Gooooood morning, hope you’re well. Let’s dive in.
1. Boo boo from Microsoft’s AI team
Starting with news from Microsoft that the company’s AI research team accidentally exposed a large cache of private data on GitHub. Per a report from Bloomberg, cloud security company Wiz found the exposure of cloud-hosted data on the AI training platform via a misconfigured link. The report said the data was leaked by Microsoft’s research team while publishing open-source training data on GitHub. The extent of the consequence of this is not yet known.
2. Big tech exec jumps ship
Staying with Bloomberg for the minute and it also broke news overnight that Amazon will hire Microsoft’s departing Product Chief Panos Panay, mere hours after he left the company. Panay will be heading Amazon’s devices group, which is in charge of the Alexa voice assistant, Echo smart speakers, and Fire TV streaming services.
3. HWL Ebsworth breach only gets worse
Back in May, we mentioned in an edition of 5 Things that Australian commercial law firm HWL Ebsworth had fallen victim to a ransomware attack, with Russian-linked hackers claiming to have obtained client information and employee data. In the months since, many new victims had been revealed, among them, the government and banks. But, that was only the beginning. The Guardian is reporting that 65 Australian government departments and agencies were victims of the cyber-attack on HWL Ebsworth – and that’s only government, not private enterprise.
4. Dating apps put on notice
Australian Communications Minister Michelle Rowland wants the dating industry to improve safety standards, asking the group to make a code of practice or be forced to make changes through legislation. Per AP, it comes as research shows three in four Australian users suffer some form of sexual violence through these platforms. Companies such as Tinder, Bumble and Hinge have until June 30 to develop a voluntary code of conduct that addresses user safety concerns. Leaving tech giants to nut out their own safety standards has worked out so well in the past…..
5. MS Paint gets layers
Ending with everyone’s favourite timesink, MS Paint. After 38 years, Microsoft is updating its Paint App with support for image transparency and layers. While that’s fund news, the best part is the way Microsoft tried to sell it in a blog post, as if it was groundbreaking:
You can now add, remove, and manage layers on the canvas to create richer and more complex digital art. With layers, you can stack shapes, text, and other image elements on top of each other. To get started, click on the new Layers button in the toolbar, which will open a panel on the side of the canvas. This is where you can add new layers to the canvas. Try changing the order of layers in this panel to see how the order of stacked image elements on the canvas changes. You can also show or hide and duplicate individual layers or merge layers together.
BONUS ITEM: Yep.
Enjoy your Tuesday.
Image: Tada Images (Shutterstock)