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Avantra launches new cloud edition to automate workflows across modes

AIOps platform Avantra has launched a new cloud edition for RISE with SAP. A SAP product, RISE with SAP helps companies to get started with cloud SAP solutions. Avantra’s new offering with help RISE customers to automate cloud, on-premise, and third-party operation activities for migrating their business operations to the cloud.

The Avantra cloud edition for RISE with SAP will offer a single point of access to services like configuration management for regulated industries, one-off services, and cloud application services, along with offering operating data. In addition, the new edition will support over 100 services for customers to manage data files, determine security requirements, and perform end-to-end application monitoring.

“At a time when more and more companies are looking at enterprise-wide digital transformation and wanting to connect rather than isolate operations, impeding the ability to optimise hybrid operations presents a significant barrier to business advancement. We developed a Cloud edition designed to work with RISE with SAP to remove this barrier, recognising that this need is not likely to go away any time soon,” said John Appleby, chief executive officer, Avantra.

New Linux kernel NetFilter flaw gives attackers root privileges

A new Linux NetFilter kernel flaw has been discovered, allowing unprivileged local users to escalate their privileges to root level, allowing complete control over a system.

The CVE-2023–32233 identifier has been reserved for the vulnerability, but a severity level is yet to be determined.

The security problem stems from Netfilter nf_tables accepting invalid updates to its configuration, allowing specific scenarios where invalid batch requests lead to the corruption of the subsystem’s internal state.

‘Everybody is worried’: China raids offices of consultancy firm Capvision in widening industry crackdown

China’s state security authorities raided multiple offices of international advisory firm Capvision, state media reported Monday, part of a broader crackdown on the consulting industry as Beijing tightens control over what it considers sensitive information related to national security.

Officers raided Capvision’s office in the eastern city of Suzhou, questioned its employees and searched office devices, a Jiangsu provincial television station reported Monday. The company was a so-called expert network, which connected its clients with people who provided specialist knowledge, largely in mainland China.

The report did not give an exact date of the raid, but said it was part of a coordinated, nationwide operation carried out simultaneously targeting the company’s branches in cities including Beijing, Shenzhen as well as Shanghai, where Capvision was founded in 2006.

Threat level AI: NSA encourages use of AI to keep up with foreign adversaries

The intelligence community is mulling over how AI can pose a threat to national security.

The world is captivated by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT. And they have proved their worth in providing human-like answers to complex questions or even writing a research paper. While there are issues like ‘hallucination’ or grabbing and spouting out incorrect information from the internet, nations are concerned with a more significant issue when it comes to AI.

The intelligence agencies are now mulling over how AI can pose a threat to national security.


MysteryShot/iStock.

The intelligence agencies are now mulling over how AI can pose a threat to national security. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, a top U.S. spy official said intelligence agencies should use commercially available AI to keep up with foreign adversaries because their opponents will be doing the same.

Quantum lidar prototype acquires real-time 3D images while fully submerged underwater

For the first time, researchers have demonstrated a prototype lidar system that uses quantum detection technology to acquire 3D images while submerged underwater. The high sensitivity of this system could allow it to capture detailed information even in extremely low-light conditions found underwater.

“This technology could be useful for a wide range of applications,” said research team member Aurora Maccarone, a Royal Academy of Engineering research fellow from Heriot-Watt University in the United Kingdom. “For example, it could be used to inspect underwater installations, such as underwater wind farm cables and the submerged structure of the turbines. Underwater can also be used for monitoring or surveying submerged archaeology sites and for security and defense applications.”

Obtaining 3D images through can be challenging because it is light-limited, and any particles in the water will scatter light and distort the image. However, single-photon detection, which is a quantum-based technique, allows very high penetration and works even in low-light conditions.

Dr. Kathryn Huff, Ph.D. — Assistant Secretary, Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of Energy

Advancing Nuclear Energy Science And Technology For U.S. Energy, Environmental And Economic Needs — Dr. Katy Huff, Ph.D. — Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of Energy.


Dr. Kathryn Huff, Ph.D. (https://www.energy.gov/ne/person/dr-kathryn-huff) is Assistant Secretary, Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, where she leads their strategic mission to advance nuclear energy science and technology to meet U.S. energy, environmental, and economic needs, both realizing the potential of advanced technology, and leveraging the unique role of the government in spurring innovation.

Prior to her current role, Dr. Huff served as a Senior Advisor in the Office of the Secretary and also led the office as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy.

Before joining the Department of Energy, Dr. Huff was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she led the Advanced Reactors and Fuel Cycles Research Group. She was also a Blue Waters Assistant Professor with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

Dr. Huff was previously a Postdoctoral Fellow in both the Nuclear Science and Security Consortium and the Berkeley Institute for Data Science at the University of California — Berkeley. She received her PhD in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her undergraduate degree in Physics from the University of Chicago. Her research focused on modeling and simulation of advanced nuclear reactors and fuel cycles.

Lockheed Martin announces reorganization of its space business

WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin announced May 4 it is consolidating several businesses focused on space into three sectors: Commercial civil space, national security space, and strategic and missile defense.

“With an eye toward the future and building on our current business momentum, these changes position us to deliver end-to-end solutions for today’s mission demands and well into the future,” said Robert Lightfoot, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Space.

How To Use FinOps As A Tool In The Fight Against Rising Cloud Costs

Scott Sellers is the co-founder and CEO of Azul, with 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur and executive in the technology industry.

For the first time in a decade, controlling cloud costs has surpassed security as the top cloud management challenge facing IT professionals, according to a survey by Flexera. An Andreessen Horowitz study also said that up to $1 trillion in market capitalization is weighed down by overspending in the cloud. Today, challenging economic conditions, rising costs, increasingly stringent performance SLAs and the need for more resources are squeezing organizations that want to remain in the cloud without overspending.

Many organizations still struggle to connect the dots between the value they deliver via the cloud and the costs required to deliver that value. Without a clear understanding of that basic relationship, it is difficult for teams to hold productive conversations about costs. Engineering departments don’t know what to prioritize; cloud architects lack a direction on designing, developing and managing solutions; product managers face difficulties pricing their solutions; and executives wonder where all the money is going.