Chinese-Sponsored Hackers Accessed Treasury Documents in 'Major Incident'

by  David DiMolfetta

The incident comes in the final days of the Biden presidency and as officials work to root out China-tied hackers from U.S. telecommunications systems.

Chinese government-aligned hackers accessed Treasury Department workstations in a “major incident” that involved the compromise of a third-party provider, according to a letter reviewed by Nextgov/FCW and confirmed in a statement by Treasury on Friday.

The letter addressed to leaders on the Senate Banking Committee says that on Dec. 8 BeyondTrust, a provider of cloud security services, alerted Treasury to a breach where hackers had obtained a key used to secure a cloud-based service for remotely supporting Treasury Departmental Offices users.

Using the stolen key, the attacker bypassed the service's security, remotely accessed Treasury workstations and retrieved certain unclassified documents stored by those users.

 Read full story at Nextgov/FCW…

CISA Director Jen Easterly to depart on Inauguration Day

by  Alexandra Kelley & David DiMolfetta

Easterly and Deputy Director Nitin Natarajan are set to leave as an administration change casts doubt on the agency's future.

Jen Easterly, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's stalwart champion and a figurehead among cybersecurity and intelligence community practitioners, will leave her post Jan. 20 next year when President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated back into the White House, people familiar with her plans said.

The plans were communicated via internal emails and an all-hands staff meeting, said the people, who asked not to be identified to share news of her departure. Deputy Director Nitin Natarajan also plans to depart at that time, one of the people said.

Easterly graduated from West Point in 1990 and later earned a master's degree from Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. She then embarked on a 20-year career in the U.S. Army. She played a pivotal role as one of the top four officials that helped establish U.S. Cyber Command, the combatant command born out of a 2008 Defense Department malware infestation that originated on a USB drive, resulting in a 14-month cleanup operation dubbed Buckshot Yankee.

 Read full story at NextGov/FCW…

Court Ruling Kills Net-Neutrality Rules That Were Already Doomed

by  Rob Pegoraro

The US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit holds that residential and mobile broadband had been an 'information service' all along

The Federal Communications Commission's net-neutrality regulations are dead, again, this time at the hands of the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.

In a ruling posted Thursday, a three-judge panel sawed out the legal framework for the rules the commission had adopted in 2024, holding that the FCC was wrong all along to classify broadband providers as “telecommunications services.”

The FCC's regulations prohibiting broadband providers from blocking, slowing, or otherwise discriminating amongst legal sites, apps and services were already doomed, with President-elect Trump set to nominate a Republican majority on the commission and his chosen chair, current FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, a longtime opponent of the rules.

 Read full story at PCMAG…

Microsoft Edge Takes a Victory Lap With Some High-Looking Usage Stats for 2024

by  Richard Speed

Lots of big numbers, but market share wasn't one of them

Microsoft has published a year in review for its Edge browser and talked up AI-powered chats while lightly skipping over the software's stagnating market share.

The company had some big numbers to share. There had been over 10 billion AI-powered chats with Copilot from inside the Edge browser window (although it did not disclose how many chats were customers asking how to install Chrome). Some 38 trillion characters had been auto-translated. Seven trillion megabytes of PC memory had been saved through the use of sleeping tabs.

However, are those numbers actually as big as they seem? What Microsoft did not say is how little Edge has moved the needle on market share in 2024.

 Read full story at The Register…

Smart Glasses Give Tech Giants Dangerous FOMO

by  Katrina Hamlin

Smart glasses will come into focus in 2025. Meta's collaboration with EssilorLuxottica has become a bestseller in most Ray-Ban stores across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with total sales topping 1 million units, according to Counterpoint Research. Early success has emboldened rivals to develop their own specs.

The Ray-Bans, which wrap a mic, audio, camera and artificial intelligence assistant into a familiar frame, cost some $300 apiece. Unlike bulky virtual or augmented reality headsets that have failed to win mass appeal, Meta's devices actually look like normal glasses, are lightweight — under 50 grams — and offer useful day-to-day features like real-time translation and hands-free picture and video capture thanks to in-built memory and processing power. They also seamlessly connect to a smartphone, similar to wireless earbuds. That's all thanks to the latest AI chipsets, software and batteries; Meta's Ray-Bans boast a battery life of four hours, compared with less than one hour for Snap's (SNAP.N), opens new tab rival product.

Other tech giants are eyeing this space. Baidu (9888.HK), opens new tab launched glasses, opens new tab powered by its AI bot Ernie in November. Days later, Reuters reported that Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab is developing smart glasses for delivery drivers. Suppliers are ramping up capacity: specialist lens maker Vuzix (VUZI.O), opens new tab reckons it will be able to churn out, opens new tab as many as 50 million units a year by 2028, up from around 1 million in 2024. Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab, Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), opens new tab, Xiaomi (1810.HK), opens new tab and Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab itself are all working on new products, according to media reports.

 Read full story at Reuters…

Transform Your Mac With Microsoft Office's New AI Smart Features

by  DealPost Team

Tired of software compatibility headaches when switching between Pages, Google Docs, and other tools? Now's the perfect time to upgrade to Microsoft Office 2024.

Now's the perfect time to upgrade to Microsoft Office 2024. With a lifetime license for just $119.97 (reg. $149.99), you'll get all the essential apps—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote—working seamlessly on your Mac. But act fast—these discounted codes are selling out quickly!

Microsoft Office 2024 brings Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote to your Mac, ensuring seamless device compatibility. Whether you're collaborating with PC users or working solo, these apps provide smooth integration to help you stay productive.

 Read full story at MacWorld…

From Code to Current: How to Keep AI Data Centers in Check for a Sustainable Grid

by  Manav Mittal

AI doesn't have to be a burden on the grid. With thoughtful strategies and a proactive approach, we can minimize the environmental and infrastructural costs of data centers.

As artificial intelligence continues to transform industries, from healthcare and finance to autonomous vehicles and smart cities, the demand for data processing is skyrocketing. AI-driven data centers, which power the algorithms behind these innovations, are the backbone of this revolution. However, with the expansion of AI capabilities comes a growing concern: how will these energy-hungry facilities affect our already strained power grids?

Take Meta's $10 billion AI-optimized data center in Louisiana, for example. This enormous facility, designed to handle the massive computational load required by AI, will demand a staggering amount of electricity. As AI becomes more integrated into our everyday lives, the strain on the power grid is only set to increase. But here's the thing — AI doesn't have to be a burden on the grid. With thoughtful strategies and a proactive approach, we can minimize the environmental and infrastructural costs of these data centers. The question isn't whether AI will disrupt the grid, but how we can make it work for us without sacrificing sustainability.

 Read full story at UtilityDive…

Kentucky Utility Plans New Gas-Fired Units, Coal-to-Gas Conversion, and Solar Farms

by  Darrell Proctor

A Kentucky electric cooperative plans to build new natural gas-fired units, and convert some of its coal-fired units to burn natural gas, as part of an expansion of its power generation fleet.

East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC) also has received the go-ahead from state regulators to build two new solar power facilities as it seeks to add 757 MW of new renewable energy resources.

EKPC recently announced it wants to add a new 745-MW natural gas combined cycle unit at Cooper Station in Pulaski County. Cooper Station has operated since the 1960s as a two-unit, coal-fired power station with 344 MW of capacity. The utility also said it plans to convert the coal-fired Unit 2 at Cooper to burn natural gas.

EKPC also plans to build a new 214-MW gas-fired power plant near Liberty in Casey County. That plant, on a 100-acre site, would feature 12 natural gas-fueled engine/generator sets (gensets), with the ability to function as a peaker plant during times of peak demand for power. The gensets could quickly ramp up and down depending on the demand for electricity, and also would be available to provide power during periods of lower production from the utility's solar power installations. EKPC said that facility is expected to come online by late 2028.

 Read full story at Power…

Rooftop Solar Growth Dims in Sunny Arizona as Regulators Clash and Costs Climb

by  Austin Corona & Laura Gersony

Installations of rooftop solar panels in Arizona are down in 2024, following a peak in 2022. The slow-down came despite federal support for solar.

As their homes bake under blistering heat, many Arizonans have turned to rooftop solar panels to convert the state's characteristic sunshine into sellable energy. But in the past year, homeowners increasingly chose to leave their rooftops bare.

Monthly permitting for rooftop solar in Arizona has dropped by one-third since 2023, according to data compiled by the firm Ohm Analytics. Meanwhile, Arizona Public Service, the state's largest power utility, has reported a roughly 50% drop in rooftop solar installations in 2024.

Permitting is now slower than it was before the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, a windfall of federal cash that was expected to usher in a heyday for clean energy, particularly in sunny Arizona.

 Read full story at axcentral…