
Researchers believe that AI could bring about a major shift in how vaccines are developed, enabling scientists to prepare for future outbreaks rather than respond to them. The team is also using AI to investigate vaccines for seasonal flu, bird flu and serious viral diseases like Ebola.
BMW’s Humanoid Robots
BMW is to start testing the use of humanoid robots in its Leipzig car factory this summer. Trained using remote control, simulation and machine learning, the Aeon robots will start by undertaking simple tasks, such as moving car body parts and assembling batteries.
As the robots are built and move like humans, they can easily operate within existing factory settings, enabling BMW to deploy them without costly changes to production lines.
Improvements in AI, lower costs for robots and more flexible robotics, mean humanoid robots are becoming a more practical option for car companies, with Toyota, Hyundai and Xiaomi also looking into their use. Able to carry out repetitive tasks or jobs that are physically demanding, they can adapt better to small changes than traditional machines and provide cover for worker shortages.
AMD UK Investment
US semiconductor manufacturer, AMD, has announced a £2 billion investment in the UK over the next five years, which will be used to improve AI research, increase computing power and support local AI projects. Its aim is to provide better access to advanced computing in fields like healthcare, climate modelling, engineering and scientific AI.
During the five-year project, AMD will partner with Imperial College London and Oriole Networks, while also helping the University of Cambridge with its Zenith AI supercomputer and Sunrise fusion AI system.
At Imperial College London, the focus will be on computational science, large-scale modelling and making AI programs more efficient. The partnership with Oriole Networks, at the UK’s ARIA Scaling Inference Lab, will research the world’s first large-scale AI system powered purely by light-based (photonic) networking.
Zenith and Sunrise are expected to support various AI applications in science, including fusion research and materials science.
The announcement comes at the same time the UK government is launching a £1.1 billion plan to strengthen the country’s semiconductor industry and bring in more AI investments.
Supply Chain Warning
With supply chain attacks becoming increasingly common and disruptive, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is urging businesses to tighten the way they manage third-party software dependencies.
Recent incidents have seen compromised maintainer accounts, expired domain takeovers, package ownership changes, and typosquatting – where malicious packages are given similar names to trusted ones to trick developers into installing them.
With modern applications often depending on large numbers of external packages, libraries and development tools, the NCSC says the risks are becoming greater. If one component is compromised, malicious code can quickly be pulled into a system and spread before IT teams realise there is a problem.
The NCSC advises pausing automatic dependency updates where compromise is suspected and reviewing new packages and versions more carefully. Businesses should also change any passwords, access keys or login details that may have been exposed, enforce multi-factor authentication for developer and registry accounts, and use only trusted registries where possible.
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