Palo Alto Networks urged companies this week to patch against a newly discovered zero-day vulnerability in one of its widely used security products, after malicious hackers began exploiting the bug to break into corporate networks.
Because the vulnerability allows hackers to gain complete control of an affected firewall over the internet without authentication, Palo Alto gave the bug a maximum severity rating.
The ease with which hackers can remotely exploit the bug puts thousands of companies that rely on the firewalls at risk from intrusions.
Adding another complication, Palo Alto initially suggested disabling telemetry to mitigate the vulnerability, but said this week that disabling telemetry does not prevent exploitation.
Security firm Volexity, which first discovered and reported the vulnerability to Palo Alto, said it found evidence of malicious exploitation going back to March 26, some two weeks before Palo Alto released fixes.
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It’s hard to keep track of crypto’s technical development, but one thing hasn’t changed much: blockchain applications are notoriously hard to build.
This stems in part from their decentralized nature, resulting in a lack of uniform standards across different infrastructure pieces.
Initia, founded by a group of developers in their late 20s, is trying to bring more interoperability to multi-chain networks and simplify the process of creating app-specific blockchains, or app chains.
In layman’s speak, Initia is abstracting away app chains’ technical complexity, aiming to make them more friendly to both end users and app developers.
They paused the project after the FTX implosion and eventually changed tack to work on blockchain infrastructure.
This “deepened” partnership will focus on commercial self-driving Ram delivery vans, a target that was first announced in 2020 and promptly faded from public view.
Discussions on this “improved” deal have focused, in part, on a crux around driverless delivery: how does the package get from the vehicle to the customer?
Waymo, which is owned by Google parent-company Alphabet, currently doesn’t operate a commercial delivery service using its self-driving vehicles.
That deal did include a future plan to include delivery via Uber Eats, but as of today, it has not launched, according to a Waymo spokesperson.
Under the deal, Fiat Chrysler — now known as Stellantis — would handle the manufacturing and provide Waymo with minivans that built in redundancies designed for autonomous driving.
In recent years, there has been a proliferation of business intelligence tools that aim to help companies make critical business decisions based on data analytics.
As data adoption increases at most companies, they are left with growing administration problems, said Logan Havern, co-founder and CEO of Datalogz.
Other participating investors from the latest round include Graphene Ventures, Squadra Ventures, Berkeley Skydeck, Defined VC, Mana Ventures and Trajectory Ventures.
These piling reports, Havern argued, could lead to thousands of dashboards with duplication, unused assets, security risks, inefficiencies and consequently unwanted costs.
Part of Datalogz’s business is stepping into the turf of traditional consulting firms, which easily charge $1-10 million annually just to perform business intelligence audits and clean-ups, according to Havern.
The investment arm of the UK retail bank M&G has led a funding of $340 million into Udaan, a business-to-business e-commerce startup, in one of the largest financing rounds secured by an Indian startup in 2023.
The Bengaluru-headquartered startup, which helps merchants in smaller Indian cities and towns secure inventories from major brands as well as gain access to working capital, said the new funds include some convertible debt.
Existing backers Lightspeed Venture Partners and DST Global have also participated in the new round, which awaits regulatory nod.
Udaan competes with a number of players, including Mukesh Ambani’s $100 billion Reliance Retail, the largest retail chain in India.
Udaan didn’t share how M&G and other investors valued the startup in the new round.
“Verve is pioneering a new class of connected wearable technology for the industrial sector by integrating robotics into functional apparel,” Galiana said.
But Galiana perceived applications well beyond combat; Galiana launched Verve in 2020 to commercialize his and his team’s tech for industrial as well as retail and manufacturing settings.
Verve’s mission is to power the human workplace through people-centric robotics.”Verve’s powered exosuit is customizable to workers and tasks, intended to be worn like a regular backpack.
“The challenge [we face] is to convey that the goal is to create a safer and more efficient future for industrial workers,” Galiana said.
“As we heighten awareness regarding the advantages of soft exosuit, we anticipate a rapid transition towards a future where wearable robotic technology seamlessly merges with our everyday work attire.”Aspirational?
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