In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence, smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned

Completed in early 2025 and now undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML (ASML.AS), opens new tab who reverse-engineered the company's extreme ultraviolet lithography machines or EUVs, according to two people with knowledge of the project.

Add: Arch

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43814573

One of the leaders of the pro-Russian Koos party and Estonian citizen Aivo Peterson was sentenced to 14 years in prison for treason by Harju District Court on Thursday.

Web archive link

The trial, which began in November 2023, dealt with allegations of treason against Estonian citizens Peterson and Dmitri Rootsi, as well as claims that Peterson and Russian citizen Andrei Andronov acted to undermine Estonia's independence.

The charges were connected to meetings with Russian politicians, aligning policy positions, the organization of an independent civil defense organization, and a Russian-funded press trip to occupied Ukraine.

According to the indictment, Peterson and Rootsi, based on instructions received from Russia, knowingly and in an organized manner assisted Russia and people acting on behalf of Russian authorities in non-violent activities directed against the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Estonia from October 2022 to March 10, 2023.

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• Release Date: March 27, 2026
• Price: $39.99

One of the leaders of the pro-Russian Koos party and Estonian citizen Aivo Peterson was sentenced to 14 years in prison for treason by Harju District Court on Thursday.

Web archive link

The trial, which began in November 2023, dealt with allegations of treason against Estonian citizens Peterson and Dmitri Rootsi, as well as claims that Peterson and Russian citizen Andrei Andronov acted to undermine Estonia's independence.

The charges were connected to meetings with Russian politicians, aligning policy positions, the organization of an independent civil defense organization, and a Russian-funded press trip to occupied Ukraine.

According to the indictment, Peterson and Rootsi, based on instructions received from Russia, knowingly and in an organized manner assisted Russia and people acting on behalf of Russian authorities in non-violent activities directed against the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Estonia from October 2022 to March 10, 2023.

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Fuckin great video. Tell me how the beans were.

Chinese espionage crew 'Ink Dragon' expands its snooping activities into European government servers

In the last few months, the China-linked threat Ink Dragon's activities show increased focus on government targets in Europe in addition to continued activities in Southeast Asia and South America.

Web archive link

Here is the original (technical) report: Inside Ink Dragon: Revealing the Relay Network and Inner Workings of a Stealthy Offensive Operation

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These attacks begin with Ink Dragon probing security weaknesses, such as misconfigured Microsoft IIS and SharePoint servers, to gain access to victims' environments. This tactic, as opposed to abusing zero-days or other high-profile vulnerabilities, helps attackers fly under the radar and reduces their chances of being caught.

Ink Dragon then scoops up credentials and uses existing accounts to infiltrate targets, tactics that help the gang blend in with normal network traffic.

"This stage is typically characterized by low noise and spreads through infrastructure that shares the same credentials or management patterns," Check Point's researchers said in a Tuesday blog.

Once Ink Dragon finds an account with domain-level access, the spies set to work establishing long-term access across high-value systems, installing backdoors and implants that store credentials and other sensitive data.

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In addition to their new targets and relay node activity, Check Point says the cyber spies have also updated their FinalDraft backdoor so that it blends in with common Microsoft cloud activity, hiding its command traffic inside mailbox drafts.

The new version also lets the malware check in during business hours - so as not to draw unwanted after-hour attention - and can more efficiently transfer large files with minimal noise.

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The threat hunters' investigation into Ink Dragon also uncovered similar, stealth activity by another China-linked espionage crew RudePanda, which "had quietly entered several of the same government networks," they wrote.

While the two groups are unrelated, they both abused the same server vulnerability to gain access to the same IT environments. This also illustrates the changing tactics among other government-sponsored cyber squads, including not only Beijing-backed crews, but also those from Russia.

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Image text:

The Adventures Of Woke Cat #01
whoever loves Digit

"Damn, I missed."

"Serves you right for trying to catch birds in current year. You lot are gonna drive them extinct."

"That's propaganda, we'll never run out of robins."

"That's denialism. Bird species are going extinct at unprecedented rates due to cat activity."

"Well, it's survival of the fittest. Not my fault if we're ahead in the evolutionary arms race."

"I know we naturally evolved to catch birds, but you don't have to just eat whatever your ancestors did. We live in modern society with grocery stores and all that."

"Someone starts a grocery store and suddenly I'm messing up nature by following my natural instincts? I guess I should just be locked up inside, and only cats like you should be outdoor cats, right, fascist?"

"That's not what I'm saying, and we're never going to break the control mechanisms that create indoor cats if you just keep trying to shift responsibility for your choices. The people in charge didn't end up in that position by refusing to learn anything."

"Whatever, not my problem."

I am not much of a visual artist, so I used unpaid chatbot-generated drawings and converted to pixel art in GIMP with some corrections by hand.

Microsoft is trying a new way to stop users from downloading Google Chrome. If you open the Chrome download page in Microsoft Edge, you may see a new banner at the top. This version looks different from the usual prompts that ask users to stay with Edge.

I'm curious, what if I download Firefox from Edge? 🤔

Coursera and Udemy bet that a combined platform will be better positioned to capture corporate demand for workforce training, particularly in artificial intelligence, data science and software development, as employers invest in reskilling workers amid rapid advances in generative AI.

German Minister for Economic Affairs Katherina Reiche is set to travel to Israel next week and will bring a coterie of defence executives with her, a sign that German-Israeli military ties are strengthening following a brief period of tension.

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/55172156

The renewed contract will see Palantir continue to provide the DGSI agency with its "proprietary software platform, as well as the integration, support and assistance services that are necessary for... deployment and operational use," it said in a statement.

The renewed contract will see Palantir continue to provide the DGSI agency with its "proprietary software platform, as well as the integration, support and assistance services that are necessary for... deployment and operational use," it said in a statement.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/59778774

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43807418

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A key component of the study [to be conducted in Romania] is the characterisation of low-conflict sites—areas with minimal risk to biodiversity and communities and which meet essential technical criteria for renewable energy development. These areas are broader than the RAAs defined in Directive (EU) 2023/2413, and while not all low-conflict sites will become RAAs, mapping them nationwide will support responsible renewable deployment both within and beyond designated acceleration zones.

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Beyond identifying low-conflict areas for clean energy development, the study will serve as a dialogue platform bringing together national and local authorities, grid operators, energy associations, academia and civil society. This collaborative space will help address challenges, share perspectives and strengthen informed decision-making in shaping Romania’s renewable energy future.

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U.S. senators are probing whether Big Tech data centers are driving up local electricity bills by socializing grid upgrade costs onto residents. Some of the tactics they're using include NDAs, shell companies, and lobbying. Ars Technica reports:

In letters (PDF) to seven AI firms, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) cited a study estimating that "electricity prices have increased by as much as 267 percent in the past five years" in "areas located near significant data center activity." Prices increase, senators noted, when utility companies build out extra infrastructure to meet data centers' energy demands -- which can amount to one customer suddenly consuming as much power as an entire city. They also increase when demand for local power outweighs supply. In some cases, residents are blindsided by higher bills, not even realizing a data center project was approved, because tech companies seem intent on dodging backlash and frequently do not allow terms of deals to be publicly disclosed.

AI firms "ask public officials to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) preventing them from sharing information with their constituents, operate through what appear to be shell companies to mask the real owner of the data center, and require that landowners sign NDAs as part of the land sale while telling them only that a 'Fortune 100 company' is planning an 'industrial development' seemingly in an attempt to hide the very existence of the data center," senators wrote. States like Virginia with the highest concentration of data centers could see average electricity prices increase by another 25 percent by 2030, senators noted. But price increases aren't limited to the states allegedly striking shady deals with tech companies and greenlighting data center projects, they said. "Interconnected and interstate power grids can lead to a data center built in one state raising costs for residents of a neighboring state," senators reported.

Under fire for supposedly only pretending to care about keeping neighbors' costs low were Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Equinix, Digital Realty, and CoreWeave. Senators accused firms of paying "lip service," claiming that they would do everything in their power to avoid increasing residential electricity costs, while actively lobbying to pass billions in costs on to their neighbors. [...] Particularly problematic, senators emphasized, were reports that tech firms were getting discounts on energy costs as utility companies competed for their business, while prices went up for their neighbors.