Lakshmi Raman, the Director of AI at the CIA, has had a remarkable journey within the intelligence community. Starting as a software developer in 2002, Raman rose through the ranks to lead the CIA‘s enterprise data science efforts. She credits her success to the presence of women role models at the agency, which has historically been male-dominated.
The CIA’s proactive approach to AI, along with NSA’s focus on AI advancements, reflects the security agencies’ efforts to utilise AI as a tool to increase their effectiveness and support their mission.
LinkedIn is introducing AI-powered career advice and interactive games in an effort to encourage daily visits and drive growth. The Financial Times reported that this initiative is part of a broader overhaul aimed at increasing user engagement on the Microsoft-owned platform, which currently lags behind entertainment-focused social media sites like Facebook and TikTok.
With slowing revenue growth, analysts have suggested that LinkedIn must diversify its income streams beyond subscriptions and make the platform more engaging. Editor in Chief Daniel Roth emphasised the goal of building a daily habit for users to share knowledge, get information, and interact with content on the site. The efforts reflect LinkedIn’s push to enhance the user experience, such as unveiling AI-driven job hunting features and detecting fake accounts, as well as disabling targeted ads.
In June, LinkedIn recorded 1.5 million content interactions per minute, though it did not disclose site traffic or active user figures. Data from Similarweb showed that visits reached 1.8 billion in June, but the growth rate has slowed significantly since early 2024. For continued growth, media analyst Kelsey Chickering noted that LinkedIn needs to become ‘stickier’ and offer more than just job listings and applications.
Moreover, LinkedIn is becoming a significant platform for consumer engagement, with companies like Amazon and Nike attracting millions of followers. The platform’s fastest-growing demographic is Generation Z, many of whom shop via social media. The trend highlights LinkedIn’s potential as a robust avenue for retailers to reach a sophisticated and influential audience.
A report from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has exposed a disturbing misuse of AI to generate deepfake child sexual abuse images based on real victims. While the tools used to create these images remain legal in the UK, the images themselves are illegal. The case of a victim, referred to as Olivia, exemplifies the issue. Abused between the ages of three and eight, Olivia was rescued in 2023, but dark web users are now employing AI tools to create new abusive images of her, with one model available for free download.
The IWF report also reveals an anonymous dark web page with links to AI models for 128 child abuse victims. Offenders are compiling collections of images of named victims, such as Olivia, and using them to fine-tune AI models to create new material. Additionally, the report mentions models that can generate abusive images of celebrity children. Analysts found that 90% of these AI-generated images are realistic enough to fall under the same laws as real child sexual abuse material, highlighting the severity of the problem.
Delta Air Lines cancelled over 600 flights on Monday as it faced operational challenges following a global cyber outage last week. The disruptions, caused by a faulty software update from CrowdStrike, impacted Delta’s crew tracking system and led to the cancellation of more than 5,000 flights since Friday. As of early Monday, approximately 16% of Delta’s flights were cancelled, stranding thousands of travellers and forcing some to seek alternative transportation or delay their trips.
While other US airlines have largely recovered from the outage, Delta remains heavily affected. American Airlines and United Airlines reported minimal flight cancellations compared to Delta’s extensive disruptions. Delta CEO Ed Bastian explained that the outage had disrupted critical crew tracking tools, causing difficulties in managing the high volume of flight changes.
Delta’s shares showed little movement in premarket trading, and the airline is working to adjust its schedules to ensure safety and restore normal operations. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has engaged with Delta’s leadership to emphasise the airline’s responsibility to its customers. Meanwhile, CrowdStrike reported that many of the 8.5 million affected Microsoft devices are now back online.
Russian officials have claimed that Moscow was largely unaffected by a global IT systems outage, attributing this to the country’s increased self-sufficiency due to Western sanctions. These sanctions, imposed over Russia’s war in Ukraine, have led companies like Microsoft to suspend new product sales and scale down operations in Russia.
The outage, caused by CrowdStrike’s ‘Falcon Sensor’ software, did not impact Russian systems, as local cybersecurity firms like Kaspersky Labs dominate the market. The Kremlin, along with major companies such as Rosatom and leading banks, reported no disruptions.
Financial and currency markets in Russia also remained stable. Preparations for potential disconnections from foreign software due to sanctions have been ongoing, with significant investments in domestically developed software. VTB, Russia’s second-largest lender, plans to increase its use of local software to 95% by the end of the year.
However, IT experts caution that the risks of insufficiently tested software updates are universal. Eldar Murtazin, an IT expert, noted that while Russian software performed well during the current incident, future glitches remain a possibility if proper controls are not maintained.
Security experts have criticised CrowdStrike for the lack of quality checks on a recent update of its Falcon sensor software, which led to a global tech outage on Friday. The faulty update, intended to enhance security against hacking, caused widespread disruptions affecting global banks, airlines, hospitals, and government offices.
The issue arose from problematic code within the update, resulting in systems running Microsoft’s Windows operating system crashing. The failure was visible on users’ screens as ‘blue screens of death,’ and restoring affected systems requires manually removing the flawed code. According to experts, the oversight likely occurred due to inadequate vetting or sandboxing of the update.
CrowdStrike’s response includes providing information to fix the issue, but experts say the resolution will be time-consuming. The incident highlights the risks associated with frequent updates and the importance of thorough testing. Similar issues have occurred with other security firms, but the global impact underscores CrowdStrike’s extensive reach, serving over half of Fortune 500 companies and major government agencies.
According to a blog post from Microsoft on Saturday, a global tech outage caused by a software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike affected nearly 8.5 million Microsoft devices. That number represents less than one percent of all Windows machines, but the impact was significant, grounding flights, interrupting broadcasts, and disrupting access to essential services such as healthcare and banking.
Despite the relatively small percentage of devices affected, the outage had broad economic and societal effects due to critical enterprises’ widespread use of CrowdStrike’s services. Microsoft noted that CrowdStrike has helped develop a solution to accelerate the fix for Microsoft’s Azure infrastructure. The company is also collaborating with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform to share information about the outage’s effects across the industry.
The air travel industry was particularly hard hit, with thousands of flights cancelled and passengers experiencing extensive delays. Delta Air Lines, one of the hardest-hit airlines, reported over 600 flight cancellations by Saturday morning, with more expected throughout the day as the industry worked to recover from the IT outage.
Australia’s cyber intelligence agency warned on Saturday about the release of ‘malicious websites and unofficial code’ online, claiming to aid recovery from Friday’s global digital outage. The outage, caused by a botched software update from CrowdStrike, impacted various sectors, including media, retailers, banks, and airlines.
The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) urged consumers to obtain technical information and updates exclusively from official CrowdStrike sources to avoid falling victim to scams. Cyber Security Minister Clare O’Neil also cautioned Australians to be vigilant against potential scams and phishing attempts.
The outage affected the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, causing temporary disruptions in PayID payments, which were later resolved. National airline Qantas and Sydney airport experienced delays but maintained operations. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed that critical infrastructure, government services, and emergency phone systems were unaffected.
CrowdStrike, a major cybersecurity provider with nearly 30.000 global subscribers, previously reached a market cap of about $83 billion. Despite the widespread disruption, the swift response helped mitigate further issues and ensured a quick recovery.
A global tech outage on Friday affected some external vendors responsible for content moderation on Meta’s platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads. According to a Meta spokesperson, the outage temporarily impacted several tools used by these vendors, causing minimal disruption to Meta’s support operations but not significantly affecting content moderation efforts.
The outage led to a SEV1 alert at Meta, indicating a critical issue that required immediate attention. Meta relies on a combination of AI and human review to moderate the billions of posts made on its platforms. While Meta staff handle some reviews, most are outsourced to vendors like Teleperformance and Concentrix, who employ numerous workers to identify and address rule violations such as hate speech and violence.
Despite the outage disrupting vendor access to key systems that route flagged content for review, operations continued as expected. Concentrix reported monitoring and addressing the impacts of the outage, while Teleperformance did not provide a comment. Meta confirmed that the issues had been resolved earlier in the day, ensuring minimal to no impact on their content moderation processes.
CrowdStrike reported on Sunday that many of the 8.5 million Microsoft devices affected by a global tech outage that occurred on Friday are now back online and functioning. The outage, linked to a software update, had disrupted services for millions of users worldwide.
Efforts to restore operations have been successful, with a significant number of devices returning to normal. The swift recovery underscores the importance of robust cybersecurity measures and efficient response protocols in mitigating the impact of such widespread outages.
As systems continue to be restored, the focus remains on ensuring stability and preventing future disruptions. The incident highlights the critical need for continuous vigilance and rapid response in the tech industry to maintain service reliability and user trust.
