Cybersecurity

Facebook update lets admins make private groups public safely

Meta has introduced a new Facebook update allowing group administrators to change their private groups to public while keeping members’ privacy protected. The company said the feature gives admins more flexibility to grow their communities without exposing existing private content.

All posts, comments, and reactions shared before the change will remain visible only to previous members, admins, and moderators. The member list will also stay private. Once converted, any new posts will be visible to everyone, including non-Facebook users, which helps discussions reach a broader audience.

Admins have three days to review and cancel the conversion before it becomes permanent. Members will be notified when a group changes its status, and a globe icon will appear when posting in public groups as a reminder of visibility settings.

Groups can be switched back to private at any time, restoring member-only access.

Meta said the feature supports community growth and deeper engagement while maintaining privacy safeguards. Group admins can also utilise anonymous or nickname-based participation options, providing users with greater control over their engagement in public discussions.

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World Economic Forum President warns of potential AI and crypto bubbles 

World Economic Forum President Borge Brende has warned that massive investments in AI and cryptocurrencies may create financial bubbles. Speaking in Berlin, he noted that $500 billion has been invested in AI this year, raising concerns about speculative bubbles in AI and cryptocurrency.

Brende described frontier technologies as a ‘big paradigm shift’ that could drive global growth, with potential productivity gains of up to 10% over the next decade. He noted that breakthroughs in medicine, synthetic biology, space, and energy could transform economies, but stressed that the benefits must be widely shared.

Geopolitical uncertainty remains a significant concern, according to Brende. He pointed to rising tensions between the US and China, calling it a race for technological dominance that could shape global power.

He also urged multilateral cooperation to address global challenges, including pandemics, cybercrime, and investment uncertainty.

Despite the disorder in world politics, Brende highlighted the resilience of economies like those in the US, China, and India. He called for patient investment strategies and stronger international coordination to ensure that new technologies translate into sustainable prosperity.

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Mustafa Suleyman warns against building seemingly conscious AI

Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, argues that AI should be built for people, not to replace them. Growing belief in chatbot consciousness risks campaigns for AI rights and a needless struggle over personhood that distracts from human welfare.

Debates over true consciousness miss the urgent issue of convincing imitation. Seemingly conscious AI may speak fluently, recall interactions, claim experiences, and set goals that appear to exhibit agency. Capabilities are close, and the social effects will be real regardless of metaphysics.

People already form attachments to chatbots and seek meaning in conversations. Reports of dependency and talk of ‘AI psychosis‘ show persuasive systems can nudge vulnerable users. Extending moral status to uncertainty, Suleyman argues, would amplify delusions and dilute existing rights.

Norms and design principles are needed across the industry. Products should include engineered interruptions that break the illusion, clear statements of nonhuman status, and guardrails for responsible ‘personalities’. Microsoft AI is exploring approaches that promote offline connection and healthy use.

A positive vision keeps AI empowering without faking inner life. Companions should organise tasks, aid learning, and support collaboration while remaining transparently artificial. The focus remains on safeguarding humans, animals, and the natural world, not on granting rights to persuasive simulations.

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Live exploitation of CVE-2024-1086 across older Linux versions flagged by CISA

CISA’s warning serves as a reminder that ransomware is not confined to Windows. A Linux kernel flaw, CVE-2024-1086, is being exploited in real-world incidents, and federal networks face a November 20 patch-or-disable deadline. Businesses should read it as their cue, too.

Attackers who reach a vulnerable host can escalate privileges to root, bypass defences, and deploy malware. Many older kernels remain in circulation even though upstream fixes were shipped in January 2024, creating a soft target when paired with phishing and lateral movement.

Practical steps matter more than labels. Patch affected kernels where possible, isolate any components that cannot be updated, and verify the running versions against vendor advisories and the NIST catalogue. Treat emergency changes as production work, with change logs and checks.

Resilience buys time when updates lag. Enforce least privilege, require MFA for admin entry points, and segment crown-jewel services. Tune EDR to spot privilege-escalation behaviour and suspicious modules, then rehearse restores from offline, immutable backups.

Security habits shape outcomes as much as CVEs. Teams that patch quickly, validate fixes, and document closure shrink the blast radius. Teams that defer kernel maintenance invite repeat visits, turning a known bug into an avoidable outage.

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Brain-inspired networks boost AI performance and cut energy use

Researchers at the University of Surrey have developed a new method to enhance AI by imitating how the human brain connects information. The approach, called Topographical Sparse Mapping, links each artificial neuron only to nearby or related ones, replicating the brain’s efficient organisation.

According to findings published in Neurocomputing, the structure reduces redundant connections and improves performance without compromising accuracy. Senior lecturer Dr Roman Bauer said intelligent systems can now be designed to consume less energy while maintaining power.

Training large models today often requires over a million kilowatt-hours of electricity, a trend he described as unsustainable.

An advanced version, Enhanced Topographical Sparse Mapping, introduces a biologically inspired pruning process that refines neural connections during training, similar to how the brain learns.

Researchers believe that the system could contribute to more realistic neuromorphic computers, which simulate brain functions to process data more efficiently.

The Surrey team said that such a discovery may advance generative AI systems and pave the way for sustainable large-scale model training. Their work highlights how lessons from biology can shape the next generation of energy-efficient computing.

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Perplexity launches AI-powered patent search to make innovation intelligence accessible

The US software company, Perplexity, has unveiled Perplexity Patents, the first AI-powered patent research agent designed to democratise access to intellectual property intelligence. The new tool allows anyone to explore patents using natural language instead of complex keyword syntax.

Traditional patent research has long relied on rigid search systems that demand specialist knowledge and expensive software.

Perplexity Patents instead offers conversational interaction, enabling users to ask questions such as ‘Are there any patents on AI for language learning?’ or ‘Key quantum computing patents since 2024?’.

The system automatically identifies relevant patents, provides inline viewing, and maintains context across multiple questions.

Powered by Perplexity’s large-scale search infrastructure, the platform uses agentic reasoning to break down complex queries, perform multi-step searches, and return comprehensive results supported by extensive patent documentation.

Its semantic understanding also captures related concepts that traditional tools often miss, linking terms such as ‘fitness trackers’, ‘activity bands’, and ‘health monitoring wearables’.

Beyond patent databases, Perplexity Patents can also draw from academic papers, open-source code, and other publicly available data, revealing the entire landscape of technological innovation. The service launches today in beta, free for all users, with extra features for Pro and Max subscribers.

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Nexperia chip exports may resume as China softens stance on ban

China’s Ministry of Commerce announced plans to exempt specific Nexperia orders from its export ban, aiming to stabilise the global semiconductor supply chain after the Netherlands seized control of the Chinese-owned Dutch chipmaker.

The ministry stated that exemptions would be granted when the criteria were met, encouraging affected firms to apply.

A move that follows a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump in Busan, where both sides reached a framework allowing Nexperia to resume shipments under eased restrictions.

Washington reportedly agreed to pause the 50 percent subsidiary rule, which restricts exports from companies half-owned by entities on its trade blocklist. Wingtech Technology, Nexperia’s Chinese parent, has been under these restrictions since December.

Beijing’s export ban, introduced after the Dutch takeover citing national security concerns, disrupted supplies from Nexperia’s Dongguan factory, which assembles about 70 percent of its products.

China condemned the Netherlands for intervening in corporate affairs, warning that such actions deepen global supply chain instability.

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A new phase for Hyundai and NVIDIA in AI mobility and manufacturing

NVIDIA and Hyundai Motor Group will build a Blackwell-powered AI factory for autonomous vehicles, smart plants and robotics. The partners will co-develop core physical AI, shifting from tool adoption to capability building across mobility, manufacturing and on-device chips.

The programme targets integrated training, validation and deployment on 50,000 Blackwell GPUs. In parallel, both sides will back the physical AI cluster in South Korea with about $3 billion, creating an NVIDIA AI Technology Center, Hyundai’s Physical AI Application Center and regional data centres.

Hyundai will use NVIDIA DGX for model training, Omniverse and Cosmos on RTX PRO Servers for digital twins and simulation, and DRIVE AGX Thor in vehicles and robots for real-time intelligence. The stack underpins design, testing and deployment at an industrial scale.

Factory digital twins will unify data, enable virtual commissioning and improve predictive maintenance, supporting safer human-robot work. Isaac Sim will validate tasks and ergonomics before line deployment, speeding robot integration and lifting throughput, quality and uptime.

Vehicles will gain evolving features via Nemotron and NeMo, from autonomy to personalised assistants and adaptive comfort. DRIVE AGX Thor with safety-certified DriveOS will power driver assistance and next-generation safety, linking car and factory into one intelligent ecosystem.

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An AI factory brings Nvidia compute into Samsung’s fabs

Nvidia and Samsung outlined a semiconductor AI factory that embeds accelerated computing into production. Over 50,000 GPUs will drive digital twins, predictive maintenance, and real-time optimisation. Partners present the project as a template for autonomous fabs.

The alliance spans design and manufacturing. Samsung uses CUDA-X and EDA tools to speed simulation and verification. Integrating cuLitho into OPC reports roughly twentyfold gains in computational lithography at advanced nodes.

Factory planning and logistics run on Omniverse digital twins and RTX PRO servers. Unified analytics support anomaly detection, capacity planning, and flow balancing. Managers expect shorter ramps and smoother changeovers with higher equipment effectiveness.

Robotics and edge AI extend intelligence to the line. Isaac Sim, Cosmos models, and Jetson Thor target safe collaboration, faster task retargeting, and teleoperation. Samsung’s in-house models enable multilingual assistance and on-site decision support.

A decades-long Nvidia–Samsung relationship underpins the effort, from NV1 DRAM to HBM3E and HBM4. Work continues on memory, modules, and foundry services, plus AI-RAN research with networks in South Korea and academia linking factory intelligence with next-gen connectivity.

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Cyber and energy leaders meet to harden EU power grid resilience

Europe’s 8th Cybersecurity Forum in Brussels brought together more than 200 officials and operators from energy, cybersecurity and technology to discuss how to protect the bloc’s increasingly digital, decentralised grids. ENISA said strengthening energy infrastructure security is urgent as geopolitics and digitalisation raise risk.

Discussions focused on turning new EU frameworks into real-world protection: the Cyber Resilience Act placing board-level responsibility for security, the NIS2 Directive updating obligations across critical sectors, and the Network Code on Cybersecurity setting common rules for cross-border electricity flows. Speakers pressed for faster implementation, better public-private cooperation and stronger supply-chain security.

Case studies highlighted live threats. Ukraine’s National Cybersecurity Coordination Center warned of the growing threat of hybrid warfare, citing repeated Russian cyberattacks on its power grid dating back to 2015. ENCS demonstrated how insecure consumer-energy devices like EV chargers, PV inverters, and home batteries can be easily exploited when security-by-design measures are absent.

Organisers closed with a call to standardise best practice, improve information sharing and coordinate operators, regulators and suppliers. As DG Energy’s Michaela Kollau noted, the resilience of Europe’s grids depends on a shared commitment to implementing current legislation and sector cybersecurity measures.

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