Welcome to our latest round-up of news from the technology and hosting world. Here’s what we’ve discovered this month.
Public Sector Threat
Research from Blackberry has shown that a lack of transparency in software supply chains is putting UK public sector organisations at risk of cyberattacks. According to the research, more than half of IT decision-makers in healthcare, education and government reported a supply chain software attack or vulnerability over the last 12 months, with 42% taking over a week to recover. The main sources of these issues appear to be operating systems (38%) and web browsers (17%), while the consequences included financial losses, data breaches and reputational damage. Another worry is that over half of the organisations found unmonitored participants in their supply chains within the past year.
In terms of transparency, a key issue is the difference between what public sector organisations believe about their supply chain and what is established fact. While 60% of organisations think their suppliers’ security is as robust as their own and nearly all said they had confidence in suppliers’ ability to identify and fix vulnerabilities, only one-third of organisations had actually sought an independent audit or asked for proof of in-house security training. Those organisations that lack this hard evidence put themselves at greatest risk.
Liverpool Schools AI
Schools in Liverpool are trialling the use of AI to personalise lessons for pupils and reduce teachers’ workloads. The initiative is part of a partnership between technology company, Century Tech, and Liverpool Mayor, Steve Rotheram, that seeks to improve the city’s below average attainment levels.
Runnymede St Edwards Primary School has been using the Century Tech platform for three years. The school’s AI is not only capable of customising each pupil’s homework; it also marks it and sends the teachers detailed reports on the students’ strengths and weaknesses in completing the work. By carrying these jobs out, the AI significantly cuts the marking workload for the teaching staff, freeing them to plan lessons better tailored to the pupils’ needs, based on the reports they receive. Overall, the trial will show how AI tools can enhance personalised learning and support teachers to improve pupils’ outcomes.
Portable Solar Panels
Boffins at Oxford’s National Thin-Film Cluster Facility are developing revolutionary portable solar panels that could transform how we use solar energy. Made from perovskites, a highly efficient material that can capture a broader spectrum of light and generate more power from the same sunlight than conventional silicone panels, these ultra-thin alternatives are designed to stick directly onto machines and devices.
Wireless and compact, this new technology has the potential to provide consistent low-level charging, even for devices on the go. What’s more, the panels are flexible enough to be attached to the surfaces not just of devices like phones and computers, but also to buildings and vehicles, making them a potential game-changer for electric vehicle charging and energy-efficient heating and lighting. Moreover, as perovskite panels can be incorporated into everyday objects, they could also reduce the need for expensive, large-scale solar farms.
State-Sponsored Attacks
Businesses and organisations, especially those in the country’s critical infrastructure supply chain and the public sector, are being warned of a rise in state-sponsored attacks. Recent analysis from Netskope has found these forms of attack now account for two-thirds of all attributable incidents.
The chief offender is North Korea which, given its weak economy, seeks to fund its military through global cybercrime and cryptocurrency theft. Its approach is random and involves launching mass attacks, particularly using phishing. Russia and China are the next biggest attackers in terms of numbers, however, their focus is more precisely targeted as they aim to disrupt critical national infrastructure, as seen by the recent attacks on the NHS and UK Electoral Commission.
The National Cyber Security Centre states that the threat posed by state-backed hackers is growing and that businesses and organisations should put robust cybersecurity measures into place to protect against these escalating risks.
AMD AI Networking
Chip manufacturer, AMD, has introduced a new high-performance processor and a network interface card that will improve data centre efficiency as businesses race to adopt AI.
Unveiled at AMD’s recent Advancing AI conference, the Pensando Salina data processing unit (DPU) offers twice the performance, bandwidth and scale of its previous versions. It also supports 400G throughput, an improvement that accelerates data transfer speeds needed to meet the demands of AI workloads. With networking a key challenge for data centres due to AI clusters requiring fast and efficient communication between CPUs and GPUs, the Salina DPU is seen as a viable solution for addressing front-end bottlenecks and ensuring smooth data delivery to AI clusters.
The Advancing AI conference also saw AMD launch the Pensando Pollara 400 network interface card (NIC), the first Ultra Ethernet Consortium-ready AI NIC. While the Salina DPU tackles front-end issues, the Pollara 400 card improves back-end data transfer between AI clusters, thus reducing complexity while optimising performance. Combined, the two innovations are able to support data centres with the growing demands of AI and machine learning.
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